Exploring the efficiency of Italian social cooperatives by descriptive and principal component analysis

Over the last decade, independent agencies, institutions and research centres (ISTAT—National Statistic Office, Ministry of Economic Development, Confcooperative Legacoop, Unioncamere) have provided studies on the evolution of the cooperative movement in the Third Sector in Italy in order to monitor the development of these organizations over time and to evaluate their economic and employment impact in the country. Following a similar path, this study analyzes the contribution of social cooperatives in Italy at a regional level, highlighting the differences related to their longevity and fields of activity. Moreover, the article evaluates the efficiency and profitability of the social cooperative by adopting principal component analysis to economic and financial indexes.     

An Empirical Study of the Impact of Corruption on Environmental Performance: Evidence from Panel Data

This paper extends the empirical debate on the effects of corruption on environmental degradation by considering a recently available measure of environmental quality, the Environmental Performance Index. This indicator is more comprehensive than the measures of air pollutant emissions commonly used in the literature and, in particular, can also capture the impact of pollution on human health. This allows for a better understanding of the actual effects of a wide range of human activities on the ecosystem. From a panel data analysis, two regularities emerge. First, corruption deteriorates the overall environmental quality. This effect is robust and persistent. Second, our findings highlight the improvement of environmental quality as income rises, even at an initial level of development. This is not in contradiction with the EKC hypothesis because an increase in income levels provides positive externalities on the whole environmental quality by compensating the mere negative effects induced by industrialization on the emission levels. As a consequence, in emerging economies, policies fighting corruption and enhancing development are very likely to improve the environmental performances.     

A CONVENIENT MULTISECTORAL POLICY CONTROL FOR ICT IN THE US ECONOMY

Through the application of the Macro Multiplier (MM) approach on an Input–Output matrix for US economy in year 2005, the paper identifies the ‘convenient’ structure of a policy control on final demand, oriented to a particular policy objective. The approach quantifies a set of aggregated scale effects, called MM, and the associated structures of both policy and objective variables. In this way the policy maker can both get a complete picture of the patterns of the objective that can be attained and determine a ‘convenient’ structure of the policy variable that compels the model towards those patterns.     

Formal education and public knowledge

In this paper, I examine the transitional dynamics of an economy populated by individuals who split their time between acquiring a formal education, producing final goods, and innovating.The paper has two objectives: (i) uncovering the macroeconomic circumstances that favored the rise of formal education; (ii) to reconcile the remarkable growth of the education sector with the constancy of other key macroeconomic variables, such as the interest rate, the consumption-output ratio, and the growth rate of per capita income (Kaldor facts).The transitional dynamics of human capital growth models, such as Lucas (1998), would attribute the arrival of education to the diminishing marginal productivity of physical capital. Conversely, the model proposed here suggests that it is the rate of learning that catches up with the rate of return on physical capital. As technical knowledge expands, the rate of return on education increases, inducing individuals to stay longer in school. The model's transitional paths are matched with long run U.S. educational and economic data.     

The changing nature of the OECD shadow economy

Traditionally, the presence of the shadow economy (SE) has been associated, mainly and positively, with taxation. Recently, some authors have suggested that the SE may be also linked to the institutional setting (efficiency of the bureaucracy, regulations, corruption, etc.) so that just two stable equilibria are possible. In the “good” one, there is a small hidden sector, large fiscal revenues and honest/appreciated institutions. The other, “bad”, equilibrium is the opposite. Unlike the traditional approach, therefore, the recent literature argues that the tax burden and SE can be negatively correlated. Examining the links between these variables in relatively uncorrupt systems, this paper reconciles the two views. Theoretically, it claims that many different good equilibria can emerge whereby SE and its determinants are linked in complex and different ways. For instance, taxation and SE can go hand-in-hand, even taking into account the institutional framework. Empirical evidence for OECD countries supports both the model and the changing nature of the SE.     

Advertising Self-regulation by Outsiders

Italian advertising self-regulation at present includes only independent members on its investigative and adjudicative bodies. Thus it represents the limit case of outside participation in such a system. This paper analyses the reasons for such a composition, as well as the criteria used in the selection of outside members. It points out that their presence has greatly contributed to the credibility and efficiency of the Italian advertising self-regulatory system. However, their severity risks undermining the confidence and support of the advertising industry. Several cases are quoted and discussed in order to illuminate their recent behaviour.     

Inequality in Europe: What can be done? What should be done?

As economic inequality in Europe has continued to rise, it has become the subject of increasing academic attention. What are the drivers of inequality? How does it affect intergenerational economic and social mobility? At what point does inequality become a drag on economic growth or a threat to social order? What economic policy tools are available to reduce inequality? This Forum addresses these and other aspects of this complex and disturbing trend. Case studies of Ireland, Germany and Spain also highlight the impact of economic inequality on individual member states.     

Scitovsky's The Joyless Economy and the economics of happiness

Abstract

Scitovsky's The Joyless Economy is especially well-known in recent economic studies on happiness. However, his insightful contributions have not been taken up as they deserve, mainly because they were, and still are, too original. By reconstructing Scitovsky's analysis on the basis of all his relevant writings, this article integrates his most original concepts, such as novelty, consumption skill, endogenous preferences, pleasurable uncertainty, into conventional economics; it compares Scitovsky's analysis to the economic thought of his time and to current consumer theory and it reveals his contributions to happiness economics, such as an original interpretation of the Easterlin paradox.