Long-term trends in income and wealth inequality in southern Italy. The Kingdom of Naples (Apulia), sixteenth to eighteenth centuries

This paper uses new archival sources to study the long-term tendencies in economic inequality in preindustrial southern Italy (Kingdom of Naples). The paper reconstructs long-term trends in wealth inequality for the period 1550–1800 for a sample of communities in the region Apulia and produces estimates of overall inequality levels across the region. These estimates are compared with those which have recently been published for other Italian and European regions or states. The article also reconstructs the total income distribution for the mid-eighteenth century, then comparing wealth and income inequality. Overall, the evidence for the Kingdom of Naples suggests a tendency for economic inequality to grow continuously over the early modern period. As this was mostly a period of economic stagnation or decline for the Kingdom, the article provides further insights to the debate on the long-run relationship between economic growth and inequality change

Poverty in Germany from the Black Death until the beginning of industrialization

This paper provides macro-level estimates of the prevalence of poverty in preindustrial Germany, from the Black Death to the onset of industrialization in the nineteenth century. Based on a new body of evidence we show that poverty declined after two large-scale catastrophes: the Black Death in the fourteenth century and the Thirty Years’ War in the seventeenth. Poverty increased substantially in the sixteenth century, and stagnated in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. This pattern is broadly in line with a Malthusian model of the preindustrial economy, but also with several other explanations of poverty. Circa 1600, poverty and inequality extraction were at a historical peak – right when social conflict erupted in Germany

Steering or drifting? Reviving social equity through performance measurement in hybrid organizations

We examine organizations’ use of performance management systems to pursue social equity and avoid mission drift using a case study of an Italian housing organization. Out qualitative research design included archival data and semi-structured interviews. We argue that there is a nexus between organizational measurements of social equity, neglect of social equity outcomes, and mission drift

Smart cities, landscape and urban regeneration: ranking methods

The chapter offers an analysis of the topic of smart cities and the evolution of urban planning. Land use law has been a subject of major attention and repeated in-depth studies aimed at mapping out the evolution of the concept. Over the last two centuries, the way in which land regulation is understood has developed in line with industrial society. The notion of a “smart city” has emerged on a global scale, initially adopting an extremely broad scope that includes all aspects of land regulation: from building regulations to town planning law, and from networks and public services to the use of IT and participatory arrangements. The interplay, overlap, and often tension between urban planning interests in a strict sense and external interests, which were soon defined as “differentiated,” was the main factor in bringing about the shift to the next phase, which is still ongoing. Due to the variegated and heterogeneous nature of the interests now at stake, it is not possible to order them into a stable hierarchy. The new model of urban planning, enriched by the interpenetration of various public interests and transformed into a larger vehicle, is contradictory. On the one hand, the mediation between expectations that are not rigidly ordained or at least only partially harmonized calls for a centripetal approach; on the other hand, this requires the maintenance of, and indeed the increasing search for, some measure of local consensus. As such, the urban dimension has now perhaps irreversibly embarked on a classificatory pathway that has gradually become more technological in nature, in line with the genesis of the idea of "smartness." The concepts drawn from traditional sociology and political science must confront the consensual self-legitimization of technology, which offers an image of rationalization that probably exceeds its own capacities. The contribution finally takes into consideration various types of international rankings, such as the Global Cities Report published by ATKearney, the Global Outlook Global Cities of the Future, the Japanese Global Power City Index, and many others

Guilt aversion and inequality in dictator games

We examine the interplay between guilt aversion and inequality in decision-making, specifically in the context of a dictator game. Considering different initial allocations of the surplus, we investigate how the material opportunity cost of reducing inequality influences sharing behavior, revealing a complex relationship among guilt-driven choices and material opportunity costs

Families, firms, and growth: paradoxes of Italian capitalism

The chapter analyses the persistence of family capitalism in the Italian contex

Corporate compliance choices in the Italian Legal System

In the Italian legal system when dealing with corporate economic crimes, reference should be made to Legislative Decree 231/2001. This Decree, introduced for the first time an administrative liability of legal persons and entities without legal personality for the crimes committed by employees and executives, effectively requiring corporations to self-regulate through the adoption of a compliance program able to prevent the commission of misconduct capable of affecting the company’s benefit. Accordingly, the adoption of an effective compliance programme constitutes a fundamental tool for the corporation in preventing and combating the commission of crimes, in cooperating with public authorities, and in self-defending in case of the starting of a criminal proceeding against the company. In this framework, the first part of this chapter offers an introduction to the system of corporate liability in the Italian legal order. The second section deals with the corporate compliance choices in the adoption and effective implementation of compliance programmes in the light of Legislative Decree 231/01 as interpreted by Italian case law. The third part and the conclusion deal with the virtuous practice of internal investigations, especially in the case of reported allegations of misconduct, taking into consideration the benefits in terms of liability exemption and sanction reductions

Integrating local market operations into transmission investment: a tri-level optimization approach

The rise of Local Energy Markets (LEMs) and increasing local flexibility present a key research question: How do local flexibility and LEM operations impact merchant-regulated transmission investments? This paper introduces a novel tri-level framework to integrate local market dynamics into transmission investment decisions. The framework models the sequential operations of the WSM and LEMs, adhering to their respective network constraints, and includes a regulatory mechanism that incentivizes profit-driven Transmission Companies (Transcos) to make social welfare maximizing investments while accounting for local refinement costs. The tri-level optimization problem is asymptotically approximated by a mixed-integer second-order cone programming problem. Our findings from three case studies reveal that the provision of local flexibility substantially reduces reliance on conventional energy generation supplies. Additionally, transmission investment decisions are influenced by the levels of flexible generation and consumers, while adhering to network constraints. Moreover, the tri-level model enhances Transcos’ awareness of the sequential interactions between the WSM and LEMs, enabling them to make investment strategies that are responsive to the changing dynamics of local markets

New entrants, incumbents, and the search for knowledge: the role of job title ambiguity in the US information and communication technology industry, 2004–2014

New entrants and incumbent firms rely on new knowledge to innovate and compete in the market. One way to acquire new knowledge is through the recruitment of new employees from competitors, a phenomenon popularly known as “poaching.” Digital labor platforms are widely used by firms for this aim. We argue that job titles represent the first and most visible public source of information about knowledge workers and thus play a key role in navigating the vast spectrum of competencies available in digital platforms. Our analyses of the career trajectories of 11,644 knowledge workers in the United States between 2004 and 2014 suggest that increases in the ambiguity of a job title claimed by an employee are negatively associated with the likelihood of the employee being hired by a new employer. This finding appears stronger in the case of transitions to incumbent firms rather than new entrants. In the concluding section of the paper, we take stock of the various analyses presented and reflect on the potential role of job titles in the strategic management of human capital