The aim of this paper is to provide an interpretation of the measure of capacity utilisation provided by the European Union harmonised survey on the Italian manufacturing sector. In doing so, we evaluate its ability to correctly track cyclical turning points and its contribution in explaining...

The purpose of this paper is for the first time to use Business Tendency Survey data, first, to identify new facts that are useful for the interpretation of the decline in the volatility of real activity in the Euro area, and, second, to test the inventory management hypothesis as an explanation...

The purpose of the present paper is to study how households form inflation expectations using a novel survey dataset of Italian households. We extend the existing ‘inattentiveness’ literature by incorporating explicitly inflation targets and distinguishing between aggregate and disaggregate...

The flexicurity approach claims a positive effect of flexible labour on firm performance, also through an increased ability to innovate. Critics consider it a deregulation of the labour market, decreasing investment in human capital and innovation. We contribute to this broad debate providing an...

Survey data on manufacturing firms are usually analysed on an aggregate basis, calculating for each question the so-called "balance" between the number of positive and negative replies. The simple average of selected balances is then commonly used to calculate the confidence indicator. While...

The paper looks at an often debated issue – the decline observed in business cycle volatility – using qualitative data derived from Business Tendency Surveys. It concentrates on the manufacturing sector, providing evidence that volatility slowdown is attributable to a break in the Data...

This paper describes the new ISAE manufacturing survey design and its recent reengineering process. Three important goals have been reached: First, the underlying industrial structure for the aggregation of survey results is now based on the up-to-date NACE Rev. 1.1 classification (at the...

Self-reported life satisfaction (SRS) in Italy has started to decline well before the current crisis. This paper explores the relationship between SRS and quality of life in Italy, using the ISAE data-base on households. SRS was surveyed on 2000 individuals in May 2008, November 2008 and April...

The aim of this article is to assess the role of the Italian Consumer Sentiment Index (CSI) as an autonomous driving force of consumption decisions. We test for the presence of 'rule of thumb' consumers as originally proposed by Campbell and Mankiw (1991), using sentiment measures distinguished...