Local Labour Market Effects of Unemployment on Crime Induced by Trade Shocks

This paper analyses the effect of a long-term change in unemployment on crime in the US local labour markets (1990-2007). During these last two decades, the US economy has experienced severe structural changes caused by international trade shocks, and China has played a crucial role as a major global exporter. The rapid growth of US exposure to China products triggers the increase in US local unemployment rates. This study documents whether this increasing exposure to Chinese competitiveness has indirectly contributed to the change in the propensity to commit crime through the displacement of workers. I exploit the cross-market variation in import exposure stemming from initial differences in industry specialisation to instrument the unemployment rate. The empirical evidence suggests that a one per cent increase in unemployment rate, induced by a change in Chinese import products, leads to almost a one per cent rise in the total crime rate

No free lunch, buddy: housing transfers and informal care later in life

Previous empirical literature on intergenerational transfers of assets and services has mostly focused on the contemporary exchange or on the bequest motive. Differently, using Italian data, we provide evidence that parents who help their adult children with housing at the time of marriage are rewarded by higher chances of receiving informal care later in life. We show that this relation is robust to controlling for a wide set of individual and family characteristics and we discuss three possible explanations: (i) increased geographical distance; (ii) parents' reinforcement through support for the production of grandchildren; (iii) correlation with future nancial transfers

Geomorphic floodplain mapping in small Mediterranean catchments using LiDAR data

Recent advances in remote sensing technologies along with the increased availability of topographic data have lately encouraged the development of automatic DEM (Digital Elevation Model)-based procedures for floodplain delineation. Geomorphic methods, establishing relationships between flood descriptors and morphologic catchment characteristics, appear particularly suitable to be implemented within a GIS algorithm. In the present work, four simplified geomorphic approaches based on “flow-depth scaling laws” (FD) or “flow-cross-sectional area scaling laws” (FA) with contributing area and two methods employing two different flood descriptors (Hydro-Geomorphic Method, HGM and Geomorphic Flood Index method, GFIM) have been applied for the preliminary evaluation of floodplain extent using high resolution DEMs (i.e. LiDAR at 1 and 2 m resolution) as the main input. Taking as a case study six of the largest basins located in southern Italy, the performances of these methods were evaluated and critically compared using government agency derived flood hazard maps as benchmarks. Results show that the adoption of FD especially when combined with morphology to formulate the GFIM, allows to efficiently predict the flood-prone areas with low computational costs. At the same time, performances of the flood mapping procedures based on “flow-area scaling laws”, although in principle more appealing, seem to be slightly lower. Overall, the proposed approaches can be applied for rough mapping of floodplains in ungauged basins or in data-scarce regions where standard flood hazard maps are unavailable

Is the Sardinian Blue Zone the New Shangri-La for mental health? Evidence on depressive symptoms and its correlates in late adult life span

Background: An area of extraordinary longevity (i.e., Sardinian Blue Zone) characterized by a very high prevalence of long-lived successful agers has been validated in Sardinia, an Italian island located in the Mediterranean Sea. Aims: This study was primarily aimed at examining whether dietary habits (intake of vegetables and fruit, animal-derived proteins, and carbohydrates-rich food), time spent on hobbies, subjective physical health, and socio-cultural context (Sardinian Blue Zone vs. another Sardinian rural area) predicted self-reported depressive symptoms in older adults recruited in the Sardinian Blue Zone and another Sardinian rural area not being characterized by a higher prevalence of long-lived individuals. Methods: Three hundred and eighteen community-dwellers, age 65 years and older, 188 females and 130 males (Mage = 79.1 years, SD = 6.9 years) were recruited from the Sardinian Blue Zone and another Sardinian rural area. Each participant individually completed a battery of instruments to assess lifestyle, food habits, perceived physical health, and depressive symptoms through the CES-D inventory. Results: Significant associations were found between depressive signs, perceived physical health, time spent gardening, proteins, and carbohydrates intake, respectively. Approximately 17% of the variance in the CES-D condition was predicted by socio-cultural context, perceived physical health, and gardening. Participants recruited in the Sardinian Blue Zone spent more time gardening and self-reported better physical health. Conclusions: current results suggest that a socio-cultural context where people age well (i.e., the Sardinian Blue Zone), and a healthy and physically active lifestyle are crucial for promoting well-being in late adulthood

Three Essays in Applied Economics

This thesis comprises three essays. The first one focuses on the effect of a change in the labour market conditions induced by a trade shock on crime at the US local level. Using US Census data, I provide evidence that the increasing exposure to Chinese competitiveness has indirectly contributed to the change in the propensity to commit crime through a reduction of the expected labour market earnings. The second essay, which is co-authored with Vincenzo Bove and Roberto Nistic�, addresses the reasons why countries decide to transfer weapons only to specific recipients. We present novel empirical models of the arms trade and concentrate on the role of energy dependence, in particular of oil, in explaining the trade of weapons between countries. We find strong empirical support for the hypothesis that oil-dependent economies have incentives to provide security by selling or giving away arms to oil-rich countries and reduce their risk of political instability. Finally, the last essay, joint with Emanuele Ciani, has a specific focus on family economics. We provide evidence that parents who helped their adult children in the past are rewarded by higher chances of receiving informal care later in life. To this purpose we use Italian data containing retrospective information about help with housing received from parents at the time of marriage. We show a positive association with their current provision of informal care to them, which is robust to controlling for a large set of individual and family characteristics, and is confirmed by an IV regression using house prices as instrument. The results are in line with theories based on the presence of a third generation of grandchildren, such as those involving a demonstration effect or a family constitution

COVID-19 relief programs and compliance with confinement measures

We study the impact of a COVID-19 relief program on compliance with confinement measures in Italy, the early epicenter of the pandemic. We match information on the allocation of funds across Italian municipalities with data tracking citizens’ movements drawn from mobile devices and vehicles’ navigation systems, anonymized and aggregated at the municipality level. To assess the role of the program, we exploit a sharp kink schedule in the allocation of funds as a function of past income differentials that generated random treatment assignment in a neighborhood of the threshold point. We find robust evidence that, after the introduction of the program, mobility decreased with the amount of transfers. The impact is economically sizeable and resists bandwidth changes, with stronger effects holding in the proximity of the cut-off and the coefficient stabilizing with distance from the threshold. A battery of placebo tests supports the interpretation of results. Our evidence suggests that authorities could leverage targeted relief programs to nudge compliance with emergency measures at a relatively modest cost

Cholera with severe renal failure in an Italian tourist returning from Cuba, July 2013

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Efficient Nitrogen Recovery from Agro-Energy Effluents for Cyanobacteria Cultivation (Spirulina)

The present study aimed to obtain an efficient liquid nitrogen fertilizer from the by-product of anaerobic digestion for its subsequent use in the production of cyanobacteria (Spirulina). A simple recovery technology was tested based on the stripping and acid absorption, modifying temperature (50 and 70 degrees C) and pH (10 and 12), of the ammonia nitrogen contained in the digestate produced in a large-scale plant treating livestock manure and grass silage. The results demonstrated how, at a relatively low temperature (50 degrees C), using sulfuric and citric acid solution, it is possible to recover nitrogen from a digestate in the form of ammonium sulfate and ammonium citrate with yields of 70% and 72.1% respectively. By carrying out Spirulina growth tests, promising results were obtained under semicontinuous production, with a maximum dry biomass daily productivity of 0.344 g L-1 day(-1) with ammonium sulfate and 0.246 gDW L-1 day(-1) with ammonium citrate. The results showed that nitrogen can be efficiently recovered on site by using the organic acid, digestate and waste heat from anaerobic digestion for Spirulina biomass production

Batch and Column Studies for the Removal of Lead from Aqueous Solutions Using Activated Carbons from Viticultural Industry Wastes

Adsorption studies (kinetic, batch and dynamic assays) were carried out for lead removal from aqueous solutions using wastes from the wine industry. The adsorbents used were obtained from grape stalk and pomace.These materials were carbonized, briquetted and activated with steam. Addition of a leaching step before activation lowered the high ash content of the materials.The products were characterized by elemental and proximate analysis, point of zero charge pH, specific surface area, pore-size distribution, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and surface acidic and basic groups. Considering the physicochemical and textural properties of the adsorbents, a comparative analysis of the results was made. These solids showed a marked basic character; therefore, the pH was a very important variable in adsorption tests, and thus it was necessary to maintain the pH in a favourable range. Batch equilibrium assays showed that the tested adsorbents had good adsorption capacities, better than the ones reported previously for similar materials. In dynamic tests, the removal of lead by both activated carbon briquettes was good and attributed to the coupling of adsorption and precipitation as a result of the increase in the pH values, which could not be controlled.Fil: Deiana, A. C.. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingenieria. Instituto de Ingenieria Quimica; ArgentinaFil: Gimenez Guerrero, Marianela Gema. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingenieria. Instituto de Ingenieria Quimica; ArgentinaFil: Rómoli, Santiago. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingenieria. Instituto de Ingenieria Quimica; ArgentinaFil: Sardella, Maria Fabiana. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingenieria. Instituto de Ingenieria Quimica; ArgentinaFil: Sapag, Manuel Karim. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico San Luis. Instituto de Física Aplicada; Argentin