The Joint harmonized Manufacturing survey for Italy, carried out by the Institute of Studies and Economic Analysis (ISAE, formerly ISCO), has a long history: it began on a quarterly basis in 1959, becoming monthly in 1962. The survey was then broadly modified in several occasions; in particular, in 1986 it was re-designed in order to provide data also at the regional level, adopting a new stratified random sample, the strata represented by the sector, region and size of the firm. In 1998, the sample was upgraded further, using an optimal allocation of the reporting units to the sample strata (Cochran, 1977). These changes satisfied the demand for more detailed and, at the same time, better harmonized data. However, at this stage, the processing of the results was still based on a very detailed industry grid based on the old NACE1970 classification, re-codified to obtain harmonized data for the Main Industrial Groups and total manufacturing. Size weights were used in the processing of the results, but there were still some differences in the elaboration of the data at the national and regional level, resulting in a not fully-fledged comparability between local and national data. For these reasons, in 2003 ISAE started a re-thinking of the manufacturing survey processing phase. The resulting re-engineering process recently implemented by ISAE is described in this paper. It has reached two main relevant goals: i. The underlying industrial structure for the aggregation of survey results is now based on the NACERev1.1 classification, at the 3-digit level, adapted to take into consideration the structure of Italian economy. ii. The weighting scheme is now based on a coherent system of size weights, based on a four-stage method in which, firstly, the balance Ba,j for question a, firm j, is aggregated in each strata, using the j-firm employees as weights; in the following stages, the result for each strata is progressively aggregated to calculate the Industry total, using value added weights, provided by an external source (i.e., the National Institute for Statistics, ISTAT). The main consequence is that now results at the regional and dimensional level are fully comparable to the ones for the entire industry. Historical data up to 1991 have been recalculated accordingly to the new aggregation scheme and are presented here as a conclusion of the paper.
The paper aims at evaluating the position of the Italian research system in the international scenario, using data from ISI-Web of Sciences and Scopus database for the period 1981-2010. Bibliometric information have been first of all organized according to the Italian classification of scientific disciplines; the analysis concentrated on hard sciences, medical sciences, engeneering and economics, where the use of bibliometric indicators to evaluate research is rather widespread. Indicators analysed concern scientific production and its impact, scientific collaboration, scientific productivity and research excellence. We show that scientific productivity in Italy is remarkably high; Italy is on par with the international average in terms of scientific production and impact, but it is still lagging behind with respect to major competitors in Europe (Germany, Netherlands, Uk) and in the world (US).
In this chapter, we evaluate the effects of research collaborations on scientific impact, as measured by the Field Weighted Citation Impact indicator.We distinguish collaborations according to their geographic origin (national, international, institutional) and to the affiliation of the researchers (academic and corporate collaborations) and evaluate the importance of each in terms of citation impact. Our main result is that international collaborations significantly improve scientific impact regardless of the research field under consideration. On the other hand, national collaborations positively affect impact only in some fields, while institutional collaborations are found to be either insignificant or detrimental (limited to Health Sciences) to scientific performance.We also find that corporate collaborations are relevant and that their effect grows the higher their share with respect to total publications.
Standard theory describes economic decisions as the result of optimising behaviour of well-informed economic agents. However, whether citizens are really well informed on economic data is still highly disputed. In order to investigate on this issue, since 2007 the Italian Consumers survey has incorporated a number of questions on the degree of knowledge about economic data. Surveys results show that the level of knowledge of Italian consumers is relatively low; moreover, knowledge seems to significantly vary across different groups of respondents, depending on individual characteristics and the perceived costs and benefits of acquiring information. Results provide evidence of deviation from the standard approach of full rationality in the information acquisition process: if agents are not always fully rational, delays in information acquisition should be taken into account by policy makers in designing appropriate interventions.
Standard theory describes economic decisions as result of optimising behaviour of well- informed agents. However, according to the “rational inattention” hypothesis, individuals may deliberately choose not to update their information set. The aim of our paper is study whether Italian consumers are adequately informed about economic data and to test if information is homogenously spread across the population. For this scope, we build a measure of knowledge of economic data at the individual level, and estimate a model relating knowledge to individual characteristics. Our main finding is that knowledge is relatively low and depends on the perceived costs and benefits of acquiring information. Results confirm one of the main postulates of the rational inattention hypothesis, i.e. that knowledge is highly differentiated across different population groups.
Journal Article Evaluating scientific research in Italy: The 2004–10 research evaluation exercise Get access Alessio Ancaiani, Alessio Ancaiani 1 Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del Sistema Universitario e della Ricerca (ANVUR), Via Ippolito Nievo 35-00153 Rome, Italy, 2 Compagnia di San Paolo Sistema Torino, Piazza Bernini 5, IT-10138 Turin, Italy, 3 Gabriele D'Annunzio Chieti-Pescara University Via dei Vestini, 31-66013 Chieti Scalo, Italy and 4 Department of Information Engineering, Pisa University, Via Caruso 16-56122 Pisa, Italy Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Alberto F. Anfossi, Alberto F. Anfossi 1 Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del Sistema Universitario e della Ricerca (ANVUR), Via Ippolito Nievo 35-00153 Rome, Italy, 2 Compagnia di San Paolo Sistema Torino, Piazza Bernini 5, IT-10138 Turin, Italy, 3 Gabriele D'Annunzio Chieti-Pescara University Via dei Vestini, 31-66013 Chieti Scalo, Italy and 4 Department of Information Engineering, Pisa University, Via Caruso 16-56122 Pisa, Italy Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Anna Barbara, Anna Barbara 1 Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del Sistema Universitario e della Ricerca (ANVUR), Via Ippolito Nievo 35-00153 Rome, Italy, 2 Compagnia di San Paolo Sistema Torino, Piazza Bernini 5, IT-10138 Turin, Italy, 3 Gabriele D'Annunzio Chieti-Pescara University Via dei Vestini, 31-66013 Chieti Scalo, Italy and 4 Department of Information Engineering, Pisa University, Via Caruso 16-56122 Pisa, Italy Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Sergio Benedetto, Sergio Benedetto 1 Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del Sistema Universitario e della Ricerca (ANVUR), Via Ippolito Nievo 35-00153 Rome, Italy, 2 Compagnia di San Paolo Sistema Torino, Piazza Bernini 5, IT-10138 Turin, Italy, 3 Gabriele D'Annunzio Chieti-Pescara University Via dei Vestini, 31-66013 Chieti Scalo, Italy and 4 Department of Information Engineering, Pisa University, Via Caruso 16-56122 Pisa, Italy Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Brigida Blasi, Brigida Blasi 1 Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del Sistema Universitario e della Ricerca (ANVUR), Via Ippolito Nievo 35-00153 Rome, Italy, 2 Compagnia di San Paolo Sistema Torino, Piazza Bernini 5, IT-10138 Turin, Italy, 3 Gabriele D'Annunzio Chieti-Pescara University Via dei Vestini, 31-66013 Chieti Scalo, Italy and 4 Department of Information Engineering, Pisa University, Via Caruso 16-56122 Pisa, Italy Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Valentina Carletti, Valentina Carletti 1 Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del Sistema Universitario e della Ricerca (ANVUR), Via Ippolito Nievo 35-00153 Rome, Italy, 2 Compagnia di San Paolo Sistema Torino, Piazza Bernini 5, IT-10138 Turin, Italy, 3 Gabriele D'Annunzio Chieti-Pescara University Via dei Vestini, 31-66013 Chieti Scalo, Italy and 4 Department of Information Engineering, Pisa University, Via Caruso 16-56122 Pisa, Italy Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Tindaro Cicero, Tindaro Cicero 1 Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del Sistema Universitario e della Ricerca (ANVUR), Via Ippolito Nievo 35-00153 Rome, Italy, 2 Compagnia di San Paolo Sistema Torino, Piazza Bernini 5, IT-10138 Turin, Italy, 3 Gabriele D'Annunzio Chieti-Pescara University Via dei Vestini, 31-66013 Chieti Scalo, Italy and 4 Department of Information Engineering, Pisa University, Via Caruso 16-56122 Pisa, Italy Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Alberto Ciolfi, Alberto Ciolfi 1 Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del Sistema Universitario e della Ricerca (ANVUR), Via Ippolito Nievo 35-00153 Rome, Italy, 2 Compagnia di San Paolo Sistema Torino, Piazza Bernini 5, IT-10138 Turin, Italy, 3 Gabriele D'Annunzio Chieti-Pescara University Via dei Vestini, 31-66013 Chieti Scalo, Italy and 4 Department of Information Engineering, Pisa University, Via Caruso 16-56122 Pisa, Italy Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Filippo Costa, Filippo Costa 1 Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del Sistema Universitario e della Ricerca (ANVUR), Via Ippolito Nievo 35-00153 Rome, Italy, 2 Compagnia di San Paolo Sistema Torino, Piazza Bernini 5, IT-10138 Turin, Italy, 3 Gabriele D'Annunzio Chieti-Pescara University Via dei Vestini, 31-66013 Chieti Scalo, Italy and 4 Department of Information Engineering, Pisa University, Via Caruso 16-56122 Pisa, Italy Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Giovanna Colizza, Giovanna Colizza 1 Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del Sistema Universitario e della Ricerca (ANVUR), Via Ippolito Nievo 35-00153 Rome, Italy, 2 Compagnia di San Paolo Sistema Torino, Piazza Bernini 5, IT-10138 Turin, Italy, 3 Gabriele D'Annunzio Chieti-Pescara University Via dei Vestini, 31-66013 Chieti Scalo, Italy and 4 Department of Information Engineering, Pisa University, Via Caruso 16-56122 Pisa, Italy Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar ... Show more Marco Costantini, Marco Costantini 1 Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del Sistema Universitario e della Ricerca (ANVUR), Via Ippolito Nievo 35-00153 Rome, Italy, 2 Compagnia di San Paolo Sistema Torino, Piazza Bernini 5, IT-10138 Turin, Italy, 3 Gabriele D'Annunzio Chieti-Pescara University Via dei Vestini, 31-66013 Chieti Scalo, Italy and 4 Department of Information Engineering, Pisa University, Via Caruso 16-56122 Pisa, Italy Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Fabio di Cristina, Fabio di Cristina 1 Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del Sistema Universitario e della Ricerca (ANVUR), Via Ippolito Nievo 35-00153 Rome, Italy, 2 Compagnia di San Paolo Sistema Torino, Piazza Bernini 5, IT-10138 Turin, Italy, 3 Gabriele D'Annunzio Chieti-Pescara University Via dei Vestini, 31-66013 Chieti Scalo, Italy and 4 Department of Information Engineering, Pisa University, Via Caruso 16-56122 Pisa, Italy Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Antonio Ferrara, Antonio Ferrara 1 Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del Sistema Universitario e della Ricerca (ANVUR), Via Ippolito Nievo 35-00153 Rome, Italy, 2 Compagnia di San Paolo Sistema Torino, Piazza Bernini 5, IT-10138 Turin, Italy, 3 Gabriele D'Annunzio Chieti-Pescara University Via dei Vestini, 31-66013 Chieti Scalo, Italy and 4 Department of Information Engineering, Pisa University, Via Caruso 16-56122 Pisa, Italy Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Rosa M. Lacatena, Rosa M. Lacatena 1 Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del Sistema Universitario e della Ricerca (ANVUR), Via Ippolito Nievo 35-00153 Rome, Italy, 2 Compagnia di San Paolo Sistema Torino, Piazza Bernini 5, IT-10138 Turin, Italy, 3 Gabriele D'Annunzio Chieti-Pescara University Via dei Vestini, 31-66013 Chieti Scalo, Italy and 4 Department of Information Engineering, Pisa University, Via Caruso 16-56122 Pisa, Italy Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Marco Malgarini, Marco Malgarini * 1 Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del Sistema Universitario e della Ricerca (ANVUR), Via Ippolito Nievo 35-00153 Rome, Italy, 2 Compagnia di San Paolo Sistema Torino, Piazza Bernini 5, IT-10138 Turin, Italy, 3 Gabriele D'Annunzio Chieti-Pescara University Via dei Vestini, 31-66013 Chieti Scalo, Italy and 4 Department of Information Engineering, Pisa University, Via Caruso 16-56122 Pisa, Italy *Corresponding author. Email: marco.malgarini@anvur.it Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Irene Mazzotta, Irene Mazzotta 1 Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del Sistema Universitario e della Ricerca (ANVUR), Via Ippolito Nievo 35-00153 Rome, Italy, 2 Compagnia di San Paolo Sistema Torino, Piazza Bernini 5, IT-10138 Turin, Italy, 3 Gabriele D'Annunzio Chieti-Pescara University Via dei Vestini, 31-66013 Chieti Scalo, Italy and 4 Department of Information Engineering, Pisa University, Via Caruso 16-56122 Pisa, Italy Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Carmela A. Nappi, Carmela A. Nappi 1 Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del Sistema Universitario e della Ricerca (ANVUR), Via Ippolito Nievo 35-00153 Rome, Italy, 2 Compagnia di San Paolo Sistema Torino, Piazza Bernini 5, IT-10138 Turin, Italy, 3 Gabriele D'Annunzio Chieti-Pescara University Via dei Vestini, 31-66013 Chieti Scalo, Italy and 4 Department of Information Engineering, Pisa University, Via Caruso 16-56122 Pisa, Italy Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Sandra Romagnosi, Sandra Romagnosi 1 Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del Sistema Universitario e della Ricerca (ANVUR), Via Ippolito Nievo 35-00153 Rome, Italy, 2 Compagnia di San Paolo Sistema Torino, Piazza Bernini 5, IT-10138 Turin, Italy, 3 Gabriele D'Annunzio Chieti-Pescara University Via dei Vestini, 31-66013 Chieti Scalo, Italy and 4 Department of Information Engineering, Pisa University, Via Caruso 16-56122 Pisa, Italy Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Serena Sileoni Serena Sileoni 1 Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del Sistema Universitario e della Ricerca (ANVUR), Via Ippolito Nievo 35-00153 Rome, Italy, 2 Compagnia di San Paolo Sistema Torino, Piazza Bernini 5, IT-10138 Turin, Italy, 3 Gabriele D'Annunzio Chieti-Pescara University Via dei Vestini, 31-66013 Chieti Scalo, Italy and 4 Department of Information Engineering, Pisa University, Via Caruso 16-56122 Pisa, Italy Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Research Evaluation, Volume 24, Issue 3, July 2015, Pages 242–255, https://doi.org/10.1093/reseval/rvv008 Published: 30 April 2015
The aim of the paper is to evaluate the relationship between consumers' climate and consumption, looking - respectively - at income-based indicators of confidence and at consumption expenditures disaggregated by durability. We find that confidence significantly contributes explaining consumption behaviour, especially when service expenditures are considered in the analysis: we interpret this result as an evidence that services are discretional, not strictly necessary expenditures, that may be influenced by the willingness to buy, as was originally suggested by Katona (1951) with reference to durable goods.
Standard theory describes economic decisions as the result of optimising behaviour of well-informed economic agents. However, whether citizens are really well informed on economic data is still highly disputed. In order to investigate on this issue, since 2007 the Italian Consumers survey has incorporated a number of questions on the degree of knowledge about economic data. Surveys results show that the level of knowledge of Italian consumers is relatively low; moreover, knowledge seems to significantly vary across different groups of respondents, depending on individual characteristics and the perceived costs and benefits of acquiring information. Results provide evidence of deviation from the standard approach of full rationality in the information acquisition process: if agents are not always fully rational, delays in information acquisition should be taken into account by policy makers in designing appropriate interventions.
Concerns about European prospects for competitiveness, jobs and growth are high on the European Union agenda and regulatory reform, both at national and EU levels, is widely recognised as a crucial tool for improving the performance of European companies. Despite the single market, selective sectoral regulatory reform and certain reforms at the national level, regulation in Europe still tends to discourage new entrants, impede new production methods and inhibit the exit of existing competitors. It often increases costs without providing compensatory benefits, reduces operational flexibility and distorts capital expenditure, creating obstacles to innovation. The authors in this book argue that regulatory reform can, more often than not, help improve the competitiveness of companies while generating net growth effects for the European Union as a whole.