Pedro Pablo Perez (p), José Manuel Martin, Miguel Romero

Giuseppe Pernagallo

The hunting sector in the Andalusian region is developed in areas of the Autonomous Community of Andalusia that are less developed and even with a growing depopulation of the villages that represent them. This is an activity that contributes to the creation of jobs and the maintenance of part of the existing population in these areas. Given this situation, and the fact that the vast majority of game meat production is exported to Central Europe, thus adding little value to the product, we thought it would be a good idea to find out what consumers in the region think about this product.
Information about consumer intentions is highly sought after by producers of goods and services. This information is used to guide production, marketing, and consumer education efforts. It helps consumers make informed decisions about products based on factors such as price, health, and environmental impact. So, they decide whether to consume it.
To determine the reasons for the demand for game meat, a statistically significant survey was conducted among 1,066 consumers in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia.
The survey aimed to gather information on Andalusian consumers' knowledge, thoughts, and behaviours regarding game meat. National consumer surveys have been conducted on this product; however, none have been carried out in the Andalusian region, which is a leader in game meat production.
After analysing the data obtained from the interview questions, it can be concluded that this product has great potential among Andalusian consumers. However, efforts must be made to inform them about its characteristics as a healthy, ecological, and sustainable food. This would provide greater value to the product and support the development of rural areas where game meat is obtained.

Tatiana Castellotti (p), Gabriella Lo Feudo

Pedro Pablo Perez

Calabria, a region in the south of Italy, is the least developed region in Italy and in Europe in terms of per capita GDP. Agro-food sector has a negligible weight on the national economy but play an important role in the regional economy due to the weakness of the production system and the large weight of services. We can certainly define Calabria region as rural: in rural areas lives 80% of the regional population. But Calabria is not an indistinct underdeveloped area, much less an area unitarily refractory to growth and economic modernization. Successful businesses, territorial economic microsystems and production’s chains have emerged in recent years and are beginning to differentiate geography. The objective of the contribution is to analyse a case study of a successful food company, located in a rural area of Calabria region, that manages to become a protagonist in the birth and success of the Italian tomato canning industry and then expand its activity to frozen ready meals. Despite local and territorial constraints, in this case study the ability to transform and innovate the company and the territory is clear. Through structured interviews, the paper aims to identify what are the determining factors of success and which are replicable. In particular, it wants to focus the analysis on two aspects: one internal to the company and concerns the role that innovation has played in the paths company development; the other external, and concerns relations with the territory. Answering these questions allows us to provide indications for the design of territorial and sectoral public policies for the development of rural areas.

Giampaolo Vitali, Giuseppe Pernagallo (p)

Tatiana Castellotti

Among possible investments, the housing market represents a long-term investment and one of the largest assets of many households. The role of “geography” in determining housing investment decisions has begun to receive increased attention in recent years, especially since the impact of the pandemic on our daily lives (Van Nieuwerburgh, 2023). In this regard, researchers have studied factors influencing the housing market in suburban areas (e.g., Voith, 1999; Tsai et al., 2022), but very little has been documented when it comes to the relationship between peripheral municipalities and housing investment decisions.
This paper aims to fill this gap by investigating how living in a peripheral area affects real estate investment decisions. The research question is currently significant as researchers have documented in many countries a process of counter-urbanization that may stem from a desire to “return to one's roots”, to seek better environmental conditions, or simply to avoid the rising cost of living in urban centers (Goryunov & Kokovin, 2016; Cui et al., 2019; Sandow & Lundholm, 2023).
We use a dataset owned by the Centro Einaudi research institute that contains a set of variables about Italians collected by survey in 2022 and 2023, with a total of 2711 respondents. The sample was collected by a professional data analysis company, BVA Doxa, and the sample scheme was designed to ensure the representativeness of the sample. We combine this microeconomic dataset with other variables and create the Periphery dummy variable by the Italian Agency for Territorial Cohesion framework. Using this variable and a rich set of control variables, we study the relationship between the peripherality of the respondent’s municipality of residence and homeownership (Y1), having invested in the housing market in the past 24 months (Y2), and propensity to invest in the housing market in the next 24 months (Y3).
We processed data by a probit model and several robustness checks, such as linear probability models, logit models, and bivariate probit models. We also applied a machine learning approach to determine the importance of peripherality among all available covariates. We found that living in a peripheral area increases the probability of owning a home but decreases the probability of investing in the housing market in the future. These effects are significant and are preserved in any model. On the other hand, we find no significant effect of peripherality on previous investment decisions.