Testing a global city hypothesis : an assessment of polarization across US cities

Social polarization is perhaps most evident within the world's large cities where we can easily observe stark contrasts between wealth and poverty. A world city theoretical perspective has emerged that associates large cities importance in a global network of cities to the degree of internal polarization within these cities. The research reported here locates 57 large US cities within this world city hierarchy and then empirically examines the hypothesized positive association between global centrality and social polarization using a multivariate, cross-city analysis. The findings are mixed, with some evidence that global centrality increases income polarization, but only in the context of higher levels of immigration. There is no evidence that a city's centrality affects occupational polarization. We conclude by suggesting implications for the world city literature and future research

Analysis of the international distribution of per capita CO 2 emissions using the polarization concept

The concept of polarization is linked to the extent that a given distribution leads to the formation of homogeneous groups with opposing interests. This concept, which is basically different from the traditional one of inequality, is related to the level of inherent potential conflict in a distribution. The polarization approach has been widely applied in the analysis of income distribution. The extension of this approach to the analysis of international distribution of CO2 emissions is quite useful as it gives a potent informative instrument for characterizing the state and evolution of the international distribution of emissions and its possible political consequences in terms of tensions and the probability of achieving agreements. In this paper we analyze the international distribution of per capita CO2 emissions between 1971 and 2001 through the adaptation of the polarization concept and measures. We find that the most interesting grouped description deriving from the analysis is a two groups' one, whichbroadly coincide with Annex B and non-Annex B countries of the Kyoto Protocol, which shows the power of polarization analysis for explaining the generation of groups in the real world. The analysis also shows a significant reduction in international polarization in per capita CO2 emissions between 1971 and 1995, but not much change since 1995, which might indicate that polarized distribution of emission is still one of the important factors leading to difficulties in achieving agreements for reducing global emissions

Consumption and Income Inequality in Australia

It has been argued that consumption is a more appropriate measure of household wellbeing than income or earnings. Using four Household Expenditures Surveys collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics between 1975 and 1993, we examine trends in consumption inequality among Australian households and compare consumption inequality with income inequality. We find that consumption is much more equal than income. Further, while both income and consumption inequality rose by statistically and economically significant amounts over the period covered by our survey, consumption inequality rose by much less. For example, the Gini coefficient for equivalent gross income inequality rose by 0.043 (17%) while the Gini coefficient for equivalent nondurable consumption rose by 0.019 (9%). We discuss possible interpretations of these differences. Through a series of specification checks we are able to rule out several ways in which the result might be spurious, or an artifact of our methodological choices. One interpretation of the results is that some income inequality in Australia reflects transitory fluctuations which households can smooth, and that some of the growth in income inequality over the study period reflects an increase in these transitory fluctuations.

Corporate governance disclosures – A comparative analysis of countries at different stages of economic development

Examining the levels of both mandatory and voluntary corporate governance disclosures of publicly listed firms in three different economies, this study finds that differences in governance, firm and country characteristics among firms affect different levels of disclosure. Results have implications for key stakeholders in understanding how economic and country characteristics affect disclosures and help in determining whether formulating regulations to strengthen the corporate governance mechanisms of firms are worthwhile or whether they incur unnecessary costs

Impatti dell'automazione sul mercato del lavoro. Prime stime per il caso italiano.

The causes of the present decline of demand in labor markets in developed countries are subject to considerable theoretical debate. More specifically, according to some authors, globalization and offshoring together with technological innovation, could lead to further negative impacts on real employment. Some studies estimate that the contribution of automation is the actual cause of job loss: in the US the introduction of robots by 2021 could lead to a cut of more than 6% of the workforce (FORRESTER 2016), and as much as 54% in Europe in the coming decades (Bowles 2014), although the greatest impact would occur in developing countries, where automation could weaken the traditional comparative advantages in terms of labor costs (UN 2016). The Italian case is particularly interesting, as the automation was introduced in large enterprises over three decades ago, determining a deep impact in terms of loss for low skilled jobs. This paper aims to provide a first quantification of the impacts on Italian labor market determined by the spread of latest technological innovations, both in terms of employment levels and social/territorial mobility, by differentiating its effects per macro-geographical breakdown of the country

The Effects of Labour Market Reforms upon Unemployment and Income Inequalities: an Agent Based Model

This work analyses the effects of labour market structural reforms by means of the labour-augmented ‘Schumpeter meeting Keynes’ (K+S) Agent-Based model. We introduce a policy regime change characterized by a set of structural reforms on the labour market. Confirming a recent IMF report, the model shows how structural reforms reducing workers’ bargaining power and compressing wages tend to increase (a) unemployment, (b) functional income inequality and (c) personal income inequality. We further undertake a global sensitivity analysis on key variables and parameters which corroborates the robustness of our findings

National indicators for evaluating the outcome of reinventing spatial planning in Serbia

This paper is a follow-up to a research in the domain of theorizing planning practice and practising spatial planning theoretical approaches in the context of information-isation, globalisation and EU-isation. The theoretical framework contemplates the meaning of the spatial concept that is grounded in the duality of the information phenomenon and contemporary expression of the space notion, as a way of reinventing spatial planning. The operational framework discuses the spatial planning practice in Serbia through a brief explanation of applied methodology for identifying a suitable indicator set proposed for the implementation monitoring of the Spatial Plan of the Republic of Serbia 2010-2020. The national indicators set represents a theoretical model of knowledge for evaluating relational outcomes of spatial development complexity, and its spatial-temporal character represents a way of practising theoretical approaches as monitoring tools for spatial planning within the limits of the present regulatory system in Serbia

Cities as networks within networks of cities: the evolution of the city/firm-duality in the world city network, 2000-2010

We explore the temporal evolution of cities and firms (i.e. both modes) in a two-mode intercity corporate network formed by 50 leading advanced producer service firms across 154 cities for the years 2000 and 2010. Drawing upon one-mode network projection and three network centralities, we assess the shifting positions of individual cities and firms in the one-mode intercity and interfirm networks. Major findings include: (1) the intercity network is more stable and hierarchical than the interfirm network; (2) brokerage functions, as captured by betweenness centrality, remain highly uneven for both cities and firms. For example, New York and London’s distinct positions as the world’s leading producer service centres remain intact; and (3) regional and sectoral tendencies are evident in terms of growth rates of centralities