On-the-job search in Italian labour markets: an empirical analysis

This paper analyses the determinants of on-the-job search activities of Italian workers. Using several waves of the Bank of Italy Survey on Household Income and Wealth (SHIW) we estimate with a Probit model how individual socio demographic characteristics and economic variables affect the probability of on-the-job search. We find that the probability of being engaged in job-search activities is higher for low-wage earners, for workers with low tenure and higher levels of education, for males and for residents in large cities. Moreover, we find significant differences in the determinants of on-the-job search activities across sectors. Public sector employees show a considerable lower probability of on-thejob search compared to private sector workers; White-collars and teachers search much less than blue-collars (both in private and public sectors). Results suggest that the attractiveness of jobs varies considerably, even controlling for wage levels and that notwithstanding the high degree of centralization Italian markets are reactive to job-search determinants.Job search, labour mobility, Public sector

On-the-job Search in Italian Labour Markets: An Empirical Analysis

This paper analyses the determinants of on-the-job search activities of Italian workers. On-the-job search is a good indicator of labour turnover, overcoming the limitations due to a lack of adequate data about labour turnover. Using several waves of the Bank of Italy Survey on Household Income and Wealth (SHIW) we estimate with a Probit model how individual socio-demographic characteristics and economic variables affect the probability of on-the-job search. We find that the probability of being engaged in job-search activities is higher for males, when wage is lower, for workers with low tenure and higher levels of education and for residents in large cities. Public sector workers show a considerable lower probability of on-the-job search, suggesting higher satisfaction on the job. White-Collars and Teachers search much less than Blue-Collars. The number of job held and the average number of hours worked per week are important factors that increase the probability of on-the-job search. Married women and women with children are less likely to be looking for an alternative employment.Keywords: Job search; labor mobility. JEL classifications: J28, J62, M51.

THE EFFECTS OF SCHOOL COMPETITION ON THE ACHIEVEMENT OF ITALIAN STUDENTS

In this paper we study the impact of the degree of school competition on achievement of Italian students. Specifically, competition is measured as the number of schools available to students in a given area. The aim is to evaluate whether an increase in school choice improves the quality of education. Using the third cycle of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA 2006) we investigate with simple Least Squares regression models, controlling for a range of individual and schools characteristics, if secondary school students with a wider range of schools choices perform better than those students whose choice is more limited. We find a significant positive correlation between students’ academic performance and the degree of local schools competition. Moreover, we show that students achieve much better outcomes if schools operating in more competitive environments also experience a higher pressure on academic standards coming from parents.Educational Production Function, School Competition, Students Achievement, PISA

Does bullying reduce educational achievement? An evaluation using matching estimators

Using data from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (2006-PIRLS) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (2007-TIMSS), we investigate the impact of being a victim of school bullying on educational achievement for Italian students enrolled at the fourth and eighth grade levels. Firstly, we apply an OLS estimator controlling for a number of individual characteristics and school fixed effects. Secondly, in order to attenuate the impact of confounding factors, we use propensity score matching techniques. Our empirical findings based on average treatment effects suggest that being a victim of school bullying has a considerable negative effect on student performance at both the fourth and the eighth grade level. Importantly, the adverse effect of bullying on educational achievement is larger at age 13 than at age 9. Hence, school violence seems to constitute a relevant factor in explaining student performance.Bullying; Educational Achievement; School; TIMSS; PIRLS

The Use of Informal Networks in Italian Labor Markets: Efficiency or Favoritisms?

A number of papers considers the use of informal networks (the help of relatives, friends and acquaintances) to find an employment as an efficient mechanism to match workers to jobs. However, evidence in Italy shows that informal networks tend to be used more in less productive jobs and less developed regions. We aim to show that informal networks – rather than being an efficient channel of information transmission – may interfere with a genuine process of selection of workers, favoring socially connected people in place of more talented workers. Using the Bank of Italy Survey on Household Income and Wealth (SHIW) we estimate with a Probit model the determinants of the probability of using informal networks. We find that informal networks tend to be used by low educated individuals, in low productivity jobs, in high unemployment areas, where opportunistic behavior are widespread and in jobs paying a wage rent. We offer a stripped-down model of nepotism to explain theoretically these findings.Keywords: Informal Networks, Favoritism; Nepotism; Italian Labour Markets

Primary care utilisation and workers’ opportunity costs. Evidence from Italy

This paper analyses the effects of employment condition and work hours on the utilisation of primary care services in Italy. Although the Italian NHS provides free and equitable access to primary care, type of occupation and labour contracts may still deter workers to attend medical appointments. The hypothesis is that the higher the workers’ opportunity cost in terms of earning forgone, the less the demand for General Practitioner (GP) visits. Using survey data provided by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), we estimate a negative binomial model of GP visits as a function of employment related variables, individual characteristics, supply factors and geographical effects. We find that selfemployed workers, managers and cadres have relatively low demand compared to white and blue collars. We conclude that the former, bearing higher opportunity costs, suffer more from the loss of earnings related to the absence from work than the latter.Opportunity cost, hours of work, utilisation of GP, employment status.

Does the Home Advantage Depend on Crowd Support? Evidence from Same-Stadium Derbies

We investigate to what extent crowd support contributes to the home advantage in soccer, disentangling this effect from other mechanisms such as players' familiarity with the stadium and travel fatigue. To evaluate the relevance of crowd support in determining home advantage we analyze same-stadium derbies (matches among teams that share the same stadium) in which teams enjoy different levels of support from the crowd – the home team has many more supporters, mainly because of season ticket holders – while teams do not differ in terms of travel fatigue or familiarity with the stadium. Our estimation results suggest the existence of a sizable crowd support's effect on the home advantage generated both through the influence on referee's decisions and through the encouragement of players' performance

CLASS SIZE EFFECTS ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT: HETEROGENEITY ACROSS ABILITIES AND FIELDS

In this paper we analyze class size effects on college students exploiting data from a project offering special remedial courses in Mathematics and Language skills to freshmen enrolled at an Italian medium sized public University. To estimate the effects of class size we take advantage of the fact that students and teacher where virtually randomly assigned to teaching classes of different sizes. From our analysis it emerges that, controlling for a number of individual characteristics, larger classes determine a significant and sizeable negative effect on student performance in Mathematics. Importantly, this negative effect is significantly larger for low ability students and negligible for high ability students. On the other hand, class size effects do not appear to be relevant for student achievement in Language Skills.Class size, student achievement, educational production function

Cost-Sharing and Use of Health Services in Italy: Evidence from a Fuzzy Regression Discontinuity Design

We use a Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD) to evaluate the impact of cost-sharing on the use of health services. In the Italian health system, individuals reaching age 65 and earning low incomes are given total exemption from cost-sharing for health services consumption. Since the probability of exemption changes discontinuously at age 65, we use a Fuzzy RDD in which the age threshold is used as an instrument for exemption. We find that prescription drug consumption, specialist visits and diagnostic checks remarkably increase with exemption. However, using several measures of health outcomes we do not find any change in individual health

Does the Way in which Students Use Computers Matter for their Performance?

In this paper we investigate possible differences in student performance depending on the frequency and the type of computer usage both at home and at school of 15-years-old Italian students. Using the PISA 2006 dataset and controlling for a wide range of individual and school characteristics, our results suggest that students using the computer at home very often obtain higher test scores than those who never use it. More importantly, we find a significant positive correlation between student achievement and the use of computer at home as educational/learning device. Focusing on the frequency of computer usage at school, it emerges that student achievement increases with the intensity of computer use but the effect becomes smaller the more often they use the computer and even negative when students use the computer at school almost every da