Flames and Debates: Do Social Media Affect Satisfaction with Democracy?

Media plays an important role in defining the quality of democracy in consolidated democracy. Internet, in turn, can wield effects on democracy and many scholars have investigated such relationship. Moving from this literature we use Eurobarometer data to estimate the effect of Internet on the satisfaction with the functioning of democracy among European citizens. The results show that Internet usage, per se, has no effect on the satisfaction with democracy. However, the consumption of online news can make the difference, even though this effect is positive when users consume news from online traditional media while social media has a negative effect, which is mediated by the level of online disagreement and the potential emergence of flames.     

Independent Decisiveness and the Arrow theorem

I show that the condition of Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives in Arrow's impossibility theorem can be weakened into Relational Independent Decisiveness. The condition of Relational Independent Decisiveness is essentially a translation of Sen's Independent Decisiveness into the traditional Arrovian framework. I also show by example that Relational Independent Decisiveness is indeed weaker than Arrow's Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives. Received: 30 October 1996 / Accepted: 22 May 1997     

QUALITY LADDERS IN A RICARDIAN MODEL OF TRADE WITH NONHOMOTHETIC PREFERENCES

The North–South trade literature has traditionally explored conditions under which international trade might further magnify income disparities between the advanced North and the backward South. We show that even when no single country is initially more advanced than any other one and productivity changes are uniform and identical in all countries, trade may still be a source of income divergence when nonhomothetic preferences and quality ladders are jointly taken into account. Income divergence will be experienced when comparative advantages induce patterns of specialization that, although initially optimal for all countries, do not offer the same scope for quality upgrading of final products.     

Empirical characteristics of legal and illegal immigrants in the USA

We combine the New Immigrant Survey (NIS), which contains information on US legal immigrants, with the American Community Survey (ACS), which contains information on legal and illegal immigrants to the USA. Using an econometric methodology proposed by Lancaster and Imbens (J Econ 71:145–160, 1996) we compute the probability for each observation in the ACS data to refer to an illegal immigrant, conditional on observed characteristics. These results are novel, since no other work has quantified the characteristics of illegal immigrants from a random sample representative of the population. Using these conditional probability weights on the ACS data, we are able to uncover some interesting facts on illegal immigrants. We find that, while illegal immigrants suffer a large wage penalty compared to legal immigrants at all education levels, the penalty decreases with education. We also find that the total fertility rate among illegal immigrant women is significantly higher than that among legal ones, in particular for middle and higher educated women. Looking at the sector of activity, we document that the sectors attracting most illegal immigrants are constructions and agriculture. We also generate empirical distributions for state of residence, country of origin, age, sex, and number of legal and illegal immigrants. Our forecasts for the aggregate distribution of legal and illegal characteristics match imputations by the Department of Homeland Security.     

Interpersonal and Affective Traits of Psychopathy in Child Sexual Abusers: Evidence from a Pilot Study Sample of Italian Offenders

It has been demonstrated that psychopathy is a crucial construct for the understanding of criminal and violent behavior. However, research on psychopathic traits among child sexual abusers is still scant. In this study, the Psychopathy Checklist–Revised was used to assess psychopathy in a group of 87 Italian, male inmates who were convicted of violent crimes. Child sexual abusers (N = 23) scored higher on the Psychopathy Checklist–Revised interpersonal-affective factor compared to participants who did not perpetrate child sexual abuse. Notably, child sexual abusers showed a very high average score on the Psychopathy Checklist–Revised affective dimension; furthermore, they showed high scores on the two Psychopathy Checklist–Revised items excluded from its two factors–four facets structure (i.e., the items denoting devaluation of intimate relationships). The results of this study may positively inform the development of treatment strategies for child sexual abusers.     

The use of informal networks in Italy: Efficiency or favoritism?

A large body of literature considers the advantages of using informal networks to match workers to jobs. However, family ties may interfere with a genuine process of worker selection, favoring people with connections over more talented workers. We offer a simple model of favoritism to explain these risks and show firms’ trade-off in using informal channels. We then investigate empirically the determinants and consequences of using informal networks in Italy by using the Bank of Italy Survey. We find that informal networks tend to be used by low-educated individuals, in small firms, in low-productivity jobs and in less developed regions. Finally, we show that informal networks have a negative impact on wages, controlling for individual and firm characteristics.     

How do mobile,internet and ICT diffusion affect the banking industry? An empirical analysis

Based on the World Development Indicators data provided by the World Bank, we investigate the effect of information and communication technology (ICT) on the profits and risk of financial distress of the EU 28 banking industry. Specifically, we address the question of whether and how ICT diffusion, adoption and infrastructure (e.g., ATM penetration) affect banking profitability and stability over the period 1995–2015. Our results show that ICT exerts a positive role in improving these performance measures. In addition, we find that overall financial stability in the banking industry is enhanced with the intensive adoption of both IT and financial technologies, which increase the distance to default.     

The Influence of Minority Stress,Gender, and Legalization of Civil Unions on Parenting Desire and Intention in Lesbian Women and Gay Men: Implications for Social Policy and Clinical Practice

Although the rate of lesbian and gay (LG) parents is increasing, lesbian and gay adults are less likely than heterosexual adults to be parents, as desire and intention to become a parent tend to be lower. This study aims at assessing 290 childless LG individuals (120 lesbian women and 170 gay men) to explore the influence of minority stress, gender differences, and legalization of civil unions in Italy on parenting desire and intention. The results indicated that the minority stressors associated with parenting dimensions included prejudice events, outness, and internalized homophobia for lesbian women, but only felt stigma among gay men. Support from family or significant others buffered the effects of minority stressors on parenting dimensions. Thus, the minority stress processes partly explain the intention and desire to become parents in LG childless individuals. Furthermore, lesbian women showed higher levels of parenting desire and intention than gay men and the levels of these parenting dimensions increased after the law on civil unions was enacted. The findings have important implications for both social policies and clinical practice.