Quality, independence and efficiency are the key components of effective justice systems, a crucial condition to ensure the proper functioning of important drivers of growth in the EU. This paper focuses on judicial efficiency and investigates the impact of certain structural reforms affecting...

This report aimed to assess the main dimensions of work attitudes in the European Union and in a selected sample of extra-EU countries, by analysing several data sources in a comparative way. Some preliminary conclusions can be drawn. It seems that countries at different stages of industrial...

Over the past 20 years, Italy has realised changes in labour legislation, leading to a decentralisation of wage bargaining and increased flexibility in labour relations. Both these factors have helped to curb wage growth and to enhance employment growth, but have also led to a crisis in Italian...

We analyse Italy’s research evaluation exercise to discuss the issue of evaluating re-search in economics. We claim that evaluation and its criteria, together with its linkage to research institutions’ financing, are likely to affect the direction of research, in a problematic way. We claim...

Changes in social patterns and in social policies have profoundly transformed the Italian family and society. New technological and economic conditions have challenged the old pattern of production, employment and labour standards. Italy’s response has been a “limping...

The Italian case can be considered as an internationally relevant example to suggest a critical reflection on the evaluation criteria adopted in research assessment exercises, pointing at the need of clear and shared guidelines based on transparency and accountability and aiming at preserving...

We analyze Italy's recent research evaluation exercise (VTR) as a salient example in discussing some internationally relevant issues emerging from the evaluation of research in economics. We claim that evaluation and its criteria, together with its linkage to research institutions' financing,...

This chapter deals with the empirical testing of the potential trade-off between flexibility and productivity growth by using firm-level data. The model of reference relies on various works by Sylos-Labini, The model is estimated on data from the 9th “Indagine sulle imprese manifatturiere”,...

The economic policy debate on the pension system’s reform process in Italy has been on the forefront for more than a decade, and an increase in the role of funded private pillars has been often suggested. In this paper we focus on a specific way for enlarging such pillars: the partial opting...

Income inequality raises serious problems because of its extent and its features. This paper starts from the empirical evidence on trends in disposable income inequality in the major OECD countries, distinguishing the roles played by market inequalities and by public redistribution. It then goes...