Current challenges to competition law and policy

1. Slide-to-unlock competition in high-tech markets: the need of rethinking IPRs in the digital revolution era. 2. European Banking Union: are the recent single banking supervision and resolution truly European? Lessons from the application of state aid rules on financial institutions. 3. The curious case of umbrella claims between economic analysis and the arduous emergence of a European private law.1. Slide-to-unlock competition in high-tech markets: the need of rethinking IPRs in the digital revolution era. 2. European Banking Union: are the recent single banking supervision and resolution truly European? Lessons from the application of state aid rules on financial institutions. 3. The curious case of umbrella claims between economic analysis and the arduous emergence of a European private law.LUISS PhD Thesi

(Un) Globalizing Civil Society: When the boomerang rebounds. Transnational Advocacy Networks and Women Groups in post-conflict Burundi and Liberia

To date, few scholars have addressed the internal dynamics of transnational advocacy networks (TANs) and their impact on the production of international norms. The lack of research on the topic seems rather surprising at a time when constructivists produce literature on the significance of global civil society and the role networks play in processes of recruitment and collective identity construction (Crugel 1999; Keck and Sikkink 1998; Boli and Thomas 1999; Anheier et al. 2001; Taylor and Rupp 2001; Keane 2003; Bob 2005). I cover this gap by looking at how power struggles between the international and the local members of a TAN shape the implementation of international norms in post-conflict settings. The purpose of the thesis is twofold: firstly to contribute to a broader literature on global civil society and secondly, to propose a new, more dynamic account on the life-cycle of international norms. The campaign for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security presents an ideal case study. First, it is one of the most successful stories of global norm creation and diffusion thanks to the advocacy efforts of non-state actors. Second, it also shows a case of policy gridlock, where the international efforts to bettering the situation of women in non-Western settings through an implicit liberal normative teleology have shown their limits by the socializee’s formal acceptance of the framework and informal resistance to the dominant norm. Based on extensive fieldwork, my approach combines feminist research methodology (Bar On 1993; Devault 1990; Pillow 2003; Taylor 2000), with the reflexive approach advocated by qualitative researchers in post-colonial and post-structuralist studies (Said 1978; Butler 1990; Escobar 1995). I conducted 60 semi-structured interviews with women activists during 4 field visits in Bujumbura (Burundi) and Monrovia (Liberia) between 2012 and 2013. Following discourse analysis theory (Shepherd 2008; Hansen 2006) and using NViVo8, the interviews were systematically analysed with regard to the reasons they put forward to explain their engagement in the women’s movement and the type of rights they sought to accomplish. The research is conducted through a relational approach in which the interactions of agents are affected by 1) a diversity of structural opportunities through three mechanisms: brokerage, gatekeeping and diffusion and, 2) a compound of ideas forming the master-frame. Those two, in turn, modify interests and identities, both understood as outputs and not as variables determining the interactions of agents. I show how a certain discourse on gender security became accepted as the master frame of the campaign, and how other discourses were left out. That is, I show how discourses created boundaries and identities amongst actors, and how these actors used their agency to stretch those boundaries and identities in order to steer other activists to move towards certain behaviour. Building upon my empirical findings, the thesis sets out a theoretical model of identity boundaries stretching and adaptation in order to analyse the discursive construction of identity and subjectivity as political action. It develops the concept of rebound effect, that is, the point where the ideational boundaries between the thrower of the boomerang (issue entrepreneur) and the receiver (issue follower) are so impervious that the boomerang bounces back and never reaches its destination. I found out that norms based on a liberal peacebuilding approach such as UNSCR1325 are created and maintained by a failure to engage with local and grassroots movements (Richmond 2013). This, in turn, contributes to a process of de-legitimization of NGOs and local associations who form the TAN vis-à-vis the affected population. My findings have important implications for international relation theories of global governance and global activism since they provided a critique of the mainstream norm’s cascade model by introducing new temporalities and geographies in the analysis of the life-cycle of international norms.To date, few scholars have addressed the internal dynamics of transnational advocacy networks (TANs) and their impact on the production of international norms. The lack of research on the topic seems rather surprising at a time when constructivists produce literature on the significance of global civil society and the role networks play in processes of recruitment and collective identity construction (Crugel 1999; Keck and Sikkink 1998; Boli and Thomas 1999; Anheier et al. 2001; Taylor and Rupp 2001; Keane 2003; Bob 2005). I cover this gap by looking at how power struggles between the international and the local members of a TAN shape the implementation of international norms in post-conflict settings. The purpose of the thesis is twofold: firstly to contribute to a broader literature on global civil society and secondly, to propose a new, more dynamic account on the life-cycle of international norms. The campaign for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security presents an ideal case study. First, it is one of the most successful stories of global norm creation and diffusion thanks to the advocacy efforts of non-state actors. Second, it also shows a case of policy gridlock, where the international efforts to bettering the situation of women in non-Western settings through an implicit liberal normative teleology have shown their limits by the socializee’s formal acceptance of the framework and informal resistance to the dominant norm. Based on extensive fieldwork, my approach combines feminist research methodology (Bar On 1993; Devault 1990; Pillow 2003; Taylor 2000), with the reflexive approach advocated by qualitative researchers in post-colonial and post-structuralist studies (Said 1978; Butler 1990; Escobar 1995). I conducted 60 semi-structured interviews with women activists during 4 field visits in Bujumbura (Burundi) and Monrovia (Liberia) between 2012 and 2013. Following discourse analysis theory (Shepherd 2008; Hansen 2006) and using NViVo8, the interviews were systematically analysed with regard to the reasons they put forward to explain their engagement in the women’s movement and the type of rights they sought to accomplish. The research is conducted through a relational approach in which the interactions of agents are affected by 1) a diversity of structural opportunities through three mechanisms: brokerage, gatekeeping and diffusion and, 2) a compound of ideas forming the master-frame. Those two, in turn, modify interests and identities, both understood as outputs and not as variables determining the interactions of agents. I show how a certain discourse on gender security became accepted as the master frame of the campaign, and how other discourses were left out. That is, I show how discourses created boundaries and identities amongst actors, and how these actors used their agency to stretch those boundaries and identities in order to steer other activists to move towards certain behaviour. Building upon my empirical findings, the thesis sets out a theoretical model of identity boundaries stretching and adaptation in order to analyse the discursive construction of identity and subjectivity as political action. It develops the concept of rebound effect, that is, the point where the ideational boundaries between the thrower of the boomerang (issue entrepreneur) and the receiver (issue follower) are so impervious that the boomerang bounces back and never reaches its destination. I found out that norms based on a liberal peacebuilding approach such as UNSCR1325 are created and maintained by a failure to engage with local and grassroots movements (Richmond 2013). This, in turn, contributes to a process of de-legitimization of NGOs and local associations who form the TAN vis-à-vis the affected population. My findings have important implications for international relation theories of global governance and global activism since they provided a critique of the mainstream norm’s cascade model by introducing new temporalities and geographies in the analysis of the life-cycle of international norms.LUISS PhD Thesi

Le nuove competenze dell'autorità per l'energia elettrica e il gas in materia di servizi idrici: l'impatto della regolazione indipendente

L'organizzazione del servizio idrico integrato in Italia. La precedente regolazione dei servizi idrici in Italia. Il nuovo regolatore dei servizi idrici in Italia. L'impatto della nuova regolazione sul settore idrico: incentivi e prospettive.L'organizzazione del servizio idrico integrato in Italia. La precedente regolazione dei servizi idrici in Italia. Il nuovo regolatore dei servizi idrici in Italia. L'impatto della nuova regolazione sul settore idrico: incentivi e prospettive.LUISS PhD Thesi

L'intervento del terzo e la trasformazione del giudizio arbitrale

L'intervento principale e litisconsortile: le condizioni di ammissibilità. L'intervento adesivo dipendente e quello del litisconsorte necessario: le condizioni di ammissibilità. La chiamata in arbitrato del terzo. La sostituzione dell’arbitro venuto a mancare nel procedimento plurilaterale. L'intervento anteriore alla costituzione del collegio. Le modalità dell'intervento del terzo alla luce dei principî generali in tema di forma e modifica della convenzione arbitrale. Il procedimento arbitrale dopo l’intervento del terzo.L'intervento principale e litisconsortile: le condizioni di ammissibilità. L'intervento adesivo dipendente e quello del litisconsorte necessario: le condizioni di ammissibilità. La chiamata in arbitrato del terzo. La sostituzione dell’arbitro venuto a mancare nel procedimento plurilaterale. L'intervento anteriore alla costituzione del collegio. Le modalità dell'intervento del terzo alla luce dei principî generali in tema di forma e modifica della convenzione arbitrale. Il procedimento arbitrale dopo l’intervento del terzo.LUISS PhD Thesi

La soggettività passiva delle imprese individuali e delle attività professionali tra IRPEF ed IRES: prospettive per l'introduzione dell'IRI

This study aimed to analyze the issue of income tax liability of individual company and professional activities with particular focus to subjects whose tax liability is not so obvious relating to the derivation and expansion of economic and civil notions tax compared to the corresponding definitions of the Civil Code and with regard to reflections, purely for tax purposes, the determination of the assumption of tax and the tax regime applicable. The issue of tax liability has taken over the years the role of the general problem of the most debated and complex. Disquisitions on the typical classical figures of the law have been joined those for legal claims arising figures for which are repeated often in a more complex, the critical issues that had already affected the raw. To understand what it represents today its income tax liability as well as in relation to 'income tax and also to the nascent IRI IRES (income tax business), it is necessary to analyze the ratio of tax and the persons who act in it. Surely the bond taxation presents many opportunities for the reconstruction of the tax liability whose analysis concerns the identification of the requirements for the recognition of an abstract suitability to the ownership of the tax, both the active side of the relationship from the passive. With the prediction of IRI, beyond the problems and doubts related to it, individual company, partnerships and corporations would be subject to a single model of taxation being realized in this way, as well as a significant simplification of the entire system, an equation of the taxation of business income that would make the system more neutral with respect to the choices of the legal and organizational forms through which to conduct business activities, also contributing to the implementation of the principle of equality enshrined in Article 2 of the Constitution.This study aimed to analyze the issue of income tax liability of individual company and professional activities with particular focus to subjects whose tax liability is not so obvious relating to the derivation and expansion of economic and civil notions tax compared to the corresponding definitions of the Civil Code and with regard to reflections, purely for tax purposes, the determination of the assumption of tax and the tax regime applicable. The issue of tax liability has taken over the years the role of the general problem of the most debated and complex. Disquisitions on the typical classical figures of the law have been joined those for legal claims arising figures for which are repeated often in a more complex, the critical issues that had already affected the raw. To understand what it represents today its income tax liability as well as in relation to 'income tax and also to the nascent IRI IRES (income tax business), it is necessary to analyze the ratio of tax and the persons who act in it. Surely the bond taxation presents many opportunities for the reconstruction of the tax liability whose analysis concerns the identification of the requirements for the recognition of an abstract suitability to the ownership of the tax, both the active side of the relationship from the passive. With the prediction of IRI, beyond the problems and doubts related to it, individual company, partnerships and corporations would be subject to a single model of taxation being realized in this way, as well as a significant simplification of the entire system, an equation of the taxation of business income that would make the system more neutral with respect to the choices of the legal and organizational forms through which to conduct business activities, also contributing to the implementation of the principle of equality enshrined in Article 2 of the Constitution.LUISS PhD Thesi

A Tale of Two Cheeses: Parmesan, Cheddar, and the Politics of Generic Geographical Indications (GGIs)

The difference between Geographical Indication (GI) and generic food terms is an important and highly contentious issue in international negotiations. This distinction is significant to producers, manufacturers, consumers, and policy-makers all over the world because it means the difference between the restricted versus open use of certain popular terms in domestic and global markets. This thesis uses a food studies approach that employs cheese as a lens to understand the contested politics of Generic Geographical Indications (GGIs), which has been under-explored in the literature on GIs. Through case studies and an analysis of written policy material and other documents, websites, blogs, artefacts, observations, and semi-structured interviews and discussions, it investigates the complex processes through which European and New World (NW) actors compete over the status – protected or generic – of cheese names, why this struggle is manifested in the case of Parmesan but not of Cheddar, and how we can better understand genericism within the context of GI policy. The thesis argues that actors guided by differing agricultural paradigms compete to secure the use of terms through oppositional discursive strategies of ‘gastro-panic’, where they appeal to a language of security in order to persuade policy-makers to take action against the perceived threatening actions of their opponents. It finds that unlike the contested term Parmesan no such panic has emerged surrounding Cheddar because its widespread use has not been interpreted as a threat to the ‘original.’ As well, genericism emerges as both a dynamic and socially-constructed concept subject to ongoing negotiation and contestation and a strategic discursive device used to block the successful registration of proposed product names as GIs. The debate over cheese reveals the inherently political nature of the ways in which genuineness and genericness are constructed in an increasingly competitive market-place.The difference between Geographical Indication (GI) and generic food terms is an important and highly contentious issue in international negotiations. This distinction is significant to producers, manufacturers, consumers, and policy-makers all over the world because it means the difference between the restricted versus open use of certain popular terms in domestic and global markets. This thesis uses a food studies approach that employs cheese as a lens to understand the contested politics of Generic Geographical Indications (GGIs), which has been under-explored in the literature on GIs. Through case studies and an analysis of written policy material and other documents, websites, blogs, artefacts, observations, and semi-structured interviews and discussions, it investigates the complex processes through which European and New World (NW) actors compete over the status – protected or generic – of cheese names, why this struggle is manifested in the case of Parmesan but not of Cheddar, and how we can better understand genericism within the context of GI policy. The thesis argues that actors guided by differing agricultural paradigms compete to secure the use of terms through oppositional discursive strategies of ‘gastro-panic’, where they appeal to a language of security in order to persuade policy-makers to take action against the perceived threatening actions of their opponents. It finds that unlike the contested term Parmesan no such panic has emerged surrounding Cheddar because its widespread use has not been interpreted as a threat to the ‘original.’ As well, genericism emerges as both a dynamic and socially-constructed concept subject to ongoing negotiation and contestation and a strategic discursive device used to block the successful registration of proposed product names as GIs. The debate over cheese reveals the inherently political nature of the ways in which genuineness and genericness are constructed in an increasingly competitive market-place.LUISS PhD Thesi

La responsabilità dell'amministratore nella s.p.a. in crisi

International financial and economic crisis has recently enhanced the debate about powers, duties, and responsibilities of company’s directors in coping with default. The topic is systematically connected not only with Company Law and Corporate Governance matters but also with Bankruptcy Law and crisis management tools. Moving from a brief overall framework about directors’ general duties, the dissertation focuses on default’s consequences on director’s role in Corporate Governance and related effects on business judgment and management. The analysis deals with different issues regarding directors’ responsibility for having caused or aggravated default, for having failed in promptly and effectively perceiving crisis’ signals, or for not having adequately overcome the collapse. Further, the study refers to some questions more closely related to directors’ liability in insolvency proceedings, pointing out different opinions in interpretation and case law, especially about requirements, burden of proof and damages. In a comparative perspective, the work also outlines the debate about UK wrongful trading, introduced in the UK Insolvency Act 1986 and quoted in EU Commission’s 2003 Action Plan, considering main peculiarities and weak points of such discipline. Finally, taking into account that Italian law does not arrange specific alert and prevention tools, the research offers a reflection on the opportunity of creating a system based on diligence and good sense that, moving from the current set of rules and respecting liability’s general regime, could set up an effective protection against default’s mismanagement.International financial and economic crisis has recently enhanced the debate about powers, duties, and responsibilities of company’s directors in coping with default. The topic is systematically connected not only with Company Law and Corporate Governance matters but also with Bankruptcy Law and crisis management tools. Moving from a brief overall framework about directors’ general duties, the dissertation focuses on default’s consequences on director’s role in Corporate Governance and related effects on business judgment and management. The analysis deals with different issues regarding directors’ responsibility for having caused or aggravated default, for having failed in promptly and effectively perceiving crisis’ signals, or for not having adequately overcome the collapse. Further, the study refers to some questions more closely related to directors’ liability in insolvency proceedings, pointing out different opinions in interpretation and case law, especially about requirements, burden of proof and damages. In a comparative perspective, the work also outlines the debate about UK wrongful trading, introduced in the UK Insolvency Act 1986 and quoted in EU Commission’s 2003 Action Plan, considering main peculiarities and weak points of such discipline. Finally, taking into account that Italian law does not arrange specific alert and prevention tools, the research offers a reflection on the opportunity of creating a system based on diligence and good sense that, moving from the current set of rules and respecting liability’s general regime, could set up an effective protection against default’s mismanagement.LUISS PhD Thesi

Verso una giurisdizione specializzata: I convergenti percorsi dei sistemi europei di giustizia amministrativa.

La giustizia amministrativa: il sistema giurisdizionale monistico e quello dualistico. Verso una giurisdizione amministrativa specializzata e “ordinaria”. La Francia. L’Inghilterra. La Germania. Cenni alle giurisdizioni amministrative di Austria, Belgio e Spagna. L’Italia.La giustizia amministrativa: il sistema giurisdizionale monistico e quello dualistico. Verso una giurisdizione amministrativa specializzata e “ordinaria”. La Francia. L’Inghilterra. La Germania. Cenni alle giurisdizioni amministrative di Austria, Belgio e Spagna. L’Italia.LUISS PhD Thesi

Analisi economica e regolamentazione del private equity negli Stati Uniti e nell'Unione Europea

Inquadramento e contesto del private equity. Analisi economica del private equity. Analisi comparata della regolamentazione del private equity negli Stati Uniti e nell'Unione Europea. Prospettive di sviluppo del private equity e spunti critici.Inquadramento e contesto del private equity. Analisi economica del private equity. Analisi comparata della regolamentazione del private equity negli Stati Uniti e nell'Unione Europea. Prospettive di sviluppo del private equity e spunti critici.LUISS PhD Thesi

Essays in applied macroeconomics

1. The impact of macroeconomic news on the euro-dollar exchange rate. 2. Nowcasting Mexican GDP.1. The impact of macroeconomic news on the euro-dollar exchange rate. 2. Nowcasting Mexican GDP.LUISS PhD Thesi