EUROPEAN LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY AND CORPORATE E-LEARNING ACTIVITIES: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

The purpose of this analysis is to test the hypothesis which growth in workers’ competency level is affected by educational, training and workplace features. We focused above all on the corporate e-learning activities and labour productivity, in order to identify differences between European countries. Our findings showed some statistical significances related to six variables concerning a macro view of knowledge and innovation in the workplace, whereby we highlighted the comparison of mutual positions of European countries on the basis of a potential component of investments in human capital which is e-learning. According to statistical significativity we specifically noted that most Northern European countries have a comparative advantage in terms of labour productivity and direct investments than those in the south.corporate e-learning, European labour productivity, principal component analysis

Improving the Relationship between Welfare Economics and Ethics

In this essay, the essential aspects of Welfare Economics are summarized in order to analyse the possible links with Ethics, and consequently to provide useful suggestions for Economic Policy. The Introduction contains the principles of neoclassical Welfare Economics, without considering the circumstances in which the so‑called failures of competitive markets occur. The second part of this paper contains a description of two possible solutions to the problem concerning the integration of Welfare Economics and Ethics. The first solution is the determination of the optimal combination of general competitive equilibrium principles and social ethics ones, without removing the theoretical structure of Welfare Economics. This first proposal, while retaining some economic liberalism principles, assigns a central role to the government, which is delegated to superimpose on the Pareto criterion a distributive justice rule. Another solution, which is suggested by Sen, is essentially directed to modify Welfare Economics by ethical criteria aimed at improving every individual deprivation, and it is based on the distinction between the two concepts of ‘utility’ and ‘agency’. We also proposed exploiting the original considerations written by Smith about social aspects as a useful integration and support to Sen’s approach.The “Annales. Ethics in Economic Life” is affiliated and co-financed by the Faculty of Economics and Sociology of the University of Lodz

AMERICAN AND ITALIAN PERSPECTIVES ON PUBLIC AND PRIVATE EDUCATION CHOICES

This work is based on the analysis of the public and private support to education and human capital development in two specific national contexts: the U.S. and Italy. Recent researches have firmly demonstrated the value of higher levels of education for socio-economic development, poverty reduction, higher incomes, employment and eliminating child labour, gender equality. The increased competition and globalization of economic activity, acceleration in technological and scientific knowledge, information revolution and more recently the worldwide economic recession continue to raise the value of education and training in preparing individuals for future employment, upgrading skills for greater workplace mobility, and underpinning wealth creation and economic development through human capital formation. The International Labour Organization (2010) has pointed out the key role played by higher levels of education and skills training in employment and social protection policies. In the Western world, the education industry is complex and diverse. It combines a dominant public sector of schools and universities and community colleges which educate the majority of students; a varied private sector mainly consists of nonprofit organizations that encompass some of the world's most elite education and scientific institutes. The importance of education for economic growth and development is well documented from a historical and economic standpoints. In this research we examine some evolving relationships between the marketplace, the state, and education institutions, knowing that the context of these relations has evolved strikingly in recent years, which have seen three major developments: a growing system differentiation, changing governance patterns, and a diminished direct involvement of governments in the funding and provision of education. Therefore, we are interested in understanding on one hand the possible evolution of the studied phenomenon, and on the other if the experience of a leading country as the U.S. may represent a useful starting point of imitation. So that, our analysis is focused on the investigation, through a period of ten years, of students enrollment according to the willingness to invest in education, independently of the resources needed. In particular, we use the Box-Jenkins methodology to fit data by using an ARIMA model and in order to achieve more information about the phenomenon. Our findings show a similar trend over time both for public and private enrollments although backgrounds and rules are very different in the two nations considered.human capital, public and private education, time series analysis.

Interdependence of world markets: Economic growth and social well-being

AbstractThis paper considers the socio-economic world context in 2009 and is aimed at achieving two goals: on one hand, to carry out an economic quantitative analysis of interdependence of the world markets; on the other hand, to investigate the relationship between economic growth and social well-being.In order to reach the first aim, we use, as a starting point, Wallerstein’s World Systems Theory (1982) presenting a hierarchical but unfixed division of the world in three levels (core, semi-periphery and periphery); then we consider a group of 124 countries and assign each of these country to one of the three areas. The assignment has been realized by looking at the total score achieved by each country, with the addition of the partial scores based on the position occupied in three different rankings which consider three distinct economic indicators each of them has been divided by the population size (real GDP, exports and debt-external).Therefore we proceed by reaching our second goal concerning the examination of the nature of the relationship existing between the level of each country’s participation in the world economy and its social well-being. We have decided to calculate the Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI) in order to show the level of well-being gained by each country considered. The PQLI was created by M. D. Morris (1979) to satisfy the need of constructing new indexes to overcome the limitations of economic parameters for measuring human development, which were highlighted by the social indicators movement of the 1960s and by very important works produced by Amartya Sen (1985, 1987, 1999). The construction of PQLI for each country has given us the possibility of comparing the results of the first part of our work with those coming from the second part, in order to focus on the relationship between economic growth and well-being.The results obtained have further been underlined by using a selected group of 9 countries reflecting the main trends which characterize the entire group of countries. In conclusion, the findings of this study reveal that the relationship between a high level of economic growth and an advanced degree of social well-being is not necessarily a cause/effect relationship because it may not occur in consequence of historical, cultural, social and/or political contingencies

from adam smith to amartya sen global market as a possible instrument to promote socio economic development

The present paper is aimed both at analyzing how Amartya Sen's economic and moral thought is influenced by Adam Smith's works and at offering a perspective on global market which could be investigated through quantitative analyses. In order to achievethis purpose, the authors provide a potential definition of globalization which arises not from empirical evidences but from the analysis of the links existing betwee Adam Smith's thought and Amartya Sen's one. Globalization is here considered firstas a global division of labour, second as a global market where the products generated by the division of labour are exchanged, and third as a complex socio-economic phenomenon which generates positive outcomes under two conditions: on one hand, every agent has to respect the rules coming from a common ethic, and, on the otherhand, countries and International Organizations have to guarantee that every agent respects national and international laws. Therefore, the perspective on globalization here presented shows how global market could be a potential instrument to promote socio-economic development

Substrate Stiffness Modulates Gene Expression and Phenotype in Neonatal Cardiomyocytes In Vitro

Biomaterials to be used as cell delivery systems for cardiac tissue engineering should be able to comply with cardiac muscle contractile activity, while favoring cell survival and neo-angiogenesis in a hostile environment. Biocompatible synthetic materials can be tailored to mimic cardiac tissue three-dimensional organization in the micro- and nanoscales. Nonetheless, they usually display mechanical properties that are far from those of the native myocardium and thus could affect host cell survival and activity. In the present investigation, inert poly-ɛ-caprolactone planar layers were manufactured to change the surface stiffness (with Young's modulus ranging from 1 to 133 MPa) without changing matrix chemistry. These substrates were challenged with neonatal murine cardiomyocytes to study the possible effect of substrate stiffness on such cell behavior without changing biological cues. Interestingly, softer substrates (0.91±0.08 and 1.53±0.16 MPa) were found to harbor mostly mature cardiomyocytes having assembled sarcomeres, as shown by the expression of alpha actinin and myosin heavy chain in typical striations and the upregulation of sarcomeric actin mRNA. On the other hand, a preferential expression of immature cardiac cell genes (Nkx-2.5) and proteins (GATA-4) in cardiac cells grown onto stiffer materials (49.67±2.56 and 133.23±8.67 MPa) was detected. This result could not be ascribed to significant differences in cell adhesion or proliferation induced by the substrates, but to the stabilization of cardiomyocyte differentiated phenotype induced by softer layers. In fact, cardiac cell electromechanical coupling was shown to be more organized on softer surfaces, as highlighted by connexin 43 distribution. Moreover, a differential regulation of genes involved in extracellular matrix remodeling was detected on soft films (0.91±0.08 MPa) as compared with the stiffest (133.23±8.67 MPa). Finally, the upregulation of a number of genes involved in inflammatory processes was detected when the stiffest polymer is used. These events highlight the differences in cell mechanosensitivity in a heterogeneous cell preparation and are likely to contribute to the differences encountered in cardiac cell phenotype induced by substrate stiffness.Peer reviewe

EUROPEAN LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY AND CORPORATE E-LEARNING ACTIVITIES: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

The purpose of this analysis is to test the hypothesis which growth in workers’ competency level is affected by educational, training and workplace features. We focused above all on the corporate e-learning activities and labour productivity, in order to identify differences between European countries. Our findings showed some statistical significances related to six variables concerning a macro view of knowledge and innovation in the workplace, whereby we highlighted the comparison of mutual positions of European countries on the basis of a potential component of investments in human capital which is e-learning. According to statistical significativity we specifically noted that most Northern European countries have a comparative advantage in terms of labour productivity and direct investments than those in the south

EUROPEAN LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY AND CORPORATE E-LEARNING ACTIVITIES: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

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