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This paper studies the relationship between risk propensity, education and financial literacy. The results of the empirical investigation confirm the importance of the key explanatory variables of education and financial competence. Since they are both included in the model, the different roles of each are singled out. In particular, while education turns out to be a factor contributing to raising risk tolerance, financial literacy tends to reduce risk propensity. Risk attitude is evaluated by self-reported assessment and modeled through cumulative logit models. In order to handle anomalous data, M estimators with a bounded influence function are considered.

This paper studies the relationship between risk propensity, education and financial literacy. The results of the empirical investigation confirm the importance of the key explanatory variables of education and financial competence. Since they are both included in the model, the different roles of each are singled out. In particular, while education turns out to be a factor contributing to raising risk tolerance, financial literacy tends to reduce risk propensity. Risk attitude is evaluated by self-reported assessment and modeled through cumulative logit models. In order to handle anomalous data, M estimators with a bounded influence function are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effects of R&D and innovation activities of firms on the risk of bankruptcy. The analysis is carried out on data drawn from the EU-EFIGE Survey and Amadeus Database (Bureau Van Dijk) on European manufacturing firms over the years 2009–2014. The empirical evidence shows that default probability is increasing in R&D investments and decreasing in innovation and productivity of research, measured by the ratio of innovation revenues to R&D outlays. In addition, to disentangle the influence of different innovation strategies (product, process, and patenting), 16 different firm profiles are compared. Firms carrying out R&D, adopting process innovation, and filing for patents are found to show the lowest probability of default. Sensitivity checks indicate that research and innovation do not affect the risk of financial distress events short of default (such as reorganization or application for insolvency procedure). Our findings are robust to potential endogeneity and hence allow for causal inference about the relationship between research and innovation and corporate bankruptcy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By using stochastic frontier analysis, single- and multiple-output methods, this paper empirically investigates the efficiency of Italian regions in providing public primary and secondary education for the period 2011–18. The analysis detects strong interregional differences, outlining a clear North–South geographical pattern. To single out the reasons for the poor performance of Southern regions, context variables (per capita gross domestic product, poverty, institutional quality, adult education) are considered and shown to be highly relevant in shaping regional efficiency. Finally, when interregional disparities in socio-economic factors are accounted for, no residual geographical pattern in regional efficiency emerges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effect of participation in global value chains (GVCs) on firms' efficiency and explores heterogeneity in this impact across different firms, according to GVC governance, positioning in the chain and time length of participation. Our analysis takes advantage of survey data providing information on involvement in GVCs for a large set of Italian industrial SMEs between 2008 and 2012. We employ Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to retrieve a measure of firms' technical efficiency (i.e., DEA efficiency scores) and estimate the impact of involvement in GVCs on firms' efficiency through propensity‐score matching techniques and truncated regression. Our results show that participation in GVCs induces significant efficiency premia, especially for suppliers, with stronger effects in the case of relational modes of participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article argues that joining global value chains may be decisive for supplier firms in developed countries by providing incentives and opportunities to upgrade their capabilities to export and innovate. We describe an investigation conducted on a sample of Italian manufacturing firms, drawn from a database spanning 1998–2006 that compares labour productivity and total factor productivity between supplier and final firms at the same level of demonstrated ability (measured in terms of exporting and innovating). Findings indicate that ‘traditional’ supplier firms are less productive than final firms; as the ability of supplier firms increases, their productivity shortfall decreases to the extent that for those able to both export and innovate, there is no statistically significant difference in productivity between supplier and final firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent literature has criticized the Bhagwati 'brain drain tax' because it may hamper accumulation of human capital by reducing gains from skilled migration. In this paper, it is argued that when taking into account social externalities of human capital, and optimal policies implemented by a government caring only for the remaining residents, a brain drain tax tends rather to foster the investment in human capital and increase residents' income and welfare. The Bhagwati tax could even be universally welfare improving if a fiscal burden borne by migrants might be outweighed by a higher human capital and gross income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]