We test the effect of the first wave COVID-19 lockdown on quality of air across Italian municipalities. We show that lockdown measures, as expected, reduced outdoor (car transit and workplace) mobility, while increasing (indoor) residential stay. We expect the first effect to contribute to...

In Italy, 23 percent of the 7,903 municipalities include protected areas, while 6.4 percent (which we define as park municipalities) national parks. We investigate the relationship between park areas and quality of air and find that park municipalities experienced far lower levels of air...

The uneven geographical distribution of the novel coronavirus epidemic (COVID-19) in Italy is a puzzle given the intense flow of movements among the different geographical areas before lockdown decisions. To shed light on it, we test the effect of five potential correlates of daily adverse...

There is widespread debate on the drivers of heterogeneity of adverse COVID-19 pandemic outcomes and, more specifically, on the role played by context-specific factors. We contribute to this literature by testing the role of environmental factors as measured by environmentally protected areas....

Climate challenge can be modelled as a multiplayer prisoner's dilemma where any ecological action - i.e., purchasing an electric car or adopting sustainable life styles - is a costly action in terms of economic resources, time, and effort for individuals. According to the well-known embedded...

A research hypothesis on the nexus between air pollution and adverse COVID-19 outcomes postulates that particulate matter (PM) can be a carrier of the virus. Preliminary evidence through analysis of small PM samples has shown that this is the case but the strength of the transmission channel...

Our research hypothesis is that space restriction on social media communication creates fertile ground for aggressive, insulting and apodictic (AIA) speech thereby deteriorating the political debate and enhancing polarisation, violence and populism. We test our hypothesis by using as...