Altruistic bequests and non-negative savings

This paper builds on the class of models studying the game interaction between an altruistic benefactor and a selfish recipient. An altruistic parent's bequest is transferred to his selfish son after the former's death and we assume that it is not a valid collateral for bank loans. This is equivalent to adding a non-negativity constraint on savings to the standard bequest model. A crucial mechanism at work is that the son's choice of a level of action can seriously dwarf his budget set. When Becker's resuit holds, the credit constraint places an upper bound on the strategie savings of the Samaritan's dilemma type. But the constraint on savings also causes the shrinkage of the validity domain of the Rotten Kid Theorem because it may lead both poor and rich heirs to behave unoptimally from the family point of view.Altruism, Liquidity constraints

Growth and distribution in an AK-model with endogenous impatience

This paper combines two strands of the literature on inequality and distribution issues: the classical approach, which insists on the division of society into classes characterized by different saving propensities, and the social conflict approach, which considers that inequality inflicts direct and indirect costs to economic development. An endogenous-growth model is studied. We assume that each consumer's subjective discount factor is determined endogenously and depends on economic inequality through the following two channels. On the one hand, it is positively related to the individual consumer's relative wealth. On the other hand, it is negatively affected by a simple aggregate measure of social conflict. We show that, unlike models with exogenously given discount rates, steady state equilibria in our model is indeterminate and that the set of all equilibria is acontinuum which can be parameterized by a simple index of income inequality. The growth rate is ambiguously related to the inequality index. However, under some reasonable assumptions, the growth rate dependence on this index has an inverted U-shaped form.wealth distribution, intertemporal choice, growth, development

Public pensions and growth

This paper investigates the relationship between the size of an unfunded public pension system and economic growth in an overlapping generation economy, in which altruistic parents finance the education of their children and leave bequests. Unlike the existing literature, we model intergenerational altruism by assuming that children's income during adulthood is an argument of parental utility. Unfunded public pensions can promote growth when families face liquidity constraints preventing them from investing optimally in the education of their children. We consider two alternative ways of financing a public pension system, either by levying social contributions in a lump-sum manner or in proportion to labour income. We find that there is no case for unfunded public pensions in economies where bequests are operative. By contrast, there exists a growth-maximising size of the public pension system in economies where bequests are not operative and individuals are sufficiently patient JEL Classification: H55, I20, D91Education, Growth, Public pension

Education, Wage Inequality and Growth

We model a successive-generation economy in which parents, motivated by fam- ily altruism, decide to nance or not their o spring's capital accumulation on the basis of their altruistic motive, their own income and the equilibrium ratio between skilled-labor and unskilled-labor wages. The question we ask is how the growth process in this economy shapes the wage inequality and the split of the population in two classes. We study the transitional dynamics of human capital accumulation and of wage inequality. First, we prove the existence of equilibrium paths. Then we show that there exists a continuum of steady-state equilibria and prove the convergence of each equilibrium path to one of the steady-state equilibrium. Also we look at the relationship between inequality and output on the set of steady states and nd that this relationship is ambigu- ous. Finally, we deal with an endogenous-growth version of our model, which displays the ambiguous relationship between inequality and the rate of growt

The dynamics of income inequality in a growth model with human capital and occupational choice

We model a successive-generation economy in which parents, motivated by family altruism, decide to finance or not their offspring's human capital accumulation on the basis of their altruistic motive, their own income and the equilibrium ratio between skilled labor and unskilled labor wages. The question we ask is how the growth process shapes the wage inequality and the split of the population in two classes. We study the transitional dynamics of human capital accumulation and of income inequality. First, we prove the existence of equilibrium paths. Then we show that there exists a continuum of steady-state equilibria. We prove the convergence of each equilibrium path to one of the steady-state equilibrium and describe the evolution of income inequality between skilled and unskilled workers and income in-equality among the skilled workers. The former inequality is persistent in the long run while the latter is not. We also look at the relationship between inequality and output on the set of steady states and find that this relations hip is ambiguous. Finally, we develop an endogenous-growth version of the model. In this version of the model the relationship between inequality and the rate of growth is also ambiguous

Education, Wage Inequality and Growth

We model a successive-generation economy in which parents, motivated by fam- ily altruism, decide to nance or not their o spring's capital accumulation on the basis of their altruistic motive, their own income and the equilibrium ratio between skilled-labor and unskilled-labor wages. The question we ask is how the growth process in this economy shapes the wage inequality and the split of the population in two classes. We study the transitional dynamics of human capital accumulation and of wage inequality. First, we prove the existence of equilibrium paths. Then we show that there exists a continuum of steady-state equilibria and prove the convergence of each equilibrium path to one of the steady-state equilibrium. Also we look at the relationship between inequality and output on the set of steady states and nd that this relationship is ambigu- ous. Finally, we deal with an endogenous-growth version of our model, which displays the ambiguous relationship between inequality and the rate of growt

Property rights with biological spillovers : when Hardin meets Meade

In an overlapping generations (OLG) setup we address the issue of the optimal number of property rights to allocate over a natural resource when the goal is to maximize the stock of the natural resource at the steady state. We assume that the e ect of the enforced property rights regime on the evolution of the resource is twofold: through biological spillovers and through monitoring costs. Property rights are assigned to local communities, which can decide whether to cooperate or not. The outcome in the strategic setting is hence compared to the one in the cooperative setup. A scal policy able to decentralize the cooperative outcome is studied

Public pensions and growth

This paper investigates the relationship between the size of an unfunded public pension system and economic growth in an overlapping generation economy, in which altruistic parents finance the education of their children and leave bequests. Unlike the existing literature, we model intergenerational altruism by assuming that children's income during adulthood is an argument of parental utility. Unfunded public pensions can promote growth when families face liquidity constraints preventing them from investing optimally in the education of their children. We consider two alternative ways of financing a public pension system, either by levying social contributions in a lump-sum manner or in proportion to labour income. We find that there is no case for unfunded public pensions in economies where bequests are operative. By contrast, there exists a growth-maximising size of the public pension system in economies where bequests are not operative and individuals are sufficiently patien

Stéphane LAMBRECHTGrowth and Distribution in an AK-model with Endogenous Impatience

This paper combines two strands of the literature on inequality and distribution issues: the classical approach, which insists on the division of society into classes characterized by different saving propensities, and the social conflict approach, which considers that inequality inflicts direct and indirect costs to economic development. An endogenous-growth model is studied. We assume that each consumer’s subjective discount factor is determined endogenously and depends on economic inequality through the following two channels. On the one hand, it is positively related to the individual consumer’s relative wealth. On the other hand, it is negatively affected by a simple aggregate measure of social conflict. We show that, unlike models with exogenously given discount rates, steady state equilibria in our model is indeterminate and that the set of all equilibria is a continuum which can be parameterized by a simple index of income inequality. The growth rate is ambiguously related to the inequality index. However, under some reasonable assumptions, the growth rate dependence on this index has an inverted U-shaped form

Autoantibodies neutralizing type I IFNs are present in ~4% of uninfected individuals over 70 years old and account for ~20% of COVID-19 deaths

Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors, some rights reserved.Circulating autoantibodies (auto-Abs) neutralizing high concentrations (10 ng/ml; in plasma diluted 1:10) of IFN-alpha and/or IFN-omega are found in about 10% of patients with critical COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pneumonia but not in individuals with asymptomatic infections. We detect auto-Abs neutralizing 100-fold lower, more physiological, concentrations of IFN-alpha and/or IFN-omega (100 pg/ml; in 1:10 dilutions of plasma) in 13.6% of 3595 patients with critical COVID-19, including 21% of 374 patients >80 years, and 6.5% of 522 patients with severe COVID-19. These antibodies are also detected in 18% of the 1124 deceased patients (aged 20 days to 99 years; mean: 70 years). Moreover, another 1.3% of patients with critical COVID-19 and 0.9% of the deceased patients have auto-Abs neutralizing high concentrations of IFN-beta. We also show, in a sample of 34,159 uninfected individuals from the general population, that auto-Abs neutralizing high concentrations of IFN-alpha and/or IFN-omega are present in 0.18% of individuals between 18 and 69 years, 1.1% between 70 and 79 years, and 3.4% >80 years. Moreover, the proportion of individuals carrying auto-Abs neutralizing lower concentrations is greater in a subsample of 10,778 uninfected individuals: 1% of individuals 80 years. By contrast, auto-Abs neutralizing IFN-beta do not become more frequent with age. Auto-Abs neutralizing type I IFNs predate SARS-CoV-2 infection and sharply increase in prevalence after the age of 70 years. They account for about 20% of both critical COVID-19 cases in the over 80s and total fatal COVID-19 cases.Peer reviewe