Job flow dynamics and firing restrictions: evidence from Europe

We exploit homogeneous firm level data of manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors to study the impact of firing restrictions on job flow dynamics across 14 European countries. We find that more stringent firing laws dampen the response of job destruction to the cycle, thus making job turnover less counter-cyclical. Moreover, the impact of firing costs on job creation and job destruction varies across sectors, depending on sector-specific trend growth. Our findings clearly suggest that such costs are more important in contracting than in growing sectors. JEL Classification: J23, J63, J68business cycle, Europe, Firing Costs, Gross Job Flows

How sticky are local expenditures in Italy? Assessing the relevance of the “flypaper effect” through municipal data

An extensive literature analyses the impact of upper-tier transfers on the spending behaviour of lower level governments. According to the median voter framework, a transfer from the centre should act as a lump sum grant to residents and thus be spent by jurisdictions in the same proportion as residents are willing to spend their own money on public goods and services. But the actual local expenditure response to central government transfers is stronger than predicted by the theory, giving rise to the “flypaper effect”. Using the database on municipal accounts, and various other information sources, this work aims at assessing the size of the effect for Italian municipalities and the symmetry in the local expenditure response to central government transfers. Our dataset enables us also to investigate the role of some political factors. We find a sizeable effect and a remarkable asymmetric response of municipal expenditures to central government transfers as well as a significant role for political variables.flypaper effect, intergovernmental transfers, fiscal federalism

Decentramento fiscale e perequazione regionale. Efficienza e redistribuzione nel nuovo sistema di finanziamento delle regioni a statuto ordinario

This work analyses the relationship between the efficiency gains and the redistributive impact of the reform aimed at introducing fiscal federalism in Italy. In the recent past the reform substituted fiscal transfers once provided by central government with local taxes. By 2001 an equalization Fund will ensure that regional governments have sufficient revenues to provide a minimum standard level of public services. Efficiency gains will arise as financial transfers provided by the Fund will be subject to a limit, thus strengthening local budget constraints. In some regions the new set-up may determine a reduction of total revenues below the amount needed to keep the present level of expenditures. This gap should widen in the presence of regional growth differentials.federalismo fiscale, perequazione regionale

A new measure of local endowments of transport infrastructures

The aim of this study is to develop a new method to measure local endowments of transport infrastructures. Starting from the analytical approach of the “new economic geography”, which emphasizes the role of spatial location in determining the growth performance of an economy, it is possible to build a system of indicators which include the effect of the speed and of the quality of transport infrastructures as well as of their physical stock. The new technique is applied to Italian provinces in order to study the action of road and rail transport in the different areas of the country.new economic geography, transport infrastructures, market potential

Gross job flows and institutions in Europe

We examine job flows in the 1990s for a sample of 13 European countries. By using a dataset of continuing firms that covers all sectors, we find firm characteristics to be important determinants of job flows, with smaller and younger firms within services typically having a larger degree of job turnover. Once controlled for firm and sectoral effects, the role of institutions in the dynamics of job creation and destruction is examined. As expected, employment protection is found to reduce job flows. Similarly, countries with higher unemployment benefits and more coordinated wage bargaining systems are characterised by lower job flows. JEL Classification: J23, J60Gross Job Flows, labour market institutions

AREE MONETARIE OTTIMALI: LITERATURE REVIEW

-

SENTIERI DI SPECIALIZZAZIONE E DI CRESCITA DELLE REGIONI EUROPEE DURANTE L'INTEGRAZIONE ECONOMICA

-

Gut mesenchymal stromal cells in immunity

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), first found in bone marrow (BM), are the structural architects of all organs, participating in most biological functions. MSCs possess tissue-specific signatures that allow their discrimination according to their origin and location. Among their multiple functions, MSCs closely interact with immune cells, orchestrating their activity to maintain overall homeostasis. The phenotype of tissue MSCs residing in the bowel overlaps with myofibroblasts, lining the bottom walls of intestinal crypts (pericryptal) or interspersed within intestinal submucosa (intercryptal). In Crohn’s disease, intestinal MSCs are tightly stacked in a chronic inflammatory milieu, which causes their enforced expression of Class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC). The absence of Class II MHC is a hallmark for immune-modulator and tolerogenic properties of normal MSCs and, vice versa, the expression of HLA-DR is peculiar to antigen presenting cells, that is, immune-activator cells. Interferon gamma (IFN) is responsible for induction of Class II MHC expression on intestinal MSCs. The reversal of myofibroblasts/MSCs from an immune-modulator to an activator phenotype in Crohn’s disease results in the formation of a fibrotic tube subverting the intestinal structure. Epithelial metaplastic areas in this context can progress to dysplasia and cancer

Investigating alcohol consumption during pregnancy for the prevention of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD)

The term FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders) is used to describe the entire spectrum of pathologies and disorders caused by alcohol exposure in uterus. Alcohol assumed in pregnancy passes directly through the placental barrier causing a broad range of symptoms whose severity can greatly vary in degree. The alcohol teratogenic effect may result in physical damage and specific facial anomalies, growth delays, neurological defects along with intellectual disabilities and behavioral problems. Children affected show difficulties in verbal learning, memory, visual-spatial abilities, attention, logic and math abilities, information processing, executive functions as well as in many other domains and in general coping with daily life. Total abstention from alcohol during pregnancy is strongly recommended, as a safe threshold of consumption has not been established yet. Hence, the early identification of alcohol consumption in pregnancy is crucial. Specific methodologies to overcome difficulties related to the identification of alcohol behavior in pregnant women are needed and intervention protocols should be implemented to prevent damage in offsprings. This paper gives an overview on this pathology, from clinical delineation to epidemiology and risk factors with a special focus to promote alcohol-free pregnanc

Cytokine Pattern of Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells Isolated from Children Affected by Generalized Epilepsy Treated with Different Protein Fractions of Meat Sources

The objective of the present study was the evaluation of cytokine patterns in terms of TNF-α, IL-10, IL-6, and IL-1β secretion in peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) supernatants isolated from blood of children affected by generalized epilepsy and treated in vitro with myofibrillar, sarcoplasmic, and total protein fractions of meat and fish sources. Children with generalized epilepsy (EC group, n = 16) and children without any clinical signs of disease, representing a control group (CC group n = 16), were recruited at the Complex Structure of Neuropsychiatry ChildhoodAdolescence of Policlinico Riuniti (Foggia, Italy). Myofibrillar (MYO), sarcoplasmic (SA), and total (TOT) protein fractions were obtained from longissimus thoracis muscle of beef (BF) and lamb (LA); from pectoralis muscle of chicken (CH); and from dorsal white muscle of sole (Solea solea, SO), European hake (Merluccius merluccius, EH), and sea bass fish (Dicentrarchus labrax, SB), respectively. PBMCs were isolated from peripheral blood of EC and CC groups, and an in vitro stimulation in the presence of 100 µg/mL for each protein fraction from different meat sources was performed. Data were classified according to three different levels of cytokines produced from the EC group relative to the CC group. TNF-α, IL-10, and IL-6 levels were not affected by different meat fractions and meat sources; on the contrary, IL-1β levels were found to be significantly affected by the tested proteins fractions, as well as different meat sources, in high-level cytokine group. On average, the protein fractions obtained from LB, BF, and CH meat sources showed a higher level of IL-1β than the protein fractions obtained from EH and SB fish samples. When all cytokine classes were analyzed, on average, a significant effect was observed for IL-10, IL-1β, and TNF-α. Data obtained in the present study evidence that the nutritional strategy based on protein from fish and meat sources may modulate the immunological cytokine pattern of infants with generalized epileps