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This paper investigates the impact in the short/medium term of M&As made by 14 Italian banks quoted on the stock exchange for the period 1999–2016. After dividing the banks into two groups by size and degree of internationalisation, we sought to ascertain whether different initial conditions produce different final effects. Based on three assumptions, supported by three separate econometric approaches, our empirical analysis shows that the stronger banks increased their competitiveness while the weaker banks did not achieve the same results since they were motivated to grow "by desperation". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper evaluates the effect of illegal activities on Cohesion Policy implementation. This issue is fundamental in Italy, where large delays in expenditure risk to undermine the growth-enhancing effects of funds. To explain delays, we focus on two criminal behaviours: corruption and organized crime. By exploiting a two-step approach, an empirical analysis is carried out on Italian provinces, with a focus on Southern ones, between 2007 and 2015. The findings show that both crimes, impacting the efficiency of funds, cause delays in the implementation of Cohesion Policy. These consequences are higher if linked to corruption rather than to organized crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The establishment of incentive zones represents a cluster policy approach that a country can implement to boost economic growth. Being influenced by regional characteristics, the success of specific incentive types (special economic zones, free-trade zones, free zones) may vary considerably. By using a new composite indicator, differently designed according to each type of development plan, this study analyses 51 European incentive zones so as to identify best practices. Moreover, propensity score matching allows the net impact of the industrial policy to be assessed. The findings show significant positive results achieved by the various industrial policy instruments with differing levels of success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism-related activities are deemed to have a negative impact on the natural environment, thus requiring a proper management scheme. The implementation of planning procedures for sustainable tourism activities needs to be based on the active involvement of several actors, with conflicting goals and interests. In addition, the need for resource rationalisation is more and more pressing. Thus, this research aims to propose a procedure for selecting tourism activities to be funded by the Public administration and implemented. The proposed approach supports policymakers by providing suggestions on how to optimise the allocation of public resources, while accounting for social and environmental issues. This optimisation model has been applied to the selection of projects presented in response to a call for tender drafted by an Italian Public administration. The main aim of the tender is to finance projects aimed at either increasing the attractiveness of urban areas, seasonally adjusting tourism activity supply and supporting environment-friendly models. Our findings illustrate the operational advantages of the proposed approach, in terms of either improved resource allocation, increased interaction among public and private subjects and an increased number of funded activities. Furthermore, to validate our assumption, a comparison with a traditional multicriteria technique is performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European and national policy‐makers have highlighted the role of the cohesion policy in smoothing the effects of the crisis during the programme period 2007–13. To support these claims, however, specific evidence is needed. This article studied the relations between the absorption of the EU funds and regional labour markets in Italian regions during the Great Recession. By applying different panel data models to new data on cohesion policy, three main results were achieved. We found that the cohesion policy made a contribution to the resilience of Italian regional labour markets. Yet the short‐term consequences of the cohesion policy on regional economies were conditional on the heterogeneous quality of regional institutions. We also found that the policy changes introduced in Italy during the crisis increased the effectiveness of the cohesion policy. The analysis was controlled for endogeneity issues and alternative specifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Byline: Roberta Arbolino, Pietro Rostirolla This paper concerns situations similar to the ones occurring in the city of Naples, which result in a continuous degradation that destroys resources and detracts from their future usability. The main difficulties are to be found in terms of organisational and managerial skills in integrated project planning. Besides, the sustainable development, at any territorial scale, is made not only of 'projects' but, mainly of 'policies' defining a long term strategy. Consequently, the main problem is not estimating the single 'creative' project but elaborating and estimating policies that stimulate the contents of creativity in order to support development. This paper first underlines the inefficiency causes of present regulation system. Then, we verify the contribution that evaluation procedures can give. In particular, we analyse two instruments, useful tools to overcome management constraints: the use of a methodological support to achieve the best financial resource allocation between the sectors involved and an organisation that simplifies and accelerates decision-making procedures to facilitate private participation.