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We propose a new strategy to identify the impact of primary school class rank while controlling for ability peer effects, by using grades on class exams to construct the rank, and grades on national standardized tests to measure students' ability. Leveraging data comprising nearly one million Italian students, we show that rank significantly impacts subsequent test grades, although the effect of class value-added is five-fold larger. Higher-ranked students self-select into high schools with higher average student achievements. Middle-school enrollment, constrained by residency criteria, is not affected. Finally, exploiting an extensive survey, we identify psychological mechanisms channeling the rank effect.

Additional file 3. EpiGRAPH Hub Concept sheet.

Additional file 2. Web survey. Survey answered by postgraduate students, in-country experts, and other global health professionals.

Additional file 1. COVID-19 Epidemiological Report. Mauritius. Example In-depth epidemiological report. One out of 45 developed by the GRAPH network.

Teachers’ motivation is likely to be a relevant factor affecting students’ learning. We exploit the fact that motivated teachers are typically those who have chosen to be in a given school, while teachers just waiting to move to another school may be rather demoti- vated. We link this dimension of teacher motivation – as measured by the share of teachers who asked to leave their current school – to students’ learning – as measured by their scores in reading and math standardized tests in a national examination. We find that the share of teachers applying for a transfer to another school negatively affects students’ achievements.

The paper discusses two broad possible future developments of industrial relations in Italy and elsewhere: the decentralisation of bargaining and the factors behind the general weakness of unions in Italy and many other industrialised countries. As for the former it is argued that the developments stemming from the FIAT case, while affected also by idiosyncratic elements, hint at a possible reduced interest among Italian largest firms to manage their own (and their internal competitors') working conditions at the industry level. As for the latter, the fragmentation of production is identified as the key element: besides a weakening of the labour side, affected also by the globalization and the rise in the world labour supply, these trends are increasingly making rather anachronistic many old working rules as established by the unions movement over the previous decades.

The carrying out of PES reform, activated by d.lgs. 469 in 1997, has proceeded along differentiated paths among Italian areas. Moreover, within each region implementation paths seem diversified between single provinces, sketching out a very differentiated picture, with both "developed" areas and districts characterized by substantial implementation lags. Such a territorial differentiation is the key issue used in our evaluation analysis. Using it further allows us to test whether in the districts where the implementation of reform is more advanced the PES are more effective in their impact upon the labour market performance. The PES efficacy itself has been measured in terms of the occupational chances of those people who are registered to the PES. In the evaluation exercise other territorial determinants of employment chances are considered and the different composition of people registered to the PES and those searching for a job through other channels is taken in account using propensity score and instrumental variables techniques. The main outcome of the evaluation exercise is the practical irrelevance of the Italian PES in determining the labour market performance as above measured. In some cases the PES seems to have even a negative impact upon occupational chances; well functioning PES provincial branches however have a positive impact upon the occupational chances for those people more loosely attached to the labour market (individuals not searching actively for a job but available to work at given conditions).