Taxi regulation and the Bersani reform: a survey of major Italian cities

Using data from a Bank of Italy survey, this paper analyzes the Italian taxi market and its recent changes. Local regulations are rather homogeneous, while there is a widespread disproportion, within municipalities advisory committees, between the number of taxi drivers representatives and that of consumers’; indicators of service adequacy are seldom used. Service costs are rather homogeneous across Italian provinces, while there is great variance as to supply and fares. The instruments provided to municipalities by the new Bersani law have been used mainly in major cities. Service increase, achieved mainly through additional shifts rather than through the provision of (free) additional licenses, was often obtained in exchange for fare increases; the use of traffic policies has been almost absent. It is difficult to evaluate the adequacy of local decisions, given the lack of non-occasional information on market structure

International Transmission Via Trade Links: Theoretically Consistent Indicators of Interdependence for Latin America and South-East Asia

The empirical work on the role of trade linkages in the transmission of economic disturbances has been limited to tests on the significance of variables of simple trade shares of partners, both bilateral and in common markets. This approach ignores additional elements deriving from the new open economy macroeconomics, such as country size, the pricing policy of exporters and the substitutability of exports. It also only considers the “first victim” country as the one transmitting the crisis to the others, leaving out the action of all other intra-regional links. This paper bridges this gap by producing theoretically-backed indicators of vulnerability due to trade linkages in a multilateral setting. These indicators are then used to compare the size of trade linkages in Latin America and in South-east Asia, two regions that were affected by financial crises in the 1990s. The proposed indexes show that Latin America is much less vulnerable than Asia to an international transmission of economic disturbances from a country in the same region. This is due to the relatively smaller size of Latin American countries, to the higher share of raw materials in their exports and the lower degree of similarity both of the manufactures exported inside their region and of those exported to their common industrial markets. Moreover, South-east Asian countries are more likely than Latin American ones to transmit economic disturbances to industrial countries due to the higher substitutability of their manufactured exports with those of more advanced economies.trade linkages, currency crises

Taxi and limousine services after the Bersani reform: an investigation on main Italian cities

Using data from a Bank of Italy survey, this paper analyzes the Italian taxi market and its recent changes. Local regulations are rather homogeneous, while there is a widespread disproportion, within municipal advisory committees, between the number of representatives of taxi drivers and that of consumers’ advocates. Indicators of service adequacy are seldom used. The average service costs are rather homogeneous across Italian provinces, while there is great variance of supply and fare structures. The instruments made available to municipalities by the Bersani Law 2006 have been used mainly in large cities. In many cases, the expansion of service, achieved mainly through additional shifts rather than through the issue of (free) additional licenses, has been the result of a trade-off for fare increases (in part to protect drivers’ income). Virtually no use has been made of municipal traffic rules. All in all it is difficult to evaluate the suitability of the decisions of municipalities with respect to market characteristics, given the lack of non-occasional information on market structure.Taxi, Regulation, Transportation

The taxi service in Italy: motivation and outline of the recent reform

This paper presents a quantitative and analytical documentation to the debate on taxi service liberalization. The results of a survey of the Bank of Italy on the main Italian cities show that the supply of taxi is much lower than that of other foreign cities. The paper gives also some quantitative and qualitative evidence of the negative effects on consumers and on the creation of rents deriving from the present taxi regulation. The economic analysis and the positive results of the recent experiences of liberalization in other countries show that a rigid regulation on tariffs and supply, like the one adopted in Italy, lacks a solid analytical as well an empirical basis for support. Likely, the lower availability of taxi in Italy does not reflect only quantity and price regulation but also other characteristics of the regulation itself, such as the prohibition of juridical persons to operate on the market and a decentralized decision process that attributes more consideration to the interests of taxi drivers with respect to those of consumers. The paper also presents some proposal, in the light of the effects of the recent Bersani decree, for a reform of the sector.service liberalization, taxi

Tecnologia e dinamica dei vantaggi comparati: un confronto fra quattro regioni italiane

This paper compares the evolution of trade specialisation, by technological content, of Emilia-Romagna, Lombardia, Marche, Veneto and the Italian average over 1992-2002. It is shown that, over the period, the four regions’ export performance has been negatively affected by the stationarity of sectorial comparative advantages vis-à-vis the evolution of the structure of world demand. Only Veneto shifted its specialisation from low-tech to high-tech, while the other regions became increasingly despecialised in high-tech productions. At the end of the decade the four regions’ trade specialisation patterns is still dominated by the low-tech “made in Italy” goods. The four regions have a comparative disadvantage in the sectors with stronger world export growth, though they show some advantages in industries whose world demand rose at intermediate speed. Over the decade the specialisation in the world fastest growing sectors grew for Veneto, was unchanged for Marche, and decreased for Emilia-Romagna; Lombardia and Italy mitigated their comparative disadvantages in those sectors. The four regions’ exports are generally more concentrated than the world’s in the low-tech sectors; the negative gap between the regional and the world shares of high-tech exports has widened over the decade.commercio internazionale, tecnologia, regioni

I problemi nella realizzazione delle opere pubbliche: le specificità del Mezzogiorno

This paper studies the relevance of the different factors that influence, at the territorial level, efficiency in the market for public infrastructures in Italy.infrastructures, public works

The bank-firm relationships after Basel 2: a survey on Italian firms

This paper shows the results of a survey on firms regarding the changes that are occurring in the bank-firm relationship in view of Basel II. The survey has been conducted on an national basis together with a local one directed to small firms localized in the regions of Emilia-Romagna, Puglia and Basilicata. The results show that a non-negligible share of firms seems to have realized the possible effects of the new regulations and some of them think that it is necessary to introduce relevant organizational changes. In general firms do not perceive any relevant change in banks' behaviour, but there is some dispersion in the answers on banks' reactions in credit availability and conditions. A trend towards reduction in multiple bank relationships emerges, especially among firms participating in the national survey. The local survey aimed also at evaluating the impact of Basel II on growth perspectives of Italian SMEs. These results show that the growth trend is more marked among firms localized in Emilia-Romagna, which received heavy funding from the banking system. A wider bank support seems to be lacking, in terms of assistance and consulting to firms' growth projects. In addition to this, firms' main obstacles to growth was due to difficulties in finding suitable managers and in the governance of the firm in general.banks, firms, Basel 2

I problemi nella realizzazione delle opere pubbliche: le specificità del Mezzogiorno

This paper studies the relevance of the different factors that influence, at the territorial level, efficiency in the market for public infrastructures in Italy

I problemi nella realizzazione delle opere pubbliche: le specificità del Mezzogiorno

This paper studies the relevance of the different factors that influence, at the territorial level, efficiency in the market for public infrastructures in Italy

Private equity and venture capital in Italy

This paper examines private equity and venture capital in Italy. The first part looks at the main features of the Italian market and its recent evolution; the second part considers the results of a survey of firms and intermediaries designed to gather information regarding contract features and the characteristics of investee firms and investing intermediaries. Finally, the paper discusses the main obstacles to the development of the sector using information from the survey of intermediaries.private equity, venture capital