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While displaying diversified economic values, agro-ecosystems remain a relevant component of rural landscapes in Southern Europe. Coupled with the expansion of ecologically fragile areas because of climate warming, intensification and simplification of rural landscapes—e.g., in lowland—represent frequent trajectories of rural land-use change (RLUC) in the Mediterranean region and demonstrated to harm ecosystem functionality and ecological quality, especially in a context of socioeconomic transformations of landscapes. Additionally, an incipient 'extensivation' of geographically remote and economically marginal agricultural systems was also observed, likely following depopulation and land abandonment. The present study elaborated in this direction, providing an integrated RLUC evaluation scheme based on a multivariate analysis of land-use indicators derived from official statistics. This approach was applied to a continuous, long-term RLUC monitoring of a rural landscape in an ecologically complex Mediterranean region (Latium, Central Italy) experiencing multiple trends (e.g., lowland urbanization, crop intensification in gently sloping areas, and land abandonment/depopulation in steep zones) with diversified environmental implications. Based on administrative inventories, such evaluation was carried out over fifty years (1970–2020) in the study area, considering trends over time in selected crop surfaces at the municipal scale as inputs of a multiway factor analysis (MFA). This analysis quantifies stability in the main rural land-use types and possible changes in the dominant farming systems. Simplified indicators of land configuration (namely a crop intensity index and a rural woodland index reflecting 'intensification' or 'extensivation' of local farming systems) made available at the same spatial and temporal scales completed the informative picture corroborating MFA results. Taken together, our findings delineate multiple changes in rural landscapes, discriminating land-use trajectories in coastal and inland districts. These development trajectories were basically dependent on processes of (i) land abandonment in relict and remote areas, (ii) crop intensification in dynamic rural districts, and (iii) fringe urbanization along the coastal strip. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rank-size rule following Zipf's law was tested along a complete urban–rural hierarchy in Greece using 2021 census data released at different administrative levels. Testing five econometric specifications (linear, quadratic, and cubic forms, together with refined logistic and Gompertz forms) on log-transformed population numbers, deviations from the rank-size rule were assumed as an indicator of economic concentration (considering settlements, population, and activities jointly) along the density gradient in Greece. This hypothesis was verified using progressively disaggregated population numbers at (i) regional units (n = 75), (ii) 'Kallikratis' municipalities (n = 333), (iii) 'Kapodistrian' municipalities (n = 1037), and (iv) local communities (n = 6126). Econometric results were stable across geographical levels and indicate a relatively poor fit of linear specifications, the classical formulation of Zipf's law. Quadratic specifications displayed a good fit for all territorial levels outperforming cubic specifications. Gompertz specifications outperformed logistic specifications under aggregate partitions (e.g., regional units and 'Kallikratis' municipalities). Quadratic specifications outperformed both logistic and Gompertz specifications under disaggregated levels of investigation ('Kapodistrian' municipalities and local communities). Altogether, these findings indicate the persistence of non-linear rank-size relationships estimated over a cross-section of population data at progressively detailed observational units. Such evidence enriches the recent literature on Zipf's law, demonstrating the inherent complexity of rank-size rules tested on real data along the whole density gradient in a given country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land imperviousness reflects settlement growth and urban sprawl. Grounded on a comparative approach, a set of multidimensional statistical techniques were adopted here to quantify the evolution of land imperviousness from Copernicus High-Resolution Layers (HRLs) in a representative case study of Southern Europe (Athens, Greece). A two-way data matrix reporting the percent share of the surface land exposed to different sealing levels (101 classes ranging continuously from 0% to 100%) in the total municipal area was computed for two years (2006 and 2018) individually for 115 municipalities in metropolitan Athens. This matrix represented the information base needed to derive place-specific urban footprints and a comprehensive (global) profile of land imperviousness. Results of a Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) delineated a metropolitan structure still organized along the density gradient, moving from dense settlements in central locations with dominant land classes sealed for more than 90% of their surface area to completely pervious land (0%) typical of rural locations. While the density gradient became less steep between 2006 and 2018, it continued to aliment a socioeconomic polarization in urban and rural districts with distinctive profiles of land imperviousness. Intermediate locations had more mixed imperviousness profiles as a result of urban sprawl. Differential profiles reflect place-specific urban footprints with distinctive land take rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to verify whether higher education increases the likelihood of young Italian workers moving from non-standard to standard wage contracts. Design/methodology/approach: The authors exploit a data set on labour market flows, produced by the Italian National Statistical Office, by interviewing about 85,000 graduate and non-graduate individuals aged 15-29 in transition between five labour market states: standard wage employment; non-standard wage employment; self-employment; unemployment; inactivity. From these data, an average six-year transition matrix was constructed whose coefficients can be interpreted as probabilities of moving from one state to another over time. Findings: As the authors find evidence for the so-called stepping stone hypothesis (that is, a higher probability of moving to a permanent job for individuals starting from a temporary job), the authors expect graduates to be more likely to pass from non-standard to standard wage contracts than non-graduates, because the signalling effect of education is enhanced by the stepping stone effect of non-standard wage contracts. Nevertheless, the authors find that non-standard wage contracts of graduates are more likely to be terminated as bad job/worker matches. Originality/value: This paper adds to the empirical literature on the probability of young workers moving from non-standard wage contracts to a permanent job. By separating graduates from non-graduates, it was found that education reduces the likelihood of passing from non-standard to standard wage contracts. The authors interpret this result as evidence of the changing labour market that makes it more difficult to infer the productivity of graduates as opposed to non-graduates. (Contains 6 notes and 1 table.)

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the gender impact of tertiary education on the probability of entering and remaining in self-employment. Design/methodology/approach: A data set on labour market flows produced by the Italian National Statistical Office is exploited by interviewing about 62,000 graduate and non-graduate individuals in transition between five labour market states: dependent workers; self-employed workers; unemployed persons; and non-active persons. From these data, an average ten-year transition matrix (1993-2003) is constructed and the flows between labour market conditions by applying Markovian analysis are investigated. Findings: The data show that education significantly increases the probability of entering self-employment for both male and female graduates, but it also significantly increases the transition from self-employment to dependent employment for female graduates, thereby increasing the percentage of female graduates in paid employment and reducing the percentage of women in entrepreneurial activities. It is argued that the disappointment provoked by the gender wage gap in paid employment may induce some female graduates with low-entrepreneurial ability to set-up on their own, but once in self-employment they have lower survival rates than both men in self-employment and women in paid employment. Thus, what is observed overall is that education widens the gender gap between self-employed workers and employees for individuals persisting in the same working condition. Originality/value: The data are enabled to shift the focus of the relationship between education and entrepreneurship from the probability of being self-employed to the probability of entering and surviving in this condition. (Contains 5 tables and 7 notes.)

After years following the breakdown of the Great Recession in Europe, crisis-driven urban shrinkage can be adequately investigated considering changes over time in selected demographic indicators, with a specific focus on migration. Using official statistics and a literature review, the present study documents the inherent demographic decline in metropolitan Athens (Greece) as a response to economic stagnation after a long-lasting expansion. The empirical results of our study delineate metropolitan shrinkage in Southern Europe as a process associated with complex socioeconomic conditions leading to (possibly counterintuitive) demographic outcomes as far as migration trends are concerned. Recession has determined unsustainable economic conditions especially for non-native population segments, promoting both class and ethnic segregation. The negative migration balance in the 2010s led to an intense population decline hitting settlements made already demographically fragile because of low fertility and aging. Athens became a sort of 'migrant trap', being progressively unattractive for incoming migration flows—both internal and international—and losing an increasingly high number of non-native residents settling in the area, especially during the 'gold' decade of the 2004 Olympics. A sudden reduction in immigration rates reflected both economic (recession) and non-economic (population aging, fertility reduction, and childbearing postponement) factors, causing an incipient shrinkage after secular urban growth. The empirical results of our study add to the traditional literature on 'industrial cities shrinkage' in Europe and contribute to (re)formulate short- and medium-term development scenarios in large agglomerations, shedding further light on the role of migration in crisis-driven processes of urban decline in Mediterranean Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Violence against women and girls (VAW&G) has progressively become an emergency issue in many European countries and a relevant topic of public discussion. In this paper, we attempt to insert this theme within a model for macroeconomic policy design and evaluation. Special attention is devoted to the assessment of distortions in the allocation of public expenditure generated by VAW&G, in terms of gains and losses in aggregate total output. We adopt a macroeconomic input–output approach by adding to the framework an industry that produces care services to victims of VAW&G. The resulting model is integrated with the public expenditure reallocations that emerge as a result of the progressive elimination of violence. It is, thus, a simulation tool for determining total output gains or losses that emerge from the reallocation of public expenditures as VAW&G fades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Updating or estimating regional input–output tables is a challenging task addressed with non-survey methods. These can be classified into two groups: location quotient (LQ) methods and constrained matrix-balancing methods. This paper focuses on the second group and, specifically, on the performance of the cross-entropy method (CE). The most important finding is that the RAS method slightly outperforms the CE method on average, but its efficiency varies greatly from country to country. On the contrary, the performance of the CE method is more stable over countries and time. More interestingly, a fair implementation of the CE method boosted by the Flegg location quotient (FLQ) method outperforming the competing CE approach in terms of accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]