We investigate to what extent crowd support contributes to the home advantage in soccer, disentangling this effect from other mechanisms such as players’ familiarity with the stadium and travel fatigue. To evaluate the relevance of crowd support in determining home advantage we analyze...

In this paper we analyze class size effects on college students exploiting data from a project offering special remedial courses in Mathematics and Language skills to freshmen enrolled at an Italian medium sized public University. To estimate the effects of class size we take advantage of the...

We analyze consumers’ reactions to negative information on product quality using daily scanner data at item level from a well-known supermarket chain. We focus on a fraud that in 2008 has involved a number of Italian leading firms in the cheese sector. Exploiting the fact that only some brands...

In questo lavoro si analizza l’efficacia dei corsi a livello pre-universitari diretti a colmare eventuali lacune nelle competenze di base degli studenti. La nostra analisi riguarda gli effetti prodotti da un progetto che all’inizio dell’anno accademico 2008-09 ha offerto agli studenti...

In this paper we analyse how the absence behaviour of Italian public sector employees has been affected by a law, passed in June 2008, reducing sick leave compensation and increasing monitoring intensity. We use micro-data on a sample of about 860 workers, employed at an Italian public...

In this paper we carry out an evaluation of the effectiveness of monetary incentives in enhancing student performance using a randomized experiment involving undergraduate students enrolled at a Southern Italian University. Students participating at the experiment were assigned to three...

Using data on road accidents, traffic fatalities and driving offences taking place in Italy over the period 2001-2005, we estimate the effects of the introduction on July 2003 of a penalty point system for driving offences. To identify the causal effect of the penalty point system on road safety...

In this paper we analyse the effect of gender quotas on women involvement in political activity using a rich data set providing information on all Italian local administrators elected from 1985 to 2007. Gender quotas were introduced in Italy by law in 1993 and were in force until 1995. Because...

Efficiency wages theories argue that the threat of firing, coupled with a high unemployment rate, is a mechanism that discourages employee shirking in asymmetric information contexts. Our empirical analysis aims to verify the role of unemployment as a worker discipline device, considering the...

We investigate the role of fatigue in soccer (football). Although this issue is important for the “productivity” of players and the optimal organization of national and international championships, there is a lack of empirical evidence. We use data on all the matches played by national teams...