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In this article, we examine the expectations of the economic outlook, fear of the future, and behavioural change during the first Covid-19 wave, for three European countries (Spain, the United Kingdom, and Italy) that have been severely hit. We use a novel dataset that we collected to monitor the three countries during the crisis. As outcome variables, we used expectations (e.g., economic outlook, labour market situation, recovery), fear (e.g., scenario of new outburst, economic depression, restriction to individual rights and freedom), and behavioural change across the following dimensions: savings, cultural consumption, social capital, and risky behaviour. We provide descriptive evidence that is representative of the population of interest, and we estimate the impact of exposure to shock occurred during the crisis on the same outcome variables, using matching techniques. Our main findings are the following: we detected systematically negative expectations regarding the future and the recovery, majoritarian fears of an economic depression, a new outbreak, and a permanent restriction on freedom, a reduction in saving and in social capital. Exposure to shocks decreased expected job prospects, increased withdrawal from accumulated savings, and reduced contacts with the network relevant to job advancement, whereas it had inconclusive effects over fears. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11205-021-02697-5.

The article discusses whether and to what extent experiments can contribute to a research paradigm based on the study of human behaviour in complex evolving environments and on the problem of asymmetric adjustment among different components of economic system along certain trajectories, focusing on the possibility that experimental evidence may represent an external consistency check on this type of heterodox modelling. It considers the evidence on rationality of human agents, and the possibility to identify a microfoundation alternative to homo oeconomicus, discussing the evidence on humans as strong reciprocators, as trusting individuals and as embedded in social norms.

We report experimental results from three Colombian villages concerning the impact of a voting mechanism on interpersonal trust and trustworthiness. The vote is purely consultative in that participants are asked to declare in a secret ballot the most “appropriate” plan of action for individuals involved in a “Trust Game”. The plan of action that is most voted is then publicly announced. The mechanism is unbinding, as only the aggregate result of the voting is disclosed and it has no bearing on individual decisions. In spite of the strategic irrelevance of the announcement, we observe an increase in both trust and trustworthiness after the announcement is carried out, in comparison to the baseline condition where no voting takes place.

In this study, we test the hypothesis that the Colombian system of socioeconomic stratification (SES), which ranks dwellings from one to six to calculate utility (public services) rates, may induce discrimination. To this end, a field experiment with around 1000 participants from Bogota is carried out. The design includes a combination of a trust game and a dictator game and SES-contingent decisions. Results exclude the presence of pure preferences for discrimination, yet they confirm that low strata are associated with stereotypes of low trustworthiness. We also observe significant prosocial behavior in the low-income population, and most strikingly, we do not observe any difference in trustworthiness across different income levels.

The study of wealth and wealth inequality has received far less attention than income, but the increasing importance of wealth, debt and wealth inequality means closer attention must be paid to their concomitant dynamics. Policy interventions to reduce economic inequality continue to target income more than wealth, but targeting the latter – especially through taxes on financial assets – is arguably more effective.

This article explores the impact of innovation, offshoring and demand on profits and wage dynamics. Empirical analysis is performed on a panel of 37 industries (1995–2010) across five European coun...

Previous research has investigated the effects of violence and warfare on individuals' well-being, mental health, and individual prosociality and risk aversion. This study establishes the short- and long-term effects of exposure to violence on short-term memory and aspects of cognitive control. Short-term memory is the ability to store information. Cognitive control is the capacity to exert inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. Both have been shown to affect positively individual well-being and societal development. We sampled Colombian civilians who were exposed either to urban violence or to warfare more than a decade earlier. We assessed exposure to violence through either the urban district-level homicide rate or self-reported measures. Before undertaking cognitive tests, a randomly selected subset of our sample was asked to recall emotions of anxiety and fear connected to experiences of violence, whereas the rest recalled joyful or emotionally neutral experiences. We found that higher exposure to violence was associated with lower short-term memory abilities and lower cognitive control in the group recalling experiences of violence, whereas it had no effect in the other group. This finding demonstrates that exposure to violence, even if a decade earlier, can hamper cognitive functions, but only among individuals actively recalling emotional states linked with such experiences. A laboratory experiment conducted in Germany aimed to separate the effect of recalling violent events from the effect of emotions of fear and anxiety. Both factors had significant negative effects on cognitive functions and appeared to be independent from each other.

This paper investigates the ‘virtuous circle’ between innovative inputs, outputs and economic performance with a three-equation model highlighting feedback loops and simultaneous relations. An empirical test is conducted of innovative expenditure, innovative sales and economic results in a sample of Italian manufacturing firms, comparing occasional and serial innovators. The data, for 1998-2007, are drawn from a rich panel of Italian firms with 20 or more employees compiled by the National Institute of Statistics, ISTAT, including three waves of Community Innovation Surveys. The model extends that developed at industry level by Bogliacino and Pianta (2013a, 2013b) and confirms those earlier findings. For the core of persistent innovators, there are complex links at play in different phases of the innovation process and in the feedbacks between economic success and sustained innovation expenditure. This article investigates the "virtuous circle" between innovative inputs, outputs, and economic performance with a three-equation model highlighting feedback loops and simultaneous relations. An empirical test is conducted of innovative expenditure, innovative sales, and economic results in a sample of Italian manufacturing firms, comparing occasional and serial innovators. The data, for 1998-2007, are drawn from a rich panel of Italian firms with 20 or more employees compiled by the Italian National Institute of Statistics including three waves of Community Innovation Surveys. The model extends that developed at the industry level by Bogliacino and Pianta (Industrial and Corporate Change, 2013a, 22(3), 649-678; Innovation and demand in industry dynamics: R&D, new products and profits, in A. Pyka and E. S. Andersen (eds), Long Term Economic Development, Economic Complexity and Evolution. Springer-Verlag: Berlin, 2013b) and confirms those earlier findings. For the core of persistent innovators, there are complex links at play in different phases of the innovation process and in the feedback between economic success and sustained innovation expenditure.

Item does not contain fulltext The weight of evidence points to the advertising of food affecting food consumption, especially among children. Such advertising often promotes unhealthy foods. Current policy deliberations focus on developing effective 'protective' messages to increase advertising literacy and consequent scepticism about advertising targeting children. This study examined whether incorporating a 'protective' message in an advergame promoting energy-dense snacks would reduce children's snack intake. A randomized between-subject design was conducted in the Netherlands (N = 215) and Spain (N = 382) with an advergame promoting either energy-dense snacks or nonfood products. The results showed that playing an advergame promoting energy-dense snacks increased caloric intake in both countries, irrespective of whether the 'protective' message was present or not. These results point to the limitations of 'protective' messages and advertising literacy and provide policy makers with a rationale for extending the current prohibition of food advertising to young children in the terrestrial media to online environments. 7 p.

In this article we discuss how to summarize the persistent and large heterogeneity in innovative behaviour and economic performance. A Revision of the Pavitt (1984) taxonomy - covering manufacturing and services, as well as ICT activities – is proposed as a key tool for identifying common characteristics and diversities in patterns. An extensive analysis of Innovation Survey data, on sources, objectives, inputs and outcomes of innovation, allows us to test alternative industry groupings, leading to an extensive assessment of a Revised Pavitt Taxonomy that is able to capture major structural differences in the relationship between innovation and performance. As industries’ classifications has changed from NACE Rev.1 to NACE Rev.2 in 2008, a Revised Pavitt taxonomy is also provided for the new industries. In this article we discuss how to summarize the persistent and large heterogeneity in innovative behaviour and economic performance. A revision of the Pavitt (1984) Taxonomy—covering manufacturing and services, as well as ICT activities—is proposed as a key tool for identifying common characteristics and diversities in patterns. An extensive analysis of innovation survey data, on sources, objectives, inputs and outcomes of innovation, allows us to test alternative industry groupings, leading to an extensive assessment of a Revised Pavitt Taxonomy that is able to capture major structural differences in the relationship between innovation and performance. As industries’ classifications has changed from NACE Rev. 1 to NACE Rev. 2 in 2008, a revised Pavitt Taxonomy is also provided for the new industries.

In this article we extend the model developed by Bogliacino and Pianta (2013a, 2013b) on the link between R&D, innovation and economic performance, considering the impact of innovation of export success. We develop a simultaneous three equation model in order to investigate the existence of a ‘virtuous circle’ between industries’ R&D, share of product innovators and export market shares. We investigate empirically – at the industry level – three key relationships affecting the dynamics of innovation and export performance: first, the capacity of firms to translate their R&D efforts in new products; second, the role of innovation as a determinant of export market shares; third, the export success as a driver of new R&D efforts. The model is tested for 38 manufacturing and service sectors of six European countries over three time periods from 1995 to 2010. The model effectively accounts for the dynamics of R&D efforts, innovation and international performances of European industries. Moreover, important differences across countries emerge when we split our sample in a Northern group – Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom – and a Southern group – France, Italy and Spain. We find that the ‘virtuous circle’ between innovation and competitiveness holds for Northern economies only, while Southern industries fail to translate innovation efforts into export success.

While it has long been apparent that global levels of wealth and income inequality have been steadily increasing since the 1970s, the issue received scant attention in Europe until the recent fi nancial crisis and the resulting Great Recession illuminated for the general public just how great the chasm between the very rich and everybody else had grown. This realisation was coupled with an increased focus on inequality among economists and other academics, leading to a fresh drive for policy ideas to remedy the alarming trend. This Forum comprises a diverse range of viewpoints on the recent history and dynamics of inequality within Europe, each striving to defi ne the root causes in the various countries being examined. The defi nition of these causes, of course, can inform the direction of policies aimed at alleviating the growing inequality in many European countries and thereby curtail one of the major political and social issues of our time.