The paper reviews urban transport policies in Italian cities and their impact on the concentration of NO2 and PM10. Using parametric and non-parametric techniques, it finds no significant effect of the policy actions currently implemented. Further, it finds evidence of a weak positive impact of...

In Italy, in 2011 the Superbollo tax was introduced for newly registered cars exceeding 185 kW. Although the aim of the tax was not to reduce CO2 emission as it was actually aimed at increasing government revenues during the economic crisis, we show that it had significant and unexpected impacts...

Gender stereotypes are increasingly considered to be as important as gender discrimination in market transactions. In this paper, we show that they influence market outcomes also through the client feedback channel of online platforms. Using a novel panel dataset of listings on the largest...

Within the much broader framework of global interest, the dilemma concerning the real impact of mode of transport on the spread of COVID-19 has been a priority for transport stakeholders and policy-makers. How dangerous is it to move around a certain territory? Does the danger depend on the mode...

SARS-CoV-2 uses human beings as means of transport. In addition to the general issue that fewer interpersonal contacts reduce the speed of contagion, less attention has been paid to the spatial configuration of such contacts. With respect to Italy, the virus severely affected the most...

We examine the effects of human-induced desertification on economic growth by exploiting a 56 km-by-56 km grid-cell global dataset on the annual frequency from 1990-2015. We find that areas that experienced large soil aridification are associated with a reduction in GDP per capita. Our results...

Geography and the quality of the environment may have long lasting effects on the living standards of individuals and this, in its turn, may affect even substantially the distribution of income and regional disparities. In this paper I consider malaria as a measure of "bad geography" and propose...