Sergio Beraldo | Università degli Studi di Napoli "Federico II" (original) (raw)

Papers by Sergio Beraldo

Regional Studies, Mar 2, 2023

Abstract. This paper tests the relationship between time preferences and crime rates as posited b... more Abstract. This paper tests the relationship between time preferences and crime rates as posited by Davis (1988), whose theoretical analysis suggests that individuals ’ attitude towards the future significantly affect their propensity to commit crime. Our empirical analysis is based on a panel of Italian regions for the period 2002-2007. Various proxies for time preferences are considered: the consumer credit share out of the total amount of loans to households, the share of obese individuals out of the total population, and the rate of marriages out of the total population. In line with the theoretical prediction, our empirical analysis confirms that where people are more impatient and discount the future more heavily, property and violent crimes are higher. Results are robust to a number of alternative specifications including covariates drawn from the literature on the determinants of crime.

This paper aims at studying the relationship between time discounting and crime rates. We build u... more This paper aims at studying the relationship between time discounting and crime rates. We build upon the contribution by Davis (JPE, 1988) which suggests that differing propensities to commit crime can be explained by the attitude of the agents toward the future. The empirical analysis is based on a panel of Italian regions for the period 20012006. As proxy for time preferences, we focus on consumer credit rate, defined as the ratio between the amount of consumer credit and the total amount of loans to households. The main result confirms the basic hypothesis by Davis (1988), namely the existence of a positive association between violent crime and discount rates. JEL Codes: D81, D99, H31, K42, Z13

We offer a new framework for defining and measuring disparities in the distribution of health opp... more We offer a new framework for defining and measuring disparities in the distribution of health opportunities. These are conceived as inversely related to the cost of a specified bundle of health services of given quality, computed by monetizing all the concrete impediments that must be overcome to get access. In the ex-ante perspective we adopt, what is salient is the distribution of costs across cells, where each cell is defined by a set of characteristics determining access barriers. Differently from the existing health literature, our approach allows to disentangle the opportunities individuals enjoy from the mere utilization of health services, working equally well with monetary as well as real costs of access (formal and effective equality of opportunity), where real costs accounts for socioeconomic conditions. Accordingly, an index for the measurement of equality of health opportunities is proposed and resource-conditional policy suggestions are deducted. In particular, given a...

We offer a new framework for defining and measuring equality of opportunity in health care, where... more We offer a new framework for defining and measuring equality of opportunity in health care, where (i) the chance of access to health care is disentangled from the utilization of health services, and (ii) both the rate of access and inequality of access to health care are accounted for the measurement of disparities in health opportunities. The latter are conceived as inversely related to the cost of a (bundle of) health treatment(s) of appropriate quality which an individual would have to pay (out-of-pocket) if the need for the health treatment emerges. In the ex-ante perspective we adopt, what is salient is the distribution of costs across cells, where each cell is defined by a set of characteristics determining access barriers to care (e.g., geographic location, assistance needs). On these premises, a general index forthe measurement of equality of access to health care is then developed and resource-conditional policy suggestions are deducted. A simple application based on real d...

A recent article by Bordignon et al. (2020) looks at the experience of Financial Recovery Plans (... more A recent article by Bordignon et al. (2020) looks at the experience of Financial Recovery Plans (FRPs) imposed on regional governments running large fiscal deficits in the management of Health Services, finding convincing evidence that FRPs led in Italy to a significant containment in health spending and almost entirely wiped out regional deficits. The article also suggests that FRPs did not produce any significant deterioration in the quality of health services and in citizens’ health. In this paper we reconsider the effects that FRPs may have produced on health services, by focusing on patient migration. By reframing the empirical analysis within the relevant strand of literature that considers migration as mainly driven by the supply side features of the healthcare systems (Levaggi and Zanola, 2004) and by considering the announcement effects related to this form of fiscal discipline, we estimate an increase in patient mobility in the range 1518% as due to FRPs (18-25% when a com...

This study designs a laboratory experiment to investigate the link between personal responsibilit... more This study designs a laboratory experiment to investigate the link between personal responsibility and individual preferences for redistribution. We contribute to the literature by considering two key insights: first, effort is costly; second, its fruits can be grasped only in the future. Participants face a crucial trade-off between providing a costly effort or free-riding on their fellows’ effort, playing in a context where the size and the distribution of the pie depend both on circumstances beyond their control, and on their choice of working hard and voting for redistribution. Our findings suggest that people tend to reward effort: the demand for redistribution decreases when the observed average effort in the society increases and the cost of effort is higher. Moreover, people ask for less redistribution the more they are interested in the future. These results hold controlling for a number of other possible determinants of the preferences for redistribution.

RIVISTA ECONOMICA DEL MEZZOGIORNO, 2012

The aim of this paper is to focus on the motivation differences between«real» volunteers and volu... more The aim of this paper is to focus on the motivation differences between«real» volunteers and volunteers of the National Civil Service, by analyzing theanswers given by a sample of 732 volunteers being in Campania and Piedmont.The questionnaires were distributed from October 2008 to May 2009. Evidenceproves that, whereas «real» volunteers are led by an intrinsic motivation (idealmotive), choosing to join the National Civil Service is mainly led by extrinsicmotivations, that is by both the ambition to improve employment perspectivesand the compensation given by the Civil Service. Besides legislator's intents, theCivil Service is therefore largely seen as a pattern of active welfare, and not as ameans for organizing voluntary work. As to this aspect, there are not significantdifferences between Central-North and South Italy.

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2010

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2012

Rivista economica del Mezzogiorno, 2007

... l'introduzione, le conclusioni e il paragrafo 5. Si deve a Sergio Beraldo la stesura dei... more ... l'introduzione, le conclusioni e il paragrafo 5. Si deve a Sergio Beraldo la stesura dei paragrafi da 2 a 4 ea Gilberto Turati la ... il panorama italiano del nonprofit non utilizza lavoro retribuito, basandosi quindi su la-voro non retribuito (volontari, obiettori, religiosi) per la forni-tura di ...

The Journal of Socio-Economics, 2009

The Journal of Socio-Economics, 2013

International Review of Economics, 2011

Studi Economici, 2003

Fino al contributo di Guesnerie-Roberts (1984) il punto di vista comune-mente accettato tra gli e... more Fino al contributo di Guesnerie-Roberts (1984) il punto di vista comune-mente accettato tra gli economisti, era che l'attuazione, da parte dei governi, di restrizioni quantitative (razionamento, consumo forzato), non fosse coeren-te con l'obiettivo della ...

Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy

An effective method to increase the number of potential cadaveric organ donors is to make people ... more An effective method to increase the number of potential cadaveric organ donors is to make people donors by default with the option to opt out. This non-coercive public policy tool to influence people’s choices is often justified on the basis of the as-judged-by-themselves principle: people are nudged into choosing what they themselves truly want. We review three often hypothesized reasons for why defaults work and argue that the as-judged-by-themselves principle may hold only in two of these cases. We specify further conditions for when the principle can hold in these cases and show that whether those conditions are met is often unclear. We recommend ways to expand nationwide surveys to identify the actual reasons for why defaults work and discuss mandated choice policy as a viable solution to many arising conundrums.