In this paper we analyze a fiscal mechanism used in Italy, which in Italian is called “Studi di Settore” (Sector Studies). This mechanism relies on information gathered on taxpayers to both partition the population into fairly homogeneous clusters and to determine the presumed income they...

Environment and sustainability are key issues for the policy maker. A policy should be first designed and realistically inserted in his proper context (regional, national, european) in order to be correctly assessed. After that, suitable models need to be choose consistently with the policy...

This paper compares the long run prediction of convergence clubs introduced by Quah (1996 and 1997) with the actual observed dynamics of the Italian regions during the period 1970-2004. Economic dynamics is described by the evolution per capita GDP and different notions of distance are...

This paper presents a New Economic Geography model of structural change, agglomeration and growth. By assuming the same non-homothetic preference structure as Murata (2008), we obtain similar results in that a progressive reduction of trade costs allows the economy to pass from a...

We study the connection between economic performance and the quality of government institutions for the sample of 103 Italian NUTS3 regions, including new measures of institutional quality calculated using data on the provision of four areas of public service - health, educational...

This paper introduces a methodology to describe and compare the economic relative performance of the hospitality sector of the Italian regions during the period 2000-2004. Dynamics of the hospitality sector of each region is represented by the evolution of its economic efficiency. The...

The aim of this paper is to gauge the cost of crime in Italy by concentrating on a subset of offences covering about 64% of total recorded crime in year 2006. Following the breakdown of costs put forward by Brand and Price, we focus on the costs in anticipation, as a consequence and in response...

This paper analyses the linkage between tourism and crime with particular focus on the distortions generated onto criminal activities by the presence of visitors. Controlling for socio-demographic and economic variables, we empirically investigate the contribution of tourist arrivals to...

In the postal sector, the net cost of universal service depends on the content of the service, the postal market characteristics and the country s geographical configuration. These three groups of factors affect both the direct cost of providing the service and the extent of competition on the...

This paper analyses the incentive structure underlying the adoption of leniency programs in antitrust enforcement. The enforcement of competition law is treated as the delegation of the economic activity from the government to private firms. The model contributes to the debate over desirability...