Alberto Hidalgo (p), Federico Curci

Lorenzo Rossi

This study examines the economic impacts of tall building construction in the United States between 2000 and 2017. Using a novel zip-code-level dataset that combines building height data, establishment counts, employment, and housing values, we explore how tall buildings shape local economies. To address endogeneity, we use an instrumental variable strategy leveraging demand and supply factors to isolate the impact of tall buildings on urban economies. Our findings show that tall buildings significantly boost establishments and employment, particularly in business-oriented sectors like offices and hotels. They also foster knowledge-intensive activities, reduce space-intensive sectors such as manufacturing, and lead to housing appreciation. Furthermore, these benefits are concentrated near tall buildings and diminish with distance. Overall, our findings highlight how vertical urban growth fosters economic development and reshapes cities’ industrial and spatial organization.

Marco Di Cataldo, Lorenzo Rossi (p)

Elena Ragazzi

Does losing access to European funding lower European sentiment? This
paper examines the causal impact of losing EU Cohesion Policy funding on
regional European sentiment, measured through voting behavior in European
Parliament elections. Exploiting the staggered timing of regions losing
the less developed (convergence) status, we apply difference-in-differences
estimators to identify the effect of funding cuts. Our findings indicate that
regions experiencing funding losses exhibit a significant decline in support for
pro-EU mainstream parties, coupled with increased votes for opposition and
anti-establishment parties. These political shifts are particularly pronounced
in cohorts losing status in 2000 and 2007, and are accompanied by adverse
economic outcomes such as reduced GDP and increased unemployment. This
study highlights the political consequences of cohesion funding reductions
and underscores the importance of cautious policymaking regarding EU
financial allocations. To our knowledge, this is the first paper to causally
examine how losing EU funding affects public sentiment toward the EU.

Elena Ragazzi (p), Eva Dettmann, Lisa Sella

Alberto Hidalgo

The National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL) provides incentives to firms to invest in occupational safety and health in Italy. Incentives are devoted primarily to small and micro firms in high-risk sectors and are granted for various measures to increase safety and health at work. During the so-called click day, eligible firms can apply for this program. After a first verification, the firms are selected according to the principle “first come – first serve”.
We exploit this design to estimate the effect of the funding of risk management systems (RMS) on the incidence of accidents and severe accidents. The policy design causes several problems of non-compliance to treatment decision, such as a comparably large number of firms that drop out on the way from being selected to the actual funding, or firms that invest with own funds when not selected. For this we use different administrative data sets of INAIL (ISI funding data, information on occupational accidents, and firm data) and enhance the data base by ORBIS balance sheet data as well as ACCREDIA certification information of RMS. The resulting rich database enables us to describe the funded and non-funded firms and to estimate the effect of funding.
The study builds on previous research (Sella, Ragazzi, Radin 2023; Sella, Ragazzi, Dettmann 2023), in which some effects were found, but the results were not robust. In this paper we apply a non-parametric IV model to control for the dropouts.