Job Search Mechanism and Individual Behaviour.

This paper modelles job search mechanism at individual level by a determinstic-stochastic approach in a economy with perfect competion and rational agents. Each single unit, firm or worker, is analyzed over time; aggregate dynamics comes directly from the micro-structure of the economy. We show that the unemployment as well as vacancy rate converge in the long run to an ergodic distribution whose average value lies on the Beverdige curve. Transitional paths are not-monotone and depending on initial conditions. The micro-model is exploited to assess the relationship between job search and social networks (neighborhood effects); results show that, when the network is endogenous, such spillovers affect both transitional paths and steady state in several way, not last in a negative way.job-search, human capital, local effects

Accumulation and Distribution of Human Capital: The Interaction between Individual and Aggregate Variables

The paper analyzes the joint evolution of accumulation and distribution of human capital in an OLG framework. Dynamics arises from the interplay between human capital distribution and individual variables - inherited human capital and inborn ability. Such interaction drives individual investment in human capital and accumulation in the economy. According to the initial distribution the model provides different dynamical behaviours linking growth and inequality; in general economies with a more equal initial distribution grow faster but other cases are possible. Moreover, since the model provides an endogenous threshold for investing in human capital, the distribution is characterized by multi- modalityHuman Capital Bargaining Inequality Poverty-trap

Education and Job Market Signalling: A Comment.

In this paper the Signalling approach to the explanation of wage differentials is analyzed both under a microeconomic and a macroeconomic viewpoint. Departuring from the classical Spence's model, the introduction of inequalities in accessing to education leads to redistributive effects among workers and firms. Moreover the existence of factors related both to local and to parental externalities greately reduce the informative power of education about individual ability.Signalling Earnings distribution Entropy

Human Capital and Income Distribution Dynamics

The paper assumes a continuum of two period-lived agents; agents are identical except for the inherited income. Young agents optimally allocate their inherited income between consumption and investment in human capital in a stochastic environment. In the second period they receive a wage proportional to the accumulated human capital and invest in offspring. Two main results are provided: a low earning per unit of human capital leads the economy to converge to a stationary income distribution whatever the initial distribution. Viceversa, for a sufficently high wage an endogenous growth is at work and the income distribution dynamics depends on the initial conditions. In this case several redistributive policies are analized.Human Capital Accumulation Personal Income Distribution Diffusion Processes

Stratified or Comprehensive? The Economic Efficiency of School Design

We study the efficiency of secondary school design by focusing on the degree of differentiation between vocational and general education. Using a simple model of endogenous job composition, we analyze the interaction between relative demand and relative supply of skills and characterize efficient school design when the government runs schools and cares about total net output. We show that neither a comprehensive nor a stratified system unambiguously dominates the other system in terms of efficiency for all possibile values of the underlying parameters. Since comprehensive systems generate more equal labor market outcomes, it follows that the relationship between efficiency and equity in secondary education is not necessarily a trade off. We also show that net output maximizing government policy is not always supported by majority voting. When schools are stratified, majority voting could increase the elitist nature of general schools by rising the admission standard above efficient levels. At the same time, and depending on the values of the underlying parameters, efficient stratified schools could be voted down in favor of less efficient comprehensive schools.

Folding a 2-D powder diffraction image into a 1-D scan: a new procedure

A new procedure aiming at folding a powder diffraction 2-D into a 1-D scan is presented. The technique consists of three steps: tracking the beam centre by means of a Simulated Annealing (SA) of the diffraction rings along the same axis, detector tilt and rotation determination by a Hankel Lanczos Singular Value Decomposition (HLSVD) and intensity integration by an adaptive binning algorithm. The X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) intensity profile of the standard NIST Si 640c sample is used to test the performances. Results show the robustness of the method and its capability of efficiently tagging the pixels in a 2-D readout system by matching the ideal geometry of the detector to the real beam-sample-detector frame. The whole technique turns out in a versatile and user-friendly tool for the $2\vartheta$ scanning of 2-D XRPD profiles.Comment: 11 pages, 1 table, 2 figure

ACCUMULATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF HUMAN CAPITAL: THE INTERACTION BETWEEN INDIVIDUAL AND AGGREGATE VARIABLES

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Trust, transparency and disintermediation: an analysis of blockchain implementation in the supply-chain

Blockchain represents the backbone of cryptocurrencies, their underlying technology. It can be seen as a large database shared by a peer-to-peer network of users, which collectively validates the information that is recorded on it. Not residing on a single central server, it overcomes a centralized logic, the one used by the best-known web applications like Amazon, Google or Facebook. Instead, DApps (DApp being the acronym of Decentralised Application) are distributed, decentralized applications specifically designed to run on blockchain systems. Blockchain does not involve intermediaries or trusted third parties and its main feature lies in its ability to increase transparency and traceability in transactions. A recent resolution of the European Parliament called for measures to increase the adoption of public and private blockchains, particularly in supply chain management, stating that they can have an indirect effect both at a social and economic level. Several studies have already analysed the potential of blockchain in the agri-food sector, but also in the production and distribution chain of luxury goods or other consumer goods. The existing literature focuses mainly on the role of blockchain in improving the processes related to safety and efficiency of the supply chain, yet it does not seem to problematize the concept of transparency. Despite this, the relationship between transparency and trust, which is generally confirmed by literature, is far from linear. Following an introduction of the technical characteristics of blockchain technology and its possible implementation, we address the way in which blockchain affects the issues of disintermediation, such as in the public sector, where the role of blockchain is still being defined. We also focus on the way blockchain shifts the centre of gravity of trust from an institutional, central entity, either towards the periphery or towards a technological system. Comparing the constructs of trust and transparency, we question the a priori desirability of transparency. In fact, the relationship between trust and transparency becomes rather complex in organizational communication processes. A spotlight is also placed on the aspects that affect the relationship between an organization implementing the blockchain and its relevant stakeholders, along with their different needs. We argue that blockchain still leaves a need for a relationship of trust, as much as the achievement of a trust-free model is pursued. Finally, we mention some of the major critical issues of blockchain, which are still to be resolved

A MODEL OF UNION BEHAVIOUR AND BENEFITS UNDER UNCERTAINTY - DID THATCHER'S BENEFITS POLICY INCREASE EMPLOYMENT AND REDUCE UNION POWER?

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