DEMOCRACY, INSTITUTIONS AND GROWTH: EXPLORING THE BLACK BOX

La letteratura economica e politologica evidenzia un ampio consenso sull’esistenza di un effetto positivo sulla crescita di lungo periodo da parte di diritti di proprietà, stato di diritto e, in generale, istituzioni economiche. Contestualmente, il rapporto tra democrazia e crescita rimane teoricamente poco chiaro mentre l'evidenza empirica è in gran parte inconcludente. Questo studio cerca di riconciliare i fatti stilizzati su crescita e democrazia qui evidenziati, che dimostrano l'esistenza di un "successo sinergico" negli ultimi trent'anni, con la teoria esistente e l’evidenza empirica. Dopo aver dettagliatamente scandagliato la letteratura esistente, questo studio suggerisce che l’effetto della democrazia sulla crescita di lungo periodo sia indiretto, mediato dalle istituzioni. Per testare questa ipotesi si propone un modello di analisi originale, applicato ad un panel di 194 paesi osservati nel periodo 1961-2010, utilizzando lo stimatore System-GMM e una vasta gamma di controlli. I risultati dell’analisi suggeriscono che la democrazia è positivamente correlata a istituzioni “più favorevoli” alla crescita economica, in particolare diritti di proprietà e stato di diritto. Inoltre, l’evidenza empirica supporta la tesi di un effetto indiretto complessivamente positivo della democrazia sulla crescita. Infine, si propone uno sviluppo ulteriore dell’analisi, concentrato sulle determinanti della democrazia, ricercando possibili concause nell’interazione con i processi economici.Economic and political science literature show a wide consensus about the positive effect of property rights, contract enforcing arrangements and, more generally, economic institutions to long-run growth. Conversely, the linkage between democracy and growth remains unclear and not conclusively supported by empirical research. This work is an attempt to reconcile the stylized facts about democracy and growth –evidencing a long-run “synergic success” between the two terms – with theoretical and empirical literature. After thoroughly surveying the relevant literature on the topic, this study claims that the effect of democracy on long-run growth is indirect, channeled by the means of institutions. To test this hypothesis, the thesis provides an original analytical framework which is applied to a panel of 194 countries over the period 1961-2010, adopting a System-GMM estimation technique and a wide range of robustness controls. The results suggest that democracy is positively related to “better” (namely more growth-enhancing) institutions, especially with respect to economic institutions and rule of law. Hence, the findings suggest that the overall effect on growth is positive, indirect and channeled by institutions. However, since the results are not completely conclusive, a further investigation is suggested, on further determinants of democracy, potentially affecting its pro-growth effect

Trust behind bars: Measuring change in inmates' prosocial preferences

The paper presents the results of a Longitudinal Lab-in-the-Field Experiment implemented between September 2015 and July 2016 performed in two State Prisons in California (USA) to measure change in prosocial preferences. A subset of eligible inmates willing to undertake GRIP (Guiding Rage Into Power) program, were randomly assigned to it. The paper tests whether the participation to this program (used as a treatment in the experiments) affects prosocial preferences of participants, with specific reference to trust. The results of a Difference-in-Differences (DID) estimation procedure show that trust significantly increased in GRIP participants compared to the control group. This result is robust to alternative estimation techniques and to the inclusion of an endogenous behavioral measure of altruism

The Price of Silence: Media Competition, Capture, and Electoral Accountability

Is competition in the mass media market an effective deterrent against media capture? Does it prevent political groups from influencing reporting? This paper shows that in some cases it does not. Building on the literature on media capture, the model highlights that, under fairly generic assumptions, high competition in the media market can drive the cost of media capture to zero, making capture easier. Moreover, it highlights conditions on the parameters where the effect of competition on capture is non-monotonic, i.e. capture may occur for levels of competition lower, but also higher, than those leading to media freedom

Does democracy cause growth? A meta-analysis perspective

The relationship between democracy and economic growth has long been investigated both in the political science and in the economic literature with inconclusive outcomes. By adopting a multi-level meta-analysis framework, we tried to shed lights on this conundrum. Our hierarchical sample includes 103 studies containing 942 point-estimates. Our random effects model suggests that the sign of this relationship, albeit positive, is statistically weak. We then address the high between-studies heterogeneity by adopting meta-regression analysis models. Results are striking: the effect sizes\u2019 variance is largely driven by spatial and temporal differences in the samples, indicating that the democracy and growth nexus is not homogeneous across world regions and time periods. Conversely, the large number of control variables included in the papers, do not impact the reported results. At the same time, models estimated by means of the within estimator have a significant, albeit negative, impact on economic growth. This seems to suggest that scholars have not yet found the appropriate control variables - or their suitable proxies - to explain such widely debated relationship

Does democracy cause growth? A meta-analysis (of 2000 regressions)

The relationship between democracy and economic growth has been widely debated in the social sciences with contrasting results. We apply a meta-analytical framework surveying 188 studies (2047 models) covering 36 years of research in the field. We also compare the effect of democracy on growth with the effect of human capital on growth in a sub-sample of 111 studies (875 models). Our findings suggest that democracy has a positive and direct effect on economic growth beyond the reach of publication bias, albeit weaker (about one third) of that of human capital. Further, the growth effect of democracy appears to be stronger in more recent papers not surveyed in Doucouliagos and Uluba\u15fo\u11flu (2008). Finally, we show that the heterogeneity in the reported results is mainly driven by spatial and temporal differences in the samples, indicating that the democracy and growth nexus is not homogeneous across world regions and decades

Service learning, well-being and school performance : causal evidence from Italian High school students

Service learning (SL) is a relatively common pedagogical method in the US, where it has been widely adopted in schools, colleges, and universities. The method requires students to take part in the activities of organizations that serve community needs. While the literature argues that SL activities could generate beneficial effects for students' cognitive abilities, self-esteem and motivation, satisfaction with schools, attitudes towards institutions, and civic engagement, empirical evaluation of these effects is scarce and frequently far from rigorous. This paper investigates the effects of being engaged in “SL-like” activities on the school performance of 9th and 10th grade students at high risk of school failure and drop-out in Italy. We contribute to the empirical literature on SL in three ways. First, we run the first pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) to simultaneously evaluate the effect of a SL program on both cognitive and non-cognitive skills, with the latter measured through questionnaires and incentivized tasks. Second, this is the first attempt to evaluate the impact of SL as a remedial intervention on the specific target of low-achieving students at risk of dropping out from school. Finally, this is the first attempt to rigorously investigate SL activities in Italy, and one of the first in Europe, as most RCTs involving SL have focused on the US. Our experimental results show that—consistently with the literature developed in the US—participation in “SL-like” activities leads to a general improvement in non-cognitive skills of students at risk of dropping out. On the other hand, contrary to what the literature argues, the intervention does not improve cognitive skills, since participation in the program even increases the risk of school failure. These results suggest designing and implementing SL interventions in schools with great care to avoid unintended negative consequences

Can You Activate Me? From Robots to Human Brain

L'efficacia dei robot sociali \ue8 stata ampiamente riconosciuta in diversi contesti della vita quotidiana degli umani, ma ancora poco si sa sulle aree cerebrali attivate osservando o interagendo con un robot. La ricerca che combina neuroscienze, scienze cognitive e robotica pu\uf2 fornire nuove intuizioni sia sul funzionamento del nostro cervello che sull'implementazione dei robot. Studi comportamentali sui robot sociali hanno dimostrato che la percezione sociale dei robot \ue8 influenzata da almeno due fattori: aspetto fisico e comportamento (Marchetti et al., 2018). Come possono le neuroscienze spiegare tali risultati? Ad oggi sono stati condotti studi attraverso l'utilizzo di tecniche sia EEG che fMRI per indagare le aree cerebrali coinvolte nell'interazione uomo-robot. Questi studi hanno affrontato principalmente le attivazioni cerebrali in risposta a paradigmi che coinvolgono o la performance di un'azione o la carica di una componente emotiva.The effectiveness of social robots has been widely recognized in different contexts of humans\u2019 daily life, but still little is known about the brain areas activated by observing or interacting with a robot. Research combining neuroscience, cognitive science and robotics can provide new insights into both the functioning of our brain and the implementation of robots. Behavioural studies on social robots have shown that the social perception of robots is influenced by at least two factors: physical appearance and behavior (Marchetti et al., 2018). How can neuroscience explain such findings? To date, studies have been conducted through the use of both EEG and fMRI techniques to investigate the brain areas involved in human-robot interaction. These studies have mainly addressed brain activations in response to paradigms involving either action performance or charged of an emotional component

Richard Stone's Contributions to Input-Output Analysis

This paper aims to highlight Richard Stone\u2019s contribution to input-output analysis. The relevance, originality and effectiveness of Richard Stone's contribution to the development of input-output analysis is closely tied to the international and national positions he held during his fruitful professional life: internationally, by contributing to the United Nations programme for developing a standard system of national accounts; and nationally, through being Director of the Department of Applied Economics and of the Programme for Growth at the University of Cambridge. Richard Stone's contributions to input-output analysis - as well as to economics in general - originate from his profound belief that economic analysis needs to be firmly based on quantitative foundations in order to make theory relate effectively to empirical data. \u2018My interest in economics\u2019 says Stone \u2018was from the beginning in its applications. I thought that the economics I was taught was insufficiently quantitative and that theory and facts were too widely separated. \u2026 The real difficulty is to combine the two so that theory can be used to interpret facts and facts can show what has to be interpreted.\u2019 [R. Stone and M. Hashem Pesaran, The ET interview: Professor Sir Richard Stone, Econometric Theory, Vol. 7, No. 1, 1991, pp. 89]. This methodological approach characterized all Stone\u2019s academic research and professional career. The paper provides an overview of both the major theoretical and empirical contributions of Richard Stone to input-output analysis, as well as of less known essays. Among the former we may mention Stone's studies on the integration of input-output tables within the Social National Accounts (SNA), his researches on the Social Accounting Matrices (SAM), the adjustment and updating of the technical coefficients (RAS method). Among the latter may be mentioned the attempt to apply the methods of input-output at the micro level. In his later years Richard Stone became more interested in topics related to the social aspects of economic life, such as demography, health, education, and environment. In these fields also, his favourite approach was the application of input-output analysis. For the convenience of researchers, a complete list of Richard Stone's works pertaining to input-output analysis is attached to the present paper

Richard Stone's Contribution to Input-Output Analysis

This paper highlights Richard Stone’s contribution to input-output analysis, the relevance, originality and effectiveness of which are closely tied to the international and national positions he held during his professional life, especially in relation to the development of an international standard system of national accounts and the development of a comprehensive and realistic econometric model of growth. This paper provides an overview of the major theoretical and empirical contributions of Stone to input-output analysis, as well as some less well-known papers. Among the former, we may mention Stone’s studies on the integration of input-output tables into the Social National Accounts (SNA), his research on the Social Accounting Matrices (SAM), the adjustment and updating of the technical coefficients (RAS method). Among the latter may be mentioned the attempt to apply the methods of input-output at the micro level. Finally, the paper shows Stone’s interest, in his later years, in the application of input-output analysis to demography, health, education, and environment