Luca Secondi

Reducing food waste: an investigation on the behaviour of Italian youths

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the knowledge of youths concerning food waste as well as to identify factors that influence changes in behaviour concerning food wasted and planning shopping for preventing it. Design/methodology/approach – The data used were collected from a sample of 233 students at Roma-Tre University in Italy. Probit models were specified to identify factors affecting food waste reduction in both pre-shopping and consumption phases. Findings – Results show that the more aware youths are concerning food waste, the more likely they are to reduce leftovers. In contrast, the concern about food freshness increases waste. A greater awareness of the consequences of food wasted increases the likelihood that youths will make a shopping list. Research limitations/implications – The main limitation of the study can be found in the non-probabilistic sampling design used for the collection of data. Practical implications – This study provides information for both social marketers an...

CES and Translog parameter estimates in a SAM-based regional general equilibrium framework

ABSTRACT The computation of General Equilibrium models crucially depends on Social Accounting Matrix (SAM)-based calibration and on how estimation/imputation are performed to reproduce the benchmark dataset as an equilibrium solution. In this paper, theoretical contributions are provided by suggesting a new procedure in which the production function parameters and the elasticity of substitution are estimated by resorting to the data contained in the SAM. To this aim, the Generalized Cross-Entropy estimator is used. Application of this self-contained procedure to the regional SAM for the Italian region Tuscany leads to empirical results consisting of the estimates of the elasticities of substitution of Constant Elasticity of Substitution and Translog production functions consistent with the theoretical background. This yields a more efficient and effective solution of Computable General Equilibrium models.

Evaluating the Efficiency of the Italian University Educational Processes through Frontier Production Methods

The university efficiency indicators, computed as partial indices following the input–output approach, are subject to criticism mainly concerning the problem of comparability of institutions due to the influence of several environmental factors. The aim of this study is to construct comparable efficiency indicators for the university educational processes by using frontier production methods which enable us to solve the problem. The indicators are computed for the Italian State Universities by using a new data set referring to the cohort of students enrolled in the academic year 2004/2005. A comparison with the corresponding partial indicators usually employed is presented.

Exploring the Italians' food habits and tendency towards the Mediterranean diet

At first sight, the Mediterranean diet appears to be the best and most well-balanced diet to follow as it links environmental and human health. Unfortunately, it seems that Mediterranean countries are replacing the traditional Mediterranean diet with other less healthy eating habits and orienting their food choices towards products typical of the Western diet which is characterised by a high intake of animal products, refined grains, saturated fats without taking into consideration health issues and environmental sustainability. By using repeated cross-sections of the ISTAT “Aspects of daily-life” survey over the period 1997-2012, we assess the Italians’ prevailing food pattern and explore how it has changed over time and across regions in Italy. Moreover, the role of the socio-demographic and lifestyle factors are investigated.