Social networks and labour productivity in Europe: An empirical investigation

This paper uses firm-level data recorded in the AMADEUS database to investigate the distribution of labour productivity in different European countries. We find that the upper tail of the empirical productivity distributions follows a decaying power-law, whose exponent $\alpha$ is obtained by a semi-parametric estimation technique recently developed by Clementi et al. (2006). The emergence of "fat tails" in productivity distribution has already been detected in Di Matteo et al. (2005) and explained by means of a model of social network. Here we show that this model is tested on a broader sample of countries having different patterns of social network structure. These different social attitudes, measured using a social capital indicator, reflect in the power-law exponent estimates, verifying in this way the existence of linkages among firms' productivity performance and social network.Comment: LaTeX2e; 18 pages with 3 figures; Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, in pres

Will Italy’s post-Renzi government be led by a technocrat?

Already before Matteo Renzi had lost his constitutional referendum, media around the world claimed that a ‘government of technocrats’ was the most likely option to follow Renzi in case of electoral defeat. Drawing on their analysis of all technocratic governments appointed in 30 European democracies after 1977, Christopher Wratil and Giulia Pastorella estimate a rather low probability of 12-18% for the next Italian administration to be led by a technocrat. A technocratic government is therefore definitely possible but not as likely as suggested by the media

Newsletter : Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University No.79

Word from the Director … Yoko Hayami [4]Khmer Chronicle Manuscripts: Cambodian Historiography from the Pre-colonial to Post-independence Periods … Theara Thun [6]Conservation, Ecotourism, and the Extractive Anthropocene in Komodo National Park, Indonesia … Cypri Jehan Paju Dale [9]A Parsi Community in Madagascar? Research on British Archival Sources … Matteo Miele [12]Monitoring Precipitation over the Peatlands of East Sumatra … Mariko Ogawa [14]Annamnikai Temples in Thailand … Thanyathip Sripana [18]Research on the Economy of Labor at CSEAS … Tomohiro Machikita [20]Publications [22

Luminosity function of [O ii] emission-line galaxies in the MassiveBlack-II simulation

We examine the luminosity function (LF) of [O II] emission-line galaxies in the high-resolution cosmological simulation MassiveBlack-II (MBII). From the spectral energy distribution of each galaxy, we select a sub-sample of star-forming galaxies at 0.06 ≤ z ≤ 3.0 using the [O II] emission line luminosity L([O II]). We confirm that the specific star formation rate matches that in the Galaxy And Mass Assembly survey. We show that the [O II] LF at z = 1.0 from the MBII shows good agreement with the LFs from several surveys below L([O II]) = 1043.0 erg s−1 while the low redshifts (z ≤ 0.3) show an excess in the prediction of bright [O II] galaxies, but still displaying a good match with observations below L([O II]) = 1041.6 erg s−1. Based on the validity in reproducing the properties of [O II] galaxies at low redshift (z ≤ 1), we forecast the evolution of the [O II] LF at high redshift (z ≤ 3), which can be tested by upcoming surveys such as the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment and Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument. The slopes of the LFs at bright and faint ends range from −3 to −2 showing minima at z = 2. The slope of the bright end evolves approximately as (z + 1)−1 at z ≤ 2 while the faint end evolves as ∼3(z + 1)−1 at 0.6 ≤ z ≤ 2. In addition, a similar analysis is applied for the evolution of [O III] LFs, which is to be explored in the forthcoming survey Wide-Field InfraRed Survey Telescope-Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets. Finally, we show that the auto-correlation function of [O II] and [O III] emitting galaxies shows a rapid evolution from z = 2 to 1

Engaging young people to vote: between “clickocracy” and realism

Milan Dinic on the “Engaging young people to vote” session from Polis 2015 Conference, 27 March. Speakers: Emily Revess (chair), Danny Bartlett, Matteo Bergamini, Alan Strange, Georgia Gould Young people aged 18-24 are the least likely to turn up and vote. A 2013 Cabinet Office study showed that young people living in communal establishments or private renters were less likely to register for voting. This especially applies to students who, in most cases, study in away from home and live on their own. So, often it is not just the fact that young people don’t feel a connection to politics, but there are other, more technical reasons as well

On the interplay between multiscaling and stocks dependence

We find a nonlinear dependence between an indicator of the degree of multiscaling of log-price time series of a stock and the average correlation of the stock with respect to the other stocks traded in the same market. This result is a robust stylized fact holding for different financial markets. We investigate this result conditional on the stocks' capitalization and on the kurtosis of stocks' log-returns in order to search for possible confounding effects. We show that a linear dependence with the logarithm of the capitalization and the logarithm of kurtosis does not explain the observed stylized fact, which we interpret as being originated from a deeper relationship.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, 9 table

Note on the Fortune of the Epistles of Marcantonio Sabellico : The Case of Matteo Bandello

This essay draws attention to the specific phenomenon of borrowings among contemporaries, using as an example Marcantonio Sabellico, whose magnificent descriptions often appeared elsewhere with the role of literary frescoes. I take a close look at the case of a 1493 letter to Barbavarus (Ep. III 18), part of which was reused by Sabellico in a different context (Enneades, X, lib. VIII). After finding this epistle, Matteo Bandello revived it and inserted it in his Parentalis oratio, written on the death of Francesco II Gonzaga. An edition of the letter, which ended up becoming a descriptive model par excellence of a bucentaur is presented in the Appendix

A short note on the problematic concept of excess demand in asset pricing models with mean-variance optimization

Referring to asset pricing models where demand is proportional to excess returns and said to be derived from a mean-variance optimization problem, the note formulates what probably is common knowledge but hardly ever made an explicit subject of discussion. This is an insufficient distinction between the desired holding of the risky asset on the part of the speculative agents, which is the solution to the optimization problem and usually directly presented as excess demand, and the desired change in this holding, which is what should reasonably constitute the excess demand on the market. The note arrives at the conclusion that in models with a market maker the story of the maximization of expected wealth should be dropped

Solar energy technologies in sustainable energy action plans of italian big cities

Cities, accounting for more than 3/4 of global final energy consumption, are equipping themselves with governance tools to improve energy efficiency. In Europe, urban energy policy has adopted, only recently and voluntarily, the Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAP), following the European Strategy 20-20-20. Italy, country most sensitive among European ones, accounts for 53% of SEAPs signatories. In order to evaluate how urban energy system in Italy can match sustainability European goals, it is necessary to analyse the technological options promoted by the energy policies for the urban environment. The paper presents the state-of-art of Urban Energy Planning in Italy, focusing on the implementation of Solar Energy technologies, and their role in new urban energy strategy instruments, i.e. SEAP, to promote renewables deployment. Carbon emission avoidance interventions planned by Italian big cities were analysed, highlighting the chosen Solar Energy technology. The aim of this paper is to discuss and evaluate the differences of solar energy harvesting in Italian urban scenarios, taking into account geographical and morphological constraints, and to compare the forecasts for 2020 and 2030scenarios, in accordance with European and National laws in force

Efficient completeness inspection using real-time 3D color reconstruction with a dual-laser triangulation system

In this chapter, we present the final system resulting from the European Project \u201d3DComplete\u201d aimed at creating a low-cost and flexible quality inspection system capable of capturing 2.5D color data for completeness inspection. The system uses a single color camera to capture at the same time 3D data with laser triangulation and color texture with a special projector of a narrow line of white light, which are then combined into a color 2.5D model in real-time. Many examples of completeness inspection tasks are reported which are extremely difficult to analyze with state-of-the-art 2D-based methods. Our system has been integrated into a real production environment, showing that completeness inspection incorporating 3D technology can be readily achieved in a short time at low costs