In an effort to tackle criminal groups, the Italian State allows the confiscation of properties belonging to individuals convicted for mafia-related crimes and their reallocation to a new use. This policy is considered both as an anti-mafia measure and as a way to partially compensate the...

Internet and near-instant communication services have had a strong impact on the way people communicate and exchange information since the end of the 1990s. The COVID-19 pandemic shock is likely to provide a dramatic boost to this phenomenon. In the world that will emerge from lockdown, digital...

With the prospective exit of the UK from the European Union, a crucial question is whether EU Structural Funds have been beneficial for the country and which aspects of Cohesion Policy should be maintained if EU funds are to be replaced. This paper addresses this question through a twofold...

Growing Euroscepticism across the European Union (EU) leaves open questions as to what citizens expect to gain from EU Membership and what influences their dissent for the EU integration project. This paper looks at EU Structural Funds, one of the largest and most visible expenditure items in...

The availability of public education services can influence residential choices. Hence, policies aiming to `rationalise' service provision by reducing the number of undersized nodes in the public school network can lead to population decline, especially in spatially isolated areas lacking valid...

The availability of public education services can influence residential choices. Hence, policies aiming to ‘rationalise’ service provision by cutting on under- sized nodes of the public school network can induce population decline. This paper exploits an Italian education reform inducing a...

This paper analyses institutional changes in local governance structures as determinants of wage premia and innovation capacity of urban areas. By combining individual and metropolitan area data for the US, we study the role of institutional fragmentation related to the number of local...

With the prospective exit of the UK from the European Union, a crucial question is whether EU Structural Funds have been beneficial for the country and which aspects of Cohesion Policy should be maintained if EU funds are to be replaced. This paper addresses this question through a twofold...

Growing Euroscepticism across the European Union (EU) leaves open questions as to what citizens expect to gain from EU Membership and what influences their dissent for the EU integration project. This paper looks at EU Structural Funds, one of the largest and most visible expenditure items in...

Leaving the European Union will entail for UK regions losing access to the EU Cohesion Policy. Have EU funds been effective in the country, and what may be the consequences of an interruption of EU financial support to the UK's poorer regions? This paper studies the impact of 'Objective 1'...