A relative measure of urban sprawl for Italian municipalities using satellite Light Images

At the local level, the lower the urban density, the higher the per-capita length of collector roads and the area covered by buildings and infrastructures. It follows that the lower the urban density, the higher the municipal luminosity. For this reason, night-time light is often used in order to evaluate the degree of urbanization and urban sprawl in a specific territory by means of specific indicators. However, to the best of our knowledge, these indicators are based on an absolute evaluation of the urban sprawl, without taking into account the peculiar economic and demographic characteristics of the urban centres. In this paper we propose a regression-based measure of urban sprawl “relative” to the economic activity and to other socio-demographic characteristics of municipalities. We apply this methodology to the Italian context, considering all Italian municipalities inside the 15 ordinary regions over the period 2004- 2012. The measure we propose, thus, takes into account also a time element

Yardstick competition and fiscal disparities: an experimental study

Recent theoretical research suggest that yardstick competition may be biased by the presence of fiscal disparities between local governments and that fiscal equalization may help in correcting this bias. This paper provides an empirical test of these theoretical predictions by means of a laboratory experiment

Yardstick competition and fiscal disparities: an experimental study

Recent theoretical research suggest that yardstick competition may be biased by the presence of fiscal disparities between local governments and that fiscal equalization may help in correcting this bias. This paper provides an empirical test of these theoretical predictions by means of a laboratory experiment

Preoperative and postoperative risk factors for periprosthetic joint infection in primary total hip arthroplasty: A 1-year experience

BACKGROUND Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) in primary total hip replacement (THR) is one of the most important threats in orthopedic surgery, so one important surgeon's target is to avoid or early diagnose a PJI. Although the incidence of PJI is very low (0.69%) in our department, with an average follow-up of 595 d, this infection poses a serious threat due to the difficulties of treatment and the lower functional outcomes after healing. AIM To study the incidence of PJI in all operations occurring in the year 2016 in our department to look for predictive signs of potential infection. METHODS We counted 583 THR for 578 patients and observed only 4 cases of infection (0.69%) with a mean follow-up of 596 d (min 30, max 1451). We reviewed all medical records to collect the data: duration and time of the surgery, presence, type and duration of the antibiotic therapy, preoperative diagnosis, blood values before and after surgery, transfusions, presence of preoperative drugs (in particularly anticoagulants and antiaggregant, corticosteroids and immunosuppressants), presence of some comorbidities (high body mass index, blood hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cardiac ischemia, diabetes, rheumatological conditions, previous local infections). RESULTS No preoperative, intraoperative, or postoperative analysis showed a higher incidence of PJI. We did not find any class with evident major odds of PJI. In our study, we did not find any border value to predict PJI and all patients had similar values in both groups (non-PJI and PJI). Only some categories, such as female patients, showed more frequency of PJI, but this difference related to sex was not statistically significant. CONCLUSION We did not find any category with a higher risk of PJI in THR, probably due to the lack of few cases of infection

Immigration and PAYGO pension systems in the presence of increasing life expectancy

Through an Overlapping Generations Model, this paper studies the e ects of migratory ows on a pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) pension system in the presence of linear increase in life expectancy over time. As a result, we obtain that immigration is likely to induce distributional con- ict between di erent groups in society. The increasing number of contributors due to immigration will result in higher pension bene ts for both retirees and older workers. Future immigrant's pension claims imply that younger workers will either gain or lose from immigration depending on the immigrants' labour productivity. In case of small increase in life expectancy immigration increases the welfare of the majority of population, given by retirees and older workers. On the other hand, in the presence of high increase in life expectancy immigration may a ect negatively the welfare of the majority of population in the absence of further parametric reforms of the pension system

Urban sprawl and regional growth: empirical evidence from Italian Regions

Urban sprawl may affect economic growth through its negative effects on a number of relevant aspects of the economic activity. We test the negative impact of urban sprawl on regional economic growth using Italian data. Our results confirm such negative impact and suggest policies aimed to incentivate urban development in the main cities instead of the provincial territory

Are local agreements on equalization grants possible? A bargaining model with quasi-linear local preferences on local public goods

The art. 13 of the Italian law n. 42/2009 theoretically allows for local negotiations between municipalities on the allocation of equalization funds. However, in the subsequent practice and legislation, such form of local negotiation has never been adopted. A question arises from the Italian experience: in the presence of a predetermined equalization scheme decided by the central government, are local agreements on equalization transfers possible? In this paper we show that, in the presence of quasi-linear local preferences on public goods, there is no space for alternative local agreements on the allocation of equalizing transfers in the presence of predetermined schemes decided by the central government. Our results suggest that similar practices, when allowed, are destined to have scarce success. We also show that, if the central government does not provide a predetermined scheme, local agreement on equalization funds are viable

Immigration and PAYG pension systems in the presence of increasing life expectancy

According to Lacomba and Lagos (2010), considering the effect of immigration on pension benefits of native individuals, despite immigrants having low average productivity, an open borders policy would be always implemented since most of current domestic cohorts gain from immigration. In this paper we change the demographic assumptions at the bases of the model of Lacomba and Lagos (2010), assuming increasing life expectancy over time. As a consequence, we find that, in the presence of pay-as-you-go pension systems, there are cases in which an open borders policy would not be implemented and that retirement age and immigrants’ skill play an important role in determining the effect of immigration on the welfare of native population

Strategic delegation under the subsidiarity Principle

this paper presents a model of centralisation, where the decision to centralise policy is based on the subsidiarity principle. it shows how and when strategic delegation incentives facilitate the misallocation of public goods. We argue that less subsidiarity is desirable when decentralised governments use the subsidiarity principle to force distorted policies