Tag: Italy

ARE THE REGIONS WITH MORE GENDER EQUALITY THE MORE RESILIENT ONES? AN ANALYSIS OF THE ITALIAN REGIONS

Barbara MARTINI

Researcher of Policy Economics, University of Rome Tor Vergata (Italy)

barbara.martini@uniroma2.it

Marco PLATANIA

Researcher of Applied Economics, University of Catania (IT), Visiting Research Fellowship, University of Winchester (UK)

 marco.platania@unict.it

Abstract

The paper aims to investigate the relationship between gender equality and regional resilience. Literature, primarily regional literature, has shown limited interest in gender. Nevertheless, females and males are employed in different industries, so when a shock hits, it can have a different employment impact in terms of gender and, consequently, in terms of resilience. Regions are specialized in some industries. Regional specialization results from historical, cultural, natural endowments, and social elements. Also, the uneven distribution between females and males within industries involves social, cultural, and economic components. As a result, regional specialization determines an employment distribution that can be unequal regarding gender. This employment distribution is captured by the Dissimilarity Index, which measures the sum of the absolute difference in females’ and males’ distribution over occupations. Therefore, the dissimilarity index emerges as a consequence of regional specialization. This dissimilarity, in turn, could have an impact on resilience. Our results put several significant results forwards. First, there is a relationship between gender segregation and regional specialization. The higher the regional specialization in sectors where the females’ share is low, the higher the dissimilarity. Second, there was a positive relationship between resilience and gender equality from 2008 to 2013. The more gender equality regions are also the more resilient ones. Taking a sectoral occupation is not easy, including social values, cultural components, welfare, education, and soft skill. Policies should also address their efforts to enhance the welfare and social dimensions and break gender stereotypes.

Keywords: Gender, Regional specialization, Dissimilarity, Resilience, Italy

JEL classification: R10, R11, R19, O18

 pp. 71-94

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THE URBAN STRUCTURE OF SPAIN AND ITALY (1900-2011)

Carlos GAYÁN-NAVARRO

University of Zaragoza, Spain

carlosgayannavarro@gmail.com

Miguel PUENTE-AJOVIN

University of Zaragoza, Spain

mpajovin@unizar.es

Fernando SANZ-GRACIA

University of Zaragoza, Spain

fsanz@unizar.es

Abstract

Our main purpose is to study the evolution of the urban structure of Spanish and Italian municipalities from 1900 to 2010. We use the estimation of the Pareto exponents to show that the most important behavior  is the increase of inequality in the distribution  over time. Convergence is more likely in Italy and for larger urban units.

Financial support from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (ECO2017-82246-P) and support by Aragon Government (ADETRE Consolidated Group) is acknowledged.

Keywords: urban evolution, Spain, Italy, Pareto exponent

JEL classification: R11, R12
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DOES CBD THEORY SURVIVE THE TEST OF SMALL CITIES? CITY-SIZE AND SPRAWL IN ITALY

Gianni GUASTELLA

Università Cattolica, Dep of Mathematics and Physics, 41Via Musei, 25121, Brescia (IT)
giovanni.guastella@unicatt.it
Corresponding author

Stefano PAREGLIO

Università Cattolica, Dep of Mathematics and Physics, 41Via Musei, 25121, Brescia (IT)
stefano.pareglio@unicatt.it

Abstract

Economic theory predicts that the equilibrium of different economic forces explains the spatial scale of a city more than the uncontrolled take of agricultural land, which is considered instead as urban sprawl. A wide range of empirical results based on US data for large urban areas supports this hypothesis, showing that the socio-economic and environmental forces explain a vast portion of the variation in urbanization across cities. In this paper, we ask whether these socio-economic forces are relevant also in small cities and if they are in a different manner, provided that sprawling phenomena may occur more easily in small areas due to the larger availability of agricultural land. To answer the question, we estimate the relationship between city size and the socio-economic and environmental forces using data for small and large municipalities in the Lombardy region, Italy, and test to what extent this model is apt to explain size variations. We find that the model is adequate also in the case of small cities but differentiating small from large cities suggests that the sprawl hypothesis cannot be ruled out by the empirical evidence as the process of land conversion from agricultural to urban is substantially faster in small and medium-sized cities compared to large ones.

Keywords: Land Use, Urban Sprawl, Central Business District, Spatial Econometrics, Italy

JEL classification: O18, Q15, R14

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