RISULTATI RICERCA

The topic of external costs of transport is widely studied in the scientific literature and policy makers are showing a growing awareness on this problem. One of the main tools used to control the social costs of transport and reduce welfare losses associated to externalities is that of internalisation via tariffs: road pricing, carbon taxes, dedicated taxes etc. Actually, many taxes on transport already exist, but seldom have an explicit internalisation purpose. In this paper we compare current road transport perceived marginal costs in Italy with social ones. Starting from the literature on the topic, in the analytical part of the paper we present the case of Italy and quantify the current level of external costs and taxation. Then we compare unit taxes with marginal transport social costs, with particular respect to different driving contexts. Results show that gasoline passengers cars always perceive the external costs they generate more than any other vehicle category. In urban contexts external costs are still not rightly perceived, with the exception of recent gasoline cars only and excluding congestion. Outside urban contexts, the perceived share is considerably higher. Estimates also suggest that a distortion exists with respect to the gap between highway tolls and infrastructure damage costs in Italy: trucks pay only a little more than marginal infrastructure costs they generate, so that only cars are actually paying for new investments.

Multiple-response items, sequencing items, and matching items are three innovative item types often included in systems for computer-based assessment that offer the benefit of polytomous scoring and the possibility to measure partial knowledge. In the present study, different scoring methods of these three item types were compared. Based on the assumption that different response patterns to these item types represent different knowledge levels, these knowledge levels are described. Features of different scoring methods were studied to select the scoring methods included in this study. Subsequently, a probability distribution of scoring results for each knowledge level was derived and computed. Based on classical test theory, a measure for the reliability of the different scoring methods on the level of a single item was derived. To compare the results of the scoring methods selected, reliabilities were computed for several distributions of knowledge levels in a population. For a multiple-response item, when an examinee must select all the right options, the dichotomous scoring method resulted in higher reliabilities than scoring the response patterns polytomously. For matching items and for multiple-response items, when an examinee is asked to select fewer options than the total number of right options given, polytomous scoring methods gave higher reliabilities than the dichotomous scoring method. Simple polytomous scoring by counting the selected right options or relations is recommended instead of more complex polytomous scoring methods, for instance, using a correction for wrong answers or a so-called "floor". The results of scoring sequencing items were not as conclusive as for the other two item types explored.

Agricultural Insurance as an embodiment of farmer protection and empowerment is carried out with The Rice Farming Business Insurance (AUTP) facility with an insurance premium scheme by the Government of 80% and 20% by farmers. This study aims to simulate the AUTP premium based on government’s subsidy and farmers’ self-subsistent premium. The simulation test used panel data estimates in Indonesia Province during 2016-2019. The AUTP premium simulation was identified through the Moderating Regression Analysis (MRA) approach, with the moderate variables being government subsidies and farmers’ self-subsistent premium. The Government's premium subsidy policy became a pure moderator that significantly increased the AUTP land area by 0.057%. Meanwhile, the coefficient of the farmers’ self-subsistent premium variable has a negative and significant effect on the realization of AUTP in Indonesia. The results of the policy simulation emphasize the importance of the government's role in encouraging the increase in the realization of AUTP through subsidizing premium assistance to farmers. The implication of this simulation of the MRA model is that the response and participation rate of the farmers’ premium payments independently is not followed by an increase in the realization of AUTP in Indonesia. The policy implications in the simulation of the two equation models conclude the importance of managing subsidized farmer premium payments and self-subsistent schemes based on insured land and farmer insurance policy. Agricultural insurance policy needs to adopt risk management tools, diversify agricultural insurance programs, and calculate the willingness to pay agricultural insurance premiums appropriately.

The compartmentalization of psychological science and of the profession prevents the progress of the discipline. Compartmentalization is a collateral effect of the impressive scientific, methodological, and technical development of psychology, which has led to the emergence of specialized segments of knowledge and practice that unavoidably tend to progress separately from each other and weaken their reciprocal linkage. The work highlights the limits of compartmentalization and discusses motives that call for the unity of psychology. Three approaches to unification are outlined: I) the identification of the ultimate causal explanation; II) the progressive extension of the explicative capacity of specific theories; III) the building of a metatheoretical framework. Finally, the paper proposes the intervention as the criterion to compare the capacity of the three approaches to unity. According to this criterion, approaches can be validated by reason of their ability to enable professional psychology to address the current challenges that people and society have to face.

Il saggio intende indagare il rapporto tra diritto del lavoro e crisi economica nella prospettiva dei diritti fondamentali, prendendo spunto dal caso italiano. L’analisi non è peraltro incentrata sulle azioni intraprese dal legislatore interno nel dichiarato intento di fronteggiare la crisi, quanto piuttosto sulle reazioni che tali riforme hanno suscitato nelle sedi nazionali e sovranazionali deputate alla tutela dei diritti fondamentali. I profili tematici individuati quali terreni sui quali condurre l’indagine sono costituiti dalla riduzione dei trattamenti economici disposta in danno dei pubblici dipendenti; dalle molteplici riforme che hanno interessato la disciplina del contratto a termine nel settore pubblico così come nel settore privato; dalle tormentati vicende vissute dal diritto sindacale italiano a partire dal caso Fiat. L’analisi si conclude evidenziando le insufficienti risposte sin qui fornite rispetto alla legislazione della crisi, indicando per altro verso alcuni insospettati percorsi giurisprudenziali e istituzionali attraverso i quali i diritti sociali fondamentali possono incidere sui cambiamenti in atto.

Anche in un contesto sfidante quanto quello italiano, in un sistema Paese che arranca e che fornisce un contesto tutt’altro che favorevole alle sue imprese, anche in un’epoca di crisi senza precedenti come quella post-Covid, alcuni casi di imprese di successo ci insegnano che essere competitivi è possibile. Avere uno sguardo, una panoramica, su come si stanno muovendo le imprese più competitive e più innovative del nostro Paese può essere un buon punto di partenza per scrutare il contesto di riferimento, imparare dai migliori, e trovare nuove opportunità.

This article provides an analysis of data extracted from specific sections of a semi-structured questionnaire filled in by 29 Expert Leader Teachers (Animatori Digitali or AD in Italian) taking part in an Erasmus+ KA1 Project before and after their mobility abroad. These teachers were asked to answer questions concerning the Didactic Dimension, the Professional Managing Context, ICT in Education, Data Processing, Communication, and Content Creation, to the purpose of assessing how their competences had improved in consequence of their experience in the Erasmus+ project. Through a mix-method process, combining the analysis of questionnaires and the reports by the teachers after their mobility abroad, it was possible to compare quantitative and qualitative data with reference to emerging significant categories in the relevant dimensions. Research showed that Erasmus+ mobility had a positive effect on teachers’ awareness of the importance of ICT for education in a European dimension with a significant increase in values on a 3-graded Likert scale concerning such items as "I can exploit ICT potential to create effective exchanges with colleagues from other countries" (+22,5%), and "I can promote ICT use so that it gives an added value to teaching and learning" (+11,8%). Such positive outcomes were confirmed from a qualitative analysis of teachers’ reports on their experiences abroad: the most relevant concepts found in text corpus showed teachers’ increased awareness of their competences in all the dimensions considered.

Whilst human capital has gained a central position within political and scientific debates over time, more recently a critical importance has been acquired by the discourse on workers’ competencies. The central tenet is that what is truly crucial in today’s labour market is workers’ know-how-to-perform that requires knowledge, abilities and attitudes. A number of implications arise for workers, who are encouraged to gain especially transversal competencies, and for policy makers alike, who consider employability as the new job security. Starting from the empirical evidence arising from a large-scale survey carried out on Apulian small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the article critically discusses questions concerning the rhetoric of competencies. In contrast to prevailing individualized accounts of competencies and skill requirements, focusing on workers rather on workers in organizations and in labour markets, it first points attention to their social construction and, then, it engages with the debate on employability in knowledge-based economies.