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The Common Agricultural Policy reform 2013–2020 has conditioned 30 per cent of the direct payments to greening requirements. Our study investigates whether one of these requirements, the ecological focus area (EFA) obligation, has led to environmental improvements while preserving farms’ economic sustainability. We apply a regression discontinuity design approach on a sample of Italian arable crop farms. Our results suggest that the EFA requirement has no significant effects on farms’ application of fertilisers, pesticide expenditure, crop diversification or economic performance. However, farmers reacted to the EFA requirement by changing their crop mix, mostly by increasing their share of leguminous crops.

The Common Agricultural Policy reform 2013-2020 has conditioned 30 per cent of the direct payments to greening requirements. Our study investigates whether one of these requirements, the ecological focus area (EFA) obligation, has led to environmental improvements while preserving farms' economic sustainability. We apply a regression discontinuity design approach on a sample of Italian arable crop farms. Our results suggest that the EFA requirement has no significant effects on farms' application of fertilisers, pesticide expenditure, crop diversification or economic performance. However, farmers reacted to the EFA requirement by changing their crop mix, mostly by increasing their share of leguminous crops.

Objective: School-based fruit and vegetable provision programmes can improve children's eating patterns and health by ensuring access to fruit and vegetables and providing nutrition education. However, the effectiveness of these programmes may be significantly affected by the implementation quality. The objective of this study was to identify barriers and facilitators to the implementation of the EU School Fruit and Vegetables Scheme according to Italian teachers' perspective.Design, Setting, and Method: We carried out semi-structured interviews with teachers in two elementary schools in Italy that had participated in the EU School Fruit and Vegetables Scheme for several years. The interview protocol was based on domains, constructs and sub-constructs from the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). Qualitative data from the interviews were coded deductively using the CFIR to identify the main barriers and facilitators to implementing the EU School Fruit and Vegetables Scheme.Results: Among the main facilitators of implementation of the EU School Fruit and Vegetables Scheme were the quality and variety of the products, as well as the educational intentions behind the scheme, and teachers' overall level of engagement. Barriers were to be found in lack of teacher training, an absence of accompanying measures, limited knowledge about a healthy diet, the low involvement of parents, and finally, problems with product delivery.Conclusions: Providing more comprehensive teacher education and training and extending access to accompanying measures may improve the EU School Fruit and Vegetables Scheme's implementation quality and effectiveness. Moreover, allowing greater flexibility in between suppliers and accounting for each geographic area's unique character are crucial to overcoming the delivery problems that currently act as barriers to the implementation of the scheme.

Il capitolo analizza la congiuntura economica nazionale. Si concentra poi sulle performance e le caratteristiche dell'industria alimentare in Emilia Romagna descrivendone la struttura e descrivendone i flussi occupazionali.

This article examines the effectiveness and consequences of using carbon taxes on food purchases to contribute to achieving the U.S. greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs) reduction target for 2025. Using U.S. Department of Agriculture National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey data and the elasticities derived from the Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System model, we simulate multiple uncompensated or revenue-neutral carbon tax policy scenarios on different food groups. We apply a carbon tax rate that is proportional to the GHGEs generated throughout each foods lifecycle, computed using Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment. We evaluate the impact of the tax on 1) quantity of GHGEs mitigated and social welfare; 2) nutritional outcomes; 3) distributional implications. Our results show that carbon taxes on food purchases decrease GHGEs from the agricultural and food sectors by 1.9 to 4.8 percent and generate up to $839 billion 2012 dollars social welfare gain per year due to avoided GHGEs-related external costs. However, tradeoffs exist among climate, nutritional and distributional goals. For instance, the most effective policy in reducing GHGEs is regressive and generates the highest loss in consumer surplus per kilogram of emission reduction. Moreover, the quantity of health-promoting nutrients falls significantly in almost all scenarios. Overall, our findings show that the use of carbon taxes alone may not be the most effective way to reduce GHGEs from U.S. food purchases. Additional policies, such as subsidies on less carbon intensive foods, may be needed to encourage consumers of all income level to adopt more sustainable diets without increasing health and social inequalities.

the structure of the food industry: company typologies, company size and distribution in the territory; Employment flows and professional needs in the food industry: the types of placement of new hires, the characteristics of future hires in the food industry.

There is an increasing interest in healthy and sustainable product characteristics. Consumers determine their dietary intake and frame production systems with their choices. However, little is known about the relationships between health and environmental information in influencing these choices, especially when considering functional foods. This study assessed the influence of health-related and environmental-friendliness-related product information on the willingness to pay (WTP) for functional foods. To this end, a WTP elicitation experiment was set up using a jam-like fruit compote enriched with Aloe vera gel. Participants were provided with different messages related to the health and environmental benefits of Aloe vera products, and were also asked to taste the product. Results indicated that providing new information significantly increased the WTP for the enriched compote. This increase was significant for both health and environmentally based benefits, with the health message leading to a higher WTP. Combining health and environmental messages produced an additive effect on WTP which was independent of the sequential order in which the two messages were given. Results contrasted the view that health messages are the main drivers of WTP, and open a broader range of communication in terms of marketing strategies and sustainable policy objectives.

The current work investigates the heterogeneous effect of the 2008 recession on health outcomes in the Italian population across the main geographic areas. Health outcomes were proxied by individual-level information on healthy/risky behaviors, such as individual fruit and vegetable consumption, frequency of bodyweight monitoring, smoking, and alcohol intake. These health outcomes were employed as dependent variables in the empirical model that included some socioeconomic individual aspects (e.g., age, gender, education, and income source), as well as consumer price index data for tobacco products, alcoholic beverages, and fruit and vegetables. In this work, we used twelve years of data (2005–2016) from the Italian Multipurpose Household Survey (MHS), which collects individual self-reported characteristics, augmented with information on unemployment rates at the regional level, as well as with consumer price indexes for the goods analyzed. The results indicated that the 2008 economic crisis lowered the probability that individuals engage in healthy behaviors, such as self-monitoring their bodyweight, mostly among individuals in northern and central areas. Likewise, the economic downturn increased the probability of smoking regardless of the geographic area, with a larger magnitude in individuals in northern and central areas, whose health outcomes were more impacted by the economic downturn than individuals living in the southern and island areas.

Il contributo presenta, da un punto di vista teorico, le opportunità e i rischi dell'integrazione attraverso il piano dei consumi.

Il capitolo analizza i comportamenti e gli atteggiamenti di consumo di abbigliamento tra giovani stranieri, adulti stranieri e giovani italiani. Dalla ricerca emerge con chiarezza che i consumi di abbigliamento possono rappresentare un momento fondamentale di contatto, di acculturazione e di integrazione nel rapporto tra popolazione immigrata e autoctona.

Private labels (PLs), originally introduced by food retailers as low-priced alternatives to national brands, have expanded in recent years in premium market segments. This article examines how the presence of different types of PLs affect prices, competition, and overall welfare. Using estimates from a random coefficients logit demand model and retail scanner data of yoghurt sales from 17 regions in Italy, we simulate counterfactual scenarios where different types of PLs–namely 1) horizontally differentiated; 2) vertically differentiated; and 3) both types–are no longer in the market. The empirical results show that PLs are social-welfare enhancing, playing a pro-competitive role that benefits consumers. Also, in both a relative and an absolute sense, the welfare-increasing effect of PLs presence is more significant for horizontally differentiated PLs than for vertically differentiated ones.

We evaluate the impact of different types of information on participants’ willingness-to-pay (WTP) and quantity choices for both beef and soy burger meat. To this end, we conducted a lab experiment to elicit WTP with multiple-price lists and chosen quantities of two products in a basket. Participants were provided with explanatory messages regarding the impact of beef and soy on health and environment before successive rounds of WTP determinations and quantity choices. Results show a weak impact of successive rounds of messages on WTP for both beef and soy, while leading to higher relative variations for chosen quantities. These relative changes in both WTP and quantities are then combined for computing the value of information. Results show a relatively low value of information compared to the expenditure for beef. In the last section of the paper we evaluate the effect of the introduction of a beef burger labeled "Fed without GMO" on WTP and quantity choices. Results underline a weak impact of "Fed without GMO" label on changing participants’ preferences.

This paper analyses the impact of the economic crisis on the nutritional quality of the diet, using budgetary shares obtained by the Italian Household Budget Survey (HBS). First, we construct an index of nutritional quality at the household level based on actual budgetary shares and their compliance with nutritional guidelines. Working on a time-series of cross-section for the period 2006-2012, we are able to individuate some interesting paths across demographic groups and to detect the effect of the economic crisis on diet quality. The analysis shows that people in the North tend to eat healthier than people in other geographical areas; families with more than three members have a better diet quality; singles tend to have a less balanced diet; elderly people are the one having less healthy diet among different age groups. Further, the economic crisis has (unexpectedly) positively impacted the overall nutritional quality of Italian population.

We investigate the impacts of Private Label (PL) introduction on prices and market shares of national brands (NBs). During the sample period, PL products were introduced at different times in different geographical markets. The econometric model exploits this fact and compares NB prices in markets where PL was introduced to those in markets where PL had not been introduced. We found the response on price is not homogeneous, but it varies among brands and segments. Moreover, our results suggest that an aggregate level estimation fails to identify the response at the brand level. These results corroborate the importance of using brand specific models in appraising the effects of a PL introduction on market prices and consumer welfare. Lastly, the analysis allows us to consider the possibility of a cross effect by exploiting the effect of a PL introduction on NB market shares in segments close to the refrigerated milk market.