Essays in labour and public economics

This thesis consists of three chapters, all of which make extensive use of Italian administrative data. The first chapter studies strategic delays in the timing of layoffs around an age-at-layoff threshold entitling workers to a four month increase in potential unemployment insurance (UI) benefit duration. After having documented sizeable manipulation of age at layoff near the threshold, we show that the ensuing increase in UI benefit receipt is 81% mechanically due to higher coverage and only 19% the result of moral hazard responses. The second chapter documents the effects of increased import competition from China on the Italian labour market. In the first part of the paper, we show that areas that were initially specialized in import-competing industries suffered larger losses in manufacturing employment. However, these effects are modest in size. In the second part of the paper, we show that incumbent manufacturing workers did not suffer long-term economic losses. Although they spent less time at their initial employers, they were able to carry out successful transitions towards other sectors, in areas with better job opportunities. The third chapter studies the labour market outcomes of individuals starting an apprenticeship and compares them with those of similar individuals starting temporary contracts that, at least formally, do not provide training. I show that while apprenticeships increase the probability of conversion to open-ended contracts, especially at the initial firm, they also decrease the probability of obtaining further temporary contracts. Quantitatively, this second effect prevails, generating a negative effect on the probability of obtaining any job

Pomp, Circumstance, and Other Songs of a Lifetime

Commencement address given by Speaker David Citino, poet and Professor of English, to the Winter 2000 graduating class of The Ohio State University, St. John Arena, Columbus, Ohio, March 17, 2000

Prime riflessioni sul "nudge" come tecnica di intervento sul diritto costituzionale

L’approccio nudge, frutto di recenti elaborazioni delle scienze comportamentali, si sta diffondendo in vari ambiti, fra cui quello delle politiche regolative pubbliche. Scarso, invece, è il numero dei contributi che mirano ad analizzare la potenziale applicabilità e utilità del nudging nel diritto costituzionale. Il presente lavoro ambisce a tratteggiare delle prime riflessioni su questo tema, aprendo qualche pista di ricerca a partire dagli assunti di base della teoria dei nudge e del paternalismo libertario.Developed from recent achievements in behavioral sciences, "nudging" as a method is spreading across various domains, including that of public regulatory policies. However, there are few contributions aimed at analyzing the potential applicability and usefulness of nudging in constitutional law. This work aims to outline some initial reflections on this topic, opening up avenues for research based on the foundational assumptions of nudge theory and libertarian paternalism