The Direct Economic Effects of Stricter Standards Towards the Protection of Human and Animal Health in Swine Sector

The objective of this study is to present the results of a research carried out on a group of farms involved in pig fattening (48 farms) to evaluate the economic impact of implementing human and animal health regulation. The five types considered in any case represent 90-95% of the total health costs, there are therefore economies of scale and considering the types of expenditure, veterinary medicines have a strong incidence on fattening farms, together with medicated feed for consumption on the farm and the control of Aujeszky's disease. The overall health costs have on average reached the 2% of total costs and the same value of the net income.Human health, Animal health, Standards, Economic impact, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Exploring the Potential Competition in the Salmon Industry: a Scenario Analysis of Genetically Modified Fish Marketing

Marketing, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Board Composition, Political Connections and Performance in State-Owned Enterprises

This paper analyses the effects of board composition on the behaviour and performance of a sample of 114 Italian local public utilities, for which information about 1630 directors during 1994-2004 has been collected. This period is particularly interesting because of the legal changes that forced many firms to alter their juridical form and allowed the entrance of private investors. We investigate whether board size and/or board composition do affect decisions about employment and how they ultimately impact on performance. Our main findings indicate that politically connected directors, representing the state or the local municipality, dominate boards of directors in the Italian public utilities in the period under investigation. Politically connected directors exert a positive and significant effect on employment, while they impact negatively on performance.board size; board composition; politicians; local public utilities

Consumer preferences for country-of-origin and health claim labelling of extra-virgin olive-oil

Although several studies have investigated consumer preferences for olive oil country-of-origin labelling (COOL), very little is known on consumers’ preferences for new health claims (EC Reg. n. 1924/2006). This paper aims to analyse the introduction of these attributes, providing more insights into Italian consumer perception and preferences for different extra-virgin olive oil labelling schemes. After preliminary focus group and in-depth personal interviews with representatives of retailers and producers’ organizations, a choice experiment (CE) was employed on a sample of Italian consumers to analyse preferences for different extra-virgin olive oils. CE methodology allows to weight the relative importance of any given attribute for consumers, measuring the effects of interaction between different attributes. It can also provide an estimation of the marginal willingness to pay (WTP), or part-worth, of an attribute, such as health claim or indication of origin. The results provide supply chain actors with valuable information to develop marketing strategies, as well as concrete evidence for policy makers of consumers understanding of health claims and COOL labelling.choice experiment (CE), extra-virgin olive oil, health claims, country-of-origin labelling (COOL)., Marketing,

The determinants of board compensation in SOEs. An application to Italian local public utilities

This paper investigates the determinants of board compensation for a sample of Italian State Owned Enterprises (SOEs). To that purpose, we use a newly collected panel data of 106 local public utilities observed form 1994 through 2004, which includes detailed information on the boards of directors. During this period, the deregulation process inspired institutional interventions that forced utilities, traditionally owned by local municipalities, to change their juridical form and ownership structure, thereby facilitating the entrance of private investors. The corporate governance literature shows that such changes may exacerbate the agency conflicts between shareholders, top executives and the board. However, board compensation could reduce the agency costs by aligning the incentives of managers with the interests of shareholders. This paper addresses this issue by investigating the impact that board composition, firm characteristics and performance have on board compensation. We find that the average board pay is negatively related to board size and positively related to firm dimension. The public or private nature of the major shareholder does not influence board compensation but the juridical form does. Finally, while the proportion of politically connected directors is found to negatively influence the level of per capita compensation, the impact of firm performance is uncertain.board compensation, board composition, politicians, local public utilities

The determinants of board compensation in SOEs: An application to Italian public utilities

This paper investigates the determinants of board compensation for a sample of Italian State Owned Enterprises (SOEs). To that purpose, we use a newly collected panel data of 106 local public utilities observed for the years 1994-2004, which includes detailed information on the boards of directors. During this period, the deregulation process inspired institutional interventions that forced utilities, traditionally owned by local municipalities, to change their juridical form and ownership structure, thereby facilitating the entrance of private investors. The corporate governance literature shows that such changes may exacerbate the agency conflicts between shareholders, top executives and the board. However, board compensation could reduce the agency costs by aligning the incentives of managers with the interests of shareholders. This paper addresses this issue by investigating the impact that board composition, firm characteristics and performance have on board compensation. We find that the average board pay is negatively related to board size and positively related to firm dimension. The public or private nature of the major shareholder does not influence board compensation but the juridical form does. Finally, while the proportion of politically connected directors is found to negatively influence the level of per capita compensation, the impact of firm performance is uncertain.board compensation, board composition, politicians, local public utilities

Exploring young foodies׳ knowledge and attitude regarding entomophagy: A qualitative study in Italy

Abstract Edible insects as a food source might help feeding poor developing countries and at the same time be a complementary food/ingredient for developed countries. However, in the Western countries the majority of people refuse the idea of eating insects, for mainly cultural reasons. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the expectations about entomophagy from a specific target group (foodies) composed by people studying Gastronomy and Food Science. The study was held at the University of Parma (Italy) in April 2015 and consisted in a student engagement with a so-called "bug banquet" with a cookie made with "insect flour". Results show that almost all the sample tasted the product and is willing to try other edible insects in the future. Curiosity is the most important reason to choose to try the cookie made with cricket flour; whereas negative opinions of family members and friends and the disgust factor may prevent Western consumers from eating insects in the future. However, whether edible insects will increase their acceptability will also depend heavily on market availability (regulatory framework), food category (e.g., bakery product with insect flour) marketing strategies, gastronomy (preparation), culinary trends and education

Sustainable Wine Labeling: A Framework for Definition and Consumers' Perception

AbstractIn the last twenty years there has been a large interest in sustainable winegrowing initiatives worldwide. As a consequence, the wine sector has seen the growth of "environmentally-friendly" and ethical claims according to specific eco-certification schemes and labelling programs. Thus, sustainable claims are becoming credence attributes that compete with other quality indications on a wine label and might influence the choice, the quality perception and willingness to pay (WTP). The objective of this study is twofold: first, to explore the concept of consumers' perception of sustainable wine and second, to investigate different cluster groups based on three factors identified (belief about environmental protection, beliefs about sustainable wine certification and attitude towards sustainable labelled wine) and WTP

Sensory‐liking Expectations and Perceptions of Processed and Unprocessed Insect Products

The aim of this study was to investigate how sensory‐liking attribute perceptions (appearance, taste and organoleptic characteristics) can change between a readily visible vs a processed insect product before and after tasting. Results indicate that texture and appearance of the insect are perceived as stronger barriers than the taste attribute. Moreover, both unprocessed and processed insect‐based products generate more positive perceptions after tasting compared to expectations. The positive experience of tasting products with both visible and processed insect may lead consumers to reconsider their initial negative expectations and attitude towards entomophagy

The determinants of board compensation in SOEs: an application to Italian local public utilities

This article investigates the determinants of board compensation for a sample of Italian state owned enterprises (SOEs). To that purpose, we use newly collected panel data of 106 local public utilities observed from 1994 through 2004, which includes detailed information on the boards of directors. During this period, the deregulation process inspired institutional interventions that forced utilities, traditionally owned by local municipalities, to change their juridical form and ownership structure, thereby facilitating the entrance of private investors. The corporate governance literature shows that such changes may exacerbate the agency conflicts between shareholders, top executives and the board. However, board compensation could reduce the agency costs by aligning the incentives of managers with the interests of shareholders. This article addresses this issue by investigating the impact that board composition,firm characteristics and performance have on board compensation. Wefind that the average board pay is positively related to firm dimension and negatively related to board size. The public or private nature of the major shareholder does not influence board compensation but the juridical form does. Finally, while the proportion of politically connected directors is found to negatively influence the level of per capita compensation, the impact offirm performance is uncertain.Publicad