Economia

The paper studies the relations between types of institutions on different components of human development. A role of aggregate demand in determining the material components of human development is assumed. We thus divide institutions into those that create demand and those that are determined by the whole process of development. Similarly we divide human development in its three traditional components (economic development, health, knowledge). Both human development and institutions are assumed as multidimensional constructs; all the main components of these constructs are defined as latent variables, and the relations between them as structural relations. A Partial Least Squares (PLS) path model is developed: it is the aggregation (and simultaneous estimation) of an outer model relating observed or manifest variables to their own latent variable and of a structural model (inner model) relating some endogenous latent variable to other latent variables. From the goodness of fit point of view, our results seem to validate our theoretical assumptions.

For a system ofG simultaneous equations and a time series of cross sectional data we estimate the structural form under the assumption that the regression coefficients are random variables. In particular, given the model: $${}_iYT + {}_iX{}_i\Delta + {}_iE = 0 i = 1,...,n$$ to account for differences in behaviour over the cross sectional units we assume that the coefficient matrices of the exogenous variables for each unit, that is{ iΔ|, form a sequence of independent random variables with common mean $\bar \Delta $ to be estimated. We derive feasible two stage generalized least squares estimators of the parameters Γ and $\bar \Delta $ .

Consider a system of 11, x ti2 differential equations depending on a vector 8 of unknown parameters. We suggest an iterative estimation procedure for 8, based on a three-way array of observations. The method involves random time changes driven by multidimensional integrated Omstein-Uhlenbeck processes.

We present an alternative method to compute the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) by means of a partial least squares path model. In particular, making use of the same set of variables defined by the World Economic Forum we compute the composite indicator GCI by means of a structural equations model with endogenously derived weights. World Economic Forum, instead, defines GCI as a combinations of subindexes with weights that are fixed but vary according to the stage of development a country belongs to. The main issue we address is whether the weights of the subindexes change according to different stages of development.

One of the main issues when analyzing multidimensional phenomena such as well being is how to define a composite indicator. However a sometimes neglected collateral issue is how to take into account the joint distribution of the single components, and connected with this issue the question should be: how to compute the association among the single components of a multidimensional concept. This is precisely the aim of this paper. We suggest a counting based approach to detect positive association amongst the single components of multivariate phenomena, in particular among the best performing units and vice-versa among the worst performing units. Taking moves from Kendall's notion of concordance/agreement and from his well known concordance coefficient W (Kendall and Babington Smith in Ann Math Stat 10:275-287, 1939), we introduce the concept of local concordance and derive a local concordance coefficient and a local concordance curve. Our intent is to have, not an overall measure of concordance, i.e. not a global indicator, but instead local concordance coefficients to detect different degrees of concordance in the head, tail or centre of the multivariate distribution of the components of a well being indicator. The local concordance curve can have many different applications. When referred to the components of a well being indicator (and thus to inequality), the local concordance coefficient obtained from the first (last) window can be seen as a measure of concentration of high-level (or low-level) attributes. We apply this approach to exploit whether different aspects of social vulnerability are equally or unequally distributed among censuary areas of a same region.

In Data Envelopment Analysis the distance from the best practice frontier can be interpreted as the economic performance of sample units.In the present paper this distance is used as an efficiency measure to correct the weighted average of non-substitutable sub-indicators of infrastructure endowment.

The paper suggests the use of the functional data analysis approach to study the evolution of well being indicators, visualizing their behaviour over time. Thus, an evolutionary well-being indicator is proposed by complement the original data with information concerning the first derivative. The second task is to provide an overall ranking of the countries over time using two functional tools: the area under the curve and functional depth, which return two distinct rankings. A simulation study is conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the area in distinguishing groups of countries with different levels of well-being. The proposed method is employed on a real dataset concerning the human development index of European countries.

Countries’ performance can be compared by means of indicators, which in turn give rise to rankings at a given time. However, the ranking does not show whether a country is improving, worsening or is stable in its performance. Meanwhile, the evolutionary behaviour of a country’s performance is of fundamental importance to assess the effect of the adopted policies in both absolute and comparative terms. Nevertheless, establishing a general ranking among countries over time is an open problem in the literature. Consequently, this paper aims to analyze ranks’ dynamic by means of the functional data analysis approach. Specifically, countries’ performances are evaluated by taking into account both their ranking position and their evolutionary behaviour, and by considering two functional measures: the modified hypograph index and the weighted integrated first derivative. The latter are scalar measures that are able to reflect trajectories behaviours over time. Furthermore, a novel visualis...

Giunta A., Nifo A. et Scalera D. Subcontracting in Italian industry: labour division, firm growth and the North–South divide, Regional Studies. The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of subcontracting on Italian manufacturing firms' growth in the second half of the 1990s. The main results are: (1) producing as subcontractors does not penalize firms but can be a positive determinant of growth, especially when coupled with the propensity to innovate; (2) since a non-linear relationship between growth and subcontracting emerges, an organizational mode not fully specialized in either subcontracting activity or direct sales may be optimal; and (3) the deep dualism of the Italian industrial structure is confirmed, as Southern subcontractors show poorer performances and slower growth.Giunta A., Nifo A. and Scalera D. 90123   Giunta A., Nifo A. et Scalera D. La sous-traitance dans l'industrie italienne: la division du travail, la croissance des entreprises et le clivage Nord-Sud, Regional Studies. Cet article cherche à examiner l'impact de la sous-traitance sur la croissance des entreprises industrielles italiennes pendant la deuxième moitié des années 90. Les principaux résultats sont les suivants: (1) produire en tant que sous-traitant ne pénalise pas les entreprises mais peut s'avérer un déterminant positif de la croissance, notamment quand on y associe la propensité à innover; (2) étant donné qu'il en ressort un rapport non-linéaire entre la croissance et la sous-traitance, il se peut qu'un mode organisationnel qui ne se spécialise à fond, ni en la sous-traitance, ni en les ventes directes, soit optimal; et (3) le dualisme profond de la structure industrielle italienne se voit confirmer, vu que les sous-traitants du Sud font preuve d'une performance faible et d'un taux de croissance plus lent.Sous-traitance Chaîne des valeurs Emplacement Croissance des entreprisesGiunta A., Nifo A. und Scalera D. Untervergabe von Aufträgen in der italienischen Industrie: Arbeitsteilung, Firmenwachstum und das Nord-Süd-Gefälle, Regional Studies. In diesem Beitrag wird untersucht, wie sich die Untervergabe von Aufträgen in der zweiten Hälfte der neunziger Jahre auf das Wachstum von produzierenden Firmen in Italien ausgewirkt hat. Die wichtigsten Ergebnisse sind: (1) eine Produktion als Subunternehmen ist für die Firmen nicht mit Nachteilen verbunden, sondern kann insbesondere in Verbindung mit einer Innovationsneigung einen positiven Determinanten für Wachstum darstellen; (2) da sich eine nicht lineare Beziehung zwischen Wachstum und Untervergabe abzeichnet, könnte sich eine Organisationsform als optimal erweisen, die sich nicht ausschließlich auf Untervergabe bzw. Direktverkäufe spezialisiert; (3) der grundlegende Dualismus der italienischen Industriestruktur wird bestätigt, da südliche Subunternehmen weniger Leistung und langsameres Wachstum aufweisen.Untervergabe von Aufträgen Wertschöpfungskette Standort FirmenwachstumGiunta A., Nifo A. y Scalera D. Subcontratación en la industria italiana: división laboral, crecimiento de las empresas y la división norte-sur, Regional Studies. El objetivo de este artículo es investigar el efecto de la subcontratación en el crecimiento de las empresas manufactureras italianas en la segunda mitad de los noventa. Los resultados principales son: (1) la producción en la subcontratación no penaliza a las empresas sino que puede ser un determinante positivo del crecimiento, especialmente cuando se combina con la predisposición a la innovación; (2) puesto que surge una relación no lineal entre el crecimiento y la subcontratación, podría ser ideal un modo de organización que no esté totalmente especializado en la actividad de subcontratación o en las ventas directas; y (3) se confirma el fuerte dualismo de la estructura industrial italiana, puesto que los subcontratistas del sur demuestran peores resultados y un crecimiento más lento.Subcontratación Cadena de valores Ubicación Crecimiento de empresas

Giunta A., Nifo A. et Scalera D. Subcontracting in Italian industry: labour division, firm growth and the North–South divide, Regional Studies. The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of subcontracting on Italian manufacturing firms' growth in the second half of the 1990s. The main results are: (1) producing as subcontractors does not penalize firms but can be a positive determinant of growth, especially when coupled with the propensity to innovate; (2) since a non-linear relationship between growth and subcontracting emerges, an organizational mode not fully specialized in either subcontracting activity or direct sales may be optimal; and (3) the deep dualism of the Italian industrial structure is confirmed, as Southern subcontractors show poorer performances and slower growth.Giunta A., Nifo A. and Scalera D. 90123   Giunta A., Nifo A. et Scalera D. La sous-traitance dans l'industrie italienne: la division du travail, la croissance des entreprises et le clivage Nord-Sud, Regional Studies. Cet article cherche à examiner l'impact de la sous-traitance sur la croissance des entreprises industrielles italiennes pendant la deuxième moitié des années 90. Les principaux résultats sont les suivants: (1) produire en tant que sous-traitant ne pénalise pas les entreprises mais peut s'avérer un déterminant positif de la croissance, notamment quand on y associe la propensité à innover; (2) étant donné qu'il en ressort un rapport non-linéaire entre la croissance et la sous-traitance, il se peut qu'un mode organisationnel qui ne se spécialise à fond, ni en la sous-traitance, ni en les ventes directes, soit optimal; et (3) le dualisme profond de la structure industrielle italienne se voit confirmer, vu que les sous-traitants du Sud font preuve d'une performance faible et d'un taux de croissance plus lent.Sous-traitance Chaîne des valeurs Emplacement Croissance des entreprisesGiunta A., Nifo A. und Scalera D. Untervergabe von Aufträgen in der italienischen Industrie: Arbeitsteilung, Firmenwachstum und das Nord-Süd-Gefälle, Regional Studies. In diesem Beitrag wird untersucht, wie sich die Untervergabe von Aufträgen in der zweiten Hälfte der neunziger Jahre auf das Wachstum von produzierenden Firmen in Italien ausgewirkt hat. Die wichtigsten Ergebnisse sind: (1) eine Produktion als Subunternehmen ist für die Firmen nicht mit Nachteilen verbunden, sondern kann insbesondere in Verbindung mit einer Innovationsneigung einen positiven Determinanten für Wachstum darstellen; (2) da sich eine nicht lineare Beziehung zwischen Wachstum und Untervergabe abzeichnet, könnte sich eine Organisationsform als optimal erweisen, die sich nicht ausschließlich auf Untervergabe bzw. Direktverkäufe spezialisiert; (3) der grundlegende Dualismus der italienischen Industriestruktur wird bestätigt, da südliche Subunternehmen weniger Leistung und langsameres Wachstum aufweisen.Untervergabe von Aufträgen Wertschöpfungskette Standort FirmenwachstumGiunta A., Nifo A. y Scalera D. Subcontratación en la industria italiana: división laboral, crecimiento de las empresas y la división norte-sur, Regional Studies. El objetivo de este artículo es investigar el efecto de la subcontratación en el crecimiento de las empresas manufactureras italianas en la segunda mitad de los noventa. Los resultados principales son: (1) la producción en la subcontratación no penaliza a las empresas sino que puede ser un determinante positivo del crecimiento, especialmente cuando se combina con la predisposición a la innovación; (2) puesto que surge una relación no lineal entre el crecimiento y la subcontratación, podría ser ideal un modo de organización que no esté totalmente especializado en la actividad de subcontratación o en las ventas directas; y (3) se confirma el fuerte dualismo de la estructura industrial italiana, puesto que los subcontratistas del sur demuestran peores resultados y un crecimiento más lento.Subcontratación Cadena de valores Ubicación Crecimiento de empresas

Based upon insights of the global value chain literature, the aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of being a supplier firm on labour productivity. The country of analysis is Italy, historically characterized by a very strong division of labour among firms. We make use of a unique database, which collects information on several organizational, structural and performance variables of a representative sample of more than 3000 Italian manufacturing firms, spanning the period 1998-2006. Our econometric investigation confirms predictions coming from the global value chain literature. By and large, our findings indicate that being a "traditional" supplier is associated with lower levels of productivity in comparison with the ones exhibit by final firms. However, supplier firms that both export a significant percentage of their production and carry out product or process innovations (i.e. the subset of suppliers that we name "advanced suppliers" against "traditional suppliers") display productivity levels not lower (and, actually, higher) than final firms ones.

This article argues that joining global value chains may be decisive for supplier firms in developed countries by providing incentives and opportunities to upgrade their capabilities to export and innovate. We describe an investigation conducted on a sample of Italian manufacturing firms, drawn from a database spanning 1998–2006 that compares labour productivity and total factor productivity between supplier and final firms at the same level of demonstrated ability (measured in terms of exporting and innovating). Findings indicate that ‘traditional’ supplier firms are less productive than final firms; as the ability of supplier firms increases, their productivity shortfall decreases to the extent that for those able to both export and innovate, there is no statistically significant difference in productivity between supplier and final firms.