Mega Events in Sports and Crime: Evidence From the 1990 Football World Cup

Despite an increasing desire to host major sport events there is almost no research that tries to identify and measure the possible negative spillovers they generate. In particular, there is limited understanding about crime responses. This article investigates the causal relation between hosting the 1990 Football World Cup and crime rates at the province level. Using a fixed effect estimator to control for province-level differences in crime, we find that hosting the Football World Cup leads to a significant increase in most property crimes (bag-snatching, pick-pocketing, shoplifting, and burglary) but only in one violent crime (intentional personal injuries). © The Author(s) 2011

Liner Companies’ Container Shipping Efficiency Using Data Envelopment Analysis

The liner shipping industry moves products around the world. There are thousands of container ships circling the globe at all times, making the global economy possible. Liner shipping companies ship anything that can fit into a cargo container. The standard containers measure 20 feet in length by 8 feet in width or 40 feet in length by 8 feet in width. According to Alphaliner (2015), there are at least 100 linear shipping companies in the world. This study will evaluate the efficiency of different-sized liner shipping companies using Data Envelopment Analysis: it will consider operational aspects and will only include revenue as a financial output. The study predicts that companies with the best fleet utilization will have the highest efficiency scores even when their overall revenue may be less than other companies

The role of museums in bilateral tourist flows: Evidence from Italy

This paper estimates the causal relationship between the supply of art and tourist flows. We use aggregate bilateral data on tourist flows and on museums in the twenty Italian regions. To solve the potential endogeneity of the supply of museums we use three different empirical strategies: we control for bilateral macro-area dummies, we compute the degree of selection on unobservables relative to observables which would be necessary to drive the result to zero and, finally, we adopt a 2SLS approach that uses a measure of historical patronage, the number of noble families, as an instrument for the number of museums. We find strong evidence of a causal relationship between museums and tourist flows. Local supply of art helps not only attracting cultural consumers from other regions, but retaining residents who would otherwise visit other regions to consume arts. We conclude the paper with a back-of-the-envelope calculation of the economic impact (driven by tourism) of museums

Returns to Education and Experience in Criminal Organizations: Evidence from the Italian-American Mafia

Is there any return to education in criminal activities? This is the first paper that investigates whether education has not only a positive impact on legitimate, but also on illegitimate activities. We use as a case study one of the longest running criminal corporations in history: the Italian-American mafia. Its most successful members have been capable businessmen, orchestrating crimes that require abilities that might be learned at school: extracting the optimal rent when setting up a racket, weighting interests against default risk when starting a loan sharking business or organising supply chains, logistics and distribution when setting up a drug dealing system. We address this question by comparing mobsters with their closest (non-mobster) neighbors using United States Census data in 1940. We document that mobsters have one year less education than their neighbors on average. None of the specifications presented identified any significant difference in the returns to education between these two groups. Private returns to education exist also in the illegal activities characterised by a certain degree of complexity as in the case of organized crime in mid-twentieth century United States

Rationalizable Suicides: Evidence from Changes in Inmates' Expected Length of Sentence

Is there a rational component in the decision to commit suicide? Economists have been trying to shed light on this question by studying whether suicide rates are related to contemporaneous conditions. This paper goes one step further: we test whether suicides are linked to forward-looking behavior. In Italy, collective sentence reductions (pardons) often lead to massive releases of prisoners. More importantly, they are usually preceded by prolonged parliamentary activity (legislative proposals, discussion, voting, etc.) that inmates seem to follow closely. We use the legislative proposals for collective pardons to measure changes in the inmates' expectations about the length of their sentences, and find that suicide rates tend to be significantly lower when par- dons are proposed in congress. This suggests that, amongst inmates in Italian prisons, the average decision to commit suicide responds to changes in current expectations about future conditions. At least partially, therefore, the decision seems rationalizable

A preliminary report for the design of mos (micro-olive-spreadsheet), a user-friendly spreadsheet for the evaluation of the microbiological quality of spanish-style bella di cerignola olives from apulia (Southern Italy)

A user friendly spreadsheet (Excel interface), designated MoS (Micro-Olive-Spreadsheet), is proposed in this paper as a tool to point out spoiling phenomena in Bella di Cerignola olive brines. The spreadsheet was designed as a protected Excel worksheet, where users input values for the microbiological criteria and pH of brines, and the output is a visual code, much like a traffic light: three red cells indicate a spoiling event, while two red cells indicate the possibility of a spoiling event. The input values are: (a) Total Aerobic Count (TAC); (b) Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB); (c) yeasts; (d) staphylococci; (e) pH. TAC, LAB, yeasts, and pH are the input values for the first section (quality), while staphylococci count is the input for the second section (technological history). The worksheet can bemodified by adding other indices or by setting different breakpoints; however, it is a simple tool for an effective application of hazard analysis and predictive microbiology in table olive production

Alginate- and Gelatin-Coated Apple Pieces as Carriers for Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis DSM 10140

Fruit and vegetables are considered good natural supports for microorganisms; however, probiotics could cause negative changes on some organoleptic and sensory traits. Thus, the main topic of this paper was the design of coated apple chips as carriers for probiotics with a high level of sensory traits. The research was divided into two steps. First, four functional strains (Limosilactobacillus reuteri DSM 20016, Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis DSM 10140, and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum c16 and c19) were immobilized on apple pieces through dipping of fruit chips in probiotic suspensions for different contact times (from 15 to 30 min) and stored at 4°C for 12 days. Periodically, the viable count was assessed. As a result of this step, a contact time of 15 min was chosen because it assured an optimal deposition of microorganisms. In the second step, apple pieces inoculated with B. animalis subsp. lactis DSM 10140 were coated with alginate and gelatin and stored at 4 and 8°C for 10 days; pH, microbiological counts, color (browning index), and sensory scores were evaluated. Bifidobacterium animalis DSM 10140 exerted a negative effect on apple chips and cause a significant browning; however, the use of coating counteracted this phenomenon. In fact, coated chips showed higher sensory scores and lower browning index. In addition, gelatin showed better performances in terms of probiotic viability, because at 8°C, a significant viability loss of B. animalis DSM 10140 (1.2 log cfu/g) was found on alginate-coated chips. Gelatin-coated apple pieces with B. animalis subsp. lactis DSM 10140 could be an attractive functional food for a wide audience, although further investigations are required on in vivo effects of this product after consumption