Papers by Ferdinando O Ofria
Journal of Economic Studies, Oct 5, 2022
Purpose-Non-performing loans (NPLs) may determine an overall weakness of the banking system withi... more Purpose-Non-performing loans (NPLs) may determine an overall weakness of the banking system within a country. The purpose of the present study is to analyze the impact of government failures on NPLs in Asian countries in the time span 2000-2020. The variables employed as proxies of government failures are public debt as % of gross domestic product (GDP) and a government ineffectiveness index proposed by the World Bank. Design/methodology/approach-The econometric approach employed is a panel generalised time series (GLS) model with heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation specific to each panel. Findings-The results confirm that public debt as % of GDP and governmental ineffectiveness impacted significantly on NPLs for Asian countries in the observed period. Originality/value-The literature offers similar results only for some individual Asian countries, while a wider analysis is lacking for Asian macroareas. The present paper considers 31 Asian countries, and supports the idea that a healthy financial sector is correlated to institutional quality and political regime. Hence, policy makers are advised to monitor governance indicators to reduce NPLs.
International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, 2012
During the 1990’s a number of essays have explored the possible effects of an European Monetary U... more During the 1990’s a number of essays have explored the possible effects of an European Monetary Union (EMU) in the weakest areas and the South of Italy. In particular, these studies have started a debate on the hypothesis that a common currency could help solving the “Southern Question” (“Questione meridionale”) – a debate raising both optimistic and pessimistic answers. Firstly, the proposed article reconstructs such debate on the effects of a common currency for the southern economy. Secondly, it tries to produce a ex-post analysis in order to understand whether a convergence process has been started. This analysis shows that the South of Italy, with the exclusion of Abruzzo, in the years the unification process began, has converged towards the North in terms of wealth per capita.
Social Science Research Network, 2012
We are thankful to Sergio Destefanis, Matteo Lanzafame and to the session participants at the AIS... more We are thankful to Sergio Destefanis, Matteo Lanzafame and to the session participants at the AISSEC conference (Perugia, 2009) for helpful comments and suggestions. The authors would like to thank one anonymous referee whose comments and suggestions greatly contributed to the improvement of this paper. The usual disclaimer applies.
Social Science Research Network, 2023
QA - Rivista dell'Associazione Rossi-Doria, 2003
This paper is divided in two parts. The first, exposes a review ofthe empirical literature on the... more This paper is divided in two parts. The first, exposes a review ofthe empirical literature on the italian economy and particularly on the Italian Mezzogiorno dealing with the relationship between government expenditure in public works, corruption, and productivity in the private sector of the economy. These studies underline the fact that corruption often makes public expenditure for infrastructures ineffective: this
Rivista economica del Mezzogiorno, 2010
In the mid 1990s a number of essays have explored the possible effects of a European Monetary Uni... more In the mid 1990s a number of essays have explored the possible effects of a European Monetary Union (EMU) in the weakest areas and the South of Italy. In particular, these studies have started a debate on the hypothesis that a common currency could help solving the «Southern Question» («Questione meridionale ») - a debate raising both optimistic and pessimistic answers. Firstly, the proposed paper reconstructs such a debate on the effects of a common currency for the Southern economy. Secondly, it tries to produce an ex-post analysis in order to understand whether a convergence process has been started. Our analysis shows that the South of Italy, with the exclusion of Abruzzi, in the years the unification process began, has converged towards the North in terms of per capita income. Nevertheless, such a result cannot be generalized when the analysis includes other socio-economic and structural variables (quality of life, labour market, poverty rates, consumption, crime and public sector's performances).
Rivista di Politica Economica, 2009
This study empirically investigates the Kaldor-Verdoorn Law for the Agriculture, Constructions, I... more This study empirically investigates the Kaldor-Verdoorn Law for the Agriculture, Constructions, Industry (narrowly-defined) and Marketable Services sectors of the Centre-North and Southern parts of Italy. Differently from previous studies about the Italian economy, this paper considers the Agriculture and Constructions sectors, both for the Centre-North and the South of Italy. Moreover, the Law is tested using data over a very
Journal of Economic Studies, Jan 7, 2014
We are thankful to Mario Centorrino, Matteo Lanzafame and to the session participants at the AISS... more We are thankful to Mario Centorrino, Matteo Lanzafame and to the session participants at the AISSEC conference (Perugia, 2009) for helpful comments and suggestions. The usual disclaimer applies.
EDIBANK, 2014
Comparing the credit cooperative banks (CCBs) and banking groups operating in Italy, descriptive ... more Comparing the credit cooperative banks (CCBs) and banking groups operating in Italy, descriptive analyses show that the CCBs, unlike large banks, despite the economic downturn, have continued to extend credit to customers, but at the cost of a higher incidence of bad credit. This increased credit risk of local banks has been caused by management policy choices, such as the preference to modify the conditions applicable to credit supply and to engage firms in long-term credit relationships rather than initiate credit recovery procedures. An empirical analysis shows that this risk has also been caused by a higher incidence of environmental factors such as the spread of situations of crime and lower economic well-being, especially in southern Italy. We therefore offer some suggestions for strengthening the creditworthiness assessment models adopted by the CCBs through the greater integration of soft and hard information and also on the potential benefits in the event of adopting rules for the use of credits of "quality" as collateral for obtaining low-cost funds from the European Central Bank (ECB)
RIVISTA BANCARIA. MINERVA BANCARIA, 2017
In Italy, Cooperative Credit Banks (CCBs), unlike large banks, despite the economic downturn, hav... more In Italy, Cooperative Credit Banks (CCBs), unlike large banks, despite the economic downturn, have continued to extend credit to customers, but at the cost of a higher incidence of bad credit. This increased credit risk of local banks has been caused by management policy choices, such as preferring to modify the conditions applicable to credit supply and to engage firms in long-term credit relationships rather than initiating credit recovery procedures. The originality of this empirical analysis lies in its demonstration of the effects of environmental factors related to the spread of crime and lower economic well-being, higher unemployment and poverty in families on the credit market in Southern Italy. This correlation between the riskiness of credit for CCBs and socioeconomic variables has also been reported through the analysis of territorial differences between geographical areas. This analysis highlights a broader diffusion in this macro-region than in the North and Centre. Finally, an OLS approach with panel corrected standard error is provided for modelling the credit risk as a function of environmental factors
European Journal of Tourism Research, 2022
This paper uses the information on elderly visitors, drawn from a survey carried out by the Itali... more This paper uses the information on elderly visitors, drawn from a survey carried out by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) in 2018, to identify the factors that facilitate or hinder senior tourists’ visits to museums. The resulting evidence captures how the accessibility of museums impacts the share of elderly visitors who have access problems and higher need of assistance and, therefore, provides useful information to improve cultural supply. The econometric analysis shows some significant relationships between the dependent variable, namely, the share of senior visitors on the total visitors, and the dummy variables employed as regressors indicating the existence of free admission for a certain category of visitors who have a problem of access, free admission for accompanying person, the presence of communication/promotional campaigns aimed at seniors visitors, the presence of an on- line catalogue, and support for visitors with access difficulties. Monetary reas...
Journal of Economic Studies, 2021
PurposeThe purpose is to analyze the spatially varying impacts of corruption and public debt as %... more PurposeThe purpose is to analyze the spatially varying impacts of corruption and public debt as % of GDP (proxies of government failures) on non-performing loans (NPLs) in European countries; comparing two periods: one prior to the crisis of 2007 and another one after that. The authors first modeled the NPLs with an ordinary lest square (OLS) regression and found clear evidence of spatial instability in the distribution of the residuals. As a second step, the authors utilized the geographically weighted regression (GWR) to explore regional variations in the relationship between NPLs and the proxies of “Government failures”.Design/methodology/approachThe authors first modeled the NPL with an OLS regression and found clear evidence of spatial instability in the distribution of the residuals. As a second step, the author utilized the Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) (Fotheringham et al., 2002) to explore regional variations in the relationship between NPLs and proxies of “Gover...
On the one hand, in favour of the EMU, there were those who, inspired by the neoclassical model, ... more On the one hand, in favour of the EMU, there were those who, inspired by the neoclassical model, argued that through the European Community’s economic and social cohesion policy it would be possible to eliminate not only so-called external diseconomies (lack of infrastructures, presence of crime, lack of human capital etc.), but also all those institutional frictions affecting the flexibility and mobility of factors, thereby allowing market forces to balance the per capita income across regions. On the other hand, against the EMU, we found Keynesian scholars, who, referring to the theory of circular cumulative causation, believed that neoclassical economic policy choices would only have accentuated the dualist system of weak and strong regions. The aim of this essay is precisely that of attempting to make an ex-post assessment of the effects of the single currency on the economy of the South of Italy. The period considered are the years 2002- 2013. The originality of the paper, compared to previous works is that also considers the years of the recent crisis.
Corruption and Public Expenditure in Italian Mezzogiorno - This paper is divided in two parts. Th... more Corruption and Public Expenditure in Italian Mezzogiorno - This paper is divided in two parts. The first, exposes a review ofthe empirical literature on the italian economy and particularly on the Italian Mezzogiorno dealing with the relationship between government expenditure in public works, corruption, and productivity in the private sector of the economy. These studies underline the fact that corruption often makes public expenditure for infrastructures ineffective: this is especial/y true when public expenditure is discretional/y managed by political actors. In the second part, startingfrom a criticaI analysis of actual Italian legislation concerning public contracts, we suggest anti-corruption strategies, in order to guarantee the effectiveness, efficiency and efficacy ofpublic works.
Past studies have highlighted how criminality acts as an obstacle to development in the south of ... more Past studies have highlighted how criminality acts as an obstacle to development in the south of Italy, by diminishing the institutional “quality” of the social fabric and increasing business costs. In particular, a series of analyses based on an econometric study, have revealed the existence of a negative link between criminality and business productivity. This article briefly examines the theoretical reference background and reviews the literature, underlining the techniques used and the main results obtained.
In Italy, Credit Cooperative Banks (CCBs), unlike large banks, despite the economic downturn, hav... more In Italy, Credit Cooperative Banks (CCBs), unlike large banks, despite the economic downturn, have continued to extend credit to customers, but at the cost of a higher incidence of bad credit. This increased credit risk of local banks has been caused by management policy choices, such as preferring to modify the conditions applicable to credit supply and to engage firms in long-term credit relationships rather than initiating credit recovery procedures. The originality of this empirical analysis is due to the demonstration of the effects of environmental factors related to the spread of crime and lower economic well-being, higher unemployment rate and poverty of families on the credit market in Southern Italy. This correlation between the riskiness of credit for CCBc and socioeconomic variables has also been reported through the analysis of territorial differences between geographical areas. This analysis highlights a broader diffusion in this macroregion than in the North and the C...
This paper presents a survey of some important research where productivity in Italian industry ha... more This paper presents a survey of some important research where productivity in Italian industry has been analyzed. Such studies can be distinguished between those which do not consider the territorial features of the phenomenon and those concerned with the causes of productivity gaps between Centre-North and South areas. The works analyzed are also distinguished according to whether productivity trends are ascribed to supply factors 8external diseconomies, business dimension, management, environmental factors) or to demand factors (increase in income an invest). The common denominator of works attributing the causes of productivity growth to demand factors is "Verdoon's law". As is well known, according to this law, the increase of productivity, in the long run, is directly connected with output growth, because of the existence of increasing returns to scale.
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Papers by Ferdinando O Ofria
periodo tra saggio di crescita della produzione e saggio di crescita della produttività del lavoro”.
Un incremento di un punto percentuale del prodotto genera un incremento pari ad 0,5 della
produttività. Lo sostiene, come è noto, una legge formulata da Verdoorn nel 1949 e ripresa e
arricchita da Kaldor nel 1966 (legge Kaldor-Verdoorn). Output e produttività sono collegati in
senso biunivoco e si autoalimentano. La crescita della produttività influenza positivamente la
domanda aggregata e, come suggerisce la legge di Kaldor-Verdoorn, la crescita della domanda
ha un effetto positivo sulla crescita della produttività.