1,720,984 research outputs found
Il mercato delle telecomunicazioni
No full textCome si determinano le tariffe che paghiamo per telefonare o per connetterci a internet? Quali sono i benefici e quali le criticità legate alle nuove tecnologie? Il mondo delle telecomunicazioni ha sempre più importanza nelle nostre vite, per questo è utile conoscerne il funzionamento, anche per implementare politiche che favoriscano il progresso tecnologico e lo rendano più inclusivo e vantaggioso per tutti
FINANCING AND MODELLING TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS
Full text linkThis thesis is a collection of contributions on the technology adoption in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). In particular, it focuses on how funding schemes and business models impact when a new technology is available.
With the intent of providing a picture of how technology comes in the activity HEIs, the analysis starts off with a descriptive introduction about distance education with a special focus on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), then three articles will be presented.
The first paper points out a substantial heterogeneity among the funding systems: the governments reaction to the economic crisis appears to be one of the principal divisive factors. Some governments have increased funds for higher education, introducing targeted funding, allocated on a competitive basis, to meet the national targets; others have been cutting budgets; the second paper shows that the activation of MOOC platforms generates also the beginning of a new university business model with strong economic implications; the third paper finds that universities with less resources are more prone to innovate and marketization of HE will drive a depth innovation process.This thesis is a collection of contributions on the technology adoption in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). In particular, it focuses on how funding schemes and business models impact when a new technology is available.
With the intent of providing a picture of how technology comes in the activity HEIs, the analysis starts off with a descriptive introduction about distance education with a special focus on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), then three articles will be presented.
The first paper points out a substantial heterogeneity among the funding systems: the governments reaction to the economic crisis appears to be one of the principal divisive factors. Some governments have increased funds for higher education, introducing targeted funding, allocated on a competitive basis, to meet the national targets; others have been cutting budgets; the second paper shows that the activation of MOOC platforms generates also the beginning of a new university business model with strong economic implications; the third paper finds that universities with less resources are more prone to innovate and marketization of HE will drive a depth innovation process
Low-cost carriers means low-cost tourists? Exploring the expenditure patterns beyond airline ticket prices
No full textThis paper investigates the relationship between air travel and international tourism expenditure, with a focus on distinguishing the impacts of low-cost carriers (LCCs) and full-service carriers (FSCs). Leveraging a unique dataset of 407,116 individual-level observations from the Bank of Italy’s survey on international tourists in Italy (2013–2019), combined with seat capacity data from the Official Airline Guide (OAG), we analyze spending behavior across diverse categories. Our findings reveal that air travelers spend 18.4% more than non-air travelers; however, tourists flying with LCCs are associated with significantly lower expenditure than those using FSCs. Crucially, this behavior is not solely driven by lower airfares, as LCCs continue to attract cost-conscious tourists even when fares are comparable to FSCs. This nuanced relationship underscores the influence of switching costs, service perceptions, and carrier familiarity on consumer choices. These findings contribute to the broader understanding of consumer behavior in the air transport industry, with implications for optimizing economic and environmental outcomes
Work from home arrangements and organizational performance in Italian SMEs: evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic
Full text linkWe use survey data on Italian small- and medium-sized enterprises collected during the COVID-19 pandemic to explore the relationship between the adoption of work from home (WFH) practices and organizational performance. In so doing, we investigate several dimensions of organizational performance, including measures of labor productivity and workers' concentration and motivation, the level of absenteeism, the organization of work through management by objectives (MBO), and the presence of coordination and communication costs. We obtain several results. First, we find a significantly enhanced capability of firms that adopted WFH during the pandemic to sustain the overall organizational performance, particularly when such a work practice is used intensively. Less deteriorated labor productivity and workers' concentration and motivation, decreased absenteeism, and a substantial rise in the adoption of MBO practices seem to be important aspects behind the detected benefits related to WFH. Third, when WFH is used at medium levels of intensity, it is associated with augmented coordination and communication costs, which nonetheless do not appear to overcome the benefits associated with WFH
Health hazard discrimination or prejudice? Evidence from a correspondence experiment
No full textWe study how infectious-disease threats can spill over into discriminatory behavior. Using early COVID-19 in Italy as a case study, we ran an email correspondence experiment with 5,356 tourism providers, randomly varying the sender’s location and surname to signal origin from areas differentially hit by the first wave. Requests signaling origin from a highly affected area received about 5 percentage points fewer replies and more rejections than observationally equivalent requests; the penalty concentrated on North-sounding surnames and was absent for South-sounding surnames from the same city, pointing to prejudice rather than rational screening on contemporaneous infection risk. While our setting is tourism, the mechanism we uncover—disease-avoidance concerns activating social stereotypes—is general and consistent with theories of social stigma and the behavioral immune system. Such “health-hazard discrimination” can deter testing or travel, undermine equitable access to services, and amplify outbreaks when stigmatized groups avoid contact with providers. We discuss design and policy tools—bias-safe communication, temporary identity-blinding in first contacts, and platform-level fairness nudges—that can mitigate stigma-driven frictions during epidemics. Findings inform preparedness for future outbreaks beyond COVID-19
The Effects of LCC Subsidies on the Tourism Industry
Full text linkThis paper studies the relationship between aviation, tourist flows, and subsidies to Low–Cost Carriers (LCCs), a policy tool used by many national and local governments to stimulate tourist arrivals. To evaluate this policy’s impact, we estimate a two–stage empirical model. In the first stage, we estimate a structural model applied to air transport; in the second stage, we estimate the
link between passenger flows and regional tourism flows. In this way, we use exogenous aviation shocks (subsidies to LCCs) to analyze the causal effect on tourist arrivals. This model is estimated using data on aviation and tourist flows from European to Italian regions during 2016–2018.
Counterfactual analyses consider different regimes for implementing the policy, i.e., a subsidy adopted by a benevolent central planner and/or by subnational institutions. Our simulations show that subsidies to LCCs are effective in stimulating tourism and that a centralized regime is more effective than a decentralized one. In fact, the latter generates externalities in regions that
do not implement the subsidy, making the decentralized policy economically suboptimal
Decarbonizing Air Transport: Insights from a Quasi-Experiment
Full text linkThe US-China direct flights in mid-2023 were only 7 percent of those available in mid-2019. This quasi-experiment informs the debate on air transport de-carbonization. An estimated structural model shows that re-establishing the pre-pandemic direct connectivity could increase passengers by 387 percent and reduce prices by 63 percent. Moreover, due to the suppression of flights, carbon dioxine emissions decreased by 80 percent. A counterfactual exercise shows that maintaining pre-COVID connectivity and achieving the same emissions reduction through a market mechanism (i.e. offsetting), would have resulted in more passengers (+365 percent), lower prices (−60 percent), and lower reduction in consumer surplus (−40 percent) than observed in the post COVID-19 equilibrium
Work from Home Arrangements and Organizational Performance in Italian SMEs: Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic
No full textWe use survey data on Italian small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) collected during the COVID-19 pandemic to explore the relationship between the adoption of work from home (WFH) practices and organizational performance. In so doing, we investigate the possible underlying mechanisms, including measures of labor productivity and workers’ concentration and motivation, the level of absenteeism, the organization of work through management by objectives (MBO), and the presence of coordination and communication costs. We obtain several results. First, we find a significantly enhanced capability of firms that adopted WFH during the pandemic to sustain the overall organizational performance, particularly when such work practice is used intensively. Second, increased labor productivity and workers’ concentration and motivation, decreased absenteeism, and a substantial rise in the adoption of MBO seem to be the main drivers behind the detected benefits related to WFH. Third, when WFH is used at medium levels of intensity, it is associated with augmented coordination and communication costs, which nonetheless do not appear to overcome the benefits associated with WFH
MOOCs. Massive open on-line courses: prospettive e opportunità per l'università italiana
Full text linkI MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) si stanno sempre più affermando a livello mondiale come un importante sistema di formazione on-line. Le attività formative sono rivolte ad un elevato numero di utenti che accedono ai contenuti via web. Il Sistema Universitario Nazionale Italiano sta guardando con interesse a questa nuova modalità di formazione a distanza. Questo documento pone l’attenzione sullo ‘stato dell’arte’ del mercato mondiale dei MOOCs, sui vantaggi, punti di forza e di debolezza nell’utilizzo di questa modalità di formazione da parte delle Università italiane. Sono presentati i risultati di un questionario rivolto alle Università aderenti alla Conferenza dei Rettori delle Università Italiane e ipotesi progettuali per un utilizzo coerente e quanto più strutturato possibile sull’utilizzo dei MOOCs a livello universitario nazionale; una importante analisi volta anche ad individuare nel nostro Paese ulteriori modalità innovative di formazione di qualità
- …
