The Thematic Seminar Series complements the DEM Seminar Series by hosting guest lectures and specialist talks that focus on specific research areas, contemporary policy and management issues, innovative methodologies, and emerging debates. These sessions are also linked to the activities of the department’s research groups, and provide a platform for in-depth exploration of topics that may not be covered in the general seminar series.
Thematic seminars enrich the department’s academic offer by addressing focused domains of expertise, closely aligned with the department’s strategic priorities. They may feature scholars, practitioners, policymakers, or project partners who contribute perspectives that complement the broader research agenda of the DEM Seminar Series.
Together, the DEM Seminar Series and the Thematic Seminar Series help cultivate a dynamic, intellectually diverse research environment, ensuring that the department remains an active participant in national and international academic debates while offering its community regular exposure to innovative ideas, methods, and frontiers of scholarship.
Due to room capacity constraints, attendance is generally limited to DEM members. However, participants from outside DEM may attend subject to availability. If you are not on the DEM Seminar Series mailing list and wish to participate, please email seminari.dem@unitn.it. A confirmation regarding availability will be sent in due course.
Abstract
The extent to which different countries adopted measures of control and containment in response to the first wave of COVID depended on their history of paternalism. Countries that, prior to 2020, had a more intensive tradition of paternalism responded faster and with more stringent measures. This also translated into better health outcomes by the end of the first wave (Carmignani, 2022). A few years later, most of the parties that led governments at that time find themselves in opposition, with a significantly smaller share of electoral support. Is there a link between post-COVID electoral misfortunes and the decisions taken by governments during the pandemic? Using a sample of 104 parliamentary and presidential elections over the period 2022–2025, this paper provides evidence that the more stringent the measures adopted in 2020, the lower the chances of the ruling party remaining in office in subsequent elections and the smaller its electoral share. While the magnitude of the effect is not quantitatively large—suggesting that other factors likely carry greater weight in the electoral misfortunes of parties in government in 2020—it is statistically significant and robust to the inclusion of public health outcomes (as well as other controls) in the regression model. There are, however, several conditioning and moderating effects. In particular, the negative effect of COVID responses is evident in legislative elections but not in presidential elections, and it is stronger the more democratic the country is. The effect also strengthens over time. While several explanations for this time profile are possible, one that may deserve further attention concerns voters’ memory loss or, less dramatically, their evolving perception of the COVID pandemic.
Speaker: Fabrizio Carmignani, University of Southern Queensland
Location: Seminar room (first floor - DEM)
The extent to which different countries adopted measures of control and containment in response to the first wave of COVID depended on their history of paternalism. Countries that, prior to 2020, had a more intensive tradition of paternalism responded faster and with more stringent measures. This also translated into better health outcomes by the end of the
first wave (Carmignani, 2022). A few years later, most of the parties that led governments at that time find themselves in opposition, with a significantly smaller share of electoral support.
Is there a link between post-COVID electoral misfortunes and the decisions taken by governments during the pandemic? Using a sample of 104 parliamentary and presidential elections over the period 2022–2025, this paper provides evidence that the more stringent the measures adopted in 2020, the lower the chances of the ruling party remaining in office in subsequent elections and the smaller its electoral share. While the magnitude of the effect is not quantitatively large—suggesting that other factors likely carry greater weight in the electoral misfortunes of parties in government in 2020—it is statistically significant and robust to the inclusion of public health outcomes (as well as other controls) in the regression model. There are, however, several conditioning and moderating effects. In particular, the negative effect of COVID responses is evident in legislative elections but not in presidential elections, and it is stronger the more democratic the country is. The effect also strengthens over time. While several explanations for this time profile are possible, one that may deserve further attention concerns voters’ memory loss or, less dramatically, their evolving perception of the COVID pandemic.
- Speaker: Fabrizio Carmignani, University of Southern Queensland
Location: Seminar room, 1st floor, Department of Economics and Management
The diffusion of AI has recently led to the emergence of the concept of algorithmic management as a new managerial approach. In this presentation, I revisit what AI or more precisely LLMs can currently do and how their use relates to Taylor’s scientific management. I derive some recommendations for universities’ role in both (management) research and education as well as for scholarly associations.
- Speaker: Xavier Castaner, Faculty of Business & Economics (HEC), University of Lausanne
Location: Seminar room (second floor - DEM)
The paper investigates how Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) affect school efficiency, drawing on data from the OECD PISA 2022 survey for 5,360 schools across 21 EU countries. While prior literature has examined the relationship between ICT and student performance, limited attention has been given to its impact on school efficiency, defined as the capacity to transform inputs (resources) into educational outcomes (test scores). To address this gap, we adopt a combined methodological approach. First, we estimate school-level efficiency scores using a robust nonparametric order-m model under a meta-frontier framework, distinguishing between local (within-country) and global (cross-country) benchmarks. Our results show a higher average local efficiency (0.87) compared to global efficiency (0.69), with significant variation across countries.
We also run a robust conditional efficiency model in which exogenous variables are indicators of ICT availability and use, showing how ICT affects the production model increasing the average efficiency up to 0.85. Furthermore, to enrich the descriptive analysis on the role of ICT, we employ a multilevel random forest model to explore which ICT-related variables best explain efficiency scores. Findings highlight that cognitively engaging digital activities such as student-led research, data analysis, and the use of digital learning games are positively associated with efficiency, especially when used in moderation (i.e., avoiding its excessive use). ICT availability, while necessary, plays a lesser role. These results suggest that the pedagogically-driven integration of ICT, rather than its mere presence, is key to enhancing school efficiency.
- Speaker: Tommaso Agasisti, Politecnico di Milano, School of Management
Location: Seminar room (first floor, DEM)
Following Brexit and the war in Ukraine, the source of migrants working on UK farms shifted dramatically away from Eastern Europe and further east into Central Asia, particularly Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. My research investigates the legal, institutional, and economic contexts surrounding this shifting labour frontier in seasonal agricultural work. It determines the extent and conditions under which Central Asian labour migrants enter segmented labour markets in the UK agricultural sector. It emphasises the role of public and private recruitment agencies, as well as the law, in shaping labour market segmentation, and vice versa, and how recruitment agencies at both origin and destination shift labour flows in response to regulatory constraints and changing labour demand and supply. In my presentation, I will present findings from my research based on fieldwork conducted in the United Kingdom, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan.
- Speaker: Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza, University of Cambridge
Location: Seminar room (first floor - DEM)
This seminar focuses on artificial intelligence (AI), with a special emphasis on how AI is rapidly transforming teaching pedagogies. AI is challenging the way we teach and learn at a swift pace! In this rapidly developing technological era, it is necessary to adapt and rethink how educators value and measure human learning as well as intelligence.
The discussion will follow regarding the merits and benefits AI has to offer, as well as the deficiencies and pitfalls to be cognizant of. The real threat to our students’ education is not machine learning and AI. The real threat is the loss of their imaginative perspectives.
We need to evolve.
The education system needs to accept the fact that artificial intelligence is now a permanent part of our lives. It continues to be integrated into various aspects of our society, and it will only become more prevalent. Several strategies will be highlighted on how to integrate AI into a student’s learning journey. Simultaneously, educators need to guide learners to harness their authentic ideas and channel them toward creative innovation. Regarding research, artificial intelligence should fuel creativity and productivity; while safeguarding rigor, integrity, and the originality of one’s work.
- Speaker: Yasmin Nanabhay, Cape Peninsula University of Technology
Location: Seminar room (first floor - DEM)
In this study, we analyze the patterns of relocation of start-ups’ headquarters across different administrative areas in European countries. We examine how Venture Capital (VC) affiliation and local resource endowments — including private finance, public financial support, talents, and innovative knowledge — jointly shape the decision to relocate and the destination choices of migrating start-ups.
We rely on a longitudinal dataset of 23,216 European VC-backed and comparable non-VC-backed start-ups. We find that about 25% of sample startups relocated their headquarters at least once in the first ten years of their existence.
VC affiliation critically influences start-ups' migration patterns: start-ups that secure VC financing are more likely to relocate both before and after receiving their first round of funding than their non-VC-backed peers. Moreover, factors influencing start-ups’ probability of relocation and the destinations of migrating start-ups differ depending on whether start-ups are VC-bac
- Speaker: Massimo Colombo, School of Management, Politecnico Milano
Location: Conference room (ground floor - DEM)