Amedeo Di Maio

Post high school education choices in Italy: an empirical analysis

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to empirically analyze individual level determinants of Italian secondary school graduates’ educational choices. Design/methodology/approach – The authors rely on data provided by a large survey carried out by the Italian National Institute of Statistics. While previous contributions specifically focus on individual determinants of university enrollment, the authors model graduates’ choice as emerging from a comparison of three alternative options: stop studying in order to enter the job market, continue studying at University and attend a post-secondary professional course. Therefore the multinomial logit estimates enable to define the profiles of high school graduates making different post-secondary educational choices. Findings – On the one hand, the authors find that having a good family background, with highly educated parents who hold prestigious professional positions, is associated to a preference for enrollment at university rather than stopping studying. Th...

«World Cultural Heritage» between the contradictions in economic theory and tragedies in the news

The intentional and barbaric destruction of Syrian cultural heritage urges us to reflect on how some of the concepts coined and spread by UNESCO are actually perceived worldwide. The article focuses on the economic meaning of «world cultural heritage», in order to highlight some of its most important contradictions. To do this, we must shortly define the birth and evolution of the «cultural heritage» notion, as well as stress the presence of discord in the not-always-possible harmony between the local and global sides of the aforementioned heritage, even in non-economic literature. Economic literature tends to dwell on the explanation of public intervention in the preservation of cultural heritage. Two different traits mark this preservation as local or global: community good and world public good. This work points out how considering public heritage as a global common good is controversial from a theoretical point of view, while identifying ideological and political discord might lead to more effective strategies in the worldwide preservation of cultural heritage.

The Gift and the State of the Art

In this paper, we try to understand the meaning of gift, with particular attention devoted to the charitable giving. By means of a descriptive analysis based on data provided by the Italian Ministry of Finance in the period 2001-2012, we analyze the frequency and the amount of donors and donations to arts and culture organizations in Italy both ad as personal income tax allowances (19% tax deduction) and choice in tax destination (5). Descriptive analysis shows how inconsistent is patronage for cultural institutions in ltaly. Moreover, we present some positive correlations between donations and some creativity indexes. Discussion and conclusion emphasize that art patronage, differently from other sectors like health, poverty alleviation aims at promoting heritage preservation or the delivery of a cultural service (offer-related), and it is not directly addressed to promote the demand of cultural good or service.