We study determinants of the probability of introducing an organizational innovation using three large cross sections of Italian manufacturing firms in the period 1995-2003. We analyze the effect and complementarity of other types of investments, like ICT, R&D, human and physical capital and the...

In this report we contribute to the growing debate about how the introduction of technology affects labour demand. First, we provide some background of the main theoretical frameworks (SBTC and RBTC) used by researchers to explain recent changes in the employment distribution. Second, we review...

The Commission i2010 policy framework, by calling for an inclusive Information Society and by stressing the importance of demonstrating tangible impacts, has set in motion an important process in the domain of eInclusion. A landmark in this process was the 2006 Riga Declaration where the...

The importance of reducing the incidence of low achievement is clearly recognized by the European Union, which - within its strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training - has set the objective of reducing the share of low-achieving 15- year-olds in mathematics, reading...

Competition in public utility sectors has been encouraged in recent years throughout Europe. In this paper we try and analyse the welfare effects of these reforms in Italy, with particular attention to water and energy goods. The first step is to introduce a sensible measure of affordability of...

This article aims at analyzing the link between subsidiaries' capital structure and taxation in Europe. First we introduce a trade-off model, which studies a MNCs' financial strategy and shows how debt policy allows multinational groups to shift profits from low-tax to high-tax jurisdictions. By...

In this paper we investigate the way consumption changes around retirement in Italy. Using micro data covering the 1985-96 period, we find that consumption age patterns are similar to those found in the US and other developed countries, despite the much more wide-spread cohabitation of different...

Tax competition has long been studied using panel models. According to this approach, each country’s tax rate is assumed to depend on a weighted average of the tax rates applied in the rest of the world, where weights are exogenous. As a consequence, the estimated reaction functions of...

The mothballing option has been studied in the literature, but mainly in decision theoretic frameworks. This paper looks at it from a strategic point of view and applies it to an incumbent-entrant framework. In particular, based on the recent strategic interactions between OPEC and the shale oil...