Iacopo Odoardi

The rapid diffusion of electric vehicles (EVs) is expected to reshape electricity demand patterns, particularly in urban areas where charging infrastructure and mobility transitions are expanding rapidly. While the existing literature has mainly focused on the optimal location of charging infrastructure and on the direct technical implications of EV charging for electricity systems, relatively limited attention has been devoted to the broader relationship between the spatial distribution of public charging infrastructure and residential electricity demand. This study investigates the relationship between public charging infrastructure density and residential electricity consumption across Italian municipalities. Using a dataset covering 40 provincial capitals and applying spatial econometric techniques, the analysis explores both local associations and potential spatial spillover patterns across neighboring municipalities. In particular, Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), Spatial Autoregressive (SAR), and Spatial Durbin Models (SDM) are estimated in order to account for spatial interdependencies in the data. The results reveal a positive and statistically significant association between the density of public charging infrastructure and residential electricity consumption at the municipal level. The preferred Spatial Durbin specification also indicates the presence of spatial spillover patterns, suggesting that charging infrastructure density in neighboring municipalities is positively associated with residential electricity consumption locally. These patterns may reflect regional diffusion dynamics related to electric vehicle adoption, infrastructure visibility, and geographically interconnected urban development processes. Given the cross-sectional nature of the dataset, the results should be interpreted as associative rather than causal relationships. Nevertheless, the findings provide useful insights into how the spatial expansion of charging infrastructure is linked to evolving electricity demand patterns in urban contexts. Overall, the results highlight the importance of considering spatial interdependencies when planning charging infrastructure deployment and electricity network adaptation in the context of the transition toward sustainable electric mobility.

Sustainable development is increasingly recognized for its reliance on grassroots, bottom-up practices embedded in local communities. The economic literature has tested various influencing factors on household behaviors, such as culture or social cohesion, often considering proxies of so-called “intangible capitals” separately. This article aims to jointly consider the pivotal role of three of these potential capitals that could have a trigger effect on pro-environmental behaviors, specifically, social capital (sc), human capital (hc), and institutional quality (iq). In particular, our study, by adopting a PVAR approach, analyzes if and to what extent sc, hc, and iq influence the priority goal of increasing waste-sorting practices in the 20 Italian regions. Additionally, rooted in a robust theoretical framework, we present an in-depth analysis, with the trend of impulses from statistically significant variables—having observed the important roles played by hc, sc, and particularly iq, as well as the control variables GDP per capita and population density—in increasing the percentage of waste sorting. This impulse analysis suggests for policy interventions that there would be immediate effects (1–2 years) due to the improvement of our intangible capitals, but also a short duration. This suggests the need for lasting and structural interventions.

The occurrence of criminal activities has the potential to hinder socioeconomic advancement, preventing individuals from investing in human capital and pursuing employment opportunities. Our investigation focuses on the hypothesis that the NEET (not in education, employment, or training) rate is related to crime levels. Through an econometric analysis based on regional data, we examine the impact of crimes against property and against persons on NEET rates within central-northern and southern Italy, while controlling for prevalent determinants of the NEET phenomenon. Our findings reveal that, compared with prevailing discouragement factors such as youth unemployment and lack of interest in tertiary education, crime exerts a more pronounced influence on elevating NEET rates. This effect is particularly evident in the relatively less developed southern regions, where violent crimes, although relatively uncommon, may disproportionately contribute to feelings of apprehension and uncertainty regarding future prospects.

Sustainable practices should include proper incentives and involve a large part of the population to achieve a significant environmental impact. Human capital is considered one of the factors that affect pro-environmental behaviours: more educated people tend to be more aware of waste management processes. Another factor is social capital, as far as the feeling of belonging to a society might involve people in adopting sustainable practices. However, these two concepts are strictly related and deserve to be studied as complementary to each other. Thus, this article investigates whether social capital might support waste recycling when interacting with the accumulation of human capital at a provincial level. Our analysis relies on a unique dataset of 103 Italian provinces for the period 2004–2017. Results suggest that while human and social capital has a negative effect on waste separation, their interaction turns out to be positive and even stronger when we consider Southern provinces with respect to the whole country. This finding might be of interest not only from an academic viewpoint, but also from a policymaker’s perspective to alleviate the pledge of waste separation, which has affected the South of Italy in recent decades.

Italy has the highest rate of individuals Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET) in Europe, and its NEET has the highest gender bias in Western Europe. A marked heterogeneity, however, accompanies the age sub-groups, and women’s conditions become systematically worse with advancing age. Using data from 2019, we investigate the association between the probability of being NEET and a set of individual and regional (socioeconomic and institutional) characteristics, examining whether and to what extent the role of these determinants varies depending on gender within two distinct age groups: young (15–24) and adult (25–34) NEETs. In general, we find clear evidence that women are at a relative disadvantage compared to men and, as age increases, both positive and negative determinants show relations that tend to weaken for men and to worsen for women. The results of our analyses also suggest that social/family obligations affect men and women differently, to the detriment of women, and that this disparity widens with age. The contrast between the position of men and women within marriage is empirically confirmed and perfectly captured by marginal effects with opposite signs. The policy implications of our analysis are discussed in the concluding section of this paper.

We investigate the role of human capital (HC) in the Chinese inland-coastal inequality and, related to this, how the consequences of the 2007–2008 crisis may induce China to re-focus its development path on HC. We compare panel data analyses for two periods (1998–2008 and 2009–2017) for two diverging groups of provinces (the richer/coastal and the relatively poor/inland areas). In the first period, the economic strengths that influenced the Chinese take-off and the dualism are confirmed. However, the results show that an evolution in local economic endowments is taking place: first, HC has a more evident economic effect after the crisis only in the inland provinces; second, the development path of the inland area is changing, with an evolution towards more productive sectors which can favor higher returns to HC.