The Political Legacy of Entertainment TV Durante, Ruben; Pinotti, Paolo; Tesei, Andrea
The American economic review,
07/2019, Volume:
109, Issue:
7
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
We study the political impact of commercial television in Italy exploiting the staggered introduction of Berlusconi’s private TV network, Mediaset, in the early 1980s. We find that individuals with ...early access to Mediaset all-entertainment content were more likely to vote for Berlusconi’s party in 1994, when he first ran for office. The effect persists for five elections and is driven by heavy TV viewers, namely the very young and the elderly. Regarding possible mechanisms, we find that individuals exposed to entertainment TV as children were less cognitively sophisticated and civic-minded as adults, and ultimately more vulnerable to Berlusconi’s populist rhetoric.
While a growing number of firms are being evaluated on environment, social and governance (ESG) criteria by sustainability rating agencies (SRAs), comparatively little is known about companies’ ...responses. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with companies operating in Italy, the present paper seeks to narrow this gap in current understanding by examining how firms react to ESG ratings, and the factors influencing their response. Unique to the literature, we show that firms may react very differently to being rated, with our analysis yielding a fourfold typology of corporate responses. The typology captures conformity and resistance to ratings across two dimensions of firm behaviour. We furthermore show that corporate responses depend on managers’ beliefs regarding the material benefits of adjusting to and scoring well on ESG ratings and their alignment with corporate strategy. In doing so, we challenge the idea that organisational ratings homogenise organisations and draw attention to the agency underlying corporate responses. Our findings also contribute to debates about the impact of ESG ratings, calling into question claims about their positive influence on companies’ sustainability performance. We conclude by discussing the wider empirical, theoretical and ethical implications of our paper.
Bioeconomy is seen as a key strategic innovation pillar in the European Union, and this involves, among other things, mobilizing biomass resources. This study presents a geo-localized methodology in ...order to quantify the overall (theoretical) residual biomass potential for each NUTS-3 region of the EU-27 + Switzerland (NUTS-3 is the smallest regional division in Eurostat's Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics). Estimates were made for biomass residues stemming from 4 main activities: i) agriculture (straw, manure, residues from pruning permanent plantations); ii) forestry (forestry residues); iii) urban greenery management (residues from managing urban green areas and roadside vegetation); and iv) food waste (agri-industrial food process waste and municipal biodegradable waste). A review of earlier assessments using a variety of spatial coverages is also presented. Our results reveal the importance of residual biomass as a key feedstock for the European bioeconomy: we found that 8500 PJ y−1 are available for these streams (theoretical potential), which corresponds to the whole annual (2015) primary energy consumption of Italy and Belgium combined. Straw (3800 PJ y−1) and forestry residues (3200 PJ y−1) were shown as the top-two contributors. Our geo-localized approach uncovered outliers in terms of regional trends, revealing very specific opportunities for these regions. This includes the NUTS-3 region of Paris (France) where the highest biomass density was found with ca. 25 TJ km−2 (essentially food waste), and the NUTS-3 of Jaen (Spain), the main region of olive oil in the world, with great opportunities stemming from the olive oil industry.
•A methodology is presented to geo-quantify the residual biomass potential of EU-27.•At maximum, 8500 PJ/y is available; way above the 2015 energy consumption of Italy.•Straw (3800 PJ/y) & forestry residues (3200 PJ/y) are the top-two contributors.
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•The occurrence of selected contaminats was investigated in a highly urbanized area.•The environmental risk assessment was assessed for the entire mixture.•Emerging contaminats were ...ubiquitous pollutants in the urbanized area.•A panel of substances of environmental concern was identified in any sampling point.•The mixture showed a potential risk also for pollutants that individually were safe.
A complex mixture of emerging contaminants (ECs) occurs in the environment, with potential effects for aquatic organisms and human health. This study assessed the environmental risk of a mixture of ECs detected in the most urbanized and industrialized area of Italy. Water samples were collected in the Lambro river basin to the north and south of Milan, and were analyzed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. The Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) was performed calculating the Risk Quotients (RQs) for each EC as the ratio of Measured Concentrations (MECs) and Predicted No Effect Concentrations. The ERA was also conducted for the whole mixture of ECs by considering the RQs of the components. The results confirmed that ECs are ubiquitous in urbanized areas. The ERA for the single pollutants identified a panel of substances of environmental concern (estrogens, amoxicillin, clarythromycin, triclosan and nicotine). The ERA for the mixture indicated a potential cumulative risk for the substances that individually could be considered safe, highlighting the importance of taking the whole mixture of ECs into account for the ERA. This information may help establish EU regulations for ECs and environmental quality standards for regulatory purposes.
Purpose Scholars have been increasingly interested in understanding business models. However, little attention has been paid to how business models change in reaction to exogenous circumstances and ...how business relationships alter as a result of business model changes. This paper investigates how the business model paradigm of the Italian music industry altered in response to two major exogenous influences that impacted the sector: the digital revolution and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach As the purpose of this study is to investigate phenomena in a real-world setting, qualitative research methodology has been selected as the most appropriate one. We decided to conduct sixteen semi-structured interviews with professionals active in the Italian music business that have been selected by a combination of snowball and convenience sampling
Findings Our empirical findings indicate that the digital revolution and COVID-19 pushed Italian music companies to revise their business models by either reducing the number of linkages to the existing ones or adding new linkages to the existing ones. This was done in order for the companies to remain competitive in an environment that is constantly changing and to outcompete competitors.
Originality/value Few studies have evaluated how business relationships alter in response to the many business models emerging in the music industry due to external causes. Our research is one of the first to examine music companies' reactions to exogenous events such as crises or disruptive advances that affect the competitive landscape.
The aim of this study is to explore the understanding of decent work in the Italian context and to examine the validity of the Italian version of the Decent Work Scale. Four hundred and thirty-six ...Italian workers were involved in the study. Dimensionality, reliability, and construct validity of the Decent Work Scale were analysed. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a bifactor model of the instrument consistent with the original version. In addition, solid evidence for internal consistency and validity was found. Results suggest that the Italian version of the Decent Work Scale is a valid instrument for measuring the construct of decent work in the Italian context. Furthermore the responses to an open-ended question were examined for a sub-sample of 246 participants in order to extend the quantitative findings and further clarify the nature of the construct in Italy. The qualitative analysis revealed components of decent work reflected in the original Decent Work Scale and others aligned with the broader Psychology of Working Framework/Theory (PWF/PWT). The quantitative and qualitative findings offer directions for future research and intervention.
•CFA supported a bifactor model of the Italian version of the Decent Work Scale.•Solid evidence for internal consistency and validity was found.•The qualitative analysis added to the understanding of decent work in Italy
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•Coal and biomass samples have been experimentally characterized by TGA and DSC.•Combustion and oxy-combustion behaviours are assessed and kinetically analysed.•Kinetic analysis is ...based on both FWO and KAS methods and results are compared.•Oxy-combustion can improve the burning rate of fuels, shortening the burning time.•Both FWO and KAS are reliable for combustion, but only for coal for oxy-combustion.
This paper reports on the results of air-blown combustion and oxy-combustion kinetic characterization (comparing two different isoconversional methods: Flynn-Wall-Ozawa and Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose) of different kinds of coal (from Italy, South Africa and Hungary) and biomass (pine and eucalyptus chips) by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) together with the assessment of different characteristic combustion parameters. It can be observed that the burning rate of fuels can be improved by the oxy-combustion process, shortening the burning time (a mean reduction of the burnout time of 14% and 22% can be observed for coal and biomass samples, respectively). Moreover, biomass shows better ignition performance than coal and enhances combustibility indexes (S and Hf), especially in oxy-combustion conditions. For example, the S index, which reflects combustion properties, increases by an order of magnitude for biomass combustion and oxy-combustion with respect to coal values, thus indicating a higher combustion activity for biomass; an opposite trend can be observed for the Hf index, which describes the rate and intensity of the process and is lower for biomass than for coal, thus indicating better performance for wood chips combustion. Kinetic analysis shows that the activation energy Ea varies with conversion values, reflecting the kinetic complexity in both the processes. Moreover, with the same range of heating rates (10 ≤ β ≤ 50 °C/min) and for the overall range of conversion (0.1 ≤ α ≤ 0.9), both of the models used fit the experimental data in combustion regime, whereas the increase of the oxygen concentration makes the results reliable for coal samples and more sensitive to weight loss for biomass samples.
The concentration of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb and Zn were analyzed in the edible part of several species of fish, crustaceans, molluscs and echinoderms collected in sensitive areas of the Tuscany ...coast (northern Italy). The concentration of As (0.39–78.1 μg g−1) and Hg (0.01–1.56 μg g−1) resulted in most cases higher than reference thresholds. Target hazard quotient (THQ) and lifetime cancer risk (TR) indexes were calculated to assess cancer and non-cancer risk due to oral exposure; the highest THQ values referred to As and Hg, with values ≥ 1 in 39% and 48% of cases, respectively. Total target hazard quotients (TTHQ) values suggested that the local population could experience adverse health effects due to consumption of local seafood, mainly of demersal and benthic species. Cancer risk was mainly associated with As exposure, and with Cd intake, especially through molluscs consumption. The NMDS model highlighted species specific bioaccumulation processes and specific sensitivity of species to different bioavailable heavy metals. Specifically, Mullus spp. and Scorpaena porcus preferentially accumulate Hg and Cr, Octopus vulgaris specimens were discriminated by the presence of Pb and Zn, while an evident preference for Cd and Cu was recorded in Squilla mantis. In addition, the distribution of heavy metals in organisms revealed sound differences between Follonica and Livorno sampling sites, demonstrating a highly heterogeneous anthropogenic impact in terms of heavy metals input from the industrial activity resting on land.
•The manuscript reports on heavy metals in different marine organisms from the Tuscany coast.•Excesses of As and Hg were found in the studied marine organisms.•Potential human health risks due to seafood intake were highlighted.•Organisms showed species specific sensitivity to heavy metals bioaccumulation processes.
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