Several advanced countries are experiencing sub-replacement level fertility rates which, together with an increase in life expectancy, results in population decrease and ageing. Scholars have...Show moreSeveral advanced countries are experiencing sub-replacement level fertility rates which, together with an increase in life expectancy, results in population decrease and ageing. Scholars have focused on studying these phenomena as potential trigger of societal and economic changes. However, the link between demographic decline and public sector innovation remains unexplored: we know little about innovation by governments when they are pressured by a population that is shrinking and ageing. This study tries to fill this gap by examining the digital transformation of Italian provincial capitals. I argue that the demographic decline can make the digitalization of local administrations less attractive, since it would shrink the pool of potential users of the innovative item. This hypothesis was tested with multiple regression analyses and the findings support the existence of a negative and statistically significant correlation between demographic decline and local government digitalization.Show less
Recent studies in political demography have concluded that young adults, when overrepresented in a country's population, form an obstacle to democracy. After performing linear regressions on a new...Show moreRecent studies in political demography have concluded that young adults, when overrepresented in a country's population, form an obstacle to democracy. After performing linear regressions on a new global database using data from Polity IV, UNPD, and IIASA/VID, it is demonstrated that the role of young adults cannot unanimously be dismissed as obstructive in the democratization process. Instead, a new variable indicating the percentage of a country’s population that is both young and highly educated is introduced. This variable is proved to offer stable predictions on that country's level of democracy across time and space.Show less
