Procrastination produces harmful effects for human capital investments and studying activities. Using data from a large sample of Italian undergraduates, we measure procrastination with the actual behaviour of students, considering the delay in finalizing their university enrolment procedure. We...

We analyze how overconfidence is affected by superstitious beliefs and emotions induced by positive and negative stimuli in a field experiment involving about 700 Italian students who were randomly assigned to numbered seats in their written examination sessions. According to widespread...

We analyze the effect of gender quotas on electoral participation by using a rich dataset of Italian municipal elections. Gender quotas were in force in Italy from 1993 until 1995. Because of the short period covered by the reform, some municipalities never voted using gender quota. This allows...

We analyze how the absence behavior of Italian public sector employees has been affected by a law, passed in June 2008, reducing sick leave compensation and increasing monitoring. We use micro data on 889 workers employed in public administration. We find that the employees’ probability of...

This paper utilizes the Efige data (2007-2009) to identify the determinants of university-industry cooperation in five European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK). We use a probit model for firm level data which incorporates variables of innovation activities and traditional...

This paper analyses the influence of universities on Italian firm TFP at the provincial level separating the effects of main university functions, such as the creation of knowledge through research, the creation of human capital through teaching and the technology transfer. Overall, results show...

This paper aims to provide a contribution to the debate on the effectiveness of cohesion policies in Italy. The focus is on the territorial effects of EU spending from 1996 to 2007. The empirical analysis is based on the estimate of an expanded neoclassical growth model in which the Structural...

This paper analyses the influence of universities on Italian firms’ probability to innovate. Using firm-level data, we focus on institutionalised technology transfer (TT) activities in universities, namely spin-offs, patents and research contracts. Results show that TT activities play a...

In a simple theoretical model we show that impatience affects academic performance through two different channels: impatient students spend less effort in studying activities and set less ambitious objectives in terms of grades at exams. As a consequence, the relationship between impatience and...

Product quality is often unobservable ex-ante and consumers rely on experts’ judgments, sometimes coming under the form of ratings or awards. Do awards affect consumers’ choices or they are conferred to the most popular products? To disentangle this issue, we use data of the most important...