Exploring Convergence in some OECD Public Social Expenditure Trends

Triggered by the phenomenon of globalisation, during recent years there has been a process of State policy rationalisation in the social expenditure domain; hence the debate over the present role and dimension of welfare state has intensified. Following on the extensive multidisciplinary literature on this issue, the purpose of this paper is two-fold 1) to apply a more traditional analysis of convergence (sigma and beta convergence) in public social expenditures and 2) to analyse public social expenditure allocation expressed as a % of GDP and derive a possible classification of the countries by means of a multivariate approach. We conclude by explaining some similarities in the expenditure behaviour of certain countries in terms of the policy transfer process. Our results can be interpreted as a further contribution to the literature on contemporary public policy evaluation in the welfare domain.Policy Making, Welfare Programme, Public social Expenditures, Policy Transfer, principal component analysis, cluster analysis

The Effect of Job–Education Vertical Mismatch on Wages Among Recent PhD Graduates: Evidence From an Instrumental Variable Analysis

Existing studies suggest that recent PhD graduates with a job vertically mismatched with their education tend to earn lower wages than their matched counterparts. However, by being based on cross-sectional ordinary least squares (OLS) estimates, these studies raise endogeneity concerns and can only be considered evidence of a correlation between vertical mismatch and wages. This paper improves this literature by applying a heteroskedasticity-based instrumental variable estimation approach to analyzing Italian PhD holders’ cross-sectional micro-data. Our analysis suggests that previous empirical studies have provided slightly upward estimates of the impact of vertical mismatch on wages. Nevertheless, our results show that the effect of overeducation on wages is sizeable. However, no wage effect is found for overskilling. The heterogeneity of these findings by field of study and gender are also inspected

In the mood for redistribution. An empirical analysis of individual preferences for redistribution in Italy

Over the past few years a large body of literature has studied the determinants of individual preferences for income equality and redistributive policies. In this paper, using data from the World Values Survey (WVS), we specifically focus on the preferences expressed by Italians and analyse their determinants. We verify a number of factors, usually found to impact individual attitudes towards equality and redistribution, and demonstrate that self-interest evaluations, together with the personal system of beliefs, do influence this kind of personal attitudes. The results also seem to suggest that living in a specific regional context may play a significant role in conditioning personal attitudes

The Effect of Job–Education Vertical Mismatch on Wages Among Recent PhD Graduates: Evidence From an Instrumental Variable Analysis

Existing studies suggest that recent PhD graduates with a job vertically mismatched with their education tend to earn lower wages than their matched counterparts. However, by being based on cross-sectional ordinary least squares (OLS) estimates, these studies raise endogeneity concerns and can only be considered evidence of a correlation between vertical mismatch and wages. This paper improves this literature by applying a heteroskedasticity-based instrumental variable estimation approach to analyzing Italian PhD holders’ cross-sectional micro-data. Our analysis suggests that previous empirical studies have provided slightly upward estimates of the impact of vertical mismatch on wages. Nevertheless, our results show that the efect of overeducation on wages is sizeable. However, no wage efect is found for overskilling. The heterogeneity of these fndings by feld of study and gender are also inspecte

Exploring public social expenditure trends in the globalization era

Triggered by the phenomenon of globalisation, during recent years there has been a process of State policy rationalisation in the social expenditure domain; hence the debate over the present role and dimension of welfare state has intensified. Following on the extensive multidisciplinary literature on this issue, the purpose of this paper is two-fold 1) to apply a traditional analysis of convergence (sigma and beta convergence) in public social expenditures and 2) to analyse public social expenditure allocation expressed as a % of GDP and derive a possible classification of the countries by means of a multivariate approach. Our results, revealing that some convergence in the expenditure domain occurred for certain Southern and Northern European countries, can be interpreted as a further contribution to the literature on contemporary public policy evaluation in the welfare domain.peer-reviewe

Exploring public social expenditure trends in the globalization era

Triggered by the phenomenon of globalisation, during recent years there has been a process of State policy rationalisation in the social expenditure domain; hence the debate over the present role and dimension of welfare state has intensified. Following on the extensive multidisciplinary literature on this issue, the purpose of this paper is two-fold 1) to apply a traditional analysis of convergence (sigma and beta convergence) in public social expenditures and 2) to analyse public social expenditure allocation expressed as a % of GDP and derive a possible classification of the countries by means of a multivariate approach. Our results, revealing that some convergence in the expenditure domain occurred for certain Southern and Northern European countries, can be interpreted as a further contribution to the literature on contemporary public policy evaluation in the welfare domain.peer-reviewe

Una Prima Stima del Residuo Fiscale e del suo Effetto sulla Localizzazione delle Imprese in Cina

In the present work we analyze fiscal differences among Chinese provinces using indexes built on the concept of fiscal residuum. Our analysis help us to verify the role of public transfers in promoting both fiscal equalization and competition among provinces. We further study the impact of the fiscal residua on the localization of foreign enterprises. Our first results show that enterprises are conditioned, in their localization choices, by the general welfare conditions of each jurisdiction. Our results underscore the role of local and central institutions in affecting the productive structures.Public Finance, Fiscal Policy, Revenue, Subsidies, Fiscal residuum

Economics research and climate change. A Scopus-based bibliometric investigation

This paper investigates the evolution over time of the economics literature devoted to climate change. The analysis is based on 1974-2021 data extracted from the Scopus database and focuses on the publication outlets included in the first quartile of the “Economics, Econometric, and Finance” SCImago Ranking. We inspect the size and the impact of this economics literature, the geographical pattern of its production, and we provide a content analysis based on the keywords associated with the documents analysed. This study provides a detailed overview of the (still limited) interest that economists demonstrate for climate change

Heterogeneous effects of spinoff foundations on the means of technology transfer: the role of past academic-industry collaborations

Focusing on the Italian population of academic entrepreneurs, we analyze the effect of establishing a spinoff firm on researchers' attitudes towards carrying out other activities in collaboration with firms, namely, co-publishing and co-patenting. We investigate the heterogeneity in this effect in terms of existing collaborations with firms in the pre-spinoff period. Using a counterfactual analysis on subgroups, we verify that academic entrepreneurs with previous publications with firms diminish their co-publishing and increase their co-patenting after founding a spinoff. Conversely, academic entrepreneurs who had no previous publications with firms increase their co-publishing and decrease their co-patenting. We maintain that such results are related to academics' learning processes connected with their previous technology transfer activities. The policy implications are related to technology transfer aims and contradict the idea that promoting spinoffs is an appropriate "one-size-fits-all" initiative