Welcome to the Punch. Local exposure to refugees and hate events in Italy. With A.Faggian (GSSI). Link to WP (Revise and Resubmit)
Which are the effects of hosting refugees on hate events, the most extreme acts against minorities? While growing research considers the link between refugees and voting behaviors, little is known about the influence of refugee reception on radicalization of anti-immigrant attitudes. Exploiting a novel database on geotagged hate events in Italy and the geography of refugee hosting centers, this paper provides novel evidence on the effect of exposure to refugees on hate in Italian provinces. Using instrumental variable estimation, we show that provinces with bigger refugee hosting capacity experienced higher incidence of hate.
Born to Hit and Run? Rugged Individualism, justice quality and non-stopping after traffic collisions in the U.S. With M. Modica (GSSI). Link to WP (Under review)
Justice quality influence on premeditated violent crimes is widely acknowledged, however little is known on its effect on Hit&Run (H&R) accidents, which are involuntary crimes in the first stage (the “Hit”) while becoming voluntary in the second stage (the “Run”). This paper provides a quantitative estimation of the effect of justice quality on H&R accidents in the U.S, where they generate high socioeconomic and emotional cost. We exploit a unique micro-regional database for U.S. counties for 2010-2018 and an instrumental variable model which draws on the Durkheimian role of individualism in shaping the evolution of institutions. We find that higher quality of justice, induced by historical and persistent individualism, has a substantial signaling effect capable of deterring H&R. Results are supported by several robustness checks, including testing alternative measures for justice quality to account for its composite dimensions.
The Councilwoman’s Tale. Countering Intimate Partner Homicides by Electing Women in Local Councils. With A.Faggian (GSSI). Link to WP (Under review)
Intimate Partner Homicides (IPHs) represent the ultimate violence against women, yet evidence on their determinants is scarce. We address this gap examining Italy, where IPHs increased by 20% in ten years. Building a unique microregional dataset of IPHs we find, exploiting instrumental variables, that electing more councilwomen decrease IPHs. Using soil geography as instrument, given its persistent effects on gender norms through historical agriculture, we provide for gender norms to influence IPHs through political empowerment. Then, exploiting gender quota introduction, we show
that it increases councilwomen, who in turn lower IPHs, supporting exposure to women in politics as relevant in countering prejudices and modernizing beliefs.
Media coverage: L’Espresso, Repubblica, Vanity Fair, GENTE, Scienza in rete, Fatto Quotidiano
Black Hole Sun. Forced labour and the Shadow Economy in Italy. With S.Iammarino.
The Way You Look at Me. Improving local monitoring of left-behind groups and inequality at the municipal level. With P.Proietti (European Commission – JRC), A.Siragusa (European Commission – JRC) & Iraklis Stamos (European Commission – JRC)
In facing current multiple shocks (migratory, pandemic, economic, environmental), many cities choose the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG hereafter) framework as strategic tool to navigate these challenges and pursue sustainable and inclusive development. The paramount principle of SDGs is “Leave No One Behind”, which prescribes that development must be met with particular attention to progress of the furthest behind. Hence, in localizing SDGs, cities must identify, measure and monitor vulnerable groups alongside urban patterns of inequality. Currently, research on SDGs localization is scarce, and this limits detecting inequality trajectories and implementing policy measures to alleviate vulnerability.
This paper contributes to fill this gap by advancing and applying a framework for identifying, measuring, and monitoring vulnerable groups in cities, with a focus on income inequality and unemployment in the current scenario. By bridging SDG literature with research in economic geography and urban studies, we propose sub-municipal measures for multidimensional and relative income inequality, a Gini index complementing legal and non-legal population, and composite measures for unemployment. We then feed these measures with novel databases on European cities. Resulting maps reveal meaningful geographies of urban inequality which fail to be detected otherwise. By overcoming existing lack of statistical representation, our framework support improved measurement of inequality also for policy design.
Municipal Open Data Platforms and the Sustainable Development Goals: The case of Italian cities. With M. Dal Molin (GSSI)
While pioneer research on smart city mainly focused on the specific application of ICTs, more recent research acknowledges the need to align the smart city framework with sustainable development. While this change of focus has given traction to research on the link between smart cities and sustainable development, still many questions remain under investigated. This paper aims at addressing one of these underexplored questions, by advancing a set of criteria for the assessment of municipal Open Data Platforms (ODPs) as enablers towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Operationally, we advance the SDG ODP Implementation (SOI) Score, which is a synthetic measure designed by considering 7 pillars from the SDG framework and by relating these pillars to the smart city framework when appropriate. We then apply the SOI Score to the Italian regional capitals engaged with SDGs to check how they perform.
Daria Denti 