Gilberto Antonelli

Mixed Outcomes of the Bologna Process in Italy

A country study in the framework of a comparative analysis – in this case on issues of mobility and employability of Bachelor graduates in Italy in comparison to other European countries – runs the risk of misunderstandings if the characteristics of the individual countries are not sufficiently taken into account. Therefore, we must stress two stylized facts on the Italian setting.

Structural Change and Technological Externalities in the Service Sector: Some Evidence from Italy

The economic role of the tertiary sector is already predominant in all major economies. This is also true for the Italian economy, despite the fact that it is lagging behind the EU average. According to the last accounts of the Italian economy (ISTAT, 1999), in 1996 more than 60% of overall value added was produced in the tertiary sector. Around 2.6 million firms3 and 7 million employees4 were active in the market for services. On the whole, the tertiary sector engaged, in the same year, 2.94 million firm5 and 9.69 million employees6. Moreover, the fact should also be taken into account that two sections of services, that is ‘trade’, ‘hotels and restaurants’ and ‘other services’7, are among the sectors in which the ‘non directly observed economy’ concentrates, if we consider the percentage of employees involved, while ‘other services’ are the leading section if we consider the percentage of selfemployed workers9. All of this suggests that official figures tend to underestimate the relative weight of the tertiary sector in the Italian economy — whose overall performance of course depends on, and derives from, the interaction between all sectors of activity.

Graduates’ employment and employability after the “Bologna Process” reform. Evidence from the Italian experience and methodological issues

In a phase of depression and systemic crisis investments are essential assets in organizing the recovery, and the more so when innovation is relevant. This is why universities, companies, households and graduates implement strategies for overcoming the present crisis, leading to structural changes and competition both at the local and international level. In this framework, tracer studies on graduates transition to the labour markets provides fundamental insights and information not only to the organizations responsible for their training, but also to the economic system as a whole. Moreover, any such study is all the more useful when it can draw upon reliable and up-to-date information. This paper emphasizes three main points. First we present the results achieved by the AL model in tracing the transition path of graduates from the time they enrolled at the university until a few years after earning the degree. The survey is carried out every year by the AL and makes it possible to analyze the most recent labour market trends through the scrutiny of the career opportunities available for the graduates after 1, 3 and 5 years on from graduation. More specifically, we will present the results of the 2008 survey. This survey involved also all first and second level graduates from the 2007 vintage. Second, we examine the revision in our survey method, adopted in order to face the need to monitor a much higher number of post-reform graduates (more than 140 thousand overall) and the call of the Ministry and the universities to keep the information as much detailed as possible in assessing the employment outcomes for each single degree course, without losing feasibility in terms of costs and data collection time. In fact, we resorted to a mixed method: the computer assisted web interviewing (CAWI) and the computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI). This is why it became necessary to measure and assess the effect of this approach on the answers given by interviewed graduates. In third place, we outline the results of some preliminary experiments carried on in order to allow for specific and recurrent comparisons between the results achieved with the AL model and other similar models dealing with the employment conditions of Italian graduates.

Approaching an investigation of multi-dimensional inequality through the lenses of variety in models of capitalism

After a synthetic presentation of the state of poverty and inequality in the world and the contradictions incurred by economic theory in this field after decades of globalization and in the midst of a persisting global crisis, in paragraphs 2. and 3. we outline the rational for our theoretical analysis, underlining two main aspects. First of all, in paragraph 2. we recall the reasons which makes inequality a multidimensional phenomenon, while in paragraph 3. we explore the reasons why the models of capitalism theory is relevant for studying multidimensional inequality. These paragraphs emphasise that inequality is a multidimensional and cumulative phenomenon and it should not be conceived only as the result of the processes of personal and functional distribution of income and wealth, which even by themselves are intrinsically multidimensional. The basic idea is that institutions, the cobweb of relations among them and their interaction with the economic structure define the model of capitalism which characterises a specific country and this, in turn, affects the level and the dynamics of inequality. This approach is consistent with the sociological approach by Rehbein and Souza (2014), based on the analytical framework developed by Pierre Bourdieu. In paragraph 4. we outline the rational for our empirical analysis, applying the notion of institutional complementarity and examining the relationship between institutional complementarity, models of capitalism and inequality. Besides, refining Amable’s analysis (2003), we provide empirical evidence on the relationship between inequality in income distribution and models of capitalism. Additionally, basing on cluster analysis, we identify six different models of capitalism in a sample of OECD countries, provide preliminary evidence on the different level of inequality which characterises each model and suggest that no evidence supports of the idea that a single model of capitalism is taking shape in this sphere in EU. In paragraph 5. we give some hints about issues in search for a new interpretation capable to fasten together the process of increasing inequality, the notion of symbolic violence and the models of capitalism theory. In the last paragraph we focus on conclusions useful for carrying on our research agenda.

Emerging Powers Development, Global Economic Crisis and Value Chains Restructuring

This chapter studies the relationship between the development of emerging powers (EPs) and the restructuring of economic networks before and after the recent economic crisis. It looks at some of the effects of the restructuring process on structural change and EPs’ economic role, addressing different dimensions of inequality which are spreading in spite of many predictions. I argue that the main obstacle to thwart this increasing inequality lies in the hegemony of ‘conventional wisdom’ which is recovering ground after the global economic crisis.

Income Distribution and Labour Factor Quality: Models and Applications at a Regional Level

This paper stems from a research programme consisting of two parts. The aim of the first was to supply information, by means of a sample survey at a regional level, about labour force quality, individual and family labour incomes and about the role they play in shaping choices relating to education, off-the-job and on-the-job training and job search. The survey, conducted in June–September 1978, consists of a ‘general’ sample of all the Emilia-Romagna region households (2700) and of an ‘integrative’ sample of the households having at least one graduate member (300).1

Regional governance and economic development: A European perspective

In current debate the economic impact of local development can be traced back to two strains of perspectives and outcomes which are on the whole schizophrenic. On the one hand, when questions regarding disparity and inequality, or conversely cohesion and convergence, are being considered, what emerges are above all the potentially negative consequences, risks and uncertainties associated with it. On the other, when under investigation are the prerequisites of system competitiveness and therefore issues concerning the development of infrastructures, finance and good administrative practices, capital and technology, labour and human resources, natural and environmental resources or, in other words, the innovation in broad production factors, then what emerges are above all the potentially positive consequences, opportunities and trust associated with it.