ABSTRACT. This article aims to explore the complex relationship between tax deductions and the spatial correlation between health demand and private supply. By using an original data set at an unprecedented municipal level, and employ- ing a spatial counterfactual empirical strategy to control for the confound- ing effect of income and other socioeconomic characteristics, we investigate whether greater proximity to a private health provider, respects a public one, produces a different spending behavior in citizens. This behavior was also analyzed with a geographically weighted analysis, which allowed us to assess the strong spatial non-stationarity by including local potential hidden confounders.

ABSTRACT. This paper evaluates the effect of giving free public health insurance policies implemented in Jakarta in 2016 on the demand for health insurance. We aim to answer policy maker’s concerns on how this policy induces free-riding behavior by encouraging workers to unsubscribe from private health insurance and enroll to public health insurance provided by the government for free. We find that the concern is failed to be proven. On the contrary, the policy expands informal workers’ participation in private health insurance by 1.3%. The policy also increases public insurance coverage for informal workers by 6.5%. This coverage expansion protects workers from being ill by decreasing the likelihood of feeling sick in the last month by 3%. Among those who experienced symptoms, the policy increases healthcare visit by utilizing outpatient care by 4.3%.

ABSTRACT. We study the influence of royalty status, the highest legal privilege in the social hierarchy in some European counties, on human longevity. Royalty is a historically rooted legal privilege that includes the royal family and the monarchs, namely inherited heads of state. We collect extensive demographic and health related records of European Royals and their families during the period for last three centuries (1750-2000) to study the extent to which royalty status extends individual age at death compared to otherwise similar country subjects by adjusting for relevant confounders. We document that although there is a clear gap in age at death between monarchs and other members of the royal family relative to their contemporaneous country subjects, such gaps narrow or even disappear over time. Such age at death convergence is steeper in the 20th century in some countries such as Spain and Belgium, Monaco, the UK, and Sweden compared to Norway, Denmark, and Liechtenstein, where the reduction in the gap follows a linear trend. These results point to the role of changes in lifestyle adding to the combined effect of technology and universal health insurance in narrowing the health returns to privilege.

ABSTRACT. In this paper, we study the evolution of fertility and newborn health during the pandemic in Tuscany, one of the first regions in the world to be severely hit by the COVID-19 outbreak. Using administrative data on birth certificates, we document that the number of births sharply dropped below the pre-pandemic trend in 2020, but strongly recovered in 2021 and 2022, leading to a cumulative net gain. This aggregate "baby bump" masks a substantial heterogeneity across sociodemographic groups, being entirely driven by native, educated, employed, and 30 to 39-year-old mothers and fathers. In the same period, aggregate indicators of newborn health did not show any sign of deterioration and, if anything, slightly improved.

ABSTRACT. We use data from the Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe to enquire on the main determinants of the work arrangements during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020) and one year and a half after the outburst of the Coronavirus (in 2021), for the older workers in 25 European countries. We distinguish and separately analyze full work from home, partial remote (hybrid) mode and full on-site (employers’ premises) solution. The longitudinal nature of the data and the fact that respondents have been interviewed both in 2020 and in 2021 allow us to also evaluate the persistency in the work arrangement and to explore which are the factors that are associated to a change in the work mode from one year to the other. The results indicate that the occupation characteristics, the gender and the level of education of respondents, the IT skills and the type of occupation are significantly related to the type of work arrangement experienced in the time period under the analysis.

ABSTRACT. We identify the causal effect of return-to-office (RTO) mandates on workers’ health and well-being, leveraging an exogenous shift in working conditions for public-sector employees in Italy. Analyzing nine waves of quarterly panel data, we find that the likelihood to work from home for treated workers is reduced after the RTO mandate. When looking at daily time use, we observe an increase in days spent outside and a reduction in working hours attributable to increased commuting time. The RTO mandate does not impact any of the fifteen workers’ health and well-being outcomes. This null effect is likely to reflect a balance between positive and negative aspects of transitioning from teleworking to in-office work.

ABSTRACT. This paper study the effect of covid on demand of teleworkable job

ABSTRACT. This paper studies whether a small monetary subsidy to acquire consultancy services can boost firm performance. We examine an Italian subsidy program and identify the causal impact of the policy by comparing firms that nearly got the subsidy to firms that nearly missed it due to small differences in their time of application in a difference-in-differences framework. The subsidy was effective in increasing exports outside the EU, firm labor productivity, profitability, and size. Interviews with consultants reveal that the initial contracts led to enduring relationships with beneficiary firms, and providers offered additional services such as support for digitalization.

ABSTRACT. This paper introduces a novel global collection of data on estate, inheritance, and gift (EIG) taxes, across several decades and over 160 countries. The data provide a comprehensive collection of harmonized EIG tax rates, exemptions, schedules, and revenues. We document an overall trend towards decreasing EIG taxation. Until the 1980s, the top marginal tax rate averaged at about 30 percent compared to below 10 percent in 2019. However, the data also suggest substantial heterogeneity in EIG taxation dynamics. We identify three main clusters: the group of countries which has reduced top rates, increased, or repealed the tax altogether. Likewise, countries can be grouped according to whether they experienced a reduction or an increase in EIG tax revenue over the past four decades. Looking at the structure of the tax schedule, we show that some countries rely on progressively increasing tax brackets while others levy a flat rate. Over time, we document a substantial reduction in the number of tax brackets. We then illustrate an application of our data by analyzing the effect of changes in top marginal tax rates on EIG tax revenue and wealth concentration. We estimate a 4% increase in EIG tax revenue for every 1% increase in the top marginal tax rate and a 7% increase in the top 1% wealth share following a 10 percentage point drop in the top tax rate.

ABSTRACT. In this paper, we study how to make social evaluations when the income distribution of the members of a society is observed at multiple points in time. We characterize a class of multi-period social evaluation functions that include concerns about income inequality and intertemporal income mobility. Our axiomatic characterization builds on two core ideas. First, we require consistency of the social evaluation for the addition of an income source with the same mobility structure. Second, we impose that the effect of mobility vanishes when there is no inequality in the society or a subgroup thereof. Combining these ideas with two standard axioms, we obtain a novel class of multi-period generalized Gini social evaluation functions. We study the restrictions imposed by inequality aversion and mobility preference. Interestingly, the resulting social evaluation function can be neatly decomposed in its key components: average income, inequality, and mobility.

ABSTRACT. This study aims to investigate the influence of social capital on perceived social mobility at the individual level. While evidence exists regarding both the relationship between social capital and actual mobility and about the social capital's influence on individual perceptions, the literature lacks evidence on the possible behavioral aspects related to its influence on the perception of such mobility. Employing data from the seventh wave of the World Values Survey (WVS), representing citizens from 63 countries, this study shows that individuals' social interactions in voluntary associations are significantly related to personal values, particularly the belief in meritocracy and the role of individual effort to obtain success. Consistently with prominent studies highlighting the potential heterogeneous effects of social capital on personal attitudes and behaviors, this research provides evidence that bridging social interactions positively influence the perception of a more mobile and meritocratic society, whereas volunteering in bonding groups may hamper perceived social mobility. The size of these effects may depend on the contextual framework since the externalities created by bridging social capital outweigh those of bonding in wealthier countries.

ABSTRACT. This paper explores the impact of risk and ambiguity on wealth redistribution, using an experimental dictator game. The findings show that wealth redistribution significantly declined in line with increased perceived risk, suggesting that heightened risk and ambiguity may reduce altruistic behavior. Gender differences in risk aversion were observed under conditions of risk (characterized by well-defined probability), but vanished under conditions of ambiguity. The study highlights the importance of risk perception in shaping social preferences and the potential use of ambiguity as a moral rationale to avoid engagement in pro-social behaviors and wealth redistribution.

ABSTRACT. I show that parents select schools by considering attributes of the student-school match that improve the learning outcomes beyond average school quality. Using the centralized algorithm for offers to primary school in London, I compare the achievement of students who are as good as randomly enroled in schools ranked differently in their application. Enroling at the most-preferred school versus an institution ranked lower increases mathematics achievement by 0.05 SD per year beyond average school valueadded. Only a small part of the match effects of parental choice can be explained by student’s characteristics such as gender, ability, or socioeconomic status.

ABSTRACT. This paper disentangles the academic effects of online learning mandates on high school students from the overall effect of the pandemic. We exploit exogenous variation in 2020/2021 Italian online schooling mandates imposing upper-secondary school students to follow lessons online while preserving in-person teaching for lower grades. Relying on students' performance on standardized tests, we implement a matched DiD strategy comparing grade 13 and 8 students before and after the introduction of the online learning mandates. The negative effects of attending online lessons account for roughly three-fifths and one-third of the overall estimated pandemic effects in reading and mathematics corresponding to 75 and 45% of the expected yearly learning gain, respectively. Similar drops in test performance are found for the 2022 and 2023 cohorts which were subject to the online mandates one and two years before being tested, respectively. On average, girls do better than boys, and no significant difference is detected in 2021 between natives and non-natives. Responses to teacher questionnaires show that a significantly high share of teachers teaching online struggled to motivate students and prepare their lessons in

ABSTRACT. This study investigates the effects of COVID-19 on spatial variations in gender differences in educational attainment in English secondary schools. We analyse these spatial variations at the Travel-to-Work-Areas (TTWAs) level and and explore multiple measures of COVID-19 incidence rates to delineate various treatment scenarios. Since all parts of the UK were affected by Covid-19 we think of spatial variations in incidence rates as variations in the 'dose' of Covid-19 - the higher the dose the greater the impact. Employing a difference-in-differences (DiD) framework with fixed effects for year, school, and TTWA, we estimate the causal effect on the gender gap in Key Stage 4 (KS4) attainment scores. We also refine the DiD approach by using pre-sample selection using propensity score matching (PSM). Initially, we observe significant disparities in COVID-19 cases per capita across TTWAs, with some areas demonstrating heightened vulnerability to the pandemic's impact. We categorize the incidence rate distribution into percentiles and test different treatment combinations. We find that, when comparing schools in TTWAs in the top 40th percentile to those in the bottom 40th percentile of incidence rates, there is a statistically significant increase in the gender gap in educational attainment in favor of females. We conduct several robustness tests, including quantile DiD estimation, which reinforces our findings. This study contributes to our understanding of how health crises, such as COVID-19, can magnify existing inequalities and underscores the necessity of targeted educational policies to address the gender gap in educational outcomes.

ABSTRACT. We introduce a notion of fairness, inspired by the equality of opportunity literature, into the centralized school choice setting, endowed with a measure of the quality of matches between students and schools. In this framework, fairness considerations are made by a social evaluator based on the match quality distribution. We impose the standard notion of stability as minimal desideratum and study matchings that satisfy our notion of fairness, and an efficiency requirement based on aggregate match quality. To overcome some of the identified incompatibilities, we propose two alternative approaches. The first one is a linear programming solution to maximize fairness under stability constraints. The second approach weakens fairness and efficiency to define a class of opportunity egalitarian social welfare functions that evaluate stable matchings. We then describe an algorithm to find the stable matching that maximizes social welfare. We conclude with an illustration on the allocation of Italian high school students in 2021/2022.

ABSTRACT. Antonio de Viti de Marco was one of the most representative figures of the Italian School of Public Finance and an intellectual father of Public Choice. He analysed the financial features of the democratic State (cooperative as he called it). We examine the relationship between the Devitian democratic society and the Spencerian industrial society, cited in his writings. We explore to what extent this theory fuelled his political and journalistic campaigns. De Viti de Marco proposed a way out of the fin de siècle crisis based on a new fiscal pact and free trade. The government, instead, opted for repression.

ABSTRACT. This paper explores the influence of the Italian tradition of Scienza delle finanze on James M. Buchanan’s public choice theory, particularly examining the Ricardian equivalence debate. The Italian tradition, especially through Antonio de Viti de Marco’s First Principles of Public Finance, profoundly impacted Buchanan’s views on public finance. This study disentangles the varying perspectives within the Italian tradition regarding public debt and Ricardian equivalence, focusing on the differing viewpoints of Luigi Einaudi and Benvenuto Griziotti. The paper argues that the generalization of the Italian economists' uniform stance on Ricardian equivalence is overly simplistic, revealing neglected points of alignment between the Italian scholars and Buchanan.Einaudi's pragmatic approach to public debt, interwoven with his roles as an academic, politician, and public intellectual, provides a detailed perspective that challenges the perceived homogeneity within the Italian Scienza delle finanze tradition.

ABSTRACT. Competition and cooperation are not always at odds and contributions to public goods are almost never one-off one-shot temporally isolated events. We examine voluntary contribution in a new public good experiment where “self-love” competitive motivations and time dynamic interdependencies are simultaneously considered. The competitive motivations are manipulated via subjects competing in each group (intragroup competition) for higher return factors on their public expenditure, whereas time dynamic interdependencies are modeled by letting returns from previous periods available for future contributions to public goods (CG). We ran two control conditions where intragroup competition (C) and time dynamic interdependencies (G) are separately implemented. Our findings showed that shares of endowment contributed were significantly greater and increasing over time when endowments growth and heterogeneous returns factors were simultaneously introduced. This effect can be attributed to return factors obtained in previous periods. Accordingly, wealth exponential growth has been greatly accelerated relative to our control condition. Distributive equity concerns have been also documented. Although Gini coefficients were significantly lower in the presence of heterogeneous return factors and endowments growth, inequality trends seemed to converge at control condition values in the long term.

ABSTRACT. Condorcet exposed a limitation of majority-based pairwise comparison by showing that, for specific preference profiles over three alternatives, it leads to a contradiction. Arrow’s theorem is often presented as a generaliza- tion of this finding. We present a novel formulation of the proof that strictly adheres to this logic, establishing that for any non-dictatorial social choice rule, a contradiction-generating preference profile always exists and can be identified using a straightforward procedure.

ABSTRACT. Discrimination refers to unjust or prejudicial differences in the treatment of an individual based on the membership, to a certain group or category. These categories, or ‘grounds’ include gender, race, age, and many more. Individuals may be exposed to potential discrimination based on several grounds. In some situations, these grounds must be considered together to appropriately describe the discriminatory treatment that a person experiences. Quantitative evidence on the existence and extent of multiple discrimination may provide insight into whether or not it is sufficient to tailor policies against discrimination along single grounds dimensions. If the grounds are complements, such policies may not be sufficient. On the other hand, if the grounds interact in a positive way, existing policies disproportionately favor individuals who hold several minority tags, which in turn may harm individuals who hold just one. Therefore, it is important to know whether such complementarities or interaction effects exist, and, if so, how strong they are and in which direction they go. In this paper, we theoretically outline the different discriminator types in situations where several grounds interact. Thereafter, we search for the different types in a lab experiment using artificial identities. We find little evidence of interacting grounds - just a bit more than 10% of the individuals are classified as ‘intersectional’ or ‘compound’ discriminators.

ABSTRACT. This paper investigates the causal impact of separation on equivalized household income trajectories in the aftermath of the dissolution for men and women. The main hypothesis is that gender inequality after separation is driven by pre-separation within-couple inequality in terms of personal endowments of income, earnings, and wealth. Using longitudinal data from the Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) in 2014 and 2017 for four countries and a combination of propensity score matching and difference-in-differences regression, I found that a separation penalty exists for women in all countries, except Spain. Moreover, the impact of separation varies with the degree of pre-separation within-couple inequality in personal income and earnings. The gender asymmetry is especially noticeable among secondary earners, regardless of gender. Moreover, I found that the causal impact of separation is influenced by institutional features

ABSTRACT. What makes a society open or close to migration? We track six centuries of institutional history of hundreds of communities in an Italian region and observed a gradual closure to outsiders and an erosion of women's property rights. This empirical and computational study traces the trajectory of institutional change, identifying the mechanisms behind it. Resource inequality spurred migration, prompting wealthier communities to restrict access to common resources; these restrictions targeted women. This led to a domino effect in institutional change and a lock-in of a patrilineal system. A subsequent centralized action reinstated an open and egalitarian system, which would have been impossible to reach bottom-up. Our computational model not only aligns with historical patterns but also illustrates how gender-biased institutions can emerge from strategic incentives rather than ideology. This research provides insights into contemporary issues of citizenship, migration, and property rights, particularly in developing countries.

ABSTRACT. In the last two decades, several studies have investigated the relationship between the share of women in politics and the levels of corruption, suggesting that women tend to be less involved in corrupt transactions than men. There are two major ways of explaining this relationship: one emphasizes differences between men and women in pro-social behaviour and the other, differences in risk-aversion (Bauhr & Charron, 2021; Stensöta, Wängnerud & Svensson, 2015). European data highlight that countries with higher corruption such as the Mediterranean and Eastern European countries are also those where gender inequalities, especially in economic participation and political empowerment, are relevant. Heterogeneity in corruption and gender gap occur not only across countries but also within countries. Both issues are relevant in Italy, which exhibits marked differences across Regions and Provincial Capitals as regards both integrity and gender equality. Galli et al (2022) provide evidence that there is a significant positive correlation between the political roles played by women at sub-central level of government and the ‘Indicator of Institutional Quality’ (IQI) (Nifo & Vecchione, 2021) for the Italian Provinces. Moreover, they also take into account a specific dimension of institutional quality, the transparency of public administration, measured by the Composite Transparency Index (CTI) for the Italian Provincial Capitals in 2013 (Galli et al., 2017) to assess whether the presence of women in political roles at Provincial level is related with the transparency of the municipality. This paper moves forward in this direction addressing the relationship between transparency and election (and re-election) of female Mayor and Municipal Councilors in a large sample of Italian municipalities, building on Albanese et al. (2021) that detects a political payoff for Mayors in more transparent municipalities, that depends on civic capital.

ABSTRACT. In this paper we study how institutional features affect the ability of museums to obtain funds from competitive procedures such as those of European Cohesion programs. Using data from Italian museums and related institutions, we first study the determinants of the probability of being involved in a project, as a result of participating and winning a competitive international call. We find that internal (organizational) features of museums, as well as institutional ones (special autonomy) are significant. Second, we use a staggered treatment Difference-in-differences approach to identify the causal impact of autonomy on such probability and we find that the effect is positive and increasing in the duration of exposure to the treatment. Our analysis offers insights to policy-makers to identify and support the relevant features that can contribute to the financial sustainability of museums

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this paper is to measure the efficiency of Danish state recognized museums and to propose an allocation model for state funding to the museums based on the results of such analysis. We draw on a quantitative model which provides a tool that measures the museums performance with a balanced approach which is able to take into consideration the efficiency of different aspects of the museum activities. We apply a two-stage DEA-BSC approach. In the first stage we set a Balanced Scorecard (BSC) scheme specifically devised for the situation of the Danish museums, then we define a DEA model for each BSC perspective and compute the DEA efficiency score for every perspective. In the second stage we define a further DEA model which combines the efficiency scores of the various BSC perspectives into an overall performance indicator. Furthermore, the two-stage model is used to propose a brand-new alloca9on model for state funding to the museums to guide the decision on the resources to be allocated to each of them. The dataset used for the analyses are the official data for museums collected and made available by the Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces. The results are highly relevant in the actual political context in Denmark, and it has general interest in understanding the efficiency of museums.

ABSTRACT. In the last decades, there has been a constant increase in tourism demand. The literature about the economics of tourism traditionally puts forward the link between tourism and growth. Scholars have almost found confirmation of this mechanism, but there are also mixed results. The aim of this paper is twofold: first, it will help to contextualize the overtourism phenomenon in economic terms. Secondly, it will fill the gap in the literature by evaluating the negative impact of tourism on citizens’ services. To understand the complex relationship between excessive tourist flows and sustainable development in cultural cities and other attractive areas, we employ a panel dataset of all the Italian municipalities for ten years, from 2009 to 2019. Indeed, studying the Italian context is hugely relevant to this research question, given the large availability of highly touristic cultural sites where tourism facilities are often provided at the expense of the local population.

ABSTRACT. This paper investigates the impact of restrictions on the circulation of artworks on the fine art market. For this purpose, we take as a case study the Cultural Property Protection Act (Kulturgutschutzgesetz) implemented in Germany in 2016, which regulates the circulation of art property and restricts the exports of national cultural patrimony of Germany. This law generated a quasi-experiment setting that is used to assess whether restriction regulation influences market prices of a prominent German artists belonging to the Der Blaue Reiter group. For this purpose, we first build a hedonic price index for those artists and, then, an interrupted time-series analysis (ITSA) is adopted to assess the impact of regulation through the returns, considering the general trend of fine art sales over the period 2000-2020. Our empirical analysis shows that the regulation caused a decrease in the price index of the Der Blaue Reiter’s artists in the German art market, in contrast to what happened in the foreign market.

ABSTRACT. This paper analyzes the optimal capital and labor taxation in a model with entrepreneurial heterogeneity and financial frictions as in \cite{itskhoki2019optimal}. In a closed economy, populated by workers that buy corporate bonds, we find that the optimal capital and labor taxes are zero when tax revenues are lump-sum distributed. In a second-best perspective, the optimal capital tax is positive, while the associated labor tax may be positive or negative, depending on the magnitude of government spending that must be financed. The optimality of second-best capital taxation is due to the need to tax away Ricardian rents, deriving from entrepreneurial heterogeneity. In a small open economy, when entrepreneurs finance capital by using their wealth and by borrowing abroad, it is optimal to tax capital and labor at the same rate, if workers receive tax proceeds on a lump-sum basis. Second-best optimality, instead, implies a positive capital tax rate that differs from the labor tax one.

ABSTRACT. Unemployment benefits support jobless workers but entail significant costs. I study the optimal design of unemployment insurance financing policies, comparing two approaches to assign unemployment tax rates to employers: assigning individualized rates in proportion to the benefit spending resulting from employers’ layoffs (experience rating) and assigning the same tax rate to all the employers (coinsurance). I derive a sufficient-statistics formula defining the optimal degree of experience rating through a tradeoff between the marginal benefits and costs of coinsurance. The benefit is the value of insurance for employers, as coinsurance protects employers against higher unemployment taxes following negative shocks. The first cost is a moral hazard from reducing the private cost of layoffs for employers, which leads to increased layoffs and benefit spending, hence imposing a fiscal externality on government budgets. The second cost emerges from the subsidization of high-layoff rate industries and the resulting reallocation of labor towards these industries. This entails a skill misallocation and a fiscal externality, as benefit spending increases when more workers are subject to a high layoff-rate. I then apply the formula to Colorado and South Carolina to evaluate the optimality of their degrees of experience rating. I estimate the cost of labor misallocation using unemployment tax filing data from these states and quasi-experimental variation in unemployment taxes from state-level reforms of experience rating policies. I then compare it with calibrations for the value of insurance and moral hazard. My results suggest that labor misallocation, an overlooked channel in the literature, is the primary cost of coinsurance. Additionally, the combined cost of labor misallocation and moral hazard exceeded the insurance value for employers in South Carolina, suggesting that the degree of experience rating was suboptimal. Consistent with its higher degree of experience rating, I find the opposite for Colorado.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates how the use of tax revenues influences public support for a tax policy. Using a longitudinal randomized information survey in Luxembourg in 2023, we focus on the CO2 tax policy introduced in 2021. Participants were randomly provided with information that half of the tax revenues are used for redistribution to low-income households, while the other half funds energy-efficient transport infrastructure investments. The findings show that this information increases both support for the current tax level and the maximum tax amount participants would accept. Detailed analysis reveals that participants are more influenced by the redistribution effects than by infrastructure investments, indicating that policy acceptability is more closely related to perceived fairness than to perceived effectiveness. Importantly, however, the information backfires for participants exhibiting low trust in institutions and politicians. Results are robust across various specifications, including panel Difference-in-Differences estimations.

ABSTRACT. We infer tourists’ perception of the accommodation tax by looking at online ratings, which are strategic variables for the competitiveness of hotels and tourist destinations. Using a large dataset of reviews on TripAdvisor, we analyze the effect of accommodation taxes on online ratings posted by hotel costumers. We first show that tax mentioning reviews have a 20% lower rating than the other reviews. Using a random-effects logit model,we then estimate that a 10% increase in the incidence of the tax on prices reduces the probability of obtaining the top rating by 3-4%. Furthermore, we show that the negative impact of tax rates on prices matters for low-budget hotels.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates the influence of femicides on the election of local administrators and voter turnout in Italy. Utilizing a novel dataset comprising 2,068 femicides across 1,103 municipalities from 2005 to May 2022, the findings reveal that over 96% of femicides were perpetrated by men, typically known to the victims. Employing a staggered difference-in-differences methodology, we demonstrate that the occurrence of femicide significantly affects local political outcomes, specifically reducing the election of female mayors by 14.4%. Additionally, voter turnout increases following such incidents in a given municipality, although no significant gender-based differences in turnout patterns were observed. This research underscores the profound societal and political ramifications of femicide, emphasizing the urgent need for immediate intervention and enhanced protective measures by state authorities.

ABSTRACT. Political distrust is a pervasive and worrying phenomenon in modern societies as it represents a threat to the sustainability of democratic systems. Shading light on its determinants is thus fundamental to ensure a healthy and long-lasting social contract. This paper devotes specific attention to the impact of internet use to acquire information about political facts on political trust as proxied by a composite indicator of confidence toward several governing institutions. Using individual data from a sample of the Italian population over the period 2014-2021, results reveal that there exists a robust negative relationship between exposure to political information consumed though the web and confidence toward governing institutions, but this relationship hides some countervailing effects even after controlling for endogeneity issues. When distinguishing among the different modalities of online information acquisition, political trust is negatively related to the consumption of information about political facts only when this information is acquired through social networks, where the risk of exposure to fake news is higher. It is, instead, positively related to online political information when this information is consumed through online newspaper.

ABSTRACT. This paper studies the impact of the presence of Italian Asylum Seeker Reception Centres (ASRC), also called SPRAR, on municipalities’ public finances. These centres are secondary hosting to provide the refugees with job formation, educational activities, and language courses. Using municipality-level data from 2005 to 2014, our main findings show that the presence of one SPRAR does not increase the overall expenditure of the local municipality but it affects its composition, with a substantial increase in public expenditure on social activities around 3%. The effect remains significant when controlling for demographic and political variables. Most of the projects involve small municipalities with less than 5000 citizens, so the presence of the reception facility may provide a great impact on the local community and welfare activities.

ABSTRACT. We analyse a model of repeated procurement whereby a buyer may elicit unverifi- able quality by relying on two types of competitive procedures. The first type is non- discriminatory, namely a low-price auction with a public reserve price, whereas the second type is a scoring auction, also comprising a non-financial and discriminatory dimension based on past performance. We first provide sufficient conditions for the existence of rela- tional procurement contracts under which the buyer can elicit the desired level of quality. We then assess which mechanism is preferable in terms of i) the buyer’s preferences and ii) the equilibrium existence conditions. As for i), we establish the conditions whereby the two procedures yield the buyer the same utility as well as those under which a non- discriminatory procedure ensures a lower cost of the project, although this comes with a lower quality and a positive probability of the project not being delivered altogether. As for ii), no clear-cut results can be established. Indeed, the range of values of the project net-of-quality utility for which an equilibrium exists under the non-discriminatory procedure is always larger than under the discriminatory one. Conversely, the two procedures have a different ranking in terms of stringency of equilibrium existence requirements for the discount factor and the net benefit of quality

ABSTRACT. We consider a public-utility industry in which the activity is run by a regulated firm receiving or not public transfers for loss compensation. Relying on both analytical tools and Monte Carlo simulations, we outline the dynamics of incentives to invest in unverifiable capital and the resulting capital (de)accumulation in a multi-period setting where capital reduces fixed costs and depreciates stochastically. We show that, because a firm that receives transfers is not motivated to invest, its initial public capital endowment decays over time, and costs and losses increase. Thus, continuation of the activity becomes more and more costly for society, end over-endowment is optimal. Without transfers, the firm has incentives to invest and preserve capital as long as it makes profits, or it only incurs limited losses. When cumulated losses grow enough, the firm suddenly stops investing and takes a declining pattern with capital de-accumulation. Therefore, by imposing a hard budget constraint to the firm, a regulator would be able to save on public funds and induce investment, but should also be aware of the risk of sudden capital de-accumulation and firm impoverishment.

ABSTRACT. Questo studio analizza l'impatto della riforma del Codice dei Contratti Pubblici (D. Lgs. n. 36/2023) e della rimodulazione del Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza (PNRR) sul mercato dei lavori pubblici e sui tempi di realizzazione dei progetti di investimento in Italia. La riforma, introdotta nel luglio 2023 è parte del Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza ed è ispirata a un intento di semplificazione e razionalizzazione del sistema degli appalti. Ne analizziamo l’impatto con riferimento alle caratteristiche procedurali e alle performance della fase di affidamento dei lavori pubblici, distinguendo tra lavori afferenti al PNRR e non afferenti, oltre che in base alla localizzazione territoriale. La rimodulazione del PNRR, avviata nello stesso periodo, può aver rappresentato un elemento di stress per le stazioni appaltanti, introducendo un elemento di incertezza che può aver pregiudicato l’avanzamento dei progetti. L'analisi, bastata su un ampio dataset che combina i dati Open Data dell'Autorità Nazionale Anti Corruzione (Anac) e del portale Italiadomani, evidenzia un effetto positivo della riforma del Codice sulla durata della fase di affidamento e una attesa riduzione del ricorso a procedure aperte e a soluzioni di approvvigionamento centralizzate di tipo inter-comunale. Particolarmente rilevante appare l’impatto in termini di velocizzazione della fase di affidamento. L’analisi evidenzia infine un impatto significativo e negativo della rimodulazione del PNRR sull’avanzamento dei progetti interessati.

ABSTRACT. Road transport is a major source of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. For this reason, policy makers are increasingly pursuing measures to reduce the use of private vehicles generating potential unintended effects on businesses and their economic performance. In this paper, I examine the consequences of a road pollution charge on small businesses using geo-referenced firm-level data on activities located in Milan, which has introduced a charging zone in its city centre with fees that vary according to the pollution level of the vehicle. The overlap of the charging zone with the city centre poses a challenge for causal estimates due to pre-existing differences in business types inside and outside of the area. To address this issue, I use a difference-in-discontinuities approach based on the the distance from firms’ locations to the boundary of the charging zone. The impact of road pricing on businesses is contingent upon their industry and revenue generation model. When focusing on existing small retail businesses, I find that the charging zone has a negative and sizeable effect on retail sales. While no effect on firm mobility or local competition is found, the negative impact on retail sales is consistent with the hypothesis that the policy diminishes customer flow by increasing the cost of reaching the location.

ABSTRACT. Using a spatial equilibrium model with labor market frictions and non-homothetic preferences, we show that the effects of local shocks on regional inequality are significantly amplified when the housing expenditure share is large and falls with income (that means housing is a necessity good). This is because under non- homothetic preferences local shocks have a much larger impact on real earnings and, in turn, on inter-regional labor mobility. We quantitatively evaluate the model on the basis of German data. Our findings help to explain the reduction in the divide between the West and East Germany over the last fifteen years.

ABSTRACT. Although the idea that households may work as risk sharing devices has surfaced many times in the literature, quantitative assessments have largely lagged behind. We propose an empirical exercise of decomposition of the variance of household heads’ income growth, based on the macro approach pioneered by Asdrubali, Sørensen and Yosha (1996) and on the micro application by Asdrubali, Tedeschi and Ventura (2020), which can be used to assess the importance of intra-household risk sharing mechanisms, also in relation to extra-household risk sharing. By using Italian survey data over the last decade, we show that intra-household insurance claims a lion’s share of overall risk sharing, and that its role has become more relevant over the last few years. Importantly, we observe that intra-household risk sharing has increased over the years of the great financial crisis, even in the face of rising idiosyncratic risk affecting Italian households. Our results also show that intra-household smoothing works mainly through increased labor market participation by non-working members.

ABSTRACT. We study how changes in labor market regulation may trigger firm adjustments in skill demand. Leveraging rich administrative data from Italy, we investigate the effects of a reform that reduced firing costs for permanent employees and tightened temporary contracts’regulation to increase job stability. By using a difference-in-differences design, we document that the reform had unintended effects, inducing firms to increase layoffs of unskilled permanent employees and reducing hirings of unskilled workers on temporary contracts, but had no effect on skilled workers or permanent hirings. A theoretical search and matching model with heterogeneous skills and contract durations rationalizes our main findings.

ABSTRACT. This study analyses the impact of vouchers, an Alternative Work Arrangement (AWA) that has been introduced in Italy, on earnings of atypical workers. We investigate whether this form of very flexible work substitutes for income from more standard labor contracts and for welfare transfers related to employment insurance. We rely on fixed effects and difference-in-differrences methods that correct for sample selection of individuals in the labor market. Results show that vouchers increase overall earnings, but they also substitute for income derived from standard labor contracts. We do not find relevant associations between vouchers and welfare transfers. In the preferred estimates, abolishing vouchers would lead to a reduction of 13% in total earnings of atypical workers, which would be able to attenuate this loss by relying more on standard contracts. The positive effects of AWAs on earnings are larger for intensive users, and in geographic regions with a more sizable informal sector.

ABSTRACT. Starting in 2014, a new European Union-wide environmental regulation aimed at curbing soil degradation and promoting biodiversity has required farmers to diversify the type of crops cultivated on their land. In this article, we estimate the long-term causal impact of the crop diversification requirement among Spanish farms, using a wealth of extremely detailed georeferenced data on the universe of farmers' land declarations from the year 2022. We are able to document avoidance behavior among a portion of farms under the scope of the diversification policy, through strategic sorting below the policy threshold. The selection significantly inflates the difference in diversification levels just-below and just-above 10 hectares of arable land. We discuss the implications for causal impact evaluation, we estimate the policy impact net of selection effects and we discuss wider policy implications of size-contingent policies on the EU farming sector.

ABSTRACT. Despite tropical cyclones causing around $1.3 trillion in damages from 1980, surpassing all other recorded weather disasters in U.S. history, there remains a lack of empirical evidence regarding their long-term effects on the housing market. Here I investigate the impact of tropical cyclones on the U.S. housing market from 1988 to 2021, utilizing a novel dataset. Employing HURDAT2 data from the National Hurricane Center and a radial hurricane winds model, I develop a new measure of wind speed and I offer the first insight on the overall impact of all recordings cyclones at the county-yearly level. I use a robust double estimator that combines propensity score weighting and two-way fixed effect model, to compare counties with similar cyclone occurrence probabilities and estimates dynamic effects of cyclones on the housing value. Findings reveal a significant 12% decline in the housing market over a 12-year period in counties affected by new cyclones. The observed effects are not driven by factors such as employment, income, and migration. Instead, it appears that the driving force behind the effect on housing lies in the increased prevalence and elevated costs of insurance policies. This particular finding serves as a compelling impetus for delving further into the exploration of cyclones’ impacts on risk perception, as opposed to their direct effects on the economy

ABSTRACT. This study investigates the impact of female representation in municipal councils on municipal waste collection and recycling behaviour in Italian municipalities belonging to different territories between 2010 and 2019. We used the staggered difference-in-differences design (CSDID) to obtain unbiased estimates and a causal interpretation of the estimated effect. First, we provide causal evidence indicating that the presence of a majority of women in the municipal council significantly influences pro-environmental behaviour among citizens. Second, we emphasised the importance of considering the location, not just the manner, in which this change occurs; our findings indicate that the impact of a female-majority council varies by region and is more pronounced in areas with lower levels of social capital. In general, this study highlights the intersection of gender politics and environmental sustainability in a local geographical framework, advocating for increased representation of women in political spheres as a catalyst for positive environmental change.

ABSTRACT. In this paper, we examined whether the regularization law approved in Italy in 2002 led to changes in the fertility of immigrant women. We used the Birth Sample Survey, published by the Italian Institute of Statistics, to show that the Italian regularization law increased the probability of a woman having her first child by approximately 6 percentage points, whereas point estimates of the probability of having additional children beyond the first were not significant. By exploring alternative specifications and focusing on individuals eligible to receive the status of regular immigrant through employment, we find evidence of a stronger effect with respect to our baseline results. Robustness analyses confirmed our main findings.

ABSTRACT. Building on social identity theory, we suggest that natives from stereotyped and vulnerable groups tend to value cultural distance more and think that immigrants are bad for the economy and the fiscal system. Using data from the European Social Survey, we exploit a natural experiment - the appointment of the Belgian Minister of Health - to provide causal evidence that stigmatization and weight-based stereotyping result in negative attitudes toward immigrants. Furthermore, a survey experiment shows that individuals with higher body weight prioritize cultural factors over economic ones when assessing immigrants. Despite their negative views, stigmatized and vulnerable individuals may still support redistributive policies to improve their social group’s status, especially when their identities are less flexible and they rely on public resources.

ABSTRACT. We study the consequences of immigrant enfranchisement by exploiting Romania’s accession to the EU in 2007, which granted municipal election voting rights to Romanian immigrants in Italy. We conduct an event-study analysis at the municipality-by-year level and reach three key findings. First, we find that the enfranchisement of Romanian immigrants leads to an increase in the likelihood of electing a Romanian-born councilor in municipal elections, with higher increases for municipalities expecting a competitive election. Using an instrumented difference-in-differences approach, we find the increase in representation is driven by enfranchisement of the preexisting population and not by new Romanian arrivals following the accession. Second, we find that social capital among Romanian immigrants increases after 2007, indicating that the effect of enfranchisement extends beyond political representation to integration. However, despite the increase in representation and social capital, we find that immigrant presence increases the likelihood of a right-leaning party victory, raises municipal spending on public security, and lowers spending on social programs. This suggests that natives’ backlash against immigrant presence plays a bigger role in determining the winning party than the existence of a newly enfranchised immigrant community.

ABSTRACT. Triage is the process of assigning patients a priority level for treatment. In disaster situations, not everyone can be treated. The process will therefore determine, to a great extent, who will survive. Triage in disaster evokes the same kind of situation which comes about when two individuals dispute about which of them should take something they both want. As such, it is devoted to solve a conflict between opposite interests which shares many characteristics with other relevant settings, either natural (Maynard Smith and Price, 1973) or social (Sugden, 1986, 1989). These settings often display a structure which resembles the one sketched by the Hawk-Dove game. In Hawk-Dove strategic situations, evolutionary forces have favoured the emergence of conventions - spontaneous rules of behaviour, spreading either genetically or because of learning - which reduce the costs borne by individuals with conflicting interests. In practice these rules reduce the intensity of conflict by increasing coordination and making less likely that the {Hawk, Hawk} solution is selected by players. The first-come-first-served rule is one of such conventions (Sugden, 1986), one which may perform well in settings in which a signal truly identifies who came first. Different rules ensuring coordination between players and reducing the individual cost of conflict can perform equally well. What distinguishes the triage in disaster from other Hawk-Dove situations is that when disaster overwhelm hospitals and healthcare resources, players play a game which has very peculiar characteristics. First, the game is not a recurrent one. As disasters are rare, it is very unlikely that suitable conventions regarding how to play the game emerge. Second, as the game is a live-or-die one, it is not individually rational to follow a coordination rule which alleviates the intensity of conflict. Rationality dictates being a Hawk. In disaster situations, the common decision rule to prioritize treatment of patients at the greatest health risk may be inadequate. The rule to be applied has to be decided from an ethical standpoint which is somehow to be determined. One plausible candidate rule is the first-come-first-served rule. This rule is disregarded by triage in normal situations. However, it is possible to prove that under quite mild hypotheses it would be preferred to the everyday-circumstances triage criterion - i.e., prioritize treatment of the patients at the greatest health risk - by individuals who wish to maximize their survival probability. However if the desire of maximizing one's own chance of surviving correctly describes what motivates individuals in the choice of the triage rule, then the criterion which dictates to leave the resource to whom reaches the greatest ex-post survival probability, would be unanimously preferred.

ABSTRACT. In Italy, over the last decades, a growing share of population opted for a Voluntary Health Insurance (VHI) in order to access private healthcare services and bypass the increasingly long waiting times of the NHS. The study analyses whether and to what extent the presence of a VHI may condition the access to private, rather than public, services. Information on different access fees, specifically “full price”, “copayment price” and “no price”, are furnished for both specialist visits and diagnostic tests; the analysis is focused on these services. Data is drawn from the European Health Interview Survey, year 2019, and is modeled through Propensity Score Matching in order to find the difference, if any, in the choice of accessing private vs public healthcare services by individuals with VHI. Results provide evidence on a higher likelihood of accessing private specialist (+7.3%) and diagnostic care (+7.3%) by patients covered by VHI; conversely, having a VHI decreases the probability of seeking care by the NHS, through copayment, by respectively 5.1% and 6.3%. These findings raise concern on the equity of access warranted at the onset of the Italian NHS and claim for more awareness on these aspects by scholars and policymakers.

ABSTRACT. Background - Mental health problems refer to non-specific psychological distress that cover symptoms of anxiety, depression, stress, and somatic complaints. For some individuals, mental health problems are only temporary, while for others, mental health problems can become chronic and last for several months.

Methods – The aim of the current paper is twofold. First, we model mental health problems as a dynamic process where individual current mental health problems depend on mental problems in previous months. Second, we explore the association of ethnic density on the evolution of individual’s mental health over time and its interplay with ethnic diversity, ethnic minority status and neighbourhood cohesion.

Results – We find evidence of positive mental health problems persistence. In high-ethnic-density and high-ethnic-diversity areas, persistence is indeed higher. In these areas, co-ethnicity seems to have a limited protective role, while neighbourhood cohesion seems to play a more important role in protecting from isolation and, at the end, decreasing persistence of mental health problems.

Conclusions— According to our findings, policy makers should promote integration to strengthen cohesion especially in high-ethnic-density and high-ethnic diversity areas.

ABSTRACT. Objectives: This study aims to analyze the impact of telemedicine in a specific region of Italy, utilizing a unique administrative database provided by a Local Health Authority, which has initiated a project to evaluate a novel approach to community-focused healthcare. Specifically, the study seeks to determine whether telemedicine services act as substitutes or complements to traditionally provided services. The case is especially intriguing because Liguria, the region analyzed, has the highest rate of individuals over the age of 65 in Europe. Methods: A detailed analysis of administrative data related to hospital discharges, emergency room admissions, exemptions, pharmaceuticals, and inpatient visits was conducted. The sample included individuals affected by cardiac conditions, a leading cause of death in most OECD countries, who conducted telemonitoring of medical devices such as pacemakers, defibrillators, loop recorders and CCM (Cardiac Contractility Modulation). The available data were used to construct two panels, one annual and one monthly, to understand the differences in service utilization between patients who utilized these telemedicine services and similar patients using traditional healthcare services, considering demographic and geographical factors. Results: Preliminary findings indicate a significant increase in telemedicine use following the 2021 regulations. In the post-treatment period, an increase in the utilization of resources, such as emergency room admissions or the number of specialist consultations, was observed. There was also an unusual pattern in therapy adherence: it increased for the ATC C07 category, remained unchanged for ATC C09. Discussion: The preliminary results indicate an increased utilization of healthcare services by individuals employing telemedicine, suggesting that, in the first stage of implementation, it is perceived not as a substitute, but rather as a complementary service. Telemedicine appears to be an effective approach to addressing geographical challenges in regions such as Liguria, thereby improving access to healthcare services, particularly for the elderly population. However, future research should focus on the long-term effects, examining the potential for an increasing trust among patients in these services.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates the potential link between female political representation and reported cases of gender-based violence. We leverage a Shift-Share Instrumental Variables (SSIV) approach with province-specific election shocks as the instrument to analyze data from Italian municipalities. Our findings suggest that a one standard deviation increase in the instrumented provincial average of female elected officials is associated with a more- than-proportional increase of 1.44 standard deviations in reported cases of violence. This association might be explained by increased awareness and reporting due to a more supportive environment fostered by female leadership. The results contribute to the ongoing dialogue on gender representation policies by highlighting their potential influence not only on social perceptions of women, but also on their safety and well-being through facilitating access to support services.

ABSTRACT. How does militarization of law enforcement agencies affect protest activity in the US? Yet once again, the answer is “it depends”: Descriptive evidence in a regression discontinuity in time setting around the killing of George Floyd suggests an increase in protests four times larger in militarized counties than in non-militarized ones. Causal estimates in an instrumental variables setting further corroborate that transfers of mil- itary equipment from the Department of Defense through the 1033 Program increased protests related to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. However, BLM protests prove distinctive in nature (Gethin and Pons, 2024), as military transfers do not affect other social movements, such as those linked to Covid or the presidential election, nor do they influence the occurrence of violence.

ABSTRACT. We study the choice between media transparency and censorship by an autocratic regime whose power can be challenged by citizens' riots. To mitigate the risk of revolts, the regime can buy-off citizens' consent, which is unknown to all, through public good provision. To fine-tune policy making, the regime needs reliable information about discontent. Transparent information, however, also has the unintended effect of helping citizens to coordinate towards rioting. We find that, ex ante, media freedom is preferred by strong and weak regimes, whereas censorship is preferred by regimes of intermediate strength. We also show that, absent policy-making, all regimes would prefer censorship, implying that media transparency is important for the fine-tuning of public goods provision, and hence for building popular consensus.

ABSTRACT. Understanding individual perceptions of inequalities (PI) is crucial for policy preferences and social outcomes. However, academic interest in its measurement has been limited. This study develops a composite measure to address this gap and tackles three main challenges: the unobservable and multidimensional nature of PI, the necessity for a robust weighting scheme, and the need to quantify PI intensity on a measurable scale. Using latent class models, we identify clusters of respondents with similar perceptions and analyze the joint distribution of indicators to define a robust weighting scheme by testing domain context invariance. In so doing, we can tailor aggregation methodologies based on PI structure. Our findings reveal substantial heterogeneity in how PI is characterized across domains. The opportunity domain is found to be multidimensional, with family wealth and parental education playing significant roles. Conversely, the outcome domain demonstrates a wider consensus on the impact of income disparities and occupational conflicts. International variations in PI scores stress the differing impacts of these dimensions in shaping perceptions across countries. Comparing these scores with objective inequality metrics (Gini coefficient, mobility indices) the link between perceived and actual inequalities is confirmed. Our methodology stands out from other aggregation approaches due to its theoretically grounded weighting system.

ABSTRACT. Leveraging a survey experiment, this paper investigates how awareness of the level of public debt affects citizens' attitudes and fiscal policy preferences. Providing specific debt information increases concern among respondents but does not alter beliefs about either the importance of debt reduction or expected interventions. Despite general opposition to spending cuts in pensions, health care and education, treated individuals show greater support for expenditure reductions and, to a lesser extent, for inheritance and wealth taxes. Financial literacy plays a key role in explaining beliefs, with biased individuals less concerned about debt and more convinced that no government action is actually necessary.

ABSTRACT. The respondent’s propensity to guess randomly even though it is possible to answer "I do not know" is a plausible source of measurement error in assessments of financial literacy. Using data from two consecutive waves of a survey on financial literacy and resilience of Italian households during the Covid-19 pandemic we model and estimate the respondents’ propensity to guess rather than admit ignorance and find that it implies sizable probabilities of misclassification for standard financial literacy indicators. Classifying as financially literate only respondents who answer correctly in both waves of the survey yields more significant and plausible estimated coefficients of financial literacy as an explanatory variable for financial resilience: truly literate individuals have a lower probability of having difficulty to make ends meet at the end of the month and of not being able to face a mid-size emergency expense; individuals who guessed and were lucky enough to appear literate show lower financial resilience.

ABSTRACT. We provide a concise overview of the literature concerning the factors influencing preferences for redistribution, with particular attention to works that have integrated considerations of gender and/or cohort heterogeneity into their analyses. We present a series of stylized facts on preferences for redistribution based on data from the European Social Survey for a wide array of European countries over the period spanning from 2002 to 2022. We then empirically examine the documented evidence on gender gaps and generational differences over time. Our findings confirm the well-known heterogeneity in preferences for redistribution among genders. Moreover, we shed new light on the decomposition of this heterogeneity, disaggregating by different demographic groups, and studying the role of an extensive set of individual and macro-level characteristics.

ABSTRACT. Spatial microsimulation enables the evaluation of the fiscal and distributional effects of changes in public policy and the economy at the local level. Adding spatial detail to microsimulation requires microdata reflecting the characteristics of individuals and households in particular regions, cities, or neighbourhoods. Given the lack of geographically disaggregated microdata at the sub-national level, spatial microsimulation combines small area census data, tax return data in aggregate form, and survey microdata at the national or at best regional level, in order to simulate a synthetic population whose characteristics mirror as closely as possible those of the local communities under examination. EUROMODspatial Italy is a new spatial microsimulation model based on the European tax-benefit model EUROMOD, capable of evaluating the fiscal and distributional impact of public policies at the NUTS-3 level, taking into account price differentials across the country. We use it in this paper to analyse the effects of the tax-benefit reform implemented in 2022 in Italy, which revised the Personal Income Tax code and introduced a Universal Child Benefit. Our preliminary estimates reveal that the reform, despite its generosity, has not compensated for the effects of the increase in the price levels and its effects show large heterogeneity at the local level on inequality and poverty.

ABSTRACT. The Italian personal income tax (IRPEF) attains interpersonal and interregional redistribution and contributes to the reduction of interregional income disparities. Since 1994 there have been proposals to reform IRPEF structure by substituting graduated rates with a flat rate. Such a reform would affect interregional income redistribution, an issue rather disregarded in the current debate on personal income tax reform. In 2024 a first step towards the introduction of a flat income tax was the reduction of tax brackets number (from four to three). In this paper we estimate the interregional redistributive impact of such a reform.

ABSTRACT. The growing importance of technology diffusion and digitalization processes in the global economy has accelerated further in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, this diffusion varies according to socioeconomic context and different types of technology. This study analyzes the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the digitalization process of poor households, focusing on Internet access and computer ownership. To this end, we implement a Probit model with a difference-in-differences approach using EU-SILC data for six European countries. The analysis considers several socioeconomic factors and household characteristics, also examining heterogeneity across countries and equivalised income deciles. We find a significant positive association between lack of digitalization and poverty. Covid-19 is confirmed as a driver of digitalization. Its effect on the economically struggling population depends on the technology considered: it is accentuated for Internet connection, while it is almost zero for computer ownership.

ABSTRACT. The phenomenon of prison riots signals one of the most severe failures of the State in the administration of justice: The State fails to guarantee the rights and physical integrity of convicted persons under its custody.

Using a unique prison-specific administrative dataset covering the universe of 187 Italian prisons, this study examines the factors that contributed to the wave of prison riots and protests in the Italian prison system in March 2020, coinciding with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our analysis highlights the central role of prison deprivation conditions, notably overcrowding, and reveals evidence of emulation effects, whereby the likelihood of protests in prison is positively associated with riots in neighboring institutions. Contrary to the assertion of the Italian Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry, there is no evidence supporting the claim that prison riots were orchestrated by Italian organized crime.

ABSTRACT. In recent decades, the excessive duration of legal disputes has been identified by scholars as a critical factor contributing to judicial inefficiencies and, consequently, slowing the economic growth of a country. Hence, this paper aims to analyze factors that influence the duration of such disputes. To address this objective, we utilize a cross-sectional dataset comprising 16,789 first-instance civil sentences pronounced in 2022 by ten instance Civil Courts in Sicily (Italy). Specifically, by examining twelve distinct categories of civil litigation codes, namely personality rights, family rights, property rights and inheritance law, contracts and obligations, liability for tort, legal entities, company law, lease and commodatum, bankruptcy, administrative law, banking law, and other institutions, we find that the topic significantly influences the duration of disputes. Notably, cases involving personality rights exhibit the most extended average duration, whereas those concerning family rights display the shortest. In addition, using a set of quantitative indicators of regulatory complexity at the topic level, we show that complexity matters in determining dispute time duration. From a policy perspective, these findings carry noteworthy implications regarding resource allocation across sectors of judicial administration and foster regulatory simplification.

ABSTRACT. Per migliorare il funzionamento del sistema della giustizia civile è stato rafforzato, con le risorse del PNRR, l’ufficio per il processo (UPP), una struttura organizzativa a supporto dell’attività dei giudici. Utilizzando i dati del Ministero della Giustizia, alcuni di origine amministrativa e altri raccolti attraverso apposite rilevazioni, il presente lavoro esamina gli effetti di questo investimento sulla capacità di smaltire i procedimenti, abbattere l’arretrato e ridurre i tempi dei processi negli uffici giudiziari di primo grado. I tribunali che hanno avuto un numero di addetti all’UPP, in rapporto alla domanda di giustizia, superiore alla mediana hanno incrementato di circa il 4 per cento il numero dei procedimenti definiti, rispetto agli altri. L’effetto differenziale è stato più forte per i procedimenti nelle materie caratterizzate, in media, da una durata più elevata. L’impatto è stato, inoltre, più forte nei tribunali che erano ex-ante più efficienti. La maggiore capacità di definire i processi, e in particolare quelli più complessi, si è riflessa positivamente anche sull’abbattimento dell’arretrato e sulla durata dei procedimenti.

ABSTRACT. This paper analyzes for the first time the link between fiscal decentralization and corruption in 103 provinces located in Italy with a panel data covering the period 2004−2019. We employ a FE panel data model with IV for fiscal decentralization and after we compare with a FE spatial model to account for spatial spillover effects. We use robust SE and the GMM option. Results show that fiscal decentralization increases corruption, contrarily to regular immigration and the quality of the judiciary system that is significant and positive. Activity rate is subject to the spatial dependence. Internationalization is not determinant for the relationship, indeed social capital plays a negative effect and underlines some negative spillover effects.

ABSTRACT. In this paper, using a set of explanatory variables (enforcement variables, legal gambling, crime rate, income, education, unemployment and other socioeconomic and demographic variables) we aim to investigate the determinants of illegal gambling in the Italian provinces (NUTS-3 level), over the period 2015-2023, driven by the two following research questions: i) what are the main determinants of the illegal gambling market in Italy over the period, and ii) whether legal gambling acts as a substitute of illegal gambling or represents a further incentive for illegal gamblers Italy represents a compelling case study because of the strong presence of organized crime systems (Scarpinato, 2008) in the illegal markets. Although previous studies on the .dynamics of gambling exist, no other study, as far as we know, has evaluated the socio-economic-demographic correlates of illegal gambling patterns in Italy. The results of this study might have important implications in order to develop sound policies related to gambling in the country.

ABSTRACT. We present a machine learning approach to predict local governments infiltrated by mafias in Italy, based on the dismissal of city councils infiltrated by organized crime from 2001 to 2020. We successfully predict up to 96% of out-of-sample municipalities previously identified as infiltrated by mafias: Concentrating every year on a small subset of high-risk municipalities (i.e. 4.5%), our index correctly identifies infiltrated municipalities without being too costly on the side of false positives. Second, we flag high-risk municipalities identified as infiltrated by our index but never investigated by the Italian state, as a group of municipalities suitable for targeted investigations. We then apply this measure to investigate a research question requiring time-varying granular data on mafia influence on politics: whether redistributive policies encouraging economic growth in depressed areas (European Union transfers) affect mafia infiltration in politics. Employing a Difference-in-Discontinuities design, we find a substantial and lasting increase in the predicted risk of mafia infiltration (up to 14 p.p.), emphasizing the risks of delivering aid where criminal organizations can appropriate public funds. This index can be used by policymakers to improve the detection of organized crime infiltration in politics and by researchers interested in investigating ties between mafia and politics.

ABSTRACT. This paper examines the efficacy of a multilevel governance model where central governments design and fund policies, but implementation is carried out by local authorities. Using the case of childcare funding in Italy under the Recovery and Resilience Plan, we explore the effectiveness of this decentralized approach. Despite substantial allocations intended to increase childcare coverage to 33% by 2027, our findings indicate significant underutilization of these funds in 2022. The research employs an order logit estimator to analyze how local demand and supply factors influence the implementation outcomes. Results suggest that variations in local conditions, such as existing childcare facilities and female employment rates, are critical in determining the ability of municipalities to meet centrally set targets. The study underscores the necessity for policy adjustments that more accurately account for these local differences, proposing a more tailored approach to governance that could enhance the effectiveness of public funding and policy objectives.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates the link between childcare availability and female employment in Italy. It utilizes multilevel logistic regression analysis on combined data from labour force and municipal childcare surveys. The results demonstrate a positive association between childcare availability and mother’s probability of being employed. However, the strength of this association varies according to mother’s educational attainment. The study also explores potential outcomes of policy interventions. Scenarios based on achieving EU targets and utilizing National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) investments in childcare services predict significant increases in mothers’ employment probabilities. Under the EU 2010 target, set by the Barcelona European Council in 2002, the current national value of 55.4% in the employment probability would increase of 1.8 percentage points, through higher gains in regions currently lacking childcare services. Under the most pessimistic scenario with NRRP investments, the national increase in employment probability would be 2.4 percentage points. These results emphasize the importance of childcare policies in promoting female labour force participation and gender equality in the labour market. The study offers insights for policy strategies that support women’s employment and work-life balance, ultimately contributing to economic growth, well-being and social inclusion.

ABSTRACT. Due to mobility restrictions, the Covid-19 pandemic impacted older adults’ travel habits, including the use of public transportation. The three-fold aim of this paper is to study: (i) the factors influencing the pre-Covid choice of using public transports to reach healthcare and socialisation places; (ii) the seniors’ propensity to increase the post-Covid use frequency of public transports; and (iii) the interplay between the two above choices. Primary data on seniors’ mobility were collected during the pandemic in three Northern-Italy cities. The use of public transportation to reach essential destinations is influenced by age, gender, mobility capital, and built environment. Increasing post-Covid usage of public transports is more likely for ICT-literate seniors living close to stops/stations and in neighbourhoods with poor services. Highly-correlated unobserved features imply that mobility choices by seniors are linked, thus advocating policies to enhance the accessibility to places for medical care and social participation in later life.

ABSTRACT. What is the role of politicians’ age in explaining environmental public spending at the local level? We answer this question by focusing on the Italian context and looking at the problem through the lens of generation. By employing a FE specification and a sharp regression discontinuity design (RDD) in close elections between mayors belonging to different generations (Silent and Babyboomers vs Generation X and Millenials), we show that municipalities with mayors of older generations are characterised by higher environmentrelated expenditure. Additional evidence shows that this result is driven by a higher disposal of unsorted waste. An interesting heterogeneity in the effect exists with respect to the age of the population: the generational gap in environmental-related expenditures is more pronounced in municipalities with a younger population. We argue that the increased environmental spending by older mayors might indicate a lower concern for the environment, which leads to decreased efficiency in waste management, particularly in younger municipalities, which are characterised by a higher level of waste per capita compared to older ones.

ABSTRACT. Differing attitudes towards environmental issues between men and women as policymakers may affect policies and actions. Accordingly, this research analyses the issue of the causal relationship between women politicians and the level of air pollution. The analysis tests for this in Italy, exploiting a gender quota measure (Law 215/2012) as an exogenous shock to the percentage of female municipal councilors. Difference-indifferences instrumental variable approach finds that an increase in the percentage of female councilors decreases the maximum number of days in which at least one type of monitoring stations (among all the stations installed in the provincial capital municipality) has detected an excess of PM10 with respect to its daily limit. This research provides evidence of the most likely mechanism driving the results by proving that an increase in female officeholders has a positive impact on a number of environmental friendly policies and measures (as the bicycle lanes, the urban green, the bike- and carsharing services, district heating and traffic blockage) aimed at reducing the harmful air particles.

ABSTRACT. Do environmental taxes effectively reduce CO2 emissions? What is the role of political institutions in improving environmental quality? The existing empirical literature addresses these two issues separately, and the evidence in both cases seems to be not conclusive. In this paper, we analyze whether and how the relationship between environmental taxes and CO2 emissions depends on the quality of political institutions. Focusing on a sample of 39 countries in the period 1996-2018, we find that an increase in the environmental tax revenue is related to a reduction in environmental degradation only in countries where there are high-quality political institutions, i.e., well-consolidated democracy, relevant civil society participation, and less corrupted government. In order to shed light on this evidence, we look at individual beliefs. Our individual-level analysis, based on survey data from both the World and the European Social Survey, shows that high levels of democracy and civil society participation lead to observe a negative and statistically significant relationship between environmental taxes and agreement on cheating on taxes. At the same time, with low levels of political corruption, environmental taxes are negatively related to the unwillingness to accept taxation as a means of preventing environmental pollution.

ABSTRACT. This study explores the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on wage disparities across English local labor market, precisely at Travel to Work Areas (TTWAs) level. Leveraging spatial disparities and the heterogeneous nature of COVID-19 case rates, we create a series of treatment scenarios to capture the effects of the pandemic. Utilizing a threshold-based approach and employing difference-in-differences analyses, this study assesses how fluctuations in COVID-19 incidence rates influence wage gaps, particularly focusing on standard deviation and mean incidence rates of COVID-19 cases. In our main analysis we exclude data from 2020 and 2021 to avoid distortions caused by immediate pandemic responses such as lockdowns and furlough policies, providing a clearer view of the pandemic’s enduring effects on the labor market. We find that TTWAs with higher variability in COVID-19 incidence rates experience significantly wider wage gaps, indicating that economic volatility exacerbated by the pandemic disproportionately affects wage structures. Additionally, the comprehensive examination of the entire period from 2016 to 2023 confirms the lasting impacts of the pandemic on wage disparities. Refinement of the DiD model through propensity score matching (PSM), event study and other sensitivity analysis ensures the robustness of our results.

ABSTRACT. The debate on whether environmental regulations stimulate innovation or green technology adoption is central to environmental economics. It raises the question of whether incumbent firms adapt or if the shift towards cleaner practices is driven by new market entrants.This study explores these potential heterogeneities using the Italian data on industrial plant covered by the European Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS). The shock on free allowances provision in the beginning of the third phase is an instrument to examine the consequences of reduced free allowances for certain sectors in contrast to those that maintain their existing allocation. By using an indicator of emission intensity based on quantity, this paper shows that the presence of FA foster the entry of dirtier producers in the market and on the other hand, the cut in FA provision encourage the entry of dirtier producers. Incumbents, however, largely stick to their existing technologies, showing limited response to increased regulatory pressures.

ABSTRACT. The UK Coronavirus Job Retention scheme (CJRS) was a temporary scheme designed to protect the economy supporting jobs and avoiding the social fallout of the COVID 19 crisis. It supported the incomes of workers, mitigated workers’ financial hardship, and presumably affected workers’ psychological distress. The aim of this paper is to explore the association between labour market status and individuals’ psychological distress. In particular, we investigate whether the CJRS is able to mitigate individuals’ psychological distress, especially for individual perceiving neighbourhood social cohesion deprivation. Using April-July 2020 data from the UK Understanding Society COVID-19 survey, we find that (i) a continuous employment status is associated with better mental health outcomes; (ii) the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is able to mitigate psychological distress; (iii) individuals experiencing neighbourhood social cohesion deprivation appear to benefit more (in terms of distress reduction) from the CJRS than individuals living in more cohesive neighbourhoods.