In this paper we address the following four questions: is it reasonably correct to assume that the government is benevolent and competent? Has state intervention through taxation and transfers negative effects on individual incentives? In a context of limited information, are political failures...

The paper characterizes the optimal tax policy and the optimal quality of day care services in a OLG model with warm-glow altruism where parental choices over child care arrangements affect the probability that the child becomes a high-skilled adult in a type-speciffc way. With respect to...

We empirically investigate the determinants of the female decision of investing in post secondary education, focusing on the role played by the context where young women take their education decision. We first develop a stylized two-period model to analyze the female decision of investing in...

We study the migration policy set by a welfare maximizing government in a model where immigrant workers differ in their skills and are imperfectly matched with heterogeneous occupations. The policy fixes a minimum skill level for legal migrants, and foreign workers that fall below it can only...

The paper investigates the impact of international migration on public pay-as-you-go pension systems. It first develops a theoretical framework to analyse the effects of migration on the labour market. The model allows for heterogeneity across individuals and for migration to affect both the...

We develop a model to study the impact on gender gaps in participation and wages of a liquidity constraint that prevents some households from paying child care. We show that this liquidity constraint generates an inefficiency and amplifies gender gaps in the labour market. In this framework, an...

The aims of this work are to discuss whether there is an anomaly in the Italian pension system and, if there is, to investigate its causes and its influence on the future prospects of the system and on the debate on reform issues. In order to address these questions, we first provide an...

The paper investigates the impact of international migration on public pay-as-you-go pension systems. It first develops a theoretical framework to analyse the effects of migration on the labour market. The model allows for heterogeneity across individuals and for migration to affect both the...