The world of scientific research has undergone dramatic changes in recent decades. These changes, which likely originated in the ‘hard sciences’ realm, rapidly extended to the social sciences and, in particular, to economics, often seen as bridging these two areas. Increased specialization and extensive collaboration are common behaviours in the scientific community, as well as in the evaluation of scientific research based on bibliometric indicators. This article aims to analyse the effect of co-authorships on the scientific productivity of Italian economists. The empirical analysis is based on an original database using two independent data sources: the Econlit database of the American Economic Association and the official database of the Italian Ministry of Universities and Research. Using econometric methods we explain the productivity of individual Italian economists in terms of ‘attributional’ variables (such as age, gender, academic position, tenure, scientific sub-discipline and geographical location) and ‘relational’ variables (such as the propensity to cooperate and the international reach of the individual co-authorship network).

This paper investigates the impact of change in total population in decomposition of poverty change in Albania providing empirical illustrations with data from a country still in economic and social transition, even if in recent years has registered a high growth of GDP rate. To quantify the impact of change in total population, we use the methodology developed by Mishra (2015). In previous literature decomposing poverty change into growth and inequality effects, the impact of change in total population concealed by the hypothesis that the growth effect can be quantified by observing at the growth rate of mean income. The Mishra’s method considers the population growth as an independent within-group effect that results different respect to the inequality and growth effect respectively. Furthermore, this method integrates that to Son (2003) so that variation in population shares across groups represents the between-group effect. Thus, we will have three effects: growth on account of total income, inequality, and change in total population. These effects can be calculated in multiple possibilities depending on the sequence that each is computed and the base year.

The sexual orientation discrimination in the labor market is a cause of failure and a source of inequity in the distribution of income and wealth. Discriminatory treatment of people belonging to a minority group leads to lower wages, and it interferes with their promotions and their productivity. The victims of discrimination are often professionally unvalued, and this can cause their eventual lack of growth for both position and salary, notwithstanding their abilities and creativeness would give a great impulse to the economics. In addition to this, the emotional and physical stress linked to the concealing strategies of people, who are apt to conceal their homosexuality, increases their feelings of discomfort in the labor market. This paper analyzes the relation between sexual orientation and discrimination in the labor market from the theoretical and empirical points of view. It studies the results of a survey carried out in southern Italy and is based on the sample of 200 gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) employees.

This work evaluates how the innovation induces changes in the competitive dynamics of the garment sector and how social capabilities and knowledge, considered residual variables in the cognitive approach, combine to bring about the structural changes of an industrial cluster. The relationship between knowledge and innovation is discussed in the theoretical part of the paper, as well as the social capabilities definition and characteristics. In the empirical part, we measure social capabilities, we describe their diffusion in a baby clothing cluster and we estime an innovation equation.

By using a panel of the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) data based on the Oslo Manual (OECD, 2005) which gives methodological guidelines and defines the innovation concepts, this work contributes to the literature on knowledge and innovation (i.e de Felice et al, 2012; Landry et al., 2002; Barrutia and Echebarria, 2010). We investigate how the channels of knowledge transfer create different kinds of innovation (product, process, marketing, organizational) with reference to the manufacturing sector. The aim of this paper is to observe the relationship between Baltic countries- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. These countries present common features and a similar history as they regained their independence from the Soviet Union in the early nineties before joining the EU in 2004 and more recently in 2011 the euro area (Poissonier, 2017). In addition, they show major similarities in terms of geography, size, economic structure. In terms of economic structure, these countries have undergone many transformations over the past year- particularly in the industrial sector, in which an important role is played by external geographic market compared to their small economies.

The neoclassical production function assumes that economic growth depends on exogenous factors of production centred on capital, labour and technology. However, residual variables, notably social capabilities and knowledge, are neglected. This study seeks to highlight that, in fact, they are key variables for understanding the economic growth and recent structural changes of an industrial cluster, both in technical and organizational terms. In this work, the peculiarity of knowledge and in particular of tacit knowledge form a crucial element in the social capabilities that are associated with enlarging knowledge learning processes and network diffusion. The aim of this research is to analyse the key role that knowledge and innovations play in the local wedding system of Bari in Puglia. They are the decisive factors in the survival of firms in a global market for the creation of competitive advantage and provide a basis for continuous innovation. The relationship between innovation and knowledge is discussed in the theoretical part of the paper, while the empirical aspect remains based upon results of consumer and producer surveys. The objective is to show how innovation, including demand-driven, can influence companies’ behaviours.

One problem with the concept of industrial district and with the description of knowledge creation and diffusion emphasised in the literature based on the evolution of the industrial district is that the theory does not explain with rigour how knowledge and particularly tacit knowledge is transferred or exchange over time in industrial districts. Particularly, the theory does not explain how innovation also happens. This paper aims at explaining the knowledge creation and diffusion in a modern industrial district through the application of Nonaka and Takeuchi’s model. We choose the Nonaka and Takeuchi’s model because of the vast literature on the industrial district that does not explain how knowledge transfer happens or changes over time in industrial districts and how innovation happens, too. This paper purpose is to overcome this gap through the application of the Nonaka and Takeuchi’s model (NTM) to the modern industrial district. We start with the industrial district literature and we describe how knowledge and consequently innovation are created and diffused in a traditional industrial district and in a modern industrial district. But in reality a strong theory about it does not exist and the gap in explanation, particularly about innovation, is strong. This gap is filled by Nonaka and Takeuchi’s model. In this context the NTM is used not only to underpin the knowledge creation and diffusion in an industrial district, but also to explain how innovation happens in a firm and in an industrial district, even if the NTM has various shortcomings when it is used in this way

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to seek to develop a rigorous analysis of social capabilities (SC) and measuring them in a special industrial cluster, considering the key role of knowledge and SC in innovation. Design/methodology/approach – The paper sets off from the definition of SC and the elements that characterize them in an industrial cluster. The focus also examines how it is possible to measure SC within a specific area, using the scoreboard approach. The empirical aspect remains based upon the original results of surveys conducted on a sample of entrepreneurs specializing in a special industrial cluster utilizing a multi-method approach and the paper presents the empirical analysis estimating an innovation equation. Findings – The results of the case study show that the relationship between SC and innovation does not only involve large enterprises but small- and medium-sized businesses as well. Originality/value – Measuring SC is very complex since not all the highlighted determinants can be subject to empirical verification and given that they are intangible elements, residual and often incorporated into tacit knowledge and a literature that can help us in defining and measuring them accurately is not always available for all the indicators. In this research the author proposes a measure of SC using a composite indicator and investigates the effective role of these inputs in stimulating innovative activity in an industrial cluster performance.

The migration is a complex phenomenon which causes a range of effects in the host countries as in homeland. Every day, a lot of people moves from one country to another for economic or political reasons, with or without a visa, and this unstoppable flow gives birth to problems that are often difficult to solve. If the role of migrates is important for the host countries, it will be essential to check which is the advantage that can result in homeland. Even considering that the international movement of labour, especially the qualified one, may be a limit to the growth of homeland, it cannot recognize the weight that remittances can have for its realization. Migrant women, employed mainly in domestic work, support the shortcomings of the welfare systems of host countries and contribute in homeland to improve families and, from a certain point of view, the local economy. This work is organized in a theoretical and empirical part, which is based on a direct investigation on the Region Apulia’s capital. The purpose of this paper is to check if remittances, mostly undervalued because much more is believed through informal channels, results in consumption and / or productive investment.

At odds with the neoclassical production function, where economic growth depends only upon traditional resources such as capital, labour and technology, which is an exogenous datum, in the cognitive approach we must consider the residual variables of social capabilities and knowledge. These, in fact, represent the key variables to understanding the recent structural changes and competitiveness of an industrial cluster. In this work, the peculiarity of knowledge rests in social capabilities or social abilities to augment the process of the accumulation of knowledge and the broadening of the network. The former depends on the degree of cumulativeness, and appropriability, represented by the capacity of new knowledge to generate further new knowledge and innovation. The greater the degree of appropriability of knowledge, the smaller becomes the capacity for its diffusion in a cluster and its growth. A higher level of knowledge corresponds to a higher degree of innovation. The diffusion of the network depends on the degree of cooperation and on the positive externalities of an industrial cluster. The aim of this research is to analyze the key role that knowledge, social capabilities and innovations play in the transfer and diffusion of tacit knowledge in an industrial cluster and how this creates new knowledge and innovation, thus improving productivity. In the theoretical part, the discussion centres on the different typologies of knowledge, its creation and diffusion in firms’ networks, on the nature and definition of social capabilities in the industrial cluster and on the relationship between these and innovation. The focus is also centred on how it is possible to measure the social capabilities within a district. The empirical aspect remains based upon the results of surveys conducted on a sample of entrepreneurs specializing in ceremonial clothing in the province of Bari, the regional capital of the Apulia region in southern Italy. The analysis, measuring social capabilities, requires data collection using a face to face questionnaire designed to obtain information which permits the development of qualitative and quantitative indicators.

This work aims at demonstrating how the integration of the social responsibility in corporate strategy is a factor of competitiveness in the market, achieved through the full involvement of all stakeholders. The corporate social responsibility issue, still very controversial and difficult to univocally define, has been, in the latest years, of a fundamental importance in the business management models, leading to changes in the corporate mission itself. A prime example of this is found in the world’s leading furnishing company IKEA. Widely regarded as one of excellence in the field of social and environmental responsibility, IKEA aims at making sustainable development one of the business values. The business case proves that a balance between the profit achievement and a socially responsible behaviour is not only possible, but it is transformed into a real winning strategy as regards the obtaining of a competitive advantage on the competitors.

The specific characteristics of each local productive system include the cultural background of cooperative behaviour and knowledge of each of the system’s enterprises and subjects, taken individually and as a whole, which drives their pursuit of economic benefits, which are the result of economies that are external to the individual enterprise but internal to the sector. The success of local productive systems can be explained by their high degree of specialization, which generates an ever increasing amount tacit knowledge through the experience of each actor and the interactions between them. Without a doubt,their competitiveness and reproducibility arises from the successful integration of tacit and codified knowledge, which makes it possible to transmit such knowledge both within each productive structure and between different structures. The high degree of specialization in traditional sectors, which means that incremental innovations prevail over radical ones, has often been identified as one of the causes for the reduced competitiveness of the Italian economy. Nevertheless, traditional sectors are home to a nucleus of mid-sized enterprises – often structured in holdings - that have achieved a dominant position in global niche markets. On the basis of the above, this paper aims to verify the Gibrat’s law– using balance sheet analyses and information collected through a direct survey – and also to verify whether the footwear sector in south and in Puglia is undergoing an evolution of its productive structure that can achieve better results in terms of efficiency and competitiveness.

The Brundtland Report (1987) is the first formalization of the relationship between development and environment: "Development is sustainable if it meets the needs of present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." In the sixties and seventies, economists began to study the relationships that exist between the economic and natural environments. Before then, standard economics had not considered the natural capital as a factor of exhaustible production; a process accelerated by rapid economic growth, technological innovation, and international trade. One can underline how the integration of social responsibility into corporate strategy is a factor of competitiveness in the market. Such an integration internalizes the positive externalities generated, achieving the full involvement of all stakeholders. A prime example of this is found in the world’s leading furnishing company IKEA. Widely regarded as one of excellence in the field of environmental responsibility, IKEA is a Swedish company which aims to make sustainable development the core business value. Among the company’s many activities, we will be examining IKEA’s transportation infrastructure; as it has the greatest impact on the environment. The efficient allocation of resources has always been a goal of the science of economics and in the realization of this objective, companies play a dominant role, especially when one considers the importance assumed by the social and environmental sustainability of development. Companies, in fact, interact with the environment through the exchange of matter, energy, information and knowledge. The optimal allocation of resources cannot be left to the impersonal forces of markets that are often inefficient and one cannot but recognize that there is an ethical judgment in every business decision which may favor one stakeholder at the expense of another. According to the view held by stakeholder theorists (Carroll, 1979), corporate social responsibility is expressed not only in the legal and economic fields but also has a dimension of ethical responsibility. In other words, the separation between ownership and control leads one to conclude that managers cannot act in shareholders’ or their own interests without taking into account the higher interest of society as a whole. The company, in fact, does not only engage in market transactions, but establishes actions of a cooperative and competitive nature with a large number of individuals and groups. The company’s mission, therefore, must take into account its social responsibility which has to be present at all stages of the production process and in all relationships that the company has with the various stakeholders. Among these an important role is played by suppliers, with whom the firm sets itself in a position of internal auditor, recognizing that the creation of knowledge also comes through cooperative behavior. Businesses, therefore, being able to encode and transfer knowledge to suppliers, become organizations that facilitate the production of benefits for the community in the medium to long term. In the light of these considerations, the present work, focusing on a business case, represented by IKEA, the world leader in furniture, sets out to illustrate how suppliers, having integrated IKEA directives into their production processes and supported by the transfer of the latter’s knowledge, in the long term obtain a competitive advantage, whilst at the same time ensuring the IKEA brand is more reliable. The importance of the exchange of knowledge between companies and suppliers that takes place during the adoption of rules of conduct is discussed in the theoretical part of the paper, while the empirical aspect remains based upon results of surveys directed towards the top management of IKEA Italy in the social and environmental fields, IKEA’s Italian suppliers and the company’s accounts.

Increased specialization and extensive collaboration are common behaviours in the scientific community, as well as the evaluation of scientific research based on bibliometric indicators. This paper aims to analyse the effect of collaboration (co-authorship) on the scientific output of Italian economists. We use Social Network Analysis to investigate the structure of co-authorship, and econometric analysis to explain the productivity of individual Italian economists, in terms of ‘attributional’ variables (such as age, gender, academic position, tenure, scientific sub-discipline, geographical location, etc.), ‘relational’ variables (such as propensity to cooperate and the stability of cooperation patterns) and ‘positional’ variables (such as betweenness and closeness centrality indexes and clustering coefficients).

Increased specialization and extensive collaboration are common behaviours in the scientific community, as well as the evaluation of scientific research based on bibliometric indicators. This paper aims to analyse the effect of collaboration (co-authorship) on the scientific output of Italian economists. We use Social Network Analysis to investigate the structure of co-authorship, and econometric methodologies to explain the productivity of individual Italian economists, in terms of „attributional‟ variables (such as age, gender, academic position, tenure, scientific sub-discipline, geographical location, etc.), „relational‟ variables (such as propensity to cooperate and the stability of cooperation patterns) and „positional‟ variables (such as betweenness and closeness centrality indexes and clustering coefficients).