As is well-known, the ongoing crisis (ISTAT, 2013; CENSIS, 2013) "has eroded the capacity for resistance of families and businesses, created widespread social unease, caused expectations to fall sharply, and triggered a radical change of consumer behaviour” (CNEL, 2013). Against this backdrop,...

Human capital is invariably found to be an important explanatory variable of various proxies for well being (WB), i.e. income, happiness, job and life satisfaction, health status. Nevertheless, to date few systematic efforts have been made to explain its various and interconnected functions. The...

The technology of cognitive and non-cognitive skills formation is characterized by the cumulative nature of learning processes and by the presence of significant complementarity and irreversibility in the acquisition of such skills [Cunha and Heckman, 2007]. From this it follows that, in order...

Start-ups founded by university students and graduates play a substantial role in bringing new knowledge to the market and in employment creation; a role that appears to be even more important than the one played by the typical technology transfer activities carried out by universities, i.e....

Empirical analysis shows that formal and informal institutions are key factors in explaining why some countries, as well as territories within countries, are more prosperous than others are. After almost 160 years from their formal unification, Italian territories are still quite heterogeneous...

There is wide consensus that entrepreneurial talent lies in the ability to discover and exploit market opportunities by taking the relevant risky decisions. By determining the nature of the discovery and exploitation processes, institutions and technology play an essential role in shaping...

There is wide consensus that entrepreneurial talent lies in the ability to discover and exploit market opportunities by taking the relevant risky decisions. By determining the nature of the discovery and exploitation processes, institutions and technology play an essential role in shaping...

Il dibattito sulla frammentazione e fragilità del sistema imprenditoriale italiano di fronte alle sfide dell’economia della conoscenza e dell’internazionalizzazione si intreccia con quello relativo al funzionamento dei meccanismi di generazione e di allocazione del capitale umano. Tale...