Gambling as a Restraint to the Italian Economy

The Italian economy is undergoing a period of economic recession, which is expressed in a contraction in domestic demand and a reduction in investment. Notwithstanding a decrease in the per-capita spending on durable and non-durable goods, for some years, there has been an increase in spending on gambling. The market for legal gambling is a large, broad market, strongly influenced by changes in consumer preferences and by technological innovation. This market, in continuous evolution, does not seem to be affected by the crisis, because the possibility of an easy income exerts a significant attraction. The aim of this work is to demonstrate that gambling does not contribute to economic growth in spite of the increase of the gambling spendin

Decomposition of Poverty Change: A Case Study

This paper investigates the impact of change in total population in decomposition of poverty change in Albania providing empirical illustrations with data from a country still in economic and social transition, even if in recent years has registered a high growth of GDP rate. To quantify the impact of change in total population, we use the methodology developed by Mishra (2015). In previous literature decomposing poverty change into growth and inequality effects, the impact of change in total population concealed by the hypothesis that the growth effect can be quantified by observing at the growth rate of mean income. The Mishra’s method considers the population growth as an independent within-group effect that results different respect to the inequality and growth effect respectively. Furthermore, this method integrates that to Son (2003) so that variation in population shares across groups represents the between-group effect. Thus, we will have three effects: growth on account of total income, inequality, and change in total population. These effects can be calculated in multiple possibilities depending on the sequence that each is computed and the base year

The Network Building Capacity of Tourist Districts: An Application to the Apulian Case

The research reported in this study sought to determine whether successful tourist destinations can build a «network» on the basis of their attractiveness. To this end, we conducted a social network analysis with municipalities as network nodes and edges representing the natural, economic, social, and public institutional dimensions, reduced to a composite attractiveness indicator (CAI). Although easily replicable in other contexts, our methodology was tested on two Apulian areas in Southern Italy, Gargano and Salento, which are legally designated as tourist districts. The analysis emphasizes that these districts are still unable to construct a system despite strong potential in terms of attractiveness

Knowledge and Social Capabilities in the Garment Sector: A case Study

This work evaluates how the innovation induces changes in the competitive dynamics of the garment sector and how social capabilities and knowledge, considered residual variables in the cognitive approach, combine to bring about the structural changes of an industrial cluster. The relationship between knowledge and innovation is discussed in the theoretical part of the paper, as well as the social capabilities definition and characteristics. In the empirical part, we measure social capabilities, we describe their diffusion in a baby clothing cluster and we estime an innovation equation. Key words: Knowledge; Social capabilities; Innovation; Baby clothing cluste