raffaele lagravinese - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by raffaele lagravinese

Research paper thumbnail of Misurare l'efficienza sanitaria. In: I conti e l'efficienza della sanità in Puglia

Research paper thumbnail of Social heterogeneity and inefficiency in italian health care system

Research paper thumbnail of La nuova auto-imprenditorialità nel Mezzogiorno

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 2018

Research paper thumbnail of Exploring health outcomes by stochastic multi-objective acceptability analysis: an application to Italian regions

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Jul 1, 2017

This paper introduces the Stochastic Multicriteria Acceptability Analysis (SMAA) in order to inve... more This paper introduces the Stochastic Multicriteria Acceptability Analysis (SMAA) in order to investigate the evolution of mortality rates in the Italian regions over the period 1990-2013. We propose to explore the overall outcome of health care by a Composite Index of mortality based on the combination of standardized mortality rates for seventeen different diseases. From a methodological standpoint, we propose to overcome the arbitrary nature of the weighting process, by using the SMAA, which is a methodology that allows to rank regions considering the whole set of possible vectors of weights. Moreover, we explore the spatial segregation in health using the multidimensional generalization of the Gini index, and introduce the multidimensional generalization of ANOGI. The unprecedented use of SMAA in evaluating the health sector allows to explore regional multidimensional paths beyond the order of importance given to the single dimensions. Our analysis shows that in the 24 years considered there has been no convergence path in terms of health care outcome in Italy, neither between nor within regions.

Research paper thumbnail of The Growth and Variability of Local Taxes:An Application to the Italian Regions

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Feb 1, 2016

Research paper thumbnail of Crossing Boundaries and Time: An Exploration of Time Allocation and Emotional Well-Being of Immigrants in the United States *

This study investigates the emotional experiences of immigrants and native-born individuals in th... more This study investigates the emotional experiences of immigrants and native-born individuals in the United States, exploring the relationship between daily activities and feelings of happiness, stress, and meaningfulness. We analyze the entire range of daily activities and their durations, utilizing data from the American Time-Use Survey (ATUS) Well-Being modules. The results reveal that when viewed through the evaluation lenses of the general US population, immigrants engage in less happy, more stressful, and less meaningful activities compared to natives. However, when considering subjective emotional assessments, immigrants are more optimistic and perceive these activities as associated with higher levels of happiness and meaningfulness. The study also finds evidence of emotional assimilation over time, with happiness disparities between immigrants and natives diminishing. In particular, this process appears incomplete for second-generation immigrants. The findings highlight the i...

Research paper thumbnail of Using The Scirocco Exchange Tool To Capture The Perception Of Healthcare Professionals And Citizens About The Regional Response To Covid-19

International Journal of Integrated Care, Nov 4, 2022

Research paper thumbnail of How Does Economic Social And Cultural Status Affect the Efficiency of Educational Attainments? A Comparative Analysis on PISA Results

This paper aims at investigating the effect of Economic Social and Cultural Status (ESCS) on the ... more This paper aims at investigating the effect of Economic Social and Cultural Status (ESCS) on the education performances of students, using the latest available waves of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey (2009, 2012). The analysis is conducted at student level for all countries included in the PISA sample. The estimates are based on the conditional Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), applied for the first time in the Slack Based Measure. This method allows a detailed evaluation of the additional effort the students should do when they are operating in an ESCS that has a comparative disadvantage. Evidence is provided of a significant effect of the ESCS on student performances, with a strong heterogeneity among countries. It follows that some problems with the education sector may not be due to the education systems themselves, but to the economic, social and cultural gaps, which determine a persistence of inequality of opportunity.

Research paper thumbnail of Complessità dell’export provinciale e performance economica

Research paper thumbnail of Predicting vaccine hesitancy from area‐level indicators: A machine learning approach

Health Economics, 2021

Vaccine hesitancy (VH) might represent a serious threat to the next COVID-19 mass immunization ca... more Vaccine hesitancy (VH) might represent a serious threat to the next COVID-19 mass immunization campaign. We use machine-learning algorithms to predict communities at a high risk of VH relying on arealevel indicators easily available to policymakers. We illustrate our approach on data from child immunization campaigns for seven non-mandatory vaccines carried out in 6408 Italian municipalities in 2016. A battery of machine learning models is compared in terms of area under the Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curve. We find that the Random Forest algorithm best predicts areas with a high risk of VH improving the unpredictable baseline level by 24% in terms of accuracy. Among the area-level indicators, the proportion of waste recycling and the employment rate are found to be the most powerful predictors of high VH. This can support policy makers to target area-level provaccine awareness campaigns.

Research paper thumbnail of Does econometric methodology matter to rank universities? An analysis of Italian higher education system

Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 2017

In recent years more and more numerous are the rankings published in newspapers or technical repo... more In recent years more and more numerous are the rankings published in newspapers or technical reports available, covering many aspects of higher education, but in many cases with very conflicting results between them, due to the fact that universities' performances depend on the set of variables considered and on the methods of analysis employed. This study measures the efficiency of Italian higher education using both parametric and non-parametric techniques and uses the results to provide guidance to university managers and policymakers regarding the most appropriate method for their needs. The findings reveal that, on average and among the macro-areas of the country, the level of efficiency does not change significantly among estimation approaches, which produce different rankings, instead. This may have important implications as rankings have a strong impact on academic decision-making and behaviour, on the structure of the institutions and also on students and graduates recruiters.

Research paper thumbnail of The impact of air pollution on hospital admissions: Evidence from Italy

Regional Science and Urban Economics, 2014

In this paper we study the impact of air pollution on hospital admissions for chronic obstructive... more In this paper we study the impact of air pollution on hospital admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease for 103 Italian provinces, over the period from 2004 to 2009. We use information on annual mean concentrations of carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, and ozone measured at monitoring station level to build province-level indicators of pollution. Hence, we estimate a regression model for hospital admissions, where we allow our aggregate measures of pollution to be subject to measurement error and correlated with the error term. We also adopt standard errors for estimates that are robust to serial and spatial correlation in the error term, to allow for temporal persistence and geographical concentration of unobservable risk factors. We …nd that higher levels of particulate matter are associated with higher levels of hospitalisation for children, while ozone plays an important role in explaining hospital admissions of the elderly. Other factors that appear to have an e¤ect on hospital admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are precipitation and provincial unemployment rate.

Research paper thumbnail of Crisi Economiche e Resilienza regionale

Research paper thumbnail of Corruption and health expenditure in Italian regions

Economic Bulletin

In Italy, the corruption is a social phenomenon affecting the health sector. In this paper we sho... more In Italy, the corruption is a social phenomenon affecting the health sector. In this paper we show that the impact of corruption on Italian health expenditure is positive, along with ageing population, technological change and supply factors inducing demand in pharmaceuticals and hospitalization. Moreover, the empirical analysis shows that corruption affects pharmaceutical expenditure and conventionated private hospital expenditure, suggesting a relation between corruption and the governance of Italian health system.

Research paper thumbnail of Rural tourism and ancient traditions: Evidence from Italian regions

Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit, 2013

This study examines the development of rural tourism in Italy, highlighting the wide range of act... more This study examines the development of rural tourism in Italy, highlighting the wide range of activities undertaken on rural tourism farms. Currently, rural tourism is presented as an enterprise parallel to traditional farming activities that generates additional income and fosters greater sensitivity to the environment and land conservation. The implications for employment are significant, particularly for women and young people in southern regions. European policies, through Local Action Groups, have proved to be an effective planning tool for the development of tourism at the local level, in particular in the Puglia region where old rural structures called masserias have been renovated to create excellent tourist facilities.

Research paper thumbnail of Cronyism and education performance

Economic Modelling, 2014

In the face of past ambiguous results on growth e¤ects of education when measured through school ... more In the face of past ambiguous results on growth e¤ects of education when measured through school attainment, some papers suggest that some countries may be unable to use productively their schooling output because of the scope of cronyism. We investigate and demonstrate that, in a stylized model, cronyism in the labour market, (e.g. the ability to exert in ‡uence to gain high wage positions without merit),may impact heavily on the relationship between schooling inputs and cognitive skills, due to incentive e¤ects. We then use a two-stage DEA approach to identify factors a¤ecting ine¢ ciency in education performance of OECD countries when the output is proxied by PISA scores. Our empirical results suggest that, as in our theoretical model, in the presence of cronyism, incentives to cognitive skills acquisition are dampened. Analogously to developing countries but for di¤erent reasons, the best way to improve the education system performance in OECD countries may well be to …ght cronyism and increase transparency in labour access.

Research paper thumbnail of Incentive Effects on Efficiency in Education Systems’ Performance

In the face of past ambiguous results on growth effects of education when measured through school... more In the face of past ambiguous results on growth effects of education when measured through school attainment, some papers suggest that some countries may be unable to use productively their schooling output because of the scope of cronyism. We dig deeper and demonstrate that, in a stylized model, cronyism in the labour market, eg the ability to exert influence to gain high wage positions without merit, may impact heavily on the relationship between schooling inputs and cognitive skills, due to incentive effects. We ...

Research paper thumbnail of Istruzione e federalismo in Italia

Research paper thumbnail of Feature Rural tourism and ancient traditions: Evidence from Italian regions

This study examines the development of rural tourism in Italy, highlighting the wide range of act... more This study examines the development of rural tourism in Italy, highlighting the wide range of activities undertaken on rural tourism farms. Currently, rural tourism is presented as an enter-prise parallel to traditional farming activities that generates additional income and fosters greater sensitivity to the environment and land conservation. The implications for employment are sig-nificant, particularly for women and young people in southern regions. European policies, through Local Action Groups, have proved to be an effective planning tool for the development of tourism at the local level, in particular in the Puglia region where old rural structures called masserias have been renovated to create excellent tourist facilities.

Research paper thumbnail of Exploring hospital efficiency within and between Italian regions: new empirical evidence

Journal of Productivity Analysis, 2022

This paper investigates the efficiency of Italian hospitals and how their performances have chang... more This paper investigates the efficiency of Italian hospitals and how their performances have changed over the years 2007–2016, characterized by the great economic recession and budget constraints. We apply the Benefit of Doubt (BoD) approach to determine a composite index that considers the multi-dimensionality of the hospital outcome to be used as main output in a metafrontier production function based on a stochastic frontier framework. The efficiency score distribution is then used to construct a Theil index in order to compare, over time, the inequality of the estimated efficiency between hospitals, both within and between regions. The main findings show that the primary source of inefficiency comes from managerial inefficiency especially for hospitals located in southern regions. A clear and persistent North-South gap in efficiency performances of hospitals has been found along with an increase in the inequality in terms of efficiency between the areas of the country mostly dete...

Research paper thumbnail of Misurare l'efficienza sanitaria. In: I conti e l'efficienza della sanità in Puglia

Research paper thumbnail of Social heterogeneity and inefficiency in italian health care system

Research paper thumbnail of La nuova auto-imprenditorialità nel Mezzogiorno

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 2018

Research paper thumbnail of Exploring health outcomes by stochastic multi-objective acceptability analysis: an application to Italian regions

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Jul 1, 2017

This paper introduces the Stochastic Multicriteria Acceptability Analysis (SMAA) in order to inve... more This paper introduces the Stochastic Multicriteria Acceptability Analysis (SMAA) in order to investigate the evolution of mortality rates in the Italian regions over the period 1990-2013. We propose to explore the overall outcome of health care by a Composite Index of mortality based on the combination of standardized mortality rates for seventeen different diseases. From a methodological standpoint, we propose to overcome the arbitrary nature of the weighting process, by using the SMAA, which is a methodology that allows to rank regions considering the whole set of possible vectors of weights. Moreover, we explore the spatial segregation in health using the multidimensional generalization of the Gini index, and introduce the multidimensional generalization of ANOGI. The unprecedented use of SMAA in evaluating the health sector allows to explore regional multidimensional paths beyond the order of importance given to the single dimensions. Our analysis shows that in the 24 years considered there has been no convergence path in terms of health care outcome in Italy, neither between nor within regions.

Research paper thumbnail of The Growth and Variability of Local Taxes:An Application to the Italian Regions

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Feb 1, 2016

Research paper thumbnail of Crossing Boundaries and Time: An Exploration of Time Allocation and Emotional Well-Being of Immigrants in the United States *

This study investigates the emotional experiences of immigrants and native-born individuals in th... more This study investigates the emotional experiences of immigrants and native-born individuals in the United States, exploring the relationship between daily activities and feelings of happiness, stress, and meaningfulness. We analyze the entire range of daily activities and their durations, utilizing data from the American Time-Use Survey (ATUS) Well-Being modules. The results reveal that when viewed through the evaluation lenses of the general US population, immigrants engage in less happy, more stressful, and less meaningful activities compared to natives. However, when considering subjective emotional assessments, immigrants are more optimistic and perceive these activities as associated with higher levels of happiness and meaningfulness. The study also finds evidence of emotional assimilation over time, with happiness disparities between immigrants and natives diminishing. In particular, this process appears incomplete for second-generation immigrants. The findings highlight the i...

Research paper thumbnail of Using The Scirocco Exchange Tool To Capture The Perception Of Healthcare Professionals And Citizens About The Regional Response To Covid-19

International Journal of Integrated Care, Nov 4, 2022

Research paper thumbnail of How Does Economic Social And Cultural Status Affect the Efficiency of Educational Attainments? A Comparative Analysis on PISA Results

This paper aims at investigating the effect of Economic Social and Cultural Status (ESCS) on the ... more This paper aims at investigating the effect of Economic Social and Cultural Status (ESCS) on the education performances of students, using the latest available waves of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey (2009, 2012). The analysis is conducted at student level for all countries included in the PISA sample. The estimates are based on the conditional Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), applied for the first time in the Slack Based Measure. This method allows a detailed evaluation of the additional effort the students should do when they are operating in an ESCS that has a comparative disadvantage. Evidence is provided of a significant effect of the ESCS on student performances, with a strong heterogeneity among countries. It follows that some problems with the education sector may not be due to the education systems themselves, but to the economic, social and cultural gaps, which determine a persistence of inequality of opportunity.

Research paper thumbnail of Complessità dell’export provinciale e performance economica

Research paper thumbnail of Predicting vaccine hesitancy from area‐level indicators: A machine learning approach

Health Economics, 2021

Vaccine hesitancy (VH) might represent a serious threat to the next COVID-19 mass immunization ca... more Vaccine hesitancy (VH) might represent a serious threat to the next COVID-19 mass immunization campaign. We use machine-learning algorithms to predict communities at a high risk of VH relying on arealevel indicators easily available to policymakers. We illustrate our approach on data from child immunization campaigns for seven non-mandatory vaccines carried out in 6408 Italian municipalities in 2016. A battery of machine learning models is compared in terms of area under the Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curve. We find that the Random Forest algorithm best predicts areas with a high risk of VH improving the unpredictable baseline level by 24% in terms of accuracy. Among the area-level indicators, the proportion of waste recycling and the employment rate are found to be the most powerful predictors of high VH. This can support policy makers to target area-level provaccine awareness campaigns.

Research paper thumbnail of Does econometric methodology matter to rank universities? An analysis of Italian higher education system

Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 2017

In recent years more and more numerous are the rankings published in newspapers or technical repo... more In recent years more and more numerous are the rankings published in newspapers or technical reports available, covering many aspects of higher education, but in many cases with very conflicting results between them, due to the fact that universities' performances depend on the set of variables considered and on the methods of analysis employed. This study measures the efficiency of Italian higher education using both parametric and non-parametric techniques and uses the results to provide guidance to university managers and policymakers regarding the most appropriate method for their needs. The findings reveal that, on average and among the macro-areas of the country, the level of efficiency does not change significantly among estimation approaches, which produce different rankings, instead. This may have important implications as rankings have a strong impact on academic decision-making and behaviour, on the structure of the institutions and also on students and graduates recruiters.

Research paper thumbnail of The impact of air pollution on hospital admissions: Evidence from Italy

Regional Science and Urban Economics, 2014

In this paper we study the impact of air pollution on hospital admissions for chronic obstructive... more In this paper we study the impact of air pollution on hospital admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease for 103 Italian provinces, over the period from 2004 to 2009. We use information on annual mean concentrations of carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, and ozone measured at monitoring station level to build province-level indicators of pollution. Hence, we estimate a regression model for hospital admissions, where we allow our aggregate measures of pollution to be subject to measurement error and correlated with the error term. We also adopt standard errors for estimates that are robust to serial and spatial correlation in the error term, to allow for temporal persistence and geographical concentration of unobservable risk factors. We …nd that higher levels of particulate matter are associated with higher levels of hospitalisation for children, while ozone plays an important role in explaining hospital admissions of the elderly. Other factors that appear to have an e¤ect on hospital admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are precipitation and provincial unemployment rate.

Research paper thumbnail of Crisi Economiche e Resilienza regionale

Research paper thumbnail of Corruption and health expenditure in Italian regions

Economic Bulletin

In Italy, the corruption is a social phenomenon affecting the health sector. In this paper we sho... more In Italy, the corruption is a social phenomenon affecting the health sector. In this paper we show that the impact of corruption on Italian health expenditure is positive, along with ageing population, technological change and supply factors inducing demand in pharmaceuticals and hospitalization. Moreover, the empirical analysis shows that corruption affects pharmaceutical expenditure and conventionated private hospital expenditure, suggesting a relation between corruption and the governance of Italian health system.

Research paper thumbnail of Rural tourism and ancient traditions: Evidence from Italian regions

Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit, 2013

This study examines the development of rural tourism in Italy, highlighting the wide range of act... more This study examines the development of rural tourism in Italy, highlighting the wide range of activities undertaken on rural tourism farms. Currently, rural tourism is presented as an enterprise parallel to traditional farming activities that generates additional income and fosters greater sensitivity to the environment and land conservation. The implications for employment are significant, particularly for women and young people in southern regions. European policies, through Local Action Groups, have proved to be an effective planning tool for the development of tourism at the local level, in particular in the Puglia region where old rural structures called masserias have been renovated to create excellent tourist facilities.

Research paper thumbnail of Cronyism and education performance

Economic Modelling, 2014

In the face of past ambiguous results on growth e¤ects of education when measured through school ... more In the face of past ambiguous results on growth e¤ects of education when measured through school attainment, some papers suggest that some countries may be unable to use productively their schooling output because of the scope of cronyism. We investigate and demonstrate that, in a stylized model, cronyism in the labour market, (e.g. the ability to exert in ‡uence to gain high wage positions without merit),may impact heavily on the relationship between schooling inputs and cognitive skills, due to incentive e¤ects. We then use a two-stage DEA approach to identify factors a¤ecting ine¢ ciency in education performance of OECD countries when the output is proxied by PISA scores. Our empirical results suggest that, as in our theoretical model, in the presence of cronyism, incentives to cognitive skills acquisition are dampened. Analogously to developing countries but for di¤erent reasons, the best way to improve the education system performance in OECD countries may well be to …ght cronyism and increase transparency in labour access.

Research paper thumbnail of Incentive Effects on Efficiency in Education Systems’ Performance

In the face of past ambiguous results on growth effects of education when measured through school... more In the face of past ambiguous results on growth effects of education when measured through school attainment, some papers suggest that some countries may be unable to use productively their schooling output because of the scope of cronyism. We dig deeper and demonstrate that, in a stylized model, cronyism in the labour market, eg the ability to exert influence to gain high wage positions without merit, may impact heavily on the relationship between schooling inputs and cognitive skills, due to incentive effects. We ...

Research paper thumbnail of Istruzione e federalismo in Italia

Research paper thumbnail of Feature Rural tourism and ancient traditions: Evidence from Italian regions

This study examines the development of rural tourism in Italy, highlighting the wide range of act... more This study examines the development of rural tourism in Italy, highlighting the wide range of activities undertaken on rural tourism farms. Currently, rural tourism is presented as an enter-prise parallel to traditional farming activities that generates additional income and fosters greater sensitivity to the environment and land conservation. The implications for employment are sig-nificant, particularly for women and young people in southern regions. European policies, through Local Action Groups, have proved to be an effective planning tool for the development of tourism at the local level, in particular in the Puglia region where old rural structures called masserias have been renovated to create excellent tourist facilities.

Research paper thumbnail of Exploring hospital efficiency within and between Italian regions: new empirical evidence

Journal of Productivity Analysis, 2022

This paper investigates the efficiency of Italian hospitals and how their performances have chang... more This paper investigates the efficiency of Italian hospitals and how their performances have changed over the years 2007–2016, characterized by the great economic recession and budget constraints. We apply the Benefit of Doubt (BoD) approach to determine a composite index that considers the multi-dimensionality of the hospital outcome to be used as main output in a metafrontier production function based on a stochastic frontier framework. The efficiency score distribution is then used to construct a Theil index in order to compare, over time, the inequality of the estimated efficiency between hospitals, both within and between regions. The main findings show that the primary source of inefficiency comes from managerial inefficiency especially for hospitals located in southern regions. A clear and persistent North-South gap in efficiency performances of hospitals has been found along with an increase in the inequality in terms of efficiency between the areas of the country mostly dete...