We analyse the risk of mafia capture of firms operating in the legal economy. Specifically, we study the relationship between firm performance and mafia infiltration. To overcome possible endogeneity concerns we exploit the abrupt drop in revenues caused by the (unexpected) Covid-19 related...

This paper examines how Medical Brain Drain (MBD) creates incentives for the production of doctors in the sending country (brain gain) and its effects on the health status of the local population. Using Bharghava-Docquier dataset I find no relation between MBD and rates of enrolment to medical...

The aim of this paper is to estimate the effects of the expansion of tertiary education supply on the educational choices of young Italian high school graduates. A quasi-experimental setting given by the reform of the tertiary education system implemented in 2001 is exploited. The reform was...

The paper seeks to investigate the relationship between job (in)security in the public sector and workers' self-selection between the private and public sector. Using data from the Italian Labour Force Survey for the years 2005-13, I show that a higher incidence of fixed-term contracts in the...

We theoretically show that when mothers need to buy childcare services not only if they work but also if they want to search actively for a job, a reduction in the price of childcare will increase their likelihood of searching but may decrease their willingness to accept a job offer and...

Household expenditures for children-related goods may change when one of the parent migrates and do so differently depending on whether it is the mother or the father that leaves. A sequential model that explains migration and budget allocation choices is proposed and its predictions are tested...

We exploit a gravity model to study the main determinants of cross-border financial flows and to identify those flows that appear to be abnormally above the predicted value. Our data include all Italian cross-border bank transfers that took place between 2007 and 2010. We find that, other things...