In the present thesis I study the contribution to firm value of inventories management from a risk management perspective. I find a significant contribution of inventories to the value of risk management especially through the operating flexibility channel. In contrast, I do not find evidence supporting the view of inventories a reserve of liquidity. Inventories substitute, albeit not perfectly, derivatives or cash holdings. The substitution between hedging with derivatives and inventory is moderated by the correlation between cash flow and the underlying asset in the derivative contract. Hedge ratios increase with the effectiveness of derivatives. The decision to hedge with cash holdings or inventories is strongly influenced by the degree of complementarity between production factors and by cash flow volatility. In addition, I provide a risk management based explanation of the secular substitution between inventories and cash holdings documented, among others, in Bates et al. (2009), Journal of Finance. In a sample of U.S. firms between 1980 and 2006, I empirically confirm the negative relation between inventories and cash and provide evidence on the poor performance of investment cash flow sensitivities as a measure of financial constraints also in the case of inventories investment. This result can be explained by firms' scarce reliance on inventories as a reserve of liquidity. Finally, as an extension of my study, I contrast with empirical data the theoretical predictions of a model on the integrated management of inventories, trade credit and cash holdings.

Corruption is, in the last two decades, considered as one of the biggest problems within the international community, which harms not only a particular state or society but the whole world. The discussion on corruption in law and economics approach is mainly run under the veil of Public choice theory and principal-agent model. Based on this approach the strong international initiatives taken by the UN, the OECD and the Council of Europe, provided various measures and tools in order to support and guide countries in their combat against corruption. These anti-corruption policies created a repression -prevention-transparency model for corruption combat. Applying this model, countries around the world adopted anti-corruption strategies as part of their legal rules. Nevertheless, the recent researches on the effects of this move show non impressive results. Critics argue that “one size does not fit all” because the institutional setting of countries around the world varies. Among the countries which experience problems of corruption, even though they follow the dominant anti-corruption trends, are transitional, post-socialist countries. To this group belong the countries which are emerging from centrally planned to an open market economy. The socialist past left traces on institutional setting, mentality of the individuals and their interrelation, particularly in the domain of public administration. If the idiosyncrasy of these countries is taken into account the suggestion in this thesis is that in public administration in post-socialist countries, instead of dominant anti-corruption scheme repression-prevention-transparency, corruption combat should be improved through the implementation of a new one, structure-conduct-performance. The implementation of this model is based on three regulatory pyramids: anti-corruption, disciplinary anti-corruption and criminal anti-corruption pyramid. This approach asks public administration itself to engage in corruption combat, leaving criminal justice system as the ultimate weapon, used only for the very harmful misdeeds.

This thesis consists of three self-contained papers. In the first paper I analyze the labor supply behavior of Bologna Pizza Delivery Vendors. Recent influential papers analyze labor supply behavior of taxi drivers (Camerer et al., 1997; and Crawford and Meng, 2011) and suggest that reference-dependence preferences have an important influence on drivers’ labor-supply decisions. Unlike previous papers, I am able to identify an exogenous and transitory change in labor demand. Using high frequency data on orders and rainfall as an exogenous demand shifter, I invariably find that reference-dependent preferences play no role in their labor’ supply decisions and the behavior of pizza vendors is perfectly consistent with the predictions of the standard model of labor’ supply. In the second paper, I investigate how the voting behavior of Members of Parliament is influenced by the Members seating nearby. By exploiting the random seating arrangements in the Icelandic Parliament, I show that being seated next to Members of a different party increases the probability of not being aligned with one’s own party. Using the exact spatial orientation of the peers, I provide evidence that supports the hypothesis that interaction is the main channel that explain these results. In the third paper, I provide an estimate of the trade flows that there would have been between the UK and Europe if the UK had joined the Euro. As an alternative approach to the standard log-linear gravity equation I employ the synthetic control method. I show that the aggregate trade flows between Britain and Europe would have been 13% higher if the UK had adopted the Euro.

This dissertation has studied how legal and non-legal mechanisms affect the levels of trust and trustworthiness in an economy, and whether and when subtle psychological factors are crucial for establishing trust and even for recovering trust from a breach of contract. The first Chapter has addressed the question of whether formal legal enforcement crowds out or crowds in the amount of trust in a society. We find that formal legal mechanisms, especially formal contracts backed by a powerful authority, normally undermine trust except when they are perceived as legitimate, or when there are no strong social norms of fairness (i.e. the population in a society is considerably heterogeneous), or when the environment in which repeated commercial relationships take place becomes highly uncertain. The second Chapter has examined whether the endogenous adoption of a collective punishment institution can help a society coordinate on an efficient outcome, characterized by high levels of trust and trustworthiness. The experimental results show that the endogenous introduction of collective punishment by means of a majority-voting rule does not significantly improve coordination on the efficient equilibrium. Not all subjects seem to be able to anticipate the change in behavior induced by the introduction of the mechanism, and a majority of them vote against it. The third Chapter has explored whether high-trustors adapt their behavior in response to others’ trustworthiness or untrustworthiness more quickly, which in turn supports them to maintain higher default expectations of others’ trustworthiness relative to low-trustors. Our experimental results reveal that high-trustors are better than low-trustors at predicting others’ trustworthiness because they are less susceptible to the anticipated aversive emotions aroused by the potential betrayal and thereby have a higher willingness to acquire the valuable information about their partner’s actions.

The thesis comprises four essays. The first essay provides a comprehensive survey of the implications of the theories of individual decision making most frequently used in behavioral economics for the optimal pricing strategy of the firm. The second essay focuses on habit forming behavior, namely the behavior when the valuation of the good in each period is affected by whether consumption occurred in preceding periods. It studies how consumers' habit formation affects the pricing policy of firms. Two types of consumers are considered, sophisticated and naive. The latter do not realize that their current consumption is affecting future consumption. Our main result is that under naive habit formation, the optimal pricing pattern is a three part tariff, namely a fixed fee, an amount of units for free and after their end pricing above marginal cost. The firm exploits naivety charging high price towards the end, and low in the beginning triggering the consumption of a forward looking consumer. The third essay studies a market that consists of one firm and habit forming consumers of different degrees of sophistication. The firm cannot observe the sophistication so it screens between the different types of consumers. The menu of contract offered consists of the frequently observed menu of a two-part tariff and a three-part tariff. Finally, the fourth essay proposes a second explanation of three part tariffs, based on the assumption that consumers are forward-looking but impatient. In a dynamic stochastic setting, prices that apply to large volumes tend to be paid towards the end of the contracting period and so are more heavily discounted by consumers. As a result, high prices for large volumes represent an efficient way of extracting surplus. Low prices for small volumes serve to stimulate early consumption, making it more likely that high marginal prices will apply later.

The detection of communities of agents that interacted over time through regional innovation policies is analyzed through the application of three methodologies: Clique Percolation Method (CPM) by Palla et al. (2005), Infomap by Rosvall and Bergstrom (2008), and Dynamic Cluster Index analysis (DCI) by Villani et al. (2013). The case study regards the policy interventions implemented by region Tuscany (Italy) in 2000-2006 with the aim of supporting innovative network projects among local actors. In a context of analysis centered on such a complex object as innovation, and affected by discontinuous temporal dynamics and changing configurations of partnerships of agents, the three methodologies are applied to investigate different specific aspects of community organizations aimed at developing innovative activities. For every methodology three models are developed. In CPM, the elaboration of three models following the observation of the features of all possible partitions makes it possible to overcome the problematic definition of the value of k. In Infomap, the observation of the chronological order in which funded projects were carried out is used to impose different restrictions on the circulation of simulated flows. Finally, the application of DCI analysis to a socio-economic context is developed through the elaboration of different variables describing agents’ behavioral profiles, and through an original contribution in using a cluster analysis aimed at coping with the large quantity of results that the algorithm produces. The investigation of relational structures (through CPM), of shared processes (through Infomap) and of integrated behaviors (through DCI analysis) allowed the identification of communities that reveal, respectively, meaningful characterizations in terms of agents’ participations in specific waves of the policy, of agents’ participations in projects operating in particular technological domains, and in terms of agents’ institutional typologies. / Per individuare comunità di agenti che nel tempo hanno interagito in politiche regionali a sostegno dell’innovazione, si propone l’utilizzo di tre metodologie: Clique Percolation Method (CPM) (Palla et al. 2005), Infomap (Rosvall e Bergstrom 2008), e la Dynamic Cluster Index analysis (DCI) (Villani et al. 2013). Il caso di studio riguarda la serie di politiche messe in atto dalla regione Toscana, nel ciclo di programmazione 2000-2006, con lo scopo di sostenere progetti di reti innovative nel territorio. Nell’analisi di un contesto che riguarda attività innovative, caratterizzato da forti discontinuità temporali nell’implementazione delle politiche e da mutevoli configurazioni nelle collaborazioni, sono state applicate le metodologie citate al fine di indagare tre specifici aspetti che caratterizzano le comunità di agenti con riferimento alla capacità di sviluppare processi innovativi. Lo studio delle strutture relazionali presenti (attraverso il CPM), dei processi di interazione osservati (attraverso Infomap), e dell’integrazione dei comportamenti degli agenti (attraverso la DCI analysis) hanno condotto all’elaborazione di tre modelli di analisi distinti per ciascuna di queste metodologie. Nell’ambito del CPM, la problematica definizione del valore di k è stata affrontata attraverso l’approfondimento delle caratteristiche delle possibili partizioni. Per l’applicazione di Infomap sono state elaborate simulazioni di flussi informativi in grado di tenere conto della sequenza temporale dei progetti finanziati. Infine, nell’ambito del DCI, un primo processo esplorativo, necessario per comprendere come applicare in modo coerente tale metodologia ad un contesto di tipo socio-economico, è stato seguito da due ulteriori modelli in cui l’originale introduzione di una analisi cluster ha consentito di gestire l’enorme mole di output prodotta dall’algoritmo. I risultati mostrano, rispettivamente, partizioni con comunità caratterizzate in termini di partecipazioni a specifici bandi (CPM), in termini di partecipazioni a progetti in specifici ambiti tecnologici (Infomap), e in termini di tipologia degli agenti coinvolti (DCI).

Children with early language delay form a heterogeneous group. Although a significant number will catch up and develop language in the normal range, some will continue to have difficulties with language. Predicting the outcome for these children represents a challenging task for clinicians. It has been suggested that the assessment of sociocognitive skills contributes distinctively to the prediction of persistence of language and communication difficulties and the nature of these difficulties. In the absence of standardized assessments in Saudi Arabia for children with early language delay, this study aimed to take a first step to filling this gap by developing a battery of early sociocognitive and language measures. The battery consisted of six measures assessing sociocognitive and language skills using direct and indirect methods, some existing and some newly developed or adapted for this project. Sociocognitive measures were the Early Sociocognitive Battery (ESB; Chiat & Roy, 2006b), together with a new Motor Imitation test (MI) and Sociocognitive Questionnaire (SCogQ); language measures included the Sentence Repetition test (Wallan, Chiat, & Roy, 2011), a new Arabic research adaptation of the Language Use Inventory (O’Neill, 2009), and a preschool adapted version of the Arabic Picture Vocabulary Test (Shaalan, 2010). Since this project was performed in a very different language culture and included a wider range of sociocognitive and language measures than most previous studies, a second aim was to investigate relations between the different sociocognitive and language skills. The battery was administered to 161 Saudi children between the ages of 2;0-3;5 years, divided into three six-months age groups and almost equally divided into boys and girls. Addressing the first aim of this study, results showed that all the measures with the exception of the SCogQ were reliable, valid, and age sensitive. These findings suggest that the measures are fit for purpose and have the potential to identify children with early language delay. Parental concern matched children’s performance on direct and indirect measures of language for the majority of children. Turning to the second aim of the study, regressional analyses using the three language assessments as outcome measures showed that the ESB and MI were important predictors of pragmatic language and receptive vocabulary when other measures had been taken into account. It is concluded that the substantial set of data that this study has produced on the wide-ranging battery of assessments can serve as a reference for clinical comparison and as a foundation for standardization with a fully representative sample of young Saudi children. These measures not only enable the formal identification of a delay in Saudi preschoolers but are also informative about strengths and difficulties and can guide intervention. The results add to current understanding of the role sociocognitive skills play in language development, and provide the foundation for longitudinal research investigating relations to longer term outcomes.

This thesis is primarily based on three core chapters, focused on the fundamental issues of trade secrets law. The goal of this thesis is to come up with policy recommendations to improve legal structure governing trade secrets. The focal points of this research are the following. What is the optimal scope of trade secrets law? How does it depend on the market characteristics such as degree of product differentiation between competing products? What factors need to be considered to balance the contradicting objectives of promoting innovation and knowledge diffusion? The second strand of this research focuses on the desirability of lost profits or unjust enrichment damage regimes in case of misappropriation of a trade secret. A comparison between these regimes is made and simple policy implications are extracted from the analysis. The last part of this research is an empirical analysis of a possible relationship between trade secrets sharing and misappropriation instances faced by firms.

Il capitale sociale e la qualità istituzionale sono due fenomeni che, da circa venti anni, hanno assunto il ruolo di protagonisti all’interno delle scienze sociali. Anche se per molto tempo sono stati analizzati separatamente, già dalla loro definizione è possibile intuire come essi rappresentino due facce della stessa medaglia. Questo lavoro ha l’obiettivo di comprendere quale è le relazione che lega il capitale sociale e la qualità istituzionale all’interno delle regioni dell’Unione Europea. Nonostante buona parte della letteratura si sia maggiormente dedicata all’analisi dei due fenomeni a livello nazionale, in questo elaborato si ritiene che la dimensione territoriale regionale sia l’unità di misura più idonea per analizzarli entrambi. La prima parte del lavoro analizza il capitale sociale sia da un punto di vista definitorio che da un punto di vista più prettamente empirico, suddividendolo in diversi elementi. Il capitale sociale è un fenomeno estremamente multidimensionale, analizzarne solo una parte condurrebbe ad un’analisi parziale ed approssimativa. All’interno del testo vengono individuate cinque dimensioni, utilizzate successivamente per la creazione di un nuovo indice di capitale sociale regionale. Nella seconda parte si affronta il tema delle istituzioni e della qualità istituzionale. Dopo aver definito le istituzioni, si provvede ad effettuare una rassegna degli indici più comunemente utilizzati per misurarne la qualità, selezionando l’European Quality of Government Index del Quality of Government Institute di Göteborg come il più appropriato, sia per la sua definizione di governance che per l’unità di analisi prescelta. Nella terza parte, infine, in seguito ad un’analisi di quella parte di letteratura che ritiene i due fenomeni indissolubilmente legati ed utilizzando l’indice di capitale sociale regionale sviluppato nel primo capitolo, si propone una risposta, sicuramente parziale e non definitiva, alla domanda che da vent’anni anima questo interessante filone di ricerca: che relazione sussiste tra qualità istituzionale e capitale sociale? / In the last 20 years, the concepts of governance and social capital assumed a pivotal role within social science. Even if previous scholars tended to deal with them separately, it is straightforward to notice that the two phenomena are actually highly connected. The aim of this work is to explore the existing relation between social capital and quality of institutions in several European Union's regions. Albeit the majority of the scholars are focused on the national level, this thesis considers the regional dimension, deemed to be the most suitable territorial unit to look at the two phenomena jointly. The first section is devoted to the analysis of the social capital, with the purposes of providing a theoretical definition and illustrating its empirical implications. Social capital is a multidimensional phenomenon, and to deal with just one of these two aspects would have led to a shallow and partial analysis. Moreover, within this section, we are going to individuate five dimensions, used to create a new index of regional social capital. The second part of this contribution is aimed at scrutinizing institutions and their quality. Soon after a preliminary definition, this section is going to provide a review concerning the most common indexes measuring the quality of institutions. Taking into consideration the definition of governance as well as the selected unit of analysis, the European Quality of Government Index, is deemed to be the most suitable for our analysis. Lastly, a final section is going to deal with the body of literature conceiving the two phenomena as highly connected. Employing the new regional social capital index, this conclusive section is going to propose a preliminary answer to the question that, in the last 20 years, has stimulated this interesting debate: what is the type of relation existing between governance and social capital?

Il presente lavoro si compone di tre capitoli, tra loro autonomi e allo stesso tempo intrinsecamente collegati. Nel primo capitolo si è voluto offrire una panoramica dello scenario agroalimentare italiano e della sua rilevanza nel sistema economico nazionale. Per fare ciò si è partiti da una disamina del contesto economico mondiale per poi centrare il discorso sull’andamento congiunturale dell’agroalimentare nazionale, analizzato secondo i principali indicatori macroeconomici. Successivamente vengono presentati gli attori del sistema agroalimentare, rilevando per ciascuno di essi le proprie specificità e tendenze. L’ultima parte del primo capitolo è un focus specifico sul ruolo giocato dall’agroalimentare italiano nel commercio e nei mercati internazionali. Nel secondo capitolo si è approntata una mappatura territoriale e per comparti delle principali specializzazioni commerciali del settore agroalimentare delle regioni italiane. Tramite l'utilizzo di appositi indici di specializzazione si è analizzata la realtà agroalimentare delle regioni italiane, mettendone in evidenza la struttura competitiva e approssimandola tramite l’analisi dei vantaggi comparati di cui gode. Infine, nel terzo capitolo, si è ampliato il campo d'analisi tentando di misurare il livello di internazionalizzazione delle regioni italiane, non solo in ambito agroalimentare, ma considerando l'intero sistema territoriale regionale. Si è tentato di fare ciò tramite tre strumenti: l’analisi delle componenti principali (PCA o ACP), il Mazziotta-Pareto Index e il Wroclaw taxonomic method. I risultati ottenuti tramite le tre modalità di elaborazione hanno permesso di approfondire la conoscenza del livello di internazionalizzazione registrato dalle regioni italiane, mettendo in luce ulteriori filoni di ricerca della tematica osservata. / This work is based upon three chapters, strictly linked to each other. In the first chapter we offer an overview of italian agrifood sector and its importance in the national economy. In order to describe the sector, we started from analyzing the global economic environment, then focusing on agrifood economic trends investigated according to the main macroeconomic indicators. Afterwards, we focused on agrifood system's actors of the analyzing their own specific characteristics and trends. The last part of the first chapter is focused on the role played by italian agrifood sector in the italian and international markets. In the second chapter we tried to map the main agrifood specializations of the Italian regions in a territorial and sector-based perspective. Through indices of specialization we analyzed the reality of regional agrifood sector, highlighting the competitive structure and comparative advantages for each italian region. Finally, in the third chapter, the scope of analysis switched to measure the internationalization level of the italian regions, not only in the food industry, but in a whole regional territorial system perspective. Three main tools helped to gain this scope: Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Pareto-Mazziotta Index and Wroclaw taxonomic method. Results obtained using those methods helped to deepen the knowledge about the level of internationalization of the italian regions, highlighting additional areas of research.