Entrepreneurship and market size. The case of young college graduates in Italy

We analyse empirically the effects of urbanization on Italian college graduates' work possibilities as entrepreneurs three years after graduation. We find that doubling the population density of the province of work reduces the chances of being an entrepreneur by 2-3 percentage points. This result holds after controlling for regional fixed effects and is robust to instrumenting urbanization. Provincial competition, urban amenities and disamenities, cost of labour, earning differentials between employees and self-employed workers, unemployment rates and value added per capita account for more than half of the negative urbanization penalty. Our result cannot be explained by the presence of negative differentials in returns to entrepreneurship between the most and the least densely populated areas either. In fact, as long as they succeed in entering the most densely populated markets, young entrepreneurs are able to reap the benefits of urbanization externalities: doubling the population density of the province of work increases entrepreneurs' net monthly earnings by 2-3 per cent.Labour market transitions, urbanization

Is there an urban wage premium in Italy?

We analyze empirically the impact of urban agglomeration on Italian wages. Using micro-data from the Bank of Italy's Survey of Household Income and Wealth for the years 1995, 1998, 2000 and 2002 on more than 22,000 employees distributed in 242 randomly drawn local labor markets (30 percent of the total), we test whether the structure of wages varies with urban scale. We find that every additional 100 employees per square kilometer (100,000 inhabitants) in the local labor market raises earnings by 0.4-0.6 percent (0.1 percent) and that employees working in large cities earn, on average, 2-3 percent higher wages than those in the rest of the economy. The application of spatial data analysis techniques enables us to state that this effect is present only in the large cities surrounded by low-populated areas. We also find that urbanization does not affect returns to experience and that it reduces returns to education and to tenure with current firm, while providing a premium to managers, worker supervisors, and office workers.Wage Differentials, Urbanization, Agglomeration Externalities, Population Clustering, Spatial Autocorrelation

Job Search in Thick Markets: Evidence from Italy

I analyze empirically the effects of both urban and industrial agglomeration on men’s and women’s search behavior and on the efficiency of matching. The analysis is based on the Italian Labor Force Survey micro-data, which covers 520 randomly drawn Local Labor Market Areas (66 per cent of the total) over the four quarters of 2002. I compute transition probabilities from non-employment to employment by jointly estimating the probability of searching and the probability of finding a job conditional on having searched, and I test whether these are affected by urbanization, industry localization, labor pooling and family network quality. In general, the main results indicate that urbanization and labor pooling raise job seekers’ chances of finding employment (conditional on having searched), while industry localization and family network quality increase only men’s. Moreover, neither urban nor industrial agglomeration affect nonemployed individuals’ search behavior; although men with thicker family networks search more intensively.

Entrepreneurship and Market Size. The Case of Young College Graduates in Italy.

We analyse empirically the effects of urbanization on Italian college graduates’ work possibilities as entrepreneurs three years after graduation. We find that doubling the province of work’s population density reduces the chances of being an entrepreneur by 2-3 percentage points. This result holds after controlling for regional fixed effects and is robust to instrumenting urbanization. Provinces’ competition, urban amenities and dis-amenities, cost of labour, earning differentials between employees and self-employed workers, unemployment rates and value added per capita account for more than half of the negative urbanization penalty. Our result cannot be explained by the presence of negative differentials in returns to entrepreneurship between the most and the least densely populated areas either. In fact, as long as they succeed in entering the most densely populated markets, young entrepreneurs are able to reap-off the benefits of urbanization externalities: the elasticity of entrepreneurs’ net monthly earnings with respect to population density is 0.02-0.03.labor market transitions, urbanization

Entrepreneurship and Market Size: The Case of Young College Graduates in Italy

We analyze empirically the effects of urban agglomeration on Italian college graduates’ work possibilities as entrepreneurs three years after graduation. We find that each 100,000 inhabitant-increase in the size of the individual’s province of work reduces the chances of being an entrepreneur by 0.2-0.3 percent. This result holds after controlling for regional fixed effects and is robust to instrumenting urbanization. Province’s competition, urban amenities and dis-amenities, cost of labor, earning differentials between employees and self-employed workers, unemployment rates and value added per capita account for 40 percent of the negative urbanization penalty. Our result cannot be explained by the presence of negative large-city differentials in returns to education either. In fact, as long as they succeed in entering the largest markets, young entrepreneurs are able to reap-off the benefits of urbanization externalities: every 100,000-inhabitant increase in the province's population raises entrepreneurs' net monthly income by 0.2-0.3 percent.labor market transitions, urbanization

Job Search in Thick Markets: Evidence from Italy

I analyze empirically the effects of both urban and industrial agglomeration on menÂ’s and womenÂ’s search behavior and on the efficiency of matching. The analysis is based on a unique panel data set from the Italian Labor Force Survey micro-data, which covers 520 randomly drawn Local Labor Market Areas (66 percent of the total) over the four quarters of 2002. I compute transition probabilities from non-employment to employment by jointly estimating the probability of searching and the probability of finding a job conditional on having searched, and I test whether these are affected by urbanization and/or industry localization. The main results indicate that both urbanization and industry localization raise job seekersÂ’ chances of finding employment (conditional on having searched), but neither of them affects non-employed individualsÂ’ search behavior.Labor market transitions, search intensity, urbanization, industry localization.

Entrepreneurship and market size: the case of young college graduates in Italy

We analyse empirically the effects of urbanization on Italian college graduates' work possibilities as entrepreneurs three years after graduation. We !nd that doubling the province of work's population density reduces the chances of being an entrepreneur by 2–3 percentage points. This result holds after controlling for regional !xed effects and is robust to instrumenting urbanization. Provinces' competition, urban amenities and dis-amenities, cost of labour, earning differentials between employees and self-employed workers, unemployment rates and value added per capita account for more than half of the negative urbanization penalty. Our result cannot be entirely explained by the presence of negative differentials in returns to entrepreneurship between the most and the least denselypopulated areas. In fact, as long as they succeed in entering themost densely populated markets, young entrepreneurs are able to reap-off the bene!ts of urbanization externalities: the elasticity of entrepreneurs' net monthly earnings with respect to population density is 0.02–0.03

Statistical Mechanics of Steiner trees

The Minimum Weight Steiner Tree (MST) is an important combinatorial optimization problem over networks that has applications in a wide range of fields. Here we discuss a general technique to translate the imposed global connectivity constrain into many local ones that can be analyzed with cavity equation techniques. This approach leads to a new optimization algorithm for MST and allows to analyze the statistical mechanics properties of MST on random graphs of various types

A regra ótima de armazenamento de arroz no Brasil

Este trabalho pretende aplicar um modelo econômico dinâmico de expectativas racionais para armazenamento de arroz no Brasil com o intuito de modelar a decisão de estocagem. Estas quantidades de estoque maximizam os efeitos de bem-estar oriundos da introdução da estocagem como uma atividade econômica competitiva em um mercado com oferta estocástica, em que todos os indivíduos são maximizadores de lucro com expectativas racionais. Os impactos dependem, principalmente, da informação disponível ao produtor antes do armazenamento ser introduzido, da elasticidade da oferta de área, da especificação da curva de demanda, da taxa de juros considerada e do custo de estocagem. Estas funções e valores foram utilizados para a estimação de um modelo dinâmico de expectativas racionais, através de programação dinâmica estocástica, aproximando uma função de preço esperado e área plantada em função do estoque inicial, fazendo uso de polinômio de quarto grau no estoque, no qual se encontrou uma disponibilidade crítica, a partir da qual ocorrerá armazenamento como uma atividade econômica. Em seguida, procedeu-se à estimação de simulações de longo prazo com o intuito de avaliar os impactos de altos e baixos estoques iniciais no mercado. Os resultados demonstraram que estes impactos podem ser percebidos por cerca de três ou quatro safras.This paper aims to analyze the rice Storage in Brazil through a dynamic economic model of rational expectations in order to model the storage decision. The Storage quantities maximize the welfare in a competitive market with stochastic supply, in which all individuals are profit maximizers with rational expectations. The impacts depend mainly on the information available to the producer before storage is introduced, the elasticity of area supply, the specification of the demand curve, the storage costs and the rate of interest. These functions were used to estimate a dynamic model of rational expectations by a area supply function and expected price according to original storage, using a fourth degree polynomial in the stock. Then, a long-term simulation was estimated with the aim of show the impacts of high and low initial amount of storage in the market. The results showed that these impacts can be perceived for three or four seasons

AVALIAÇÃO DA EFICÁCIA DE PROGRAMA DE FORMAÇÃO DE EMPREENDEDORES E LIDERANÇAS RURAIS NO ESTADO DO PARANÁ

Este artigo apresenta os resultados de avaliações da eficácia do Programa Empreendedor Rural – PER – em alcançar seus objetivos. O PER é um programa de educação rural para produtores e trabalhadores rurais desenvolvido no Paraná e executado pelo Senar/PR e Sebrae/PR que visa elevar os estoques de capital humano e social no meio rural. O programa adota o construtivismo como método de ensino e a elaboração de projetos de investimento como eixo de aprendizagem. Na Fase I do Programa, executado a partir de 2003, o objetivo principal é a promoção de empreendedorismo no meio rural, por meio de um treinamento com cerca de 5 meses de duração. A Fase III, executada a partir de 2005, tem como objetivo principal a ampliação do capital social no meio rural, e se desenvolve por cerca de 9 meses. A avaliação do programa foi planejada para coletar informações em três fases distintas: (1) início do programa (Marco Zero), (2) término do programa e (3) após um ano do término do programa. O programa foi avaliado por meio de questionários e entrevistas estruturadas, em amostras de participantes estatisticamente significativas. Aos resultados foram aplicados métodos de estatística descritiva, teste de Qui-quadrado, apresentação gráfica de dados e a técnica de “data mining”. Os resultados para a Fase I mostram que o programa foi eficaz na promoção de empreendedorismo, especialmente na criação de negócios próprios pelos participantes um ano após a conclusão do treinamento, entre outros resultados. Para a fase III a avaliação mostra que, ao final do treinamento, que implica na elaboração de projetos associativos, os participantes tiveram uma visão mais crítica e real do seu efetivo estoque de capital social. O programa contribuiu como ponte para a rede social existente, mas não foi suficiente em si mesmo para gerar um aumento no capital social das comunidades.---------------------------------------------The paper presents results of evaluations of the effectiveness of the Agribusiness Management Program - PER - in reaching its objectives. The PER is a rural educational program for producers and managers developed in the state of Paraná. Senar/PR and Sebrae/PR are in charge of the program execution that aims at raising the supplies of human and social capital in the state rural areas. The program uses a constructive approach as educational method and the elaboration of investment projects as its learning alignment. The Phase I of the Program, executed since 2003, aims at empowering rural entrepreneurship, by means of a training program with 5 months duration. Phase III, executed since 2005, has as major objective increasing the stocks of social capital in the state rural areas and its learning program lasts about 9 months. The evaluation of the program was planned to allow collecting information in its three distinct phases: (1) at beginning of Phase I of the program (Landmark Zero); (2) at the end of Phase I; and (3) after one year of the end of Phase I of the program, for each group of participants. The program was evaluated by means of questionnaires and structuralized interviews, with statistically significant sample of participants. Methods of descriptive statistics, tests of Qui-square, graphical presentation of data and the technique of “date mining” were applied to analyze the answers. The results for Phase I show that the program was efficient in promoting entrepreneurship, especially in the creation of business-oriented projects for the participants. They were, among others results, observed to be implemented one year after the conclusion of the Phase I training. The evaluation process showed that at the end of Phase III training, that required the elaboration of an associative project by the participant, they had a more critical and real vision of the effective stock of social capital in their area. The program built a bridge for the existing social network, but it was not enough in itself to generate an increase in the stock of social capital for the communities.educação rural, empreendedorismo, capital social, liderança, eficácia de capacitações, rural education, entrepreneurship, social capital stock, leadership, effectiveness of qualifications, Agribusiness, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,