The Complex Relationship Between Education and Happiness: The Case of Highly Educated Individuals in Italy

The present work aims to explore whether there exists a systematic frustration in terms of income expectations among those who have obtained high level of education in Italy, and if this mismatch between expected and effective incomes negatively affects their perception of happiness. We adopt a reference-dependent preferences model combined with the concept of “illusory superiority bias” to analyse data on “happiness” in Italy, provided by the biennial survey conducted by the Bank of Italy on the Italian households’ incomes and wealth between 2004 and 2014. Our results show a positive effect produced by education on incomes. High educated workers have on average higher income than other people, and this difference is statistically significant controlling for working experience and other possible confounding factors. However, the disutility resulting from the frustration of expectations produces negative effects on perceived happiness. Even though highly educated people are actually able to find better job matching in comparison to less educated workers, they are also more likely to seeing their income expectations frustrated

The Social Capital of Cohousing Communities

This article aims to discuss the possibility that cohousing communities might combine both civil engagement and governance systems in order to simultaneously generate three forms of social capital: bonding, bridging, and linking social capitals. Cohousing communities intend to create a ‘self-sufficient micro-cosmos’, but struggle against the relationships of ‘anonymous’ neighbourhood. Cohousers build their bonding social capital through the creation of a supportive (formal and informal) network within the community; while at the same time they develop bridging social capital when they try to integrate with the wider context, by organizing activities and making available spaces towards the outside. Finally, when cohousers try to collaborate with external partners (e.g. non-profit organizations and public institutions) they build linking social capital in relation to the ideas, information and advantages obtained through the collaboration with these institutions

‘Offline’ vs ‘online’ media: Claim-makers, content, and audiences of climate change information

This paper aims to explore both similarities and differences between offline and online climate change communication in terms of claim-makers, content, and audiences. It is based on academic peer reviewed papers directly relevant to the communication of climate change by the media, published in English language between 2010 and 2016. Interdependences between offline and online media are often cited, especially in terms of web searches of information already reported by traditional media (both print and television). In some other cases, the study of the intermedia agenda shows that the debate originated on online blogs triggers and conditions the attention of print media. This interdependence is also showed by a polarisation between ‘activists’ and ‘contrarians’ in both online and offline arenas. However, while the web offers greater space for interaction and a variety of sources, the dominance of the ‘old media’ point of view seems to undermine these attempts

Violation of lockdown norms and peaks in daily number of positive cases to COVID-19 in Italy

Italy has been the first Western Country to suffer a massive outbreak of COVID-19. Starting from the 11st of March 2020, the Italian Government approved a series of emergency restrictive measures to limit people’s movement and social contacts. The aim of this short paper is to test if the number of norm-violations (related to people’s movement) might contribute to the peaks of new COVID-19 positives after few days. We show that peaks in the violations of the lockdown norms correspond to peaks in new positive cases about 6 days later

Tax Morale, Slippery-Slope Framework and Tax Compliance: A Cross-section Analysis

Following two important strands of tax compliance literature, this empirical paper develops a cross-section analysis in order to test both the role of tax morale on tax compliance decisions and the main predictions of the slippery slope framework. Using data from the World Value Surveys (WWS), we find empirical support for the slippery slope framework, since trust in and power of tax authorities are negatively and significantly related to a proxy for tax non-compliance behavior given by the size of the hidden economy. In particular, trust in tax authorities exerts a larger effect on shadow economy than the power of tax authorities. Instead, the relation between tax morale and our proxy for tax evasion is not statistically significant.

Culturally-based beliefs and labour market institutions

This paper has two main goals. The first is to provide empirical evidence that differences in labour market institutions across countries and, specifically, in how they provide protection to workers, can be attributed to underlying differences in culturally-based prior beliefs: in particular, people’s fatalism and trust in others. The second goal is to single out the socio-economic factors associated with these beliefs and the role of education in this regard.Culture, Fatalism, Trust in Others, Labour Market Institutions, Employment Protection Legislation

La cultura della sicurezza a tutela del diritto al lavoro e alla salute

Riassunto analitico: La Cultura della salute a tutela del diritto al lavoro e alla salute La presente tesi cerca di offrire una visione del tema della Salute e sicurezza sui luoghi di lavoro. Il Lavoro è un diritto riconosciuto dalla Costituzione (art. 4) ed è sempre stato considerato un valore, crea coesione sociale e sviluppa le identità personali; ma spesso capita che le persone perdano la vita durante l’espletamento di questo diritto venendo meno a un altro diritto tutelato dallo stato che è la salute (art. 32). In Italia nel 2008 è stato emanato il decreto n. 81, che racchiudeva tutte le leggi emanate in passato sul tema. Una delle novità introdotta fu la Valutazione obbligatoria di tutti i rischi, che deve compiere il datore di lavoro nella propria azienda pubblica o privata. Ogni ambiente di lavoro presenta dei rischi, individuarli, valutarli permetterà di eliminarli o di ridurre l’entità del pericolo. Ridurre un rischio è possibile, mediante l’utilizzo di azioni di prevenzione, o informando i lavoratori del probabile pericolo, quest’ultimo caso è un elemento importantissimo, in quanto la maggior parte degli incidenti sul lavoro si verificano a causa di comportamenti insicuri o errati dei lavoratori. Per questo motivo solo con una Cultura della sicurezza, fatta di conoscenze, informazioni, formazione, partecipazione, le persone potranno per prime chiedere luoghi di lavoro più sicuri e saranno più responsabili e pronti a fronteggiare i pericoli che incontreranno nell’espletamento del loro diritto

Collaborative management of studentification processes: the case of Newcastle upon Tyne

This paper explores both benefits and potential drawbacks deriving from the spatial distribution of student accommodations across Newcastle upon Tyne. The core of the paper focuses on the interconnections, collaboration and exchange between university and city council as a potential “win–win strategy” for managing the spatial distribution of students across the city. On the one hand, both universities and local authorities in Newcastle are aware of how the urban location of student accommodation provides both services and facilities to students and positive implications for other inhabitants (and the local economy) as well. On the other hand, the increasing number of students living in both private and university accommodations can cause a progressive decrease in families living in such neighbourhoods in the long run. The risk is the formation of an “exclusive geography” in some parts of the city centre, in which the colonisation by students may cause the definition of a “distinctive time and space framework” (Chatterton in Geoforum 30:117–133, 1999), not always in line with that of non-student neighbours. Collaborative planning between university and city council is showing potential solutions for generating new urban spaces which in turn produce collective benefits within the city. This paper concludes that student housing planning should be reconceptualised in the light of collaborative schemes between universities and local authorities in order to guarantee community cohesion and quality of life of both established residents and students. The creation of platforms of dialogue between students, local communities and local authorities might contribute towards enhancing mutual understanding while informing local authorities about the needs of both categories of residents

<i>Brevibacillus laterosporus</i>, a pathogen of invertebrates and a broad-spectrum antimicrobial species

Brevibacillus laterosporus, a bacterium characterized by the production of a unique canoe-shaped lamellar body attached to one side of the spore, is a natural inhabitant of water, soil and insects. Its biopesticidal potential has been reported against insects in different orders including Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Diptera and against nematodes and mollusks. In addition to its pathogenicity against invertebrates, different B. laterosporus strains show a broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity including activity against phytopathogenic bacteria and fungi. A wide variety of molecules, including proteins and antibiotics, have been associated with the observed pathogenicity and mode of action. Before being considered as a biological control agent against plant pathogens, the antifungal and antibacterial properties of certain B. laterosporus strains have found medical interest, associated with the production of antibiotics with therapeutic effects. The recent whole genome sequencing of this species revealed its potential to produce polyketides, nonribosomal peptides, and toxins. Another field of growing interest is the use of this bacterium for bioremediation of contaminated sites by exploiting its biodegradation properties. The aim of the present review is to gather and discuss all recent findings on this emerging entomopathogen, giving a wider picture of its complex and broad-spectrum biocontrol activity