Pyramids and the separation between direction and control of non-financial Italian family companies

This paper uses a multiple case study analysis of ten Italian business groups controlled by families to answer the following research questions: Does the controlling shareholder, through the parent company at the top of the pyramidal group, always exercise the direction activity of the subsidiaries? If not, why does the parent company not exercise that activity, delegating it to its subsidiaries? What is the degree of separation between control and direction within the group? A high percentage of our sample declares not to be directed by the parent company. However, the presence of family members on the subsidiaries’ boards and the low boards’ independence makes the separation between direction and control more apparent than real. The credibility of the separation is questioned mostly for those non-directed subsidiaries that operate in the same sector. Our analysis suggests some elements, in order to understand in which cases the direction activity by the parent (or its delegation to the subsidiaries) should be interpreted positively or negatively in terms of controlling shareholder expropriation, by proposing to use the degree of separation between direction and control as a proxy to assess indirectly the degree of that expropriation.     

A Two-Step Approach to Analyze Satisfaction Data

In this paper a two-step procedure based on Nonlinear Principal Component Analysis (NLPCA) and Multilevel models (MLM) for the analysis of satisfaction data is proposed. The basic hypothesis is that observed ordinal variables describe different aspects of a latent continuous variable, which depends on covariates connected with individual and contextual features. NLPCA is used to measure the level of a latent variable and MLM is adopted for detecting individual and environmental determinants of the level. This approach is suggested to analyze users’ satisfaction. In fact, NLPCA is used to create a synthetic continuous measure of satisfaction (first step) and MLM are used to detect the role of external (individual or environmental) variables that can affect the level itself (second step). The proposed two-step procedure is applied to the Eurobarometer survey data about opinion of European citizens on services of general interest (SGI) aiming to evaluate and compare the opinion about SGI in different countries. The focus is on overall level of satisfaction about four major public services: fixed telephone, electricity supply, postal and rail services. The item analyzed, which are named manifest variables, are: access easiness, price, quality, information clarity and contract fairness, as reported in the 2002 Eurobarometer survey. In the first step these variables are used to set up the synthetic indicator (the overall level) of satisfaction and, in the second step, a MLM is used to test the impact of some explanatory variables on this satisfaction.     

Interlocking directorship across Italian listed companies: evidence from a natural experiment

The financial crisis of 2008 and the introduction of the Interlocking Ban in 2011 (for financial firms) deeply influenced the Italian corporate governance system. The aim of the present study is to investigate to what extent personal ties among the directors of Italian listed companies have changed after these two events. We describe the evolution and dimension of the phenomenon of interlocking directorship (ID) for all the Italian listed companies over the period 1998–2013 using different methodologies. Social network analysis discloses the existence of clusters of companies whose links remain dense after the crisis, while connections to the peripheral units of the system decrease, reducing the overall connectedness. Results reveal that, over the period, there is a reduction in the cumulation ratio which still remains high and mainly due to a high number of directorships for multiple directors. This reduction is more severe after 2008 when both the financial crisis and the Interlocking Ban occur. In disentangling the two effects we observe ID reduction during and after the crisis, also for non-financial firms, confirming the general tendency of a decline in national board interlocking networks.     

Small-area estimation in the presence of area-level correlated responses

The Fay-Herriot area-level model for correlated response data is augmented with a between-groups-of-domains effect. Correlated-response parameters of small-area estimates no longer need the assumption of spatial contiguity. A simulation shows that area-level correlated-response observations increase the efficiency of the estimates, but do not reduce the biases.     

Hunger,nutrition, and precipitation: evidence from Ghana and Bangladesh

Population and Environment - Changing precipitation patterns caused by climate change are expected to have major impacts on food security and nutrition in agrarian areas in developing countries....     

Social closure,micro‐class immobility and the intergenerational reproduction of the upper class: a comparative study

This article assesses how processes of social closure enhance intergenerational immobility in the regulated professions and thus promote persistence at the top of the occupational hierarchy. We compare four European countries (GB, Germany, Denmark and Sweden) that differ considerably in their degree of professional regulation and in their broader institutional arrangements. We run log‐linear and logistic regression models on a cumulative dataset based on three large‐scale surveys with detailed and highly comparable information at the level of unit occupations. Our analyses indicate that children of licensed professionals are far more likely to inherit the occupation of their parents and that this stronger micro‐class immobility translates into higher chances of persistence in the upper class. These results support social closure theory and confirm the relevance of a micro‐class approach for the explanation of social fluidity and of its cross‐national variations. Moreover, we find that, when children of professionals do not reproduce the micro‐class of their parents, they still display disproportionate chances of persistence in professional employment. Hence, on the one hand, processes of social closure erect barriers between professions and fuel micro‐class immobility at the top. On the other hand, the cultural proximity of different professional groups drives intense intergenerational exchanges between them. Our analyses indicate that these micro‐ and meso‐class rigidities work as complementary routes to immobility at the top.     

The Multidimensionality of Prosocial Behaviors and Evidence of Measurement Equivalence in Mexican American and European American Early Adolescents

There is growing recognition of the need to examine distinct forms of prosocial behaviors and to conduct research on prosocial behaviors among ethnic minorities. Middle school students (mean age=12.67 years; 54% girls; European American, n=290; Mexican American, n=152) completed a multidimensional measure of prosocial behavior and measures of parental monitoring, externalizing behaviors, and religiosity. Results yield supportive evidence that anonymous, dire, emotional, compliant, public, and altruism are different forms of prosocial behaviors. Moreover, the measure of prosocial behaviors shows measurement equivalence properties across ethnicity and gender. The discussion focuses on the multidimensional nature of prosocial behaviors and implications for future research on prosocial behaviors.     

Nonlinear models for ground-level ozone forecasting

One of the main concerns in air pollution is excessive tropospheric ozone concentration. The aim of this work is to develop statistical models giving shortterm forecasts of future ground-level ozone concentrations. Since there are few physical insights about the dynamic relationship between ozone, precursor emissions and/or meteorological factors, a nonparametric and nonlinear approach seems promising in order to specify the forecast models. First, we apply four nonparametric procedures to forecast daily maximum 1-hour and maximum 8-hour averages of ozone concentrations in an urban area. Then, in order to improve the forecast performances, we combine the time series of the forecasts. This idea seems to give encouraging results. This work was supported by a MURST grant. The authors would like to thank two anonymous referees for their helpful comments.     

A Recast Framework for Welfare Deservingness Perceptions

Social Indicators Research - Many important societal debates revolve around questions of deservingness, especially when it comes to debates related to inequality and social protection. It is...     

Observed Interactions Indicate Protective Effects of Relationships With Parents for Referred Adolescents

This study examined whether the quality of parent–adolescent interactions moderate the association between stressful life events and internalizing and externalizing problems in referred adolescents (N=101, M age 13.41 years, SD=1.81). Adolescents and their parents reported on psychological problems at the time of referral and 4 years later. At follow‐up parents reported on stressful life events and an interaction task was conducted to observe autonomy and relatedness promoting behaviors. For adolescents exposed to stressful events, levels of internalizing and externalizing problems went up except if observed parent–adolescent interactions were characterized by high autonomy and relatedness. The results implied that autonomy and relatedness protect adolescents against the deleterious effects of stressful life events. These findings build on previous research showing for psychologically vulnerable adolescents that parenting that promotes autonomy while maintaining relatedness is associated with resilience in times of stress.