The impact of productive efficiency and quality of a regulated local public utility on final goods prices and consumers welfare

In this paper, we reconstruct the process by which the decisions of a regulated local public utility, in terms of productive efficiency and quality of the service provided, impact on prices of final consumption goods, supplied in a oligopolistic market operating in the same geographic area. We obtain some formula for these effects which can be quantified by estimating firms’ conditional input demand function of the public service and firms’ inverse demand function for this public good, non-rival, component. Finally, we draw the effects of productive efficiency and quality on consumer welfare and cost-of-living, via changes on tariffs, external effects and final goods prices.regulation, x-efficiency, oligopoly, consumer welfare

A New Fiscal Pact, Tax Policy Changes and Income Inequality

The paper analyses the changes in tax policy, tax/GDP ratios, tax incidence and income inequality which have taken place in Latin America during the last decade against the background of the changes observed in these variables during the liberal years of the 1980s and 1990s. The paper argues that the recent tax policy changes and a favourable external environment led to an increase of about three points in the regional tax/GDP ratio, that such increase in taxation took place in a slightly or substantially more progressive way than in the past, that the Gini coefficient of the distribution of household income improved on average by 0.4-0.8 points, and that, as a result, redistribution via taxation improved (especially in the Southern Cone) in relation to the 1990s thanks to greater reliance on direct taxes and a reduction in excises. However, in the mid-late 2000s taxation remains unequalizing in about a third of the countries of the region, especially in Central America. The paper concludes by offering recommendations on how the new fiscal pact evolving in the region can be strengthened to improve the redistributive effect of taxation in the years ahead.tax policy, tax incidence, income inequality, redistribution, fiscal exchange, Latin America

A note on information revelation in procurement auctions

This paper is about a procurement auction setting, introduced in Gal-Or, Gal-Or and Dukes (2007), in which suppliers offer differentiated products and the buyer needs to decide whether to reveal or not to the suppliers the own preferences for the various products. We provide some technical remarks and complements to the analysis of Gal-Or, Gal-Or and Dukes (2007), and an extension to the case of risk averse suppliers.Information Revelation, Logconcavity, Risk Aversion

Location, Internationalization and Performance of Firms in Italy: a Multilevel Approach

Competition is increasingly crossing borders. However, location still matters: the most successful competitors in an industry often cluster in the same geographic areas and companies use the advantages of location to compete at a global level. When competing across borders, firms can coordinate among different activities in a variety of ways to harness network advantages. This paper analyses how Italian firms’ performance, proxied by their propensity to export, depends both on geographical and institutional context and on individual characteristics. Using a multilevel model, we estimate and distinguish the effect of individual (firm level) and context variables (province level) on the performance of internationalized Italian firms.Exports, Multilevel Model, Heterogeneity

Aid Effort and Its Determinants: A Comparison of the Italian Performance with other OECD Donors

this paper aims at contributing to a better understanding of the determinants of aid effort by donor countries, a topic that has been rather under researched in the vast economic literature on development aid. We conduct an econometric analysis on panel data that refer to the 22 member countries of the OECD Development Assistance Committee over the 1970 2004 period; the estimates are then used as a benchmark against which we assess to what extent the poor Italian aid performance can be traced back to its specific macroeconomic, structural and institutional characteristics. The analysis suggests that these factors – that are found to significantly influence aid effort – fall short of explaining the limited amount of fiscal resources that Italy devotes to international aid. Even when its specific characteristics are accounted for, Italy is found to be lagging behind the OECD norm, so that the analysis challenges the claims that the limited Italian aid effort is due to binding fiscal constraints.foreign aid, fiscal expenditures, economic development

The informational structure of migration decision and migrants’ self-selection

This paper derives the implications for migrants’ self-selection in unobservables that arise from the introduction of uncertainty in the decision problem that would-be migrants face. We show that if one lifts the assumption introduced in Borjas (1987) that foreign wages are known before the migration decision is taken, then the case for the so-called refugee sorting narrows down considerably, while negative selection becomes a more likely outcome. A greater dispersion of income at destination no longer suffices to predict that immigrants will obtain a higher average income than natives.migration; uncertainty; information; self-selection

The “China effect” on EU Exports to OECD markets – A focus on Italy

This paper analyzes the indirect impact of China on the export performance of major European countries (Italy, France, Germany and Spain) in their main destination markets (OECD countries). Given a strong specialization in manufacturing sector, these EU countries are likely to be at risk from China’s competition, especially in consumer goods. The heterogeneity in the production (and export) structures of EU countries makes Italy, whose productive structure is based on so-called “traditional” sectors, most vulnerable to China’s competitive pressure. Using data for the period 1995-2009, this paper estimates the possible displacement effect at sector level. Results show that there is a considerable variation in different EU countries’ exposure to China’s competition and that, in some sectors the Chinese exports effect is, indeed, strong. This is particularly true for the more recent period, after China has entered WTO and for Italy, both in traditional and more capital intensive sectors.china, trade, italy, gravity model

Income Distribution under Latin America’s New Left Regimes

This paper reviews the decline in income inequality that has taken place over 2002-2007 in most Latin American countries against the background of its steady increase over 1980-2002. The paper analyzes then the factors that could explain this trend reversal. It focuses in particular on favorable external conditions, cyclical factors, improvements in the distribution of educational achievements and the subsequent drop in skill-premium, and changes in macroeconomic and social policies introduced in several countries, particularly by a growing number of left-of-centre governments which have come to power during the last decade. An econometric test for the years 1990-2007 indicate that, in addition to a favorable business cycle and external conditions, a decline in skill premium and the new policy model of fiscally prudent social-democracy which is emerging this decade in much of Latin America impacted favorably the distribution of income. If this approach will survive the current crisis, much of the recent inequality decline is likely to become permanent.income inequality, human capital inequality, external conditions, policy regimes, Latin America.

Regions, Nations and Beyond In Marshallian External Economies

The clearest expressions of Marshallian external economies are found in the life and working of compact industrial districts. However Alfred Marshall did not limit their application to such types of places, nor to their territorial scale. This paper illustrates some important extensions found in Marshall’s works, particularly in Industry and Trade, concerning firstly the advantages accruing to industrial districts within larger industrial regions and national contexts. The concept of a national capital including technical, human and social resources, or of a “Marshallian capital” as Silvio Goglio proposed to call it, plays a pivotal role in suggesting both the common nature of the different expressions and scales of Marshallian external economies, and the possible interrelation between them. Processes and conditions associated by Marshall to either non place-bound or distant trans-local contexts of external economies are considered too. An implicit and open multi-territorial framework emerges. Some of its different meanings are discussed in the conclusions of this paper with the help of interpreta-tions of industrial districts, regions, nations, and global networks developed after Mar-shall, starting from those of Austin Robinson and Giacomo Becattini.External economies; Alfred Marshall; industrial districts, regions and nations

Inequality Trends and their Determinants: Latin America over 1990-2010

The paper reviews the steady and widespread decline in income inequality which has taken place in most of Latin America over 2002-10 and which––if continued for another 2-3 years––would reduce the average regional income inequality to pre-liberalization levels. The paper then focuses on the factors, which may explain such inequality decline. A review of the literature and an econometric test indicate that a few complementary factors played an important role in this regard, including a drop in the skill premium following a rapid expansion of secondary education, and the adoption of a new development model by a growing number of left-of-centre governments which emphasizes fiscally-prudent but more equitable macroeconomic, tax, social expenditure and labour policies. For the region as a whole, improvements in terms of trade, migrant remittances, FDI and world growth played a less important role than expected although their impact was perceptible in countries where such transactions were sizeable.income inequality, human capital inequality, policy regimes, external conditions, Latin America