Italian Economic Journal最新文献

We document how firm dynamics differ for firms located in the South versus the Center-North of Italy, using the universe of private sector firms with at least one employee over the last three decades. Controlling for industry fixed-effects, we find that in both areas of the country firms’ age and size negatively correlate with their growth, but this negative correlation is much stronger in the South. Also, Southern firms show markedly higher unconditional entry and exit rates, but the decrease in the exit rates of larger and older firms is stronger in the South than in the rest of the country, a fact that suggests a lower level of selection faced by incumbent firms in Southern regions. These empirical facts point to structural differences in the selection and growth dynamics of Southern firms with respect to the rest of the country that go beyond different sectoral specializations, and call for decisive reforms to the institutional environment—judicial and bureaucratic—as well as for the need of a significant increase in human capital.

Drawing on insights from various fields within game theory literature, such as strategic interactions, social dilemmas, gift exchange, and procedural utility, we argue that corporate social responsibility (CSR) and relational skills—whether between firms, employers and workers, among workers themselves, or with stakeholders—are associated with positive effects on productivity. We test this hypothesis using a comparative approach across small, medium, and large Italian firms, leveraging data from the 2019 CSR survey conducted by the Italian Statistical Institute (ISTAT). Our analysis reveals that firm size plays a crucial role in the impact of relational skills on added value per worker, even after controlling for relevant factors. Key components of relational skills identified in our study include corporate policies focusing on workers' well-being, prioritizing teamwork attitudes in recruitment, supporting initiatives within the local productive network, and involving stakeholders in CSR initiatives. Our findings indicate that stakeholder engagement positively impacts all firm sizes, while worker well-being is particularly significant for small and medium firms, local network initiatives for medium and large firms, and teamwork for medium-sized firms. Instrumental variable estimates find evidence of a causal link beyond these correlations. We conclude that firm size exhibits an inverse U-shaped effect on the impact of teamwork skills, reduces the influence of gift exchange mechanisms, and strengthens the effects of investments in the local productive environment on added value per worker.

This work examines how workplace employee organizations causally affect the adoption of advanced digital technologies in Italy. It does so by using information from the survey “Rilevazione Imprese e Lavoro” conducted by the National Institute for Public Policy Analysis on a nationally representative sample of Italian firms in the non-agricultural private sector in 2018. It shows that workplace employee organizations increase the probability of advanced digitalization by around 15 percentage points per year, and the number of different technologies adopted by 0.41. The empirical strategy follows an IV approach that eliminates simultaneity bias and builds upon a lagged internal instrument combined with a NUTS-3 measure of altruism—namely, per capita blood donations. Results survive when cybersecurity is excluded from the analysis and prove robust when the internal instrument is left alone, combined with an index of tolerance or with propensity score matching.

Using microdata from the Labour Force Survey (2009–2019) and special Labour Force Surveys conducted in 2007, 2013, and 2020 in Italy, this study examines (i) whether immigrants are more likely than native-born workers to experience occupational injuries and job-related health problems and (ii) the effects of immigration on the allocation of occupational risks. We also contribute to the literature in this context by considering differences between natives and immigrants that may exist outside individual characteristics (age, gender), such as education, the age at which immigrants entered Italy and the length of stay. We find that immigrants are involved in riskier and more unsafe tasks; moreover, immigration in the last decade has led to a reduction in the average physical burden of native-born workers. Our results have important policy implications because they might be weighed against the racist sentiments of the local community.

Fertility responses to economic downturns differ among subpopulations. Whether the relationship between employment and fertility varies according to ethnic origin, and if so, how, are issues that have yet to be sufficiently acknowledged in empirical studies. It is well known that economic conditions affect childbearing, but little is known about how macro-level nonnationals’ fertility was affected by the economic crisis. This study accounts for the effects by comparing the fertility responses of nonnationals with nationals (in terms of ‘quantum’ and ‘tempo’), while assessing the role of compositional changes on the decline of nonnationals’ fertility before, during and after the recession in Italy. It also determines whether and how responses to economic conditions differentially affected the fertility of nonnationals and nationals based on the stage of the recession. We built a regional-level panel dataset for the period 2006–2018 and estimated several ordinary least squares regression models with regional and calendar year fixed effects to control for unobserved regional and period characteristics. Results show that nonnationals’ fertility responses were procyclical and more responsive to male than female unemployment. Fertility behaviours also responded to compositional effects, such as the increase in the stock of nonnational women coming from Eastern Europe and mixed marriages. The procyclical effect was stronger after 2009, primarily for nonnationals. Another important finding is that the greatest reduction in fertility was linked to age-specific unemployment among nonnational women aged 20–24 and 25–29. Finally, fertility responses of nationals were weaker independently of the observed unemployment measures.

We use data on Italian road accidents involving pedestrians in the period 2000–2016 to study the link between social capital and the driver’s decision to flee. Running away is a serious crime which affects the victim’s probability to survive after the accident. We merge detailed police records on road accidents with data on social capital at the province level and find a strong negative correlation between social capital and the decision to run away. The analysis is in line with previous studies suggesting that social capital is an important driver of human behaviour even in situations characterized by strict time constraints and dramatic psychological conditions.

When browsing the Internet, web users tend to accept all cookies even though this may threaten their online security. We apply a salience nudge and a framing nudge to the design of a cookie banner and test their individual and combined effectiveness in fostering rejection of unnecessary cookies in an online experiment (N = 358). The salience nudge makes the rejection button more visible, and the framing nudge phrases button labels as negations. Compared to the control with no nudges, which elicited a rejection rate of 27%, the salience nudge increased rejection rate by 7 percentage points (but p = 0.305), the framing nudge by 18 pp (p = 0.009), and the combination of the two by 53 pp (p < 0.0001). We also find that, when users are offered a customization option rather than the rejection button, only 3% of them select the option and reject non-necessary cookies. Finally, we explore how cookie rejection is related to the time users spend making the decision and to their personality traits. Our findings suggest that cookie rejection can indeed be fostered by an appropriate design of cookie banners and that legislation for protecting the online security of users should introduce specific design guidelines.

Do Geographical Indications (GIs) have an impact on local export dynamics? This paper uses a panel geo-referenced dataset and a quasi-experimental approach based on Propensity Score Matching and Difference in Differences methods. Specifically, the study focuses on the impact of the European GI scheme on the wine sector export dynamics of Italian municipalities. Findings suggest that GIs positively impact wine export performance. Additionally, the positive impact of GIs spills over to the overall agri-food sector: taking similar non-GI municipalities as a benchmark, GI municipalities saw a higher increase in the value, volume, and unit value of export both in the wine and the overall agri-food sector. The positive impact involves both extra- and intra-EU trade flows and it is confirmed for rural areas as well for municipalities belonging to regions with weak institutions.

Cultural activities are greatly beneficial to older individuals but, unfortunately, many still face significant barriers that limit their ability to enjoy the arts. To tackle this issue, we have analysed data from an Italian audience development and engagement program for seniors, which was implemented at local level. By using an agent-based model, we discuss the potential effectiveness of audience development policies before implementation. Our research shows that social policies aimed at promoting cohesion and creating personal relationships can significantly increase the success of such initiatives. Moreover, our findings underline the importance of implementing targeted policies and engaging key individuals to ensure that older people can access and enjoy cultural activities.

We study the response of consumption to anticipated and unanticipated liquidity gains using information on gifts (occasional and recurrent) and severance pay from the Italian Household Income and Wealth survey. Consistent with standard intertemporal consumption models, we find that unanticipated income shocks affect nondurable consumption while anticipated shocks have no effect. In the former case, the marginal propensity to consume is estimated to be around 7%. We find also that this consumption response is stronger for poor households (around 10%) and negligible for rich ones.