Exporting strategies of heterogeneous firms subject to export shocks and financial restraints

This paper develops an open economy firm-heterogeneous model where the combination of market rigidities and exchange rate uncertainty acts like a barrier to trade and modifies a firm's optimal choice in terms of production and pricing. The existence of price and labour rigidities, coupled with imperfect financial development and exchange rate uncertainty, separates incumbent firms into (1) domestic producers, (2) exporters setting the price in national currency and (3) more productive exporters pricing in foreign currency. The model predicts that only where financial development is limited a reduction in exchange rate uncertainty raises a firm's profit, lowers prices, and induces new firms to export. Fully financially integrated countries are insulated from exchange rate risk.exchange rate uncertainty; firm heterogeneity; market rigidity; financial restraints.

The role of financial investments in agricultural commodity derivatives markets

This paper investigates the relationship between futures prices and financial investments in derivatives of the main agricultural commodities. We first provide a broad picture of how these markets function and how they have evolved, showing that traders who deal mostly in commodity index investments (swap dealers) have gained importance since the mid-2000s. However, traditional financial market participants (money managers) still show the stronger (simultaneous) correlation with price movements. Our main empirical analysis aims to gauge the influence of financial investors’ positions on both the level and the volatility of futures prices. The Granger-causality tests suggest that speculative investments usually follow – rather than precede - variations in futures returns. Employing a GARCH model, we find that the activity of money managers tends to be associated with lower volatility of futures returns, while that of swap dealers is sometimes followed by higher price variations.futures markets, commodities, speculation, GARCH, volatility

Euros and zeros: The common currency effect on trade in new goods

This paper tests whether trade in new goods were partially responsible for the pro-trade effects of the euro and provides a measure of the size of the effect. It works with a very large data (about 16 million observations) set covering twenty countries at the most disaggregated level of trade data that is publicly available. Using predictions from a heterogeneous-firms trade model in a multi-country environment to structure our empirical model, we find that the euro had a positive impact on trade overall. Our findings provide supportive but not conclusive evidence for the new-goods hypothesis. We also determined the pro-trade effect of euro-usage on non-Euroland nations trading with euro-users. We confirmed the absence of trade diversion for non-Eurozone EU members with sizeable overall increase comparable to that of members.heterogeneous firms, Eurozone trade effects, Melitz model, extensive margin.

Euros and Zeros: The Common Currency Effect on Trade in New Goods

This paper tests whether trade in new goods is partially responsible for the pro-trade effects of the euro and provides a measure of the size of the effect. It works with a very large data set (about 16 million observations) covering twenty countries at the most disaggregated level of trade data that is publicly available. Using predictions from a heterogeneous-firms trade model in a multi-country environment to structure our empirical model, we find that the euro had a positive impact on trade overall. Our findings provide supportive but not conclusive evidence for the new-goods hypothesis. We also determined the pro-trade effect of euro-usage on non-Euroland nations trading with euro-users. We confirmed the absence of trade diversion for non-Eurozone EU members with sizeable overall increase comparable to that of members.

Growth Rates Preservation (GRP) temporal benchmarking: Drawbacks and alternative solutions

Benchmarking monthly or quarterly series to annual data is a common practice in many National Statistical Institutes. The benchmarking problem arises when time series data for the same target variable are measured at different frequencies and there is a need to remove discrepancies between the sums of the sub-annual values and their annual benchmarks. Several benchmarking methods are available in the literature. The Growth Rates Preservation (GRP) benchmarking procedure is often considered the best method. It is often claimed that this procedure is grounded on an ideal movement preservation principle. However, we show that there are important drawbacks to GRP, relevant for practical applications, that are unknown in the literature. Alternative benchmarking models will be considered that do not suffer from some of GRP\u2019s side effects

Real Exchange Rates, Trade, and Growth: Italy 1861-2011

What is the relationship between real exchange rate misalignments and economic growth? And what effect, if any, did undervaluations or overvaluations of the lira/euro have on Italy's growth? We address these questions by presenting, first, three main facts: (i) there is a positive relationship between undervaluation and growth; (ii) this relationship is strong for developing countries and weak for advanced countries; (iii) these results tend to hold for both the pre- and the post-World War II period. Building a simple analytical model, we explore channels through which undervaluation may exert a positive effect on real GDP. We assume that productivity is higher in the tradeable-goods than in the non-tradeable-goods sector, and examine the roles of market structure, scale economies and wage flexibility in channelling resources from the latter to the former sector, increasing exports and real GDP. We then turn to Italy and verify empirically that, as the theory suggests, undervaluation has positively affected its exports. Undervaluation has been helpful, in particular, to increase the exports of high-productivity sectors, such as most manufacturing industries. Finally, we describe the misalignments of the lira/euro since 1861, analyze their determinants and draw the implications for Italy's economic growth.Currency misalignments, Competitiveness, Italy, Export, Growth

Nonlinear interaction between self- and parametrically excited wind-induced vibrations

AbstractThe aeroelastic behavior of a planar prismatic visco-elastic structure, subject to a turbulent wind, flowing orthogonally to its plane, is studied in the nonlinear field. The steady component of wind is responsible for a Hopf bifurcation occurring at a threshold critical value; the turbulent component, which is assumed to be a small harmonic perturbation of the former, is responsible for parametric excitation. The interaction between the two bifurcations is studied in a three-dimensional parameter space, made of the two wind amplitudes and the frequency of the turbulence. Aeroelastic forces are computed by the quasi-static theory. A one-D.O.F dynamical system, drawn by a Galerkin projection of the continuous model, is adopted. The multiple scale method is applied, to get a two-dimensional bifurcation equation. A linear stability analysis is carried out to determine the loci of periodic and quasi-periodic bifurcations. Limit cycles and tori are computed by exact, asymptotic, and numerical solutions of the bifurcation equations. Numerical results are obtained for a sample structure, and compared with finite-difference solutions of the original partial differential equation of motion

Efficiency, Energy Saving, and Rational Use of Energy: Different Terms for Different Policies

In recent years, the increasing interest for energy efficiency has multiplied the number of players and the issuing of legislative documents, so the very notion of “efficiency” has taken different meanings in a more or less wide range of definitions, sometimes overlapping between them. These definitions often evoke different concepts such as “energy saving,” “rational use of energy,” “efficient use of resources,” “reduction of consumptions,” etc., in an amalgam shadowed by ambiguous interpretations. This paper proposes a clarification of the different expressions by defining their functional and conceptual boundaries and interrelationships, focusing the attention on the energy aspects, and leaving out other dominions that might govern or accompany that variable, such as, sustainability, competitiveness, economy, etc. The issue is not merely lexical or taxonomic. In fact, the strict definition of a concept defines its area of interest, and the decision-maker, when issuing a measure, should choose from his portfolio of available tools only those consistent with the involved domain

Sporcarsi le mani.

Questo lavoro prende in considerazione tanti argomenti, variamente articolati, con lo intento di farne una carrellata di esempi. In questo modo, ampio spazio è lasciato allo impegno (fino a sporcarsi le mani, con una ardita proposta politica) ed alla fantasia (con due diversi esempi di una didattica universitaria), senza poter dare e/o applicare ricette preconfezionate. Rientrando ancora nel proprio mondo universitario, gli autori presentano un lungo esempio geometrico su cosa significhi studiare e collaborare, anche per una vera internazionalizzazione, contro la logica, ora imperante, di soddisfare acriticamente indici prestabiliti