The profile of cyclists in the city of Juiz de Fora

The problems related to the means of transport in urban Brazilians have been getting worse over the years. The increase of the fleet, to the detriment of the adequacy and extent of the road network of cities contributes to this fact. This paper presents a profile of users of cycling in the city of Juiz de Fora, and thus contributes to the study of sustainable urban mobility, providing researchers with information that can guide the search for the encouragement of the use of means of transport to meet environmental needs urban centers that contributes to social equity.     

Accounting for family background when designing optimal income taxes: a microeconometric simulation analysis

We develop an extended version of Roemer’s Equality of Opportunity (EOp) criterion that accounts for income differentials between as well as within types, where types are defined by circumstances that are beyond people’s control (parental education, in this study). A microeconometric model of labour supply in Italy is employed to identify income tax-transfer rules that are optimal according to the extended EOp criterion. Overall, the results do not conform to the perhaps common expectation that the more conventional Equality of Outcome criterion is more supportive of “interventionist” (redistributive) policies than the EOp approach.     

Public–private wage differential and gender gap in Latin America: Spoiled bureaucrats and exploited women?

This paper uses a rich collection of household surveys to investigate the wage differential between the public and private sectors in 13 Latin American countries. It also studies how the sector of employment affects the gender wage gap. Contrary to what is commonly thought, it is found that, in the majority of Latin American countries, there is a premium associated with working in the public sector. It is also found that the premium is often higher for women than for men but that this difference does not compensate for the wide gender gap.     

The Role of Survey Data in Microsimulation Models for Social Policy Analysis

Questions about the impact of social policies cannot be answered solely on the basis of official statistics made available in tabular format. The access to microdata allows policy analysts to answer these questions with a larger set of analytical tools, in particular microsimulation models. This paper examines the interface between survey data and microsimulation models. We review different types of microsimulation models (static and dynamic) and their data requirements. We then restrict the attention to survey-based microdata, and examine issues in survey design, questionnaire content, data quality, and dissemination policy that are important from the perspective of microsimulation.     

Social Protection in the ‘Real World’: Issues,Models and Challenges

Social protection has evolved rapidly both conceptually and in practice, and is now a key policy issue in humanitarian and development debates. However, debates have sometimes been misled by approaches that pay inadequate attention to context‐specific factors, do not fully consider the sequence of interventions, and are too instrument‐centred. This article presents a conceptual framework to tailor social‐protection policy and implementation more closely to country contexts. Four stylised models of social protection are identified, corresponding to scenarios where social‐protection systems are absent, where elements of such systems exist, and where systems are emerging or have been consolidated. Each model is shown to lead to different challenges, implications and areas for further research.     

Similarities and Differences in Competitiveness Among European NUTS2 Regions: An Empirical Analysis Based on 2010–2013 Data

Social Indicators Research - Regional competitiveness is a concept whose definition and applicability is highly debated among scholars. Nevertheless, over recent years it has become widespread...     

Caloric restriction in trans

Caloric (or dietary) restriction (CR) is the most potent, robust, and reproducible known means of extending longevity and decreasing morbidity in laboratory mammals. Two of the major questions faced by researchers in this field are the applicability to humans and the biochemical mechanism(s) involved in the actions of CR. Studies in nonhuman primates are beginning to address the former; studies in phylogenetically lower organisms such as yeast and Drosophila are beginning to address the latter. de Cabo and colleagues now provide evidence that some aspects of CR can be reproduced in mammalian tissue culture cells exposed to sera from rats and monkeys subjected to CR. This work presents the initial development of a new model with which to approach mechanistic studies of CR and provides a new form of direct evidence that CR exerts at least some of its effects in trans.     

Assessing the ‘Choosiness’ of Job‐seekers. An Exploratory Approach and Evidence for Italy

Abstract. We use information about job search and work preferences, typically collected in a labour force survey, in order to construct an indicator of ‘choosiness’ of the labour supply of job‐seekers. The method for obtaining the indicator, first at individual level and then at aggregate levels, is based on results from multiple correspondence analysis. We investigate the informational value of the indicator by examining its stability over time and its predictive power on labour force transitions. Empirical analyses of cross‐section and panel samples of job‐seekers from the Italian quarterly Labour Force Survey clarify the potentials (and limitations) of the approach.     

Do more equal slices shrink the cake? An empirical investigation of tax-transfer reform proposals in Italy

A crucial issue in efficiency-equality evaluations of tax reforms resides in the possibility that the level as well as the distribution of welfare may change, where the household-specific measures of welfare capture the value of income as well as the value of leisure. A better-designed redistribution and income support system may not only foster equality but also improve the configuration of incentives and by this route contribute in its turn to efficiency. This paper presents an empirical analysis of the welfare effects for married couples of replacing the Italian tax system by three alternative hypothetical reforms: a flat tax, a negative income tax, and a work fare scheme. We employ a microeconometric model of household labour supply that represents partners simultaneous choices, allows for constraints in the choice of hours of work, and is sufficiently flexible to capture a large variety of supply responses. These features appear to be crucial in the evaluation of reform effects. The results suggest that there is scope for improving upon the current system under both the efficiency and the equality criterion. The benefits from the reforms, however, come from unexpected directions since the largest labour supply contribution come from poor and middle class households whereas rich households appear to be much less responsive to changes in the tax rates. The simulation results reveal that a crucial role in shaping the results is played by the relatively higher behavioural responsiveness of married women living in low and average income households.All correspondence to Ugo Colombino. We would like to thank Tom Wennemo for skilful programming assistance, Anne Skoglund for technical assistance and word processing, K.A. Breke and E. Holmøy and an anonymous referee for useful comments. Special thanks to Dino Rizzi (University of Venezia), who provided us with a program written by him for the simulation of the direct and inverse 1993 tax-transfer rules (Rizzi 1996). Part of the paper was written when Aaberge and Strøm were visiting ICER and the Department of Economics in Torino. ICER is gratefully acknowledged for providing financial support and excellent working conditions. Ugo Colombino gratefully acknowledges financial and organisational support from Statistics Norway and the Department of Economics in Oslo, and from the Italian Ministry of University and Scientific Research (MURST research grants 1998 and 2000). Responsible editor: Alessandro Cigno.