Questa tesi di dottorato si pone come scopo lo studio della relazione complessa tra produttività e collaborazione scientifica sia di tipo formale sia informale. L’approccio che è adottato cerca di superare il classico trade-off che emerge dalla letteratura sulle reti e sulla teoria dei giochi; infatti, questa tesi rappresenta il tentativo di sviluppare una sintesi dell’approccio micro e macro allo studio delle collaborazioni scientifiche. A tal fine, il classico bagaglio metodologico è stato arricchito utilizzando tecniche di analisi complementari, quali l’analisi delle reti (e.g.: indici di centralità delle reti e coefficienti di clustering), l’econometria (e.g.: modelli di regressione ZIP e modelli di regressione troncati) ed infine l’economia sperimentale (e.g.: esperimenti in laboratorio). In particolare, sono state prese in considerazione due diverse comunità scientifiche con lo scopo di porre in evidenza le caratteristiche che le contraddistinguono: la comunità dei Geografi Top e la comunità degli Economisti italiani. Questa tesi è strutturata con il fine ultimo di porre in evidenza il ruolo che gli incentivi individuali degli scienziati parte della rete giocano nel modellare le strutture di collaborazione all’interno della rete stessa; ma, allo stesso tempo, nell’influenzare la propria produttività scientifica. Questa tesi è composta da tre diversi elaborati, ciascuno dei quali guarda al fenomeno della collaborazione e della produzione scientifica seguendo prospettive differenti, per permettermi di mettere in evidenza il ruolo giocato da quattro pilastri (i.e.: reti, comunità scientifiche, comportamenti collaborativi, incentivi individuali e conseguenze collettive) sulla base dei quali si fondano le strutture e la dinamica del “mondo della scienza”. / The aim of this thesis is to study the complex relationship between scientific productivity and (formal and informal) scientific collaborations. We follow an approach which goes beyond the classical trade-off that emerged from the literature around networks studies and game theory, in the attempt of developing a synthesis between a micro and a macro approach. In doing so, we enrich the toolset of available methodologies by adopting instruments which are typical of Network Analysis (e.g.: networks’ indices of centrality and clustering), Econometrics (e.g.: ZIP and Censored regressions), and Experimental Economics (e.g.: Laboratory experiments). In particular, we look at two different scientific communities, in order to capture different characteristics of the networks: the community of Top geographers, and the community of Italian economists. This thesis is structured with a view to emphasising the role that the incentives which move scientists within their network of collaboration play on shaping the network itself, but also on influencing their scientific productivity. The thesis is composed of three different essays, each of which approaches the phenomena of scientific production and collaboration from different perspectives, allowing me to highlight the role played by four basic components (i.e.: networks, scientific communities, collaborative behaviours, individual incentives and collective outcomes) in shaping the structure and dynamics of the “world of science”.

The dissertation employs laboratory experimental methodology to study decision-making when people face trade-offs between ethical and economic values. More explicitly, the three chapters investigate 1) consumer behaviour when a substantially equivalent version of a product is more expensive because it was produced without child labour, 2) the interaction between an expert advisor and an ignorant decision-maker, when the former may gain from lying and the latter has to decide whether or not to trust in the advice, and 3) fairness in divisions of an economic gain between two people who were both involved in creating the gain, but only one of them provided real effort. Here, a focus is on the impact of power structure, i.e. who decides, on divisions and fairness judgments. All studies discuss implications of experimental behaviour for market and business domains. In addition, the thesis emphasizes ethical theories as complementary to normative benchmark from economic and psychological theory. / La tesis utiliza una metodología experimental para investigar las decisiones de los individuos cuando hay un conflicto entre valores éticos y económicos. Mas específicamente, los tres capítulos investigan sobre 1) el comportamiento del consumidor cuando se enfrenta a dos versiones de un mismo producto, siendo una de ellas más cara por ser producida sin trabajo infantil, 2) la interacción entre un agente experto y un agente desinformado que debe tomar una decisión confiando o no en el consejo del experto, el cuál puede mentir para ganar más dinero, y 3) el reparto justo de una ganancia económica entre dos personas de las cuales sólo una ha contribuido trabajando en un ejercicio. Este último estudio se centra en el impacto de la estructura de poder, es decir quién decide, en el reparto y en los juicios de que es lo justo. Los estudios analizan las implicaciones del comportamiento experimental sobre los mercados y las empresas. Además, la tesis propone teorías éticas para complementar las teorías económicas y psicológicas.

Modern agriculture is causing a wide range of environmental problems. By regulating the agricultural sector, human societies try to find a balance between enabling the production of food and public goods and preventing negative consequences for the environment. In the European Union this is mainly achieved through the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Since many of the environmental indicators are still showing negative trends, an ongoing evaluation and adaptation of the policy instruments included in the CAP is asked for. At the same time, the field of policy evaluation is more and more incorporating a behavioral economic perspective on human behavior, one that deviates from the homo oeconomicus model that has long dominated research in this area. This thesis presents a study on “Behavioral Economics of Agri-Environmental Policies” by combining themes from agricultural and environmental economics with methods and perspectives from behavioral and experimental economics. It thereby contributes to the emerging field of behavioral agricultural economics. Specifically, it aims to shed light on the behavioral drivers of pro-environmental decisions of farmers and how these insights can be used to evaluate and adapt the CAP. With a lab-in-the-field experiment with farmers from Lower Saxony in Germany, an influence of the framing of the farmers’ societal role, their self-identity, as well as control aversion and feelings of warm glow on farmers’ behavior was uncovered. From a policy perspective, the results of this thesis provide a case for the continued use of both mandatory and voluntary policy instruments. Furthermore, with a Principal Components and Cluster Analysis, a multi-facetted picture of different farmer self-identities prevalent in the sample population was revealed. Based on a literature review, the thesis also provides an analysis of how behaviorally-informed interventions might increase the environmental performance of the CAP in the future.

Questa tesi esamina l’interazione tra aspettative eterogenee e il rapporto creditore-debitore. In letteratura, non è ancora chiara la natura dell’interazione tra cicli del credito e aspettative individuali. Per questo motivo ho capito che sarebbe stato importante iniziare dai lavori seminali in entrambi i campi, ovvero Kiyotaki & Moore (1997) e Brock & Hommes (1997). Il mio principale obbiettivo è stato quello di studiare più nel dettaglio il funzionamento del vincolo di garanzia. Il fil rouge dell’intera tesi, infatti, è l’analisi del ruolo delle frizioni finanziarie nell’andamento del prezzo di un asset collateralizzato. In particolare, presento un modello dove l’ipotesi di aspettative razionali viene abbandonata. I risultati del primo capitolo rivelano che le aspettative individuali sono una fonte importante di instabilità, anche se la configurazione iniziale risulta stabile. L’elemento che provoca questa instabilità è la bancarotta causata dalla divergenza tra le aspettative di creditori e debitori sul prezzo dell’asset collateralizzato. Poi, nel secondo capitolo, effettuo un esperimento di learning-to-forecast. Fondato sul modello del primo capitolo, ha come obbiettivo quello di testare se e come la volatilità è legata alle percezioni di rischio dei creditori. Ciò che emerge è che ridurre il credito in risposta ad un aumento delle insolvenze in realtà conduce a scenari addirittura peggiori dove il benessere totale si deteriora e il numero delle bancarotte aumenta. / This thesis examines the interaction between heterogeneous expectations and the borrower-lender relationship. In the literature, the nature of the interaction between credit cycle and individual expectations is still unclear. Therefore I realized it was important to start from the seminal works in both fields, that is Kiyotaki & Moore (1997) and Brock & Hommes (1997). My main concern has been to gain insights into the collateral constraint. The common thread of the whole thesis, indeed, is to analyse the role of financial frictions in the price development of a collateralized asset. In particular, I introduce a model where rational expectations are dropped. The results of the first chapter reveal that even in a simple and stable setting, individual beliefs are an important source of instability. The driver of this instability is the bankruptcy caused by the divergence between borrowers' and lenders' price expectations on a collateralized asset. Then, I conduct an online learning-to-forecast experiment. Founded on the model of the first chapter, it tests whether and how volatility is related to lender-level risk perceptions. What emerges is that to shrink credit in response to an increase in defaults actually leads to worse scenarios where total welfare deteriorates and the number of bankruptcies increases.