Costs and Structure of Technology in the Italian Water Industry

This paper analyses from an empirical point of view the technology underlying the Water industry. Firstly, we study the impact of environmental and quality factors on the production process. Secondly, different functional forms are analysed in order to represent the technology. Overall results show that the coefficient of hedonic variables are significant and that the best functional form is the transcendental logarithmic one. Finally, evidence on return to scale depends on the functional form adopted and on the inclusion ofhedonic variables.     

Accountants’ hybridization and juridification: a critical reflection on the fight against organized crime

Policy-makers and regulators are increasingly focusing on fighting organized crime. Preventing criminal organizations infiltrating an economy involves multiple groups of professionals operating in complex regulatory environments. This paper looks at whether the current regulations for the management of assets seized from organized crime are adequate. The focus is on the Italian setting, and the research included interviews with accountants, judges and police officers involved in the management of seized entities. The results have application worldwide.     

Determinants of the entrepreneurial gender gap in Latin America

This paper identifies a set of factors associated with the decision to become an entrepreneur and the variables that account for the gender gap in entrepreneurial activity in Latin America. We estimate logit models for entrepreneurial activity under three different definitions of an entrepreneur. We also estimate the gender gap by using Fairlie’s decomposition method. Depending on the definition of entrepreneur used, the overall gender gap varies from 4 to 13 % points. Differences in observable characteristics explain between 23 and 38 % of the total gender gap. The factors that explain both entrepreneurial activity and gender gap are: education, risk tolerance; own car as primary means of transportation; work satisfaction; and parent business ownership. Variables such as age, access to loans, and need for achievement are significantly associated with entrepreneurial activity, but they play a negligible role in explaining the gender gap.     

Medication adherence and persistence in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis with adalimumab and etanercept. Six years of analysis

Objective:

The aim of this study was to evaluate medication adherence and persistence of patients treated with Etanercept and Adalimumab for Rheumatoid Arthritis, also giving economic evaluations on therapy costs for Received Daily Dose (RDD).

Materials and methods:

This retrospective study took into account 6 years from January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2012. Medication adherence was quantified utilizing the ratio between RDD and Prescribed Daily Dose (PDD). Persistence has been reckoned taking into account the actual days of therapy comparing posology with supplied dose. The persistence has been graphed according to Kaplan-Meier method. The cost per RDD was reckoned starting from the expense incurred by Pescara General Hospital.

Results:

Medication adherence gave results in values between 0.88–0.97 for Etanercept and 0.83–0.90 for Adalimumab. The value of persistence was 100% for Etanercept and 90% for Adalimumab for the first year, and 70% for Etanercept and 80% for Adalimumab for the second year. In the 3rd year the persistence for Etanercept was 50% while for Adalimumab it was 60%. In the fourth year the persistence for Etanercept was 21% while for Adalimumab it was 27%. The statistical analysis was conducted using the Log rank test. The average cost per RDD was €32.97 for Etanercept and for Adalimumab it was €32.00 as an average of 6 years.

Conclusion:

The medication adherence was good for both Etanercept and Adalimumab. The rate of persistence decreased strictly in the fourth year of treatment. This data suggests the need for continuous monitoring of patients in treatment with TNF blockers.     

The impact of creative media advertising on consumer responses: two field experiments

Abstract

Creative media (CM) advertising is an advertising strategy wherein a non-traditional medium is creatively used for advertising purposes. This novel advertising strategy is gaining marketers’ interest; however, little is known about its persuasive effects on consumers’ cognitive, affective and behavioural responses and the processes that underlie them. Therefore, to convey a genuine experience to consumers, two field experiments with a one-factor (advertising type: creative vs. traditional) between-subjects design were conducted within a supermarket context. Results showed that creative (vs. traditional) media ads not only improve consumers’ affective and behavioural responses but also consumers’ cognitive responses. Even though no mediations were found through perceived surprise or perceived persuasive intent, results do provide evidence for the notion that perceived humor and perceived value are the underlying mechanisms through which affective and behavioural responses to creative media advertising can be explained.     

A "Tragedy of the Clubs": Excess Entry in Exclusive Coalitions

We model club formation as a noncooperative game of coalition formation and surplus division. We show how social norms and individual rationality sustain a particular type of collective inefficiency, namely, excessive entry in the joint production and exploitation of an excludable good. We term this phenomenon the "tragedy of the clubs." The tragedy of the clubs is a pervasive equilibrium phenomenon.     

Estimating Labor Demand with Fixed Costs*

We consider a dynamic model in which firms decide whether or not to vary labor in the presence of fixed costs. By exploiting the first‐order condition for optimality, we derive a semireduced form in which firms' intertemporal employment is defined by a standard marginal productivity condition augmented by a forward‐looking term. We obtain a marginal productivity equilibrium relation that takes into account the future alternatives of adjustment or nonadjustment that firms face. We use the structural parameter from this condition to estimate the fixed cost within a discrete decision process. Fixed costs are about 15 months' labor cost.     

Industrial districts and internationalization: the case of the agri-food industry in Modena,Italy

The paper explores the structural changes, in response to internationalization, in an important traditional activity (food chain, meat processing) in a typical ‘district area’. In the paper, attention is focused on the ‘Institutional structure of production’ (Coase, R. 1992 Coase, R. 1992. The institutional structure of production. American Economic Review, 82(4): 713–719. [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and the cluster is considered as a whole, as a complex economic player, capable of generating coherent action, regulated by institutional mechanisms, and founded on a set of ‘public assets’ which make up its ‘social capital’.

The paper is based on many empirical studies and surveys aimed at exploring the structure of SMEs and the role of the local institutions: the changes observed over time and in response to internationalization underline the reinforcement of the activity's cluster configuration.

These features emphasize the existence of a specific unit of analysis, indivisible from the individuals which constitute it. The discussion touches on the classical themes of the efficiency of the net-economy based on SMEs, and their prospects in a context of growing globalization.

The paper does not aim to enter into the debate on the origins and mechanism of innovation. However, the case study does illustrate the strength of the hypothesis of a unit of analysis different from the firm for discussion of a number of topics: some empirical examples of innovation, of significance for the economic consolidation of the ID, highlight the importance of district relationships in the production and spread of innovation.     

The influence of ownership on the cost of bus service provision in Switzerland - an empirical illustration

In deregulated transport markets, a firm's ownership status and management system represent an important issue. Property right theory suggests that productivity and performance are higher in the private than in the public sector. In Switzerland, providers of bus transportation are traditionally corporations, though a large part of their equity shares are still held by the public sector (federal government, cantons, municipalities). This paper examines the potential impact of ownership on the cost of bus service provision for a sample of private, public and mixed bus companies in Switzerland. The estimation of a translog cost model has been considered for 34 bus transit companies observed over 5 years (1991–1995). The results only partially confirm that if the private sector holds shares in the company's capital, efficiency is enhanced. In addition, measures of economies of scale and density are derived and discussed within the actual public transport policy.     

Development and validation of the Remote Working Benefits & Disadvantages scale

The changes that are constantly occurring in the labour sector have led organisations and companies to move towards digital transformation. This process was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic and  conducted to a massive recourse to the practice of remote working, which in this study is understood as the term for the way of performing work outside the usual workplace and with the support of ICT. Currently, there are no flexible scales in the literature that allow measuring the benefits and disadvantages of remote working with a single instrument. Thus, the distinction between the positive and negative consequences of working remotely, substantiated by a solid literature, provides a framework for a systematical understanding of the issue. The aim of the present study is to develop and validate a scale on remote working benefits and disadvantages (RW-B&D scale). For this end, a preliminary Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) with 304 participants, a tailored EFA with a sample of 301 workers and a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) with 677 workers were conducted. Participants were all Italian employees who worked remotely during the period of the COVID-19 health emergency. Data were collected between October 2020 and April 2021. The psychometric robustness of the model was assessed through bootstrap validation (5000 resamples), fit indices testing and measurement of factorial invariance. The statistical analyses demonstrated the bifactorial nature of the scale, supporting the research hypothesis. The model showed good fit indices, bootstrap validation reported statistically significant saturations, good reliability indices, and convergent and discriminant validity. Measurement invariance was tested for gender and organisational sector. The results suggested that the novel scale facilitates the quantitative measurement of the benefits and disadvantages associated with remote working in empirical terms. For this reason, it could be a streamlined and psychometrically valid instrument to identify the potential difficulties arising from remote working and, at the same time, the positive aspects that can be implemented to improve organisational well-being.