An agent-based simulation of the swiss labour market: An alternative for policy evaluation

Active labour market policies (ALMPs), which are primarily addressed to integrate (or reintegrate) into the labour market those who are on the edge of unemployment, are generally analysed in the context of a macroeconomic approach or within a micro-econometric model. A critique of the usual economic analysis of labour markets states, however, that a standard economic approach does not take into account the importance of the social environment in the demand-supply matching process. In order to address this problem Agent-based Computational Economics (ACE) can present both a generic model in order to explain a complex phenomenon at a very abstract level and can be based on empirical data to describe a particular case study. The purpose of this paper, that follows (ACE) models approach, is therefore to link micro-level and macro-level evaluations with an integrated (micro/macro) simulation model, trying to further diversify the battery of instruments used for ALMPs evaluation. The implemented ACE model defines a virtual regional labour market with firms and worker agents. Firms are assigned different sectors and have sector-specific skill requirements. The policy maker agent defines active labour market policies, thus financing the unemployed workers? human capital investment. During the simulation periods each firm opens vacant positions and receives applications; it then randomly chooses one applicant which fit with the firm?s skills requirement. Firms are also hit by shocks and dismiss their employees that are ?too costly? (the worker?s ?cost? depending on two factors, his productivity and his nationality). Unemployed workers have to invest in their human capital to qualify for vacancies opened in different sectors. The model has been structured in modules (taking in consideration Subsidized training and Job displacement effects), which let the user to enable or disable some features to explore different policy options. Following the exposed perspective, we have developed a case study to test and validate the application of the proposed model and framework, exploring the regional labour market in the southern Switzerland (Ticino and some districts of the Grisons), where the particular geographical position of the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland was an incentive to build strong relationships between the cantons and the neighbouring Italian provinces. The model describes an environment where individual agents, their micro-level decisions and the macro level policies interacts in a systemic way. Specifically, this study seeks to identify traceable connections between micro and macroeconomic scales exploring the regional labour market. At this point, the model is still experimental and calibration is very preliminary but it already allows to approximate a quite a number of stylized features of the southern Swiss regional labour market. The model is programmed into NetLogo, a program specifically designed to accommodate agent-based modelling

Regional labour market analysis and policy evaluation: Job insecurity, flexibility and complexity. Evidence from Switzerland

The thesis focuses on labour market flexibility, security and complexity. The research is divided into three chapters: two of the chapters specifically relate to perceived security, flexibility and job satisfaction, using data from the longitudinal Swiss Household Panel (SHP), while the last investigates labour market programs and their impact on a regional labour market. The first essay analyses perceptions of economic insecurity in Switzerland, during the business cycle between 2008 and 2011. The analysis contributes to depict perceptions of Swiss workers; results show that perceptions of job security tend to be higher among workers with supervisory responsibilities, among permanent workers and among workers who live in regions that are not adversely affected by economic conditions. The second essay focuses on the determinants of perceived job satisfaction, a summary measure reflecting how workers value various job characteristics, paying specific attention to the role of perceived security and temporary contracts. Results indicate that the duration of the contract may be less important if the worker perceives that he is not at risk of unemployment: job stability and perceived security are nonetheless valued in different ways and the lack of job security is a primary source of job dissatisfaction. No significant differences emerge on the estimated effect by gender, while some heterogeneity is evident by age and education. Finally, the third paper, that follows (ACE) models approach, highlights a mechanism of the job search in a regional labour market characterized by a complex environment where firms, worker agents and policies interact in a systemic way. The model allows to approximate quite a number of stylized features of the southern Swiss regional labour market

Job satisfaction and flexicurity over the business cycle: evidence from Swiss individual-level data

The effects on employment of the recent economic crisis have become evident and persistent in many OECD countries, exacerbating on the one hand the demand for more flexibility by the firms; on the other the need to ensure workers security. 'Flexicurity', an institutional frame implementing a progressive flexibility of the labor market and at the same time guaranteeing its stability, has been defined as a successful model at the EU level before the crisis. The objective of this paper is therefore to empirically assess the effect of a micro-level measure of flexicurity on workers' job satisfaction using individual-level data from the longitudinal Swiss Household Panel (SHP), related to temporary and permanent employees in Switzerland for the period 2005 to 2011. Switzerland provides a particularly appropriate market to examine the potential effects of flexicurity type arrangements due to the relatively high incidence of flexible employment contracts. To this end, the sample of workers is disaggregated into different groups according to their employment contract and their perceived job security; we therefore analyse whether workers who are heterogeneous in terms of both the type of labour contract and their perceived security do also differ with regard to life satisfaction and specific aspects of the job satisfaction. Usually satisfaction variables, given the ordinal nature of the dependent variable, are analysed using ordered probit models. Van Praag and Ferrer-i-Carbonell (2006), however, developed a procedure, called Probit (OLS) or POLS, that consists in transforming an ordinal dependent variable in a "pseudo" continuous one, and allows the application of a linear model. With longitudinal data the POLS method permits for the inclusion of individual level fixed effects. Our methodology at first estimates a linear fixed effects model, thus controlling for unobserved time-invariant characteristics, while in a second step we implement a two-stage model to control for endogeneity. We also extend our analysis and seek to identify how insecurity affects temporary workers compared to permanent workers examining the impact of regional labour market conditions: we examine the effects on relative satisfaction and perceptions of security on workers in the seven Swiss statistical regions. First results show that job stability and perceived security are not necessary associated, and that job satisfaction is relatively low, mainly when perceived job security is low. The relationship between wellbeing and job security also varies according to regional employment conditions. This indicates that the duration of the contract may be less important if the worker perceives that he is not at risk of unemployment; in this regard, from a policy point of view, a greater 'flexicurity' can be obtained either directly from employer, adopting changes in work organization, or indirectly by policy makers through an appropriate mix of active labour market policies

Different roles of municipalities in a urban agglomeration: a regional agent-based economic model

Historically Switzerland is characterized by numerous small towns. During the twentieth century, the image of Swiss cities has changed: the expansion of the city has reached the limits of administrative urban borders, penetrating in peripheral locations. The main reasons concern not only the territorial environment, but also the possibility to support public services and public investments. Currently, urban agglomerations include dozens of municipalities and this is seen as a virtuous strategy to provide basic public services and utilities in peripheral areas. Swiss federalism has fostered the development of a large number of small and medium sized cities. This creates the conditions for polycentric and decentralized settlements. At this stage of the territorial and institutional transformation, the understanding of different municipalities? roles is essential: the ?work? and ?live? functions are spread irregularly throughout the territory. Some core cities are traditionally business locations but the progressive urbanization has enhanced the attractiveness of the belt municipalities, for both residential and business purposes. We try to identify the different functions and relations between 47 agglomerated municipalities in southern Switzerland (Ticino), using a territorial agent based model. The analysis focus on four analytical dimensions: economic competitiveness, attractiveness, openness and social equality. Our research adopts a bottom up approach to urban systems, considering the agglomeration mechanism and effects of different regional and urban policies. Urban residential dynamics are the result of simultaneous household?s choices; thus, no program can be planned, without the ability to understand and predict the individual decisions in the short and long term. Recently, agent based models (ABMs) have been proposed in order to support urban policy makers. Simulating the individual actions of diverse agents on a real city and measuring the resulting system behaviour and outcomes over time, they provide a good test bed for evaluating the impact of different policies Our analysis starts from the micro level at the smallest territorial unit (municipalities). The database is created merging the Swiss official secondary data for one reference year (2011) with Eurostat and OECD Regpat. The model, linking territorial characteristics and agents, simulates the single location choices and formation of urban development patterns, which are influenced by residential and industrial agglomeration forces and policy interventions. The results highlight that the understanding of municipalities? functions on the territory appears to be essential for designing a solid institutional agglomeration (or city). From a methodological point of view, we contribute to improve the application of territorial ABMs. Finally, our results provide a robust base to evaluate in a dynamic way various political interventions, in order to ensure a sustainable development of the agglomeration and the surrounding territories

A variable neurodegenerative phenotype with polymerase gamma mutation

mtDNA replication and repair, causes mitochondrial diseases including autosomal dominant progressive external ophthalmoplegia (PEO),1 childhood hepato-encephalopathy (Alpers– Huttenlocher syndrome), adult-onset spinocerebellar ataxia, and sensory nerve degeneration with dysarthria and ophthalmoparesis (SANDO)

Genetic and chemical rescue of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae phenotype induced by mitochondrial DNA polymerase mutations associated with progressive external ophthalmoplegia in humans

The human POLG gene encodes the catalytic subunit of mitochondrial DNA polymerase γ (pol γ). Mutations in pol γ are associated with a spectrum of disease phenotypes including autosomal dominant and recessive forms of progressive external ophthalmoplegia, spino-cerebellar ataxia and epilepsy, and Alpers-Huttenlocher hepatocerebral poliodystrophy. Multiple deletions, or depletion of mtDNA in affected tissues, are the molecular hallmarks of pol γ mutations. To shed light on the pathogenic mechanisms leading to these phenotypes, we have introduced in MIP1, the yeast homologue of POLG, two mutations equivalent to the human Y955C and G268A mutations, which are associated with dominant and recessive PEO, respectively. Both mutations induced the generation of petite colonies, carrying either rearranged (ρ−) or no (ρ0) mtDNA. Mutations in genes that control the mitochondrial supply of deoxynucleotides (dNTP) affect the mtDNA integrity in both humans and yeast. To test whether the manipulation of the dNTP pool can modify the effects of pol γ mutations in yeast, we have overexpressed a dNTP checkpoint enzyme, ribonucleotide reductase, RNR1, or deleted its inhibitor, SML1. In both mutant strains, the petite mutability was dramatically reduced. The same result was obtained by exposing the mutant strains to dihydrolipoic acid, an anti-oxidant agent. Therefore, an increase of the mitochondrial dNTP pool and/or a decrease of reactive oxygen species can prevent the mtDNA damage induced by pol γ mutations in yeast and, possibly, in human

Vocal assistants developing interface using Xatkit Bot platform

LAUREA MAGISTRALEIn un mondo in continua e veloce trasformazione, il quale deve soddisfare le richieste tecnologiche provenienti da una notevole quantit`a di utenti, il tempo di sviluppo e manutenzione delle applicazioni deve rappresentare una delle variabili principali nei cicli di produzione. La creazione di interfacce che permettono di essere riutilizzate e allo stesso tempo di concentrare la gestione di sistemi distribuiti in pochi punti nevralgici sono fondamentali per raggiungere anche gli obiettivi pi`u complessi. Tra le ultime innovazioni, quelle con una crescita pi`u notevole e una copertura sempre maggiore di tutte le fasce di utenza sono gli assistenti vocali. Questi strumenti, che propongono come loro punto di forza l’immadiatezza e la facilit`a di utilizzo dell’interfaccia utente, sono d’altro canto dispendiosi per gli sviluppatori in termini di tempo di gestione e portabilit`a delle applicazioni. In questo lavoro di tesi si proporr`a una soluzione al problema del difficile approccio multipiattaforma, causato dagli ambienti di sviluppo propietari dei servizi di assistenti vocali e si discuter`a dell’efficienza di un’interfaccia sviluppata partendo dalla base del framework Xatkit, sviluppato dal team di ricerca dell’universit`a UOC - Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. In particolare, si far`a attenzione all’ambiente di sviluppo delle Skills di Amazon Alexa e delle Actions di Google Voice Assistant, confrontando gli approcci utilizzati per il recupero dell’input dell’utente e spostando il lavoro di riconoscimento text-to-intent in Xatkit.In a fast-paced world, which must comply to the technological demands coming from an immense quantity of users, the necessary time to develop and maintain applications represents a key value inside the production cycle. The creation of re-usable interfaces, which can provide a nimble way to concentrate the management for distributed system into fewer focal points is fundamental to accomplish even the hardest of the objectives. Between the latest innovations, those which are experiencing a fast growth and an ever increasing coverage over the various final user groups are Vocal assistants. These tools, that offer as their strength the immediacy and the easiness in their user interfaces, are, on the other hand, expensive for developers in terms of required time and applications portability over different systems. In this thesis work, a solution will be advanced to the difficult problem of the multi-platform approach caused by the vocal assistants proprietary development environments and it will be discussed the efficiency of an interface built starting from the Xatkit framework, as developed by the research team from UOC - Open University of Catalunia. In particular, Amazon Alexa Skills and Google Voice Assistant Actions will be considered to compare the differences or common points in user’s input retrieval approaches and the transition of the text-to-intent-recognition in Xatkit

The effect of reduced unemployment duration on the unemployment rate: a Synthetic Control Approach

This paper examines the impact of the fourth partial revision of the law of unemployment insurance (AVIG) on unemployment dynamics in Switzerland at a cantonal level. The authors apply the Synthetic Control Method (SCM), a matching method for comparative case studies. A counterfactual analysis of the cases studied is performed by combining a control group of several untreated units, which provides a better comparison to the treatment group than a single unit. The control unit is designed as a weighted average of the available cantons in the donor pool, taking into account the similarities between the chosen controls and the treated unit. Once policy changes are controlled, the results suggest a significant effect on the unemployment rate at a cantonal level: the reform had a discernible impact on lowering the unemployment rate in the Italian- and French-speaking cantons in Switzerland

Deciphering OPA1 mutations pathogenicity by combined analysis of human, mouse and yeast cell models

OPA1 is the major gene responsible for Dominant Optic Atrophy (DOA) and the syndromic form DOA “plus”. Over 370 OPA1 mutations have been identified so far, although their pathogenicity is not always clear. We have analyzed one novel and a set of known OPA1 mutations to investigate their impact on protein functions in primary skin fibroblasts and in two “ad hoc” generated cell systems: the MGM1/OPA1 chimera yeast model and the Opa1−/− MEFs model expressing the mutated human OPA1 isoform 1. The yeast model allowed us to confirm the deleterious effects of these mutations and to gain information on their dominance/recessivity. The MEFs model enhanced the phenotypic alteration caused by mutations, nicely correlating with the clinical severity observed in patients, and suggested that the DOA “plus” phenotype could be induced by the combinatorial effect of mitochondrial network fragmentation with variable degrees of mtDNA depletion. Overall, the two models proved to be valuable tools to functionally assess and define the deleterious mechanism and the pathogenicity of novel OPA1 mutations, and useful to testing new therapeutic interventions

INTEGRATED HIGH-RESOLUTION STRATIGRAPHY OF THE LOWER OLIGOCENETUSA TUFFITE FORMATION IN THE CALABRO-LUCANO AREAAND SICILY (SOUTHERN ITALY)

Shale samples from the volcaniclastic turbidites ascribed to the Tusa Tuffite Formation (Tufiti di Tusa Auct.) cropping out at the Canale Candela section (Calabro-Lucano boundary, southern Italy) have yielded rich, diverse and well-preserved palynomorph and calcareous nannofossil assemblages. They allow the consistent recognition of both dinoflagellate cyst and calcareous nannofossil zones previously defined in bio- and magnetostratigraphically well calibrated pelagic sequences from the central and northern Apennines. Thus they give the Canale Candela section a first order correlation to the standard chronostratigraphic scale with high precision. On this basis, an earliest Oligocene age is assigned to this succession.Poorly preserved sparse palynological and calcareous nannofossil assemblages have been recovered from the Tusa Tuffite at the type-locality (Nebrodi Mountains, NE Sicily). Hence, no biozonation is proposed for the Tusa section. The overall composition of the Tusa assemblages, however, unequivocally supports the correlation with the Canale Candela volcaniclastic turbidites.The detailed age assessment of the Tusa Tuffite outcrops investigated, as well as facies similarities, give a broad regional correlation with other Rupelian volcaniclastic successions of the Alps/Apennines system, namely the Aveto Formation belonging to the Subligurian Domain of the northern Apennines, the Ranzano Formation belonging to the Epiligurian succession of the northern Apennines and the Taveyanne Sandstones of the western Alps. In this framework, we suggest that a single regional event of rise and erosion of a volcanic arc occurred in the Alps/Apennines orogenic system during the Early Oligocene. &nbsp