Beppe Grillo’s success is not a rejection of austerity, but a protest against the corruption and inefficiency of the Italian political system

The success of Beppe Grillo’s ‘5 Stars Movement’ in Italy’s elections on the 24-25 February has been regarded by some commentators as a rejection of austerity by the Italian electorate. Marco Simoni argues that rather than rejecting austerity, Italian voters were primarily protesting against decades of economic stagnation, and a political system which is prone to corruption and clientelism. He concludes that unless mainstream politics can reorganise around a credible reform agenda, populist movements will continue to play a key role in the country

Italians should back the constitutional reform – there is no guarantee this opportunity will arise again

As part of our series covering Italy’s constitutional referendum, scheduled for 4 December, Marco Simoni outlines a case for a Yes vote. He argues that the proposed reform would address a number of key institutional weaknesses in the country, and that by improving the functioning of Italian democracy, it would help establish proper accountability and trust in the political system

Institutional Roots of Economic Decline: Lessons from Italy. LEQS Paper No. 143/2019 April 2019

The economic decline of Italy since the mid 1990s is a critical case in contemporary political economy because its model of capitalism was deeply reformed at the time when its decline commenced. This paper argues that economic stagnation cannot be attributed to special interest politics, nor to the lack of market-friendly reforms in a globalized economic context, as previous literature argues. Instead, Italian economic decline is a consequence of institutional change which on the one hand has destroyed previous institutional complementarities, and on the other hand has led to an incoherent, or “hybrid,” setting. In the institutional spheres of corporate governance and labor, economic reforms established new institutions alternatively apt to support both strategic coordination and market coordination, resulting in institutional incoherence. In addition, building on the case of Italy and based on patent data relative to 19 OECD countries, this paper unpacks the link between institutional coherence and economic performance. It articulates a novel hypothesis according to which higher specialization in innovation patterns, derived from institutional coherence, also leads to higher overall innovation volumes. Hence, reforms that undermine a prevalent mode of coordination across the economy also undermine innovation capacity, leading to economic decline

Organizational Determinants of Wage Moderation

This article contributes to the political economic literature regarding the effects of industrial relations institutions on national economic outcomes. Based on an econometric analysis of the determinants of wage moderation in sixteen industrialized countries between 1974 and 2000, it argues that the organizational characteristics of trade unions have a significant impact on wage dynamics. Controlling for a number of institutional and economic factors, the countries in which trade union confederations directly involve workers in the process of collective bargaining ratification have on average lower wage growth relative to productivity than others. The authors also find that collective bargaining coordination and contract ratification magnify each other's wage-dampening effect. Through case studies of Ireland and Italy, the article examines the causal mechanisms underlying the uncovered statistical regularities and concludes that, particularly at a time in which classic political exchange is waning, worker involvement in contract ratification allows confederation leaders to resolve conflicting claims inside their organizations at lower wage levels than are achieved by a less participatory governance proces

Direct evaporative cooling of 39K atoms to Bose-Einstein condensation

We report the realization of Bose-Einstein condensates of 39K atoms without the aid of an additional atomic coolant. Our route to Bose-Einstein condensation comprises Sub Doppler laser cooling of large atomic clouds with more than 10^10 atoms and evaporative cooling in optical dipole traps where the collisional cross section can be increased using magnetic Feshbach resonances. Large condensates with almost 10^6 atoms can be produced in less than 15 seconds. Our achievements eliminate the need for sympathetic cooling with Rb atoms which was the usual route implemented till date due to the unfavourable collisional property of 39K. Our findings simplify the experimental set-up for producing Bose-Einstein condensates of 39K atoms with tunable interactions, which have a wide variety of promising applications including atom-interferometry to studies on the interplay of disorder and interactions in quantum gases.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

The renegotiated alliance between left and organised labour in Western Europe

The alliance between the Left and organised labour in the majority of European countries is not over, contrary to the arguments of much of the current literature on industrial relations and electoral socialism. During the 1980s and 1990s, social democratic governments approved over 70% of their socioeconomic policies in cooperation with trade union confederations. These policies are distinct from the Keynesian model of the post-war decades which directly benefited labour, and are based on the monetarist macroeconomic regime. As a consequence, the alliance can be renegotiated only under certain conditions, which do not always exist. This thesis builds a comprehensive framework to account for party/union interactions, including instances of renegotiated alliances and also of more strained relationships. In order to do so, it examines the constraints and incentives faced by each actor separately, and then brings them together. Quantitative and qualitative methods, as well as historically-informed discursive approaches and game theoretical modelling, are employed. In an age of globalisation and social fragmentation, social democratic parties no longer need trade union partnerships for purposes of economic management, but they retain electoral incentives to include unions in policy making. These incentives are contingent upon union acceptance of limited gains from policy negotiations: excessive concessions to unions would alienate nonunion workers from the social democratic vote. In turn, organised labour is able to accept modest gains (which, under an unfavourable overall scenario are nonetheless positive) only if it is very cohesive. I show that confederation democracy - not coercion as traditional neo-corporatism would contend - is negatively correlated to wage militancy because it contributes union cohesion, and therefore it is key to determining party/union cooperation. The argument of the renegotiated alliance explains the importance of decision-making processes in determining outcomes, the enduring political relevance of trade unions, and the characteristics of the social democratic electorate

Towards more sustainable cement production: a no-combustion approach for the decarbonisation of CaCO3

The decarbonisation of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) to obtain lime (CaO) is a crucial step for a wide range of major industrial processes, most noticeably in Portland Cement (PC) production; from 1 tonne of CaCO3 approximately 0.44 tonnes of embodied CO2 is released to produce ~560 kg of CaO. With a global use of ~3 billion tonnes per year of calcined calcium carbonate, this makes the decarbonisation of CaCO3 one of the major contributors to global CO2 emissions. The CO2 released from CaCO3 alone accounts for ~6 % of global CO2 emissions. In the conventional calcination process, the decarbonisation of CaCO3 occurs at temperatures above 950⁰C, resulting in the CO2 emissions both from CaCO3 and the combustion of the fuels necessary to provide the required energy. The CO2 released from CaCO3 represents the main challenge for the industrial sectors using CaO, as it is not replaceable. The thermal calcination of CaCO3 is currently considered unavoidable, and therefore, the release of CO2 from feed CaCO3 could not be avoided. To address this, this project proposes a decarbonisation of CaCO3 at ambient conditions without combustion but by reaction with concentrated NaOH solutions. While producing Ca(OH)2 which may be used, for example to produce cement clinkers, the CO2 from CaCO3 is sequestrated within the stable by-product Na2CO3.xH2O (x=0, 1). Therefore, it would avoid both the combustion and process CO2 from the decarbonisation of feed CaCO3. The reduction of the process CO2 is particularly meaningful as it has not been achieved by the conventional high temperature decarbonisation of CaCO3. The by-product Na2CO3 can offer a safer alternative for CO2 storage compared with the geological CO2 storage. Alternatively, it could be either used to regenerate NaOH or as another commodity. Firstly, reagent grade CaCO3 was used as reactant to identify the optimal conditions allowing for a maximised yield of products, Ca(OH)2 and Na2CO3 or Na2CO3·H2O. CaCO_3+ 2NaOH + x H2O → Ca(OH)_2 +Na_2 CO_(3 ) xH2O A wide range consisting of 71 starting compositions (CaCO3 + NaOH + H2O) was investigated, and the maximum yield of Ca(OH)2 with 96 % CaCO3 conversion was achieved in the system with 8.1 wt.% CaCO3, 37.2 wt.% NaOH and 54.7 wt.% H2O. Higher NaOH concentrations were generally enhancing the conversion of CaCO3, for a specific water-to-solid ratio. Longer reaction times were found to increase the conversion of CaCO3 up to five minutes, beyond which the system indicated little improvement in production of Ca(OH)2. It was also discovered that, in batch conditions, the reaction was enhanced at a slower stirring speed. The computational investigation also suggested that the activity of water in the system, highly dependent on the concentration of NaOH, decide the formation of either Na2CO3 or Na2CO3·H2O. This information helps to establish the extent of the reaction based on the balance between Na2CO3 or Na2CO3·H2O in the reaction products, in addition to providing essential knowledge for the subsequent separation process of the reaction products. At short residence times, the reaction was in accordance with Arrhenius equation, reflecting its enhanced efficiencies at higher processing temperatures, within the mild range of 45 – 80 ⁰C. For a prolonged contact between the reactants, a higher temperature did not lead to significant improvements in terms of decarbonisation of CaCO3. In the third part of the project, the reaction was tested using industrial grade materials with different characteristics, to assess the feasibility of the developed technology on a wider range of materials used in the real industry. Limestone (96 wt.% CaCO3) and chalk (74 wt.% CaCO3), provided by the industrial collaborator of the project, were tested, and maximum CaCO3 conversion yields of 49 % and 79 % were recorded, respectively. This is likely linked to the smaller average particle size of the chalk compared with the limestone, resulting in an enhanced contact surface. The effects of impurities, such as silica within the chalk, were also investigated. The results o demonstrated promising prospects of the process developed, since very mild conditions are required for the reaction to occur, i.e., short residence times, slow stirring speeds, and ambient conditions. The implementation of this technology could prevent the lime and cement industry from completely relying on the development of CCS technologies, offering a valid alternative to achieve a sustainable industry. I strongly believe that the alternative route for CaCO3 decarbonisation proposed can have a great impact on the cement and concrete research community and industry worldwide, inspiring further investigation and eventual industrial application. The outcomes of my project suggest that, with a totally different approach to the issue known worldwide, the process CO2 could be avoided, as well as the technological complications linked to CO2 capture in the conventional processes

Surface-acoustic-wave driven planar light-emitting device

Electroluminescence emission controlled by means of surface acoustic waves (SAWs) in planar light-emitting diodes (pLEDs) is demonstrated. Interdigital transducers for SAW generation were integrated onto pLEDs fabricated following the scheme which we have recently developed. Current-voltage, light-voltage and photoluminescence characteristics are presented at cryogenic temperatures. We argue that this scheme represents a valuable building block for advanced optoelectronic architectures

Accurate near-threshold model for ultracold KRb dimers from interisotope Feshbach spectroscopy

We investigate magnetic Feshbach resonances in two different ultracold K-Rb mixtures. Information on the K(39)-Rb(87) isotopic pair is combined with novel and pre-existing observations of resonance patterns for K(40)-Rb(87). Interisotope resonance spectroscopy improves significantly our near-threshold model for scattering and bound-state calculations. Our analysis determines the number of bound states in singlet/triplet potentials and establishes precisely near threshold parameters for all K-Rb pairs of interest for experiments with both atoms and molecules. In addition, the model verifies the validity of the Born-Oppenheimer approximation at the present level of accuracy.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

A procedure for the solution of multicomponent reactive transport problems

Modeling transport of reactive solutes is a challenging problem, necessary for understanding the fate of pollutants and geochemical processes occurring in aquifers, rivers, estuaries, and oceans. Geochemical processes involving multiple reactive species are generally analyzed using advanced numerical codes. The resulting complexity has inhibited the development of analytical solutions for multicomponent heterogeneous reactions such as precipitation/dissolution. We present a procedure to solve groundwater reactive transport in the case of homogeneous and classical heterogeneous equilibrium reactions induced by mixing different waters. The methodology consists of four steps: (1) defining conservative components to decouple the solution of chemical equilibrium equations from species mass balances, (2) solving the transport equations for the conservative components, (3) performing speciation calculations to obtain concentrations of aqueous species, and (4) substituting the latter into the transport equations to evaluate reaction rates. We then obtain the space‐time distribution of concentrations and reaction rates. The key result is that when the equilibrium constant does not vary in space or time, the reaction rate is proportional to the rate of mixing, ∇TuD ∇u, where u is the vector of conservative components concentrations and D is the dispersion tensor. The methodology can be used to test numerical codes by setting benchmark problems but also to derive closed‐form analytical solutions whenever steps 2 and 3 are simple, as illustrated by the application to a binary system. This application clearly elucidates that in a three‐dimensional problem both chemical and transport parameters are equally important in controlling the process