The Gini Test for Survival Data in Presence of Small and Unbalanced Groups

The aim of this note is to study the performance of the Gini concentration test for survival data in presence of unbalanced and small samples. We compared the performance of the asymptotic test with an alternative permutation distribution test, illustrating by simulation that if groups are very small the latter test should be used. Also, we show how the definition of the length of time considered in the construction of the test statistic can be chosen to improve the performance of the test

The impact of inflation on heterogeneous groups of households: an application to Italy

This paper explores the determinants of the heterogeneity in the expenditure behaviours of the Italian households, using the Households Expenditure Survey provided by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) for the year 2005. We assume that differences among consumers are associated with differences in their economic and socio-demographic characteristics (such as gender, employment status and age of the householder, number of household components, presence of under 18 years old components), and we look for those characteristics that better differentiate groups of households according to their purchasing patterns. We apply a nonparametric discriminant analysis based on the various expenditure budget components, and detect the most discrìminating partitions of families. The technique allows us also to identify the specific goods of consumption that significantly differ across the groups identified by the best partitions. We then study the different effects of the price dynamics on subgroups of households, and propose consumer price indices specific for the optimal households groups

University commuting during the COVID-19 pandemic: Changes in travel behaviour and mode preferences

One prominent change induced by the COVID-19 pandemic concerns the worldwide use of public transportation for commuting purposes. This study focused on university commuting in Italy by examining the propensity to change transport modes under different infection risk scenarios. Data were collected in 2020 through an online survey of college mobility conducted by the Italian University Network for Sustainable Development. Asking the respondents to consider both a pessimistic and an optimistic scenario, with respect to the risk odds of being infected, we followed a two-step approach to study the prospective travel habits of college users. First, we tested a logit model to estimate the propensity to abandon one's pre-COVID-19 commuting mode. Then, we investigated the factors influencing the choice of switching from public transportation to either cars or active modes by estimating a multinomial logit model. By exploiting the novelty of considering two risk scenarios, this study highlighted that, especially in the pessimistic case, the change to active modes was constrained by spatial aspects in favour of motorized vehicles. From a policy perspective, this COVID-19-based natural experiment advocates transportation authorities taking effective actions to ensure that, in case of emergencies, a modal shift would not benefit more-polluting transport means

Fattori influenti sul ricorso ad Internet nei processi gestionali delle micro-imprese

n/

Deindustrialization and the Polarization of Household Incomes: The Example of Urban Agglomerations in Germany

The tertiarization, or perhaps more accurately, the deindustrialization of the economy has left deep scars on cities. It is evident not only in the industrial wastelands and empty factory buildings scattered throughout the urban landscape, but also in the income and social structures of cities. Industrialization, collective wage setting and the welfare state led to a stark reduction in income differences over the course of the twentieth century. Conversely, deindustrialization and the shift to tertiary sectors could result in increasing wage differentiation. Moreover, numerous studies on global cities, the dual city, and divided cities have also identified income polarization as a central phenomenon in the development of major cities. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), we find an increasing polarization of household income structures since the mid-1990. In agglomerations, this income polarization is even more pronounced than in the more rural regions. The income polarization in Germany is likely to have multiple causes, some of which are directly linked to policies such as the deregulation of the labor market. But extensive deindustrialization is probably also one of the drivers, that has led directly to the weakening of middle income groups

Polarization Measurement in One and More Dimensions

Bocconi University, Mila

Measuring labour market inter-temporal mobility in Italy: theory and evidence

Aim of the paper is to provide a new class of mobility indices that takes into account the inter-temporal status movements over more than two periods of time. The index is obtained in two steps. First, an individual inter-temporal individual mobility index is provided, which allows also for analysis of upward and downward mobility. Since memory plays an important role when individual makes comparisons with his past, a discount factor has been introduced. Secondly, individual mobility indicators are aggregated over all the population, in order to obtain an index which allows for comparisons among different societies. The empirical application analyzes the mobility of the occupational status in the Italian labour market within an inter-temporal framework, using the Italian Compulsory Communications system data

Measuring labour market inter-temporal mobility in Italy: theory and evidence

1Aim of the paper is to provide a new class of mobility indices that takes into account the inter-temporal status movements over more than two periods of time. The index is obtained in two steps. First, an individual inter-temporal individual mobility index is provided, which allows also for analysis of upward and downward mobility. Since memory plays an important role when individual makes comparisons with his past, a discount factor has been introduced. Secondly, individual mobility indicators are aggregated over all the population, in order to obtain an index which allows for comparisons among different societies. The empirical application analyzes the mobility of the occupational status in the Italian labour market within an inter-temporal framework, using the Italian Compulsory Communications system data.noneGigliarano C.Gigliarano, Chiar

An Inter-temporal Relative Deprivation Index

The paper provides an axiomatic characterization of a new class of relative deprivation indices. Relative deprivation is the feeling that an individual experiences when she compares herself with someone who is better off. We believe that individuals not only take care of their relative position with respect to others but also of their relative position with respect to their own past. Therefore, we introduce a history-regarding reference group, while in the traditional relative deprivation framework the reference group is only other-regarding. The new index is sensitive to the proximity of transfers in the reference groups: an individual may feel more deprived if an increase in achievements occurs close or far to her current position. The new index is illustrated with an application to EU countries