Leaving home and housing prices. The experience of Italian youth emancipation

This paper provides an explanation for the postponement of youth emancipation in the Italian context mainly characterized by a sharp increase in both house and rent prices together with stagnant disposable income over the past decade. We first assemble a unique database related to the housing and rental market which is then matched with household characteristics. We find that the probability of leaving home decreases by about half percentage point and one percentage point for males and females, respectively, for a one-standard-deviation change in house prices. Together with property prices, local labour markets play a prominent role in determining decisions by unemployed youths to postpone the transition. The youngest cohort was mainly affected by the real estate market evolution that occurred in the last decade.coresidence, moving out, real estate market, discrete time duration model.

The (mis)specification of discrete duration models with unobserved heterogeneity: a Monte Carlo study

Empirical researchers usually prefer statistical models that can be easily estimated using standard software packages. One such model is the sequential binary model with or without normal random effects; such models can be adopted to estimate discrete duration models with unobserved heterogeneity. But ease of estimation may come at a cost. In this paper we conduct a Monte Carlo simulation to evaluate the consequences of omitting or misspecifying the unobserved heterogeneity distribution in single-spell discrete duration models.discrete duration models, unobserved heterogeneity, Monte Carlo simulations

Retail sector concentration and price dynamics in the euro area: a regional analysis

We conduct a regional analysis of the relationship between market concentration and price dynamics in the grocery retail sector, focusing on a sample of five categories of goods belonging to the 12 COICOP aggregation and on a panel of countries that includes Germany, Spain, Finland, Italy, Austria and Portugal. Using a unique census-type dataset on retailers, we construct Herfindahl-Hirschman indices of concentration at the buying group, parent company and individual shop level for a sample of 118,540 large grocery stores and we study the association between these measures and regional price changes. Our results point to a positive association between retail market concentration and price growth in food and beverages, alcohol and tobacco and miscellaneous goods in the time span 2003-2010 at the buying, parental group and store level for the pooled sample of countries. The relation reverses sign for clothing and footwear and household equipment. This evidence is robust to different specifications of concentration indices.Market concentration, price dynamics, buying group, parent company, regional Herfindahl-Hirschman indices.

Leaving home and housing prices. The experience of Italian youth emancipation

This paper provides an explanation for the postponement of the youth emancipa- tion in the Italian context mainly characterized by a sharp increase in both house and rent prices together with a stagnant disposable income over the last decade. We first assemble a unique database related to the housing and rental market value which is then matched with household characteristics. We find a significant effect of the real estate market: the probability of moving out decreases by about 0.45% and 1.18% for males and females respectively for a one-standard-deviation increase in house prices. Together with property prices, local labour markets play a prominent role in determin- ing unemployed youth decisions to postpone the transition. The youngest cohort was mainly affected by the real estate market evolution occurred in the last decadecoresidence, moving out, real estate market, discrete time duration model

Housing rent dynamics in Italy

In this paper we focus on tenant rents in Italy and compare results from several methods for the rent dynamic estimation. We first document the sources of data available and then introduce quality-adjusted techniques, which enable us to separate the price variation due to qualitative changes in housing attributes from pure price changes. Finally, we compare these measures with unconditional and matched-type price indices derived from microdata. Over the period 1998-2006, we estimate a cumulative rent increase ranging between 40 and 80%. The upper bound refers to the average dynamic for a subset of flats entering the market in a given period. The hedonic approach suggests a substantially lower overall growth in tenant rent, around 40% for the same period.Hedonic regressions, Matched-models, CPI, Downward bias

Women´s wages and childbearing decisions: Evidence from Italy

During the early 1990s, Italy became one of the first countries to reach lowest-low fertility. This was also a period in which women´s education and labour force participation increased. We analyze the role of women´s (potential) wages on their fertility decisions by making use of two different surveys. This enables us to apply discrete-time duration models. For first births, we find evidence of non-proportional hazards and of some "recuperation" effects; for second and third births, instead, wage exhibits small intensity although there is a clear division between Northern and Southern Italian regions.childbearing decisions, discrete time duration models, lowest-low fertility

(Non)persistent effects of fertility on female labour supply

The negative association between fertility and female labour market participation is complicated by the endogeneity of fertility. We address this problem by using an exogenous variation in family size caused by infertility shocks, mainly related to the fact that nature prevents some women from achieving their desired fertility levels. Despite a widely documented reduction of female labour supply around childbirth, using the Bank of Italy's SHIW we find that this effect dissipates over time, with some clues of penalties related to job quality. Results are confirmed exploiting the Istat Birth Survey, with insights of a different impact according to the age of the child.participation, children, motherhood, female employment rate, Italy

Retail market structure and consumer prices in the euro area

We investigate the empirical relationship between product market competition and prices in the retail grocery sector in the euro area. The study uses micro-data from ACNielsen on chain stores' census characteristics and price levels for a broad variety of products. We construct Herfindahl-Hirschman indices of concentration at different levels of market aggregation (buying group and parent company) to investigate their effects on prices. The analysis confirms the inverse relation between downstream market competition among retailers and price levels for most of the reference products. Though less conclusive in terms of statistical significance, the proposed estimates also point to a welfare enhancing role of buying groups. Our results indicate that buying groups provide a balancing mechanism between retailers' and producers' bargaining power, in support of the countervailing power hypothesis