Reputational cues in repeated trust games

The importance of reputation in human societies is highlighted both by theoretical models and empirical studies. In this paper, we have extended the scope of previous experimental studies based on trust games by creating treatments where players can rate their opponents’ behavior and know their past ratings. Our results showed that being rated by other players and letting this rating be known are factors that increase cooperation levels even when rational reputational investment motives are ruled out. More generally, subjects tended to respond to reputational opportunities even when this was neither rational nor explainable by reciprocity.     

Optimal Bayesian estimators for latent variable cluster models

In cluster analysis interest lies in probabilistically capturing partitions of individuals, items or observations into groups, such that those belonging to the same group share similar attributes or relational profiles. Bayesian posterior samples for the latent allocation variables can be effectively obtained in a wide range of clustering models, including finite mixtures, infinite mixtures, hidden Markov models and block models for networks. However, due to the categorical nature of the clustering variables and the lack of scalable algorithms, summary tools that can interpret such samples are not available. We adopt a Bayesian decision theoretical approach to define an optimality criterion for clusterings and propose a fast and context-independent greedy algorithm to find the best allocations. One important facet of our approach is that the optimal number of groups is automatically selected, thereby solving the clustering and the model-choice problems at the same time. We consider several loss functions to compare partitions and show that our approach can accommodate a wide range of cases. Finally, we illustrate our approach on both artificial and real datasets for three different clustering models: Gaussian mixtures, stochastic block models and latent block models for networks.     

Reintermediating Voluntary Action: The Path-Dependent Pluralization of the Italian Volunteering Field

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - While the international literature has significantly addressed the “new forms of voluntary action,” there has...     

An Indicator for the Measurement of Political Participation: The Case of Italy

In the modern globalized world, political participation is of paramount importance for balanced socio-economic growth and for human development. The Indagine Multiscopo sulle famiglie, a survey by Italian public institutions (ISTAT and CNEL), provides a wide range of data to evaluate specific aspects of Italian life. This work uses a set of data from the Indagine to analyse political participation in Italy at a regional level, by means of a composite indicator using parametric (Pena’s distance) and non-parametric (Mazziotta–Pareto Index) techniques. We have obtained a ranking that shows the level of political participation in different territorial contexts. The aim is to analyse the relation between Italian regions and the political behaviour of their communities: political discussions, participation in political meetings and marches, voluntary activity or donations to political parties and so on. The ranking is not correlated to voter turnout. We can assume that the politically engaged minority are unable to convince and involve the rest. At the same time, these small groups do not alter the general mistrust in parties and, generally speaking, in politics, which is spreading across Italy and also Europe.     

Finding disjoint paths on edge-colored graphs: more tractability results

The problem of finding the maximum number of vertex-disjoint uni-color paths in an edge-colored graph (called MaxCDP) has been recently introduced in literature, motivated by applications in social network analysis. In this paper we investigate how the complexity of the problem depends on graph parameters (namely the number of vertices to remove to make the graph a collection of disjoint paths and the size of the vertex cover of the graph), which makes sense since graphs in social networks are not random and have structure. The problem was known to be hard to approximate in polynomial time and not fixed-parameter tractable (FPT) for the natural parameter. Here, we show that it is still hard to approximate, even in FPT-time. Finally, we introduce a new variant of the problem, called MaxCDDP, whose goal is to find the maximum number of vertex-disjoint and color-disjoint uni-color paths. We extend some of the results of MaxCDP to this new variant, and we prove that unlike MaxCDP, MaxCDDP is already hard on graphs at distance two from disjoint paths.     

Themed section: the person-centred turn in welfare policies: bad wine in new bottles or a true social innovation?

This themed section is aimed at evaluating different personalised policies and at drawing a clear map of opportunities and challenges for future implementations. All the essays are based on evaluative researches and on original case studies. They concern different policies: the Australian National Disability Scheme (NDIS) a first serious venture into personalised funding; personalisation in the management of offenders in probation services within the English criminal justice system; social care services for young disabled people attempting to personalise their transition from childhood into adulthood (in Redbridge, UK); health personal plans for disabled people (in Sardinia, Italy). These case studies address the question of how transferable the concept of personalisation is from the social care sector to other and outline different methodologies for developing and evaluating person-centred policies. Last but not least they reflect on a bundle of issues which seem to emerge autonomously from such different case studies. We can sum up their results affirming that personalisation is not an individual consumer-client technology, simply confronted with a single market context and new professionals. It has to be steered within an appropriate context, including new type of professionals, users' led associations and a new governance's architecture. If the public role has to shape freedom and control, helping people to exercise choice in a collectively responsible way and, consequently, to participate in creating public goods, then the person-centred turn will have to confront, at least, some emergent issues, which in turn need specific forms of governance.     

Labour Supply: Which Theory? A Critical Empirical Assessment

ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to test econometrically a number of models of labour supply which fall within the neoclassical and Keynesian theories, in an attempt to obtain indications of validation of the theories themselves. The econometric assessment, carried out with a cohort approach to labour supply, shows that Italian female participation rates react well to the variables belonging to both the neoclassical versions of models — with the exception of the version regarding intertemporal choices — and the Keynesian ones. Both in terms of testing for the selection of alternative regression models, such as those for non-nested hypotheses and for selection of regressors, and of “internal” investigation within the estimated models, the results obtained are not without ambiguity. They therefore leave open the question as to which theory can explain labour supply in the most significant and appropriate way.     

Scenario planning,cognition, and strategic investment decisions in a turbulent environment

We explore how scenario planning contributes to cognitive dynamics and strategic investment decisions in a changing environment. Our research is based on an in-depth, longitudinal case study of Shell's ventures in Russia between 1994 and 2016. We show that Shell's scenarios did not foresee some major events that occurred in the turbulent Russian energy market. However, the scenarios envisaged the rising role of gas, the strategic relevance of the gas transportation infrastructure, and the growing interventionism of the Russian government. The scenarios thus helped Shell's managers to adapt their strategic beliefs and ultimately enabled them to notice, assess, and respond successfully to external changes—even though these changes had not been foreseen in the scenarios. Shell has been the first (and, for almost a decade, the only) foreign company to produce and export gas from Russia.     

Shedding light on the aim of stock options: a literature review

Stock options (hereafter SOs) have been extensively investigated by the literature. The debate has been mainly grounded in the agency theory that has interpreted these tools as mechanisms to align the conflicting interests of managers and owners towards the shareholder value maximization. However, the latest empirical evidence suggests that SOs are often used by opportunistic managers to extract rents to the detriment of shareholders. In addition, literature identifies the perceived cost as a further theoretical lens to interpret the use of SOs. Despite the growing interest around the topic, the research is still fragmented and fails to present a comprehensive picture on the factors that affect the aim of SOs. Our literature review attempts to fill this gap by providing a systematization of the studies on the topic. The paper concludes by presenting the theoretical and practical implications of the study and suggesting directions for future research.     

Age,Period, Cohort and Early Mortality: An Analysis of Adult Mortality in Italy

Changes in adult mortality in Italy for cohorts born between 1882 and 1953 are analysed and interpreted by means of two different statistical models. The first, an Age–Period–Early Mortality (APEM) model, is employed to analyse the possible relationships between adverse conditions during the first 15 years of life and subsequent mortality. It is shown that higher mortality early in life is associated with higher mortality up to age 45 and lower mortality at latter ages. Finally, possible links between the observed decline in early mortality and the evolution of adult mortality are analysed and discussed.