Quality competition, Pricing-To-Market and Non-Tariff measures: A Unified Framework For the Analysis of Bilateral Unit Values

This paper presents a unified framework for analyzing several factors that have been independently studied as determinants of unit values in international trade: product differentiation by quality (which suggests that unit values should be positively correlated with exporters' per capita income), pricing-to-market (which suggests they should be positively correlated with importers' per capita income), and non-tariff measures (which suggests that remaining residuals may contain evidence of trade barriers). On a large sample of bilateral unit values for 2005, we find that about 58 percent of all HS-6 products demonstrate both significant quality-ladder effects and pricing-to-market effects, with quality-ladder effects predominating in importance. Distance-related effects appearing directly in prices appear significantly larger than one would expect as a result of shipping margins. We also rank importers by the remaining unexplained variation in import prices, and examine whether these variations are plausibly related to non-tariff measures.

Special Economic Zones, Global Value Chains, and the Degree of Economic Linkages in the Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is often considered an example of the successful implementation of Special Economic Zones (henceforth SEZs) in the Western hemisphere. The zones fueled economic growth during the 1980s and 1990s and, while they experienced a sharp decline in employment due in part to the expiry of the end of the Multi-Fiber Agreement and stronger international competition in the textile and apparel industry in 2005, signs of recovery have been observed since 2009. Surgical equipment, chemicals and plastics, and footwear have recently emerged as the new drivers of export dynamism in the zones (World Bank, 2015). The objective of this report is to inform the policy discussion around the developmental impact of SEZs in the Dominican Republic by empirically assessing i) the implications of regulatory reforms aimed at complying with WTO disciplines regarding the elimination of incentives conditioned on export performance for SEZs firms, ii) the extent to which SEZs participate in Global Value Chains, and iii) their linkages with domestic suppliers. The report is organized as follows: The second section presents the historical importance of SEZ as an engine of economic growth in the country. The third section depicts the structural shift in terms of production in SEZs and evaluates the degree of value addition taking place in the Dominican Republic. The fourth section evaluates the degree and evolution of linkages between SEZs and local firms. The fifth section shows the impact of the regulatory changes in the SEZ regimen undertaken to comply with WTO disciplines. Finally, some conclusions and policy recommendations are presented in section six

Essays on ESG and Alliances

In the first chapter, I examine the audit consequences associated with financial misconduct by a firm within a strategic alliance. Core earnings restatements, which involve corrections to a firm's primary operational activities, such as revenues, cost of goods sold, and selling, general and administrative expenses, are particularly relevant to its alliance partners. I find evidence that audit fees increase for allied partners following a core earnings restatement. This increase does not appear to be driven by more audit effort but from an increased risk premium, to compensate for the higher perceived audit risk, and is concentrated on contractual alliances rather than joint ventures. Additional analyses indicate that this effect is not limited to core earnings restatements but extends to fraudulent restatements. Cross-sectional tests show that the spillover effect deriving from core earnings restatements is concentrated among firms with lower accruals quality, while, on the contrary, the spillover effect deriving from fraudulent restatements is concentrated among firms with better accruals quality. Overall, this study indicates that financial misconduct in one firm has detrimental consequences to allied partners’ perceived audit risk, which translates into higher audit fees. In the second chapter (co-authored with Hami Amiraslani, Annita Florou and Peter F. Pope) we examine the effects of a change in ESG scoring methodology by LSEG ESG (formerly Refinitiv ESG) on both the disclosure practices and policy adoption of rated firms. In 2020, LSEG ESG implemented two major modifications to its ESG scoring approach: (1) the "summing the percentile" methodology, which penalizes firms that selectively disclose quantitative data, and (2) the "default-value removal," which rewards firms that adopt more ESG-friendly policies. Our findings indicate an increase in quantitative data disclosure and policy adoption, particularly within the Environmental and Social pillars. Cross-sectional analysis reveals that this effect is more pronounced among firms with higher levels of institutional ownership as of March 2020. Overall, this study suggests that changes in third-party rating methodologies can significantly influence firms' disclosure behaviors and real policy actions. In the third chapter, I plan to explore how the presence of alliances within an industry influences the investment sensitivity of non-allied peer firms and the accuracy of financial analysts' capital expenditure (capex) forecasts. I intend to use a comprehensive dataset of alliances spanning multiple industries in the United States. I hypothesize that the presence of alliances will lead to a reduction in investment sensitivity for non-allied firms, a decline in the accuracy of analysts’ capex forecasts for non-allied firms, and an improvement in the forecast accuracy for allied firms. I further anticipate that these effects will be more pronounced under specific conditions: when alliances involve increased private communication (e.g., through joint ventures), when they pertain to higher-risk projects (e.g., exploration alliances), in high-tech sectors, and in contexts with higher investment irreversibility. Additionally, I expect that the average number of forecasts provided by allied firms within an industry will reinforce the observed decrease in investment sensitivity among non-allied firms. To validate these findings, I plan to use a shock to alliances across seven U.S. states as a falsification test. This study aims to contribute to the literature on information transfers and their impact on peer firm investments, on financial analysts' capex forecasting, and provide insights, albeit to a lesser extent, into the management literature on strategic alliances

Using Supply Chain Analysis to Examine the Costs of Non-Tariff Measures (NTMS) and the Benefits of Trade Facilitation

It has become increasingly common to produce goods in a number of geographically dispersed stages linked by international trade. This tendency, known by names such as production fragmentation, processing trade, and vertical specialization, has important implications for the analysis of nontariff measures (NTMs) and trade facilitation. First, different types of NTMs or trade facilitation issues are naturally associated with different stages in the movement of goods. Different price gaps can be assigned to these stages, making it possible to decompose the overall amount of distortion and to prioritize the policies with the largest potential efficiency gains. Second, NTMs may accumulate in long supply chains, implying that their trade-distorting effects are greater for goods produced in a fragmented manner than for goods with simple production processes. There is evidence that trade costs are more important for high technology goods or goods undergoing several stages of processing. Issues with product standards may be particularly important for goods with long supply chains. The link between NTMs and supply chains also has implications for economic development and for the relationship between liberalization in services and goods

Lettura e comprensione del testo: una ricerca nei licei

2019 - 2020The underlying idea of the realization of this work is to collect the main theoretical reflections on the process of reading and understanding, the development of this competence, to provide teachers with a compass that guides their didactic route and open a shared work dialogue between the world of research and the world of school. Reading is one of the most demanding and complex activities which the human body undergoes, as it involves the activation of extremely elaborate psycho-motor, perceptual and cognitive processes, involving memory, attention, reasoning (Lastrucci, 1995). The ability to read and understand texts of different types is a basic and strategic skill, central and indispensable for reaching the most advanced training goals in the “knowledge society” (Cardarello & Bertolini, 2020). “What makes it difficult to understand texts and how can we effectively detect and evaluate understanding?” (Kintsch & Kintsch 2005, p. 71). Why are Italian students not good readers? What are the reading skills in which frailties are most highlighted? Does the ability to read and understand better or worse depend on the type of text? These are some of the questions that guided the formulation of the hypotheses and objectives of the research. This work focuses its attention on the ability to understand the texts of high school students, more specifically to students of the fourth year classes. More specifically, it wanted to investigate the variable understanding with respect to the nature of text (narrative, expository), to textual processing processes, focusing mainly on the processes of locating information and making inferences, and studying the correlation between the different schooling, comprehension skills, socio-economic-cultural background and reading habits. In the first part of the work, the main models for understanding the text are outlined, in relation to the different learning paradigms, to understand the evolution that the reading and comprehension process has had, in particular to these references. Then, starting from the concept and meaning of literacy, the definitions of reading literacy and the reading processes investigated in the main national and international surveys are proposed, which present reading as the ability to understand and adequately treat written sources of information. Subsequently, the main strategies for understanding the text and the empirical research conducted are presented, illustrating the methodological choices adopted, the procedural definition and data analysis. The work ends in a critical and constructive vision on what has been conducted up to now, indicating possible operational paths for the continuation of the research. [edited by Author]L’idea sottesa alla realizzazione del presente lavoro è quella di raccogliere le principali riflessioni teoriche sul processo di lettura e comprensione, dello sviluppo di tale competenza, di fornire ai docenti una bussola che guidi la loro rotta didattica ed aprire ad un dialogo di lavoro condiviso tra mondo della ricerca e mondo della scuola. La lettura costituisce una delle attività più impegnative e complesse a cui si sottopone l’organismo umano, in quanto implica l’attivazione di processi psico-motori, percettivi e cognitivi estremamente elaborati, coinvolgendo memoria, attenzione, ragionamenti (Lastrucci,1995). La capacità di leggere e comprendere testi di diverso tipo è una competenza di base e strategica, centrale e indispensabile per raggiungere i traguardi di formazione più avanzati nella “società della conoscenza” (Cardarello & Bertolini, 2020). “Che cosa rende difficoltosa la comprensione dei testi e come possiamo rilevare e valutare efficacemente la comprensione?” (Kintsch & Kintsch 2005, p. 71). Perché gli studenti italiani non sono buoni lettori? Quali sono le abilità di lettura in cui si evidenziano maggiormente delle fragilità? La capacità di leggere e comprendere è migliore o peggiore in base alla tipologia di testo? Queste sono alcune delle domande che hanno guidato la formulazione delle ipotesi e degli obiettivi della ricerca. Il presente lavoro focalizza l’attenzione sulla capacità di comprensione dei testi degli studenti liceali, più specificatamente agli studenti delle classi IV. Più dettagliatamente, ha voluto indagare la variabile comprensione rispetto alla natura del testo (narrativo, espositivo), ai processi di elaborazione testuali, focalizzando principalmente l’attenzione sui processi di localizzare informazioni e fare inferenze, e studiarne la correlazione tra i diversi indirizzi di scuola, abilità di comprensione, background socio-economico-culturale di appartenenza e abitudini di lettura. Nella prima parte del lavoro si vanno a delineare i principali modelli di comprensione del testo, in relazione ai differenti paradigmi dell’apprendimento, per comprendere l’evoluzione che il processo di lettura e comprensione ha avuto, segnatamente a tali riferimenti. In seguito, vengono proposte, partendo dal concetto e significato di literacy, le definizioni di reading literacy e i processi di lettura indagati nelle principali indagini nazionali ed internazionali, che presentano la lettura come capacità di capire e trattare adeguatamente le fonti scritte di informazione. Successivamente si presentano le principali strategie di comprensione del testo e la ricerca empirica condotta, illustrando le scelte metodologiche adottate, la definizione procedurale e l’analisi dei dati. Il lavoro si conclude, in una visione critica e costruttiva su quanto fino ad ora condotto, indicando delle possibili strade operative al prosieguo della ricerca. [a cura dell'Autore]XXXIII cicl

Prove di comprensione del testo: dalla somministrazione alla revisione

The paper describes the review procedure for a reading comprehension test designed for high school students. The objective is to analyze the functioning of a measuring instrument, used in the context of an investigation on reading in the high schools of three Italian regions – Basilicata, Calabria and Campania – in order to improve and perfect this instrument in view of the subsequent research phases. The reflections that follow are intended to provide a guide for the interpretation of the response frequencies, the indices of discrimination and difficulty, useful for establishing which questions need further revision. By analyzing internal consistency, construct validity, understood as item discriminativity, difficulty, biserial point values and distribution of answers on the four options provided by the multiple answer, we intend to demonstrate how, by administering the same test several times, we they can obtain new indications that allow them to file and refine the problematic questions, reflecting on the critical issues that have emerged (Agrusti, 2008)

Teachers’ professional development on Artificial Intelligence: the role of universities and companies

The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within the educational system represents a fundamental paradigm shift necessitating synergistic collaboration among diverse stakeholders. This study investigates the pivotal role of each key player: AI, conceived as an instrument for pedagogical innovation, capable of personalizing learning trajectories and optimizing learning processes; the professional development of teachers, viewed as a catalyst for pedagogical transformation and indispensable for the successful deployment of AI technologies in educational settings; universities, acknowledged as vital hubs of research and advanced training, tasked with generating new knowledge and cultivating digitally proficient professionals; technology companies, identified as providers of cutting-edge solutions and ensuring the reliability, security, and accessibility of the technologies offered (Rivoltella & Panciroli, 2024). In addition, this study illuminates the opportunities and challenges associated with establishing an educational innovation ecosystem that is both effective and sustainable in the long run (Holmes, Bialik, & Fadel, 2019).   La formazione professionale dei docenti sull’Intelligenza Artificiale: il ruolo di università e imprese. L’integrazione dell’Intelligenza Artificiale (IA) nel sistema educativo configura una transizione paradigmatica che esige una cooperazione sinergica tra molteplici stakeholder. Il presente studio disamina il ruolo cruciale di ciascun attore coinvolto: l’IA, concettualizzata quale strumento di innovazione didattica, idoneo a personalizzare i percorsi formativi e a ottimizzare i processi di apprendimento; la formazione professionale del corpo docente, interpretata quale propulsore del mutamento pedagogico e imprescindibile per l’efficace implementazione delle tecnologie IA in ambito scolastico; le università, riconosciute quali centri nevralgici di ricerca e alta formazione, deputate alla produzione di nuove conoscenze e alla crescita di figure professionali competenti digitalmente; le imprese operanti nel comparto tecnologico, identificate quali fornitori di soluzioni innovative e garanti dell’affidabilità, della sicurezza e dell’accessibilità delle tecnologie proposte (Rivoltella & Panciroli, 2024). Attraverso un’analisi delle interazioni tra questi soggetti, si intendono evidenziare le opportunità e le criticità inerenti alla creazione di un ecosistema dell’innovazione educativa che sia al contempo efficace e sostenibile nel lungo termine (Holmes, Bialik, & Fadel, 2019)

How to increase technology transfers to developing countries: a synthesis of the evidence

The existing United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has failed to deliver the rate of low-carbon technology transfer (TT) required to curb GHG emissions in developing countries. This failure has exposed the limitations of universalism and renewed interest in bilateral approaches to TT. Gaps are identified in the UNFCCC approach to climate change TT: missing links between international institutions and the national enabling environments that encourage private investment; a non-differentiated approach for (developing) country and technology characteristics; and a lack of clear measurements of the volume and effectiveness of TTs. Evidence from econometric literature and business experience on climate change TT is reviewed, so as to address the identified pitfalls of the UNFCCC process. Strengths and weaknesses of different methodological approaches are highlighted. International policy recommendations are offered aimed at improving the level of emission reductions achieved through TT