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Economic well-being in Italy: The role of income insecurity and intergenerational inequality

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  • Berloffa, Gabriella
  • Modena, Francesca

Abstract

This paper argues that the evaluation of a society's economic well-being should account for the employment risk associated with being a temporary worker and for the relative income loss of young generations with respect to older ones. We show that the inclusion of new measures of both these aspects in the IEWB almost halves economic well-being growth rates in Italy over the 1995–2007 period, with a larger reduction in Lombardy (the leading Italian region), where the incidence of the private sector is higher. In both areas well-being advanced at a significantly lower rate than GDP.

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  • Berloffa, Gabriella & Modena, Francesca, 2012. "Economic well-being in Italy: The role of income insecurity and intergenerational inequality," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 81(3), pages 751-765.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:81:y:2012:i:3:p:751-765
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2010.12.022
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    2. Bonanno, Graziella & D’Orio, Giovanni & Lombardo, Rosetta, 2020. "Generating well-being and efficiency: Evidence from Italy," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 262-275.
    3. Philip Arestis & Ana Rosa Gonzalez‐Martinez, 2019. "Economic precariousness: A new channel in the housing market cycle," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(2), pages 1030-1043, April.
    4. Francesca Modena & Concetta Rondinelli & Fabio Sabatini, 2014. "Economic Insecurity and Fertility Intentions: The Case of Italy," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 60(S1), pages 233-255, May.
    5. Antonella Rita Ferrara & Rosanna Nisticò, 2019. "Does Institutional Quality Matter for Multidimensional Well-Being Inequalities? Insights from Italy," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 145(3), pages 1063-1105, October.
    6. Javier Espinosa & Jorge Friedman & Carlos Yevenes, 2014. "Adverse Shocks and Economic Insecurity: Evidence from Chile and Mexico," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 60(S1), pages 141-158, May.
    7. Gabriella Berloffa & Francesca Modena & Paola Villa, 2011. "Inequality of opportunity for young people in Italy: Understanding the role of circumstances," Working Papers 241, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    8. Antonella Ferrara & Rosanna Nisticò, 2015. "Regional well-being indicators and dispersion from a multidimensional perspective: evidence from Italy," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 55(2), pages 373-420, December.
    9. Fabio Sabatini & Francesco Sarracino & Eiji Yamamura, 2014. "Social norms on rent seeking and preferences for redistribution," Econometica Working Papers wp55, Econometica.
    10. Cifuentes, Myriam Patricia & Doogan, Nathan J. & Fernandez, Soledad A. & Seiber, Eric E., 2016. "Factors shaping Americans’ objective well-being: A systems science approach with network analysis," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 1018-1039.
    11. Antonella Rita Ferrara & Rosanna Nisticò, 2014. "Measuring Well-Being In A Multidimensional Perspective: A Multivariate Statistical Application To Italian Regions," Working Papers 201406, Università della Calabria, Dipartimento di Economia, Statistica e Finanza "Giovanni Anania" - DESF.
    12. Rohde, Nicholas & Tang, Kam Ki & D’Ambrosio, Conchita & Osberg, Lars & Rao, Prasada, 2020. "Welfare-based income insecurity in the us and germany: evidence from harmonized panel data," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 226-243.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Well-being; Inequality; Income insecurity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution

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