The paper proposes a methodology to measure the characteristics of intermediate products when quality is multidimensional. It uses a general representation of the multioutput technology via directional distance functions and constructs quality indicators based on differences. The quality...

In this paper we attempt to identify behavioral differences between public and private not-forprofit hospitals, by using the opportunity of the introduction of the DRG-based payment system in the Italian NHS during the second half of the Nineties. We estimate the technical efficiency of a sample...

At present, the structural reform of the Italian local public transport is aimed at a potential re-launching of the sector which should make the engaged resources more productive, and, at the same time, at the achievement of more general objectives linked to sustainable mobility. In this light,...

We study the strategic choice of compatibility between two initially incompatible network goods in a two-stage game played by an incumbent and an entrant firm. Compatibility may be achieved by means of a converter. We derive a number of results under different assumptions about the nature of the...

We study the choice of the regulatory structure when a regulated firm engages in different activities for different countries. Under decentralization each activity is regulated independently and the contracts offered to the firm suffer from two oppos- ite distortions with respect to...

In his "Simple model of herd behaviour", Banerjee (1992) shows that - in a sequential game - if the first two players have chosen the same action, player 3 and all subsequent players will ignore his/her own information and start a herd, an irreversible one. In this paper we analyse the role...

We study the problem of ranking sets of options in terms of freedom of choice. We propose a framework in which both the diversity of the options and the preferences of the agent over the options do play a role. We formulate some axioms that reflect these two aspects of freedom and we study their...

In the 40.s and early 50. two decision theories were proposed and have since dominated the scene of the fascinating field of decision-making. In 1944 . when von Neumann and Morgenstern showed that if preferences are consistent with a set of axioms then it is possible to represent these...

In this paper we show that highly skilled illegal migrants may be more likely to return home than migrants with low or no skills when illegality causes skill waste, i.e. reduced ability of making use of individual capabilities both in the labor and the financial markets. This result is in...

In this paper we consider three alternative approaches to test the Permanent Income Hypothesis (PIH) in the context of dynamic panels: the aggregate consumption approach, the Euler equation approach and finally Friedman (1957)'s original characteristic tests. Our empirical evidence, using the...