GIOVANNI GALLO - personale UniMoRe

Nuova ricerca

GIOVANNI GALLO

Ricercatore t.d. art. 24 c. 3 lett. B
Dipartimento di Economia "Marco Biagi"

Pubblicazioni

2024 - Choose the school, choose the performance: new evidence on determinants of students’ performance in eight European countries [Articolo su rivista]
Bonacini, Luca; Brunetti, Irene; Gallo, Giovanni
abstract

This study aims to identify the main determinants of students’ performances in reading and maths across eight European Union countries (i.e. Austria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, and Slovenia). Based on student level data from the OECD-PISA 2018 survey and by means of the application of efficient algorithms, we highlight that the number of books at home or a variable combining the type and location of school represent the most important predictors of the students’ performance in all the analysed countries, while other school characteristics are rarely relevant. Econometric results show that students attending vocational schools perform significantly worse than those in general schools. Looking at differences between students attending schools in big cities and those in small cities, they are never statistically significant except in Portugal. Through the Gelbach decomposition method, which allows to measure the relative importance of observable characteristics to explain a gap, we show that the differences in test scores between big and small cities depend on the schools’ characteristics, while the differences between general and vocational schools are mainly explained by the families’ social status. Results appear robust to the hierarchical model approach.

2023 - Could financial education be a universal social policy? A simulation of potential influences on inequality levels [Working paper]
Gallo, G.; Sconti, A.
abstract

This paper aims to identify the potential influence of financial literacy’s marginal change on households’ income (wealth) inequality levels both at the mean value and along with the distribution. Using data from the Bank of Italy Survey of Households Income and Wealth (SHIW)’s 2016 wave – which includes the Big Three questions, a widely used measure of financial literacy - we show that replacing 10% of respondents reporting no correct answers with respondents reporting two correct answers out of three would increase the mean value of the household equivalized disposable income by 0.8% (160€ per year). Additionally, it would increase by +1.5% (285€ per year) if we replace 10% of respondents reporting no correct answers with those reporting three correct answers. These results are not trivial. A lump sum leading to the same household income increase would cost on average EUR 4.1 to 7.3 billion per year in Italy. Finally, heterogeneous analysis reveals that an increase in financial literacy levels often engenders a greater reduction of inequality levels among the most vulnerable groups. Our preliminary cost analysis supports mandatory financial education in schools.

2023 - Dopo il Reddito di Cittadinanza, verso la MIA. I probabili cambiamenti [Articolo su rivista]
Franzini, Maurizio; Gallo, Giovanni; Raitano, Michele
abstract

2023 - How Pandemic Shock Affects Claim for Minimum Income Measures [Working paper]
Barigazzi, A.; Gallo, G.
abstract

Social transfers, and minimum income schemes in particular, are key tools to support people’s income and protect their living standards, especially in times of crisis. This paper aims to understand how the claiming of social benefits changed in response to the biggest crisis of recent years, i.e. the pandemic shock. In particular, we test whether the pandemic has reduced the transaction costs associated with claiming social transfers, increasing their spread across the population even controlling for recent recessive trends. We focus on Italy as an interesting case study, because it was the first Western country to be strongly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and the latest EU country introducing a national minimum income scheme (the Reddito di Cittadinanza or RDC). Based on a rich dataset of statistics at NUTS-3 regional level, results show a significant and positive correlation between the spread of RDC recipients and the one of Covid-19 contagions, especially during the first stage of pandemic. This evidence confirms that lockdown measures strongly affected the economic wellbeing of households and, in turn, transaction costs associated with the RDC claim. Main results hold when relevant demographic and socioeconomic variables directly influencing the RDC claim are considered.

2023 - Proxying the socio-economic background through real estate values. An application on performances of university students [Working paper]
Gallo, G.; Garofoli, C.
abstract

This study shows how the socio-economic background of students in tertiary education can influence their performances and, in particular, the obtained graduation mark. Relying on administrative records on graduated students of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (UNIMORE) and aggregated statistics from the Immobiliare.it website, we explore the role of socio-economic background on students’ performances through two different proxies. One refers to the group of the Italian indicator of the household equivalised economic situation (or ISEE) which the student belongs, while the other consists of the average real estate price featuring the postcode where the student resides. Econometric results show a positive influence of both proxies of the socio-economic background on the graduation mark. Specifically, we observe that belonging to highest ISEE groups has on the graduation mark a similar effect with respect to the average real estate price of the student’s postcode of residence. This evidence confirms that the latter may be an effective alternative dimension to proxy the individuals’ socio-economic background when income/wealth variables are not available, interval-censored, or also present relevant issues of reliability.

2023 - SOS incomes: Simulated effects of COVID-19 and emergency benefits on individual and household income distribution in Italy [Articolo su rivista]
Gallo, Giovanni; Raitano, Michele
abstract

Using a static microsimulation model based on a link between survey and administrative data, this article investigates the effects of the pandemic on income distribution in Italy in 2020. The analysis focuses on both individuals and households by simulating through nowcasting techniques changes in labour income and in equivalised income, respectively. For both units of observations, we compare changes before and after social policy interventions, i.e., automatic stabilisers and benefits introduced by the government to address the effects of the COVID-19 emergency. We find that the pandemic has led to a relatively greater drop in labour income for those lying in the poorest quantiles, which, however, benefited more from the income support benefits. As a result, compared with the ‘No-COVID scenario’, income poverty and inequality indices grow considerably when these benefits are not considered, whereas the poverty increase greatly narrows and inequality slightly decreases once social policy interventions are taken into account. This evidence signals the crucial role played by cash social transfers to contrast the most serious economic consequences of the pandemic.

2023 - The Struggle of Being Poor and Claimant: Evidence on the Non-Take-Up of Social Policies in Italy [Articolo su rivista]
Boscolo, S.; Gallo, G.
abstract

2023 - Unraveling the controversial effect of Covid-19 on college students’ performance [Articolo su rivista]
Bonacini, Luca; Gallo, Giovanni; Patriarca, Fabrizio
abstract

: We disentangle the channels through which Covid-19 has affected the performance of university students by setting up an econometric strategy to identify separately changes in both teaching and evaluation modes, and the short and long term effects of mobility restrictions. We exploit full and detailed information from the administrative archives of one among the first universities to be shut down since the virus spread from Wuhan. The results help solving the inconsistencies in the literature by providing evidence of a composite picture where negative effects such as those caused by the sudden shift to remote learning and by the exposure to mobility restrictions, overlap to opposite effects due to a change in evaluation methods and home confinement during the exam's preparation. Such overlap of conflicting effects, weakening the signaling role of tertiary education, would add to the learning loss by further exacerbating future consequences on the "Covid" generation.

2022 - Heterogeneous effects of the Covid-19 crisis on Italian workers’ incomes: the role played by jobs routinization and teleworkability [Working paper]
Gallo, G.; Granato, S.; Reitano, M.
abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic appears to have engendered heterogeneous effects on individualsâ€™ labour market prospects. This paper focuses on two possible sources of a heterogeneous exposition to labour market risks associated with the pandemic outbreak: the routine task content of the job and the teleworkability. To evaluate whether these dimensions played a crucial role in amplifying employment and wage gaps among workers, we focus on the case of Italy, the first EU country hit by the Covid-19 first wave. We use a static microsimulation model based on data from the Statistics on Income and Living Condition survey (IT-SILC) enriched with administrative data and aligned to monthly observed labour market dynamics by industry and regions. We simulate changes in the wage distribution in 2020 and investigate whether income drops risks â€“ before and after income support measures to capture the effect of public redistribution â€“ differed among workers whose jobs are characterised by a different degree of routinization (as proxied by the routine task intensity - RTI index) and teleworkability (as proxied by the TWA index). We find that RTI and TWA are negatively and positively associated with wages, respectively, and they are correlated with higher (respectively lower) risks of a large labour income drop due to the pandemic. However, differences in income drop risks for workers who differ by RTI and TWA largely reduce when income support measures are considered.

2022 - I would like to but I cannot. The determinants of involuntary part-time employment: Evidence from Italy [Working paper]
Busilacchi, G.; Gallo, G.; Luppi, M.
abstract

Over the last two decades, involuntary part-time (IPT) employment has become a more and more pressing issue in Europe, especially in the southern countries, where IPT today constitutes most part-time employment. The dualistic nature of voluntary and involuntary employment creates an opportunity to investigate this type of occupation by looking at the intersection between dualisation and gender. Using INAPP-PLUS data and Probit estimations, this paper aims to shed light on whether the determinants of IPT – at the individual, household and labour market levels – follow the trend of labour dualisation, compared to part-timers in voluntary arrangements. In particular, we aim to determine how dualisation related to these determinants varies according to gender and labour market structural changes. Our results confirm that individual and household characteristics count more than professional ones in determining IPT status, especially concerning the well-known gender differences. However, differentiating the analysis by workers' gender highlights interesting differences pointing at a growing polarisation for female workers driven not only by inequality in the work-family balance distribution but also by structural elements in the labour market.

2022 - Il Reddito di Cittadinanza nei comuni della CittÃ metropolitana di Bologna [Working paper]
Baldini, M.; Barigazzi, A.; Gallo, G.
abstract

Negli ultimi quindici anni l’incidenza della povertà assoluta è decisamente cresciuta in Italia. La principale misura introdotta per mitigarne gli effetti consiste nel Reddito di Cittadinanza, erogato a partire da aprile 2019. Questo lavoro è dedicato ad una descrizione dei dati sul numero delle famiglie beneficiarie del Reddito di Cittadinanza nei comuni e nei distretti della Città Metropolitana di Bologna. La quota dei beneficiari per comune viene messa in correlazione con variabili demografiche ed economiche per le quali disponiamo di indicatori a livello comunale. L’obiettivo è individuare quali sono le caratteristiche demografiche ed economiche della popolazione più frequentemente associate ad una maggiore diffusione del Reddito di Cittadinanza. I risultati evidenziano che il Rdc è più diffuso nelle zone montane e periferiche, mentre è stato meno in grado di raggiungere i territori caratterizzati da una popolazione più giovane e con famiglie numerose.

2022 - L’accesso al Reddito di cittadinanza dei cittadini stranieri: criticità e proposte di riforma [Articolo su rivista]
Assunta Giuliano, Giovanna; Gallo, Giovanni; Rosano, Aldo; Di Padova, Pasquale
abstract

2022 - L’assegno unico e universale per i figli [Capitolo/Saggio]
Gallo, Giovanni; Lusignoli, Lorenzo
abstract

2022 - Monetary poverty and adequacy of minimum income schemes in seven major EU countries: What linkages? [Articolo su rivista]
Aprea, Massimo; Gallo, Giovanni; Raitano, Michele
abstract

2021 - Assegno unico per i figli: Una prima proposta e alcune riflessioni [Articolo su rivista]
Baldini, Massimo; Bosi, Paolo; Gallo, Giovanni; Cristiano, Gori; Claudio, Lucifora; Chiara, Saraceno
abstract

2021 - Choose the school, choose the performance. New evidence on the determinants of student performance in eight European countries [Working paper]
Bonacini, L.; Brunetti, I.; Gallo, G.
abstract

This study aims to identify the main determinants of student performance in reading and maths across eight European Union countries (Austria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, and Slovenia). Based on student-level data from the OECD’s PISA 2018 survey and by means of the application of efficient algorithms, we highlight that the number of books at home and a variable combining the type and location of their school represent the most important predictors of student performance in all of the analysed countries, while other school characteristics are rarely relevant. Econometric results show that students attending vocational schools perform significantly worse than those in general schools, except in Portugal. Considering only general school students, the differences between big and small cities are not statistically significant, while among students in vocational schools, those in a small city tend to perform better than those in a big city. Through the Gelbach decomposition method, which allows measuring the relative importance of observable characteristics in explaining a gap, we show that the differences in test scores between big and small cities depend on school characteristics, while the differences between general and vocational schools are mainly explained by family social status

2021 - Fighting poverty and social exclusion. Including through minimum income schemes [Curatela]
Raitano, Michele; Jessoula, Matteo; Gallo, Giovanni; Pagnini, Costanza
abstract

The study pursues two main aims. Firstly, it addresses the issue of poverty and social exclusion from a theoretical perspective – assessing the relevant concepts – and an empirical perspective – discussing the limitations of different indicators and data with reference to EU countries. Secondly, it focuses on national and EU-level policies dealing with poverty and social exclusion, in particular, on minimum income schemes, presenting 6 country case studies and evaluating the feasibility of an EU minimum income framework. This document was provided by the Policy Department for Economic, Scientific and Quality of Life Policies at the request of the committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL).

2021 - Identifying policy challenges of COVID-19 in hardly reliable data and judging the success of lockdown measures [Articolo su rivista]
Bonacini, L.; Gallo, G.; Patriarca, F.
abstract

Identifying structural breaks in the dynamics of COVID-19 contagion is crucial to promptly assess policies and evaluate the effectiveness of lockdown measures. However, official data record infections after a critical and unpredictable delay. Moreover, people react to the health risks of the virus and also anticipate lockdowns. All of this makes it complex to quickly and accurately detect changing patterns in the virus’s infection dynamic. We propose a machine learning procedure to identify structural breaks in the time series of COVID-19 cases. We consider the case of Italy, an early-affected country that was unprepared for the situation, and detect the dates of structural breaks induced by three national lockdowns so as to evaluate their effects and identify some related policy issues. The strong but significantly delayed effect of the first lockdown suggests a relevant announcement effect. In contrast, the last lockdown had significantly less impact. The proposed methodology is robust as a real-time procedure for early detection of the structural breaks: the impact of the first two lockdowns could have been correctly identified just the day after they actually occurred.

2021 - Qualcosa è cambiato? I limiti nella implementazione del Reddito di Cittadinanza e il vincolo della path dependency [Articolo su rivista]
Busilacchi, Gianluca; Gallo, Giovanni; Luppi, Matteo
abstract

2021 - Rotation group bias in European Union social indicators [Capitolo/Saggio]
Fusco, Alessio; Gallo, Giovanni; Van Kerm, Philippe
abstract

As EU-SILC relies on a four-wave rotational panel design, a new population sample is drawn every year and selected respondents are interviewed annually for up to 4 years. This means that a complete EU-SILC cross-sectional data set contains data from samples drawn independently in 4 different years. In Chapter 17, Alessio Fusco, Giovanni Gallo and Philippe Van Kerm apply influence function (IF) regression methods to examine to what extent this design has an impact on the estimates of four EU social indicators (the AROPE AROP indicators, the MSD indicators, introduced above, and the Gini coefficient (7)), in other words if a rotation group bias in these indicators is observed. Their analysis highlights that estimates of income inequality and poverty rates for newer rotation groups are often higher than for older ones. Individuals interviewed at least twice (and especially those who have been in the sample for 3 or more years) tend to drag the selected social indicators downwards, compared with individuals interviewed for the first time. These impacts remain significant even when accounting for observable sociodemographic characteristics of households; not all countries are affected by the bias, however.

2021 - Sulla proposta di istituzione dell’Assegno Unico e Universale per i Figli (AUUF) [Working paper]
Baldini, M.; Bosi, Paolo B.; Gallo, G.; Gori, C.; Granaglia, E.; Dalla Zuanna, G.; Lorenzini, M.; Lucifora, C.; Mesini, D.; Negro, P.; Pavolini, E.; Ranci Ortigosa, E.; Rosina, A.; Saraceno, C.; Toso, S.; Trivellato, U.
abstract

L'approvazione, imminente, della Legge delega per il varo dell'Assegno unico e universale per i figli (AUUF) rappresenta un importante momento della riforma degli istituti di trasferimento monetario del welfare del nostro paese. Il Gruppo Arel/Feg/Alleanza per l'infanzia intende fornire un proprio contributo nella fase di elaborazione dei Decreti attuativi, proponendosi di ragionare su tale riforma nel presupposto che il testo della Legge delega approvata alla Camera venga approvato in via definitiva al Senato (A.S. n. 1892) senza modificazioni e che i contributi che si vorranno fornire siano rispettosi dei principi contenuti nella Legge delega, pur tenendo conto dei margini di discrezionalità che essa lascia aperti nella produzione dei decreti legislativi.

2021 - The Struggle of Being Poor and Claimant: Evidence on the Non-Take-Up of Social Policies in Italy [Working paper]
Boscolo, S.; Gallo, G.
abstract

Social policies aim to alleviate poverty and income inequality, providing cash benefits and services to households facing economic difficulties. Nonetheless, it is well known that a relevant portion of eligible households do not claim such policies. Through an original methodology based on ISEE (Indicatore della Situazione Economica Equivalente) administrative records, this paper offers the first empirical evidence on the non-take-up of social policies in Italy. We show that roughly 1.1 million of poor households did not file the ISEE declaration in 2018, a necessary step to claim most means-tested cash benefits and services. Based on multinomial logit regressions, results show that younger and larger households are more inclined to claim social policies. In contrast, households headed by a female or migrant tend to report severe levels of non-take-up, as do those living in the islands.

2021 - Working from home and income inequality: risks of a ‘new normal’ with COVID-19 [Articolo su rivista]
Bonacini, Luca; Gallo, Giovanni; Scicchitano, Sergio
abstract

2020 - Birds of a Feather Flock Together: The Inclusive Effect of Similarity Patterns in Equity Crowdfunding [Articolo su rivista]
Venturelli, Valeria; Pedrazzoli, Alessia; Gallo, Giovanni
abstract

Crowdfunding is helping to drive financial inclusion by expanding the availability of funds to traditionally excluded and underserved groups of individuals, such as ethnic minority and female entrepreneurs. This study verifies how ethnic and gender similarity between investor and entrepreneur can affect the invested amount in an equity crowdfunding campaign. Using an integrated approach with linear regression and Shapley decomposition, we analyze 8600 investments made by 5996 unique personal shareholder investors in 81 equity crowdfunding campaigns. Results show that similarity patterns seem to significantly influence the amount invested in a campaign but their effects change according to investor’s gender and ethnic origin. In fact, even if female investors give a higher amount to men-led companies, their preference changes if the company is run by a female founder belonging to the same ethnic minority group. Results emphasize equity crowdfunding’s potential as a tool for the financial inclusion of ethnic minority groups of investors and entrepreneurs.

2020 - Buy Flexible, Pay More: The Role of Temporary Contracts on Wage Inequality [Articolo su rivista]
Albanese, Andrea; Gallo, Giovanni
abstract

2020 - Definire la povertà: quanto conta il patrimonio [Articolo su rivista]
Gallo, Giovanni
abstract

2020 - Drawing policy suggestions to fight Covid-19 from hardly reliable data. A machine-learning contribution on lockdowns analysis. [Working paper]
Bonacini, L; Gallo, G; Patriarca, F
abstract

2020 - Like a stone thrown into a pond – poverty contrast of an emporium of solidarity [Articolo su rivista]
Ranuzzini, Marco; Gallo, Giovanni
abstract

This paper highlights to what extent an emporium of solidarity may affect poverty conditions of its recipients, and whether it generates net social benefits to different actors involved.

2020 - L’altra faccia dello smart working [Articolo su rivista]
Bonacini, Luca; Gallo, Giovanni; Scicchitano, Sergio
abstract

2020 - Reddito di Cittadinanza e Reddito di Emergenza: quale quadro di insieme? - Prima parte [Articolo su rivista]
Gallo, Giovanni; Raitano, Michele
abstract

2020 - Reddito di Cittadinanza e Reddito di Emergenza: quale quadro di insieme? - Seconda parte [Articolo su rivista]
Gallo, Giovanni; Raitano, Michele
abstract

2020 - The scars of scarcity in the short run: an empirical investigation across Europe [Articolo su rivista]
Baldini, Massimo; Gallo, Giovanni; Torricelli, Costanza
abstract

This paper tests whether a temporary experience of income scarcity in the recent past affects the current perception of financial fragility, and whether this effect varies according to the welfare system of the country of residence. Using EU-SILC (European Union Statistics on Income and Living Condition) longitudinal data in 2010–2013 period, two main results emerge. First, individuals who transited out of a short spell of scarcity tend to record higher financial fragility (as measured by the indicator “ability to make ends meet”) than those who never experienced it, even after controlling for the current level of household income. When a more objective measure of financial fragility is taken (financial burden of total housing costs), the effect is weaker and disappears once current income is accounted for. Second, the scarcity effect on perceived financial fragility differs according to the welfare system, whereby more generous welfare states (i.e. with greater incidence of social expenditure on GDP) appear to reduce the persistence of the effects of past income shocks on current well-being, while the level of targeting is not relevant. These results, which are robust to various robustness checks, support the idea that individual well-being is a multidimensional phenomenon not limited to more objective components such as income or wealth. Our results are in favour of a welfare system which ensures a more generous provision of services and does not focus only on the poorest section of a society.

2020 - Widening the gap. The influence of inner areas in the income inequality in Italy [Articolo su rivista]
Gallo, Giovanni; Pagliacci, Francesco
abstract

2019 - Beneficiari e spesa del Reddito di Cittadinanza: Una stima della misura finale [Working paper]
Gallo, Giovanni; Sacchi, Stefano
abstract

Il nuovo Reddito di cittadinanza sarà realtà da aprile 2019. Questo policy brief fornisce alcune stime su platea potenziale dei beneficiari e spesa della nuova misura nazionale di contrasto alla povertà, e mostra come queste stime potrebbero variare con l’approvazione di alcuni emendamenti di rilievo in fase di definizione della misura finale.

2019 - Birds of a feather flock together and get money from the crowd [Working paper]
Venturelli, V.; Gallo, G.; Pedrazzoli, A.
abstract

In constructing online alternative finance instruments as a new form of financial democratization and financial inclusion, this article aims at verifying the presence of similarity effect in equity crowdfunding investments. Discussion focuses on ethnic and gender similarity between the seekers and investors that sustained the project. Our analysis is based on 5,996 personal investors that have participated in 81 equity crowdfunding campaigns, on Crowdcube, a British equity crowdfunding platform from 2011 and 2016. Results show that in equity crowdfunding gender and ethnic similarities play different role based on investors’ characteristics - gender, ethnicity and the combination of two. In particular, ethnic similarity positively influence the level of amount invested by both female and male investors belonging to an ethnic minority. Even if female investors tend to prefer male company, their preference changes if a female proponent belonging to an ethnic minority runs the company. From a practical perspective, our findings shed new light on how individual characteristics can be important factor in financing situations. Results allow entrepreneurs and equity crowdfunding platforms to understand better potential investor behaviour and highlights the role of equity crowdfunding as tool for minorities’ financial inclusion and women entrepreneur empowerment.

2019 - Capitolo 12. Reddito di Cittadinanza: caratteristiche, beneficiari e prime valutazioni [Capitolo/Saggio]
Gallo, Giovanni; Raitano, Michele
abstract

In questo capitolo si presentano alcune riflessioni sui pregi e sulle criticità del Reddito di Cittadinanza (di seguito RdC). Nel paragrafo 2 si descrivono le caratteristiche di tale strumento, in relazione ai requisiti di accesso, di condizionalità e alla formula di calcolo della prestazione. Nello stesso paragrafo si richiamano sinteticamente anche i principali aspetti controversi del disegno del Rdc rilevati da alcuni studiosi, in particolare con riferimento all’applicazione, per il calcolo dell’importo, di una scala di equivalenza diversa da quella ISEE e che sfavorisce, in termini relativi, i nuclei familiari più numerosi. Nel paragrafo 3 si presentano i dati più aggiornati forniti dall’INPS sul numero e sulle caratteristiche dei beneficiari del RdC e si riportano le stime preliminari condotte dall’Ufficio Parlamentare di Bilancio (UPB) sull’effetto macroeconomico dell’erogazione di tale trasferimento. Successivamente, si presentano i risultati di alcune micro-simulazioni originali atte ad indagare l’impatto dell’introduzione del RdC sui principali indicatori di povertà e diseguaglianza (paragrafo 4) e gli effetti sugli indicatori distributivi e sul bilancio pubblico che deriverebbero se il legislatore intervenisse per modificare la scala d’equivalenza alla base della formula di calcolo del trasferimento, in modo da ridurre lo svantaggio relativo a discapito delle famiglie numerose (paragrafo 5). Infine, il paragrafo 6 conclude.

2019 - Il Reddito di Cittadinanza: Cosa dicono finora i dati [Articolo su rivista]
Baldini, Massimo; Gallo, Giovanni
abstract

2019 - La dinamica della disuguaglianza in Italia dagli anni ’80 ad oggi [Articolo su rivista]
Gallo, Giovanni
abstract

2019 - La progettazione personalizzata nelle nuove misure di contrasto alla povertà (RES-REI) in Emilia-Romagna: Ottanta studi di caso [Articolo su rivista]
Ambrosi, Agnese; Gallo, Giovanni; Ghetti, Valentina
abstract

2019 - Le politiche di contrasto alla povertà [Articolo su rivista]
Gallo, Giovanni; Luppi, Matteo
abstract

2019 - Le politiche per l’assistenza: il Reddito di cittadinanza [Working paper]
Baldini, M.; Gallo, G.; Lusignoli, L.; Toso, S.
abstract

During 2018 and the first part of 2019 the Italian debate on public expenditure for cash transfers has been dominated by two arguments: “Quota 100” for pensions and the Citizen’s Income (CI) for social assistance. This chapter is entirely devoted to the CI, which represents a turning point in policies against poverty in Italy, with positive aspects and some problems. After section 2, which updates the indexes on poverty and inequality in Italy, section 3 traces the history and the main contents of CI, formulating also some proposals to improve its design. Then a discussion of the quantitative effects of CI on poverty follows. Finally, section 5 deepens the relationship between poverty and the labour market, and the role that the CI could play in this context.

2019 - Le politiche per l’assistenza: il Reddito di cittadinanza [Working paper]
Baldini, M.; Gallo, G.; Lusignoli, L.; Toso, S.
abstract

2019 - Quali evidenze e raccomandazioni dal rapporto Oxfam sulle disuguaglianze? Un approfondimento per l’Italia [Articolo su rivista]
Gallo, Giovanni
abstract

2019 - Reddito di cittadinanza e disponibilità a trasferirsi per lavoro [Articolo su rivista]
Gallo, Giovanni; Scicchitano, Sergio
abstract

2019 - Regional Support for the National Government: Joint Effects of Minimum Income Schemes in Italy [Articolo su rivista]
Gallo, Giovanni
abstract

2018 - Assistenza e ammortizzatori sociali [Capitolo/Saggio]
Gallo, Giovanni; Toso, Stefano
abstract

Gallo e Toso propongono, nel capitolo 4, una panoramica sulle novità riguardanti le politiche di contrasto della povertà. Una particolare attenzione viene data nel capitolo di quest’anno alle misure nazionali e regionali di reddito minimo attualmente vigenti nel nostro paese, visto che il 2018 è l’anno in cui l’Italia si dota per la prima volta di una misura di sostegno del reddito di stampo universalistico, ossia accessibile a tutte le famiglie povere in quanto tali. Dallo scorso 1o luglio il Reddito d’inclusione (Rei), introdotto con il d.lgs. n. 147 del 15 settembre 2017, ha infatti perso i requisiti categoriali previsti originariamente, come la presenza in famiglia di almeno un minore o di un disabile. Ciò corona un percorso di riforma delle politiche per l’assistenza avviato ai primi del decennio e portato avanti da diversi governi. Il capitolo propone una stima della platea e del costo del Rei. Diverse regioni hanno deciso di introdurre proprie misure di sostegno al reddito tra il 2015 e il 2017. Il capitolo ne presenta nel dettaglio le caratteristiche e le strategie adottate per estendere la platea potenziale della misura nazionale o aumentarne il trasferimento economico. Il Movimento 5 Stelle da tempo propone una misura, il Reddito di cittadinanza, molto più ambiziosa dello schema nazionale di reddito minimo. Il capitolo discute le principali caratteristiche, gli aspetti positivi e le potenziali criticità della politica che potrebbe rimpiazzare il neonato Rei. Infine, si fornisce un commento ai recenti provvedimenti in tema di ammortizzatori sociali.

2018 - Da politiche di reddito minimo a sistemi integrati nel contrasto alla povertà? Un’analisi di dieci paesi europei [Articolo su rivista]
Baldini, Massimo; Busilacchi, Gianluca; Gallo, Giovanni
abstract

L’articolo presenta una comparazione delle politiche di reddito minimo in alcuni paesi europei focalizzandosi sulle differenze nell'accesso, sui livelli di condizionalità previsti, sulla generosità e sulle innovazioni introdotte negli ultimi anni, in particolare nel passaggio da singole misure di reddito minimo a sistemi integrati di vari trasferimenti monetari. La tesi sostenuta è che nel contrasto alla povertà si stia passando a misure di reddito minimo fortemente condizionate, ma sempre più integrate a strumenti di altra natura. Con l’ausilio dei dati Eu-Silc è stato valutato in che modo i sistemi di trasferimento hanno reagito alla crisi economica, mettendo in luce le differenze esistenti tra alcuni paesi europei in termini di composizione della spesa e di efficacia nel contrasto alla povertà. I risultati mostrano grandi differenze tra i diversi paesi, sia dal punto di vista strutturale sia come risposta agli effetti prodotti dalla crisi. Ciò che emerge, in generale, è il ruolo marginale assunto dai trasferimenti finalizzati al contrasto della povertà e dell’esclusione sociale in senso stretto, da cui l’importanza di una visione allargata a un insieme più ampio di trasferimenti.

2018 - Individual Heterogeneity and Pension Choices: Evidence from Italy [Articolo su rivista]
Gallo, Giovanni; Torricelli, Costanza; Van Soest, Arthur
abstract

The 2007 Italian pension reform allowed transferring future severance pay contributions into a pension fund. Although this was accompanied by an information campaign advising employees to make the transfer, only a minority of them did so. We analyze the heterogeneity in employees’ choices using micro panel data from the Bank of Italy household survey. Two are the main findings. First, the decision to transfer and pension fund participation after the reform are more likely for more (financially) educated and older individuals, with high household income and wealth, and less likely for female employees, in the South, and in small firms. Second, framing the analysis within the Elaboration Likelihood Model highlights that the cognitive processes underlying the decision on pension fund participation may be quite different. The decision consciousness is lower for employees working in small firms, where employers have an incentive to stimulate workers to deny the transfer.

2018 - Market-Book Ratios of European Banks: What Does Explain the Structural Fall? [Working paper]
Ferretti, R.; Gallo, G.; Landi, A.; Venturelli, V.
abstract

In the years since the outbreak of the crisis, financial markets have persistently reduced the market value of European banks, as consequence of macroeconomic, regulatory and structural factors. Even if these factors affected the whole European banking industry, differences characterized market evaluation of banks along country, size and business mix profiles. Following the extant literature on bank market valuation, our paper tests for the difference between market to book ratios of the large European banks, using three blocks of indicators typically affecting the banks’ market value. To verify our research question, we first regress the market to book ratio over performance measures and risk indicators. Then, we verify whether bank business size and composition affect bank market valuation. Lastly we evaluate the relevance of country context variables, by considering both macroeconomic and banking structure indicators. Our panel consists of all large publicly traded bank holding companies at European level. Large publicly traded banks are all listed banks with consolidated assets exceeding 50 billion euro in 2015. The results highlight that the market considers the fundamental variables (current performance and volatility) as the main factors affecting the evaluation process. Furthermore a significant share of variability in banks’ market-book values is explained by country context variables.

2018 - Rapporto Conclusivo dell’Indagine Valutativa su Portobello – Emporio Sociale di Modena [Working paper]
Baldini, M.; Gallo, G.; Ranuzzini, M.
abstract

Among charitable food redistribution activities, emporia of solidarity can be considered an innovative idea in local welfare systems in Italy, since they try to meet poor households’ need in an effective way, ensuring structured food provision. This report shows the policy evaluation results of an emporium of solidarity located in the municipality of Modena and called "Portobello". Based on Portobello's administrative data and data from an ad hoc survey on recipient households, our analysis highlights that the emporium of solidarity represents a significant help for its recipients in terms of both economic conditions and social inclusion. Specifically, Portobello covers up about 40% of recipients' total expenditure for food, determining an overall increase in the purchasing power equals to 800 euros during the six months of access. Moreover, the emporium improves the work activation and mood of its recipients, reduces the food waste, and encourages volunteering and the adoption of a healthier lifestyle. Finally, results of the social cost-benefit analysis point out that Portobello is worthy of investments since the benefits-costs ratio is equal to 1.99 on average, and the return is even fourfold in terms of volunteering only.

2017 - Essere NEET è una scelta? Giovani in attesa del proprio tempo [Capitolo/Saggio]
Gallo, Giovanni
abstract

Utilizzando i dati EU-SILC, Giovanni Gallo analizza nel contributo ‘Essere NEET è una scelta? Giovani in attesa del proprio tempo’ le caratteristiche dei giovani che non studiano e non lavorano, partendo dai principali modelli sul mercato del lavoro. L’autore si chiede se l’essere NEET possa configurarsi come una scelta ‘adattiva’ dell’individuo che, riconoscendo le difficoltà correnti, decide di attendere un momento più favorevole per attivarsi. Particolarmente interessante il fatto di considerare il reddito familiare del giovane nella scelta di restare inattivo.

2017 - Gli effetti di un sisma: il caso Valle del Belìce [Articolo su rivista]
Gallo, Giovanni; Pisciotta, Antonio
abstract

La presente analisi mira a valutare l’impatto di lungo periodo di un terremoto. Il caso di studio qui utilizzato è il terremoto che ha devastato la Valle del Belìce nel gennaio 1968. Per far questo, una comparazione sull’andamento di alcune variabili demografiche e socio-economiche è stata svolta tra l’area del cratere e le aggregazioni territoriali (province di Trapani, Palermo e Agrigento, regione Sicilia) all’interno delle quali la Valle del Belìce si colloca. I risultati evidenziano che il sisma ha avuto gravi ripercussioni nei territori colpiti dal punto di vista sia demografico che economico, che non accennano a scomparire a più di quarant’anni dal disastro naturale. In particolare, nonostante i meccanismi di ricostruzione e i fondi di sviluppo attivati, i comuni del cratere mostrano una popolazione in forte calo e sempre più anziana, un’incapacità di sviluppare nel settore privato attività industriali e di servizi e bassi livelli di reddito familiare.

2017 - Individual Heterogeneity and Pension Choices How to Communicate an Effective Message? [Working paper]
Gallo, G.; Torricelli, C.; van Soest, A.
abstract

We use the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) to explain how communication influences pension choices in a heterogeneous population. We exploit the 2007 Italian reform that allowed transferring future severance pay contributions into a pension fund and was accompanied by an information campaign with a clear message. According to ELM, individuals follow either a “central route” or a “peripheral route” depending on their motivation and ability to process, and eventually change or retain their initial attitude. Based on data from the Bank of Italy Survey on Household Income and Wealth, we find that not only financial literacy plays a relevant role in the employees’ elaboration process, but also the individual’s comprehension of the specific choice object, the personal relevance of the decision, cognitive skills, and contextual elements (e.g. unions, employer pressure). These considerations have policy implications for the effectiveness of information messages in the pension domain.

2017 - Past Income Scarcity and Current Perception of Financial Fragility [Working paper]
Baldini, M.; Gallo, G.; Torricelli, C.
abstract

The aim of this paper is to test whether a temporary experience of income scarcity in the recent past affects the individual’s assessment of financial fragility over time. Using EU-SILC (European Union Statistics on Income and Living Condition) longitudinal data in 2010-2013 period, our results highlight that individuals who transited out of a short spell of scarcity tend to record a lower subjective ability to make ends meet than those who never experienced it during the reference period, even after two years and controlling for the current level of household income. When a more objective measure of household financial health is taken, the effect is weaker and disappears when current income is accounted for. Our results, which are robust to various robustness checks, have implications for public policies since they question the idea that helping people to leave an objective condition of income scarcity is enough to address poverty and social exclusion.

2016 - Individual heterogeneity and pension choices: How to communicate an effective message? [Working paper]
Gallo, G.; Torricelli, C.; Van Soest, A.
abstract

We use the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) to explain how communication influences the heterogeneity in pension choices. To this end we exploit the 2007 Italian reform that allowed transferring future severance pay contributions into a pension fund and was accompanied by an information campaign with a clear message. According to ELM, individuals follow either a “central route” or a “peripheral route” depending on their motivation and ability to think, and eventually change or retain their initial attitude. Based on Logit models and data from the Bank of Italy Survey on Household Income and Wealth, we find that the decision to transfer the severance pay into a pension fund was taken by more educated and older individuals, with high household income. Since the reform was mainly directed at low income and younger individuals, this result suggest that the information campaign was not very effective. Moreover, our findings show that generic financial literacy does not significantly affect decision consciousness, pointing at a more relevant role in the elaboration process for: the individual’s comprehension of the specific choice object (pension funds), cognitive skills, and influential contextual factors (i.e., unions and employer’s pressure).

2016 - Individual heterogeneity and pension choices: how to communicate an effective message? [Working paper]
Gallo, G.; Torricelli, C.; van Soest, A.
abstract

2016 - L'importo del contributo economico [Capitolo/Saggio]
Baldini, Massimo; Gallo, Giovanni
abstract

Nel capitolo si volge lo sguardo all’importo del contributo monetario erogato ed alle sue conseguenze. Viene esposta una valutazione dell’impatto del Reis sui redditi dei poveri e sulla diffusione dell’indigenza; si quantifica poi l’ampiezza della platea interessata dalla misura, con particolare riferimento ad alcune dimensioni come la nazionalità e la ripartizione dei beneficiari tra le diverse aree del paese. Si compara quindi il Reis con gli attuali trasferimenti rivolti ai nuclei in povertà, mentre la parte finale lo pone a confronto con strumenti simili presenti in alcuni paesi europei.

2016 - Social transfers and poverty in Europe: comparing social exclusion and targeting across welfare regimes [Working paper]
Baldini, M.; Gallo, G.; Reverberi, M.; Trapani, A.
abstract

This paper studies whether there are systematic differences in the ability of cash transfers, belonging to different welfare systems, to reach the poor and to lift them out of poverty. We structure the analysis following the classic breakdown of the various European welfare states into welfare regimes, in search of specific features of them that can explain the variable results shown in the ability to effectively tackle economic poverty. The analysis is carried out both with a cross-sectional approach as well as using a more long-run definition of persistent poverty.

2016 - Social transfers and poverty in Europe: comparing social exclusion and targeting across welfare regimes [Working paper]
Baldini, M.; Gallo, G.; Reverberi, M.; Trapani, A.
abstract

2015 - Study on the effects and incidence of labour taxation [Working paper]
Valkonen, Tarmo; Hofer, Helmut; Hyee, Raphaela; Loretz, Simon; Müllbacher, Sandra; Baldini, Massimo; Gallo, Giovanni; Styczynska, Izabela; Aydilek, Gokben; Adam, Stuart; Phillips, David
abstract

In the aftermath of the financial crisis most European countries are continuing to face employment problems. In a number of Member States government intervention has further resulted in increasing debt levels and high tax burdens overall and in particular on labour. Therefore well-targeted tax reforms seem to be in order to improve the labour market outcomes. It is often implicitly assumed that a decrease on the employee side, i.e. in the personal income tax rate or the employee part of social security contribution, leads to a higher labour supply. Against this background four main goals of this study emerge. First, is to identify from the literature which labour market imperfections result in employment problems and to attribute them to the labour supply or on the labour demand side. Given the heterogeneity in the labour market situation of different groups, we also set out to identify which socioeconomic groups are most vulnerable to employment problems. The next step is to review the literature which assesses the short-run and long-run economic incidence of labour taxation. To further break down the incidence into its underlying determinants we also review the literature on the (tax) elasticities of labour supply and labour demand. Then the literature on the influence of the economic environment on the tax incidence outcome, most notably the wage setting mechanisms and the institutional background, is reviewed. Finally the findings of the literature review are brought together in a framework of indicators to identify the potential of tax reforms to reduce tax related employment problems.

Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia

Pubblicazioni