Going concern modifications and related disclosures in the Italian stock market: do regulatory improvements help investors in capturing financial distress?

Journal of Management and Governance - This paper investigates the investor reaction to audit reports containing a going concern modification (GCM) in the Italian market following new amendments...     

Employment and Earnings Expectations of Jobless Young Skilled: Evidence from Italy

Quality of Life (QoL) is a multi-dimensional idea that includes various distinctive dimensions and its estimation is considered as an essential factor for policy assessment. The study estimates the inter-district variation in QoL in Pakistan by using a data set of Household Integrated Economic Survey of 2010–2011. Objective and subjective indices are constructed to measure QoL with 7 domains and 31 indicators within 89 districts of Pakistan by employing the principal component analysis. The leading result of the study reveals that top ranked district is Jhelum in term of QoL and Tharparkar is at the bottom. The analysis also reveals that the most of the top ranked districts are located in Punjab province. This reflects the better performance of the province in term objective and QoL indices. Whereas, the districts of Balochistan emerge at the lower end in terms of objective and QoL indices. Majority districts of Punjab shows a modest level of satisfaction regarding the facilities provided by the government and the least satisfied districts belong to KPK and Sindh. It is interesting to identify that disparity in the objective index and subjective perceptions are representing QoL differences.

     

M&A and diversification strategies: what effect on quality of inventive activity?

Journal of Management and Governance - The aim of this paper is to examine how an acquirer’s diversification strategy shapes the multiple dimensions of inventive activity. Differing from...     

Promoting sustainable development through civil society: A case study of the EU’s NSA/LA thematic programme in Kyrgyzstan

The article focuses on the contribution of the European Union (EU) in promoting sustainable development through the involvement of civil society in partner countries. More specifically, it analyses the main features and outcomes of the projects implemented by civil society organizations (CSOs) in Kyrgyzstan under the EU thematic programme Non‐State Actors and Local Authorities in Development (NSA/LA). Despite its importance—this is the only EU programme providing direct support to non‐state actors and local authorities engaged in poverty reduction—to date, there has been very little research on the functioning of this instrument on the ground. This article seeks to fill this gap in the literature by examining the EU’s contribution to sustainable development through a case study on Kyrgyzstan. The study is based on primary data: 10 semi‐structured interviews conducted with the EU‐funded organizations implementing the NSA/LA programme. The NSA/LA projects were analysed by considering two major fields of engagement of non‐state actors in the development process: as service providers and as advocates (Banks & Hulme, 2012). Overall, the organizations awarded EU support were not only focused on fulfilling short‐term needs but also sought to introduce new ways of dealing with poverty and inequality, positioning themselves between the “Big‐D” and the “little‐d” approaches to development (Bebbington, Hickey, & Mitlin, 2008). Nonetheless, the EU‐funded projects were too limited and fragmented to be able to sustain long‐term structural change. Therefore, the EU should place new emphasis on creating synergies between new and old structures at the grassroots level and establishing mechanisms and bodies that could merge and co‐ordinate their efforts. In addition, the calls for proposals could highlight the need to share the lessons learnt by “obliging” the beneficiaries to act as multipliers and to pass on their positive experience to neighbouring communities. Finally, the EU could stimulate the funded organizations to experiment with innovative mechanisms of involvement in the policy‐making process, by making this aspect a mandatory requirement of the projects implemented with its support.     

Sharing of emotional memories with a listener: differences between adolescents and emerging adults

Research demonstrated a strong influence of personal narratives on emotions linked to memories. However, few studies considered shared narratives and the role of listener’s behavior, especially in adolescence and emerging adulthood. This paper aims to explore the impact of listening attitude on emotions related to memories in adolescents and emerging adults. A total of 157 participants were asked to choose a memory: in the experimental conditions (Attentive Listening, AL vs. Detached Listening, DL), they narrated it to a listener, in the Control Group, they internally reflected about it. Emotions linked to memory at the first time, to narrative/reflection, and to memory after 15 days were measured, as well as the perception of listener’s behavior. Results showed that participants perceived the differences of the listening, although adolescents perceived less listener’s detached stance. Moreover, among adolescents, positive emotions increased after narrative for both experimental conditions, instead, among emerging adults, only AL condition participants increased their positive emotions. Moreover, adults maintained the positive effects of narrative also after 15 days. Authors discussed the role of an empathic context and the adolescent egocentrism in shared narratives about personal memories.     

Health, Quality of Life and Population Density: A Preliminary Study on “Contextualized” Quality of Life

Quality of life concerns individual (physical and psychological health), interpersonal (social relationships) and contextual (environment) aspects, which are both subjective and objective. In considering contextual characteristics, empirical findings have demonstrated that people’s relation to their living environment is a key issue for their well-being. However, until now literature has paid little attention to population density as an element affecting quality of life. The present study aimed at assessing the predictive role of population density on the several domains of quality of life, along with socio-demographic characteristics and physical diseases. Participants were 344 subjects living in the Northern Italy area. A questionnaire with WHO Quality of Life Brief Scale, a checklist of chronic diseases and a socio-demographic form was used to collect data. Results showed that population density influences psychological, relational and environmental quality of life. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed.     

Geoadditive modeling for extreme rainfall data

Extreme value models and techniques are widely applied in environmental studies to define protection systems against the effects of extreme levels of environmental processes. Regarding the matter related to the climate science, a certain importance is covered by the implication of changes in the hydrological cycle. Among all hydrologic processes, rainfall is a very important variable as it is strongly related to flood risk assessment and mitigation, as well as to water resources availability and drought identification. We implement here a geoadditive model for extremes assuming that the observations follow a generalized extreme value distribution with spatially dependent location. The analyzed territory is the catchment area of the Arno River in Tuscany in Central Italy.     

Social services and deviation from the Bismarckian model in Italy: the absence of a nationwide trend of change

This article analyses the processes of deviation from the Bismarckian welfare model in Italy, with a focus on social assistance. The sector was reformed in 2000, with new service provision functions being assigned to local institutions and the affirmation of a universalistic principle of access. However, an analysis of social expenditure data and a review of the process of implementation of the reform demonstrate that many local governments have been unable to enact the innovation and that a homogeneous nationwide trend of deviation from the Bismarckian tradition is absent. This absence is explained by looking both at the local institutional arrangements that have historically characterized the different Italian territories and at the present relationships among national, regional, and local governments.