We use the last two waves of the Italian Time Use Survey to analyse the intergenerational transmission of reading habits. This can be explained by both cultural and educational transfers from parents to children and by imitative behaviour. Imitation is of particular interest, since it suggests...

This paper contributes to the literature on the determinants of social capital by investigating how the quality of local services influences individual's generalized trust and trust in local government. Using data from the Italian National Statistic Office survey “Aspetti della vita...

We document that Italian public administrations systematically overestimate capital expenditures, and that the introduction of a cap on this spending item improves the accuracy of their plans. Our analysis relies on a unique dataset including budgetary figures (both planned and realized) for all...

This paper provides an ex-post evaluation of the 2006 Turin Winter Olympic Games by means of a synthetic control approach on a number of potential outcomes for an event of such magnitude. We find a positive impact on tourism and the ratio between prices in the centre and in the outskirts of the...