John Cabot University ScholarShip
ScholarShip is the digital repository at John Cabot University. It provides an online space designed to archive, organize, preserve, and make accessible the digital scholarship faculty and students produce, showcasing the accomplishments of the University’s scholarly community.
Recent Submissions
Item Civic associations, populism, and (un-)civic behavior: evidence from Germany(2024)Civic associations are expected to foster civic, pro-social behavior, but this optimistic view is increasingly contested. We argue that populist radical right parties can strategically target and infiltrate associations to diffuse anti-establishment rhetoric and anti-democratic attitudes. We illustrate this phenomenon by examining the relationship between civic associations and compliance with government rules during Germany's first Covid-19 lockdown with a difference-in-differences design. Results show that areas with denser sport, nature, and culture clubs recorded higher mobility under lockdown. We document the infiltration mechanism and the spreading of anti-democratic attitudes within associations, using survey and election data and qualitative evidence including interviews. In doing so, we shed light on a negative effect of social networks and an understudied strategy of challenger populist parties.Item Measuring information as an expanding resource: Information production and its TFP-information absorption ecosystem “multiplier”(2024)Indices to measure the extent and penetration of information in an economy are static measures. Information, however, is a dynamic, expanding resource. Information is produced when data from digital computers articulate with human-generated systems where they are transformed into information. Economic information is effective when it fuels technological innovations contributing to total factor productivity (TFP) growth. This paper develops a theoretical model to measure effective economic information (EEI) as a dynamic process. Using systemic design thinking, design systems in data value chains are embedded within their TFP-information absorption ecosystem. The system’s characteristics of human capital, economic, institutional, and regulatory factors determine the quality and amount of EEI produced. The EEI measurement model uses differential equations allowing for the dynamic expansion of information to include information-knowledge spillovers. Empirical tests for EEI on TFP for EU countries show that EEI is the key driver for TFP growth, while IT investment alone is only a necessary condition. EEI-type measures direct policy attention towards improving TFP-information absorption ecosystems and supporting the adaption of design processes that are more suitable for their TFP-information absorption ecosystems. Both are necessary to connect IT investment to TFP growth.Item The Matthew (2023 Feb-Mar)(2023)Item The Matthew (2023 Apr-May)(2023)Item Where Does the Original End and the Copy Begin?(2021)The concept of ‘originality’ in art has been largely addressed by the literature over centuries in terms of its controversial nature. However, in the Renaissance period, the term needed to be reframed in light of the advancement of technology. Indeed, the creation and success of printmaking at that time represented a challenge to the previously undefined creative role of the artist. This wave of innovation affected the art market in multiple ways, posing questions that still remain unresolved. The possibility of reproducing in minute details the artworks of accomplished masters at an affordable price and in portable format, favored a fluid market of images and an exchange of models among artist and collectors. Nevertheless, the introduction of this revolutionary technique destabilized the role of the artist, who started to require recognition for his laboris et ingenii. The legal case between Albrecht Dürer vs. Marcantonio Raimondi presents an account of the divergent forces in action – on one side the desire to defend the creative role of the artist and his artistic production, and on the other hand the unregulated use of a new reproductive technology. In this scenario, in which the misattribution of artworks (either intentional or by unintentional) was very common, signatures started to be used to link the artworks to their creators. These countertendencies in the Renaissance period stimulated a further investigation on the definition of ‘fake’/ ‘forgery’ and ‘authenticity’, and their ethical as well as art historical implications. Elaborations on these terms are now more than ever relevant. Indeed, the law case of Albrecht Dürer vs. Marcantonio Raimondi stands as a precedent to understand the impact of modern technologies and media on copyright.
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