What Can We Learn about Smoking from 150 Years of Italian Data?

This paper estimates dynamic demand models for tobacco consumption in Italy from 1871 to 2010. The empirical analysis is based on an entirely new dataset. Because the tobacco sector was mostly managed by the state, rich and detailed historical documentation is available. Price elasticities are estimated both for aggregate tobacco consumption and its four major components (cigars, cigarettes, cut to- 25 bacco, and snuff) for three separate sub-periods: 1871–1913, 1919–1939, and 1946–2010. Elasticities consistently belong to a narrow set. We discuss the public policy implications of a seemingly iso-elastic tobacco demand function

Cohesion Policies in Italian Metropolitan Cities. Evaluation and Challenges

The 2014–2020 European programming is coming to an end with numerous critical issues that will have to be resolved by 2023, both with reference to spending power and with reference to performance evaluation. The European institutions are currently in the process of drafting the new Cohesion Policy 2021–2027, which will respond to the difficulties encountered in the previous programming through three key rules: simplicity, flexibility, efficiency and transparent administrative processes. The ambition of the new programming is to make the countries of the European Union smart, sustainable and increasingly inclusive economies. Three priorities that mutually reinforce each other to help achieve high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion in the Member States. In this context, the present study intends to evaluate the “smart specialization” (S3 strategy) deriving from the 11 thematic objectives (or sectors of intervention), in particular that of the “environment”, in the 2007–2013 and 2014–2020 periods, through the Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA), thus identifying areas of intelligent specialization