Vincenzo Scoppa

PEER EFFECTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION: DOES THE FIELD OF STUDY MATTER?

Does the peer effect vary with the field of study? Using data from a middle-sized public university located in Southern Italy and exploiting the random assignment of first year students to college accommodation, we find that roommate peer effects for freshmen enrolled in the Hard Sciences are positive and significantly larger than for freshmen enrolled in the Humanities and Social Sciences. We present a simple theoretical model which suggests that the uncovered differences between fields in the size of the peer effect could plausibly be generated by between-field variation in labor market returns, which affect optimal student effort.

The Effects of Managerial Turnover Evidence from Coach Dismissals in Italian Soccer Teams

The authors use sports data to study the effects of manager replacement on firm performance. Using match results of the major Italian soccer league (“Serie A”), the effects of coach (manager) changes on team performance are analyzed. To control for the “Ashenfelter dip” and to compare similar teams facing similar opponents two alternative econometric strategies are undertaken: the estimation of a number of team-season fixed effects models and the use of a matching estimator. From team-season fixed effects estimates, it emerges that changing the coach does not produce a positive effect on team performance, with the exception of the number of goals scored. Matching estimates confirm that changing the coach does not affect team performance neither when considering as dependent variable the number of points per match nor when looking at the number of goals scored or conceded.

Gender Discrimination and Evaluators’ Gender: Evidence from Italian Academia

type=main xml:id=ecca12107-abs-0001> Relying on a natural experiment consisting in 130 competitions for promotion to associate and full professor in Italian universities, we analyse whether gender discrimination is affected by the gender of evaluators. We examine the probability of success of each candidate in relation to the committee gender composition, exploiting the random assignment of evaluators and controlling for candidates’ scientific productivity and a number of individual characteristics. We find that female candidates are less likely to be promoted when the committee is composed exclusively of males, while the gender gap disappears when the candidates are evaluated by a mixed-sex committee.

Absenteeism in the Italian Public Sector: The Effects of Changes in Sick Leave Policy

We analyze how the absence behavior of Italian public sector employees has been affected by a law, passed in June 2008, reducing sick leave compensation and increasing monitoring. We use micro data on 889 workers employed in public administration. We find that the employees’ probability of being absent diminishes and that the reduction is greater among employees suffering higher earnings losses. Employees are responsive to the monitoring intensity and to the announcement of policy changes. Females react more strongly. While the reform has increased the hazard of ending an absence spell for short durations, the hazard for long durations decreased.

Peer Group Effects on the Academic Performance of Italian Students

We analyse peer effects among students of a middle-sized Italian public university. We explain students’ average grade in exams passed during their Second Level Degree course on the basis of their pre-determined measures of abilities, personal characteristics and peer group abilities. Thanks to a rich administrative data set, we are able to build a variety of definitions of peer groups, describing different kinds of students’ interaction, based on classes attended together or exams taken in the same session. Self-selection problems are handled through Two-Stage Least Squares estimations using as an instrument, the exogenous assignment of students to different teaching classes in the compulsory courses attended during their First Level Degree course. We find statistically significant positive peer group effects, which are robust to the different definitions of peer group and to different measures of abilities.

Quality of Human and Physical Capital and Technological Gaps across Italian Regions

Scoppa V. (2007) Quality of human and physical capital and technological gaps across Italian regions, Regional Studies 41, 585–599. This paper evaluates the relative contribution of factor accumulation and technology in explaining output per worker differences across Italian regions. The contributions of physical and human capital are separately estimated through the variance decomposition of output per worker. Whereas from a basic analysis of development accounting with crude data total factor productivity (TFP) emerges as a fundamental determinant, when more accurate data are used in the estimations of human and physical capital to take into account their quality, results change radically, showing a higher importance of factor accumulation with respect to previous standard estimations. Scoppa V. (2007) La qualité des capitaux humain et physique et les écarts technologiques à travers les régions dItalie, Regional Studies 41, 585–599. Cet article cherche à évaluer la contribution relative de laccumulation de facteurs et de la technologie afin dexpliquer les écarts de rendement par travailleur à travers les régions dItalie. On estime séparément la contribution des capitaux physique et humain par moyen de la variance décomposée du rendement par travailleur. Alors quà partir dune analyse de base de la comptabilité de développement, la TFP (productivité globale des facteurs) savère un déterminant essentiel, quand on emploie des données plus justes pour estimer les capitaux humain et physique pour tenir compte de leur qualité, les résultats sont radicalement transformés, accordant une plus grande importance à laccumulation de facteurs par rapport aux estimations standard antérieures. Qualité du capital humain Aménagement du territoire Productivité globale des facteurs Scoppa V. (2007) Qualität des humanen und physischen Kapitals und technologische Lücken in verschiedenen italienischen Regionen, Regional Studies 41, 585–599. In diesem Aufsatz wird der relative Beitrag der Faktorenakkumulation und Technologie zur Erklärung der Unterschiede zwischen verschiedenen italienischen Regionen hinsichtlich der Leistung pro Arbeitnehmer untersucht. Die Beiträge des physischen und humanen Kapitals werden mit Hilfe einer Varianzdekomposition der Leistung pro Arbeitnehmer gesondert geschätzt. Bei einer Grundanalyse der Entwicklung mit Hilfe roher Daten erweist sich die Gesamtfaktorproduktivität als fundamentaler Determinant. Werden jedoch genauere Daten zur Schätzung des humanen und physischen Kapitals herangezogen, um deren Qualität zu berücksichtigen, ändern sich die Ergebnisse radikal und weisen auf eine höhere Bedeutung der Faktorenakkumulation für die früheren Standardschätzungen hin. Qualität des Humankapitals Regionalentwicklung; Gesamtfaktorproduktivität Scoppa V. (2007) Calidad del capital humano y físico y vacíos tecnológicos en las regiones italianas, Regional Studies 41, 585–599. En este documento se evalúa la contribución relativa de la acumulación de factores y la tecnología para explicar las diferencias de rendimiento por trabajador entre las regiones de Italia. Se calculan por separado las contribuciones del capital humano y físico a través de la descomposición de varianza del rendimiento por trabajador. Mientras que, a partir de un análisis básico de desarrollo mediante datos brutos, la productividad total de los factores surge como un determinante fundamental, cuando se utilizan datos más exactos en las estimaciones de capital humano y físico para tener en cuenta su calidad, los resultados cambian radicalmente y muestran una mayor importancia de la acumulación de factores con respecto a las estimaciones estándares anteriores. Calidad del capital humano; Desarrollo regional; Productividad total de los factores

Monetary Incentives and Student Achievement in a Depressed Labor Market: Results from a Randomized Experiment

We evaluate the effectiveness of monetary incentives in enhancing student performance using a randomized experiment involving undergraduate students enrolled at a southern Italian University. Students were assigned to three different groups: a high-reward group, a low-reward group, and a control group. Rewards were given to the 30 best-performing students in each group. Financial rewards increase student performance. High-ability students react strongly whereas the effect is null for low-ability students. Large and small rewards produce very similar effects. These effects also persist in subsequent years, when the financial incentives are no longer in place. No types of crowding-out effects of the monetary incentives are found.

An Empirical Study of Happiness in Italy

Abstract This study analyzes the determinants of individual subjective well-being (happiness) in Italy by estimating microeconometric happiness equations in order to examine the effects of socio-demographic characteristics and economic conditions on subjective evaluations of happiness. Consistent with the findings in other advanced countries we find that income and wealth increase happiness and that unemployment is extremely bad for subjective well-being. In addition, we obtain some novel and interesting results for Italy including the following: income obtained by public transfers has a limited impact on subjective well-being; education increases happiness, even when controlling for income; Southern residents and individuals living in large cities are less happy; and social capital makes people happier. Finally, individuals care about relative income, in the sense that their happiness is negatively influenced by the income of others in their group of reference. Our results show that several non-economic variables are extremely important for subjective well-being.

The Role of Family Ties in the Labour Market: An Interpretation Based on Efficiency Wage Theory

By casual empiricism, it seems that many firms take explicit account of the family ties connecting workers, often hiring individuals belonging to the same family or passing jobs on from parents to their children. This paper makes an attempt to explain this behaviour by introducing the assumption of altruism within the family and supposing that agents maximise a family utility function rather than an individual one. This hypothesis has been almost ignored in the analysis of the relationship between employers and employees. The implications of this assumption in the efficiency wage models are explored: by employing members of the same family, firms can use a (credible) harsher threat¬ – involving all the family’s members in case of one member’s shirking - that allows them to pay a lower efficiency wage. On the other hand, workers who accept this agreement exchange a reduction in wage with an increase in their probability of being employed: this can be optimal in situation of high unemployment. Moreover, the link between parents and children allows the firm to follow a strategy that solves the problem of an individual’s finite time horizon through family’s reputation.

CLASS SIZE EFFECTS ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT: HETEROGENEITY ACROSS ABILITIES AND FIELDS

In this paper, we analyze class size effects on college students exploiting data from a project offering special remedial courses in mathematics and language skills to freshmen enrolled at an Italian medium-sized public university. To estimate the effects of class size, we exploit the fact that students and teachers are virtually randomly assigned to teaching classes of different sizes. From our analysis, it emerges that controlling for a number of individual characteristics, larger classes determine a significant and sizeable negative effect on student performance in mathematics. Importantly, this negative effect is significantly larger for low-ability students and negligible for high-ability ones. On the other hand, class size effects do not appear to be relevant for student achievement in language skills.