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In 2012, the European food industry was hit by a food fraud: horsemeat was found in pre-prepared foods, without any declaration on the package. This is commonly referred to as the “horsemeat scandal”. The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumers’ preferences across Europe for a selected ready meal, ready to heat (RTH) fresh lasagne, to consider whether the effects of potential food frauds on consumers’ choices can be mitigated by introducing enhanced standards of RTH products.

An online survey was administered to 4,598 consumers of RTH lasagne in six European countries (Republic of Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Norway), applying discrete choice experiments to estimate consumers’ willingness to pay for enhanced food safety standards and highlight differences between countries.

Many similarities across countries emerged, as well as some differences. Consumers in Europe are highly concerned with the authenticity of the meat in ready meals and strongly prefer to know that ingredients are nationally sourced. Strong regional differences in price premiums exist for enhanced food safety standards.

This research adds relevant insights in the analysis of consumers’ reaction to food fraud, providing practical guidelines on the most appropriate practices that producers should adopt and on the information to reduce food risk perception among consumers. This would prove beneficial for the food processing industry and the European Union. The survey is based on a representative sample of European consumers making this the largest cross-country study of this kind.

In the last decade, Argentina has experienced a considerable decline in informal employment and wage dispersion. This paper extends a search model with exogenous human capital accumulation to include the informal sector. The model is parametrized to match Argentinian data between 1996 and 1998 – before the onset of the declining trend – and it is used to investigate the contribution of labor market measures to the falling informality, unemployment, and wage dispersion. The findings indicate that institutional factors did not contribute to the positive labor market trends observed; on the contrary, results show that higher severance pay and minimum wages increase informality and that the introduction of unemployment assistance contributed to the spread of informal contracts across the work force. Further, I find that compliance with minimum wage regulation strongly affects the final impact of these policies. While non perfect compliance might reduce unemployment, it reinforces the incentives of workers to move to the informal sector.

The study seeks to investigate individual preference for early or late retirement. The aim is to determine the impact that variables at personal, work and organizational, and retirement‐related levels exert on such preference.

A questionnaire was submitted to 275 Italian workers, aged from 45 to 63. The “preferred” and “expected” retirement ages were measured, and a preference for retiring before or after the expected age was computed. The questionnaire included personal (e.g. age, income), work and organizational (e.g. work importance, job demands and control), and retirement‐related variables (level of information on pensions and attitudes to retirement). Hierarchical multiple regressions analyses were conducted to test the impact of such variables on the preference for early or late retirement.

The results show a significant preference for retiring on average three years before the expected age. The preference for postponing retirement is related to chronological age and perception of income adequacy, but also to work variables (work importance, firm policies supporting aged employees) and attitudes to retirement.

Political and organizational strategies concerning old employees should take into account the widespread preference for early retirement. It is, however, possible to encourage late retirement by developing interventions aiming to meliorate working conditions, organizational perceptions and retirement attitudes.

The difference between preferred and expected retirement age may be useful to identify employees preferring late retirement. It is also suggested that certain psychosocial factors are related to such preference. This knowledge is relevant for European policies encouraging employees to stay longer in the workforce.

Women are exposed to vulnerabilities that can lead to drug use or hinder recovery. However, there is a dearth of studies on recovery programs for women. This study aims to add to the literature by examining the feasibility of a women-only aftercare program for recovering users in the Philippines.

The study used a mixed-method design with pre and post-program surveys used to measure changes in participants’ recovery capital. Focused group discussions elicited participants’ context, their reactions, perceived outcomes and suggestions on the program.

Women in the program shared narratives of pain, trauma and abuse before treatment. Participants reported significant improvements in personal, community and family recovery capital dimensions. The program enabled personal growth in the form of new knowledge, skills and self-confidence. The women-only program also provided a safe space for women, to receive support from other women, community members and family. However, the women continue to face continuing challenges related to stigma and discrimination and a lack of livelihood opportunities.

A limitation of the study was its small sample size and the lack of a control group. Another limitation was the variability in treatment received by the women, which could have affected overall outcomes. Future studies using a randomized control trial and longitudinal designs may provide more robust conclusions on the effectiveness of the program.

Given punitive contexts, gender-sensitive and trauma-informed programs and services for women involved in drug use could potentially mitigate the abuse, stigma and vulnerabilities they experience.

This study contributes to the sparse literature on women-only aftercare, particularly in countries that criminalize drug use.

This paper aims at providing a new point of view in the comparison between the sectoral specialization of Italian firms and that of companies of some emerging countries, both apparently concentrating on so‐called traditional sectors. What is argued in this paper is that, even if belonging to the same product category, goods produced by Italian and emerging countries' firms differ strongly in terms of quality, and that the competitive advantage of the Italian companies is mainly based on their capacity of exporting “intangible‐intensive goods”.

The study is based on the comparison between Italian and a selected group of emerging countries' (Brazil, China, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Thailand and Vietnam) exports of fashion‐related goods to the American market by means of a new index, called the RUPD (revealed unit price differential). The index is based on the comparison between the average export prices of Italian and of the selected emerging countries' fashion goods (at a five‐digit level). The RUPD “reveals” ex post how much more a consumer has been shown to be willing to pay for a specific good in comparison to another good sold on the same market, belonging to the same category and produced in another country (or group of countries). If the RUPD is calculated using sufficiently disaggregated data (at least at the four‐ or five‐digit level) we can hypothesize that such an index can actually reflect how different consumers perceive a product in comparison with another one, implicitly considering it as non‐homogeneous and non‐substitutable.

The analysis of RUPDs between Italy and the selected emerging countries shows that most Italian fashion goods are sold on the American market at much higher prices. The relative weight of sectors with higher RUPD has been rising over the years, with a growing number of products showing an increasing unit price differential between Italian products and those from emerging countries. Furthermore, many sectors maintain a high RUPD for the whole period considered (2000‐2009). This allows the authors to argue that in these fashion sectors American consumers perceive substantial differences between Italian and emerging countries' goods that are primarily intangible.

Relevant insights can be drawn by adding to the analysis the evolution of market shares. The final part of the article presents a first exercise in this direction that seems to suggest interest for further analysis.

The analysis carried out in this article suggests that one way to face growing competition with emerging actors is not just to move towards high‐tech sectors. Even if operating in traditional sectors, Italian firms still offer excellence goods that are appreciated in international markets. For this scenario to be sustainable in the future, there are three suggested strategies: to continue to invest in R&D and innovation (also and especially in times of crisis) in order to maintain high levels of excellence; to strengthen marketing capacities (quality differentials have to be perceived and appreciated by consumers); and giving great importance to the utilization of the available intellectual property rights protection tools, since intangible‐intensive goods are particularly easy to imitate.

In the last few years, companies in highly industrialized countries have been seriously threatened by high competitive pressure coming from firms in new emerging countries. For this reason, many observers suggest that firms in advanced countries should reposition their production towards high‐tech sectors. The analysis carried out in this article suggests that a different perspective can originate different results, on the basis of which different strategies can and should be pursued in order for firms – even if operating in traditional sectors – to maintain a competitive advantage in international markets.