Negative duration dependence in the exit rate from social assistance is an important issue addressed in the dynamic welfare participation literature. If heterogeneity is properly modelled, the decline of the exit rate is ascribed to a progressive reduction of the capability to get off welfare...

The Italian debate on the wage differentials between Northern and Southern Italy has recently moved its research focus from "what is the dimension of the gap" to "how the gap can be measured - what kind of data are needed". Some authors argue that the use of administrative data, based on firm...

This paper presents some artificial stylised facts emerging in a simulated contestable market where firms interact with each other in taking their stay or go decision. I use nearly zero-intelligence firms: no optimisation is considered, and all the firms sell at a fixed price an equal quantity...

In this paper we investigate the relation between wage growth and labour mobility on a panel of Italian dependent workers observed between 1986 and 1991. We use an employer-employee linked panel of 30167 workers, built from Italian Social Security (INPS) administrative sources. In order to...

In this paper I give a tentative assessment of the methodological status of agent based simulations. I first show under which conditions ABS can be a complement to traditional modelling. I then consider whether they can be held as a sound methodology of their own. Various topics relevant to the...

The aim of this paper is to challenge a rather common but stereotyped opinion, according to which the elderly in Italy live their last working years with a smooth transition from stable jobs into retirement. I use the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) to put the main stylized facts about...

This study uses ECHP data to give insights on the characteristics of people whose self-assessment of labour status differs from that of the LFS. We do some ‘labour accounting’, in order to clarify the connection between individual perception and LFS categorisation. We find that discrepancies...

In a Case Law regime Courts have more flexibility than in a Statute Law regime. Since Statutes are inevitably incomplete, this confers an advantage to the Case Law regime over the Statute Law one. However, all Courts rule ex-post, after most economic decisions are already taken. Therefore, the...