1,721,018 research outputs found
Implementing agricultural policies for sustainable development and the integration of immigrant workers: an application of MCA to the case of two Southern Italian provinces
No full textThe main purpose of this paper is to
consider suitable instruments of agricultural policy
and to identify optimal combinations of such measures
to pursue the complex target of sustainable
development in a context of binding public budget
constraints. To this end, we carry out an application
of Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA). The results show
that a relatively small (but by no means negligible)
weight is ascribed to environmental protection with
respect to other intermediate targets (farm competitiveness
and integration of immigrants). High importance
is given to the measures of “Technical and professional
education” and “Subsidies to technological
innovation” by all types of stakeholder in any of the
aggregation procedures considered. Concerning the
target of “Immigrants’ integration”, panelists indicate
“Technical and professional education” first,
and then “General education” and “Housing policies”
as the most important instruments. Our investigation
seems to confirm how important is the issue
of immigrants’ integration and employment for the
present and the future of Italian agriculture: immigrants
may constitute a unique option for development,
provided that policy makers are able to design
suitable actions to promote not only economic incentives
for their participation but also acceptable living
conditions, in order really to foster social and cultural
inclusion of immigrants and their families. Indeed,
in a rural context, only when the economic and social
dimensions are strictly connected, is it possible to plan
improvements in farm productivity, economic growth
and sustainable development
Group reputation and persistent (or permanent) discrimination in credit markets
No full textBelonging to a group (i.e. industry, geographic area, ethnic group) of borrowers seems to
play a crucial role in determining credit availability and interest rates. In this paper, we give
a rationale for this phenomenon, based on incomplete information. Assuming that groups’
quality changes over time and that banks estimate it on the basis of the past observed default
rates, a result of persistent group discrimination is derived. If group reputation and high
interest rates affect the firms’ real quality by hampering the development of entrepreneurial
skills or by inducing good firms to migrate, the initial discrimination may even cause
permanent effects on the economy
Economy and industry in Campania. Which policy for lasting growth?
No full textAfter a triennium (2015-2017) of relative growth, the economy of Campania (and the Mezzogiorno)
has significantly slowed down, and the gap with Centre-North has increased again. Thus, as in the
past, the economic, institutional, social, and political aspects of the structural fragility characterizing the region have again made the positive short-term conjuncture little effective in triggering a real and durable process of convergence towards the more developed Centre-Northern regions. This paper aims to single out the strengths and weaknesses in the industrial structure of the region by focusing specifically on firm demography; industrial specialization; firm productivity, competitiveness, and financial conditions; the propensity to innovation and international openness. Hingeing on the results of this analysis, features and targets for suitable policy measures are proposed, aimed at promoting a faster pace in the near-future development of Campania and the Mezzogiorno in order to overcome their long-lasting gap with Centre-Northern Italy and other European regions
L’impresa subfornitrice: redditività, produttività e divari territoriali
No full textBy making use of a 4000 firms database, this article is aimed to analyze the dynamics of division of labour among manufacturing firms during the ‘90s and to assess the impact that subcontracting has on manufacturing firms’ profitability and productivity. The results of our econometric analysis show that: a) the division of labour is ample among Italian firms; b) belonging to supply chain system fosters firms’ productivity and profitability. However this last result does not hold for firms localised in the South, which is the less developed region of Ital
Observable managerial incentives and spatial competition
No full textIn this paper we investigate the relationship between product market competition and managerial
incentives within a circular city model with observable agency contracts. With respect to the case of
unobservability studied by Raith (2003), we find that optimal managerial contracts provide lower
incentives, and that equilibrium expected prices and profits are higher. Changes in competition fundamentals
have ambiguous effects, but observable contracts alleviate their impact on incentives.
Finally, observability involves three major implications: managerial incentives are higher under price
regulation than under competition; prices may increase with the number of firms; consumer welfare
may diminish when competition increases
Condizione strutturale e dinamiche dell'industria meridionale: specializzazioni produttive, demografia d'impresa e posizionamento nelle catene globali del valore
No full textInterregional redistribution and risk sharing through public budget. The case of Italy in times of crisis (2000-2016)
No full textSince the post-war period, large differences in economic performance of Italian regions have brought the public sector to play a predominant role in interregional redistribution and risk sharing. However, the recent Great Crisis may have changed this attitude. The comparison of regional Net Fiscal Flows in the periods 2000–2008 and 2009–2016 shows that in the aftermath of the crisis fiscal policies lost substantial part of their effectiveness in both interregional long-run redistribution and short-run income stabilization. Over time, the role of government in providing support to poorer regions and to areas more severely hit by the economic slump becomes less significant and sometimes even perverse, amplifying rather than counterbalancing regional differences in per capita income and financial capacity
Net fiscal flows and interregional redistribution in Italy: a long run perspective (1951-2010)
Full text linkThis paper carries out a long-run reconstruction of a discontinuous time series of net fiscal flows for Italian regions and macro-regions from 1951 to 2010. This evidence is the basis to put forward an assessment on the intensity of interregional redistribution operated by public sector. The main result of the paper is that even if the amount of resources transferred to Southern Italy from the rest of the country has been significant and increasing over time (at least up to the end of the 1990s), redistribution cannot be judged disproportionately large, in the light of income differences among regions, the public commitment in regional policies and the constitutional principles of equal access of citizens to the basic public services. Secondly, historical analysis of data and inspection of facts indicate that the relationship between the intensity of interregional redistribution and the financial effort of regional policies is weak. This supports the view that increasing NFFs have little served the purpose of regional convergence; rather, the rise of imbalances seems to be mainly connected to the overall escalation of public expenditure, following the institutional break occurred in mid-1970s with the establishment of Regional Governments
The Unpleasant Effects of Price Deregulation in the European Third-Party Motor Insurance Market: A Theoretical Framework.
No full textIn some European countries, the liberalization of the motor insurance market in the 1990s led
to substantial increases in fares and claims throughout the whole decade. In this paper we argue
that these phenomena are due to the impact of liberalization on companies’ optimal incentives to
fight fraud. By developing a circular city competition model with a cost-reducing stage prior to the
price game and a settlement stage following it, we show that price deregulation entails decreasing
monitoring investments and increasing claims both in the short and long run. Even equilibrium
premiums may steadily increase if the “competition effect” connected to new entries is outweighed
by a “monitoring effect” that raises marginal costs
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