We empirically investigate the determinants of the female decision of investing in post secondary education, focusing on the role played by the context where young women take their education decision. We first develop a stylized two-period model to analyze the female decision of investing in...

In this paper we address the following four questions: is it reasonably correct to assume that the government is benevolent and competent? Has state intervention through taxation and transfers negative effects on individual incentives? In a context of limited information, are political failures...

The paper characterizes the optimal tax policy and the optimal quality of day care services in a OLG model with warm-glow altruism where parental choices over child care arrangements affect the probability that the child becomes a high-skilled adult in a type-speciffc way. With respect to...

This paper discusses how the analysis of the role and impact of the welfare state has evolved over time in the economic literature. We stress the change in focus from the insurance to the redistributive role and we try to assess whether the dominant view according to which the welfare state is...

We provide a long term perspective on the individual retirement behavior and on the future of retirement by emphasizing the role of (negative) income effects. We consider a political economic theoretical framework, with actuarial "fair" and "unfair" early retirement schemes, and derive a...

Focusing on three areas of the world (Asia, Latin America and New EU Members), which have recently experienced a democratic as well as economic transition, we explore the relation between political variables and tax revenue, public spending and their structure. We build a new dataset for the...

Evidence from Eurobarometer polls suggest that, although increasing retirement age is not a policy which enjoys the support of the majority of citizens in Europe, if combined with labor market incentives offered by the firms to the elderly (gradual retirement, training, etc.) it is widely...