Depopulation and the Aging Population: The Relationship in Italian Municipalities

Explaining the urban-rural gradient in later fertility in Europe

Demographic research shows that, in Europe, fertility takes place later and is lower in cities than in rural areas. One might expect fertility to be delayed in urban areas because of longer periods in education and enhanced career opportunities. We, therefore, examine how prevalent later fertility (35+ and 40+) is along the urban-rural axis, and whether differences can be explained by economic, cultural and compositional factors. We estimate multilevel random coefficient models, employing aggregated Eurostat data of 1328 Nomenclature des unités territoriales statistiques (NUTS) 3 and 270 NUTS 2 regions from 28 European countries. The urban-rural gradient in later fertility considerably diminishes once factors describing the economic environment, family and gender norms as well as population composition are accounted for. The higher prevalence of later fertility in cities is particularly associated with higher female education, greater wealth and a higher share of employment in high-technology sectors.

Happiness and Socio-Demographic Factors in an Italian Sample: A Propensity-Matched Study

Happiness is receiving more and more interest both as a determinant of health and a measure of outcome in biomedical and psychological sciences. The main objective of this study was to assess how the levels of happiness vary in a large sample of Italian adults and to identify the socio-demographic conditions which impair happiness domains the most. The participants of this survey consisted of 1695 Italian adults (85.9% women; 14.1% men) who completed the Measure of Happiness (MH) questionnaire online. In this study, the differences between groups in total and single domain (life perspective, psychophysical status, socio-relational sphere, relational private sphere, and financial status) happiness levels were examined through a propensity score matching analysis with respect to socio-demographic conditions, including gender, age, annual income, relationship status, having children, and education level. The results show that low income has a negative impact on happiness levels, whereas being in a relationship has a positive effect. Having children appears to have a negative impact on male happiness. Males appear to be happier than females, especially with regard to the psychophysics status. This evidence emphasizes the urgency for Italian policymakers to take actions on removing obstacles to people's happiness, especially with regard to financial distress, parenthood, and gender gaps.

Business-community relations under COVID-19: A study of micro and small firms

In considering the premises of social capital and stakeholder theory, this study examines the extent to which firm-community relationships were affected during the COVID-19 crisis, and the significance of firms for their community during this unprecedented event. Responses from 107 Italian micro and small firms were gathered through an online questionnaire. The findings first reveal a strengthening of relations, particularly between firms and other businesses in their community; however, participants' comments also recognise no changes or even weakening relations. Second, three dimensions highlighting the significance of firms' survival during the crisis emerged: the community context, underlining firms' socioeconomic and symbolic contributions, the immediate stakeholders, emphasising contributions towards employment and support of local businesses, and the broader community-society context, underscoring firms' contribution towards consumer and societal needs. The study proposes a conceptual framework illustrating various relationships between the findings and the considered conceptual underpinnings and suggests various implications.

Moderating Effects of Religious Tourism Activities on Environmental Risk, Leisure Satisfaction, Physical and Mental Health and Well-Being among the Elderly in the Context of COVID-19

The purpose of this study is to explore whether religious tourism activities can create a safe leisure environment and improve the well-being of the elderly during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the participants in the Baishatun Mazu pilgrimage in Taiwan as the subjects of this study. A mixed research method was used. First, statistical software and the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient were used to analyze the data. Then the respondents' opinions were collected. Finally, a multivariate analysis method was used to discuss the results of analysis. The findings showed that the elderly respondents thought that the epidemic prevention information and leisure space planning for the pilgrimage made them feel secure. The elderly believed the scenery, religious atmosphere, and commodities en route could reduce the perception of environmental risks to tourists, relieve pressure on the brain, and increase social opportunities. Therefore, the friendlier the leisure environment around the pilgrimage, the greater the leisure satisfaction among the elderly respondents. The happier the elderly felt, the less they considered the concentration of airborne contaminants, including viruses. The better their physical and mental health was, the less likely they were to want to ask for religious goods.

Trends in the Use of Home LTC Services in Large, Medium and Small Municipalities in Italy: Lessons for the Post-COVID-19 Reappraisal

Italian Long-Term Care is considered largely inadequate, and the recent COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically exposed its limitations. Public Home Care Services in particular were revealed as under-financed and unable to cover the potential demand for care from the older population. But does the type of municipality and its geographic location play a role in creating or mitigating unmet demand? This is the first study addressing this research question in Italy. Our hypothesis is that older people's care preferences and care possibilities may vary between small, medium and metropolitan areas, as will the organisation, funding and availability of services, and the combination will influence (unmet) demand for public home care services. In this paper, using nationally representative survey data collected by the Italian National Statistical Institute in 2003 and 2016, we investigate changes and differences in the use of public and private home care services among people aged 75 or older in Italy by size of the municipality. Our results reveal inequalities in service use between Northern and Southern areas of the country and in particular between metropolitan areas, medium and small municipalities. Such differences reinforce post-pandemic calls for new investment and changes in the design of the Italian Long-Term Care system.

Reviewing the Benefits of Aging Populations: Care Activities Provided by the Older People as a Commons

This research reviews the commons paradigm as a framework for understanding the positive contribution of older cohorts to society. The commons, thought as instituting praxis that provide social goods based on autonomy and reciprocity, can help in understanding the role of this age group in providing care to the rest of society. This approach overturns the way economic literature approaches the aging phenomenon. What is understood as a “common evil”—or a problem that needs to be solved—can be analyzed as a “common good.” From this perspective, older people (population aged 65 and over) are essential to European society and the economy to carry out informal care activities that enable and facilitate the “productive” activities of working people.

Demographic Resilience in Local Systems: An Empirical Approach with Census Data

This study estimates demographic resilience in local socioeconomic systems of Southern Europe using long-term population dynamics. We assume attractive places with a continuously expanding (resident) population as ‘demographically resilient’, and locations experiencing a persistent decline of population as more fragile to external shocks. Based on these premises, a comprehensive assessment of demographic resilience in more than 1000 municipalities along the urban–rural gradient in Greece, a Mediterranean country with marked regional disparities, was carried out between 1961 and 2011. Municipalities were considered representative of homogeneous local communities, especially in rural areas. The results of non-parametric correlations suggest how basic geographical gradients (coastal–inland and urban–rural) have significantly influenced the demographic resilience of Greek municipalities. These findings outline two contrasting spatial patterns that reflect (i) continuous expansion of peri-urban local communities and (ii) a particularly intense rural shrinkage, linking depopulation to land abandonment and scarce accessibility of inland districts. While long-term population growth in Greece has progressively re-shaped the intrinsic divide in urban and rural areas, the traditional gap in central and peripheral districts is still reflected in the spatial polarization between the ‘demographically resilient’, socially dynamic coastal locations and the ‘demographically fragile’ inland, economically marginal places. These results indicate the persistence of a center–periphery model characterizing long-term settlement expansion in Greece, with spatial patterns delineating ‘resilient’ and ‘fragile’ districts based essentially on infrastructures, accessibility, and amenities.

Factors Determining the Development of Small Farms in Central and Eastern Poland

The agrarian structure in Poland is dominated by small farms; the large share of these is a result of historical consequences. The economy has pushed small farms toward economic efficiency, which in farming often translates into increasing the scale of production. The primary objective of this research was to present the directions of the changes in the number of small farms in Central and Eastern Poland and to indicate the factors determining their functioning and development. The research was based on a random sample selection from rural municipalities, villages and small farms. The researchers collected 19 completed surveys from municipal agricultural officers, 75 surveys from village mayors and 116 surveys from small and active farms. The data from the farm surveys was analysed using k-mean cluster analyses and the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to distinguish farms into homogenous groups. Three types of farms were identified: “hobby”, “two-occupation” and “professional” farms. The research shows that in the municipalities of Central and Eastern Poland, the number of landowners (over 1 ha of arable land) paying agricultural tax increased by 9% between 2005 and 2017. A significant gap was identified between the number of “official farmers” and “active” farmers. In the farm category surveyed, “active” farmers numbered only 33% of all farming entities. The surveys confirmed that the development of small farms is particularly influenced by external factors (EU funding; national benefits), rather than internal (entrepreneurial) factors. An in-depth survey of farmers, municipal agricultural officers and village mayors shows that “professional” farmers (Cluster 0) are expected to invest, develop and innovate. Farmers managing “hobby” and “two-occupation” farms have a reserved attitude towards investment and their objective is to maximise the benefits related to the arming status. In the authors’ opinions, “professional” farms have the highest probability of being economically viable, while others tend to focus on the provision of public goods related to financial support.

Internships for Higher Education Students to Promote the Local Sustainability of Rural Places

Sustainability and population have a complex relationship. Popular versions of the first are usually based on the premise of reducing the population. However, in some remote rural areas with a low density, this condition needs to be reconsidered, as it would put the viability of the local community at risk and lead to environmental, economic and, above all, social losses. Although repopulation is impossible, since remote rural areas have an ageing demographic structure and an extremely low fertility rate, we can propose the regeneration of their human, social and relational capital by attracting talent and commitment. To achieve this, the Desafío Programme (Rural Erasmus) enables university students to do internships in companies and institutions in sparsely populated areas, living alongside their residents. Despite being an experimental policy with a narrow scope in statistical terms, the Desafío Programme is an inspiring experience supported by those who have participated in it and contributes to the social and economic regeneration of areas in decline. This is a practical case of applying a sustainable strategy to a rural area in crisis, which can be transferred to many other countries facing a similar problem.

Spatial Analysis of the Rural-Urban Structure of the Spanish Municipalities

The rural–urban dichotomy is one of the most debated topics by the scientific community in territorial issues. In addition, many public entities and scientific studies have established the distinctive elements of rural and urban spaces by relating the decline of the rural ones with factors such as aging, low birthrate, the primary sector, unemployment, or poverty, among others. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to spatially study the current model of territorial organization of Spanish urban and rural municipalities as well as their demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. To this end, GIS (Geographic Information System) tools were used to carry out a spatial autocorrelation (SA) analysis and to identify homogeneous groups of the variables considered. In conclusion, there are different demographic and socioeconomic realities in Spain, an urban one located on the coast with a positive situation and, on the other hand, a regressive reality composed of rural municipalities, among which there are villages whose situation is worrying, mainly located in the north of Spain.

Workforce Ageing and Labour Productivity in Europe

This article analyses the influence of workforce ageing on labour productivity in Europe. This question is relevant because of the impact it may have on economic activity, social security systems sustainability and the wellbeing of the population. The method applied is a quantitative contrast using the panel data technique for 24 countries in the period 1983–2014. This research is framed in the open conversation in the literature on the possible impact of ageing on productivity and takes as reference the seminal work of James Feyrer and the contrast model developed by Shekhar Aiyar, Christian Ebeke, and Xiaobo Shao. The results obtained show how a 1% increase in the workforce between the ages of 55 and 64 is related to a decrease of the annual increase in productivity between −0.106% and −0.479%. The main contribution of the article is to provide, as far as the authors are aware, the first evidence of this negative relationship for the period 1983–2014, in addition to suggesting that the influence of ageing on productivity may be reduced by the evolution of the economies in question toward capital and/or knowledge-intensive sectors.

Population Aging, Household Savings and Asset Prices: A Study Based on Urban Commercial Housing Prices

Currently, China’s aging population, high savings rate and high housing asset prices coexist, which has become a hot issue in academic research. First, considering the life-cycle hypothesis and overlapping generations model, asset prices are negatively correlated with the population dependency ratio and positively correlated with household savings. Second, based on census data from prefecture-level cities, a pooled regression model and two-stage least squares (2SLS) are used in this empirical research. The child dependency ratio was found to have a significant negative impact on housing prices, while the elderly dependency ratio had a positive impact on housing prices. The positive relationship between household savings and housing prices is highly significant. Finally, the interaction analysis shows that the impact of population aging on housing prices differs under different levels of household savings; thus, population aging affects housing prices through household savings, and the mediator dilutes and weakens this impact. The elderly generation’s release of savings could gradually inhibit housing prices. Population aging causes long-run downside risks but not a market meltdown.