Research projects

The Department's research activity develops across the scientific sectors of the economic, business, statistical-mathematical and legal areas, and through national and international research projects, in collaboration with professors from other universities in Italy and abroad.

Ongoing projects

International

Leading Towards Sustainable Gender Equality Plans in research institutions
Progetto di ricerca internazionale - Horizon 2020, SwaFS (Science with and for society)
Abstract Leading TowaLeading Towards Sustainable Gender Equality Plans in research institutions – LeTSGEPs – aims at connecting different Research Performing Organisations (RPOs) in the design and implementation of GEPs. The project seeks to design actions and implement measures that will lead to systemic institutional change and address gender bias in RPOs at a very initial stage of gender equality measures implementation. At the same time more experienced partners in GEPs implementation will be included to guide the other partners through the various steps of the project, following the Gender Equality in Academia and Research GEAR tool developed by European Institute for Gender Equality (2016) and with the scientific support of a highly qualified Scientific Advisory Board. As a powerful instrument of detecting factors that make gender inequality persistent within institutions, besides the Gender Equality Plan, LeTSGEPs will foster the use of Gender Budgeting (GB), since budgets reflect eal policy commitments. Gender equality plans and programs will succeed if accompanied with related specific fund allocation for the policy targets, and if the programs enacted are evaluated in terms of their gender equality impact by means of gender budgets leading to what we can define as more sustainable and powerful GEPs. A robust methodological approach, by taking stock from the implementation of Gender Budgeting in RPOs in order to produce relevant knowledge on the application of gender budgeting in RPOs and its role in making GEPs sustainable will be produced and shared with all partners.
Durata:	2019 - 2024
Finanziamento:	€ 484.123.71
Principal investigator:	Tindara Addabbo
Componenti gruppo di ricerca (UniMoRe):	Claudia Canali, Ulpiana Kocollari
Partners:	Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior Deinvestigaciones Cientificas (Spagna), Cy Cergy Paris Universite (Francia), Matematicki Institut Sanu, Beograd (Serbia) Max-Planck-Gesellschaft Zur Forderung Der Wissenschaften Ev (Germania), Rheinisch-Westfaelische Technische Hochschule Aachen (Germania), Università degli Studi di Messina (Italia), Universite De Cergy-Pontoise (Francia)

National

Fondo per lo sviluppo e la coesione

Lively ageing: una rete integrata di servizi e tecnologie per il benessere degli anziani
Fondo per lo sviluppo e la coesione 2014-2020 - Piano Operativo Active & Healthy Ageing - Tecnologie per l’invecchiamento attivo e l’assistenza domiciliare
Abstract Il progetto finanziato dal Ministero della Salute è stato proposto da un consorzio di enti con competenze tecniche, scientifiche, amministrative e gestionali, in grado di fornire orientamenti su tematiche di politica sanitaria. I nove partner del progetto sono collocati in tre province della Regione Emilia Romagna e comprendono: l'Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, due comuni, tre AUSL (Aziende Sanitarie Locali), una delle quali è un'azienda ospedaliera universitaria, e tre ASP (Agenzie per i Servizi alla Persona) che forniscono servizi sanitari e sociali agli anziani. Il progetto si propone di introdurre e installare in strutture residenziali esistenti o in fase di completamento alcuni dispositivi e tecnologie ispirate alla Salute 4.0 già disponibili in commercio, che verranno opportunamente adattate alle finalità del progetto per offrire agli operatori delle ASP dispositivi adattabili alle varie esigenze degli anziani. Gli obiettivi principali sono: 1) predisporre spazi abitativi in co-housing che permettano di preservare l'autonomia e la sicurezza degli anziani; 2) prevenire il deterioramento cognitivo negli anziani; 3) migliorare le condizioni di salute degli anziani, con particolare riguardo ai fattori di rischio cardio-vascolare; 4) realizzare una rete di servizi socio- sanitari integrati formati all'uso consapevole delle nuove tecnologie; 5) monitorare, valutare e comunicare i risultati raggiunti dal piano operativo. Particolarmente rilevante è il coordinamento degli attori coinvolti nella rete e l'analisi dei risultati in corso e degli impatti futuri in una prospettiva internazionale cross-country.
Durata:	2023 - 2028
Finanziamento:	€ € 577.591,14
Principal investigator:	prof. Eugenio Caperchione
Componenti gruppo di ricerca (UniMoRe):	DEMB: Giovanni Solinas, Iacopo Senatori; DCE: Anna Francesca Pattaro; DIEF Laura Po; DESU Stefano Calabrese; DBMN Giovanna Zamboni; DISMI Lorenzo Sabattini; CHIMOMO Anna Vittoria Mattioli, Milena Nasi
Partners:	Comune di Modena, Comune di Carpi (MO), AUSL Modena, AOU Modena, AUSL Reggio Emilia, AUSL Parma, ASP Terre d’Argine, ASP “Città delle Persone” Reggio Emilia, ASP Parma

PRIN

SUNRISE-Sustainable solutions for social and work inclusion in case of chronic illness and transplantation
Progetto di rilevante interesse nazionale (PRIN) 2022 PNRR
Abstract The research project aims to study and propose strategies and measures to improve the existing regulatory tools to provide new opportunities for the social inclusion and the return to work in favour of transplanted workers and suffering from chronic diseases. After their experience during illness and convalescence, these people face a return to active life in poor or otherwise compromised health conditions. The return to work or the transition to new commitments more appropriate to the aforementioned health conditions is, today more than ever, a major challenge for the labour market and the Welfare State. The social and occupational inclusion of these people is extremely relevant to the impact on the personal, relational, social and economic sphere of the individuals involved and their families, and for the sustainability of our social security system in the face of the pressures arising from the lengthening of working life and the cost of welfare benefits. Through the analysis of the current regulatory framework it will be possible to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the measures so far prepared by the legislator in order to ensure the continuity of the work paths of transplanted workers and those affected by chronic diseases, in order to outline possible reform proposals to ensure greater effectiveness to inclusion policies and resources invested. To this end, the research project will not only focus on the legal rules and the institutional pathways to return to work, but, on the basis of recent international research, it will develop its own analysis also on the role played by industrial relations and collective bargaining in ensuring adequate conditions for the return to work or transition to other working positions. Collecting and analysing collective and contractual experiences at sectoral, territorial and company level will allow to identify general trends and the best practices to be disseminated and subjected to analysis to verify their reproducibility in other working contexts. Finally, considering the organisational consequences of managing the pathways for the integration or reintegration of people with a compromised state of health, the research will develop an in-depth study on the professional figures who in practice are managing such complicated transition stages in companies and organisations. The goal is to identify paths from legale or collective bargaining or technical standards perspectives for the definition of professional figures and for the recognition and construction of the skills necessary to carry out the work inclusion process.
Durata:	2023 - 2025
Finanziamento:	€ 121.450
Principal investigator:	prof. Michele Tiraboschi
Componenti gruppo di ricerca (UniMoRe):	Giovanni Piglialarmi
Partners:	Università degli Studi di Udine (PI)

The reporting of sustainability and the sustainability of reporting: standards, connectivity and ratings in the aftermath of the EU CSRD
Progetto di rilevante interesse nazionale (PRIN) 2022 PNRR
Abstract Sustainability, sustainable development and finance, and sustainability-oriented markets and corporate behaviours 'walk on the legs' of sustainability information. Moving from this assumption, the project aims to investigate the issues for the European non-financial companies (NFCs) linked to the introduction of the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRSs) which mark a deep discontinuity in business reporting by making it mandatory for European companies, including listed SMEs, to publish a vast range of information on environmental, social and governance topics (ESG). In April 2021 the European Commission has issued a proposed text of this Directive whose definitive version has been approved by the EU co-legislators on 28 November 2022. In parallel, the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) has started the elaboration of ESRSs (12 so far) that companies must adopt in order to comply with the CSRD. The CSRD and the ESRSs have been developed within the wider EU regulatory framework which started off from the EU Green Deal, and which encompasses the Green Taxonomy (Reg. 852/2020), the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), a proposed Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive and an upcoming Social Taxonomy. Meanwhile, the IFRS Foundation has established under its umbrella the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) which in April 2022 has released two Exposure Drafts for the international context. Notwithstanding all these recent developments in the sustainability reporting arena, very little has been investigated on the effective “sustainability” of this type of reporting both from a production and a consumption perspective. In such a sense, the multifaceted challenges faced by both companies and ESG rating agencies in light of this new landscape remain still largely unknown to the academic literature. Using qualitative and quantitative-statistical (of parametric and non-parametric nature) methodologies, the research examines the hard challenges posed by this EU regulation and the associated reporting standards to preparers and users respectively in terms of: a) the internal coherence of the various EU legislations dealing with sustainability reporting as well as their interoperability with the reporting standards of the ISSB), b) the production of sustainability information by NFCs, with particular reference to its materiality and connectivity with traditional financial information, and c) the modalities of construction of ESG ratings and their representational capacity of capturing and appropriately evaluate companies’ sustainability performance. The research focuses on firms from the largest European countries, and the expected outcome is a better understanding of the above three crucial issues to make this sustainability reporting revolution sustainable for EU companies. Useful policy indications are also expected.
Durata:	2023 - 2025
Finanziamento:	€ 94.355
Principal investigator:	prof.ssa Laura Girella
Componenti gruppo di ricerca (UniMoRe):	-
Partners:	Università degli Studi di Verona, Università degli studi di Ferrara

Climate risk and uncertainty: environmental sustainability and asset pricing
Progetto di rilevante interesse nazionale (PRIN) 2022 PNRR
Abstract Green investments remain one of the major challenges for future sustainable and impactful growth of EU countries. Since results about the importance and the sign of climate risk factors and sustainability scores in explaining future stock returns are often mixed, it is crucial to provide investors with a better understanding of the relationship between climate risks and the cross-section of stock returns to encourage conscious investment in environmentally sustainable firms. Despite recent progress, considerable challenges still limit the potential for available ESG information to support long-term value and climate-related international objectives. More specifically, ESG scores are available for a limited number of companies, and ESG data are available at a low computation frequency (on a quarterly or an annual basis). When available, ESG scores provided by different information providers (e.g., Bloomberg, Reuters, S&P Global) differ one from each other, creating confusion on the investor's side. Moreover, at the level of the individual company, there could be a tendency to disclose only partial information, emphasizing the environmental dimensions on which the firm performs best and neglecting those where the firm does not do as well (greenwashing). To fill these gaps, the project aims to investigate in depth the relationship between climate risk and the cross-section of stock returns, aggregating different sources of information to cope with the green washing problem and making it possible to deal with uncertainty inherent in the data with appropriate econometric techniques. The aim of the project is fourfold. First, to propose an innovative theoretical framework for the relationship between climate risk and the cross-section of stock returns. Second, to measure the company’s exposure to climate risk, for a high number of European stocks, by combining different information sources such as ESG ratings, the firm's exposure to climate news, and other climate-related variables at the firm level (such as company financial statements, green bonds issued by the companies, the company's carbon footprint, data on emissions and on possible legal disputes related to environmental aspects). Third, to investigate the climate risk premium by creating portfolios that reflect the exposure to climate risk. Fourth, to evaluate the properties of green and brown portfolios concerning their level of diversification, tail risk and possible spillovers. Fourth, to assess the forecasting performance of climate risk on future stock returns, by means of advanced techniques based on machine learning methods for large datasets characterized by mixed frequencies. The project results are expected to have important implications for investors, firms and policy makers and more in general for the EU as a whole since they are vital to direct private financial resources to climate-change mitigation and adaptation activities.
Durata:	2023 - 2025
Finanziamento:	€ 137.938
Principal investigator:	prof.ssa Muzzioli Silvia
Componenti gruppo di ricerca (UniMoRe):	-
Partners:	Università degli Studi di Palermo, Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria, Università degli Studi di Pavia

Inequalities in Tertiary Education (Intedu)
Progetto di rilevante interesse nazionale (PRIN) 2022 PNRR
Abstract The project explores causes and effects of education inequality in the current context of tertiary education, providing policymakers, scholars, and practitioners with a framework to identify new challenges related to the access to education for underprivileged students. Unpacking the role of several determinants, particularly related to social background, geographical location, high-school path and family environment, the project tracks their impact on the university pathway and the performances in the labour market. We rely on a unique administrative dataset that combines multiple data sources containing different beneficial characteristics for this type of analysis. The goal is to (i) deepen our understanding of the causes and long-term effects of inequality in tertiary education and (ii) test the effectiveness of scalable interventions.
Durata:	2023 - 2025
Finanziamento:	€ 77.161
Principal investigator:	prof. Fabrizio Patriarca
Componenti gruppo di ricerca (UniMoRe):	-
Partners:	Università degli Studi di Bologna, Università di Roma "La Sapienza"

The digital transformation of public services: a multistakeholder governance approach
Progetto di rilevante interesse nazionale (PRIN) 2022 PNRR
Abstract Nowadays, digital infrastructures play a primary role in the governance of public administrations as they are considered a suitable way for delivering public services in a more effective, efficient and "smart" way. The growing employment of digital tools has prompted the academic debate to coin the concept of "digital-era governance", to summarize the set of reforms driven by the centrality of digital technology and infrastructures in the public sector. Digital technologies can be used to deliver public services, and they can also be used to shorten the distance between public administrations and citizens through the facilitation of the engagement of stakeholders. The potential role of digital technologies to support multi-stakeholder engagement and thus improve public service performance has been only recently, but still limitedly, empirically investigated. Therefore, the current project is designed to investigate what are the main critical issues and drivers to focus on to make the digital transformation of public services successful in supporting the delivery of effective services, especially considering stakeholders' engagement. The project will focus on the digital public services delivered by public administrations to support citizens-entrepreneurs and companies through the “One Stop Shop for Productive Activities” (“Sportello Unico per le Attività Produttive”, SUAP) digital office, the point of contact between public institutions and businesses for obtaining the authorisations needed to start and manage productive activities. The empirical analysis will be carried out in two regional contexts, Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna, which represent two regional governments committed to enhance the digital transformation of the public administrations and to facilitate public participation. To achieve its purpose, the research will rely on a variety of research methods to collect empirical data, such as review of the literature, online surveys, semi-structured interviews, and co-creation laboratories, and on a set of tools to analyse the data, such as Qualtrics and NVivo. Through the implementation of an interventionist research approach, the project is designed to engage the different stakeholders involved in the SUAP multi-stakeholder governance model and co-develop with them potential ideas and proposals for the improvement of the digital infrastructures, making them more responsive to the stakeholders’ needs and then increasing their resilience. The results of this project should lead to the identification of the strengths and weaknesses of the digital infrastructures and the development of ideas for their improvement as drivers for better service delivery and for facilitating stakeholder engagement.
Durata:	2023 - 2025
Finanziamento:	€ 98.796
Principal investigator:	prof.ssa Sara Giovanna Mauro
Componenti gruppo di ricerca (UniMoRe):	-
Partners:	Scuola Superiore di Studi Universitari e Perfezionamento S. Anna di PISA

Regulatory tools for the prevention and fight against gambling in the digital age
Progetto di rilevante interesse nazionale (PRIN) 2022
Abstract Overviewing the measures to prevent and combat gambling adopted at national level and, above all, at regional and municipal level (through prohibitions that affect in various ways and with varying intensity on the subjective situations involved, mostly through restrictive disciplines, but also in other more sophisticated forms), some elements immediately emerge showing the interest and usefulness of an investigation and reflection on them: 1) the enormous diffusion of this kind of measures, adopted by almost all the Regions and local authorities; 2) the great variety of tools used and solutions adopted, often the expression of an intriguing (but not always satisfying and legally appropriate) “creativity” of local administrations; 3) the wide circulation of "models", which makes it possible to identify (net of infinite adaptations and micro-variants, in turn of considerable interest) main types and recurring strands. Then, an absolutely central fact is the possibility of bringing together all the measures adopted at local and regional level under a profile of great significance from a constitutional point of view, id est their aptitude to follow the same, precise and shared political direction - that of the “all-round” contrast to gambling - which, in turn, is indicative of a structural (albeit partial) divergence of visions and financial' and social point of view they weigh almost entirely on the budgets of the local authorities, which are mainly responsible for dealing with the consequences of the phenomenon with their services, at a time when - apart from other more general considerations - even legal gambling, from mere entertainment, can degenerate (and in fact degenerates, as the data of the Health Authorities show) into a real form of addiction, recognised as a psychiatric pathology by medical literature.
Durata:	2023 - 2025
Finanziamento:	€ 75.000
Principal investigator:	prof. Simone Scagliarini
Componenti gruppo di ricerca (UniMoRe):	Roberto Pinardi, alessandro Turchi
Partners:	Università degli Studi di Genova

Voting mechanisms, socio-economic contextual factors, and electoral outcomes
Progetto di rilevante interesse nazionale (PRIN) 2022
Abstract We study the effect of voting mechanisms and socio-economic contextual factors on political and economic outcomes. We develop a number of closely interrelated and yet distinct lines of research. The first part of the project focuses on how voting mechanisms affect political outcomes, as well as a variety of other outcomes reflecting public policies. We investigate these issues in different institutional settings and through case-specific datasets. The second part looks at how the above-mentioned outcomes are affected by socio-economic contextual factors, relying on rich individual-level data-sets collected for universes of the population with information on electoral turnout, political orientation, and contextual factors.
Durata:	2023 - 2025
Finanziamento:	€ 38.606,04
Principal investigator:	prof.ssa Graziella Bertocchi
Componenti gruppo di ricerca (UniMoRe):	-
Partners:	Università degli Studi di Bologna (PI), Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore

The Origins of the State: Evidence from Bronze Age Mesopotamia
Progetto di rilevante interesse nazionale (PRIN) 2022
Abstract Despite the vast evidence on the relevance of the state's institutional capacity to provide public goods, enforce contracts and properly protect property rights, we still lack an organic and empirically sound framework to understand its origins and impact. To help fill this gap, we propose to construct and analyze, through an innovative mix of methodologies borrowed from archaeology, Assyriology, economics, history, law, and political science, a novel data set on the first stable state institutions recorded in 44 major Mesopotamian polities between 3050 and 1750 BCE. Different from similar databases on medieval and modern societies, this data set is not only unaffected by the confounding impact of the European colonization but also displays large and detailed panel variation on economies sufficiently simple to credibly link economic incentives to institutional evolution. Our testable predictions originate from the idea that adverse production conditions push elites lacking the ability to commit to future transfers to share their decision-making power with nonelites endowed with complementary skills to convince them that a sufficient part of the returns on joint investments will be shared via public good provision. These reforms encourage cooperation. First, we will assess if negative production shocks also determined—through the adoption of a more inclusive political process—the state's fiscal capacity, intended as the elites’ ability to elicit the nonelites’ cooperation via the provision of valuable public goods. Different from the extant literature, we will capture the state’s fiscal capacity with measures of the inclusiveness of the fiscal policy design rather than the unobserved tax revenues and we will consider its exogenous geographic determinants. This subproject will unmask the technological forces that can drive the endogenous formation of the fiscal order in those developing, and especially most agricultural, countries where institutional transplantation has failed. Second, we will evaluate if reforms towards a more inclusive political process and/or a fall in preference heterogeneity, which we will capture with a smaller degree of ethnolinguistic diversity of the population, induced reforms towards a centralized legal order, i.e., a passage from judge-made law to statute law together with a shift from property rules to liability rules. To expunge the endogenous component of these institutional arrangements, we will rely on the exogenous components of their determinants, which are the farming return for the inclusiveness of the political process and the distance to the technological frontier, which we will capture with the time-varying locations from which metals were exported, for the degree of preference diversity. This subproject will help evaluate the vast program of legal reforms that has interested in the last decades developing, and especially most agricultural jurisdictions.
Durata:	2023 - 2025
Finanziamento:	€ 55.765
Principal investigator:	prof.ssa Barbara Luppi
Componenti gruppo di ricerca (UniMoRe):	-
Partners:	Università degli Studi di Bologna (PI)

Insurance and Finance for Sustainable and Inclusive Growth
Progetto di rilevante interesse nazionale (PRIN) 2022
Abstract The IFSIG project aims to promote the role of insurance and finance in supporting a sustainable and inclusive economic growth building on three interconnected and interdisciplinary research lines, each characterized by a specific approach: a financial-economic one, a purely financial one and an actuarial one. The objective of the project is twofold: i) to provide actuarial and financial strategies that accomplish sustainable economy and social recovery along the lines of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) and ii) to propose innovative models for analyzing the risk-return profile of instruments of sustainable insurance and finance. It is possible to frame these objectives in the context of Missions 5 and 6 of the NRRP, which focus on the themes of inclusion, cohesion and health. The role of sustainable finance is crucial for the economic recovery and growth, since financial markets can combine profit objectives with the generation of social value (Schoenmaker & Schramade, 2019) and they can involve the private sector in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) described by the Agenda 2030. Within this framework, our research makes advancements over three main issues. First, the development of models for pricing the most widespread sustainable finance instruments, i.e. green and social bonds. Second, the assessment of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) products and their credit quality. Third, the evaluation of insurance instruments with social and environmental value. The solution of these issues will help the finance and insurance industry to take a proactive role by i) promoting sustainable economic development using investments in ESG asset classes; ii) designing appropriate products with social and inclusive objectives; iii) experimenting solutions for social and environmental sustainability. The three research units involved in the project, the University of Naples Federico II, Sapienza University of Rome and University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, provide the required multidisciplinary skills that help tackling the problem; with an expertise that ranges from quantitative methods and actuarial-financial analysis to economic modeling and policy design. Each research unit will develop models in line with the project goals (i.e., the evaluation of sustainable financial investments, the assessments of the credit quality of the ESG products and sustainable insurance) and will contribute to build new metrics for measuring the impact of social and environmental strategies. Our results will have both industrial and policy implication, being relevant for many private economic sectors and for the public sector.
Durata:	2023 - 2025
Finanziamento:	€ 51.378
Principal investigator:	prof.ssa Costanza Torricelli
Componenti gruppo di ricerca (UniMoRe):	-
Partners:	Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II (PI), Università degli Studi di ROMA "La Sapienza"

METAbarcoding for METAcommunities: towards a genetic approach to community ecology (META2)
Progetto di rilevante interesse nazionale (PRIN) 2022
Abstract Understanding and predicting how biological communities respond to changing environments is a topic of prime concern for both science and society. Dispersal of organisms through space is a main driver shaping the structure of biological communities. It represents the foundational concept of most ecological theories aimed at understanding and explaining community assembly processes. Despite its importance, there is a scarcity of tools to measure how organisms of different species disperse through space and how successfully they are in colonising new habitats. This is especially true for non-charismatic biotic groups (i.e. insects), key organisms for the monitoring of environmental quality. The implementation of tools to effectively measure dispersal thus represents a top priority for planning efficient conservation strategies. Genetics proved to be very powerful in tracking the effect of dispersal on spatial and temporal trends of single species. However, it has not yet been embodied into community ecology practices due to technological limitations that impeded the sequencing of whole communities. META2 will solve this problem by developing an innovative framework based on metabarcoding, an emerging genetic technique that allows to infer species composition from organismal DNA of unknown samples. Central to this project is the notion of haplotype, a measure of relatedness among organisms that can be used to track species dispersal. Haplotypes inferred from metabarcoding will be used to build robust measures of spatial connectivity among communities. META2 will leverage on the concept of metacommunity, defined as a set of local communities linked by dispersal. Metacommunity is a core concept in community ecology and it is particularly suited to translate ecological theory into practical tools for conservation and biomonitoring purposes. This project holds great premises when considering the capacity of metabarcoding to provide information for dozens to hundreds of species simultaneously. META2 will thus represent a milestone forward in the way we survey and monitor biodiversity.
Durata:	2023 - 2025
Finanziamento:	€ 75.721
Principal investigator:	prof.ssa Maria Franco Villoria
Componenti gruppo di ricerca (UniMoRe):	-
Partners:	Università degli Studi di Torino (PI)

The economics of culture: ethnicity, gender, and their interactions
Progetto di rilevante interesse nazionale (PRIN) 2017
We study the relationship between culture and economic outcomes with a focus on two specific dimensions of culture – ethnicity as related to migration, and gender and family culture – as well as their interactions. We investigate a number of distinct politico-economic outcomes that potentially share the common feature of reflecting the combined influence of the cultural factors we focus on. The project contains three parts, each including more specific lines. Migration and ethnic culture a. Immigrants, voter turnout, and neighborhood effects We use panel observations on the universe of inhabitants from the municipality of Bologna spanning four elections to assess how the voters’ neighborhood ethnic composition affects their turnout. By exploiting the spatial structure of the data, we construct neighborhoods ranging from the building in which individuals live to larger aggregates. Individual and neighborhood-level characteristics will then be used to explore possible heterogeneous effects. b. Ethnic entrepreneurship We investigate the economic determinants and implications of ethnic entrepreneurship. At the cross-country level, we study the differences in the propensity to own a business between migrants and natives using EU datasets. At the area/regional level, we study migrant entrepreneurs in some Italian local production systems using mainly data from ISTAT and the Chambers of Commerce. We also carry out a survey based on interviews with a sample of migrant entrepreneurs. c. The stage of development and migration decisions The idea that development initially encourages and only after a certain level discourages emigration is widely accepted. We aim to analyze and test this hypothesis. With panel data, we measure the influence of development on migrants, separately for males and females, and for forced and voluntary migrants, to highlight differential effects on each group. We also look at the implications for rich countries’ policies. d. Migration flows and youth condition in sending countries Migration from developing countries involves youth whose departure has dramatic effects on themselves and their households. The youth focus is also warranted by the size of youth cohorts in Africa and Asia. The project looks at the linkages between migration flows and the youth labor market, education outcomes, returns to schooling, and household wealth/welfare, also in a gendered perspective
Durata:	2020 - 2024
Finanziamento:	€ -
Principal investigator:	prof.ssa Graziella Bertocchi
Componenti gruppo di ricerca (UniMoRe):	Marina Giovanna Murat, Alberto Rinaldi, Chiara Strozzi, Anzelika Zaiceva
Partners:	Università degli Studi di ROMA "Tor Vergata", Università degli Studi di SALERNO, Università degli Studi di Bologna

Nonlinear and uncertainty effects of macroeconomic policies
Progetto di rilevante interesse nazionale (PRIN) 2017
Abstract The aim of the present project is to study the nonlinear effects of monetary and fiscal policy by using a simple extension of standard VAR methods. In particular, we shall focus on four key policy issues: (1) Are the effects of monetary policy asymmetric? (2) Is the fiscal stimulus more effective during economic downturns? (3) Do monetary and fiscal shocks interact in some way? (4) Does macroeconomic policy Question (1) has a long history in economics. The idea is that reducing interest rates might be ineffective to stimulate recovery. There are a few empirical works aimed at verifying empirically whether monetary policy effects are asymmetric. Existing evidence is generally in favour of asymmetry. However, the methods used are not fully satisfactory because of questionable identification of the policy shock or questionable technical assumptions. A confirmation obtained with a different a simple method would then be very useful. The empirical debate about Question (2) has been originated by Auerbach and Gorodnichenko (2012), who find that the fiscal multiplier is larger during economic crises, providing a strong empirical support to Keynesian policy recommendations. Existing evidence is mixed: a few papers confirm the result, but the authoritative work by Ramey and Zubairy (2017) does not. About Question (3) we have a large theoretical literature and some empirical work, which however focus mainly on the effects of different combinations of systematic policy rules. To our knowledge, there are no works studying nonlinear interactions of discretionary shocks. Finally, despite the large and growing literature about uncertainty measurement and the effects of uncertainty on economic activity, there is still little work about how to measure monetary and fiscal policy uncertainty and their macroeconomic effects. In particular, the announcement effects of fiscal policy may be ineffective if there is large uncertainty about their size and timing. All of the above questions may have major policy implications. If monetary policy is ineffective to foster recovery, it should be used in combination with the fiscal stimulus, in line with the Keynesian stance. The Keynesian view would obtain further support from a positive answer to Question (2). Interactions between monetary and fiscal shocks would provide additional motivation for a coordination of fiscal and monetary policy. In the Euro area, coordination requires greater tax and spending integration. Lastly, empirical results about Question (4) may provide useful indications on the way in which fiscal policy measures should be formulated and announced. All of the above questions call for a representation of the macro economy where structural shocks affect macroeconomic variables via nonlinear impulse-response functions. Questions (1), (3) and (4) cannot be addressed by standard nonlinear models. The method recently proposed by Matthes and Barnichon (2015) is well suited, but requires the Gaussianity assumption, which is typically rejected by macroeconomic data. In this project we shall use a new method, which is a straightforward extension of standard structural VAR methods. The advantage of our proposed method is twofold: first, it does not require any assumption on the density distribution of the shocks; second, it is simple, in that it requires only ordinary least square estimation. The estimated policy shocks are the same as those of standard monetary and fiscal VAR models, which helps comparison of the impulse response functions. In addition, standard VARs are special cases, so that standard methods for nested models can be used to test for nonlinearity.
Durata:	2020 - 2024
Finanziamento:	€ -
Principal investigator:	prof. Mario Forni
Componenti gruppo di ricerca (UniMoRe):	Luigi, Brighi, Barbara Pistoresi, Antonio Ribba
Partners:	Università di MIlano Bicocca, Università di Torino

Financed by UniMoRe

FAR

Sustainability of Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs): overcoming the valleys of death in the translational research and post marketing-authorization
Finanziamento di Ateneo per la Ricerca (FAR Interdisciplinare) 2023 - Linea FOMO
Abstract The literature highlights the distance between basic and clinical research (translational valley of death) in Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs), the underfunding of clinical research and the risk of economical unsustainability of authorized ATMPs with a consequent withdrawal and patients’ use (market valley of death). Starting from our preliminary data and from a direct experience in ATMPs failure, a multidisciplinary team (with biomedical, industrial, quantitative, financial and legal skills) aims to: -specify and measure the clinical, operational and financial needs of the clinical research in ATMPs; -identify new industrial and research models able to improve the economic sustainability of developing and approved ATMPs; -identify new financial schemes able to improve the financial system’s allocative efficiency and to enlarge its funding capacity; -identify areas of (non-economic) intervention where authorities could focus their attention to improve ATMPs’ sustainability. The research path follows the Capital budgeting method, that is separately determining the project’s financial flows, its risks and the sustainable financing methods, in order to assess the financial sustainability (NPV) and social sustainability (NPSV) of different clusters of ATMPs. This approach also enables identification of the clinical, operational, regulatory factors where action can be suggested and taken to achieve more sustainability and make research of therapies feasible. We use a sample of 1.042 European ATMPs clinical trials (344 of which involving Italian researchers) identified through the ClinicalTrials.gov database (integrated by PubMed). Preliminary analyses have outlined that currently the financial system is only indirectly funding ATMPs clinical research through investments in 65 ATMP-engaged SMEs. These companies will be examined in depth through financial annual reports public information and a licenced database (Crunchbase). The same analysis will also be done on all the companies involved in management and administration of authorized ATMPs (or in their withdrawal). Once the operational strengths and weaknesses are identified together with financial system's failures, the study of new operating models and financial schemes continues along two strands: 1.the management and optimisation (i.e. reduction) of operational and financial needs through the valorisation of intermediate outputs (organoids, data, intermediate platforms, technological knowhow, etc.), new operating models and the use of consortium structures both in clinical research and ATMPs’ production and administration; 2.financial innovation and creation of new combinations of contracts both able to effectively catalyse resources already present on the market towards investments in ATMP research and capable to involve the more retail component of the market and ESG institutional funds (by managing the minimum viability and sustainability thresholds of investments, exploring criteria for portfolio selection and methods of risk sharing and by improving the risk/return trade-off).
Durata:	2023 - 2025
Finanziamento:	€ 49.973
Principal investigator:	prof. Stefano Cosma
Componenti gruppo di ricerca (UniMoRe):	Bernardo Balboni, Simonetta Cotterli
Partners:	Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita (DSV)

What makes hospitals work? Organizational conditions and interventions for improving employees' work ability
Finanziamento di Ateneo per la Ricerca (FAR Interdisciplinare) 2023 - Linea FOMO
Abstract The aging of the working population has led to a particular attention toward the active aging issue, making the improvement of employees’ work ability paramount (2, 20, 23). Broadly defined as being physically and mentally capable to conduct one's work, work ability (WA) has long been a subject of interest in the medical discipline, while only recently the psychological and organizational disciplines have started to evaluate the characteristics of organizations that can promote better work ability (2, 3, 13). The literature on WA is fragmented and characterized by few interdisciplinary studies assessing both individual dimensions (e.g., lifestyles, individual traits) and organizational characteristics (e.g., workload, shifts, worker autonomy, supervisor support, work intensification) (3, 5, 21). It is also emphasized that studies on this topic are mainly cross-sectional and show only a static picture of the WA (13, 16, 17). This project aims to fill these gaps. Focusing in particular on the WA of healthcare employees of the university hospital of Modena (Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Modena from now on AOU), it will integrate medical, psychological and organizational skills to develop a theoretical model for multilevel interventions on both individuals and organizational units. Furthermore, this research aims to assess and monitor the relationship between WA and its determinants over time, using qualitative-quantitative methodologies. The project is consistent with the recommendations laid down by The Emilia Romagna Regional Prevention Plan (2020-2025), and the related Total Worker Health project, which emphasize the relevance of assessing indicators related to work ability as a way of improving both the quality of healthcare services and the wellbeing of employees involved. In terms of practical implications, the goal is to propose and design inclusive organizational models that promote a healthy work environment and higher levels of well-being, with a focus on the most fragile segments of the working population.
Durata:	2023 - 2025
Finanziamento:	€ 58.620
Principal investigator:	prof.ssa Ylenia Curzi
Componenti gruppo di ricerca (UniMoRe):	Mario Forni, Marcello Morciano, Barbara Pistoresi e (sabella Negri, Francesco Nepoti, Erica Poma (Dottorandi)
Partners:	Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, Informatiche e Matematiche (FIM), Dipartimento di Comunicazione ed Economia (DCE)

COmposite INdicators of Market Sentimenti (COINS)
Finanziamento di Ateneo per la Ricerca (FAR Interdisciplinare) 2022 - Progetto Nodo
Abstract The project takes as its starting point the observation that, despite the importance attributed to market sentiment as a predictor of stock market returns, there is a lack of sentiment measures for the European stock market, particularly at the individual market level. Moreover, there is no consensus in the literature on the construction of sentiment indicators, and the techniques adopted to analyze, process, and aggregate the data in sentiment indicators call for a radical change. To fill this gap, the project aims to develop and compute composite indicators of sentiment for most EU countries by aggregating several sources of information. The first type of information included in our sentiment indices consists of investors' expectations embedded in option prices. The second pillar of our composite sentiment indicators is backward-looking and is based on several economic and financial variables. The third group of variables in our composite sentiment index will be extracted from text in social media, microblogging sites, and web searches exploiting supervised and unsupervised approaches enabling us to account for the rapid evolution of investor sentiment in response to unexpected developments. The final aim of the project will be to evaluate the relationship between the proposed sentiment measures and future market returns. The analysis will be carried out through in-sample and out-of-sample analyses by using machine learning methods and trading strategies. The results of the project are expected to be of great importance for a wide range of stakeholders: investors, firms, and policy-makers.
Durata:	2022 - 2024
Finanziamento:	€ 44.580
Principal investigator:	prof.ssa Silvia Muzzioli
Componenti gruppo di ricerca (UniMoRe):	William Bromvich, Alberto Zaffaroni
Partners:	Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, Informatiche e Matematiche (FIM), Dipartimento di Comunicazione ed Economia (DCE)

Piano di sviluppo dipartimentale
Finanziamento di Ateneo per la Ricerca (FAR) 2023
Durata:	2023 - 2025
Finanziamento:	€ 140.906

Completed pprojects (dal 2019)

International

Leading Towards Sustainable Gender Equality Plans in research institutions
Progetto di ricerca internazionale - Horizon 2020, SwaFS (Science with and for society)
Abstract Leading TowaLeading Towards Sustainable Gender Equality Plans in research institutions – LeTSGEPs – aims at connecting different Research Performing Organisations (RPOs) in the design and implementation of GEPs. The project seeks to design actions and implement measures that will lead to systemic institutional change and address gender bias in RPOs at a very initial stage of gender equality measures implementation. At the same time more experienced partners in GEPs implementation will be included to guide the other partners through the various steps of the project, following the Gender Equality in Academia and Research GEAR tool developed by European Institute for Gender Equality (2016) and with the scientific support of a highly qualified Scientific Advisory Board. As a powerful instrument of detecting factors that make gender inequality persistent within institutions, besides the Gender Equality Plan, LeTSGEPs will foster the use of Gender Budgeting (GB), since budgets reflect eal policy commitments. Gender equality plans and programs will succeed if accompanied with related specific fund allocation for the policy targets, and if the programs enacted are evaluated in terms of their gender equality impact by means of gender budgets leading to what we can define as more sustainable and powerful GEPs. A robust methodological approach, by taking stock from the implementation of Gender Budgeting in RPOs in order to produce relevant knowledge on the application of gender budgeting in RPOs and its role in making GEPs sustainable will be produced and shared with all partners.
Durata:	2019 - 2024
Finanziamento:	€ 484.123.71
Principal investigator:	Tindara Addabbo
Componenti gruppo di ricerca (UniMoRe):	Claudia Canali, Ulpiana Kocollari
Partners:	Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior Deinvestigaciones Cientificas (Spagna), Cy Cergy Paris Universite (Francia), Matematicki Institut Sanu, Beograd (Serbia) Max-Planck-Gesellschaft Zur Forderung Der Wissenschaften Ev (Germania), Rheinisch-Westfaelische Technische Hochschule Aachen (Germania), Università degli Studi di Messina (Italia), Universite De Cergy-Pontoise (Francia)

National

Il testo unico di salute e sicurezza sul lavoro e la tutela assicurativa alla prova della quarta rivoluzione industriale
Bando Ricerche in Collaborazione (BRiC) Inail 2018
Durata:	2019 - 2023
Finanziamento:	€ 466.544,39
Principal investigator:	prof. Michele Tiraboschi

RESTART – Lavorare in sicurezza nell’epidemia da Covid-19 tra esigenze di ripresa delle attività produttive e tutela della salute, riservatezza e dignità dei lavoratori
Fondo integrativo speciale per la ricerca FISR 2020
Durata:	2020 - 2022
Finanziamento:	€ 22.078
Principal investigator:	prof. Michele Tiraboschi
Componenti gruppo di ricerca (UniMoRe):	Emanuele Dagnino
Partners:	Università dagli Studi di Udine, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro

Financed by UUniMoRe

Università e coesione sociale: il caso Unimore
Finanziamento di Ateneo per la Ricerca (FAR Interdisciplinare) 2021 - Progetto Nodo
Durata:	2021 - 2023
Finanziamento:	€ 50.000
Principal investigator:	prof. Fabrizio Patriarca
Partner:	Dipartimento di Educazione e Scienze Umane

Work datification and behavioural visibility in the digital workplace
Finanziamento di Ateneo per la Ricerca (FAR Interdisciplinare) 2021 - Progetto Filiera
Durata:	2021 - 2023
Finanziamento:	€ 60.000
Principal investigator:	prof. Tommaso Fabbri
Partner:	Dipartimento di Comunicazione ed Economia e di Scienze Fisiche, Informatiche e Matematiche

Innovative and Inclusive Academia
Finanziamento di Ateneo per la Ricerca (FAR Interdisciplinare) 2021 - Progetto Nodo
Durata:	2021 - 2023
Finanziamento:	€ 50.000
Principal investigator:	prof. ssa Tindara Addabbo
Partner:	Dipartimenti di Scienze della Vita, Scienze medico-Chirurgiche Materno Infantili e dell'Adulto, Studi Linguistici e Culturali, Educazione e Scienze Umane, Chirurgico Medico Odontoiatrico

Piani di sviluppo dipartimentale

Piano di sviluppo dipartimentale 2022

Finanziamento di Ateneo per la Ricerca (FAR Dipartimentale) 2022

Durata: 2022 - 2024

Finanziamento: € 98.478

Obiettivi

Per il FAR 2022 è stato sviluppato un piano che segue un ciclo biennale 2021-2022 della programmazione dell’Ateneo, in previsione di un allineamento con la futura programmazione triennale, che analizza le risorse economiche del Dipartimento e individua quelle che può impegnare per la ricerca; inoltre indica con chiarezza i criteri e le modalità di distribuzione, coerentemente con il programma strategico del Dipartimento e dell’Ateneo.
Sono state scelte due macro-azioni:

A. progetti di ricerca: progetti di ricerca con finanziamento di Azioni di Ricerca Comuni su linea di sviluppo dipartimentale
B. ricerca diffusa: rafforzamento della ricerca diffusa, finalizzata al miglioramento della qualità della produzione scientifica.

L’analisi periodica degli esiti del monitoraggio dei risultati della ricerca condotta è servirà, da un lato a implementare prontamente eventuali interventi migliorativi, dall’altro ad individuare comportamenti virtuosi da premiare con interventi specifici.

Scarica il Piano di sviluppo dipartimentale

Progetti finanziati Linea A: finanziamento di Azioni di Ricerca Comuni su linea di sviluppo dipartimentale

Metodologie didattiche per lo sviluppo di competenze trasversali, per l’inclusione e l’occupabilità
Proponemte: prof.ssa Tindara Addabbo
Finanziamento: 8.428 €

The roles of instructor-student similarities, surnames, and beauty on UNIMORE students’ outcomes and early career jobs
Proponente: dott. Giovanni Gallo
Finanziamento: 8.318 €

La filiera automotive tra trasformazione digitale e mobilità sostenibile. Verso una prospettiva comparata tra regioni europee
Proponente: prof.ssa Margherita Russo
Finanziamento: 11.345 €

L’invecchiamento della popolazione lavorativa: il performance management come condizione di inclusione dei lavoratori di tutte le età
Proponente: prof.ssa Ylenia Curzi
Finanziamento: 8.948 €

Il contributo delle EU quality labels alla sostenibilità e resilienza nelle filiere agri-food
Proponente: prof.ssa Elisa Martinelli
Finanziamento: 14.161 €

Il finanziamento della ricerca e sviluppo degli Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs). Ruolo della finanza, social pricing e sostenibilità dell’imprenditorialità nelle startups Biotech
Proponente: prof. Francesco Pattarin
Finanziamento: 7.158 €

Il lato oscuro delle criptovalute: quale ruolo per lo Stato?
Proponente: prof. Simone Scagliarini
Finanziamento: 21.087 €

Portfolio optimization with ESG and circularity constraints
Proponente: prof.ssa Costanza Torricelli
Finanziamento: 6.023 €

Progetti finanziati Linea B: ricerca diffusa, finalizzata al miglioramento della qualità della produzione scientifica

Il ruolo delle parti sociali nella transizione ecologica
Proponente: dott. Alessio Caracciolo
Finanziamento: 1.092 €

Advances in Markov Switching Bilinear and Var Models: Statistical Inference and Empirical Applications
Proponente: prof.ssa Maddalena Cavicchioli
Finanziamento: 1.383 €

Le nuove tutele per i lavoratori affetti da disturbi specifici dell’apprendimento
Proponente: dott. Emanuele Dagnino
Finanziamento: 1.383 €

Informed Bayesian Finite Mixture Models
Proponente: prof.ssa Maria Franco Villoria
Finanziamento: 1.383 €

Risk Premia with RES – RiPRES
Proponente: dott.ssa Angelica Gianfreda
Finanziamento: 1.383 €

The production and consumption of sustainability information in the EU: the new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the sustainability reporting standards issues by the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG)
Proponente: dott.ssa Laura Girella
Finanziamento: 1.383 €

L’evoluzione del bilancio partecipato: la digitalizzazione a servizio del cittadino?
Porponente: dott.ssa Sara Giovanna Mauro
Finanziamento: 1.310 €

La gestione della salute e della sicurezza dei lavoratori fragili oltre la pandemia
Proponente: dott. Giovanni Piglialarmi
Finanziamento: 1.383 €

Resilience in regional economic systems: Emilia Romagna and catalunya compared
Proponente: prof. Alberto Rinaldi
Finanziamento: 917 €

Transizioni occupazionali e sicurezza sociale tra universalità e sostenibilità
Proponente: prof. Iacopo Senatori
Finanziamento 1.383 €

Piano di sviluppo Dipartimentale FAR2022