Purpose The purpose of this paper is to check the existence of the added worker effect (AWE) in Italy during the Great Recession. Design/methodology/approach The authors used the Bank of Italy Survey on Household Income and Wealth to study factors driving the change in female work status over...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue on “Labour, productivity and growth”. Design/methodology/approach – The paper discusses the articles in the special issue, which investigate the main theme – labour, productivity and growth – from different points...

Purpose – The Saint Valentine's Decree (1984) and the ensuing hard‐fought referendum (1985), which reduced the automatisms of scala mobile , started a process of redefinition of wage fixing in Italy, which culminated with the final abolition of scala mobile (1992) and the approval of...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to point to the inefficiency of the Italian educational system as a key factor of persistent differences between the distribution of incomes (skewed) and that of talents (normal), stated in the Pigou paradox. In fact, against the intention assigned to it...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue on “Disadvantaged workers in the labour market” and to draw some policy implications that are common to the studies included in the special issue. Design/methodology/approach – The paper introduces several econometric...

Purpose: There is a long period from completing studies to finding a permanent or temporary (but at least satisfactory) job in all European countries, especially in Mediterranean countries, including Italy. This paper aims to study the determinants of this duration and measure them, for the...

Purpose: The choice of Southern Europe is partly based on the observation that the sample includes a number of countries whose economies faced more severe difficulties than elsewhere in Europe. Economically they were less able to absorb the economic shock posed by COVID-19. It is also partly...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue on “Disadvantaged workers in the labour market” and to draw some policy implications that are common to the studies included in the special issue. Design/methodology/approach – The paper introduces several econometric...