The 1998 reform of the Italian retail trade sector delegated to the regional governments the regulation of entry of large retail shops. We use the local variation in regulation to determine the effects of entry barriers on firm performance for a representative sample of medium and large retail...

In this collection of papers we first analyze the evolution of the Italian food industry and the retail trade sector during the past decade (Chapters 1 and 2). Chapter 3 describes the structure of large retailers and buying groups in Italy. Chapter 4 proposes alternative measures of the degree...

The paper provides an analysis of cyclically-adjusted budget balances of local governments in Italy for the period 2002-07. We find that local government balances appear to be relatively sensitive to the business cycle. In particular, a shock of 1 per cent in GDP changes their resources by...

The paper traces recent developments in local real estate taxation in Italy. We exploit a rich dataset at both aggregate and individual level to estimate the variation in local taxes on first homes in the last three years and the redistributive impact of the adoption of the tax on indivisible...

Since the mid-1980s fixed-term contracts have been used in many European countries to reduce firing costs. As this strategy may have led to segmented labour markets, recent policy interventions have enhanced permanent jobs by cutting their labour costs. Efficient design of these policies...

In this paper company-level panel data are used to explore the role of tax changes on corporate financial policy. A panel model for the years 1993-98 is estimated confirming the explanatory power of the tax variable. The estimation also shows that firms reduced leverage in the last three years...

A long-standing economic tradition maintains that labour supply reacts to market tightness; its sensitivity to job quality has received less attention. If firms hire workers with both temporary and open-end contracts, does participation increase when more permanent jobs are available? We...

This paper examines how business investment responds to investment tax credit, as enacted by Italy�s Law 388/2000. To assess whether the programme made investments possible that otherwise would not have been made, it exploits some features of the tax credit scheme, such as the fact that...

The paper considers several approaches to the measurement of firms� tax burden in order to identify significant indicators for the banking sector. It also analyses features of tax provisions which are peculiar to the Italian system. On these bases, it looks at measures affecting the tax...

This paper examines the current tax policy on venture capital (VC) in Italy, and compares it with the tax incentives adopted by France, Germany, Spain and the UK. The authors analyze ongoing European initiatives to remove tax obstacles to VC in Europe. Focusing on the taxation of VC funds, they...