A Fair Price for Energy? Ownership versus Market Opening in the EU15

In the past two decades privatisation and liberalisation of network industries providing services of general economic interest (SGEI), have been particularly significant in the European Union. Wide variations around a common policy trend can, however, be observed across countries and sectors. We focus on electricity and gas sectors because energy sectors have usually been profit makers, not affected by direct government transfers, in contrast to other SGEI. We study the effects of privatisation and other reforms on consumer prices using both subjective data on consumers’ perception of utility prices and data on average prices paid.privatisation, electricity, gas, reforms

GINI DP 4: Inequality Decompositions

We show how classic source-decomposition and subgroup-decomposition meth ods can be reconciled with regression methodology used in the recent liter ature. We also highlight some pitfalls that arise from uncritical use of the regression approach. The LIS database is used to compare the approaches using an analysis of the changing contributions to inequality in the United States and Finland. JEL Classification: D6

Inequality Decompositions ?A Reconciliation

We show how classic source-decomposition and subgroup-decomposition methods can be reconciled with regression methodology used in the recent literature. We also highlight some pitfalls that arise from uncritical use of the regression approach. The LIS database is used to compare the approaches using an analysis of the changing contributions to inequality in the United States and Finland.Inequality, decomposition.

Understanding Inequality Trends:Microsimulation Decomposition for Italy

This paper suggests overcoming some limitations of traditional inequalitydecomposition methods by developing a combination of Burtless (1999) and DiNardoet al. (1996), two different microsimulation methods for decomposing inequality. Byusing this combination it is possible to take into consideration the dispersion ofincome sources as well as the socio-demographic evolution of the population understudy, in a single framework and across many years. This methodology maximizesclarity of results and allows one to easily perform tests on results. An application toItalian household inequality is provided to analyze marginal and joint effects ofdemographic trends and changed dispersion of different income factors between 1977and 2002.Microsimulation, counterfactual analysis, household inequality trend,inequality decomposition.

Microsimulation and analysis of income distribution: An application to Italy.

The first chapters of the thesis put special emphasis on tax-benefit microsimulation models. The state of the art in the economic literature of tax-benefit microsimulation models is reviewed and discussed. Particular attention is paid to issues such as the reliability of estimation and the grossing-up of the sample. In order to analyze tax-benefit microsimulation, a new model is developed focusing on the case of Italy: it shares many features with other country-specific tax-benefit microsimulation models. The model, appropriately calibrated to population totals, is also used for an estimation of tax evasion via comparison with a number of different data sources. Non-parametric density estimation is used to improve the understanding of policy simulations and to analyze the effect of fiscal reform: an application to the 1998 Italian personal income taxation reform is provided. The first part concludes with an analysis of the reliability of microsimulation models, which has been addressed by few authors before. The analysis is undertaken using the bootstrap, which tends to show a better performance in finite sample than asymptotic approximations. The main result is that static microsimulation does not by itself make confidence intervals larger: on the contrary they can also make it smaller. To improve the reliability of microsimulation models the best way to proceed is to reduce the sampling error of the available data sets. In the remaining chapters the thesis analyzes how microsimulation models can be useful in understanding the causes of inequality trends. As a preliminary step, the review and discussion of the literature about the main methods for inequality decomposition is provided. Based on this, a combination of two recent microsimu-lation methods is proposed to analyze the trend of inequality in Italy in 1977-2000. It is found that analysis using traditional methods of inequality decomposition can be seriously misleading if the sample is not representative of the whole population in some of its dimensions, such as female labor force participation. Microsimulation techniques can overcome this problem and can account for the major factors that driving inequality. Finally, the thesis discusses the issue of inference with thick-tailed distributions, such as the Pareto distribution with infinite second moment, that is of special relevance to empirical analysis of income distribution. It is shown that inference based on the standard t-ratio statistic can induce a non negligible error in rejection probability. Some solutions are suggested with an application to Italian household income data

Social Democracy and Distributive Conflict in the UK, 1950- 2010

In the last three decades, two questions have been central for the Left. Is there a future for electoral socialism and social democracy? And, is it any longer possible to promote a significant redistribution of income in favour of labour? Political and economic events seem to suggest negative answers. In his influential work, Adam Przeworski suggests that this is an irreversible trend that makes it impossible in the long-run to promote genuinely socialist objectives in capitalist democracies. In particular, the structural dependence of labour on capital severely constrains feasible income distributions. In this paper, a detailed quantitative and qualitative analysis of the post-war UK economy is provided which casts doubts on the structural dependence thesis. A short run pro.t-squeeze mechanism seems to exist, but income shares are more variable than the structural dependence argument suggests, and the power resources available to the two main classes in the economy are among the key determinants of distributive outcomes, different political-economic equilibria corresponding to different configurations of the balance of power between the two classes

The limitations of the structural dependence thesis: class, power, and distributive conflict in the UK since 1892

Can political parties, social movements, and governments shape the functioning of a capitalist economy? Is it possible for social democratic parties to promote a significant redistribution of income in favour of labour? According to proponents of the structural dependence thesis, the answer is negative, because the structural dependence of labour upon capital severely constrains feasible income distributions. Carlo V. Fiorio, Simon Mohun, and Roberto Veneziani cast doubts on this thesis. Their historical analysis of the UK finds some evidence of a short-run profit-squeeze mechanism, but also that income shares are much more variable than the structural dependence argument suggests, and the power resources available to social classes are among the key determinants of distributive outcomes

Sessanta anni di istruzione in Italia

In this article we analyze the fulfilment of the 1948 Italian Republican Constitution regarding education. We verify that inequality in the highest degree of attained education has declined within cohorts and geographical areas. We also find a reduction of the impact of the parental background on educational choice over time. However, there still is a relevant difference in the probability of attaining a university degree depending on the parental education. Among the possible reasons, we investigate the differential return of a university degree between individuals with different familiar background, the difference in opportunity costs and the drop-out rates.