Search

Purpose: This work aims to analyse the relationship between public health efficiency and well-being considering a panel of 102 Italian provinces from 2000 to 2016 and evaluates if there are omitted variable biases and endogeneity biases and also evaluates if there are heterogeneous effects among provinces with different income levels. Design/methodology/approach: We use a multi-input and output bootstrap data envelopment analysis to assess public health efficiency. Then, we measure well-being indices using the min-max linear scaling transformation technique. A two-stage least squares model is used to identify the causal effect of improving public health efficiency on well-being to account for time-invariant heterogeneity, omitted variable bias and endogeneity bias. Findings: After controlling for important economic factors, the results show a significant effect of an accountable and efficient public health system on well-being. Those effects are concentrated in the North, the most economically, geographically and environmentally advantageous areas. Research limitations/implications: The use of the sample mean, probably the oldest and most used method for aggregating the indicators, could be affected by variable compensation, with consequent misleading results in the process of constructing the well-being index. Another limitation is the use of lagged values of the main predictor as an instrument in the instrumental variables setting because it could lead to information loss. Finally, the availability of data over a long period of time. Practical implications: The findings could help policymakers adopt measures to strengthen the public health system, encourage private providers and inspire countries worldwide. Social implications: These results draw the attention of local authorities, who play an important role in designing and implementing policies to stimulate local public health efficiency, which puts individuals in the conditions of achieving overall well-being in their communities. Originality/value: For the first time in Italy, a panel of well-being indices was constructed by developing new methodologies based on microeconomic theory. Furthermore, for the first time, the assessment of the relationship between public health efficiency and well-being is carried out using a panel of 102 Italian provinces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research aims to investigate the determinants of economic development and productivity by proposing an empirical analysis of the economic effects of institutional quality on the economic complexity of export at the intra-national level, focusing on 103 Italian provinces from 2004 to 2016. Using the System Generalised Method of Moments (System-GMM) estimator, the study assesses the influence of various institutional dimensions on provincial economic complexity, as measured by the Economic Complexity Index (ECI). The findings indicate that institutional quality, particularly rule of law, regulatory quality, and voice and accountability, significantly enhances economic complexity. Better formal and informal institutions such as completeness of contracts, social cohesion, contract enforcement, by reducing transaction costs and uncertainty, and by favouring knowledge dissemination and security of investments, are source of comparative advantage in complex industries that lead to diversified and sophisticated production, fostering economic growth and innovation. Moreover, the study emphasises the importance of related activities, which interact with institutions to support complex and innovative export-related activities through knowledge spillovers and related diversification. The analysis also highlights the pivotal role of human capital, social capital, and innovation, which should remain focal points for policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research aims to investigate the determinants of economic development and productivity by proposing an empirical analysis of the economic effects of institutional quality on the economic complexity of export at the intra-national level, focusing on 103 Italian provinces from 2004 to 2016. Using the System Generalised Method of Moments (System-GMM) estimator, the study assesses the influence of various institutional dimensions on provincial economic complexity, as measured by the Economic Complexity Index (ECI). The findings indicate that institutional quality, particularly rule of law, regulatory quality, and voice and accountability, significantly enhances economic complexity. Better formal and informal institutions such as completeness of contracts, social cohesion, contract enforcement, by reducing transaction costs and uncertainty, and by favouring knowledge dissemination and security of investments, are source of comparative advantage in complex industries that lead to diversified and sophisticated production, fostering economic growth and innovation. Moreover, the study emphasises the importance of related activities, which interact with institutions to support complex and innovative export-related activities through knowledge spillovers and related diversification. The analysis also highlights the pivotal role of human capital, social capital, and innovation, which should remain focal points for policymakers.

This paper proposes spatial comprehensive composite indicators to evaluate the well-being levels and ranking of Italian provinces with data from the Equitable and Sustainable Well-Being dashboard. We use a method based on Bayesian latent factor models, which allow us to include spatial dependence across Italian provinces, quantify uncertainty in the resulting estimates, and estimate data-driven weights for elementary indicators. The results reveal that our data-driven approach changes the resulting composite indicator rankings compared to those produced by traditional composite indicators' approaches. Estimated social and economic well-being is unequally distributed among southern and northern Italian provinces. In contrast, the environmental dimension appears less spatially clustered, and its composite indicators also reach above-average levels in the southern provinces. The time series of well-being composite indicators of Italian macro-areas shows clustering and macro-areas discrimination on larger territorial units. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work exploits a large panel dataset on Italian manufacturing SMEs to examine the relationship between leverage and firms' financial stability. Specifically, we evaluate whether and to what extent this link is affected by the degree of competition characterising the local credit market in which firms operate. Using two measures of local banking competition – the H-statistic and the Boone indicator – our evidence indicates that the negative impact of leverage on firms' financial health is greater for firms operating in more competitive banking markets. A plausible interpretation of this finding is that the competition drawbacks could prevail on its expected advantages, leading banks to be less inclined to establish lending relationships with risky firms, thus exacerbating their financial vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACTInternal migration in Italy has been characterised by deep changes in its composition, because of the growing share of high-skilled migrants (the emigration of which contributes to widening the internal brain drain) and the decreasing proportion of low-skilled migrants. Furthermore, recent interest in the literature in the role played by noneconomic elements in affecting migration decisions has highlighted the importance of a nonpecuniary factor, namely social capital (SC). For these reasons, this paper empirically investigates the role played by SC in interprovincial selective migration, considering migrants according to two education levels using data on 103 Italian provinces (2004–2012). The main findings reveal that provincial SC mainly contributes to reducing the migration flows of low-skilled individuals, albeit while also deterring the emigration of high-skilled individuals. Control variables confirm that better income conditions represent an important determinant of high-skilled migrants most likely because they seek to earn more, while better socioeconomic conditions such as labour market efficiency mostly influence those with a lower level of education.

This study adopts a spatial dynamic panel data model with common factors and a connectivity matrix based on cross-province population flows to help explain the spread of COVID-19 infections across Italian provinces during the period 2020–21. We find that an increase in the infections in a province has a positive and statistically significant effect on neighbours' infections, which highlights the relevance of spatial spillover effects. This finding is robust to several robustness checks. Furthermore, we investigate cross-provincial transmission heterogeneity using a heterogeneous spatial dynamic panel, which provides novel insights into the diffusion patterns of the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internal migration in Italy has been characterised by deep changes in its composition, because of the growing share of high-skilled migrants (the emigration of which contributes to widening the internal brain drain) and the decreasing proportion of low-skilled migrants. Furthermore, recent interest in the literature in the role played by noneconomic elements in affecting migration decisions has highlighted the importance of a nonpecuniary factor, namely social capital (SC). For these reasons, this paper empirically investigates the role played by SC in interprovincial selective migration, considering migrants according to two education levels using data on 103 Italian provinces (2004–2012). The main findings reveal that provincial SC mainly contributes to reducing the migration flows of low-skilled individuals, albeit while also deterring the emigration of high-skilled individuals. Control variables confirm that better income conditions represent an important determinant of high-skilled migrants most likely because they seek to earn more, while better socioeconomic conditions such as labour market efficiency mostly influence those with a lower level of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benefits of rapid tourism development are widely welcomed by governments of many destinations, with a growing body of literature confirming the existence of a connection between tourism and economic growth in several countries across the world. However, even if sub-national studies are deemed relevant, they are still scarce: we fill this gap by verifying if and how the tourism-led and economic-led growth hypotheses affect Italian provinces. Main findings reveal that in about one fifth of Italian provinces the two hypotheses hold, with a decreasing marginal contribution of the tourism to the economic growth once it reaches a certain threshold. Therefore, it is possible to use tourism to support economies, even if discrepancies are foreseeable among territories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our article presents an empirical investigation of the relationship between the export performance of Italian provinces and the quality of their local institutions, specifically the rule of law, over the period 2004–2016. According to the results obtained by different econometric approaches (OLS, FE, SYS-GMM), in general a secure and well-defined legal framework – by reducing transaction costs and uncertainty, facilitating capital accumulation and an increase in the firms' scale of production – is associated with better export performance. Interestingly, when the analysis is replicated at the level of the Italian macro-areas (North, Centre and South), the results indicate that the rule of law has a statistically significant and positive association with export performance only in northern provinces, thus suggesting that the effectiveness of this institutional dimension might depend on the level of development of the socioeconomic and institutional features at the local level, i.e. only when a set of suitable economic incentive mechanisms are already in place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) are viewed as the combination or interaction of elements producing shared innovative and cultural values that support entrepreneurial activities within a territory. The literature has mainly taken a static view of the concept and has analyzed these ecosystems at national or at NUTS-2 regional level. This paper proposes the NUTS-3 provincial level as a spatial unit for measuring EEs in a dynamic perspective and focuses on the Italian case using data for the 2000–2018 period. The choice of NUTS-3 provinces is supported by theoretical arguments and it is confirmed by empirical results, which show some degree of heterogeneity in the level of EEs across provinces and some spatial patterns that would have been ignored using larger spatial units. The temporal dimension also reveals some intra-distribution mobility in the cross-sectional values of the provincial EE index. The paper contributes to advancing the research on EEs, has implications for policymakers and practitioners, and suggests directions for future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Cost of Italian Municipal Waste Management grew constantly between 2011 and 2019. • Panel data analysis at provincial level, focus on 2015–2018. • Separation without Waste Hierarchy increases total waste management costs. This work investigates the role of waste treatment methods and separation policies in explaining the Total Waste Management Costs (TWMC) at NUTS 3 level, Italy, between 2015 and 2018. In this context, northern provinces generally have high efficiency and circularity, while central and southern provinces lag behind. It is unclear how much of the difference is motivated by socioeconomic factors and how much by political entrenchment in low circularity policies. Panel data models have been estimated using provincial and regional fixed effects targeting TWMC as the dependent variable. Two main independent variables are considered as drivers. One is a composite policy indicator that gives higher weight to circular methods and waste-to-energy treatments. Lower weights have been given to increase landfill, generic incineration, and biological and mixed treatments. The second independent variable is the ratio between separated waste and total municipal waste flow. The estimations' results indicate that the composite indicator of circular policies reduces TWMC while separation policies increase them. Furthermore, it is estimated that provinces need to improve their composite performance significantly to offset the cost increases derived by separation policies. Thus, perseverance in pursuing an incomplete circular policy might be a driver of TWMC at the local level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Study over Municipal Solid Waste-Income, dataset 103×18, Italian provinces. • Panel threshold, rolling Chow test for structural breaks. • The rolling chow test signs structural breaks in 2008, 2011 and 2013. • 71 provinces have decoupled economic activity from waste production in 2018. Municipal solid waste prevention represents a topical point in circular economy policies within the European Union. It is therefore paramount to assess its state of decoupling from economic activity. There is weak evidence from empirical research that Italy managed to achieve this structural change locally. Decoupling is not arising homogenously in the waste generation-income relationship in Italy over the last two decades. The heterogeneity in economic performances and waste policies could be an explanation. However, it is possible to find common patterns between decoupler against non-decoupler provinces. This paper involves panel data of 103 provinces during eighteen years (2001–2018) of Italian Provinces (NUTS3) to assess the drivers of structural changes in the income-waste relation. The innovation consists of the use of a threshold model to assess the minimal requirements of socio-economic performances to decouple economic activity to non-separated waste. The threshold point differs from the tipping point as it is always observable in the panel. Previous studies mostly estimated the latter involving panel data analysis. This often resulted in fallacious interpretation, especially due to spurious regressions. The observability is a relevant criterion, as several provinces have achieved the decoupling state. Results indicate that economic activity and tourist are relevant threshold variables in waste prevention. Both are sources of local financing; thus, it is probable that circular practices are dependent on the volume of potential expenditure rather than structural characteristics such as population density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides the first harmonized quantitative evidence on the rise of mass education across the provinces (today's NUTS 3) of Italy and Spain in the period c. 1861–1921. Visual analysis of this new dataset suggests that an important factor linked to the expansion of schooling was the feminization of the teaching profession, something that has been largely neglected so far in quantitative historical studies of educational development. This hypothesis is put to the test using panel‐data models. The results show that the feminization of teaching went hand in hand with the rise of schooling rates by prompting more girls to enrol into primary education. By the beginning of the twentieth century, Italy's gross enrolment rate had surpassed that of Spain—partly as the result of increasing feminization within the primary‐school teaching profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We find evidence that air pollution influences internal migration acting as a push factor to move to less polluted provinces. • Our results highlight that education, unemployment, demographic and geographic factors are also relevant matters. • Central and Northern regions appear to attract people more than the Southern regions, other factors being equal. • Policymakers may find these insights useful for the creation of policies designed to cope with environmental degradation. • The development of more uniform territorial strategies of quality-of-life standards are likely desirable in Italy. This research analyzes the role that air pollution plays, controlling for other socio-economic factors, in the movement of the population among Italian provinces. In spite of the increased prominence of environmental degradation in the public policy debate, empirical evidence on the effects of air quality on the attraction or retention of people is still limited in Italy. This study aims at partly filling this gap. Specific attention is paid to the environmental risks presented in provinces contaminated by air pollution. We investigate whether population moves away from provinces with higher levels of air pollution emissions toward those characterized by lower levels, net of the other contextual factors associated with migration streams. While many factors can come into play on mobility decisions, it is suggested that the increased concerns with environmental risks may be influential in shaping internal migration choices. We discuss the implications of our findings for future policy options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate whether the geographic concentration of non-EU immigrants in the various Italian provinces affects labour tax avoidance (LTAV) practices adopted by firms located in the same provinces, as well as in the neighbouring provinces, and operating in construction and agriculture industries that mostly employ immigrants in Italy. For this purpose, we develop a LTAV proxy based on the financial accounting information of a sample of 993,606 firm-years, disseminated throughout the 108 Italian provinces, over the period 2008–2016. Our results, based on a Spatial Durbin Model panel regression, reveal a statistically significant positive association between the concentration of non-EU immigrants and LTAV at province level, as well as the presence of spillover effects among neighbouring provinces. Our findings are robust to several additional analyses, including instrumental variable estimations. Our study provides empirical support to previous structuralist or marginalization theories holding that socioeconomically marginalized groups, such as non-EU immigrants, are more likely to be involved in labour exploitation practices, which could underlie our LTAV outcomes. Furthermore, it supports the need for tax authorities to strengthen labour inspections, coordinated at national level, especially in those contexts where non-EU immigrants are mostly employed. On the other hand, a greater social integration, assistance, and recognition of rights of immigrants may help to alleviate their situation of weakness that makes them more vulnerable to LTAV practices. Finally, tackling LTAV, associated with the underemployment of immigrants, may prevent its negative effects for society arising from the reduction of public resources to sustain the social welfare and finance public goods and services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study exploits the variability in the incidence of recent immigration inflows and the change in native employment in the Italian provinces to shed light on the impact of immigration on employment in rigid local labour markets. The study focuses on the period that followed the financial and sovereign debt crises, which strongly hit the labour markets of the Italian provinces. The results reveal a negligible overall impact of immigration on provincial employment which, however, hides differentiated impacts for different groups of natives. Employment responses to immigration shocks vary greatly depending on the skills and gender of the natives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing literature identifies different indicators to construct organized crime indices and places equal importance to different concepts of organized crime. This paper examines the sensitivity of organized crime across Italian provinces when different set of indicators and weights are used to combine crime indicators. Our findings suggest that there is a remarkable variation in the distribution of organized crime across Italian provinces based on the choice of indicators and the importance given to different crime indicators. It is also found that the relationship of organized crime with socioeconomic and political factors varies depending on the normative choices made in the construction of an organized crime index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recognized importance of innovation for long-run economic growth has raised scholars' interest in the mechanisms explaining regional innovative performance. In particular, renewed attention has been paid to the role of institutions as a social filter that can foster innovation. By adopting a holistic theoretical approach, the paper adds to this literature by investigating the relationship between the institutional quality and innovation capacity of Italian provinces. The findings show a positive effect associated with the quality of institutions by means of three important channels: government effectiveness, regulatory quality, and voice and accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the first ever analysis of the provincial population in Italy since ca. 1770, using 1911 boundaries, and providing a key variable for future studies on Italian economic history. The new data reveal, in line with national figures, two distinct stages: one of low population growth before 1821, and one of higher growth after 1821. A preliminary inspection suggests that the process of Unification did not represent a significant factor of change in the demographic trends of the majority of the Italian provinces, with only a few exceptions. Rather, it seems that the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the period of Restoration constituted the key dynamics in driving population growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates—through dynamic panel data techniques—the impact of Unesco World Heritage List (WHL) sites on international tourist arrivals. Relying on a sample of Italian provinces over the period 1997–2015, a positive effect of WHL inscriptions on foreign visitors' attractiveness is found. These results provide a further contribution to the debate about the role of WHL in fostering tourism, and, differently from other analyses on the Italian regions, support the conclusion that the inscription in the list can play a role in promoting attractiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the convergence process and the distribution dynamics of income among Italian NUTS-3 provinces between 2003 and 2011. Findings show the existence of multiple steady-state equilibria which is consistent with the well-documented persistence in income disparities among Italian provinces. The role of grant-making activities by Bank Foundations is assessed on a conditioning scheme. Results suggest that Bank Foundations can affect the shape of the distribution of income and, in the long run, reduce polarization with a tendency for income to collapse towards a unimodal distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at investigating whether the inscriptions in the UNESCO World Heritage List (WHL) sites influence tourism attractiveness. An empirical analysis, based on dynamic panel data methodology, was implemented to study the effect of WHL cultural and natural properties inclusion on international tourist arrivals in Italian provinces in the 2000–2014 time span. Results suggest that being awarded with a World Heritage recognition, together with the province's wealth, environmental habits and the openness to external markets, may influence attractiveness, confirming a tourism-enhancing role of the List, beyond the simple heritage preservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the differential impact of several territorial determinants of the economic performance of Italian provinces (NUTS 3 level). as measured by per capita GDP, export and employment growth from 1999 to 2014. It covers both the pre‐crisis and the crisis period and stresses the role of geographical proximity in shaping local performance over a wide set of explanatory variables. In order to do so, we employ, firstly, a spatial Durbin model which enables us to discriminate between direct and indirect effects and to highlight the possible contagion or crowding‐out spatial effects for each territorial dimension affecting growth. Then, we extend the analysis by allowing for the possibility of two regimes (pre‐crisis and post‐crisis). The performance of the provinces before and during the crisis relates to specific territorial components and geographic proximity appears to influence differently the results and their interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent literature strand has emphasized the importance of international migration on the institutional quality of sending and receiving countries. On the contrary, there is no evidence of the effects of intra‐national, interregional mobility on government quality, a phenomenon which is particularly relevant in countries affected by significant internal dualism. Using a system generalized method of moments (SYS‐GMM) estimator on a 2004–2012 panel dataset, this paper empirically investigates the relationship between internal net‐migration and institutional quality of Italian provinces. The findings show that migration has a relevant and positive effect on the quality of institutions only when the human capital content is taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, a significant number of papers has been published providing alternative measures of progress and well-being to Gross Domestic Product. Most of these papers differs in terms of their theoretical approach as well as their purpose and statistical methodology used to define what well-being is and how to measure it. In this paper, we construct a well-being indicator for the Italian provinces that shows a high degree of heterogeneity not only between the Northern and Southern Italian provinces, but also among adjacent provinces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The funding role of bank foundations in the Italian economy, especially to the non-profit sector, significantly increased over the last 25 years. This paper constructs a novel measure of social capital at the provincial level that explicitly takes into account the bank foundations' sectors of intervention (such as education, public health, and art and culture), together with other traditional aspects of social capital, and then tests the impact of bank foundations on the economic growth of Italian provinces. The findings suggest that the contribution of bank foundations to social capital positively affects the economic growth of provinces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Piedmontese aristocrat, known and appreciated by the Count of Cavour, from 1859 he carried out important missions in Emilia, Lombardy and in the South of Italy. He had not yet turned 28 when he was appointed Prefect of the province of Foggia. For more than a quarter of a century he exercised the functions in ten locations, the last being Palermo. His activity was always accompanied by criticism and controversy, since Bardesono was eminently a “political” prefect, who participated in the struggle between the parties and did not only deal with administrative issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Seasonal influenza vaccination (SIV) is an effective and safe way to prevent influenza. Public health institutions around the world consequently recommend SIV to certain groups at risk, including healthcare worker’s (HCWs). Even if SIV is free of charge, the vaccination coverage rate remains low, however. The aim of this study was to gain information on the sociodemographics, lifestyle and knowledge of HCWs associated with their attitude to SIV, also investigating the differences between different professional categories of HCW. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted over six consecutive weeks from October to December 2016. It was based on an anonymous online questionnaire administered to all employees (N = 9633) of the South Tyrolean Health Service. Coverage rates and attitudes to SIV were assessed by type of HCW. A logistic regression analysis was run to test the associations between SIV in the winter of 2015/2016 and potential predictors of the HCWs’ attitude to vaccination. Results In all, 4091 employees (42.4% of the total) took part in the study. Statistically significant differences emerged between the different healthcare professions in terms of their reported vaccination rates and their attitudes to SIV. Among the different types of HCW, physicians had the highest rate of vaccination uptake. There were sociocultural and lifestyle factors associated with SIV in HCWs, as well as these worker’s professional roles and the ward where they worked. All the professionals agreed that specific training was the best way to improve HCW vaccination rates. Conclusion Low compliance with SIV among HCWs is attributable to numerous factors, some of which relate to their attitude to health issues. Commitment and accountability to patients and society should be further developed in HCWs. Specific training and information, also through informal scientific channels, should be provided to improve their knowledge of influenza and attitude to vaccination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Service Industries Journal is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

An overview of the coastal vegetation of Site of Community Importance “Zone Umide della Capitanata” (Puglia Region) is here presented. Original relevés were performed in different locations of the site. On the basis of the in-field observations (142 original relevés) and of literature data, 44 plant communities have been defined, belonging to the following classes:Lemnetea minoris,Ruppietea maritimae, Potametea pectinati,Phragmito-Magnocaricetea, Cakiletea maritimae,Ammophiletea,Helichryso-Crucianelletea maritimae,Juncetea maritimi,Sarcocornietea fruticosae,Saginetea maritimae,Thero-Suaedetea,Tuberarietea guattatae,Nerio-Tamaricetea. For each vegetation unit, the distribution area at local and regional level and the relation to habitat types of the 92/43 EEC Directive are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Traditional analysis of tourism demand has been mainly based on the consideration of economic variables aiming at explaining the evolution of either tourists' expenditure or overnight stays or arrivals. This study is based on a collection of both economic variables and non-economic factors surveyed since 1998-2013 for 99 Italian NUTS3 (Nomenclature of Units for Territorial Statistics) regions (provinces). It is the first study in which such a wide array of non-economic and economic variables has been investigated for a panel data at this geographical level by using a simultaneous equations model. The analysis shows that all considered variables are significant for the evolution of tourism demand and that climate, tourism supply and entrepreneurial capabilities have the largest impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aim: Sarcoidosis is a systemic granulomatous inflammatory disease whose causes are still unknown and for which epidemiological data are often discordant. The aim of our study is to investigate prevalence and spatial distribution of cases, and identify environmental exposures associated with sarcoidosis in an Italian province. Methods: After georeferentiation of cases, the area under study was subdivided with respect to Municipality and Health Districts and to the altitude in order to identify zonal differences in prevalence. The bioaccumulation levels of 12 metals in lichen tissues were analyzed, in order to determine sources of air pollution. Finally, the analysis of the correlation between metals and between pickup stations was performed. Results: 223 patients were identified (58.3% female and 41.7% male of total) and the mean age was 50.6±15.4 years (53.5±15.5 years for the females and 46.5±14.4 for the males). The mean prevalence was 49 per 100.000 individuals. However, we observed very heterogeneous prevalence in the area under study. The correlations among metals revealed different deposition patterns in lowland area respect to hilly and mountain areas. Conclusions: The study highlights a high prevalence of sarcoidosis cases, characterized by a very inhomogeneous and patchy distribution with phenomena of local aggregation. Moreover, the bioaccumulation analysis was an effective method to identify the mineral particles that mostly contribute to air pollution in the different areas, but it was not sufficient to establish a clear correlation between the onset of sarcoidosis and environmental risk factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In spite of the huge amount of studies and researches focused on the dogana della mena delle pecore di Foggia, the custom house that managed the transhumance from Abruzzi to Apulia between the fifteenth and the nineteenth century, few scholars have accurately turned their attention to the varied typology of written records released by kings, viceroys and officials in Naples and Foggia in order to administrate and reform one of the most important and profitable institutions of the kingdom. This paper closely considers the surviving documentation from the Magnanimous reorganization of the dogana (forties of the fifteenth century) to the reintegra (cadastral inquiry) carried on roughly one hundred years later (1548- 1555), throwing new light on the intricate process of drafting and archiving records in Foggia and Naples and, in general, on the functioning of the dogana during its first century of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years there has been an increasing interest in the measurement of well-being of individuals and societies. Influenced by the 'beyond GDP' initiative, in 2012 the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) and the National Council for Economics and Labour launched the Equitable and Sustainable Well-being (BES, from the Italian acronym of 'Benessere Equo e Sostenibile') project, a set of 134 indicators aimed at capturing the Italian well-being. Lately, the debate on how to measure the well-being moved from the national level to the local one. Following this new trend, ISTAT introduced a set of 88 indicators for the local well-being (at NUTS3 level), the so called 'Provinces' BES'. Based on this project, aim of the paper is to provide an exploratory analysis for detecting groups of Italian provinces that share similar well-being profiles. In particular, we first apply a factor analysis with the aim to reduce the high number of indicators and, grounded on these results, we then create groups of the Italian provinces, applying the cluster analysis, in order to find similarity among them. Finally, based on the result of the factor analysis, for each domain and for each Italian province, we construct a composite indicator that is a linear combination of the estimated factor scores, with weights based on the Gini index of concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the territorial disparities between Italian provinces through an alternative measure (well-being composite index) as opposed to traditional ones (value added), in order to assess the possible industrial district (ID) effect on growth performance. The analysis shows that the ID effect is absent when considering (per capita) value added growth, which confirms recent empirical evidence, while it is significant when considering well-being. Furthermore, 'highly ID provinces' show a relatively better performance in terms of population growth rates, which, combined with their better socio-economic conditions, sheds new light on the explanation of the persistence of Italian disparities and gives interesting insights for the design of sounder local policy measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Italy's regions experienced different rates of human capital accumulation in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Although southern regions were very disadvantaged when the unification of the country took place in 1861, they caught up at a very slow pace-and a remarkable regional divide in education persisted until the interwar period. While previous hypotheses have focused on the role played by fiscal capacity, this paper sheds new light on the effect that enfranchisement had on the growth of schooling. The presence of large regional disparities in local electoral franchise is confirmed by the data; however, the relationship between voting rights, the intensity of local direct taxation and municipal fiscal capacity is weak at best. Furthermore, if the impact of these factors is analysed separately through a number of econometric models, fiscal capacity stands out as the most significant determinant of education across Italy's provinces. Against recent hypotheses, these results show that the different distribution of political voice within Italy's municipalities did not determine the persistence of regional inequalities in schooling in the long run: it was Italy's national education system, together with remarkable and pre-existent regional disparities, that slowed down the development of human capital in rural and southern regions, with immense costs in terms of future prospects for economic growth and human development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on suicide and homicide rates has neglected an integrated model seeking to explain social variation in the direction of lethal violence. The present investigation explores the association between measures of social deprivation on the relative incidence of suicide over homicide in Italian provinces. Data refer to official government sources on lethal violence rates and measures of social deprivation. The central dependent variable (SHR) is the tendency towards suicide measured as the suicide rate divided by the sum of the suicide and homicide rates. Data were available for 102 Italian provinces in the Census year 2001. The percentage of the population marked by two indicators of deprivation (low education, household population density) were negatively associated with the SHR. The results are largely consistent with a stream of previous research that connects deprivation with a relatively high probability for disadvantaged populations to direct aggression outwardly in the form of homicide rather than inwardly in the form of suicide. The present study specifies which elements of deprivation best predict the direction of violence and is the first study for the Italian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this work is to verify a theoretical representation of the multidimensional concept of territorial risk, through a study of Italian provinces. The concept is referred to the exposure of the territorial system to the risk of an exogenous event, as a combination of factors of fragility and resilience. In the proposed framework, elements of the organization of a territorial system had been identified, in its economic, social and environmental dimensions, mostly affecting his exposure to the adverse impact generated by a disturbing event and the ability to answer and to regenerate. According to this scheme of representation, the territorial risk is the result of the combination of these factors that influence the probability of a local system to undergo negative changes as a result of the occurrence of the event. The evaluation of vulnerability and resilience of a system, by adopting a holistic reading of the phenomenon, involves the identification of systemic components and attributes such as openness to the external environment, structural diversification, availability of resources, structural dependence/independence, functional redundancy, adaptability strategy. In the paper the authors propose the construction of an indicator system and composite indices for monitoring, through multivariate statistical techniques, the factors of fragility and ability to recovery. The proposed system is applied to a study of the economic, social and environmental vulnerability and resilience of the Italian provinces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the effects of differences in local administrative burdens in Italy in the years 2005-2007 preceding a major reform that sped up firm registration procedures. Combining regulatory data from a survey on Italian provinces before the reform (costs and time to start a business) with industry-level entry rates of limited liability firms, I explore the effects of regulatory barriers on the average of the annual entry rates across industries with different natural propensities to enter the market. The estimates of the cross-sectional analysis show that lengthier and, to some extent, more costly procedures reduced entry in sectors with naturally high entry. A one-day delay in registration procedures reduces the entry rate in highly dynamic sectors by more than 1 percent. These results hold when I include measures of local financial development and of efficiency of bankruptcy procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]