Immigration and Occupations in Europe

In this paper we analyze the effect of immigrants on natives’ job specialization in Western Europe. We test whether the inflow of immigrants changes employment rates or the chosen occupation of natives with similar education and age. We find no evidence of the first and strong evidence of the second: immigrants take more manual-routine type of occupations and push natives towards more abstract complex jobs, for a given set of observable skills. We also find some evidence that this oc-cupation reallocation is larger in countries with more flexible labor laws. As abstract-complex tasks pay a premium over manual-routine ones, we can evaluate the positive effect of such reallocation on the wages of native workers. Accounting for the total change in Complex/Non Complex task supply from natives and immigrants we find that immigration does not change much the relative compen-sation of the two types of tasks but it promotes the specialization of natives into the first type.immigration, task specialization, European labor markets

The Labor Market Impact of Immigration in Western Germany in the 1990’s

We adopt a general equilibrium approach in order to measure the effects of recent immigration on the Western German labor market, looking at both wage and employment effects. Using the Regional File of the IAB Employment Subsample for the period 1987-2001, we find that the substantial immigration of the 1990’s had no adverse effects on native wages and employment levels. It had instead adverse employment and wage effects on previous waves of immigrants. This stems from the fact that, after controlling for education and experience levels, native and migrant workers appear to be imperfect substitutes whereas new and old immigrants exhibit perfect substitutability. Our analysis suggests that if the German labor market were as ‘flexible’ as the UK labor market, it would be more efficient in dealing with the effects of immigration.Immigration, Skill Complementarities, Employment, Wages

Una casa dolce e decente è la prima lezione per diventare buoni cittadini

Sotto la pressione di una presa di coscienza resa quasi obbligata dalle contraddizioni della nascente realtà industriale, la percezione delle problematiche abitative fu orientata innanzitutto dall’importante opera di sensibilizzazione svolta dalle discipline sanitarie, anche all’ombra delle operazioni di risanamento incentivate dalla legge speciale per Napoli del 1885. Tuttavia all’origine delle scelte compiute agli albori del Novecento si sarebbero collocate le discrasie in cui la città ottocentesca aveva cristallizzato l’antitesi tra le velleità aristocratiche dei vertici sociali e i grumi di miseria sopravvissuti ai margini delle riqualificazioni urbane, monito emblematico dell’equazione classi lavoratrici-classi pericolose. Dietro la quinta scenografica disegnata con la realizzazione di boulevards, piazze à la page, edifici di ricercato eclettismo e ordinate radure per lo svago borghese si apriva infatti un dedalo di corrispondenze mancate, esito dell’incongruenza di offrire nuovi fasti urbani e giustificare al contempo l’abitazione dei meno abbienti nell’angustia di soffitte e stabili decadenti. Il senso della metafora giorno e notte, in cui si cela il contrasto tra le diverse anime della città, finì dunque per trasfondersi nell’insieme di antinomie giunto in eredità al nuovo secolo, la cui resistenza non fu completamente scardinata neppure dalla legge sulle case popolari varata nel 1903, la prima normativa in materia dell’Italia unita.At the end of the XIX century, housing issues were oriented mainly by the important sensibilization of health disciplines, also in connection with reclamation works incentivated by the special law for Naples in 1885. In Turin, the decisions made at the beginning of XX century were nonetheless determined by the dyscrasias between urban social groupes:boulevards, à la page squares and eclectic buildings on one side and the decadent housings of low-income classes on the other side. The new century, therefore, kept the antinomies among the different souls of the city, that even the law on popular housings, in 1903, could not solve

Stato dell’arte e prospettive della contrattazione aziendale in Italia = State of the art and prospects for corporate bargaining in Italy. WP C.S.D.L.E. “Massimo D’Antona”.IT – 242/2015

Italy is not immune from the long term process towards greater bargaining decentralization under way in Western Europe. The article surveys the main actions, either defined by social partners or by government intervention, which have attempted to encourage this process in recent years, without altering the relative importance of different levels of bargaining. Empirical evidence shows that firm-level bargaining has been associated with innovative managerial practices, but also that a significant share of firms would be willing to sign contracts that would grant higher wages or preserve occupational levels in order to obtain higher flexibility in the use of the workforce. From an institutional standpoint, the main obstacles preventing the adoption of such deals are: i) unresolved issues related to the measurement of trade unions’ weight at the national level and to the coexistence of two different workers’ representation systems, ii) limits to contract enforcement, iii) limited scope for action of second level bargaining in determining both wages and work organization. The effectiveness of tax breaks encouraging a closer link between wage and productivity at the firm level has been undermined by poor monitoring and frequent changes to the eligibility criteria

On a Rare Cutaneous Metastasis from a Sacrococcygeal Chordoma

Chordomas are rare malignant tumors of notochordal origin and are rare locally aggressive ones with a metastatic potential. The skin rarely is seen as metastatic site. We describe a case of an adult woman with cutaneous metastasis of a primary sacral chordoma excised ten years before, which appeared as a painless cutaneous mass located in the dorsal region. Once removed, the surgical specimen was formalin fixed and in paraffin embedded. Sections were stained with haematoxylin-eosin, and histochemical and immunohistochemical investigations were performed. Histologically, the neoplasia was characterized by cords or single tumor cells with an abundant myxoid stroma, conspicuous pale vacuolated cytoplasm (the classic “physaliphorous cells”), and mild nuclear atypia. Mitotic activity was scanty. At immunohistochemistry, the tumor cells were diffusely positive for S-100 protein, pan-keratins, EMA, and vimentin. A diagnosis of cutaneous metastasis of chordoma was performed. This case illustrates a diagnostic challenge because of the unusual presentation of an already rare tumor

Report on trends in the Italian productive system

In the last decade the Italian economy has underperformed compared both with the previous decades and with the main European countries. It is widely acknowledged that this evolution reflects unresolved structural problems, which have become more urgent in view of the major changes in the world economy (the new technological paradigm, globalization, European economic integration). The goal of the Report is to make a critical survey of all the empirical analyses on the Italian economy and to derive policy suggestions. The evolution of Italy’s productive system is examined from a long-run perspective, highlighting weaknesses and possible signs of recovery and elaborating on the systemic features that may have negatively affected growth performance directly or indirectly through the above exogenous shocks. The focus, mostly but not exclusively microeconomic, emphasizes the considerable heterogeneity of firms, a crucial element for identifying the factors that affect economic growth.growth, productivity, market structure, firm heterogeneity

A machine-learning based bio-psycho-social model for the prediction of non-obstructive and obstructive coronary artery disease

Background: Mechanisms of myocardial ischemia in obstructive and non-obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD), and the interplay between clinical, functional, biological and psycho-social features, are still far to be fully elucidated. Objectives: To develop a machine-learning (ML) model for the supervised prediction of obstructive versus non-obstructive CAD. Methods: From the EVA study, we analysed adults hospitalized for IHD undergoing conventional coronary angiography (CCA). Non-obstructive CAD was defined by a stenosis < 50% in one or more vessels. Baseline clinical and psycho-socio-cultural characteristics were used for computing a Rockwood and Mitnitski frailty index, and a gender score according to GENESIS-PRAXY methodology. Serum concentration of inflammatory cytokines was measured with a multiplex flow cytometry assay. Through an XGBoost classifier combined with an explainable artificial intelligence tool (SHAP), we identified the most influential features in discriminating obstructive versus non-obstructive CAD. Results: Among the overall EVA cohort (n = 509), 311 individuals (mean age 67 ± 11 years, 38% females; 67% obstructive CAD) with complete data were analysed. The ML-based model (83% accuracy and 87% precision) showed that while obstructive CAD was associated with higher frailty index, older age and a cytokine signature characterized by IL-1β, IL-12p70 and IL-33, non-obstructive CAD was associated with a higher gender score (i.e., social characteristics traditionally ascribed to women) and with a cytokine signature characterized by IL-18, IL-8, IL-23. Conclusions: Integrating clinical, biological, and psycho-social features, we have optimized a sex- and gender-unbiased model that discriminates obstructive and non-obstructive CAD. Further mechanistic studies will shed light on the biological plausibility of these associations. Clinical trial registration: NCT02737982