Improper quality adjustment has long been identified as a source of potential measurement bias in consumer price indices (CPIs). However, as no benchmark for quality adjustment exists, it has always been difficult to estimate a potential bias. For this paper, we develop a corridor in which...

We investigate the long-run relationship between organized crime and corruption using data from 20 Italian regions over 30 years. As Rose-Ackerman and Palifka (2018) argue, corruption and organized crime often go together. Our study contributes to the literature in several ways in terms of...

It is well-established that deaths peak in winter and show throughs in summer. However, it remains unclear how mortality patterns will unfold as the climate warms, bringing fewer cold days and more hot days. One concern is “harvesting,” where a short-term surge in deaths among the most...

Nuclear energy is a technology that has long been subject to controversy, shaped by major global events, shifting public opinion and volatile policy agendas. Among industrialised democracies, Italy is a particularly distinctive case. Following a pioneering role in the 1950s and an ambitious,...

This study investigates how entrepreneurship education delivered through school cooperatives can reduce early school dropout rates and prevent the NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) phenomenon. Drawing on social capital theory, we address the following research questions: (1) What...

In an increasingly digitalized work environment, the expectation of perpetual work availability-constant connectivity (CC)-has become central to employees' daily experiences, influencing productivity, well-being, and work-life balance. This study validates the Constant Connectivity Scale in the...

This paper estimates the causal effects of the Bologna Process reform in Italy, analyzing the impact of the introduction of the “3+2” degree structure at different stages of the educational system. We implement multiple Difference-in-Differences designs on a nationally representative dataset...

Care work has long remained marginal in economic history, despite its centrality to household survival and social reproduction. This paper contributes filling this gap by reconstructing a long-run wage series for paid care work, focusing on wetnurses employed by the Florentine foundling home...

This paper reviews a growing body of theoretical and empirical research on Italian populism through a detailed examination of the Five Star Movement (Movimento 5 Stelle, M5S), focusing on its experience in municipal elections. Using a wide range of administrative and survey data, as well as...

This study examines whether trade competition from low-wage countries (LWCs) influences immigration patterns in an advanced economy. We focus on Italy between 2003 and 2013, a period characterized by rising market pressure from China and Eastern Europe. Using census data on sectoral employment,...

We study the role of mayoral gender in attracting public funding in Italian municipalities. We exploit a novel administrative dataset containing detailed information on all projects aimed at the digitalisation of local public administrations and funded under Italy's National Recovery and...

This paper examines the unintended consequences of policies perceived as inequitable by leveraging Italy's Quota 100 pension reform, which denied early retirement to workers with identical contribution histories who did not meet an age cutoff. Using SHARE data and a difference-in-differences...

Brain drain, the emigration of highly skilled workers, is both a pressing policy issue and a cultural frame for examining how societies negotiate belonging, loss, and opportunity. Using data from X (formerly known as Twitter) across English, Spanish, and Italian debates, this study examines...

We explore how unexpected temporary increases in the demand for low-skill service jobs in the tourism industry impact educational choices in Italy. We identify exogenous variation in the demand for service jobs using positive shocks to the tourism industry caused by terrorist attacks in foreign...

The COVID-19 pandemic generated highly heterogeneous economic effects across territories, reflecting differences in local production structures and spatial organization. This paper examines the geography of short-run economic fragility during the first wave of the pandemic by identifying...

Vaccine hesitancy is a crucial public health issue worldwide. In this paper, we evaluate the causal impact of a vaccination-based access restriction policy on vaccine uptake by exploiting the introduction of the EU Digital COVID-19 Certificate at the country level. We compare two countries,...

We investigate the factors influencing the intended college major choices of high school students in Italy, ranking the relative importance of expected earnings, perceived ability, and major-specific tastes, that we measure directly using a Coller and Williams game. We find that major-specific...

This paper investigates the labour market consequences of motherhood in Italy, with a focus on how institutional and local contexts shape the child penalty. Using administrative data from the Italian National Social Security Institute (INPS), we track the labour market trajectories of mothers in...

We study the effects of salary caps for top public managers in Italy, focusing on the 2011 and 2014 reforms implemented during the post-crisis fiscal consolidation period. The first cap, set at €290,000 and later reduced to €240,000, imposed a 100% marginal tax rate above the threshold....

We study the role of mayoral gender in attracting public funding in Italian municipalities. We exploit a novel administrative dataset containing detailed information on all projects aimed at the digitalisation of local public administrations and funded under Italy's National Recovery and...

Natural hazards are an increasing concern, placing disaster preparedness and mitigation at the forefront of policy agendas. In this context, Italy’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) has allocated €3 billion for explicit disaster prevention, with a primary focus on hydrogeological risks...

Care work has long remained marginal in economic history, despite its centrality to household survival and social reproduction. This paper contributes filling this gap by reconstructing a long-run wage series for paid care work, focusing on wetnurses employed by the Florentine foundling home...

Italy's economic stagnation is a matter of fiscal, national, and European concern. Since a good remedy requires an accurate diagnosis, this paper summarises, compares, and evaluates the main explanations for this stagnation. After describing Italy's recent economic record, the paper reviews...

In this paper, I introduce new estimates of Anglo-Italian labour productivity levels in manufacturing during the late 1930s. The relatively high level of detail of the industrial censuses of the two countries, allows to retrieve also input data, enabling the use of the more sophisticated double...

We study the electoral repercussions of the L'Aquila earthquake in 2009, one of Italy's most catastrophic post-WWII seismic events. We construct a unique municipality-level dataset, combining high-resolution data on the ground acceleration recorded during the earthquake with European election...

We study the interaction between monetary and fiscal policies in the Euro Area, in particular the effect of monetary surprise shocks on real output and the price level under different fiscal sustainability regimes. We first estimate a time-varying Bohn (Q J Econ 113:949–963, 1998) rule using...

Using Italian data, we study whether their intended choice of college major is affected by the college major selected by family members. We find evidence of strong inter-generational persistence, especially in medicine and health professions, followed by economics and law, and STEM. The effects...

This paper investigates the implications of the European Union's revised fiscal governance framework for Italy, a country facing the dual challenge of high public debt and persistent economic stagnation. Using a Stock-Flow Consistent (SFC) macroeconometric model of the Italian economy (MITA), we...

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine marked the start of a prolonged confrontation between Moscow and Europe - one that is fundamentally reshaping the parameters of European security. The return of Donald Trump to the White House and his stated intent to quickly end the war in Ukraine and put...

We analyse the long-term impact of hiring subsidies on both job and employment security. The subsidy that we examine was introduced in Italy through the 2015 Budget Law, with the goal of promoting open-ended contracts. We employ a non-linear difference-in-differences (NL-DiD) approach within a...

The European Commission, Italy, and Greece are seeking to curb irregular migration through Libya. These efforts come at a time when several aspects of European Union (EU) migration policy in Libya must be acknowledged as having failed. This is particularly true of attempts to improve conditions...

AbstractSeasonal mortality fluctuations significantly affect national life expectancy, yet their role in regional inequalities remains underexplored. Understanding this is crucial for targeted health policies aimed at reducing spatial mortality differences. We quantify the impact of seasonal...

Following the Great Financial Crisis of 2008-2009, there has been a shift in mainstream economic policy modelling towards 'realism', with DSGE models partly diverging from the representative agent framework, and large-scale New Keynesian structural models addressing real-financial interactions...

This paper examines the evolution and determinants of skill-specific internal mobility among Italian citizens by urban–rural origin. Using administrative data from the Registry of Transfer of Residence (ADELE), which records the universe of skill-specific bilateral moves across more than 700...

This study examines whether trade competition from low-wage countries (LWCs) can influence immigration patterns in an advanced economy. We focus on Italy between 2003 and 2013, a period characterized by rising market pressure from China and Eastern Europe. Using census data on sectoral...

The prolonged career break around childbirth is one of the reasons behind large motherhood penalties in terms of pay and employment opportunities. We aim to understand what is driving the duration of career break in Italy, where it often remains longer than the five-month obligatory maternity...

This paper proposes a novel methodology to identify the geographic market of local newspapers when information on their diffusion is not available or is not sufficiently granular. We illustrate the methodology using historical data from 154 newly digitized newspapers published in Italy between...

The European Commission, Italy, and Greece are seeking to curb irregular migration through Libya. These efforts come at a time when several aspects of European Union (EU) migration policy in Libya must be acknowledged as having failed. This is particularly true of attempts to improve conditions...