Responsible Leadership: Business Myth or Corporate Reality?

The financial crisis has highlighted some of the limitations of the global system. Enterprises previously thought to be too big to fail have learned the harsh realities of capitalism (Merill Lynch, Lehman Bros, Northern Rock), countries have been shaken considerably from the bankruptcy of Iceland to the near-collapse of the markets in Greece, Ireland and Italy. The current age of austerity has largely dominated supra-national and indeed global politics in the last few years. The extent of the crisis has illustrated that relationships between business, governments and society needs to be re-evaluated in light of shifts in the global market thereby recognizing that some countries have a more limited power of persuasion than some corporations.

Health status and 6 years survival of 552 90+ Italian sib-ships recruited within the EU Project GEHA (GEnetics of Healthy Ageing).

In a scenario of increasing life expectancy worldwide, it is mandatory to identify the characteristics of a healthy aging phenotype, including survival predictors, and to disentangle those related to environment/lifestyle versus those related to familiarity/genetics. To this aim we comprehensively characterised a cohort of 1,160 Italian subjects of 90 years and over (90+, mean age 93 years; age range 90-106 years) followed for 6 years survival, belonging to 552 sib-ships (familiar longevity) recruited (2005-2008) within the EU-funded GEHA project in three Italian geographic areas (Northern, Central and Southern Italy) different for urban/rural and socio-economical characteristics. On the whole, the following factors emerged as significant predictors of survival after 90 years of age: absence of cognitive impairment and physical disability, high hand grip strength scores and body mass index (BMI) values, "excellent/good" self-reported health, high haemoglobin and total cholesterol levels and low creatinine levels. These parameters, excluding BMI values, were also significantly associated within sib-ships, suggesting a strong familial/genetic component. Geographical micro-heterogeneity of survival predictors emerged, such as functional and physical status being more important in Southern than in Central and Northern Italy. In conclusion, we identified modifiable survival predictors related to specific domains, whose role and importance vary according to the geographic area considered and which can help in interpreting the genetic results obtained by the GEHA project, whose major aim is the comprehensive evaluation of phenotypic and genetic data.

Institutional Frameworks and Structural Factors Relating to Educational Access Across Europe

In this article institutional and structural factors relating to access to education are assessed. First, the macro frameworks of institutional regulation that exert influence on the educational trajectories of young Europeans are demonstrated. Based on different aspects of these frameworks and drawing from extant research, the article presents a typology of education systems that provide varying levels of access to and accessibility of education in Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom. Second, using survey data (N = 6,366) it analyzes the impact of gender and parental education on young people’s educational aspirations and early labor-market entry across the countries.

Hiring Incentives and Labour Force Participation in Italy

A long-standing economic tradition maintains that labour supply reacts to market tightness; its sensitivity to job quality has received less attention. If firms hire workers with both temporary and open-ended contracts, does participation increase when more permanent jobs are available? We investigate this relationship within a policy evaluation framework; in particular, we examine how labour supply reacted in Italy to a recent subsidy in favour of open-ended contracts. This subsidy increased labour force participation by 1.4% in 2001 and 2.1% in 2002. This increase was concentrated on males aged 35-54, with a low or at most a secondary schooling level.