Regional value added in Italy over the long run (1891-2001): linking indirect estimates with official figures, and implications

This paper presents value added estimates for the Italian regions, in benchmark years from 1891 until 1951, which are linked to those from official figures available from 1971 in order to offer a long-term picture. Sources and methodology are documented and discussed, whilst regional activity rates and productivity are also presented and compared. Thus some questions are briefly reconsidered: the origins and extent of the north-south divide, the role of migration and regional policy in shaping the pattern of regional inequality, the importance of social capital, and the positioning of Italy in the international debate on regional convergence, where it stands out for the long run persistence of its disparities.

Monetary policy shocks and transmission in Italy: A VAR analysis

This paper provides updated empirical evidence about the real and nominal effects of monetary policy in Italy, by using structural VAR analysis. We discuss different empirical approaches that have been used in order to identify monetary policy exogenous shocks. We argue that the data support the view that the Bank of Italy, at least in the recent past, has been targeting the rate on overnight interbank loans. Therefore, we interpret shocks to the overnight rate as purely exogenous monetary policy shocks and study how different macroeconomic variables react to such shocks.

Fair procedures. Evidence from games involving lotteries

Procedural fairness plays a prominent role in the social discourse concerning the marketplace in particular, and social institutions in general. Random procedures are a simple case, and they have found application in several important social allocation decisions. We investigate random procedures in the laboratory. We find that an unbiased random procedure is an acceptable substitute for an unbiased allocation: similar patterns of acceptance and rejection result when either is inserted as a feasible proposal in a sequential battle-of-the-sexes. We also find that unbiasedness, known to be a crucial characteristic of allocation fairness, is important to procedural fairness: in the context of a random offer game, a biased outcome is more readily accepted when chosen by an unbiased random draw than by one that is biased. Procedural fairness is conceptually different than allocation fairness or attribution-based behavior, and none of the current models of fairness and reciprocity captures our results. Post hoc extension of one of these models (ERC) suggests that a deeper understanding of procedural fairness requires further investigation of competing fairness norms.

Estudi i edició crítica de Records de l'Avi

Treball de recerca realitzat per una alumna d'ensenyament secundari i guardonat amb un Premi CIRIT per fomentar l'esperit cientí­fic del Jovent l'€any 2009.Es tracta d'estudi de caràcter històric, literari i crí­tic del monòleg d'un sol acte 'Records de l'Avi', escrit per l'igualadí Gabriel Castellà i Raich (1876-1959) l'any 1913. L'obra narra una jornada de la batalla del Bruc (1808). L'estudi s'inicia amb una recerca sobre la situació històrica del territori de l'autor. A continuació, inclou la biografia i la contribució literària de Gabriel Castellà. D'altra banda, la part de caràcter literari fa referència als aspectes referents a l'obra 'Records de l'Avi', per tal de donar a conèixer els seus aspectes interns. També es fa una edició crí­tica, en la qual s'analitzen els errors de l'obra a partir de la comparació de dos testimonis -un dels quals manuscrit- que actualment encara existeixen. Amb aquesta comparació s'han pogut realitzar alguns canvis, fets amb l'objectiu de poder aproximar l'obra de la manera més precisa possible al format que l'autor hauria desitjat.

I Riflessi letterari dell’Unità d’Italia nella narrativa siciliana

El treball d'investigació té per objecte oferir un inventari raonat de novel•les i contes curts d’autors sicilians d’entre 1860 i 1898, de Giovanni Verga a la Simonetta Agnello Hornby, diferents en edat, cultura i condició social. Vol fer evident la persistència de la reflexió sobre el Risorgimento "traït", i ajudar a comprendre com hi havia un marc d’unitat política i institucional en el què no es donava cabuda a les diferències entre el Nord i el Sud d’Itàlia

Els processos d'inclusió a Villa Gaia: treballem a partir de l'emoció de conèixer i el desig d'existir

Actualment l’educació està patint un seguit de canvis deguts a la presa de força del concepte d’escola inclusiva. Aquest treball pretén esdevenir una investigació de la metodologia de “l’Emozione di conoscere e il desiderio di esistere” d’un pedagog italià i observar com aquesta afavoreix la presència, la participació i el progrés dels vint-i-set infants d’una classe, independentment de quines siguin les seves necessitats educatives. Així doncs, per tal de conèixer aquest fet, hem realitzat un estudi de cas de la metodologia que es duu a terme a l’escola parroquial de la infància Villa Gaia, situada al nord d’Itàlia, a través de l’anàlisi de documents, la involucració en el projecte, l’observació i la realització d’entrevistes.

Modelos itálicos y artesanado provincial: las lastras Campana de Tarraco y su territorio

In 1991 was brought to light a collection of architectural terracottas from the villa of the Vilarenc and some pieces from Tarraco that were identified as lastre Campana. Five years later, in the excavations of the Plaza de la Font of Tarragona, a collection of six pieces was discovered. Altogether, the collection is based in 14/15 lastre and 4 different topics: “Women flanking a candelabra”, “Theseus known by his father”, “Adornment of a hermes” and “Scene of portico of palestra”. The interest of these finds lies in several factors: Their absolute exceptionality (it is very rare to find them outside of Italy); the geographical concentration, the topics, and their chronological relation and precise culture, since the finds are concentrated in a provincial capital and its territory, and they come from contexts of the beginning of first century AD. The physicochimique analyses make possible to assign an origin from Latium to some pieces and a local manufacture to others. These finds make possible to talk about the area and the provincial impact of certain iconographic and cultural models of Augustus’ time.

La producción tarraconense de lastras Campana

En 1991 vió la luz una colección de terracotas arquitectónicas procedentes de la villa romana de El Vilarenc y otras pocas de Tárraco, que fueron identificadas como lastras Campana. Cinco años más tarde en las excavaciones de la Plaça de la Font de Tarragona fueron descubiertos seis nuevos ejemplares. Ahora, el conjunto consta de 14/15 piezas distribuidas en cuatro motivos iconográficos: “Mujeres flanqueando un candelabro”, “Teseo reconocido por su padre”, “Engalanamiento de un hermes” y “Escena de pórtico de palestra”. El interés radica en los siguientes factores: su absoluta excepcionalidad (son extremadamente raras fuera de Italia); su concentración geográfica en la capital y su territorio; y su precisa adscripción cronológica y cultural. Los análisis arqueométricos adjudican un orígen lacial para una y una fabricación local para las restantes. Este hecho permite plantear el tema de la adopción de modelos iconográficos de la capital –Roma– en la Tárraco post-augustea.

Sota terra: excavant als escenaris de la Batalla de l'Ebre. Televisió de Catalunya, 14 de juny de 2010

Sembla que donar a conèixer l"arqueologia com a disciplina amb metodologia científica i caràcter professional no sigui una tasca fàcil. Vèncer la idea que es ven en pel·lícules de l"estil d"Indiana Jones implica que cal fer una tasca de difusió de la disciplina cap al gran públic, mostrant les diferents cares que té avui dia de forma didàctica, entretinguda i rigorosa. En un principi la idea del programa Sota Terra, emès per TV3 entre el juny i el setembre del 2010, era precisament aquesta. Tal i com ho afirmen els responsables a la plana web del programa:"Hi ha diversió, humor, aventura i rigor. Per l"ordre que es vulgui". En realitat, però, veurem que alguns elements no són tan clars, com a mínim en el capítol que ressenyem: Excavant als escenaris de la Batalla de l"Ebre, emès el 14 de juny del 2010.

“L’Emozione di conoscere e il desiderio di esistere”: Què és i com afecta la seva pràctica en el desenvolupament de l'autonomia de l'infant

El treball que es presenta a continuació pretén fer un aprofundiment en la metodologia pedagògica “Emozione di conoscere e desiderio di esistere”, nascuda a Itàlia i usada com a referent en l’Educació Especial, amb la intensió de poder valorar de quina manera afecta la seva pràctica en el desenvolupament de l’autonomia de l’infant. Per fer-ho, s’ha fet un recull dels estudis més rellevants relacionats amb el mètode “Emozione di conocscere” i amb el concepte d’autonomia. Seguidament, s’ha fet una observació acurada per poder descriure la posada en pràctica d’un projecte basat en aquesta metodologia i analitzar com aquest intervé en desenvolupar dita competència en els alumnes. Tot això, emmarcat dins l’escenari de la “Scuola Elementare Pirazzini”, situada al centre – nord d’Itàlia.

Analysis of Pleistocene paleodrainage evolution in the Po Basin (Italy) by multivariate statistical techniques

In order to obtain a high-resolution Pleistocene stratigraphy, eleven continuouslycored boreholes, 100 to 220m deep were drilled in the northern part of the PoPlain by Regione Lombardia in the last five years. Quantitative provenanceanalysis (QPA, Weltje and von Eynatten, 2004) of Pleistocene sands was carriedout by using multivariate statistical analysis (principal component analysis, PCA,and similarity analysis) on an integrated data set, including high-resolution bulkpetrography and heavy-mineral analyses on Pleistocene sands and of 250 majorand minor modern rivers draining the southern flank of the Alps from West toEast (Garzanti et al, 2004; 2006). Prior to the onset of major Alpine glaciations,metamorphic and quartzofeldspathic detritus from the Western and Central Alpswas carried from the axial belt to the Po basin longitudinally parallel to theSouthAlpine belt by a trunk river (Vezzoli and Garzanti, 2008). This scenariorapidly changed during the marine isotope stage 22 (0.87 Ma), with the onset ofthe first major Pleistocene glaciation in the Alps (Muttoni et al, 2003). PCA andsimilarity analysis from core samples show that the longitudinal trunk river at thistime was shifted southward by the rapid southward and westward progradation oftransverse alluvial river systems fed from the Central and Southern Alps.Sediments were transported southward by braided river systems as well as glacialsediments transported by Alpine valley glaciers invaded the alluvial plain.Kew words: Detrital modes; Modern sands; Provenance; Principal ComponentsAnalysis; Similarity, Canberra Distance; palaeodrainage

Modelling scenarios of diffusion and control of pandemic influenza, italy

En aquest article es resumeixen els resultats publicats en un informe de l' ISS (Istituto Superiore di Sanità) del desembre de 2006, sobre un model matemàtic desenvolupat per un grup de treball que inclou a investigadors de les Universitats de Trento, Pisa i Roma, i els Instituts Nacionals de Salut (Istituto Superiore di Sanità, ISS), per avaluar i mesurar l'impacte de la transmissió i el control de la pandèmia de grip

The roots of success: industrial growth in Italy reconsidered, 1911- 1951

This article reconsiders the growth of Italian industry from the First World War to the eve of the economic miracle, with the aid of sector-specific new value-added series, at three different price-bases. The new estimates reduce growth during the First World War, making the Italian case comparable to the other belligerent countries, while improving the performance of the 1920s. The 1929 crisis looks more profound than before, while the recovery after 1933 is now stronger. During the 1920s and the 1930s, a significant shift from traditional to more advanced activities took place: when confronted with the rest of Europe, the interwar period was a relative success, which laid the ground for the following economic boom.

The impact of labour market status on second and higher-order births. A comparative study of Denmark, Italy, Spain and United Kingdom

This paper investigates the effects of women‘s labour force participation on fertility, as well as the effects of the combined labour force participation of both members of a couple. It specifically focuses on such dimensions as unemployment, earnings, temporary contracts and part-time jobs, and it shows that their effects differ in accordance with national institutions and labour market regulations. Event-history methods and a longitudinal sample of the European Community Household Panel are used in the analyses, concerning the years 1993-2000. The results show that labour market insecurity of one or both members of a couple has a particularly strong impact in reducing birth rates in the Southern European countries studied. The more conventional model of men’s employment combined with housewifery has a positive impact on second or higher order births in United Kingdom, Spain and Italy, while in Denmark the effect is the opposite. These differences are consistent with different national models of combining parental responsibilities and participation by gender across the life course.

Statistical analysis and modelling of weather radar beam propagation conditions in the Po Valley (Italy)

Ground clutter caused by anomalous propagation (anaprop) can affect seriously radar rain rate estimates, particularly in fully automatic radar processing systems, and, if not filtered, can produce frequent false alarms. A statistical study of anomalous propagation detected from two operational C-band radars in the northern Italian region of Emilia Romagna is discussed, paying particular attention to its diurnal and seasonal variability. The analysis shows a high incidence of anaprop in summer, mainly in the morning and evening, due to the humid and hot summer climate of the Po Valley, particularly in the coastal zone. Thereafter, a comparison between different techniques and datasets to retrieve the vertical profile of the refractive index gradient in the boundary layer is also presented. In particular, their capability to detect anomalous propagation conditions is compared. Furthermore, beam path trajectories are simulated using a multilayer ray-tracing model and the influence of the propagation conditions on the beam trajectory and shape is examined. High resolution radiosounding data are identified as the best available dataset to reproduce accurately the local propagation conditions, while lower resolution standard TEMP data suffers from interpolation degradation and Numerical Weather Prediction model data (Lokal Model) are able to retrieve a tendency to superrefraction but not to detect ducting conditions. Observing the ray tracing of the centre, lower and upper limits of the radar antenna 3-dB half-power main beam lobe it is concluded that ducting layers produce a change in the measured volume and in the power distribution that can lead to an additional error in the reflectivity estimate and, subsequently, in the estimated rainfall rate.