Davide Quaglione

Exploring additional determinants of fixed broadband adoption: policy implications for narrowing the broadband demand gap

ABSTRACT Using data from the survey ‘Aspects of daily life’ conducted on Italian individuals in 2014 by the Italian Institute of Statistics, we propose new evidence on the factors that encourage the adoption of fixed broadband, a topic relevant for the reduction of the so-called broadband demand gap. We estimate a probit model through the two-step Heckman procedure for the selection bias, and find that, besides the already studied socio-demographic determinants, Internet-capable devices other than personal computers, as well as recreational (essentially video contents) and cloud-related uses of the Internet, have a relevant positive role. Policies aimed at fostering the diffusion of smart homes and more generally of the Internet of things at the residential level might be very effective in favouring fixed broadband adoption, provided that the network be neutral, not discriminating between data based on their contents and/or the destination device, and that possible foreclosing behaviours in the access to (premium) contents be properly and promptly addressed.

Structural change and the sustainability of regional convergence: Evidence from the Italian regions:

Empirical studies on economic convergence have typically paid poor attention to the role played by the structural characteristics of the economy. Using OECD data for the period 1995–2007, the relationship between structural change and the convergence process of the Italian regions is analysed by integrating two approaches. A modified version of shift-and-share analysis is first used in order to break the average growth rate of labour productivity into its infra-sectoral and structural components. The existence of a relationship between the components of the growth rate and the presence of regional convergence is then assessed econometrically. Unlike in most studies reported in the literature, the regression coefficient is broken up in two separate parts to assess how much of the observed regional growth can be referred to the infra-sectoral and the structural components. The empirical results confirm the existence of a (slow) convergence, but also that only structural change has played a statistically significant support role. The regional disparities are, in most cases, unchanged or even worsened when the infra-sectoral productivity growth is considered. In terms of policy implications, strong emphasis must remain on sectoral policies: ‘place-based’ and ‘sectoral smart specialisation’ policies are crucial for the convergence process to be sustainable in the long term.

The two sides of academic research: do basic and applied activities complement each other?

It is generally acknowledged that the cuts in government funding for research implemented in several European countries will induce academic researchers to increase their interaction with non academic entities to promote the acquisition of external funding for research. Indirectly this implies that there will be a shift in the focus of academic scientific activity from basic to applied research via private research contracts and consultancy work. The aim of our paper is to assess the extent of the trade-off between basic research and applied activity in academic research departments. We use data for the universe of Italian academic departments over the period 2006–2011 and estimate whether increased applied activity is substituting or complementing basic research activity. We provide empirical evidence of a strong substitution effect for life sciences departments and, to a lesser extent, for engineering and technology departments, while there does not seem to be evidence of a substitution effect for departments whose scientific activity revolves around basic science.

Labour Productivity, Structural Change and the Perspectives of the Italian Regional Economies

The paper aims at proposing a sectoral «shift and share» analysis of the labour productivity growth of the Italian Regions through a decomposition in two different components: an intra-sectoral one, which relates to productivity gains achieved thanks to the internal improvements of productivity in each sector; a structural one, which refers to productivity gains due to changes in sectors composition. The findings suggest that the role of the structural change (characterized by a marked tertiarization process) has been, with few regional exceptions, predominant in the period 1980-2004 and decisive in the period 2000-2007. In many cases, the structural change positive contribution to total productivity growth has concealed a decline of the productivity within sectors (in particular as far as the 2000-2007 period is concerned). In addition, the employment has moved from sectors with «low levels - high growth rates» of productivity (manufacturing) to «high levels - low growth rates» of productivity (services), thus supporting Baumols structural burden hypothesis.