International Transmission Via Trade Links: Theoretically Consistent Indicators of Interdependence for Latin America and South-East Asia

The empirical work on the role of trade linkages in the transmission of economic disturbances has been limited to tests on the significance of variables of simple trade shares of partners, both bilateral and in common markets. This approach ignores additional elements deriving from the new open economy macroeconomics, such as country size, the pricing policy of exporters and the substitutability of exports. It also only considers the “first victim” country as the one transmitting the crisis to the others, leaving out the action of all other intra-regional links. This paper bridges this gap by producing theoretically-backed indicators of vulnerability due to trade linkages in a multilateral setting. These indicators are then used to compare the size of trade linkages in Latin America and in South-east Asia, two regions that were affected by financial crises in the 1990s. The proposed indexes show that Latin America is much less vulnerable than Asia to an international transmission of economic disturbances from a country in the same region. This is due to the relatively smaller size of Latin American countries, to the higher share of raw materials in their exports and the lower degree of similarity both of the manufactures exported inside their region and of those exported to their common industrial markets. Moreover, South-east Asian countries are more likely than Latin American ones to transmit economic disturbances to industrial countries due to the higher substitutability of their manufactured exports with those of more advanced economies.trade linkages, currency crises

Taxi and limousine services after the Bersani reform: an investigation on main Italian cities

Using data from a Bank of Italy survey, this paper analyzes the Italian taxi market and its recent changes. Local regulations are rather homogeneous, while there is a widespread disproportion, within municipal advisory committees, between the number of representatives of taxi drivers and that of consumers’ advocates. Indicators of service adequacy are seldom used. The average service costs are rather homogeneous across Italian provinces, while there is great variance of supply and fare structures. The instruments made available to municipalities by the Bersani Law 2006 have been used mainly in large cities. In many cases, the expansion of service, achieved mainly through additional shifts rather than through the issue of (free) additional licenses, has been the result of a trade-off for fare increases (in part to protect drivers’ income). Virtually no use has been made of municipal traffic rules. All in all it is difficult to evaluate the suitability of the decisions of municipalities with respect to market characteristics, given the lack of non-occasional information on market structure.Taxi, Regulation, Transportation

The taxi service in Italy: motivation and outline of the recent reform

This paper presents a quantitative and analytical documentation to the debate on taxi service liberalization. The results of a survey of the Bank of Italy on the main Italian cities show that the supply of taxi is much lower than that of other foreign cities. The paper gives also some quantitative and qualitative evidence of the negative effects on consumers and on the creation of rents deriving from the present taxi regulation. The economic analysis and the positive results of the recent experiences of liberalization in other countries show that a rigid regulation on tariffs and supply, like the one adopted in Italy, lacks a solid analytical as well an empirical basis for support. Likely, the lower availability of taxi in Italy does not reflect only quantity and price regulation but also other characteristics of the regulation itself, such as the prohibition of juridical persons to operate on the market and a decentralized decision process that attributes more consideration to the interests of taxi drivers with respect to those of consumers. The paper also presents some proposal, in the light of the effects of the recent Bersani decree, for a reform of the sector.service liberalization, taxi

Tecnologia e dinamica dei vantaggi comparati: un confronto fra quattro regioni italiane

This paper compares the evolution of trade specialisation, by technological content, of Emilia-Romagna, Lombardia, Marche, Veneto and the Italian average over 1992-2002. It is shown that, over the period, the four regions’ export performance has been negatively affected by the stationarity of sectorial comparative advantages vis-à-vis the evolution of the structure of world demand. Only Veneto shifted its specialisation from low-tech to high-tech, while the other regions became increasingly despecialised in high-tech productions. At the end of the decade the four regions’ trade specialisation patterns is still dominated by the low-tech “made in Italy” goods. The four regions have a comparative disadvantage in the sectors with stronger world export growth, though they show some advantages in industries whose world demand rose at intermediate speed. Over the decade the specialisation in the world fastest growing sectors grew for Veneto, was unchanged for Marche, and decreased for Emilia-Romagna; Lombardia and Italy mitigated their comparative disadvantages in those sectors. The four regions’ exports are generally more concentrated than the world’s in the low-tech sectors; the negative gap between the regional and the world shares of high-tech exports has widened over the decade.commercio internazionale, tecnologia, regioni

I problemi nella realizzazione delle opere pubbliche: le specificità del Mezzogiorno

This paper studies the relevance of the different factors that influence, at the territorial level, efficiency in the market for public infrastructures in Italy.infrastructures, public works

I problemi nella realizzazione delle opere pubbliche: le specificità del Mezzogiorno

This paper studies the relevance of the different factors that influence, at the territorial level, efficiency in the market for public infrastructures in Italy

I problemi nella realizzazione delle opere pubbliche: le specificità del Mezzogiorno

This paper studies the relevance of the different factors that influence, at the territorial level, efficiency in the market for public infrastructures in Italy