The Italian case can be considered as an internationally relevant example to suggest a critical reflection on the evaluation criteria adopted in research assessment exercises, pointing at the need of clear and shared guidelines based on transparency and accountability and aiming at preserving...

We analyse Italy’s research evaluation exercise to discuss the issue of evaluating re-search in economics. We claim that evaluation and its criteria, together with its linkage to research institutions’ financing, are likely to affect the direction of research, in a problematic way. We claim...

We define public administrations (PAs) as productive units, and analyze the recent trends in PAs' productivity applying Sylos Labini's productivity function model. At the microeconomic level, we propose a model of government action for the production of public goods. At the macroeconomic level,...

Italian Abstract: Partendo dall'idea di Sylos Labini di interazione tra azione dello Stato e mercato, gli autori analizzano il sistema pensionistico italiano in termini di efficienza economica e redistribuzione del reddito.Testo del discorso tenuto alla conferenza "Paolo Sylos Labini e la...

While we do not mean to imply that there are insurmountable or even clear distinctions between the social sciences, we claim that economists can still provide an original analysis of class, which should be regarded as complementary to those developed by sociologists. Following the tradition of...

Recent economic literature on poverty may be broadly divided into two strands. One strand investigates the multidimensional nature of poverty. The other strand, employing the large availability of household surveys, investigates the micro and macro determinants of monetary poverty, analyzing the...

By considering the case of Italy we show that despite much rhetoric and expectations about the fact that women have gradually overcome men in terms of educational attainments, they still lack behind in terms of the main skills and competencies that can profitably be used in the market. On the...