Growth in emerging economies: is there a role for education?

We study the relationship between human capital and growth using a model which encompasses previous specifications and estimates the short and the long-run effects of human capital accumulation. We adopt an empirical framework which accounts for countries’ heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence in a dynamic panel. Results for a sample of 14 Asian countries reveal a large and positive long-run impact of human capital on growth in the 1960-2013 period. Looking at different types of education we find that the diffusion of primary and secondary education has a positive long-run impact, while the long-run effect of tertiary education is negative. Low proportion of people educated at the tertiary level, lack of opportunities for highly educated workers and the brain drain phenomenon could explain this result. These results support policies directed towards increasing investments in primary and secondary education rather than focusing on a minority educated at the tertiary level

Faber-Krahn and Lieb-type inequalities for the composite membrane problem

The classical Faber-Krahn inequality states that, among all domains with given measure, the ball has the smallest first Dirichlet eigenvalue of the Laplacian. Another inequality related to the first eigenvalue of the Laplacian has been proved by Lieb in 1983 and it relates the first Dirichlet eigenvalues of the Laplacian of two different domains with the first Dirichlet eigenvalue of the intersection of translations of them. In this paper we prove the analogue of Faber-Krahn and Lieb inequalities for the composite membrane problem

Certified and uncertified skills and productivity growth performance: cross-country evidence at industry level

We analyse the relationship between human capital and productivity growth using a five-country multi-industry dataset together with a measure of human capital which accounts for both certified skills (educational qualifications) and uncertified skills acquired through on-the-job training and experience. We find evidence of positive human capital effects on growth in average labour productivity, particularly when using our composite human capital measure. We also find some tentative evidence that multi-factor productivity (MFP) growth is positively related to the use of high-skilled labour. However, externalities of this kind are largely confined to industries which make intensive use of university graduates. (abstract as appears on publisher website

No country for young people. Poverty and Age in Italy, 1948-2018

The paper explores the changing risk of poverty for older and younger generations of Italians throughout the republican period, 1948 to the present day. We show that poverty rates have decreased steadily for all age groups, but that youth has been left behind. The risk of poverty for children aged 0-17, relative to adults over 65, has increased steadily over time: in 1977, children faced a risk of poverty 30 percent lower than the elderly, but by 2016 they are 5 times likelier to be poor than someone in the age range of their grandparents. This intergenerational reversal of fortune is unprecedented in Italy’s postWW2 history. We also assess the impact of the Great Recession on living standards by age, finding that the young have been hit hardest, particularly in Southern regions. What explains the extra poverty risk associated with young age? Our analysis points to the welfare state, which offers better protection for the elderly than it does for the young and their families. We find that the impact of cash transfers on the incidence of child poverty is considerably lower in Italy than in most comparable countries. Overall, in the last seven decades, Italy has become no country for young people

Educazione alla cittadinanza: riflessioni su un\u2019esperienza condotta in una scuola primaria italiana.

In Italian schools, Citizenship education is based on practices of constructing a democratic space in order to develop students' sense of belonging to their community and sensitivity to the problems that affect this community. These conditions are necessary to allow students to internalize the structure and dynamics of cohabitation and to ensure that daily life can be organised in such a way that everyone can be a protagonist and participate in the creation and regulation of rules, be they social in nature, or linked to teaching and education. Taking the perspective that Citizenship is an implicit part of the curriculum and school ethos (Bloomfield 2003; Gearon, 2003), rather than as a specific school subject, this article proposes some reflections on an experience on Citizenship education \u2013 intended as instruction on cohabitation and democracy \u2013 carried out at an Italian primary school. This experiment, which is the result of a continuous process of \u201caction-reflection-action\u201d conducted by teaches over five school years, has allowed the implementation of a \u201cframework of guiding principles\u201d for Citizenship education. In conclusion, the article puts forward some reflections on the teaching abilities necessary for creating educational communities within which Citizenship education work sas an integral background of all proposed activities

How “institutionalization” can work. Structuring governance for digital transformation in Italy

Public policy scholars have recently focused on the mechanisms accounting for the sustainability of major policy changes. Among the strategies by which policy entrepreneurs may try to avoid future backlash institutionalization is certainly one of the most used. Yet, it can foster ossification and eventually jeopardize policy effectiveness. Such a potential trade-off between institutionalization and long-term effectiveness is particularly intense in policies concerning technological innovation because the necessity to create winning coalitions can undermine the required absorption capacity needed by government to engage the innovation ecosystems. This paper explores such a trade-off with a case study on the Italian policy for public sector's digital transformation. The case is theoretically promising because over three decades institutionalization has always represented the main overall strategy adopted by policymaker, but only the 2016 initiative emerged as a “success.” In this sense, the case study can focus on the mechanisms activated by policy entrepreneurs to trigger and entrench change

Set-up of a multi wavelength polar photometer for off-line absorption coefficient measurements on 1-h resolved aerosol samples

In this paper, a polar photometer (PP_UniMI) was set up to measure the aerosol absorption coefficient (\u3c3ap) at four wavelengths (\u3bb) on 1-h resolved aerosol samples collected using a streaker sampler. Due to the characteristics of such samples (small deposit area, low aerosol load, and limited substrate thickness 12 10 \u3bcm), the main technical developments aimed at reaching suitable limits of detection (LODs). To this aim, multiple scattering between the sample and a suitable substrate were exploited to amplify the system sensitivity to absorbing particle load. In the paper, the development and test of this innovative approach is presented. LODs for \u3c3ap in the range 5.0\u201311.6 Mm 121 were reached, depending on the wavelength. Such values were suitable for the analysis of 1-hour resolved samples collected at an urban background site in Milan (Italy) during a test campaign of 1-week carried out in winter 2015. The methodology was validated comparing \u3c3ap measurements performed by PP_UniMI at \u3bb=635 nm on the streaker sample to the data obtained by a Multi-Angle Absorption Photometer (MAAP) operated in parallel. Agreement within 10% was found. To check the results obtained at other wavelengths, \uc5ngstr\uf6m Absorption Exponent (AAE) was calculated from \u3c3ap measurements at 4-\u3bb. The AAE values resulted in the range of expectations for aerosol emitted by fossil fuel combustion (0.8\u20131.2) and wood burning (0.9\u20133.5), which are the main sources contributing to absorbing aerosol in urban areas in winter. The analytical methodology can be extended to samples collected with high time resolution using other high-time resolution samplers (e.g. drum rotating impactors). This is \u2013 as far as we know \u2013 the first time that \u3c3ap measurements are performed on streaker samples collected with 1-h resolution. Our results thus set PP_UniMI as an important tool for the community performing high time resolved sampling to widen the characterisation of such samples and to further develop source apportionment studies

Sex-determinants and their distribution in various populations of Musca domestica L. of Western Europe

SUMMARYThe distribution of sex-determinants in field populations ofMusca domestica domesticaL. was studied in 62 samples of flies collected at 53 sites (animal farms) between 1975 and 1981 in an area stretching North–South from Denmark (+ Iceland) to Sicily.Karyological observations and genetic analyses demonstrated the existence of three types of population along a latitudinal cline. Populations of Northern Europe were of the standard type (XXfemales andXYmales) with theYchromosome determining sex. Those of Central and Southern Italy from sites below 100 m.a.s.l. (metres above sea level) were autosomal (XXfemales and males), sex in them being determined by autosomal sex-determinants for both femaleness and maleness. In the large intermediate zone the populations were mixed and had several karyotypes in both sexes. In this zone an altitudinal gradient was also observed, with autosomal determinants less common at higher altitudes. Genetic tests showed, in the autosomal and in the mixed populations, the presence of two autosomal male factors:MIII, the most common, on autosome III andMII, on autosome II.The gradient in sex determinants found in flies of Western Europe appears to be a dynamic phenomenon of relatively recent origin. Both climatic influence and selective pressure with insecticides have probably contributed towards the micro-evolution of populations with different sex-determinants in the houseflies of the area studied