From SHIW to IT-SILC: Construction and Representativeness of the New CAPP_DYN First-Year Population

This paper describes the construction of the initial population in CAPP_DYN and illustrates the degree of representativeness of the Italian population in 2006. While the previous version of the model was constructed using the Bank of Italy Survey on Household Income and Wealth, the current version is based on the new ISTAT Survey on Income and Living Conditions. The first part of the paper discusses the reasons that led us to this switch. It also provides full details on the operations carried out on the original dataset in order to obtain a sample that can be used as the first year population of the Dynamic Simulation Model. In the second part of the paper, the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the initial population sample are compared with information coming from other sources, such as administrative archives, national accounts and Labour Force Surveys. This exercise is crucial in assessing the capability of CAPP_DYN to represent the population's characteristics at the starting pointDynamic micro-simulation; model validation; income distribution; pensions and social security

Estimation and Simulation of Earnings in IT-SILC

This paper describes income distribution among workers in Italy using both the cross-sectional and panel component of IT-SILC. We highlight advantages and drawbacks of different econometric approaches, comparing standard OLS estimates with those obtained from Random Effects and Poisson Maximum Likelihood and assessing whether the results are sensitive to the different specification. Finally, we present the procedure in use in simulating future earnings in CAPP_DYN, the dynamic population-based microsimulation model of the CAPPMicrosimulation; Earnings; Lifetime; Inequality; IT-SILC

Getting stable: an evaluation of the incentives for permanent contracts in Italy

There is little evidence as to the effectiveness of incentives for the conversion of fixed-term contracts into permanent jobs. We aim at filling this gap by studying a recent Italian program which provides benefits for employers who convert contracts for workers in specific demographic groups (females, younger men). Due to funding constraints, the incentives were available only for a few days, allowing us to employ a difference-in-differences strategy between similar short periods. Using administrative microdata for the Veneto region, we show that the subsidy increased conversions by 83% on average, with no substitution effects over time or across groups of workers. JEL codes: J21, J41, J4

Lentil Fortification and Non-Conventional Yeasts as Strategy to Enhance Functionality and Aroma Profile of Craft Beer

During the last few years, consumer demand has been increasingly oriented to fermented foods with functional properties. This work proposed to use selected non-conventional yeasts (NCY) Lachancea thermotolerans and Kazachstania unispora in pure and mixed fermentation to produce craft beer fortified with hydrolyzed red lentils (HRL). For this, fermentation trials using pils wort (PW) and pils wort added with HRL (PWL) were carried out. HRL in pils wort improved the fermentation kinetics both in mixed and pure fermentations without negatively affecting the main analytical characters. The addition of HRL determined a generalized increase in amino acids concentration in PW. L. thermotolerans and K. unispora affected the amino acid profile of beers (with and without adding HRL). The analysis of by-products and volatile compounds in PW trials revealed a significant increase of some higher alcohols with L. thermotolerans and ethyl butyrate with K. unispora. In PWL, the two NCY showed a different behavior: an increment of ethyl acetate (K. unispora) and beta-phenyl ethanol (L. thermotolerans). Sensory analysis showed that the presence of HRL characterized all beers, increasing the perception of the fruity aroma in both pure and mixed fermentation

No free lunch, buddy: past housing transfers and informal care later in life

Previous empirical literature on the relation between intergenerational transfer of assets and services has mostly focused on contemporary exchanges. By contrast, we provide novel evidence showing that parents who helped their adult children in the past are rewarded by higher chances of receiving informal care later in life. To this end we use Italian data containing precise retrospective information about the help with housing that couples received from their parents when they got married, such as a real estate donation or down payment. Our estimates show that this type of past help is positively associated with the current provision of informal care to the parents. This result is robust to controlling for a large set of individual and family characteristics and is only partially due to increased geographical proximity. We suggest that this finding can be explained by mixed self-interest motives, related to theories based on either bilateral exchange or the presence of a third generation (grandchildren), such as the demonstration effect model or the family constitution model

Inequality and poverty during the recession in Italy

This paper simulates the effects of the recent economic crisis on income inequality and poverty in Italy. We impute the changes in employment rates for groups of the population, obtained from the Labour force survey, on the Silc sample for Italy, and simulate in detail also the resulting changes in unenployment benefits and in the Cassa Integrazione Guadagni, a wage supplement fund greatly expanded in the last few years.Italy, economic crisis, employment rates, unemployment benefits, inequality, poverty