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In this paper, we applied the concept of convergence to examine the evolution of smoking prevalence among women in 191 countries worldwide from 1990 to 2019. First, the non-linear time-varying factor model proposed by Phillips and Sul was adopted to identify potential clusters (clubs), wherein groups of countries converge to similar female smoking rates. Second, an ordered logit regression model was used to assess the impact of cigarette affordability on the probability of falling within a given cluster. The hypothesis of global convergence was rejected. However, the clustering algorithm successfully identified five and nine clubs, within countries with increasing and decreasing smoking prevalence, respectively. A higher relative income-price ratio (i.e., lower cigarette affordability) increased the likelihood of belonging to a club of countries with a low prevalence of female tobacco smoking.

This paper is an empirical study on the work opportunities of people with disability using the ISTAT survey on Health Conditions and Use of Health Services Survey 2004-2005, that collects information on the health status and disability condition on the whole Italian population and allows a comparison between disabled and not disabled persons. For this purpose we investigate the probability to be employed by disability status. People with disability show a lower probability of being employed, the availability of data on the type of disability allows to detect amongst disabled a lower employment probability for individuals with psychic disability. By disaggregating by disability status our analysis can recognize a higher positive effect of investing in education on the probability of employment for people with disabilities.