This paper presents an application of the hedonic approach to measure the monetary price of social relations. We use micro data for housing and labor markets in the 103 Italian province capitals to estimate the price of relational amenities and construct monetary indices of quality of relational...

The effect of unemployment on mortality is the object of a lively literature. However, this literature is characterized by sharply conflicting results. We revisit this issue and suggest that the relationship might be non-linear. We use data for 265 territorial units (regions) within 23 European...

This paper presents an application of the hedonic approach to measure the monetary price of social relations. We use individual-level data for housing and labor markets in 103 Italian cities to estimate the price of relational amenities and construct monetary indexes of quality of relational...

The empirical validation of the purchasing power parity (PPP) theory is generally based on real exchange rates built using consumer price indexes (CPI). The empirical evidence does not generally support the theory and this fact goes under the name of purchasing power parity puzzle. In this paper...

This paper investigates the response of the shadow economy to banking crises. Our empirical analysis, based on a large sample of countries, suggests that the informal sector is a powerful buffer, which expands at times of banking crises and absorbs a large proportion of the fall in official...

We investigate the empirical determinants of social pacts over the 1970–2004 period. We adopt a political economy approach, showing that governments are more likely to sign a pact when the cost of a conflict with trade unions is relatively larger. Such a cost depends on macroeconomic variables...

C<sc>olombo</sc> E., M<sc>ichelangeli</sc> A. and S<sc>tanca</sc> L. <italic>La dolce vita</italic>: hedonic estimates of quality of life in Italian cities, <italic>Regional Studies</italic>. This paper investigates quality of life in Italian cities using the hedonic approach. It analyses micro-level data for housing and labour markets to estimate...

The effect of unemployment on mortality is the object of a lively literature. However, this literature is characterized by sharply conflicting results. We revisit this issue and suggest that the relationship might be non-linear. We use regional (NUTS 2) data from 23 European countries to...

Is government size the desirable response to macroeconomic risk, or it is the consequence of distorted political incentives with adverse effects on macroeconomic volatility? This paper reconsiders the mutual interdependence between government size and growth volatility in a large sample of...

We present an empirical model where output growth volatility and government expenditure are jointly endogenous and both are affected by policies and institutions. We ¯nd that output volatility increases government expenditure, but higher expenditure, causes greater out-put volatility. This...