Sviluppo economico e sviluppo umano: una nota sulla classificazione ONU di alcuni paesi

Economic convergence vs. socio-economic convergence in space

This paper aims to present a new analysis framework for assessing disparities among regions (or countries). It combines both economic and social variables, where the economic attributes refer in particular to marked differences in consumption variables. This analysis is also appealing for spatial convergence analyses over time. In our paper, both economic and social variables are included as the basis of a logical operational scheme that is suitable for comparative research. In this scheme the economic aspects of living standards are represented by different categories of consumption expenditures, while the social aspects are represented by indicators of health, education, labour market con…

Geographical distribution of unemployment in Italy. An Analysis of provincial differences in Italy

Unemployment rates appear to vary widely at a subregional (e.g., local or provincial) level. Using spatial econometric models for spatial autocorrelation, this paper focuses attention on the spatial structure of regional unemployment disparities of Italian provinces. On the basis of findings from the economic literature and of the available socio-economic data, various model specifications, including different explanatory variables, are tested to investigate the geographical distribution of unemployment in the 103 provinces of Italy for the years 1998 and 2003. The results suggest that there is a clear explanation of unemployment differentials in terms of spatial equilibrium and disequilibr…

Persistency and convergence among EMP countries: a semi parametric approach

Composition of families and subjective economic well-being: an application to Italian context

Using Italian data on Income and Living Conditions for the year 2005, the paper explores empirically whether the determinants of subjective economic well-being (SEW) differ (or not) in four representative typologies of households. By means of a Partial Proportional Ordered Logit Model the subjective economic well-being – proxied by the capacity of households to make ends meet – has been explored. Results highlight the variables acting on SEW, common to each typology, are related both to economic status (specifically, the capacity to pay taxes and to afford housing, clothes and holiday expenditures) and to socio-demographic status (specifically, the work-status and the highest level of educa…

Family Structure and Subjective Economic Well-Being: Some New Evidence

The paper investigates the main socio-demographic and economic determinants of subjective economic well-being in different typologies of households. Previous studies have used dummy variables to explore the effect of family structure. In this paper, however four different models—one for each family typology—have been estimated to test if each selected explanatory variable is significant and how it acts in determining the level of subjective economic well-being. To achieve this, we apply an under-used logit model—the partial proportional ordered model. Our analysis, based on data from the 2005 Italian Survey on Income and Living Conditions highlights the main variables affecting the subjecti…

Efficiency and Productivity of Italian Touris Destinations: A Quantitative Estimation Based on Data Envelopment Analysis and the Malmquist Method

This paper aims to provide a statistical analysis of the relative economic performance of Italian tourist areas. It uses two modelling approaches to estimate the competitiveness of these regions, viz. data envelopment analysis (DEA) and the Malmquist method. Our results show that the competitiveness position of several Italian regions has not improved over the years under consideration.

Measuring social capital by survey data: a proposal

EFFICIENCY AND PRODUCTIVITY OF ITALIAN TOURIST DESTINATIONS: A QUANTITATIVE ESTIMATION BASED ON DATA ENVELOPMENT ANALYSIS (DEA) AND THE MALMQUIST INDEX

The paper enrich the tourism literature by focussing on destination competitiveness and by providing a measure of competitiveness at regional level in terms of technical efficiency and total factor productivity.The main aim is to investigate whether tourist destinations operate efficiently; by using a non parametric method the paper assesses production frontiers and efficiency coefficients of alternative tourist destinations. Moreover the Malmquist productivity approach is used to measure the efficiency change of Italian regions between 1998 and 2001.

A Hierarchical Model for Analysing Consumption Patterns in Italy Before and During the Great Recession

The paper aims to explore how the Great Recession of the twenty-first century has impacted on the consumption behaviour of Italian households. Following a hierarchical approach, the study investigates differences in consumption behaviour at both household and regional levels. Using micro data on Italian Household Expenditure for the years 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2012, multilevel and two-step regression models have been estimated. The analysis has been performed for four different consumption categories: food, housing, work-related and leisure. The analysis reveals that the economic crisis led to increasing income elasticity for each category of consumption, especially for food, the most essent…

Oro Nero- Il sommerso di lavoro e il sommerso d'impresa nella Provincia di Palermo

Analysis of Spatial Disparities by a Structural Equations Model

This paper presents a new analytical framework for assessing spatial disparities among countries. It takes for granted that the analysis of a country’s performance cannot be limited solely to either economic or social factors. The aim of the paper is to combine relevant economic and non-economic (mainly social) aspects of a country’s performance in an integrated logical framework. Based on this idea, a structural simultaneous equation model will be presented and estimated in order to explore the direction of the causal relationship between the economic and the non-economic aspects of a country’s performance. Furthermore, an exploration of the trajectory that each country has registered over…

A spatial analysis of Italian unemployment differences

Using spatial econometric models, this paper focuses attention on the spatial structure of provincial unemployment disparities of Italian provinces for the year 2003. On the basis of findings from the economic literature and of the available socio-economic data, various model specifications including supply- and demand-side variables are tested. Further we use ESDA analysis as equivalent to integration analysis on time series; therefore it is applied on each variable, dependent and independent, involved in the statistical model. The suggestions of ESDA lead us to the most adequate statistical model, which estimates indicate that there is a significant degree of neighbouring effect (i.e. pos…

Measuring the quality of a scientific public research institution in Italy (2000-2003)

Le condizioni di genere

Effetti spaziali sulla disoccupazione delle province italiane (1993-2002)

Consumption Patterns and Family Life-Cycle. Some Evidence from Italy

As a social and economic entity the family is changing continuously. Changes in family size and composition have significant effects on the family decision making process. The Italian context is an interesting subject for research as a result of the impact of demographic and economic changes in the early 2000s on new family structures and economic behaviour. Furthermore, in Italy in contrast to the past, both men and women are aiming for job security and satisfaction before marrying and starting a family. In the light of that, it is particularly interesting to investigate if consumption behaviour changes along the life cycle stages. Considering different family life stages enables us to exp…

Measuring the performance of Italian Regions on social and economic dimensions

Sustainable tourist development in Italian holiday destinations

This paper argues that tourism, will become a major activity in a modern welfare state, which will have serious consequences for environmental sustainability. This issue calls for an assessment of the pros and cons of the ecological efficiency of tourism. We propose an overall efficiency indicator that comprises both a sustainable tourism index and an economic efficiency index. Based on a data set for Italian provinces and using Activity Analysis, a quantitative assessment of the relative position of Italian tourist destination areas is made from the perspective of sustainable tourism. Copyright © 2008 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Tourism sustainability and economic efficiency: a statistical analysis of Italian provinces

Assessment of Sustainable Well-being in the Italian Regions: An Activity Analysis Model

Applying the theoretical framework of productive analysis, the paper proposes an evaluation of regional sustainable well-being (SWB) in terms of efficiency. By means of an Activity Analysis Model (AA) (Fare et al., 1996), desirable and undesirable outcomes of development have been simultaneously used to evaluate the sustainable well-being of Italian regions. Data on equal and sustainable well-being provided by the Italian Statistical Office for the year 2010 has been used. The analysis reveals that only four regions achieve sustainable well-being, balancing socio-economic and environmental outcomes and resources. Finally, the study points out the advantages of AA for policy purposes by comp…

Dimensioni di benessere tra le famiglie italiane. Un’analisi sui dati EU-SILC 2005

Il presente lavoro, utilizzando le informazioni dell’indagine EU-SILC (European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions) del 2005 su 22.032 famiglie italiane, si pone come obiettivo l’analisi e la misura del benessere multidimensionale. Nel paragrafo 2 sono riportate le ipotesi teoriche, mentre nel paragrafo 3 è riportata l’analisi dei risultati e alcune considerazioni conclusive.

Traps and Surprises in Long Time Series. Considerations on Italian Living Standards after Unification

Using Italian time series since 1861, we explore the evolution of living standards of Italian population after the Unification. Furthermore, we investigate the informative capacity of the aforementioned series to discover suitable long-run relationships among the variables to be used for a further modelling. Notwithstanding, the dynamics and the statistical characteristics of series have dramatically changed – both within each time series and among all ones – some interesting results have been drawn on the evolution of Italian living standards.

Rapporto Emergendo: Dimensione e struttura del lavoro sommerso nella provincia di Caltanissetta

The determinants of subjective economic well-being: an analysis on Italian-Silc data

Using Italian data on Income and living conditions for the year 2005, the paper investigates the main determinants of households’ subjective economic well-being by means of a Partial Proportional Ordered Logit Model. According to a joint subjective and objective perspective of analysis, we use as dependent variable the perceived ability of households to make ends meet. Whereas, we use as explanatory variables some objective aspects of living conditions relating to housing, financial equilibrium, possession of durables and quality of residence place and some socio-demographic characteristics. The empirical results show that the financial strain is the most relevant dimension of living condit…

Life Cycle Consumption and the Great Recession

Using Italian Household Budget Survey data for the period 1997-2013, this paper estimates the life cycle profiles of consumption and cross-sectional variance in the Great Recession. The study examines age profiles for total and durable expenditure, and four subcomponents of non-durable expenditure. We document significant heterogeneity in the way the recession affects consumption and the variance within-cohorts. The crisis has entailed a fall in expenditure for the youngest cohorts, and a notable reduction of inequalities for the middle and oldest cohorts with some differences between high and low income elastic expenditure. We also found that socio-demographic factors account for a substan…

L'economia sommersa in Sicilia: stima del sommerso di lavoro e del sommerso di impresa nelle province di Palermo e Caltanissetta

SUSTAINABLE TOURIST DEVELOPMENT IN ITALIAN DESTINATIONS

Inequalities in Consumption Patterns over the Life Cycle and during the Great Recession

The aim of the study is to analyse the relationship between recession, population structure and consumption behaviour over the life cycle. To this aim, we consider three clusters of non-durable expenditures such as food at home, work-related and core expenditures. The analysis has been performed on micro data on the Household Budgets for the period 1997-2013. Based on life cycle theory, two statistical models has been estimated, viz. a pre-crisis (1997-2007) and a great recession period (2008-2013) model. The study shows that the recession has entailed a reduction of the average expenditure for each category of consumption, and the intensity of the reduction is different among households an…

Exploring wider well-being in the EU-15 countries: an empirical application of the Stiglitz Report

We draw on the recommendations of the Stiglitz Report to select a set of economic and social variables that can be used to make cross-country comparisons of wider well-being. Using data for the EU-15 countries for 1999 and 2005, we show how three-way analysis can be used to extract synthetic information from a large data set to determine the main latent explanatory factors. In our case, we identify one dominant factor that we term the development profile, which is positively associated with the level of education outputs, technological progress and female labour market participation and negatively associated with the level of pollution. We rank the countries according to this factor and com…

Measuring the quality of performance in CNR public research institutes: a comparison of methods

Regional consumption patterns in Italy: a Multilevel Approach

The measurement of economic, social and environmental performance of countries: a novel approach

This paper presents a new analytical framework for assessing spatial disparities among countries. It takes for granted that the analysis of a country's performance cannot be limited solely to either economic or social factors. The aim of the paper is to combine relevant economic and 'non-economic' (mainly social) aspects of a country's performance in an integrated logical framework. Based on this idea, a structural simultaneous equation model will be presented and estimated in order to explore the direction of the causal relationship between economic and non-economic aspects of a country's performance. Furthermore, an exploration of the trajectory that each country has registered over time …

Consumption Behaviour Across Regions: a Multilevel Approach.

Regional Inequalities in Consumption Patterns: A Multilevel Approach to the Case of Italy

Summary The main aim of this paper is to evaluate the disparities in the Italian regions on the demand side. In more detail, an attempt will be made to find if the consumption behaviour of Italian households is different in the regions. With this in mind, Istat's 2000 Italian Family Budget data set was analysed. The data in question, which were collected through a two-stage sample over Italy's 20 regions, contains information regarding the expenses of approximately 23,000 households. In this analysis, both households and regions are considered as units: households are nested in the regions so that the basic data structure is hierarchical. In order to take this hierarchical structure into ac…

What can we learn from Long Time Series? Italian Living Standards after Unification and Dualism North-South

Using Italian time series since 1861, we explore the evolution of living standards afterpolitical unification both at the national and at the territorial level. Firstly, we use univariate statistical analysis on homogeneous national time series. Secondly, we employ available homogeneous series at a disaggregated level to measure territorial disparities across regions and four macro-areas. Notwithstanding that time convergence occurred quite rapidly at the national level after WWII, territorial differences became more marked in the period 1936-1951, both in terms of material and social well-being.However, in the final decades of the 20th century disparities among the macro-areas declined, es…

Geographical Distribution of Unemployment: An Analysis of Provincial Differences in Italy

Unemployment rates appear to vary widely at a subregional (e.g., local or provincial) level. Using spatial econometric models for spatial autocorrelation, this paper focuses attention on the spatial structure of regional unemployment disparities of Italian provinces. On the basis of findings from the economic literature and of the available socio-economic data, various model specifications including different explanatory variables are tested to investigate the geographical distribution of unemployment in the 103 provinces of Italy for the years 1998 and 2003. The results suggest that there is a clear explanation of unemployment differentials in terms of spatial equilibrium and disequilibriu…

Efficiency and Productivity of Italian Tourist Destinations: A Quantitative Estimation Based on Data Envelopment Analysis and the Malmquidt Method

This paper aims to provide a statistical analysis of the relative economic performance of Italian tourist areas. It uses two modelling approaches to estimate the competitiveness of these regions, viz. data envelopment analysis (DEA) and the Malmquist method. Our results show that the competitiveness position of several Italian regions has not improved over the years under consideration.

Convergenza economica e mobilità territoriale

In questi ultimi anni è ripresa l’emigrazione dal Mezzogiorno. Secondo gli ultimi dati Svimez (2004) sarebbero 130mila le persone che, nel quinquennio 1996-2001, sono partite dalle loro regioni di residenza per cercar lavoro nelle regioni del Nord-Est o del Centro. Relativamente alla Sicilia, una indagine condotta dalla Scuola di Giornalismo di Palermo (Il Messaggero, 2004) prova a tracciare un profilo del “nuovo emigrante”: è un “pendolare” che raggiunge, prevalentemente con il pullman, le “mete ambite” (Lombardia, Emilia Romagna e Toscana, ma anche Germania, Belgio, Danimarca, Olanda) per poi far ritorno a casa dopo due o tre settimane o anche dopo due o tre mesi. I demografi parlano di “…