Any opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and not those of IZA. Research pu... more Any opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and not those of IZA. Research published in this series may include views on policy, but IZA takes no institutional policy positions. The IZA research network is committed to the IZA Guiding Principles of Research Integrity. The IZA Institute of Labor Economics is an independent economic research institute that conducts research in labor economics and offers evidence-based policy advice on labor market issues. Supported by the Deutsche Post Foundation, IZA runs the world's largest network of economists, whose research aims to provide answers to the global labor market challenges of our time. Our key objective is to build bridges between academic research, policymakers and society. IZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author.
In recent years, there has been growing demand for interventions in support of employmentsuch as,... more In recent years, there has been growing demand for interventions in support of employmentsuch as, for example, training courses targeted on the unemployed. However, given the economic crisis and the deterioration of public expenditure, it is imperative for the public authorities to focus on the support measures most effective in ensuring tangible benefits and the efficient use of taxpayers' money. In regard to active labour policies, not only is it necessary to furnish training courses of real value in terms of enhancing the probability of finding a job; it is also important to focus on the cost-effectiveness of such interventions. This paper complements the empirical literature on the impact evaluation of training courses, and it aids understanding of their cost-effectiveness by comparing the benefits of training courses with the costs of implementing them. We focus on long-duration vocational training courses for unemployed people implemented in the autonomous province of Trento (Italy) in 2010 and 2011, and we find a positive impact on the probability of being employed three years after the programme. Training programmes also have positive effects on earnings, but the overall benefits in the two or three years after the programme do not cover the costs incurred in their delivery.
We study a reform occurred in Italy in 2008 in the formation of selection committees for qualifyi... more We study a reform occurred in Italy in 2008 in the formation of selection committees for qualifying as university professor. Prior to the reform members of the selection committees were elected by their peers, whereas after the reform they have been randomly drawn. This policy was intended to increase the equality of opportunities of candidates via a reduction of the role played by connections to selectors. Results show that the reform was ineffective in reducing the probability contribution of being an insider, but attenuated the impact of being connected to a selector. The impact of scientific quality of candidates on the outcome of competitions is tiny both before and after the reform. We also find that candidates internalised the changed environment and adapted their strategy of application.
Procedures vs. Incentives: The Case of the University Promotion System in Italy A common observat... more Procedures vs. Incentives: The Case of the University Promotion System in Italy A common observation is that individuals strive to neutralize the effect of procedural rules designed to drive choices away from their private optimum. An example of this phenomenon is offered by the reaction of Italian academia to two reforms that modified the procedures of recruitment and promotion, by introducing random selection of the examiners not appointed by the recruiting school and reducing from two to one the number of candidates to be qualified. We model the negotiation occurring within evaluation committees and test the decision rule implied by the theoretical model on the sample composed of all selections to associate and full professorship initiated by the Italian schools of economics between 2004 and 2011. Particularly, we investigate whether these reforms decreased the relative weight of the examiner appointed by the recruiting school on committee's decision. Empirical results suggest that both reforms had little if no effect on examiners' weights.
Background. The treatment of chronic kidney disease through dialysis is a considerable expense in... more Background. The treatment of chronic kidney disease through dialysis is a considerable expense in most health systems. The two chief methods of providing dialysis, haemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD) have significant differences in cost composition and factors of production. The aim of this article is to identify and quantify the macroeconomic variables that influence the relative cost of such modalities across different countries. Methods. From previously published literature, we extracted the estimates of HD/PD cost ratios in a total of 46 countries. We conducted a multivariate regression analysis using the estimated HD/PD cost ratio in each country, with several countrylevel indicators as explanatory variables. We found a strong statistical effect of the following variables on the HD/PD cost ratio: country's level of development, economies of scale and percentage of private health-care expenditure. Results. The statistical effects on HD/PD ratio by local manufacturing and relaxed import regulation of PD equipment were calculated and were found to be very significant. Conclusions. it is possible for a country to still reap the benefits of economies of scale in provision of PD, even in the absence of a large enough market to make local production of PD equipment feasible in that country.
Most of existing studies on labour supply, starting from Heckman (1974), estimate individual pref... more Most of existing studies on labour supply, starting from Heckman (1974), estimate individual preferences by assuming that hours of work are freely chosen, hence optimal with respect to individual preferences. In sharp contrast with this assumption, in several countries the distribution of actual hours of work exhibits large peaks at certain hour regimes, presumably determined by institutional constraints. In this paper a model is introduced replacing the standard assumption by a much weaker one: observed hours of work rather than being optimal are acceptable. Every person is characterized by a maximum acceptable hours of work and choose about participation at work by comparing them to the number of hours they should work if they choose to participate. Attention is focused on maximum acceptable hours of work and some other related concepts. In fact, their relationship with the direct utility function turns out to be straightforward. Moreover, it is shown that in this framework (I) fixed costs to participate at work are identifiable, as well and (II) no relevant change in the analysis is needed if the budget constraint is not linear, but known, due to reasons other than fixed costs of participation. An application to married women labour supply in two region in the NE of Italy is presented.
Understanding the formation of trust is a key issue because of the impact of trust on economic pe... more Understanding the formation of trust is a key issue because of the impact of trust on economic performance. Earlier attempts to measure the strength of intergenerational transmission of trust relied on the cross-sectional regression of children's trust on the contemporaneous trust of parents. In this paper, we take an original approach to the analysis of the transmission process by introducing the distinction between permanent trust (the long-lasting belief on whether one trusts people) and transient trust (capturing, e.g., random errors in the reported trust), and argue that only permanent trust is relevant for the transmission process. Using data from the German SocioEconomic Panel, we show that 2/3 of the observed variability in children's trust is due to the transient component. The remaining variability due to the permanent component is only moderately determined by the permanent trust of the parents, with mothers being much more relevant than fathers. Focusing on the subsample of families with more than one child, we show that most of the variability in children's permanent trust is due to unobservable family-specific features of the environment shared by siblings. We conclude that while the family environment in which children grew up determines most of their permanent trust, the direct role of intergenerational transmission is small.
Any opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and not those of IZA. Research pu... more Any opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and not those of IZA. Research published in this series may include views on policy, but IZA takes no institutional policy positions. The IZA research network is committed to the IZA Guiding Principles of Research Integrity. The IZA Institute of Labor Economics is an independent economic research institute that conducts research in labor economics and offers evidence-based policy advice on labor market issues. Supported by the Deutsche Post Foundation, IZA runs the world's largest network of economists, whose research aims to provide answers to the global labor market challenges of our time. Our key objective is to build bridges between academic research, policymakers and society. IZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author.
The Effect of Extending the Duration of Eligibility in an Italian Labour Market Programme for Dis... more The Effect of Extending the Duration of Eligibility in an Italian Labour Market Programme for Dismissed Workers * Liste di mobilità (LM) is an Italian labour market programme targeted to dismissed workers. It combines a 'passive' component granting monetary benefits to employees dismissed by firms larger than 15 employees, and an 'active' component providing an employment subsidy to any firm hiring workers from the LM. Eligibility duration varies with the worker's age at dismissal. Using a new linked administrative panel data set for an Italian region, we exploit the variability of these provisions to evaluate the impact of extending the duration of eligibility on re-employment probabilities and wages over the 36 months subsequent to enrolment in the programme. The average treatment effect is identified via a Regression Discontinuity Design. We validate the design by a set of overidentification tests. For most of the subgroups we analyse, we find that a longer eligibility period has no impact on re-employment rates. A negative impact emerges for women entitled to monetary benefits at the end of the second year of eligibility, but it disappears one year later. A major negative impact emerges for workers aged 50 or more granted the monetary benefits; it is most likely due to the fact that they can use the LM as a bridge to retirement.
We investigate the size of the consumption drop at retirement in Italy by exploiting pension elig... more We investigate the size of the consumption drop at retirement in Italy by exploiting pension eligibility information to correct for endogenous retirement. We take a regression discontinuity approach and assume that spending would be smooth around pension eligibility if individuals did not retire. We estimate a 9.8 percent drop associated to retirement. This fall is not driven by liquidity problems for the less well off and can be accounted for by drops in work-related expenses. Retirement also induces a significant drop in the number of grown children living with their parents and this explains most of the retirement consumption drop. (JEL D91, E21, J26, J31)
articolo sono in due relazioni, presentate al Convegno SIS "Processi e metodi statistici di valut... more articolo sono in due relazioni, presentate al Convegno SIS "Processi e metodi statistici di valutazione" (Roma, 4-6 giugno 2001) e al XVI Convegno nazionale di Economia del Lavoro (Firenze, 4-5 ottobre 2001). La ricerca è stata svolta in parte nell'ambito del progetto "Dinamiche e persistenze nel mercato del lavoro italiano ed effetti di politiche (basi di dati, misura, analisi)", cofinanziato dal MIUR. Siamo grati ai partecipanti ai due incontri, e in particolare ad Andrea Ichino e Guido Pellegrini, per commenti e suggerimenti.
In this paper we investigate the size of the consumption drop at retirement in Italy. We use micr... more In this paper we investigate the size of the consumption drop at retirement in Italy. We use micro data on food and total non-durable household spending covering the period 1993-2004, and evaluate the change in consumption that accompanies retirement by exploiting the exogenous variability in pension eligibility to correct for the endogenous nature of the retirement decision. We take a regression discontinuity approach, and make the identifying assumption that consumption would be the same around the threshold for pension eligibility if individuals would not retire. We check in our data that a non-negligible fraction of individuals retire as soon as they become eligible, and estimate at 9.8% the part of the non-durable consumption drop that is associated with retirement induced by eligibility. We show that such fall is not driven by liquidity problems for the less well off in the population, and can be accounted for by drops in goods that are work-related expenses or leisure substitutes. However, we also show that retirement induces a significant drop in the number of grown children living with their parents, and this can account for most of the retirement consumption drop.
Any opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and not those of IZA. Research pu... more Any opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and not those of IZA. Research published in this series may include views on policy, but IZA takes no institutional policy positions. The IZA research network is committed to the IZA Guiding Principles of Research Integrity. The IZA Institute of Labor Economics is an independent economic research institute that conducts research in labor economics and offers evidence-based policy advice on labor market issues. Supported by the Deutsche Post Foundation, IZA runs the world's largest network of economists, whose research aims to provide answers to the global labor market challenges of our time. Our key objective is to build bridges between academic research, policymakers and society. IZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author.
In recent years, there has been growing demand for interventions in support of employmentsuch as,... more In recent years, there has been growing demand for interventions in support of employmentsuch as, for example, training courses targeted on the unemployed. However, given the economic crisis and the deterioration of public expenditure, it is imperative for the public authorities to focus on the support measures most effective in ensuring tangible benefits and the efficient use of taxpayers' money. In regard to active labour policies, not only is it necessary to furnish training courses of real value in terms of enhancing the probability of finding a job; it is also important to focus on the cost-effectiveness of such interventions. This paper complements the empirical literature on the impact evaluation of training courses, and it aids understanding of their cost-effectiveness by comparing the benefits of training courses with the costs of implementing them. We focus on long-duration vocational training courses for unemployed people implemented in the autonomous province of Trento (Italy) in 2010 and 2011, and we find a positive impact on the probability of being employed three years after the programme. Training programmes also have positive effects on earnings, but the overall benefits in the two or three years after the programme do not cover the costs incurred in their delivery.
We study a reform occurred in Italy in 2008 in the formation of selection committees for qualifyi... more We study a reform occurred in Italy in 2008 in the formation of selection committees for qualifying as university professor. Prior to the reform members of the selection committees were elected by their peers, whereas after the reform they have been randomly drawn. This policy was intended to increase the equality of opportunities of candidates via a reduction of the role played by connections to selectors. Results show that the reform was ineffective in reducing the probability contribution of being an insider, but attenuated the impact of being connected to a selector. The impact of scientific quality of candidates on the outcome of competitions is tiny both before and after the reform. We also find that candidates internalised the changed environment and adapted their strategy of application.
Procedures vs. Incentives: The Case of the University Promotion System in Italy A common observat... more Procedures vs. Incentives: The Case of the University Promotion System in Italy A common observation is that individuals strive to neutralize the effect of procedural rules designed to drive choices away from their private optimum. An example of this phenomenon is offered by the reaction of Italian academia to two reforms that modified the procedures of recruitment and promotion, by introducing random selection of the examiners not appointed by the recruiting school and reducing from two to one the number of candidates to be qualified. We model the negotiation occurring within evaluation committees and test the decision rule implied by the theoretical model on the sample composed of all selections to associate and full professorship initiated by the Italian schools of economics between 2004 and 2011. Particularly, we investigate whether these reforms decreased the relative weight of the examiner appointed by the recruiting school on committee's decision. Empirical results suggest that both reforms had little if no effect on examiners' weights.
Background. The treatment of chronic kidney disease through dialysis is a considerable expense in... more Background. The treatment of chronic kidney disease through dialysis is a considerable expense in most health systems. The two chief methods of providing dialysis, haemodialysis (HD) and peritoneal dialysis (PD) have significant differences in cost composition and factors of production. The aim of this article is to identify and quantify the macroeconomic variables that influence the relative cost of such modalities across different countries. Methods. From previously published literature, we extracted the estimates of HD/PD cost ratios in a total of 46 countries. We conducted a multivariate regression analysis using the estimated HD/PD cost ratio in each country, with several countrylevel indicators as explanatory variables. We found a strong statistical effect of the following variables on the HD/PD cost ratio: country's level of development, economies of scale and percentage of private health-care expenditure. Results. The statistical effects on HD/PD ratio by local manufacturing and relaxed import regulation of PD equipment were calculated and were found to be very significant. Conclusions. it is possible for a country to still reap the benefits of economies of scale in provision of PD, even in the absence of a large enough market to make local production of PD equipment feasible in that country.
Most of existing studies on labour supply, starting from Heckman (1974), estimate individual pref... more Most of existing studies on labour supply, starting from Heckman (1974), estimate individual preferences by assuming that hours of work are freely chosen, hence optimal with respect to individual preferences. In sharp contrast with this assumption, in several countries the distribution of actual hours of work exhibits large peaks at certain hour regimes, presumably determined by institutional constraints. In this paper a model is introduced replacing the standard assumption by a much weaker one: observed hours of work rather than being optimal are acceptable. Every person is characterized by a maximum acceptable hours of work and choose about participation at work by comparing them to the number of hours they should work if they choose to participate. Attention is focused on maximum acceptable hours of work and some other related concepts. In fact, their relationship with the direct utility function turns out to be straightforward. Moreover, it is shown that in this framework (I) fixed costs to participate at work are identifiable, as well and (II) no relevant change in the analysis is needed if the budget constraint is not linear, but known, due to reasons other than fixed costs of participation. An application to married women labour supply in two region in the NE of Italy is presented.
Understanding the formation of trust is a key issue because of the impact of trust on economic pe... more Understanding the formation of trust is a key issue because of the impact of trust on economic performance. Earlier attempts to measure the strength of intergenerational transmission of trust relied on the cross-sectional regression of children's trust on the contemporaneous trust of parents. In this paper, we take an original approach to the analysis of the transmission process by introducing the distinction between permanent trust (the long-lasting belief on whether one trusts people) and transient trust (capturing, e.g., random errors in the reported trust), and argue that only permanent trust is relevant for the transmission process. Using data from the German SocioEconomic Panel, we show that 2/3 of the observed variability in children's trust is due to the transient component. The remaining variability due to the permanent component is only moderately determined by the permanent trust of the parents, with mothers being much more relevant than fathers. Focusing on the subsample of families with more than one child, we show that most of the variability in children's permanent trust is due to unobservable family-specific features of the environment shared by siblings. We conclude that while the family environment in which children grew up determines most of their permanent trust, the direct role of intergenerational transmission is small.
Any opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and not those of IZA. Research pu... more Any opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and not those of IZA. Research published in this series may include views on policy, but IZA takes no institutional policy positions. The IZA research network is committed to the IZA Guiding Principles of Research Integrity. The IZA Institute of Labor Economics is an independent economic research institute that conducts research in labor economics and offers evidence-based policy advice on labor market issues. Supported by the Deutsche Post Foundation, IZA runs the world's largest network of economists, whose research aims to provide answers to the global labor market challenges of our time. Our key objective is to build bridges between academic research, policymakers and society. IZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author.
The Effect of Extending the Duration of Eligibility in an Italian Labour Market Programme for Dis... more The Effect of Extending the Duration of Eligibility in an Italian Labour Market Programme for Dismissed Workers * Liste di mobilità (LM) is an Italian labour market programme targeted to dismissed workers. It combines a 'passive' component granting monetary benefits to employees dismissed by firms larger than 15 employees, and an 'active' component providing an employment subsidy to any firm hiring workers from the LM. Eligibility duration varies with the worker's age at dismissal. Using a new linked administrative panel data set for an Italian region, we exploit the variability of these provisions to evaluate the impact of extending the duration of eligibility on re-employment probabilities and wages over the 36 months subsequent to enrolment in the programme. The average treatment effect is identified via a Regression Discontinuity Design. We validate the design by a set of overidentification tests. For most of the subgroups we analyse, we find that a longer eligibility period has no impact on re-employment rates. A negative impact emerges for women entitled to monetary benefits at the end of the second year of eligibility, but it disappears one year later. A major negative impact emerges for workers aged 50 or more granted the monetary benefits; it is most likely due to the fact that they can use the LM as a bridge to retirement.
We investigate the size of the consumption drop at retirement in Italy by exploiting pension elig... more We investigate the size of the consumption drop at retirement in Italy by exploiting pension eligibility information to correct for endogenous retirement. We take a regression discontinuity approach and assume that spending would be smooth around pension eligibility if individuals did not retire. We estimate a 9.8 percent drop associated to retirement. This fall is not driven by liquidity problems for the less well off and can be accounted for by drops in work-related expenses. Retirement also induces a significant drop in the number of grown children living with their parents and this explains most of the retirement consumption drop. (JEL D91, E21, J26, J31)
articolo sono in due relazioni, presentate al Convegno SIS "Processi e metodi statistici di valut... more articolo sono in due relazioni, presentate al Convegno SIS "Processi e metodi statistici di valutazione" (Roma, 4-6 giugno 2001) e al XVI Convegno nazionale di Economia del Lavoro (Firenze, 4-5 ottobre 2001). La ricerca è stata svolta in parte nell'ambito del progetto "Dinamiche e persistenze nel mercato del lavoro italiano ed effetti di politiche (basi di dati, misura, analisi)", cofinanziato dal MIUR. Siamo grati ai partecipanti ai due incontri, e in particolare ad Andrea Ichino e Guido Pellegrini, per commenti e suggerimenti.
In this paper we investigate the size of the consumption drop at retirement in Italy. We use micr... more In this paper we investigate the size of the consumption drop at retirement in Italy. We use micro data on food and total non-durable household spending covering the period 1993-2004, and evaluate the change in consumption that accompanies retirement by exploiting the exogenous variability in pension eligibility to correct for the endogenous nature of the retirement decision. We take a regression discontinuity approach, and make the identifying assumption that consumption would be the same around the threshold for pension eligibility if individuals would not retire. We check in our data that a non-negligible fraction of individuals retire as soon as they become eligible, and estimate at 9.8% the part of the non-durable consumption drop that is associated with retirement induced by eligibility. We show that such fall is not driven by liquidity problems for the less well off in the population, and can be accounted for by drops in goods that are work-related expenses or leisure substitutes. However, we also show that retirement induces a significant drop in the number of grown children living with their parents, and this can account for most of the retirement consumption drop.
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