Analyzing the Effects of Negative and Non-negative Values on Income Inequality: Evidence from the Survey of Household Income and Wealth of the Bank of Italy (2012)

Generally, inequality indices play a basic role in the analysis of welfare economics, also appearing as technical tools applied to income data. A good deal of findings in this research field is provided by the Gini coefficient, typically used for non-negative income values. Even if negative income is often an unfamiliar concept, its presence in real surveys may lead to difficulty in applying the classical Gini-based inequality measures, as they lie outside their standard ranges. In this paper, the more general issue of negative values is considered and a reformulation of the main Gini-based inequality measures adjusted for the problem of negative values is adopted with the purpose of providing theoretical extensions for the income decomposition approach by both income sources and area components. Investigations about the related inferential issues, conducted thorough simulation studies based on resampling techniques, highlight how the traditional approach of removing negative income values may yield different results in terms of inequality estimation, proving that the proposed approach, based on preserving negative values, is the more appropriate practice to follow to avoid the loss of data that really provide a coherent picture of the inequality condition.     

A comparative analysis of school-to-work transitions in the European Union1

The present paper describes some aspects of ‘school-to-work’ transition by analyzing the employment situation of individuals as a function of the time elapsed since the completion of education or training. Our perspective is interdisciplinary, comparative and dynamic, with special focus on the patterns in southern European countries. In the literature, most of the studies have had the basic approach of constructing indicators based on retrospective information on the time of first leaving continuous education, and current information on status and characteristics of the person's economic activity – expressing the status of activity as a function of the time elapsed since leaving continuous education. In this approach, essentially cross-sectional (though in part retrospective) information is interpreted as if it pertains to real cohorts. Much of this comparative analysis of school-to-work transitions in EU countries has been based on the EU Labour Force Survey, the 2000 round of which incorporated a special module to collect information on the subject. Our basic approach is to use the longitudinal data from the European Community Household Panel to identify, at the time of each wave, the person's most recently completed education and training, and study this in relation to the person's current employment situation and other characteristics as a function of the time elapsed since that completion. Hence, in form at least, our approach is similar to that of earlier studies based on the LFS, though there are considerable differences in substantive content and statistical methodology resulting from the use of different types of data. We also demonstrate how data from a panel survey may be cumulated over time to obtain a more adequate sample size.     

Coalitional economies with public projects

We prove that the welfare theorems hold in the framework of coalitional exchange economies with public projects, both in case of pure exchange and in the presence of production. The space of agents is assumed to be non-atomic (single traders are negligible) and infinitely many commodities are allowed to be present on the market.     

COVID: Using the DAN Model with Couples to Increase Family Resilience

The COVID‐19 pandemic has massively impacted our society, affecting both wider systems and smaller ones alike. Families across the world have had to adapt to a new style of living, dominated by uncertainty, which is testing their resilience. Within this context, we have asked ourselves, as systemic therapists, what can be done to provide support and a sense of understanding to families. In this article, it is argued that therapeutic tools taken from a manualised intervention to promote resilience in couples can provide valuable help to families who are struggling in this difficult time. This intervention, developed at the Iscra Institute in Modena, Italy, is called Digital, Analogic, and Narrative (DAN). The tools used in the DAN model are described in this paper and their application in practice is illustrated through a case study.     

On fairness of equilibria in economies with differential information

The paper proposes a notion of fairness which overcomes the conflict arising between efficiency and the absence of envy in economies with uncertainty and asymmetrically informed agents. We do it in general economies which include, as particular cases, the main models of differential information economies, providing in this framework a natural competitive equilibrium notion which satisfies the fair criterion. The analysis is conducted allowing the presence of large traders, which may cause the lack of perfect competition.     

At the centre of the knot

The paper reviews a recent body of urban land use and land use planning theory and identifies themes of liberal and radical criticism that have emerged in relation to neoclassical, laissez faire formulations. Liberal and radical reformulations of the problem of land use and land use planning are noted. The final section of the paper considers a possible agenda of issues that are likely to arise with the adoption of the different theoretical stances in South Africa.     

Breaking the Ties That Bind: From Corporate Sustainability to Socially Sustainable Systems

Although the recent push toward sustainability is certainly generally a positive development in business and society, we can see many problems in the execution of the theory of sustainability. Where the triple bottom line calls on companies to weigh effects on stakeholders and the environment alongside profit, in practice in many cases, sustainability has been perverted to represent sustainable profits. In these cases, environmental impact and effects on people are only important insofar as they positively contribute to a firm‘s future profits. It is not only practitioners who have often espoused this misappropriated view of sustainability but also academics have lent credibility to this view. In this work, we start by criticizing the often espoused current view of sustainability and remind academics of their responsibility to adapt a more critical view of this narrow focus. We provide examples that show how the current system of capitalism has resulted in outcomes for people and the environment that are patently unacceptable. Reasons are given as to why there is much hesitation to change the status quo. We then call on academics to reexamine what the role of businesses should be within society, what obligations business and corporations should have in society, and how we can encourage meaningful change that results in a better world for future generations.     

Attitudes toward and desire for assisted suicide among persons with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

This study aimed at investigating attitudes toward assisted suicide among individuals with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and the differences in health status (illness severity and functional disability) and psychosocial adjustment (depression, perceived stress, social support, and coping) between those in favor of and those against assisted suicide. This study also aimed at describing the characteristics of terminally-ill individuals who acknowledge contemplating assisted suicide. Forty-four individuals diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis were surveyed about their attitudes and the circumstances that would make them contemplate assisted suicide and filled out standardized measures of mood, stress, social support, coping, and illness status. Seventy percent of the sample found assisted suicide morally acceptable and 60% thought it should be legalized. In addition, 60% of patients agreed they could foresee circumstances that would make them contemplate assisted suicide, but only three (7%) indicated they would have requested it already if it had been legal. Willingness to contemplate assisted suicide was associated with reports of elevated levels of depressive symptoms and reports of hopelessness. Results highlight the need to assess psychological status carefully when terminally ill individuals begin contemplating assisted suicide or voice a request for it.     

Methodological Choices and Data Quality Issues for Official Poverty Measures: Evidences from Italy

Social Indicators Research - The application of new technologies and the implementation of e-government have profoundly modified management systems in public administrations. In this article we...