EFFECTS OF THE ELECTORAL RULES ON THE SIZE OF GOVERNMENT SPENDING: AN ITALIAN REGION PANEL DATA ANALYSIS

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Network Externalities and Critical Mass in the Mobile Telephone Network: a Panel Data Estimation

This paper develops a simple demand model with network externalities which allow us to identify the shape of the network externalities function in the mobile telephone market and to estimate the critical mass. If the mobile telephone network exhibits positive network externalities, we expect that the demand curve is not downward sloping everywhere but it has an increasing part, the critical mass of the installed base of subscribers. Once the critical mass is reached, the growth of the network is self-sustaining. We use a panel data of the 30 OEDC Countries from 1989 to 2006 for estimating the relationship between price of 3-minute cellular call and the installed base of subscribers; we find strong network externalities effects in mobile telephone market which drive the demand curve for this network good to be an inverted U function. Moreover, given that the concavity of the demand curve depends on the extent of network externalities, the idea is to identify some variables which could affect the intensity of network effects in the mobile telephone market, because the more concave the demand curve is, sooner the critical mass is reached for any price. This may have important implications for producers in terms of initial investment and marketing strategies which they have to do to attain the critical mass.Network Externalities, Mobile Telecommunication, Critical Mass

The design of electoral rules and their impact on economic growth: the Italian case

Economic Growth, Electoral System, Corruption, Public expenditure, Education

La traduzione dialogica come mediazione dell'identità: un'analisi delle istituzioni sanitarie

Il saggio mostra che, nell’interazione mediata all’interno dei servizi sanitari, le azioni delle mediatrici possono rendere rilevanti le differenze tra i presupposti culturali dei partecipanti. Esplicitando gli indicatori di tali presupposti, le mediatrici ricontestualizzano l’interazione, secondo due orientamenti distinti. Il primo è definito come promozione di adattamento interculturale, il secondo come promozione di essenzialismo culturale. La promozione di adattamento interculturale presenta i presupposti culturali come riferimenti possibili che medici e pazienti possono prendere in considerazione per comprendere il punto di vista dell’interlocutore e per chiarire il proprio. La promozione dell’essenzialismo culturale attribuisce normativamente le identità culturali. Pur spiegando spesso aspetti dell’interazione che sono segnalati da un partecipante come non immediatamente riconoscibili (ad esempio curiosi o sorprendenti), la promozione dell’essenzialismo non ammette possibilità di scelta e di partecipazione attiva nel (ri)trattarli. Pertanto la promozione dell’essenzialismo culturale ostacola, anziché promuovere, la partecipazione attiva di medici e, soprattutto, pazienti, alimentando la costruzione sociale di stereotipi e pregiudizi. Il fattore cruciale diventa quindi che la mediatrice gestisca la propria iniziativa in modo competente, indirizzandola alla promozione dell’adattamento interculturale e alle azioni che possono favorirlo. In particolare, è importante osservare che l’adattamento interculturale si basa su una grande attenzione per la traduzione (interpretazione e resa) che modifica ciò che è stato detto in precedenza, in modo da renderlo non soltanto linguisticamente comprensibile, ma anche culturalmente accettabile. Per converso, l’essenzialismo culturale non si fonda su un interesse per la traduzione, che sostituisce di fatto con spiegazioni basate su aspettative normative. Si può in definitiva distinguere tra una ricontestualizzazione che assegna un’importanza primaria alle identità culturali, come insieme di categorie date per scontate, e una che invece usa il riferimento ai presupposti culturali per promuovere le scelte personali informate, che quindi è ‘centrata sulla cultura’ soltanto perché è primariamente centrata sulla persona. In questo secondo caso, la ricontestualizzazione si riferisce ai presupposti culturali, ma li ‘offre’ anziché attribuirli, consentendo così un empowerment dei pazienti migranti come persone

Organized crime and women in politics: Evidence from a quasi-experiment in southern Italy

This paper provides new and unexplored evidence of a negative link between an increasing female participation in politics and the infiltration of organized crime in government. We perform an empirical analysis of about 1,700 Southern Italian municipalities between 1985 and 2013 exploiting two Italian laws: law no. 164/1991, which allows measure of mafia infiltration in the Italian municipalities, and law no. 81/1993, which creates an exogenous source of variation in the share of women on the council that allows for correction of endogeneity bias. Increasing the female proportion on the city council of 10 percentage points reduces the probability of dissolution for mafia infiltration of about 1.8 p.p.; the result is confirmed when considering a female mayor. This negative effect remains across several robustness checks. This research adds a further reason in favour of the reduction of the gender gap in politics. In fact, policies aimed at legitimizing democracy, such as gender quotas in electoral law, also have the effect of strengthening institutions in the fight against organized crime, which is always a key government agenda

Organized crime and women in politics: Evidence from a quasi-experiment in southern Italy

This paper provides new and unexplored evidence of a negative link between an increasing female participation in politics and the infiltration of organized crime in government. We perform an empirical analysis of about 1,700 Southern Italian municipalities between 1985 and 2013 exploiting two Italian laws: law no. 164/1991, which allows measure of mafia infiltration in the Italian municipalities, and law no. 81/1993, which creates an exogenous source of variation in the share of women on the council that allows for correction of endogeneity bias. Increasing the female proportion on the city council of 10 percentage points reduces the probability of dissolution for mafia infiltration of about 1.8 p.p.; the result is confirmed when considering a female mayor. This negative effect remains across several robustness checks. This research adds a further reason in favour of the reduction of the gender gap in politics. In fact, policies aimed at legitimizing democracy, such as gender quotas in electoral law, also have the effect of strengthening institutions in the fight against organized crime, which is always a key government agenda

The role of political competition in the link between electoral systems and corruption: an extension

This work provides an extension to an international context of the analysis made by Alfano, Baraldi and Cantabene (2013) on the role of political competition as a channel through which electoral systems affect corruption. Our result conflicts with that found by empirical literature on that topic that makes plurality rules the most virtuous in terms of corruption. Political scientists must be cautious in designing the degree of proportionality of electoral rules without take into account the variation in political competition that follows

Network Externalities and Critical Mass in the Mobile Telephone Network: a Panel Data Estimation

This paper develops a simple demand model with network externalities which allow us to identify the shape of the network externalities function in the mobile telephone market and to estimate the critical mass. If the mobile telephone network exhibits positive network externalities, we expect that the demand curve is not downward sloping everywhere but it has an increasing part, the critical mass of the installed base of subscribers. Once the critical mass is reached, the growth of the network is self-sustaining. We use a panel data of the 30 OEDC Countries from 1989 to 2006 for estimating the relationship between price of 3-minute cellular call and the installed base of subscribers; we find strong network externalities effects in mobile telephone market which drive the demand curve for this network good to be an inverted U function. Moreover, given that the concavity of the demand curve depends on the extent of network externalities, the idea is to identify some variables which could affect the intensity of network effects in the mobile telephone market, because the more concave the demand curve is, sooner the critical mass is reached for any price. This may have important implications for producers in terms of initial investment and marketing strategies which they have to do to attain the critical mass

ESTERNALITA' DI RETE: UNA RASSEGNA

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