RISULTATI RICERCA

The quality of life perception in European cities Objectives The quality of life (Qol) is a complex expression that includes different meanings. In this paper, Qol was assumed as a mix of qualitative and quantitative aspects. The qualitative approach provides an in-depth study of the motivations, feelings and reactions to a given subject or concept among selected social groups. Qol perception was analysed in thirty-one European cities (EU 15) and the results were compared with the objective data. The aim of this paper is to propose a non linear method based on the Qol to rank the European cities.

The Italian labour market has registered in the last decades a substantial growth in the qualification of human capital, mainly as a consequence of both active job policies and sectorial structural changes. The composition of professional figures has changed across sectors, in favour of the more qualified ones. The object of this paper is to analyse the structure by professions of employment in Italy in the period 1993-2003. The focus is on the adjustment of the composition of professional employment after cyclical shocks and structural changes. The analysis singles out professions with higher growth rates in employment, conditioned to sectorial effects, idiosyncratic trend and cyclical fluctuations. A particular attention is dedicated to the presence of polarization in employment dynamics between high skill and low skill professions.

Effectiveness of public infrastructure investments:a simple spatial economic equilibrium model Objectives The aim of this paper is to measure the effectiveness of public infrastructure investments, i.e. their contribution to local growth. To do this we estimate a simple spatial equilibrium model which accounts for the benefits and costs accruing to both Italian households and firms residing in different fixed geographic areas (Nuts 2 level) over the 1989-2000 period.