REGIONAL AND SECTORAL EVIDENCE OF THE MACROECONOMIC EFFECTS OF LABOR REALLOCATION: A PANEL DATA ANALYSIS

This article revisits the sectoral shifts hypothesis by examining unemployment fluctuations for 48 U.S. states over the period 1990:M01–2011:M12. We develop a panel approach that incorporates dynamics, parameter heterogeneity, aggregate factors, and cross‐sectional dependence (CSD). Our findings provide support for a positive and significant effect of the employment dispersion index on unemployment. This outcome is robust under alternative specifications and measures of employment dispersion. The empirical evidence corroborates the presence and relevance of CSD and heterogeneity among states. The results show that, once unobserved common factors and cross‐state heterogeneity are taken into account, labor reallocation has a significant effect on unemployment that is half the size of the estimate when cross‐sectional dependence is not taken into account. (JEL E24, E32, J21, R23, C23)     

Behavioural Addictions in Adolescents and Young Adults: Results from a Prevalence Study

Our study aims to assess the prevalence of behavioural addictions in an adolescent population, evaluating the effects of gender and age, and to assess the correlations among different behavioural addictions. 2853 high school students were assessed in order to evaluate the prevalence of behavioural addictions such as Pathological Gambling (PG), Compulsive Buying (CB), Exercise Addiction (EA), Internet Addiction (IA), and Work Addiction (WA), in a population of Italian adolescents. The South Oaks Gambling Screen-Revised Adolescent (SOGS-RA), the Compulsive Buying Scale (CBS), the Exercise Addiction Inventory (EAI), the Internet Addiction Test (IAT), and the Work Addiction Risk Test (WART), were compiled anonymously by the students. Overall prevalence was 7.0% for PG, 11.3% for CB, 1.2% for IA, 7.6% for WA, 8.5% for EA. PG and EA were more common among boys, while gender had no effect on the other conditions. CB was more common among younger (<18 years old) students. The scores of all of these scales were significantly correlated. The strong correlation among different addictive behaviours is in line with the hypothesis of a common psychopathological dimension underlying these phenomena. Further studies are needed to assess personality traits and other clinical disorders associated with these problems behaviours.     

Regulation issues in the Italian local transport system: aligning transactions and governance structures

This paper refers to the concept of public governance in the light of Transaction Cost Economics (TCE). While TCE is well developed and widely applied in the private sector, only a few studies have adopted such framework to investigate the provision of public services. We aim at pointing out the coherence between peculiar typologies of transactions and a given set of governance structures, within Local Public Transport systems. The core of the analysis is the alignment between characteristics of transactions and governance structures. The empirical section addresses these issues referring to three case studies, pointing out an articulated organizational configuration in terms of actors involved and governance structures adopted. The analysis shows an alignment between the choices underlying the design of the local transport system and the outcomes expected in terms of TCE.     

A history of Chinese global Internet governance and its relations with ITU and ICANN

The Chinese contribution to global Internet governance debate has been studied mainly by focusing on the governmental perspective. This study was aimed to provide a broader view by analyzing the participation of Chinese academics and civil society in two of the most important Internet governance international organizations: the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Based on historical material and in-depth interviews conducted in Geneva and Beijing, the findings show the evolution of Chinese Internet governance at the global level and suggest the following: first, the Chinese agents in the global debate on Internet governance support a multi-stakeholder perspective; second, although seldom engaged in the decision-making process, the Chinese agents involved in the global governance identify ITU as the more credible international organization in coordinating global governance; third, the Chinese agents have an ambivalent approach to Chinese participation both in ITU and ICANN. Finally, the findings of the study reported in this article contest the understanding that Chinese Internet governance is isolationist in nature.     

Insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor polymorphism rs2229765 and circulating interleukin-6 level affect male longevity in a population-based prospective study (Treviso Longeva--TRELONG)

Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) signaling modulation has been associated with increased lifespan in model organisms, while high levels of circulating interleukin-6 (IL-6) are a marker of disability and mortality. In the prospective, population-based "Treviso Longeva"--TRELONG Study from Italy (n = 668, age range 70-105.5 years at baseline, followed for seven years) we investigated the effects of survival on the IGF-1 receptor (IGF-1R) gene polymorphism rs2229765, the IL-6 gene promoter polymorphism rs1800795, and plasma concentrations of IGF-1 and IL-6, alone or in combination. We found a sex-dependent effect for the IGF-1R rs2229765 polymorphism, as male carriers of the homozygous A/A genotype survived longer, while the IL-6 rs1800795 genotype did not influence overall or sex-specific longevity. Higher IL-6 levels were more detrimental for survival among males than females, while IGF-1 had no dose-response effect. These findings sustain the hypothesis that sex-specific longevity relies on detectable differences in genetic and biochemical parameters between males and females.