Suchergebnisse

SummaryThe majority of studies on longevity in Sardinia point to an exceptional level of longevity, particularly for males, in this region of Italy. This study used individual data, considering selected groups of individuals such as centenarians, or focusing on cohorts of newborns in a large time period, that have previously been treated as a single group. An analysis on decennial birth cohorts from 1872 to 1911 in a selected village located in the Blue Zone area of longevity in Sardinia was used to gain insight into sex differentials in mortality in this area of high longevity and to separate differences between cohorts' experiences, considering the possible role of significant events in determining differential mortality among them. The results show that there is not a secular trend in survival in the birth cohorts under study, but rather that several points of mortality convergence and crossover occur, which make the estimates derived from conventional sensitivity tests of survival curves unreliable. Differences among birth cohorts' experiences are more marked among the male population and at early adult ages. External events are shown to play a relevant role in mortality variations, despite not having an impact on the ageing process. The results highlight that, although there are not statistically significant differences between the two sexes, the male population is exposed to a higher risk of death and proves to be more vulnerable to external changes. This suggests that extreme contextual conditions, both favourable and unfavourable, may significantly affect the mortality trajectories of a population.

The Covid-19 pandemic is having an unprecedented impact on health systems, on many economic sectors and on the labour market. This critical situation is also accompanied by social destabilisation, which has exacerbated inequalities and severely affected the most disadvantaged population groups, such as migrant workers. This study provides insights into the consequences of the first wave and the lockdown period in Spring 2020 of the Covid-19 pandemic on Romanians living in Italy, using data collected by the International Association Italy-Romania 'Cuore Romeno', within a project financed by the Romanian Department for Diaspora and developed to support actions while strengthening the link with Romanian institutions during the pandemic. Findings show that, during the lockdown, two opposite situations occurred among Romanians. Workers in the 'key sector' become indispensable and experienced only small changes, while others lost their job or experienced a worsening of working conditions, with lower wages or an increase in working hours. Most workers chose to stay in Italy, relying on their savings or the support of the Italian government. Job losses, not having new employment, and having limited savings all influenced the decision of a smaller group to return to Romania. In conclusion, the analysis suggests that measures adopted should take into consideration that the Covid-19 pandemic might disproportionally hit population groups such as migrants, women, young people and temporary and unprotected workers, particularly those employed in trade, hospitality and agriculture.

PurposeThis paper aims to assess gender bias in Italian university student mobility controlling for the field of study. It uses data from the Italian National Student Archive (Anagrafe Nazionale degli Studenti – ANS) for the cohort of freshmen enrolled in the 2017 academic year. The macro-regional comparison unfolds across the following areas: North and Centre, Southern Italy and main Islands (Sicily and Sardinia).Design/methodology/approachThe analysis is firstly carried out at the national level, and secondly, it focusses on macro-geographical areas. University mobility choices are thus investigated from a gender perspective, conditioning upon other theoretically relevant characteristics collected for the prospective first-year university student population enrolled in 2017. The authors analyse data in a regression setting (logit models) within the multilevel framework, which considers students at level 1 and the field of study at level 2. Gender differences in the propensity to be a mover – conditional upon the choice of the field of study – were captured by introducing random intercepts to account for clustering of students in fields of study and random slopes to allow the gender effect to differ among them.FindingsFindings show that university student mobility in Italy leads evidence of gender bias. This has been detected using a multilevel random slope approach that allowed the authors to jointly estimate a slope parameter for gender within each field of study. Moreover, using a regression setting allowed the authors to control for heterogeneity in geographical, educational and socio-demographic characteristics across students. In line with previous empirical findings, the authors' data highlight the presence of a relevant mobility flow of university students from the South toward the North-Centre of Italy and lower mobility of female students compared to male students from the South and Islands.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, there are no studies in Italy, which investigate if families' investment in higher education in terms of selection of no-local universities are affected by gender bias and if geographical differences in this behaviour between macro-areas are in place. Thus, investigating students' choices in tertiary education allows the authors to shed light on the presence of gender bias in families' education strategies addressed to increase the endowment of students' assets for future job opportunities.