Research

Projects and grants

CSEF applies for research grants as an independent entity. Research projects currently carried out at CSEF are funded by the Compagnia di San Paolo, the EU Research and Technological Development Framework Programmes, the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MIUR), the Unicredit Group and the Observatoire de l’Epargne Europeenne.

Research grants under the EU fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh framework programme

Mobilising the potential of active ageing in Europe – MOPACT

Funded by the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme FP7-SSH-2012-1/No 320333, participating institution, 2013-2017


Employment and health at 50+ (A life history approach to European welfare state interventions)

Integrated Project: Contract no. 028812, participating institution, 2007-2009


Labour Market Adjustment and the EU Enlargement

Marie Curie Individual Fellowships: Contract N° MEIF-CT-2005-025323, 2005-2007


Labour Market and Social Security Reforms

Marie Curie Re-integration Grant no. MERG-CT-2004-510542, 2004


Applied analyses in corporate finance and portfolio choices

Marie Curie Host Fellowship: Contract no. HPMD-CT-2001-00069, 2003-2006


Economics of Ageing in Europe

RTN Network contract no. HPRN-CT-2002-00235, coordinating institution, 2002-2006

The overall objective of the research network on the Economics of Ageing in Europe is to improve our understanding of the economic decisions of the elderly, in particular with respect to saving, portfolio choice, retirement, health expenditures, and intergenerational transfers. Appropriate empirical modelling of issues relating to the economics of aging needs to recognise that individuals and households take intertemporal decisions in order to provide resources for their old age. Understanding the nature of these decisions, and the way in which these decisions react to changes in household circumstances, both currently and potentially in the future, is an important component of policy analysis in this area.

The project is subdivided into six themes, each aimed at distinguishing a dimension in which empirical microeconomics can inform policy analysis at the national and European level. These are: ageing and household saving; pensions, social security and labour market behaviour; the relation between health and economic resources; saving and portfolio decisions; consumption and material living standards of the elderly; intergenerational transfers and the role of family transfers and the interaction with state transfers.

The research program in Ecomics of Ageing has been recently financed by the EU under its RTN Program. CSEF coordinates an international team, which includes CentER (Tilburg University), Università Cà Foscari (Venezia), IFS (London), Universität Mannheim, DELTA-INRA (Paris), University of Copenaghen and University of Cyprus. CSEF also coordinates a national network on releted issues of saving, pensions and portfolio choice including University of Rome Tor Vergata, University of Padova and Bocconi University, University of Venezia and Bocconi University.


Financing Retirement in Europe: Public Sector Reform and Financial Market Development

RTN Network contract no. HPRN-CT-2001-00225, participating institution, 2002-2006

The financing of pensions is one of the most significant medium to long-term economic and social issues in Europe. If established demographic and labour market trends continue, major changes to the existing national systems of retirement are inevitable. However, there is considerable debate as to the most appropriate form for new social security institutions, and even a partial move away from PAYG raises hard questions of intergenerational equity and significant risks that can fall disproportionately on certain age and social groups. This project will address a variety of questions concerning this transition, some that traditionally have been the province of public finance specialists, and others that fall within the sphere of finance. The integration of these two approaches into the same project has rarely been tried in the past.

This research program is financed by the EU under the RTN program, through the network on “Financing Retirement in Europe: Public Sector Reform and Financial Market Development” (FINRET). Besides CSEF, this network includes the CEPR (Centre for Economic Policy Research), IDEI (University of Toulouse), the University of Amsterdam, Pompeu Fabra University, CORE (Catholic University of Louvain), and FMG (London School of Economics).


Financial Market Integration, Corporate Financing and Economic Growth

Contract ETD/2001/B5-3001/A/29, 2001

In 2003 CSEF completed two EU-sponsored studies on financial market integration. The first study (Analyse, compare, and apply alternative indicators and monitoring methodologies to measure the evolution of capital market integration in the European Union) reviews and compares existing methodologies to measure capital market integration, tests their suitability to monitor EU capital market integration, and proposes changes to existing indicators or new indicators.

The findings are reported in a study for the Internal Market Directorate General of the EU Commission: Study to Analyse, Compare, and Apply Alternative Indicators and Monitoring Methodologies to Measure the Evolution of Capital Market Integration in the European Union (January 2002)”. The report was prepared by CSEF researchers Klaus Adam, Tullio Jappelli, Annamaria Menichini, Mario Padula, and Marco Pagano. The text of the report is available on the Internal Market web site at:

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/economic-reports/docs/020128_cap_mark_int_en.pdf

and its tables and figures at:

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/economic-reports/docs/020128_cap_mark_int_tables_en.pdf

The second study (Financial market integration, corporate financing and economic growth) uses cross-country industry-level and company-level data to estimate the impact of financial market integration on corporate growth in European countries. The study addresses the following questions: what is the impact of financial market efficiency and development on investment and growth? What are the likely consequences of EU financial integration for investment and growth? What are the limits to EU financial integration entailed by the differences in the legal framework of EU member countries?

The study critically reviews the existing literature and defines a conceptual framework linking the investment and financial policies of companies to various indicators of financial efficiency and development. It builds upon existing work and moves beyond it by relying on the analysis of cross-country industry-level and company-level panel data for EU countries and for the US. For this project, CSEF researchers Tullio Jappelli, Mario Padula and Marco Pagano have joined forces with Luigi Guiso (University of Sassari and Ente Einaudi) and Mariassunta Giannetti (Stockholm University) and is available on the Internal Market web site at

http://europa.eu.int/comm/economy_finance/publications/economic_papers/economicpapers179_en.htm


Understanding Financial Architecture: Legal and Political Framework and Economic Efficiency

RTN Network contract no. HPRN-CT-2000-00064, participating institution, 2000-2004

Law, Finance and Politics

The objective of this project is to study the interaction between legal frameworks and financial arrangements, and their effects on economic efficiency and growth. The project aims to characterise legal rules and financial arrangements, in particular in regard to firms’ ownership and control, and creditor protection. A second objective of the project is to link research on law and finance with political economy. Politics plays an important role in shaping the legal and financial systems, and these systems give rise to significant stakeholders with influence over the political process. Understanding this interaction is essential to any attempt to reform the European financial architecture. The research focuses on three areas where law and finance intersect: corporate governance, bankruptcy law, and market organisation and efficiency. In these areas international co-operation in research between economists and lawyers is expected to yield valuable insights, which could bear on major policy issues facing Europe.

On these themes, CSEF cooperates with SITE (Stockholm), CFS (Frankfurt), CEMFI (Madrid), CEPR (London), ECARES (Brussels), IDEI (Toulouse), Oxford, Princeton and Yale, in the context of the RTN network on “Understanding Financial Architecture: Legal and Political Frameworks and Economic Efficiency“.


The Industrial Organisation of Banking and Financial Markets in Europe

TMR Network Contract no. FMRX-CT98-0222, participating institution, 1998-2003

The Industrial Organisation and Financial Markets in Europe

This research project spans the related fields of banking, corporate finance and market microstructure, using the methods of game theory and information economics. The research is organised around three themes that are central for European financial integration. The first theme is “excessive competition” and systemic risk in banking. The second is the industrial organisation of securities markets and the relationship between share ownership structure and provision of liquidity in securities markets. The third theme is the industrial organisation of credit markets and the effect of bankruptcy schemes on borrowers’ incentives to repay.

This research is carried out with ECARES (Bruxelles), IDEI (Toulouse), CSIC (Barcelona) and FMG (London School of Economics), within the TMR network on “The Industrial Organization of Banking and Financial Markets in Europe”


Structural Analysis of Household Savings and Wealth Positions over the Life-Cycle

TMR Network Contract no. ERBFMRXCT960016, participating institution, 1996-2001

Other research Projects and Grants

OEE Project


Convergence in Corporate Governance Models

IRI Foundation project on Convergence in Corporate Governance Models

This research project, funded by the IRI Foundation, involves various individual researchers and research centres. CSEF contributes to this project with a research team on “Corporate governance, family firms and auditing”, coordinated by Marco Pagano. The team, which comprises Giovanni Immordino (Salerno), Fausto Panunzi (Bocconi) and Paolo Volpin (LBS), has already produced two papers on these issues and is currently working on a third one.


Unicredit Project


Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe

The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) is an ambitious project which collects data about Europeans aged 50 and older in order to shed light on one of the most dramatic challenges in the years to come – population ageing.

The main objective of SHARE is to provide a fundamental knowledge base for science and public policy in order to understand and to master the challenges posed by population ageing. Specifically, SHARE aims to create, evaluate and analyse a large-scale pan-European and interdisciplinary household survey of respondents aged 50 and over. The collected data include information on physical and mental health, social support networks as well as income and wealth.

Project participants are currently eleven countries ranging from Scandinavia (Sweden, Denmark), Western and Central Europe (France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria) to the Mediterranean (Spain, Italy, Greece). SHARE is based on best practice technologies in the participating countries. The survey follows a common set-up across all countries with the goal of collecting data that are strictly comparable to allow cross-country research. Hence, one of the most difficult tasks consists in taking into account differences in language, culture and institutions. Another difficult task is the development of country-specific feasible sample designs, making use of suitable sampling frames that are already available. Within the project, CSEF reseachers Christelis, Jappelli and Padula are responsible for analyzing SHARE financial and real wealth data.


European Financial Market Integration

In 2003 CSEF completed two EU-sponsored studies on financial market integration. The first study (Analyse, compare, and apply alternative indicators and monitoring methodologies to measure the evolution of capital market integration in the European Union) reviews and compares existing methodologies to measure capital market integration, tests their suitability to monitor EU capital market integration, and proposes changes to existing indicators or new indicators.

The findings are reported in a study for the Internal Market Directorate General of the EU Commission: Study to Analyse, Compare, and Apply Alternative Indicators and Monitoring Methodologies to Measure the Evolution of Capital Market Integration in the European Union (January 2002)”. The report was prepared by CSEF researchers Klaus Adam, Tullio Jappelli, Annamaria Menichini, Mario Padula, and Marco Pagano. The text of the report is available on the Internal Market web site at:

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/economic-reports/docs/020128_cap_mark_int_en.pdf

and its tables and figures at:

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/economic-reports/docs/020128_cap_mark_int_tables_en.pdf

The second study (Financial market integration, corporate financing and economic growth) uses cross-country industry-level and company-level data to estimate the impact of financial market integration on corporate growth in European countries. The study addresses the following questions: what is the impact of financial market efficiency and development on investment and growth? What are the likely consequences of EU financial integration for investment and growth? What are the limits to EU financial integration entailed by the differences in the legal framework of EU member countries?

The study critically reviews the existing literature and defines a conceptual framework linking the investment and financial policies of companies to various indicators of financial efficiency and development. It builds upon existing work and moves beyond it by relying on the analysis of cross-country industry-level and company-level panel data for EU countries and for the US. For this project, CSEF researchers Tullio Jappelli, Mario Padula and Marco Pagano have joined forces with Luigi Guiso (University of Sassari and Ente Einaudi) and Mariassunta Giannetti (Stockholm University) and is available on the Internal Market web site at

http://europa.eu.int/comm/economy_finance/publications/economic_papers/economicpapers179_en.htm


Survey of Health, Ageing and Wealth

Financed by the Italian Ministry of University

The Survey on Health, Aging and Wealth, a joint venture of CSEF with the Universities of Padua and Venice, collects detailed data on health status, smoking habits, health expenditures, job invalidity and subjective expectations on a sample of over 2,500 individuals aged 50 or plus. A selection of papers using the Survey on Health, Assets and Wealth and analysing the interaction between health status, health expenditures, and household wealth has been published in April 2003 in a special issue of the Giornale degli Economisti.
The questionnaire and data are available as CSEF Working Paper n. 86:

Agar Brugiavini, Tullio Jappelli and Guglielmo Weber

The Survey on Health, Ageing and Wealth

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