Competition in public utility sectors has been encouraged in recent years throughout Europe. In this paper we try and analyse the welfare effects of these reforms in Italy, with particular attention to water and energy goods. The first step is to introduce a sensible measure of affordability of...

The security of natural gas supply is an important issue for all EU countries due to the region's heavy dependence on imported supply sources and in light of energy demand for gas that is continuously increasing. Discussions have emphasised strategies for securing the supply at the macro level,...

Multi-attribute stated preference data, derived through choice experiments, is used to investigate the consequence of a finite number of preference groups in a sample of Yorkshire Water residential customers on the conditional distributions of willingness to pay in the sample. The research...

Besides other determinants environmental regulation, institutions like environmental agencies and social customs lead to a demand for environmental goods and services. On the basis of the public choice theory it can be shown that environmental regulation is endogenous and can be influenced by...

This article focuses on the economic valuation of alternative clam management practices in the Venice Lagoon. The proposed valuation method is characterized by the design of a survey questionnaire next to the fishermen population. In each questionnaire two fishing alternatives are described. The...

This paper considers the estimation of binary choice panel data models with discrete endogenous regressors. We present a switching probit model which accounts for selectivity bias as well as for other forms of time invariant unobserved heterogeneity. Individual effects are allowed to be...

Excessive speed is a major contributory factor in a large proportion of deaths and serious injuries on British roads. One approach to tackling the speeding problem is the use of traffic calming measures as a means of enforcing speed restrictions along roads running through populated areas. But...

We analyse the conditions under which an (S,s) rule may be derived and compare these with alternative rules. We consider the case of labour demand with fixed adjustment costs. The (S,s) rule implies a specific ordering of choices: downward adjustment, non-adjustment and upward adjustment with...

Call centers' managers are interested in obtaining accurate forecasts of call arrivals because these are a key input in staffing and scheduling decisions. Therefore their ability to achieve an optimal balance between service quality and operating costs ultimately hinges on forecast accuracy. We...

This paper carries out an investigation into the socio-economic determinants of couples' childbearing decisions in Italy. Since having children is in most cases a 'couple matter', the analysis accounts for the characteristics of both the possible parents. Our results do not support established...