Italian Consumers’ Preferences for Pasta and Consumption Trends: Tradition or Innovation?

Abstract

The aim of this study is to know Italian consumers’ preferences for Pasta and consumption habits. Food culture and concerns about food security and product innovation were investigated. A sample of Italian consumers was interviewed. Consumer’ profile, motivations and purchasing behavior were described. Relationships between observed variables and the latent constructs that explain the preferences were highlighted. There is asymmetric information between consumers and producers. Consumers believe Pasta is made with Italian grains, and therefore it is healthy and safe, although that’s not always the case. Intrinsic and extrinsic high quality, which derives from growing and production technologies, is required.     

Developing Interpretation Plans to Promote Traditional Rural Buildings as Built Heritage Attractions

The present study suggests an innovative method that could be applied by local authorities to develop heritage interpretation plans aimed at promoting traditional rural buildings (TRBs) as built heritage attractions, while preserving their original features. Cultural heritage interpretation (CHI) methods and tools were used. They offer the advantage to create a kind of ‘understanding’ that would lead tourists and local communities to protect TRBs from inappropriate alterations and modifications that often occur when TRBs are reused also for tourism purposes. The proposed method was applied to TRBs located in an area of the South‐Eastern Sicily (Italy). Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Further evidence on business cycle asymmetries in G7 countries

This paper tests for business cycle symmetry in G7 countries during the post-World War II period using a number of tests, each reflecting alternative definitions of business cycle asymmetry. The tests are applied to monthly coincident economic indicators of business cycles. This found that business cycles in the US are characterized by both longitudinal (deepness) and transversal (steepness and sharpness) asymmetries: further, it is found that asymmetric transition probabilties and time irreversibility are due to nonlinearities. On the contrary, business cycles in Germany exhibits a symmetric behaviour. Between these extremes are the other countries, for which at least one of the tests here considered rejects the null of cyclical symmetry. Particularly, business cycle is characterized by deepness and sharpness in Canada, asymmetry in persistence in France and Japan, and asymmetric transition probabilities in France and United Kingdom.     

ESG controversies and bank risk taking

This study investigates how environmental, social, and governance controversies affect bank risk taking. By estimating a dynamic panel data model from 2011 to 2020, we find evidence that banks with fewer ESG controversies take less risk. Banks with a lower number of ESG controversies show their compliance with the implementation of ESG strategies to reduce risk, as evidenced by lower risk-weighted assets and higher Z-scores. The present study supports the recent guidelines on climate-related and environmental risks published by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the European Central Bank. Therefore, the main results strengthen the need for the integration not only of social and governance risks but also of climate-related and environmental risks in banks' risk management framework.     

House prices and immovable property tax: Evidence from OECD countries

This paper studies the impact of changes in immovable property tax revenues on the growth rate of house prices by analysing a panel of 34 OECD countries over the period 1970–2014. Starting from the annual series of immovable property tax revenues, we isolate years of significant shifts in the property tax regime and study their impact on house prices. We find a strong negative relationship between increases in immovable property tax revenues and house prices. This relationship is robust to the inclusion of cyclical determinants of house prices, country and year fixed effects, and country‐specific linear trends. We also propose an instrumental variable strategy based on countries’ legal origins that confirms a statistically significant negative impact of such taxes in the short run.     

CLINICAL AUDIT,GUIDELINES AND STANDARDS: A PRODUCTIVE RELATION FOR MANAGING CLINICAL PRACTICES

This paper contributes to the knowledge about the process of standardisation within the domain of medicine. Standardisation has become an important form of governance and co‐ordination, and there is limited empirical knowledge about its nature and consequences ( Brunsson et al., 2000 ). This paper aims to explore the development, circulation and standardisation process of a specific clinical audit programme: the Scottish Hip Fracture Audit. This audit started as a local initiative and now has developed into a sophisticated arena (Sahlin‐Andersson, 2000) which provides Scottish hospitals with monthly ‘real‐time reports’ outlining their performance against Scottish government targets. The paper argues that the interrelation between clinical audit and evidence‐based medicine (EBM) can become a ‘productive relation’ (Mykhalovskiy, 2003), that opens up spaces of intervention, in which the clinical communities engage with processes of change of clinical procedures, and in these spaces, clinicians and managers are in a position to refine clinical practice and service organisation, to reflect upon their own actions and to allow insight into the rationalities of their work (Berg, 1997).