Questa tesi di dottorato verte sull'individuazione di politiche industriali atte ad implementare il mercato dei prodotti a denominazione di origine. Inevitabilmente, l’analisi economica dei prodotti agroalimentari tipici di qualità implica anche l’approfondimento e l’individuazione, delle problematiche connesse con la creazione di un valore addizionale per il consumatore, rispetto a quello dei prodotti standardizzati. Questo approccio richiama l’attenzione, da una parte, sulle caratteristiche della domanda e sulla disponibilità del consumatore a riconoscere e apprezzare questo plus-valore, dall’altra sulle strategie che l’offerta può attivare per conseguire un premium price rispetto al prodotto standardizzato. Le certificazioni comunitarie Dop, Igp e Stg oltre che il marchio di prodotto biologico racchiudono, solitamente, tali dinamiche valoriali ma sono tutt’oggi poco conosciute dai consumatori. Diversi studi internazionali dimostrano, infatti, che la maggioranza dei cittadini comunitari ignorano il significato delle certificazioni di qualità. L’ipotesi di fondo di questo studio si basa sulla possibilità di fidelizzare questi marchi con i brand della grande distribuzione già affermati, come quello di Coop. Analizzare gli effetti dell’introduzione di prodotti private label a denominazione di origine nel mercato della grande distribuzione organizzata italiana ci permetterebbe di comprendere se questo segmento di mercato può aiutare il settore delle Dop/Igp. Questo studio ha cercato di verificare se il prodotto private label a denominazione di origine, riesca a sfruttare il doppio binario di fiducia rappresentato dal marchio comunitario unito a quello dell’impresa di distribuzione. Per comprendere la propensione del consumatore a spendere di più per questi prodotti, abbiamo utilizzato l’analisi dell’elasticità della domanda sul prezzo dei dati scanner fornitici da Coop Adriatica. Siamo riusciti a dimostrare tale positivo connubio confermato anche da una indagine demoscopica effettuata ad hoc sui consumatori. / This doctoral thesis focuses on the identification of industrial policies designed to implement the market for products with designation of origin. Inevitably, the economic analysis of typical food quality also implies the study and identification, of the problems associated with the creation of additional value for the consumer, compared to that of standardized products. This approach draws attention, on the one hand, the characteristics of demand and consumer willingness to recognize and appreciate this added value, the other on strategies that can activate the offer in order to achieve a premium price compared to the standardized product. The certifications Community PDO, PGI and TSG as well as the brand of organic products contain, usually, value-but these dynamics are still poorly understood by consumers. Several international studies have shown, in fact, that the majority of EU citizens are ignorant of the meaning of quality certifications. The basic hypothesis of this study is based on the ability to retain these brands with brands of large retailers already established, such as Coop. To analyze the effects of the introduction of private label products with a designation of origin in the Italian market supermarket chains would allow us to understand whether this segment of the market can help the field of PDO / PGI. This study sought to determine whether the private label product designation of origin, is able to take advantage of the dual track of confidence represented by the European certification brand combined with that of the distribution. To understand the propensity of consumers to spend more for these products, we used the analysis of the elasticity of demand on the price of scanner data supplied to us by Coop Adriatica. We were able to demonstrate that positive union also confirmed by an opinion poll carried out ad hoc on consumers.

This thesis examines the use of supra-textual devices in the Trotula, a set of Middle English gynecological and obstetrical medical treatises. Through close examination of the thirteen manuscript versions dating between the early or mid-fifteenth century and the late sixteenth century, this thesis studies the way in which punctuation, layout, colour, marginalia and other visual devices are used to structure and present the texts. Combining quantitative and qualitative methods, this thesis examines the ways in which supra-textual devices are used to organise the texts into units of various type and length (major and minor sections, paragraphs,recipes, sense-units, sentences, clauses, phrases), and how the presentation of these units contributes to the reading of the text, showing that,despite the lack of standardised punctuation practices, each manuscript text uses a consistent system of supra-textual devices. Their use is not haphazard, as has previously been asserted; supra-textual devices are used purposefully to structure the texts and to communicate with the reader. The definitions of ‘sentence’ and ‘sense-unit’ in the Middle English context are also discussed, as well as the terminology used to describe medieval punctuation practices. In particular, the often-made binary division between ‘grammatical’ and ‘rhetorical’ punctuation is examined, showing that this division is neither very informative nor useful in practice for describing the systems of supra-textual devices present in medieval English writing. While the majority of the units can be described in terms of ‘sense-units’, the development towards the modern ‘sentence’ can be evinced in the data. This thesis also examines the role that scribes played in adapting and modifying the textual presentation in their exemplars, arguing that scribes played a key role in modifying the appearance of the manuscript texts to suit the needs of their audiences. Emphasising the importance of contextualisation, the final chapter focuses on the pragmatics of supra-textual devices, and how they can contribute to our understanding of the ways in which these texts were read and used by private individuals, professional medical practitioners or textual communities. This thesis argues that the Trotula had a number of different audiences, with varied literacy skills, and the supra-textual devices in the manuscripts suggest a range of reading practices, from private to communal, silent to oral, intensive to extensive. This thesis demonstrates that a close examination of supra-textual devices can bring new insights into Middle English grammar as well as scribal and reading practices.

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This thesis comprises three essays on determinants and consequences of international labor migration at individual, family and country level. The first chapter explores the effect of parents' absence due to migration on the educational outcomes of children left behind. The estimated reduced form model relies on an educational production function where the total effect of migration is the combination of the positive effect of remittances, and the negative effect of a parent's absence. The results suggest that parental absence offsets the positive impact of remittances on children's schooling achievements and that a mother's absence is more detrimental than a father's absence. The second chapter examines the effects of family size and demographic structure on offspring's international migration. The potential endogeneity of parental fertility choices is addressed by using infertility shocks and miscarriage before first birth as exogenous variation in family size. The positive correlation between fertility and migration disappears when the potential endogeneity of sibship size is addressed. A deeper analysis reveals that the chances to migrate are not equally distributed across children within the family. Older siblings are more likely to migrate, while having more sisters than brothers may increase the chances of migration, particularly among girls. The third chapter studies the effect of granting the right to vote in local elections to non citizens of non Eu origin. In the spirit of a differences-in-differences strategy, election results and economic outcomes of municipalities with more immigrants entitled to vote are compared with municipalities with a smaller share of immigrant voters, before and after the introduction of a new law. Preliminary results indicate that, depending on the economic and demographic context, and on the immigration policies, the effect can vary substantially: the pro immigrants parties can either gain on lose votes, with relevant consequences for public good expenditures.

This dissertation consists of two papers. The first paper ``Do Electoral Systems Affect the Incumbent Probability of Re-election? Evidence from Italian Municipalities'' empirically investigates how electoral systems affect the incumbent likelihood of re-election in Italian municipalities. It also sheds light on the mechanism through which the electoral system affects the re-election probability. The overarching goal of the paper is to connect different aspects of the issue. I provide new insight into how different electoral systems affect accountability, politician selection and then economic policies. Results show that the probability of re-election is significantly higher in majoritarian systems for mayors but not for assessors and councillors. The majoritarian system defines a clear majority within the city council and its leader, which increases accountability toward the mayors. Indeed, in the majoritarian systems, the effort of mayors, measured as the probability of having a social welfare investment, is higher. Finally, We show that the observed evidence is not driven by political selection. The second paper ``Separated Under the Same Roof: Fiscal Inefficiency of Parties' Fragmentation and Mayor's Political Power" investigates the effect of political fragmentation of local government on fiscal policies. It shows that the effect of fragmentation on fiscal policies depends mainly on two factors: the presence of a binding budget constraint and the political power of the executive leader. Results show that, in the presence of a binding budget constraint, a more fragmented majority performs less public spending and collects less revenue. Moreover, we show that the negative effect of political fragmentation disappears while the political power of the mayor increases.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

In this thesis I construct a unique dataset to test the role of individual characteristics in affecting the investor behaviour. In particular, I present two empirical research papers that investigate trading patterns unlikely to be driven by rational models, and a literature review in which are summarized the main findings within the new field of “personality finance”. Using an experimental analysis that combine a trading simulation with a Big-Five personality questionnaire, Paper 1 and Paper 2 illustrate how personality affects the individual level of disposition effect and trading volume respectively. In detail, among a sample of 230 students, in the first paper I find strong heterogeneity in the level of disposition effect recorded. In explaining these differences and controlling for demographic variables, I show that the trait of extroversion is positively related with tendency to sell stocks at gain rather than at loss, while subjects with high conscientiousness and openness to experience are less biased. In a different sample of 176 students, from Paper 2, I demonstrate that emotionally stable investors are more likely to exhibit higher trading volume, while high-conscientiousness seems to weaker it. Demographics and risk-attitude measures moderate the individual in- vestment choices. Finally, in the third paper I introduce a literature review on those works in which the personality of the investors is used to explain subjects trading performance and specific financial phenomena. I try to organize the main findings from this new field, named “personality finance”, identifying the psychological sources that can predict the heterogeneity in the individual investment behaviour.

This thesis aims to present and reflect on a collection of research that has informed and shaped pedagogical and andrological praxis across the two decades since pioneers launched the first online news sites onto the World Wide Web, thereby setting off what is frequently described as a revolution in journalism. It makes a case for revisiting core principles of systems thinking to develop a holistic approach to reflecting on changing journalistic realities. A critical systems heuristic is then operationalised to consider how the diverse work in this portfolio reconsiders journalistic parameters in newsroom, boardroom and classroom situations that are both distinct and interrelated. In doing so it illustrates how a commitment to social and cultural fluidity can enable researchers to constructively engage with role players inside and outside of academic interpretative communities. Furthermore, in its suggestions for further research this study adds its voice to other calls for journalism scholars to extend the boundaries of their concern beyond the academy and to generate insights that empower individuals and impact on industry - to the ultimate benefit of society.

The aim of this study is to access the experiences of teachers of English (i.e. English as a foreign language teachers) when teaching cultural elements through coursebooks which are assigned by their schools/universities, and the materials which they use to deliver these lessons plus the activities that they normally select for their classes. Moreover, teachers’ opinions concerning the learning and teaching of cultural elements are studied in this research. Teachers, both native and non-native speakers of English, participated in this research and have EFL teaching experience from 2 years to 30 years. An open-ended questionnaire (85) followed by semi-structured interviews (28) were conducted to learn more of teachers’ experiences and to obtain further details of their opinions on teaching and learning cultures through coursebooks. All data from questionnaires were coded manually and Nvivo 9 and 10 were also utilised while processing and analysing the findings (i.e. to store interview transcripts and extracting participants’ words and coding them appropriately. The details can be found in the Data Analysis section). The study has clearly shown that EFL teachers use the internet, youtube and other kinds of websites through electrical devices such as computers and smart boards and other sorts of authentic materials (e.g. current newspapers or magazines). Youtube is used for authentic material, and the BBC and some other news channels are also accessed for listening tasks. Written materials are less applied in classrooms since teachers think that electronic media materials are more visual for students, thus helping them to understand more easily , encouraging motivation and gaining more attention in lessons. Teachers recommend that learning cultures through coursebooks would benefit students, as language and culture are interlinked, and it would make students not only become fluent speakers of English but also help them to become interculturally competent persons.

Should we analyse Arabic morphology in terms of a morpheme-based approach or in terms of a stem-based approach? This is the question which has figured prominently in morphological debate in recent years, especially in Semitic linguistics with ablaut-rich inflectional systems. This study provides a novel synchronic account to Transitional Libyan Arabic morphology, using a stem-based approach that assesses the morphomicity (Maiden, 2009, p.45) of stem alternations in the verb inflectional paradigm. This work focuses on the role of stem alternations in defining inflectional paradigmatic complexity in relation to implicative relations and inflection classes within the stem-space and principal parts morphological approaches. Following Bonami and Boyé’s (2002) approach to stem alternations in French, we define an inheritance hierarchy for TLA morphomic verb stems and show how this effectively identifies a set of inflection classes in the absence of affixal allomorphy. Within Stump and Finkel (2013) principal parts model, TLA inflection class membership can be determined by principal parts as indexed stems and/or as substems. The scale of the complexity of TLA inflectional system is also measured using the Principal-Parts Analyzer (PPA) computational tool. TLA conjugations reveal a synchronic morphomic patterning which shows sensitivity to extramorphological factors. The TLA semi-autonomous morphology is reflected by stem referencing features that provide the base for stem indexing possibilities which in turn can define TLA inflectional classes in the absence of the affix allomorphy. The results of principal parts analysis reveal that verb inflectional complexity of TLA as a Semitic language is as morphologically complex as concatenative stem based systems, posing serious empirical problems for any justifications for a unique distinctive non-concatenative morpheme-based account.