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Efficiency has a key-role in the measurement of the impact of the National Health Service (NHS) reforms. We investigate the issue of inefficiency in health sector and provide empirical evidence derived from Italian public hospitals. Despite the importance of efficiency measurement in health care services, only recently advanced econometric methods have been applied to hospital data. We provide a synoptic survey of few empirical analyses of efficiency measurement in health care services. An estimate of the cost efficiency level in Italian public hospitals during 2001-2003 is obtained through a sample. We propose an efficiency indicator and provide cost frontiers for such hospitals, using stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) for longitudinal data., Statistica; Vol 67, No 3 (2007); 263-279

International audience; This paper deals with an endogenous growth model with vintage capital and, more precisely, with the AK model proposed in [R. Boucekkine, O. Licandro, L.A. Puch, F. del Rio, Vintage capital and the dynamics of the AK model, J. Econ. Theory 120 (1) (2005) 39–72]. In endogenous growth models the introduction of vintage capital allows to explain some growth facts but strongly increases the mathematical difficulties. So far, in this approach, the model is studied by the Maximum Principle; here we develop the Dynamic Programming approach to the same problem by obtaining sharper results and we provide more insight about the economic implications of the model. We explicitly find the value function, the closed loop formula that relates capital and investment, the optimal consumption paths and the long run equilibrium. The short run fluctuations of capital and investment and the relations with the standard AK model are analyzed. Finally the applicability to other models is also discussed.

none 3 no This study explores how sustainability can constitute a driver of tourist demand in small areas, at the early stage of tourism development. Feasible methods and scales are proposed to analyze the perceived value of rural tourism and visitor perceived sustainability, where the low tourist demand and the touch-and-go nature of the typical visit imply measurement and modeling problems. The advantages of ordinal SEM in our empirical setting are compared to the standard model. Results indicate that a good state of conservation of the cultural heritage is the most important indicator of perceived sustainability, followed by a well-protected natural environment. We disentangle the relationship between tourism and sustainability, showing that the latter is perceived as a limitation directly, but it turns out to be a driver of destinations’ competitiveness thanks to its strong influence on the perceived value, that moderates its contribution to destination image, satisfaction and intention to recommend. mixed ANDREA GUIZZARDI, ANNALISA STACCHINI, MICHELE COSTA ANDREA GUIZZARDI, ANNALISA STACCHINI, MICHELE COSTA

We provide an optimal growth spatio-temporal setting with capital accumulation and diffusion across space to study the link between economic growth triggered by capital spatio-temporal dynamics and agglomeration across space. The technology is AK, K being broad capital. The social welfare function is Benthamite. In sharp contrast to the related literature, which considers homogeneous space, we derive optimal location outcomes for any given space distributions for technology and population. Both the transitional spatio-temporal dynamics and the asymptotic spatial distributions are computed in closed form. Concerning the latter, we find, among other results, that: (i) due to inequality aversion, the consumption per capital distribution is much flatter than the distribution of capital per capita; (ii) endogenous spillovers inherent in capital spatio-temporal dynamics occur as capital distribution is much less concentrated than the (pre-specified) technological distribution; (iii) the distance to the center (or to the core) is an essential determinant of the shapes of the asymptotic distributions, that is relative location matters.

open 3 no We model an industry in which a discrete number of firms choose the output of their differentiated products, deciding whether or not to consider the impact of their decisions on aggregate output. The firm's choice of ignoring the impact of its production on aggregate output, which is typical of monopolistic competition, is derived as an equilibrium choice rather than assumed upfront. Such a choice is labelled as ‘strategic inattention’. We show that our model of “strategic inattention” is isomorphic to a model of ‘strategic delegation’ with managerial compensation based on relative profit performance. Thus, monopolistic competition and Cournot oligopoly are reconciled within a general model which can lead to either market form. partially_open embargoed_20211024 Cellini R.; Lambertini L.; Ottaviano G.I.P. Cellini R.; Lambertini L.; Ottaviano G.I.P.

This paper introduces a public debt stabilization constraint in an overlapping generation model in which non-renewable resources constitute a necessary input in the production function and belong to agents. It shows that stabilization of public debt at high level (as share of capital) may prevent the existence of a sustainable development path. Public debt thus appears as a threat to sustainable development. It also shows that higher public debt-to-capital ratios (and public expenditures-to-capital ones) are associated with lower growth. Two transmission channels are identified. As usual, public debt crowds out capital accumulation. In addition, public debt tends to increase resource use which reduces the rate of growth. We also show that the economy is characterized by saddle path stability. Finally, we show that the public debt-to-capital ratio may be calibrated to implement the social planner optimal allocation.

embargoed_20221213 3 no This paper analyzes whether consumers’ misperception on the quality of the product influences firms’ investment choices. We examine a setup with horizontal and vertical (green) differentiation, where consumers are heterogeneous in the exogenous perception of environmental quality. Demands, true qualities and profits are increasing in the perception of higher quality, while the investment in green quality is high for high and low degrees of product substitutability. We further consider the introduction of either an emission tax or an environmental standard. Both interventions increase the investment in green quality. We show that for low marginal damages, the environmental standard increases quality, while taxation is more effective when the environmental damage is large. embargoed_20221213 Lambertini, Luca; Pignataro, Giuseppe; Tampieri, Alessandro Lambertini, Luca; Pignataro, Giuseppe; Tampieri, Alessandro

none 2 si This paper addresses the relationship between liquidity and production activity. It argues that this rela-tionship becomes fully evident only if one considers intermediate levels of aggregation, and in particularstages of production within each industrial sector and their interdependence across sectors. To illus-trate this, the paper introduces the concept of structural liquidity, which denotes material funds that areendogenously formed within the productive system before one considers the provision of liquidity bymeans of money. Structural liquidity is analyzed by combining (i) the representation of the productivesystem as an arrangement of fabrication stages sequentially related in time; and (ii) the representation ofthe productive system as a set of interdependent industrial sectors. The analysis identifies the structuralliquidity problem as the need to satisfy both a viability condition (deriving from sectoral interdependen-cies) and a full employment condition (deriving from the sequencing of fabrication stages). The analysishighlights previously unexplored trade-offs, which have wide-ranging implications for monetary andliquidity policy. mixed Cardinale, Ivano; Scazzieri, Roberto Cardinale, Ivano; Scazzieri, Roberto

none 1 no Although property rights are key, their determinants are still poorly understood. When property is fully protected, some potential buyers with valuation higher than that of original owners are inefficiently excluded from trade because of transaction costs. When property rights are weak, low-valuation potential buyers inefficiently expropriate original owners. The trade-off between these two misallocations implies that the protection of property will be stronger the more heterogeneous the potential buyer’s preferences are. This implication holds true when part of the population has more political influence on institutional design, when transaction costs are determined by either market power or asymmetric information, and when the disincentive effect of weak property rights is taken into account. Moreover, it is consistent with the relationships between measures of ethnolinguistic, genetic, and religious diversity and novel data on the rules on adverse possession and on government takings of real property in 126 jurisdictions. mixed Guerriero, Carmine Guerriero, Carmine

none 1 no Outcomes are deeply influenced by the set of institutions used to aggregate the citizens’ preferences over the harshness of punishment, i.e., the legal tradition. I show that while under common law appellate judges’ biases offset one another at the cost of legal uncer- tainty, under civil law the legislator chooses a certain legal rule that is biased only when he favors special interests, i.e., when preferences are sufficiently heterogeneous and/or po- litical institutions are sufficiently inefficient. Thus, common law can produce better out- comes only under this scenario. To test this prediction, I construct a novel continuous measure of legal traditions for 49 transplants, many of which reformed the transplanted institutions, and I devise an instrumental variables approach dealing with the endogeneity of both legal and political institutions. The evidence I obtain is robust across several strate- gies, confirms the model implications, and stresses the relevance of distinguishing between proxies measuring only the technological efficiency of the law and those picking up also the citizenry’s satisfaction with its cultural content. mixed Guerriero, Carmine Guerriero, Carmine

none 5 si This paper investigates the relationship between green/non-green technologies and firm growth. By combining the literature on eco-innovations, industrial organisation and entrepreneurial studies, we examine the dependence of this relationship on the pace at which firms grow and the age of the firm. From a dataset of 5498 manufacturing firms in Italy for the period of 2000–2008, longitudinal fixed effects quantile models are estimated, in which the firm’s age is set to moderate the effects of green and non-green patents on employment growth. We find that the positive effect of green technologies on growth is greater than that of non-green technologies. However, this result does not apply to struggling and rapidly growing firms. With fast-growing (above the median) firms, age moderates the growth effect of green technologies. Inconsistent with the extant literature, this moderation effect is positive: firm experience appears important for the growth benefits of green technologies, possibly relative to the complexity of their management. Riccardo, Leoncini; Alberto, Marzucchi; Sandro, Montresor; Francesco, Rentocchini; Ugo, Rizzo Riccardo, Leoncini; Alberto, Marzucchi; Sandro, Montresor; Francesco, Rentocchini; Ugo, Rizzo

International audience; We solve a linear-quadratic model of a spatio-temporal economy using a polluting one-input technology. Space is continuous and heterogenous: locations differ in productivity, nature self-cleaning technology and environmental awareness. The unique link between locations is transboundary pollution which is modelled as a PDE diffusion equation. The spatio-temporal functional is quadratic in local consumption and linear in pollution. Using a dynamic programming method adapted to our infinite dimensional setting, we solve the associated optimal control problem in closed-form and identify the asymptotic (optimal) spatial distribution of pollution. We show that optimal emissions will decrease at given location if and only if local productivity is larger than a threshold which depends both on the local pollution absorption capacity and environmental awareness. Furthermore, we numerically explore the relationship between the spatial optimal distributions of production and (asymptotic) pollution in order to uncover possible (geographic) environmental Kuznets curve cases.

none 2 si Inventors and organizational assets are inputs of inventive activities which are often provided at a global scale, where countries might specialize in the provision of one or the other type of inputs. We introduce a new patent-based metric, the ‘inventor balance’, to quantify this type of functional specialization, which we discover to be considerable, and we propose a conceptual framework to explain it. We observe a progressive ‘decoupling’ of national sub-systems providing respectively inventors and organizational assets. Moreover, we find that countries with a high level of innovativeness relative to their economic development, high technological specialization, and strong individualistic cultural traits, contribute relatively more inventors than organizations to the global production of inventions. mixed Picci, Lucio; Savorelli, Luca Picci, Lucio; Savorelli, Luca

open 3 si Pubblicato come working paper: Geraci, Andrea ; Fabbri, Daniele ; Monfardini, Chiara (2014) Testing exogeneity of multinomial regressors in count data models: does two stage residual inclusion work? Bologna: Dipartimento di Scienze economiche DSE, p. 37. DOI 10.6092/unibo/amsacta/3937 . In: Quaderni - Working Paper DSE (921). ISSN 2282-6483. We study a simple exogeneity test in count data models with possibly endogenous multinomial treatment. The test is based on Two Stage Residual Inclusion (2SRI), an estimation method which has been proved to be consistent for a general class of nonlinear parametric models. Results from a broad set of simulation experiments provide novel evidence on important features of this approach. We find differences in the finite sample performance of various likelihood-based tests, analyze their robustness to misspecification arising from neglected over-dispersion or from incorrect specification of the first stage model, and uncover that standardizing the variance of the first stage residuals leads to better results. An original application to testing the endogeneity status of insurance in a model of healthcare demand corroborates our Monte Carlo findings. partially_open embargoed_20171108 Geraci, Andrea; Fabbri, Daniele; Monfardini, Chiara Geraci, Andrea; Fabbri, Daniele; Monfardini, Chiara

none 3 si Malaria afflicts mankind since thousands of years and still imposes serious health impediments and considerable mortality on the affected populations. Empirical investigations of the role of malaria for economic development at the country level deliver mixed findings, however. We study the role of long-term malaria exposure on development today using disaggregate within-country variation for the whole of Africa with 1 × 1 degree cells as units of observation. Local development is measured by light density at night. Based on insights from epidemiology, which documents that genetic and acquired immunities reduce Malaria risk for adults in holoendemic areas, the effect is hypothesized to be nonlinear, with a peak for intermediate rather than high exposure to the pathogen. The empirical findings support this hypothesis. The results also suggest the existence of a significant moderating effect of genetic immunities measured by the prevalence of the sickle cell trait in the population. mixed Cervellati, Matteo; Esposito, Elena; Sunde, Uwe Cervellati, Matteo; Esposito, Elena; Sunde, Uwe

none 2 Using data from 20 US manufacturing industries, we find strong evidence that a more generous tax treatment of R&D positively impacts on the growth rate of total factor productivity and that this effect is stronger for industries farther from the technological frontier. The estimates also suggest that the productivity growth effect of R&D tax policy is comparable in size to that induced by technology transfers. Minniti, Antonio; Venturini, Francesco Minniti, Antonio; Venturini, Francesco

none 2 si During an IPO the issuing firm experiences a dramatic visibility shock caused by a large amount of information released to the public. In this context the media play a pivotal role in conveying information to investors who mostly rely on second-hand and simplified news. We argue that the way in which news is presented may shape retail investors' beliefs and in turn drive the demand for share and first-day returns. Based on over 2800 US IPOs and over 27,000 newspaper articles we show that (a) positive tones are positively associated with IPO underpricing; (b) this effect is stronger when news is reported close to the IPO date or (c) by more reputable newspapers. During an IPO the issuing firm experiences a dramatic visibility shock caused by a large amount of information released to the public. In this context the media play a pivotal role in conveying information to investors who mostly rely on second-hand and simplified news. We argue that the way in which news is presented may shape retail investors' beliefs and in turn drive the demand for share and first-day returns. Based on over 2800 US IPOs and over 27,000 newspaper articles we show that (a) positive tones are positively associated with IPO underpricing; (b) this effect is stronger when news is reported close to the IPO date or (c) by more reputable newspapers. none Bajo, Emanuele; Raimondo, Carlo Bajo, Emanuele; Raimondo, Carlo

none 2 si When technological change affects the prices of tradeable assets, innovators can obtain speculative profits by exploiting their inside information as to the occurrence of innovations. We propose a tractable model of endogenous growth that formalizes this argument, originally due to Hirshleifer (1971). We then use the model to assess two claims advanced by Hirshleifer, namely, that speculative profits can generate excessive investment in R&D when they add to monopoly rents guaranteed by patent protection, or else even in a perfectly competitive economy. The analysis confirms the first claim, but casts doubts on the second one. (JEL O30, O40) open Vincenzo, Denicolò; Piercarlo, Zanchettin Vincenzo, Denicolò; Piercarlo, Zanchettin

none 3 no We solve a mixed spatial duopoly with a generic log-concave consumers' distribution. We show that the sub-game perfect equilibrium in prices and locations exists and is generally inefficient, so that the efficiency in the standard uniform distribution case stands out as an exception. Notable examples show that the inefficiency may increase as the distribution becomes more concentrated. none Benassi, Corrado; Chirco, Alessandra; Colombo, Caterina Benassi, Corrado; Chirco, Alessandra; Colombo, Caterina

There is growing evidence that social pressure shapes firms' behavior. Given how sensitive communities are to downsizing, this suggests that firms are likely to be under strong social pressure when considering reducing employment. Using French linked employer-employee data, we show that social pressure induces firms to refrain from dismissing at short distance from their headquarters. More specifically, we find that, within firms, secondary establishments located further away from headquarters have higher dismissal rates than those located closer, taking into account the possible endogeneity of plant location. We also find that the positive effect of distance on dismissals increases with the visibility of the firm in the local community of its headquarters. This effect is also stronger the greater the degree of selfishness of the community in which the headquarters are located. This suggests that local social pressure at headquarters is a key determinant of the positive relationship between distance to headquarters and dismissals. We show that our results cannot be entirely accounted for by alternative explanations of the distance-dismissal relationship that are put forward in the literature.

In this paper we compare two policy instruments that can be adopted to curb carbon emissions. The first is a conventional pollution tax, the second is an environmental campaign raising consumers’ awareness about the relative impact of their consumption choices. The comparison is carried out in two different scenarios, depending on whether consumers’ aprioristic preferences are such that they value the environmental attribute of a product (environmental quality) or its pure performance (hedonic quality) . In the case of environmental quality, the campaign is preferred under some specific conditions based on consumer heterogeneity, cost-effective analysis, and pollution level. On the contrary, the pollution tax is always preferred in the case of hedonic quality. Therefore, we show that the relative efficiency of the two policy instruments crucially depends on consumers’ initial concern for the environment, which may vary across countries due to socio-economic conditions.

none 3 no In this paper we consider a vertically differentiated duopoly model in which a green producer competes with a brown rival in a market in which consumers are environmentally concerned. In particular, consumers are assumed to value not only the intrinsic quality of a certain product, but also its environmental impact. This environmental valuation has a positional content: consumers attach a positive attribute to the green product, while penalizing the brown one. In this context, we consider the choice of the green firm between cleaner and end-of-pipe abatement efforts. We find that the interplay between the intensity of market competition, consumers' income disparity and environmental concern can play a crucial role in directing the green producer towards one or the other technological choice. More precisely, the adoption of cleaner production technologies can be discouraged by low average income and by tough competition, while it can be spurred by the moral/social incentive towards pro-environmental behavior. Andrea, Mantovani; Ornella, Tarola; Cecilia, Vergari Andrea, Mantovani; Ornella, Tarola; Cecilia, Vergari

none 2 We assess the long-run growth effects of public policies to business R&D using data for US manufacturing industries and taking Schumpeterian growth theory as guideline. Our analysis indicates that R&D policy in the form of R&D tax credits fosters the rate of productivity growth over the long-term horizon. This effect is quantitatively important: increasing R&D tax credits by 10% raises the growth rate of labour productivity by 0.4% per year. We show that our findings are robust to controlling for several policy instruments, growth determinants and econometric issues. Moreover, the overall evidence is consistent with the predictions of second-generation fully-endogenous growth models. Minniti, Antonio; Venturini, Francesco Minniti, Antonio; Venturini, Francesco

none 2 no This paper studies the mechanism through which intellectual property rights (IPR) protection can influence the impact of skilled migration on innovation activities in developing countries. We argue that knowledge acquired by emigrants abroad can flow back to their country of origin through diaspora networks. IPR protection in the sending country facilitates this channel by increasing returns to skills and encouraging workers to move into the innovation sector. An expansion of the innovation sector allows diaspora knowledge to be absorbed by a larger range of workers. Strong IPR enforcement therefore makes it more likely for brain drain to be transformed into brain gain. Naghavi, Alireza; Strozzi, Chiara Naghavi, Alireza; Strozzi, Chiara

International audience; Our empirical analysis studies the impact of computer use on out of employment transitions of older workers, disentangling the effect of using a PC at work from that of being PC literate. Data are drawn from the 2000, 2002 and 2004 waves of the Bank of Italy Survey on Household Income and Wealth. We provide empirical evidence that, even controlling for a wide set of covariates, older employees who use a PC at work have a higher probability of remaining employed in the future. However, our results also indicate that, once PC literacy is controlled for, the use of a PC at work decreases only marginally the risk of becoming not employed (i.e. the effect is smaller than the one registered when we do not control for PC literacy)

none 2 no Article first published online: August 4, 2016 The study develops a comprehensive picture of tourism demand trends at UNESCO World Heritage Sites (WHSs) with the aim of providing evidence of any growth in demand for specific destinations after the listing of their sites. In contrast to previous literature, this article focuses on the smallest statistical unit (the municipality) to examine WHS impact on the destination. Analyzing 16 Italian WHSs, we show the most relevant trends in hospitality demand, comparing tourism flows at destinations before and after listing. Data show that, on average, growth rates of tourism demand in the 5 years after WHS listing are not higher than growth rates in the 5 years before the listing, but a number of different patterns emerge. The policy and managerial implications of such findings are straightforward: at least for a mature destination like Italy, there is no statistical evidence that WHS listing is associated with accelerating market growth rates. mixed Giorgio Ribaudo; Paolo Figini Giorgio Ribaudo; Paolo Figini

none 3 no Article first published online: January 1, 2015 Real-world tourism destinations differ in the way they develop and are managed. This is mainly due to the complexity of the tourism product (a bundle including both complementary and substitute goods and services) and the type of primary resource. Moreover, the planning of tourism and the policy of the destination depend on coordination and cooperation among several agents (private companies, public bodies and hybrid agents) on a plethora of issues. This article deals theoretically with the alternative patterns of strategic interaction that can be played by the different stakeholders of the destination: private agents can either play cooperative or non-cooperative pricing strategies, while the optimal investment policy for the destination management depends on the timing of the game (private and public agents’ moves can either be simultaneous or sequential). By jointly considering the two features of cooperation and game timing, the authors are able to identify four different cases for their policy model. They show that the solutions of these cases generally differ and, if private agents are coordinated, the policymaker’s choice between simultaneous and sequential moves is irrelevant. On the contrary, if agents are not coordinated, the policymaker prefers to use its first-move advantage in the sequential game in order to reduce the inefficiency stemming from the non-coordination of prices. The results are carefully discussed with respect to the peculiarity of the tourism product (where mainly complementary goods are included) and to the different patterns of destination management which are observed worldwide. mixed Rainer Andergassen; Guido Candela; Paolo Figini Rainer Andergassen; Guido Candela; Paolo Figini

International audience; The present work deals with a Gompertz-type diffusion process, which includes in the drift term a time-dependent function C(t) representing the effect of a therapy able to modify the dynamics of the underlying process. However, in experimental studies is not immediate to deduce the functional form of C(t) from a treatment protocol. So a statistical approach is proposed in order to estimate this function, when a control group and one or more treated groups are observed. In order to validate the proposed strategy a simulation study for several interesting functional forms of C(t) has been carried out. Finally, an application to infer the net effect of cisplatine and doxorubicin+ cyclophosphamide in actual murine models is presented.