This paper employs data for a panel of firms from France, Italy and the UK to study the effect of the recession of the early '90s on inventory investment, controlling for cyclical fluctuations at the firm level. The results clearly show some common patterns across countries, pointing to the...

This paper employs data for a panel of firms from France, Italy and the UK to study the effect of the recession of the early '90s on inventory investment, controlling for cyclical fluctuations at the firm level. The results clearly show some common patterns across countries, pointing to the...

In most modern democracies elected officials can work in the private sector while appointed in parliament. We show that when the political and market sectors are not mutually exclusive, a trade-off arises between the quality of elected officials and the effort they exert in political life. If...

Theory predicts that the majoritarian electoral system should produce more targeted redistribution and lower politicians' rents than proportional representation. We test these predictions using micro data for the mixed-member Italian House of Representatives, which allow us to sidestep the...