Capital-skill Complementarity and the Redistributive Effects of Social Security Reform

This paper analyses the general equilibrium implications of reforming pay-as-you-go pension systems in an economy with heterogeneous agents, human capital investment and capital-skill complementarity. It shows that increasing funding delivers in the long run higher physical and human capital and therefore higher output, but also higher wage and income inequality. The latter affects preferences over the degree of redistribution of e remaining pay-as-you-go component: despite the greater role that edistribution could perform in the new steady state, we find a preference for lower redistribution for a larger group of the population.capital-skill complementarity, inter and intragenerational redistribution, pay-as-you-go, fully funded

On the formation of international migration policies when no country has an exclusive policy-setting say

This paper identifies the migration policies that emerge when both the sending country and the receiving country wield power to set migration quotas, when controlling migration is costly, and when the decision how much human capital to acquire depends, among other things, on the migration policies. The paper analyzes the endogenous formation of bilateral agreements in the shape of transfers to support migration controls, and in the shape of joint arrangements regarding the migration policy and the cost-sharing of its implementation. The paper shows that in equilibrium both the sending country and the receiving country can participate in setting the migration policy, that bilateral agreements can arise as a welfare-improving mechanism, and that the sending country can gain from migration even when it does not set its preferred policy.Human capital formation, International migration, Migration policies, Welfare analysis, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Labor and Human Capital, F22, I30, J24, J61,

A multi-material transport problem and its convex relaxation via rectifiable GG-currents

In this paper we study a variant of the branched transportation problem, that we call multi-material transport problem. This is a transportation problem, where distinct commodities are transported simultaneously along a network. The cost of the transportation depends on the network used to move the masses, as it is common in models studied in branched transportation. The main novelty is that in our model the cost per unit length of the network does not depend only on the total flow, but on the actual quantity of each commodity. This allows to take into account different interactions between the transported goods. We propose an Eulerian formulation of the discrete problem, describing the flow of each commodity through every point of the network. We provide minimal assumptions on the cost, under which existence of solutions can be proved. Moreover, we prove that, under mild additional assumptions, the problem can be rephrased as a mass minimization problem in a class of rectifiable currents with coefficients in a group, allowing to introduce a notion of calibration. The latter result is new even in the well studied framework of the "single-material" branched transportation.Comment: Accepted: SIAM J. Math. Ana

Cittadini senza diritti: abitare e lavorare a Milano da clandestini

Lo scopo di questo rapporto è di presentare le principali caratteristiche socio-demografiche dell’utenza Naga (Associazione Volontaria di Assistenza SocioSanitaria e per i Diritti di Stranieri e Nomadi Onlus), che costituisce una delle più grandi banche dati sull’immigrazione irregolare. A tal fine analizzeremo i dati contenuti nelle cartelle mediche del Naga per i pazienti che sono stati registrati tra il gennaio 2000 e il dicembre 2006, soffermandoci sulla loro nazionalità, genere, situazione familiare, anzianità migratoria, livello di istruzione, condizione lavorativa e situazione abitativa. Dall’analisi emerge un quadro delle caratteristiche e delle condizioni dei migranti privi di permesso di soggiorno del tutto diverso da quello spesso proposto nel dibattito politico e mediatico italiano. Gli immigrati irregolari sono giovani giunti di recente in Italia, ma hanno livelli di istruzione e tassi di occupazione che eguagliano – se non addirittura superano – quelli della popolazione residente in Italia. Le loro condizioni socioabitative, invece, sono assolutamente critiche e lontanissime dagli standard italiani

Avoidable hospitalizations and access to primary care: comparisons among Italians, resident immigrants and undocumented immigrants in administrative hospital discharge records

Background Immigrants face multiple barriers in accessing healthcare; however, empirical assessment of access presents serious methodological issues, and evidence on undocumented immigrants is scant and based mainly on non-representative samples. We examine avoidable hospitalization (AH) as an indicator of poor access to primary care (PC) in Italy, where a universal healthcare system guarantees access but fails to assign general practitioners to undocumented immigrants. Methods Using anonymized national hospital discharge records in 2019, undocumented immigrants were identified through an administrative financing code. Potential effects of poor access to PC were measured by focusing on the incidence of AH, differentiated among chronic, acute and vaccine-preventable conditions, comparing Italian citizens, documented (foreign nationals with residence permits) and undocumented immigrants. We estimated odd ratios (ORs) through logistic regression models, controlling for individual and contextual confounders. Findings Compared with Italians, undocumented and documented immigrants adjusted odd ratios (OR) for the risk of AH were 1¢422 (95% CI 1¢322-1¢528) and 1¢243 (95% CI 1¢201-1¢287), respectively. Documented immigrants showed ORs not significantly greater than 1 for AH due to chronic diseases compared with Italians, while undocumented immigrants registered higher adjusted OR for all AH categories − chronic (OR 1¢187; 95% CI 1¢064-1¢325), acute (OR 1¢645; 95% CI 1¢500-1¢803) and vaccine-preventable (OR 2¢170; 95% CI 1¢285-3¢664). Interpretation Documented and undocumented immigrants face considerably higher risk of AH compared to Italians. Considering the burden of AHs, access to PC (including preventive and ambulatory care) should be provided to undocumented immigrants, and additional barriers to care for all immigrants should be further explored

Downgraded dreams: labor market outcomes and mental health in undocumented migration

Undocumented immigrant workers are particularly exposed to mental health risk factors, including occupational downgrading – i.e. the loss in occupational status upon arrival. This study breaks new ground by examining the relationship between occupational downgrading and mental health among this hard-to-reach population, offering the first-ever investigation of its kind. Leveraging a unique dataset collected by a primary care outpatient clinic in Milan, Italy, which combines medical evaluations with detailed occupational information, we construct a direct measure of occupational downgrading, which adds to the literature. We employ logistic regression models to estimate odds ratios (ORs) for mental and behavioral disorders. The study also offers fresh evidence on the socioeconomic and health status of a sizable sample of undocumented migrants. The study sample consists of 1738 individuals that had their first medical examination in 2017–18. Prevalence of mental health conditions is 5.58%. Data also highlight poor labor market integration: one third of individuals in the sample is employed, mostly in elementary occupations; 66.63% of immigrant workers experienced occupational downgrading. Regression results show that undocumented immigrants who undergo occupational downgrading are at considerably higher risk of mental disorders. ORs range from 1.729 (95% CI 1.071–2.793), when the model only includes individual characteristics determined prior to migration, to 2.659 (CI 1.342–5.271), when it accounts for all the available controls. From a policy perspective, our study underscores the need to consider the broader impact of policies, including restrictive entry and integration policies, on migrant health. Additionally, ensuring access to primary care for all immigrants is crucial for early detection and treatment of mental health conditions

Blow-up of the quantum potential for a free particle in one dimension

We derive a non-linear differential equation that must be satisfied by the quantum potential, in the context of the Madelung equations, in one dimension for a particular class of wave functions. In this case, we exhibit explicit conditions leading to the blow-up of the quantum potential of a free particle at the boundary of the compact support of the probability density