Fertility and Women’s Employment: A Meta-analysis

Our research objective was to systematise the existing literature on the relation between fertility and women’s employment at the micro-level. Instead of carrying out a traditional literature review, we conducted a meta-analysis. This allowed us to compare estimates from different studies standardised for the country analysed, the method applied, control variables used and sample selected. We focused on two effects: the impact of work on fertility and the impact of young children on employment entry. First, we found a high variation in the studied effects among the institutional settings, reflecting the existence of a north–south gradient. Second, we observed a significant change in the effects over time. Finally, we demonstrated that a failure to account for the respondent’s social background, partner and job characteristics tends to produce a bias in the estimated effects.     

Inspecting geometric tolerances: Uncertainty analysis in position tolerances control on Coordinate Measuring Machines

Conformance to a specified part geometry is key to achieve product quality. Geometric tolerance control on Coordinate Measuring Machines is a critical issue as parsimony in the set of probed points dictated by economic considerations conflicts with the requirement of full field inspection mandated by tolerance standards. Evaluation of uncertainty originated by sampling errors takes therefore a high priority level. The case of position tolerance control on a hole axis and related uncertainty analysis is examined in the paper via Monte Carlo simulation. Results exhibit a remarkable uncertainty related to a number of steps involved in the control method. A comprehensive statistical analysis is shown to be required if risk of failure to reach the correct decision in assessing part conformance is to be kept under control.     

The rise and fall of collective identity in networked movements: communication protocols,Facebook, and the anti-Berlusconi protest

This paper explores the impact of communication protocols on the development of collective identity in networked movements. It focuses primarily on how communication protocols change patterns of interactions and power relationships among the constituents of social movements. The paper suggests that the communication protocols of commercial social networking media lead to organizational centralization and fragmentation in social movements by eroding one of the preconditions of collective identity, namely solidarity. The empirical material presented is part of a PhD dissertation on a political protest movement and their use of Facebook as a core communication and organizational platform. The data gathering is multi-methodological and relies on both qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques in the form of a historical analysis of interaction patterns, and a content analysis of online conversations among activists.     

Despite the crisis: The resilience of intercultural nationalism in Catalonia

Interculturalism provides the core framework for immigration‐related policies in Catalonia, while remaining deeply intertwined with Catalan nationalism. We first identify ‘intercultural nationalism’ as the core doctrine through which Catalan nationalist discourse has been articulated in relation to immigration. We trace interculturalism's origins to nationalism in Quebec and argue that, in Catalonia also, regional immigration policies have been constructed in opposition to those of the central state, while attempting to involve immigrants closely in subnational belonging and social cohesion. Second, we investigate whether interculturalism is durable during economic and political crises, arguing that intercultural policies did not change following the economic recession of the 2010s. This harmonises with broader interpretations that de‐emphasise the role of economic factors in ethnic conflicts. In conclusion we note how the continuing resilience of interculturalism in Catalan policies on immigration contrasts sharply with the rise of xenophobia elsewhere.     

Inequality of opportunity in Italy

In this paper we provide a methodology to measure opportunity inequality and to decompose overall income inequality in an “ethically offensive” and an “ethically acceptable” part. Moreover, we analyze inequality of opportunity in Italy. According to our results, inequality of opportunity accounts for about 20% of overall income inequality in Italy. Moreover, the regions in the South are characterized by a higher degree of opportunity inequality than the regions in the North, especially when considering population subgroups by gender.     

On multivariate smoothed bootstrap consistency

This paper deals with the convergence in Mallows metric for classical multivariate kernel distribution function estimators. We prove the convergence in Mallows metric of a locally orientated kernel smooth estimator belonging to the class of sample smoothing estimators. The consistency follows for the smoothed bootstrap for regular functions of the marginal means. Two simple simulation studies show how the smoothed versions of the bootstrap give better results than the classical technique.     

The internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises: the effect of family management, human capital and foreign ownership

Research on factors affecting the internationalization of SMEs is attracting growing interest. However, only a limited number of empirical analyses have explored the question of if and to what extent the family character of the firm has an effect on internationalization decisions. Relying on data from a sample of 1,324 Italian manufacturing SMEs, this paper shows that involvement of the owning family in management negatively influences export propensity but, once the choice to go international has been made, both the degree of internationalization and geographical scope in family-managed firms are not significantly different from nonfamily-managed firms. Empirical results also show that the level of human capital and the presence of foreign shareholders in the SMEs positively influence internationalization. Innovation propensity, size, and age of the firm as well as industry characteristics are included in the analysis as control variables.     

A method to estimate power parameter in exponential power distribution via polynomial regression

The exponential power distribution (EPD), also known as generalized error distribution, is a flexible symmetrical unimodal family that belongs to the exponential one. The EPD becomes the density function of a range of symmetric distributions with different values of its power parameter β. A closed-form estimator for β does not exist, so the power parameter is usually estimated numerically. Unfortunately, the optimization algorithms do not always converge, especially when the true value of β is close to its parametric space frontier. In this paper, we present an alternative method to estimate β. Our proposal is based on the normal standardized Q–Q plot, and it exploits the relationship between β and the kurtosis. Furthermore, it is a direct method which does not require computational efforts nor the use of optimization algorithms.     

A Note on Two-Way ECM Estimation of SUR Systems on Unbalanced Panel Data

This article considers the two-way error components model (ECM) estimation of seemingly unrelated regressions (SUR) on unbalanced panel by generalized least squares (GLS). As suggested by Biørn (2004 Biørn , E. ( 2004 ). Regression systems for unbalanced panel data: a stepwise maximum likelihood procedure . Journal of Econometrics 122 : 281 – 291 . [Google Scholar]) for the one-way case, in order to use the standard results for the balanced case the individuals are arranged in groups according to the number of times they are observed. Thus, the GLS estimator can be interpreted as a matrix weighted average of the group specific GLS estimators with weights equal to the inverse of their respective covariance matrices.