Laws for the Right to Work of Disabled People: The Italian Experience

This scholarly handbook covers all aspects of people with disabilities entering the workplace, including the legal aspects, transitions, types, and levels of employments, the impact of different disabilities, and the consideration of the intersection of disability with other identities such as gender and ethnicity. Comprehensive in scope, chapters look beyond organizational strategies that accommodate an employee’s disability and use case studies to highlight important issues and the individual’s perspective. The handbook concludes with a reflection on the work included in the book, what was not included and why, and makes recommendations for future disability research. Marking a major contribution to the study of workplace diversity and bringing together academics from various disciplines and global regions, this handbook covers a truly broad and diverse mix of approaches, theories, and models

“Talking about the Pigou Paradox. Socio-Economic Background and Educational Outcomes of AlmaLaurea”

Structured abstract Research paper Purpose of this paper This paper points to the inefficiency of the Italian educational system as a key factor of persistent differences between the distribution of incomes (skewed) and that of talents (normal), stated in the Pigou paradox. In fact, against the intend assigned to it by the Italian constitution, the educational system is designed in such a way to reinforce, rather than weakening, the current unequal distribution of incomes. Design/methodology/approach We study the socio-educational background of AlmaLaurea graduates by way of correlation and regression analysis. The AlmaLaurea databank is the most important source of statistical information of the type in the country. We consider several indicators of performance, such as the probability to get a degree, the final grade achieved and the length of studies. Findings Parents’ educational level appears to be the main determinant of the grade achieved at high secondary school and at the university. The effect of family background on children success at the university is not direct, but through the high school track. In fact, although any secondary high school gives access to the university, nonetheless lyceums provide students with far higher quality of education than technical and professional schools. Parental background affects also the length of studies, which suggests that the indirect cost of tertiary education is much higher for those with a poorer educational background and walk of life. Research limitations/implications (if applicable) Future research will establish the existence of a “casual” link between parental background and school tracking on university performance of AlmaLaurea graduates. The analysis will distinguish between degrees that give access to liberal professions from the rest. Practical implications (if applicable) Increasing the average educational level was one of the promises of the “3+2” university reform implemented in 2001. This objective has been achieved only in part, due to the continuing high indirect cost of tertiary education, which particularly affects individuals with a poor walk of life. More coordination in the interpretation and implementation of the aims of the reform would have prevented the main actors of the reform from failing it. School tracking should be reformed so as to allow more consideration for low school grades in the choice of parents and provide more on-the-job training to students in the professional / technical schools. What is original/value of paper We propose an interpretation of the Pigou paradox in Italy as based on the inefficiency of the university system, due to the peculiar school tracking and the ensuing high indirect cost of education. On this, we provide new circumstantial evidence based on the AlmaLaurea database almost ten years after the “3+2” reform

Mutamento strutturale e riallocazione del lavoro a livello locale

The focus of this chapter is on the microeconomic foundations of structural change and its spatially asymmetric impact on labour markets. EU economies are undergoing dramatic industrial restructuring due to a number of causes, such as the Eastward enlargement and economic integration of Central and Eastern European countries, as well as a more general process of integration of emerging economies into world trade. In turn this is causing technical change, relocation of economic activities and reallocation of capital and labour resources. An overly optimistic view of the ability of the market economy to sustain economic development has long neglected the labour market consequences of structural change, but the availability of new data sets and the specific nature of economic transition in new member states has once again brought this issue to the fore, suggesting that it might also provide an explanation of several typical features of regional imbalances in old member states. The old and new literature suggests theoretical reasoning and empirical evidence to confirm this

"Overeducation at a glance. Determinants and wage effects of the educational mismatch, looking at the AlmaLaurea data", CRISEI- Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerca in Sviluppo Economico e Istituzioni, discussion paper n. 18, November (ISSN: 2280-9767).

This paper provides the first available estimates of the impact of overeducation on wages of AlmaLaurea university graduates. The analysis focuses on jobs held 5 years after the graduation attained in 2005. Overeducation / overskilling are relatively high when compared to those in similarly advanced economies, and persistent over the years after graduation. Ceteris paribus they tend to be more frequent among children of parents with lower educational levels, through school tracking. The degrees more frequently associated to overeducation are: Agriculture, Arts, Education, Languages, Physical Education, Political Sciences and Psychology. Working while studying and having started the university later than the curricular years are also factors. Moreover, we estimate a conditional wage penalty of about 10% of the median wage when we adopt the “to get” (overeducation) and of about 6.7% when we adopt the “to do” (overskilling) definition. However, the personal attributes that dispose individuals to be mismatched might also reduce the probability of finding a job. Controlling for this source of sample selection bias by using the Heckit procedure, we find that the wage penalty associated to overeducation / overskilling goes up to 35 and 74 percent, respectively. This is support for the job competition and the job assignment models versus the search theoretical model, suggesting that the non-employed would be more likely overeducated / overskilled if they found a job

"Vulnerability and Discrimination among Women, Children and Ethnic Minorities"

Purpose – This purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue on vulnerability and discrimination among women, children and ethnic minorities. Design/methodology/approach – The paper discusses the articles in the special issue which employ a variety of individual-level data, some of which are newly available, and of econometric methods for the analysis of the determinants of labour supply and wages of different vulnerable groups. Findings – The articles manifest an amazing similarity of issues, nuances and policy implications, showing that the causes and consequences of absolute and relative vulnerability are common all over the world. The first set of papers may be framed within the definition of relative vulnerability: in fact, they refer to gender discrimination in Spain and Italy; gender and ethnic wage differentials in China; discrimination against Roma in Southeastern Europe; and the gender gap in early career in Mongolia. The second set of papers deals with absolute vulnerability: in fact, they study different aspects of child labour in India, Indonesia and Pakistan. Originality/value – The paper introduces a number of articles using little used data and uses a wide range of up-to-date theoretical and methodological approaches to the issues of vulnerability and discrimination