Eliana Baici

Education and training are primary sources of individual human capital. We explored the relationship between education and off-the-job vocational training and the impact of training programmes on youth employment in Italy. We focused on three outcomes: employment probability, use of formal/informal job search channels, and skill matching. We identified programme effects by comparing the outcomes of treatment and control groups using propensity score matching with a robustness check to assess the potential bias due to unobservable characteristics. Individuals with vocational high school degrees are more likely to participate in vocational training programmes, but in southern regions, individuals with technical or generalist high school degrees also attend vocational training programmes. Vocational training programmes have positive effects on youth employment outcomes, reduce the use of informal job search channels, and improve skill matching, especially in the centre-northern regions.

La customizzazione degli interventi di politica attiva è al centro del dibattito scientifico e politico. In particolare, vi è molto interesse nel capire se esistono modelli efficaci per il reinserimento dei cosiddetti disoccupati fragili. In questo articolo, si discutono gli esiti di una politica attiva del lavoro co-progettata realizzata nel Novarese, rivolta a disoccupati fragili beneficiari di ‘buono spesa’. L’analisi evidenzia le peculiarità dell’approccio e ne discute gli esiti anche in relazione a fattori interni all’organizzazione ed esterni, incidenti sui medesimi. I risultati possono essere di interesse per policy maker interessati a realizzare interventi su target fragili.

Despite differences existing among tertiary education systems across countries, there is a growing concern about the rise of the time to bachelor degree. Italian university system, in particular, has been traditionally affected by this form of internal inefficiency and a baseline motivation of shorter bachelor degrees introduced in 2001 was the reduction of the average time spent at university. Notwithstanding the remarkable enhancement in terms of study regularity, the average time-to-degree in Italy still remains however larger than the legal duration. This paper aims at investigating which factors are responsible of this poor performance of university students in Italy. Besides students’ abilities, parental background and labour market conditions, we include additional controls measured at the university and faculty level. A survival analysis approach indicates that the elapsed time to degree in Italy is the result not only of pre-college conditions, but also of students’ choices...

Since 1950, Italy has exhibited a remarkable economic development. We aim to investigate the determinants of this evolution in a historical and regional perspective. Italy started with a GDP per capita roughly 40% below its peers. By 1980, the Italian economy has converged and closed the gap. In this paper, we first present the evolution of GDP per capita relative to selected groups of peers. We then propose a step function as the best means to estimate this time series. In this way, we determine four distinct periods. We will then look at these periods individually both in terms of growth accounting and from the composition of demand, to understand how Italy managed to converge to its peers

This paper investigates the determinants of success and failure of crowdfunding. We have drawn a random sample of 120 crowdfunding initiatives from the crowdfunding platforms Kickstarter and Indiegogo. We extracted relevant characteristics of the project and tracked their performance over a 30 day period. Using probit models, GLS estimators and dynamic panel methods, we estimated success probabilities. We found that crowdfunding is extremely persistent, and early success in attracting financing will improve the chance to get funded in the end. Presentation and instant gratification matters, as do moderate financial goals. We have not found any sectoral bias, which would be a direct indication of market inefficiencies. However, we observe a bias towards projects launched by all male project teams. There are no obvious explanations for this gap, so we must conclude that crowdfunding exhibits a gender bias

This essay studies the role of the dysfunctions of the university system in determining 'fuoricorsismo'. The phenomenon can be understood in different theoretical context, such as the human capital model, the model of signalling, of job search and bargaining within the family. Nevertheless, it is the human capital theory that provides the most compelling theoretical context. In general, the factors that reduce the returns and increase the cost of tertiary education can drive students to choose to remain into a limbo in between education and work. The institutional context provides another factor: free access to university by students with a nonacademic background, the weak link between university credits and study programs, the inefficient organization of teaching activities do the rest. The analysis proposes different policy tools to reduce this enormous cost for individuals, households and the university system as a whole

Sottoposto alle crescenti pressioni competitive prodotte dalle dinamiche dei mercati internazionali ed esacerbate dalle debolezze strategiche e strutturali intrinseche nel sistema, il settore risicolo italiano sembra attraversare un momento di intensa difficolt\ue0 e di importanti spinte al cambiamento, avvertendo la necessit\ue0 di abbandonare gli ormai consolidati assetti competitivi alla ricerca di un nuovo modello in grado di rivitalizzare le performance degli operatori, che assicuri nel contempo maggiore sostenibilit\ue0 economica, sociale, ambientale all'intera strategia di sviluppo. Alle prese con un contesto reso sempre pi\uf9 ostico dall'innalzamento della concorrenza a seguito della liberalizzazione degli scambi e del rafforzamento dell'offerta internazionale, dalla progressiva perdita del sostegno diretto legato alle politiche comunitarie, dall'inasprimento della normativa ambientale e sociale, da un clima economico ormai seriamente dominato dall'incer...

The elapsed time taken to earn a degree is analyzed with data from a representative sample of Italian graduates. Besides students ’ abilities, parental background and labour market conditions, we include additional controls measured at the university level, namely colleges’ dimensions and human capital endowments. The main goal is to investigate whether there are some colleges that are more efficient than others once controlled for their students’ characteristics. A duration model indicates that the elapsed time to degree is the result not only of students ’ ability or of their choices and efforts during university experience but that it depends on the availability of colleges ’ infrastructures and on the external options in the labour market, too.

The estimation of the return from an additional education unit is subject to the \u2018\u2018ability bias\u2019\u2019, responsible for the \u2018\u2018endogeneity\u2019\u2019 of education to wages, and the \u2018\u2018return bias\u2019\u2019, induced by self-selection into education levels based on individual-specific unobservable gains. We use a control functions estimator that, differently to standard instrumental variables, can account for both selection mechanisms. It adds two corrections terms to the wage equation, one for each selectivity source. We use Bank of Italy data for Italian men in the 25-60 age interval. Identification uses a major reform that in 1962 increased years of compulsory schooling, implemented through a set of cohort dummies as exclusion restrictions. We find no evidence of absolute unobservable wage advantages for the more educated. Still, they are positively self-selected: they study more because their marginal return to education is higher than the avera...

This survey organizes and discusses the theoretical and empirical literature on the determinants of university student achievements. According to the theoretical framework, the decision to invest in tertiary education is a sequential process made under gradually decreasing levels of uncertainty on education costs and future returns. Students, applying a learning by doing approach, update their information set each academic year and revise benefits and costs associated to tertiary education. Accordingly, they decide whether to continue university studies in order to get a degree or to withdraw. This university decisional process is discussed by clustering the determinants of university outcomes into four main categories - students' characteristics, abilities and behavior; parental background and family networks; characteristics of the tertiary education system and its institutions; labor market performance - which are drawn from the empirical evidence. The policy advice resulting...

The role of innovation for global competition as well as its influence upon economic growth have gradually increased the interest for this subject, both from an economic and from a political point of view. Basing on the existing literature, this paper aims at measuring and describing the innovative capability of italian regional systems, so as to improve the comprehension of this phenomenon as well as of its effects. Plenty of input, output and context conditions are considered, since the systemic nature of innovation requires a simultaneous analysis of all possible variables, actors and relationships involved. Eighty indicators are selected and used to create syntetic measures about innovation and regional economic development. Best solutions are pointed out, paying attention to their score, internal composition and sustainability. Not only the intensity but also the nature of the relationship between innovation input and output and between innovation and economic growth is studied...

This article provides a comprehensive review of the socio-economic literature on the student determinants of tertiary education dropout, in order to help research scholars better understand this phenomenon. Empirical findings are framed within a theoretical model that analyzes higher education choices and prospective outcomes in a dynamic setting, where informative issues (emphasized by the economic literature) and relational ones (emphasized by the sociological literature) are crucial to predicting students' achievements. Our review suggests that student university persistence/attrition depends on a mix of individual, institutional, and economic factors, the effects of which on the dropout decision are mediated by a student's ability to integrate into the academic system. Some factors are given, and their effects are valuable only in a descriptive perspective. Others, instead, can be manipulated by the decisionmakers in the tertiary education system and, as such, are more i...

Capitale umano, capitale sociale e crescita: una prospettiva regionale (by Eliana Baici, Giorgia Casalone) - ABSTRACT: Questo lavoro propone una stima panel dell’effetto del capitale umano e del capitale sociale sulla dinamica della produttivita delle regioni italiane nel periodo 1980- 2001. L’adozione di una specificazione con Meccanismo a Correzione dell’Errore consente di indagare sia le relazioni di breve che quelle di lungo periodo. I risultati delle stime evidenziano un processo di convergenza condizionata ancora in corso, un effetto positivo del capitale umano sia come stock che come investimento e un effetto positivo di una serie di indicatori di capitale sociale. Tali risultati risultano robusti all’uso di stime LSDV e LSDVGLS che tengono conto dell’eterochedasticita, autocorrelazione e correlazione cross-section delle osservazioni. Una particolare attenzione viene posta all’analisi della stazionarieta delle serie e alla possibile endogeneita degli indicatori di capitale um...

This paper surveys the theoretical approaches used in the literature to study the phenomenon of delayed graduation and university dropout. The classical human capital model does not contemplate failure, which the amended human capital model does. Delayed graduation and university dropout are two stages of the same decision repeated over the years to step aside or leave when the net returns to education expected ex ante are negative. Failure can also be taken as a signal of the real skills of individuals who do not succeed to gain a higher level of education, The job search approach underlines the role of positive/negative local labor market conditions as a factor able to explain choices of investment in human capital. Within the bargaining approach, the decision to delay graduation or dropout from university is related to bargaining within the family between parents and children: the former give their children better consumption opportunities in return for their presence at home. Al...

In this paper we follow a cohort of young people throughout their school career and study the determinants of school choice at different stages of the Italian education system.. We use a new and unique cohort study that covers 1700 individuals born in 1982 and 1983 and living in the Novara Province 1 ; we have information about their school curricula, marks at each compulsory exams, family characteristics and a set of information on how they are satisfied with the more important aspects of their school life and are thus able to analyse the association between family background and school career in Italy. We find that parents education role differs along school career, mother education being more important in later (19 years old) proficiency rather than early one (13 years old).

Despite differences existing among tertiary education systems across countries, there is a growing concern about the rise of the time to bachelor degree. Italian university system, in particular, has been traditionally affected by this form of internal inefficiency and a baseline motivation of shorter bachelor degrees introduced in 2001 was the reduction of the average time spent at university. Notwithstanding the remarkable enhancement in terms of study regularity, the average time-to-degree in Italy still remains however larger than the legal duration. This paper aims at investigating which factors are responsible of this poor performance of university students in Italy. Besides students’ abilities, parental background and labour market conditions, we include additional controls measured at the university and faculty level. A survival analysis approach indicates that the elapsed time to degree in Italy is the result not only of pre-college conditions, but also of students’ choices...

The paper analyses the effects of the number of university degree courses available in the province of residence on the probability of studying in that province rather than moving to a different one. The supply of degree courses outside the province of residence is weighted by a spatial matrix where the distance between the province of residence and any other province is imputed in minutes. The results confirm that the probability of enrolling in a faculty located in the same province of residence is positively correlated to the number of courses available. In particular, the probability of enrolling at university in the province of residence is higher for the departments where the attendance is compulsory (i.e. Engineering). The enrolment behaviour of freshmen differs according to gender, with females more sensitive to the supply of local degree courses.

Alla luce dei numerosi contributi offerti dalla letteratura e nell’intento di migliorare le capacita di lettura delle economie locali in vista della attuazione di politiche di sviluppo sempre piu imperniate sulle peculiarita del contesto ed orientate al conseguimento di superiori livelli di benessere, il presente lavoro si propone di descrivere e quantificare la capacita innovativa dei sistemi regionali del Nord Italia. Un’attenzione particolare viene rivolta all’analisi delle performance innovative e al loro impatto in termini socio-economici, dando vita ad un confronto tra l’area nord-occidentale e quella nord-orientale. Il lavoro utilizza una pluralita di indicatori di input ed output, nonche relativi alle condizioni di contesto potenzialmente idonei ad influenzare le dinamiche innovative, ponendo cosi l’accento non solo sulla molteplicita delle dimensioni coinvolte e degli esiti ottenibili, ma anche sulla sistemicita del processo e quindi sulla imprescindibilita di un esame cong...

Since Solow’s (1957) contribution, human capital has a central role in the debate on economic growth as a leading long period development factor. If from a theoretical point of view the role of human capital on economic growth both directly and throughout its use in R&D activities is fully accepted, from an empirical perspective the results are much more controversial, strictly depending on the quality of data. A recent analysis by Aghion and Cohen (2004) put in evidence that high-level human capital has a positive effect on economic performance only if a country is close to the technological frontier: countries that are far from this frontier, specialised in traditional sectors, can growth, almost in the short run, even exploiting medium-level human capital. This analysis lead to consider the link between human capital and growth with a greater detail, trying to disclose the effect of different human capitals in a country, such as Italy, traditionally oriented toward a low/medium t...

Questo lavoro propone una stima panel dell’effetto del capitale umano e del capitale sociale sulla dinamica della produttività delle regioni italiane nel periodo 1980- 2001. L’adozione di una specificazione con Meccanismo a Correzione dell’Errore consente di indagare sia le relazioni di breve che quelle di lungo periodo. I risultati delle stime evidenziano un processo di convergenza condizionata ancora in corso, un effetto positivo del capitale umano sia come stock che come investimento e un effetto positivo di una serie di indicatori di capitale sociale. Tali risultati risultano robusti all’uso di stime LSDV e LSDVGLS che tengono conto dell’eterochedasticità, autocorrelazione e correlazione cross-section delle osservazioni. Una particolare attenzione viene posta all’analisi della stazionarietà delle serie e alla possibile endogeneità degli indicatori di capitale umano e sociale.

Italian university system faces an average time to bachelor's degree higher than the legal duration. The time needed to take a degree is a measure of the internal efficiency of Universities together with drop-out rates and students satisfaction. This paper aims at investigating which are the main determinants of time-to-degree by using a sample representative of the whole Italian university system. We find that the main determinants of time-to-degree are individual abilities, labour market conditions and Universities characteristics. In particular we find that the heterogeneous performances characterizing different University types are mostly due to differences in the quality of the students enrolled.

Despite differences existing among tertiary education systems across countries, there is a growing concern about the rise of the time to bachelor degree. Italian university system, in particular, has been traditionally affected by this form of internal inefficiency and a baseline motivation of shorter bachelor degrees introduced in 2001 was the reduction of the average time spent at university. Notwithstanding

Attraverso un'analisi dei dati raccolti mediante un'indagine campionaria sul territorio novarese, il presente lavoro si propone di cogliere gli orien-tamenti espressi dagli imprenditori in merito all'ingresso nei mercati mondiali, in particolar modo riguardo ai temi dell'internazionalizzazione della produzione e del commercio. Lo studio del modello provinciale viene condotto in un'ottica di confronto con le strategie emerse a livello regionale e mira ad identificare alcuni tratti distintivi dei processi in atto. Esso consente peraltro di delineare i principali punti di forza e di debolezza delle soluzioni sinora implementa-te, arricchendo la conoscenza del fenomeno grazie ad un approfondimen-to delle motivazioni sottostanti all'avvio di iniziative di proiezione all'estero, come pure delle problematiche avvertite dagli operatori.

Alla luce dei numerosi contributi offerti dalla letteratura e nell’intento di migliorare le capacità di lettura delle economie locali in vista della attuazione di politiche di sviluppo sempre più imperniate sulle peculiarità del contesto ed orientate al conseguimento di superiori livelli di benessere, il presente lavoro si propone di descrivere e quantificare la capacità innovativa dei sistemi regionali del Nord