Search results for " economic structure"
showing 4 items of 4 documents
La Tecnologia. Struttura economica e produttività
2012
Il capitolo indaga l'evoluzione della struttura produttiva in 24 paesi del mediterraneo dal 1980 al 2010 e valuta come il cambiamento strutturale è associato a variazioni della produttività nei diversi paesi e settori. The chapter offers and inquiry into the evolution of the economic structure of 24 Mediterranean countries from 1980 to 2010 and examines how structural change is associated to productivity growth in different sectors and countries.
Extortion, firm's size and the sectoral allocation of capital
2014
Extortion of firms is a typical activity of organized crime such as Mafia. We develop a simple principal-agent model to find the Mafia-optimal extortion as a function of firm’s observable characteristics, specifically firm’s size. We test the predictions of the model on a unique dataset on extortion in Sicily, the Italian region where Mafia is most active. Our empirical findings show that i) extortion moderately increases with firm’s size ii) extortion is regressive, the average extortion rate ranging from approximately 40% of operating profits for small firms to 2% for large firms iii) extortion turns average cost function decreasing, therefore influencing market competition
Growth Volatility and the Structure of the Economy
2011
The aim of the chapter is twofold: (i) to propose a methodology to compute the growth rate volatility of an economy and (ii) to investigate the relationship between growth volatility and economic development through the lenses of the structural characteristics of an economy. We study a large cross-section of countries in the period 1970–2009, controlling for the stability of the estimates in two subperiods: 1970:1989 (Period I) and 1990:2009 (Period II). Our main findings are (i) the degree of trade openness has a destabilizing effect, while the degree of financial openness has not a significant effect; (ii) the size of the public sector displays a U-shaped relationship with growth volatili…
Economic Structure and Vulnerability to Organised Crime: Evidence from Sicily
2008
The economic analysis of organised crime suggests that some economic activities are particularly vulnerable to penetration by criminal organisations. This paper provides an analysis of the structure of the Sicilian economy and shows that, when compared with other Italian regions, it is characterised by a disproportionate presence of such activities. In particular, the economy of Sicily appears characterised by: (i) a large dimension of traditional sectors, such as the Construction sector, which also has a strong territorial specificity; (ii) a large presence of small firms; (iii) a low level of technology; (iii) a large public sector. The joint presence of these features creates fertile soi…