Optimal Incentives in a Principal-Agent Model with Endogenous Technology

One of the standard predictions of the agency theory is that more incentives can be given to agents with lower risk aversion. In this paper, we show that this relationship may be absent or reversed when the technology is endogenous and projects with a higher efficiency are also riskier. Using a modified version of the Holmstrom and Milgrom’s framework, we obtain that lower agent’s risk aversion unambiguously leads to higher incentives when the technology function linking efficiency and riskiness is elastic, while the risk aversion–incentive relationship can be positive when this function is rigid

High-pressure behavior of methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3) hybrid perovskite

In this paper we provide an accurate high-pressure structural and optical study of MAPbI3 hybrid perovskite. Structural data show the presence of a phase transition towards an orthorhombic structure around 0.3 GPa followed by full amorphization of the system above 3 GPa. After releasing pressure the systems keeps the high-pressure orthorhombic phase. The occurrence of these structural transitions is further confirmed by pressure induced variations of the photoluminescence signal at high pressure. These variations clearly indicate that the bandgap value and the electronic structure of MAPI change across the phase transition.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figure

Expectations and systemic risk in EMU government bond spreads

This paper explores the determinants of 10-years sovereign bond spreads over the German Bund benchmark in the Euro Zone from 2000 to 2013, relying on cross-country quarterly data panel analysis. The paper focal point is the role of contagion and euro break-up risks in widening the sovereign bond yield differentials among EU member countries. Using a novel synthetic index capable of monitoring the sustainability of currency unions, the paper finds that market expectations of a euro’s break up and contagion from Greece were fundamentals drivers of sovereign risk premia in peripheral countries.This paper explores the determinants of 10-years sovereign bond spreads over the German Bund benchmark in the Euro Zone from 2000 to 2013, relying on cross-country quarterly data panel analysis. The paper focal point is the role of contagion and euro break-up risks in widening the sovereign bond yield differentials among EU member countries. Using a novel synthetic index capable of monitoring the sustainability of currency unions, the paper finds that market expectations of a euro’s break up and contagion from Greece were fundamentals drivers of sovereign risk premia in peripheral countries.Refereed Working Papers / of international relevanc

The Importance of Being Remembered: Prices for Cemetery Plots in the US

The economic literature on end-of-life choices assumes that the utility of future generations is internalized by current generations through gifts and bequests. This explanation, however, cannot account for the decision to buy cemetery plots. This paper uses an original data set to look at the determinants of the grave prices in the US. \u201cAfter-life\u201d housing services are complements to \u201cin-life\u201d housing services. We find no evidence of selection bias associated with religious affiliation

Anisotropic compression in the high pressure regime of pure and Cr-doped vanadium dioxide

We present structural studies of V$_{1-x}$Cr$_x$O$_2$ (pure, 0.7% and 2.5% Cr doped) compounds at room temperature in a diamond anvil cell for pressures up to 20 GPa using synchrotron x-ray powder diffraction. All the samples studied show a persistence of the monoclinic $M_1$ symmetry between 4 and 12 GPa. Above 12 GPa, the monoclinic $M_1$ symmetry changes to isostructural $M_x$ phase (space group $P2_1/c$) with a significant anisotropy in lattice compression of the $b$-$c$ plane of the $M_{1}$ phase. This behavior can be reconciled invoking the pressure induced charge-delocalization

L'epistolario del Bibbiena. Appunti sul censimento delle carte autografe a mezzo secolo dall'edizione Moncallero

The paper examines Bernardo Dovizi da Bibbiena correspondence before and after his elevation to cardinal under Pope Leo X. Starting from a new census of Bibbiena’s autograph letters, the study proposes a radical revision of the critical edition of Moncallero (published in two volumes between 1955 and 1965) with a view to completing the recension and adding to the exegetical apparatus. The paper explores the literary references, especially to the novelistic and dramatic traditions, in Bibbiena’s correspondence, along with the various jokes and humorous monikers that play on the author’s moral and physical weakness, and considers how they correspond to the character portrayed in Castiglione’s Cortegiano, in which Bibbiena is credited with making a perspicacious commentary on the rhetoric of facezia. The last part of the paper submits a group of unedited letters to historical analysis. The appendix includes a list of Bibbiena’s letters that are stored in the Medici Archive (Mediceo del Principato [MAP]) but were not included in Moncallero’s edition

Tra lirica e epistolografia. Appunti sull’opera poetica di Lodovico Dolce

Con queste parole, in data 1° agosto 1538, Giacomo Marmitta introduce il primo frammento noto della corrispondenza intrattenuta con Lodovico Dolce: Magnifico Messer Lodovico mio dolcissimo, ecco ch’io vengo a gli inchiostri, eccomi all’epistole, o potreste dire c’ho rubato questo, ecco, all’Aretino, patientia, eccomi dico dalla poesia tratto all’epistole, ma di che genere non so io, o grave, o giocoso, o famigliare. Il passaggio dal medium poetico a quello epistolare è osservato come sbocco..

Technology options for earthquake resistant, eco-efficient buildings in Europe: Research needs

The built environment corresponds to the largest industrial sector not only in economic terms, but also in terms of resource flow. Moreover, European citizens spend most of their lives inside buildings, therefore buildings turn out to be at the centre of social and economic activity. In that light, Europe is involved in several initiatives and strategies aimed to make this sector one of the most competitive and innovative, focusing on the achievement of the environmental and energy targets in line with 2020 Europe Strategy and EU 2050 Roadmap, but also ensuring safety both in ordinary conditions and in presence of exceptional events, such as earthquakes. While new buildings can be constructed with high performance levels, the older buildings which are predominantly characterized by low energy performance and seismic vulnerability, typically need renovation measures. This report has the aim to define the research needs for exploiting old buildings potential to deliver energy and CO2-emission savings, as well as societal and economic benefits, so that energy efficient and earthquake resistant buildings can have a pivotal role in a sustainable future. In the first part of the report, a detailed analysis of the main characteristics of European buildings in terms of age, size, ownership, location, structural typology is presented in order to define the predominant typology of the European existing building stock. Secondly, the seismic hazard in Europe and the earthquake vulnerability of European buildings are analysed. Finally, energy consumptions and environmental impacts in terms of use of resources, construction and demolition (C&D) wastes and CO2 emissions are described. The analysis of the present situation turns out to be essential in order to define the starting point to assess the current and new technology options, examined in the second part of the report and necessary to obtain eco-efficient and seismic resistant buildings. In addition, the benefits that a renovation project could bring against a demolition and reconstruction programme have been underlined. Once these inputs have been defined, the requalification needs and the importance to improve renovation strategies, considered as outputs of the analysis, are examined for each of the two above-mentioned parts of this study. Finally, a critical discussion on the importance of considering research needs for this topic, with a focus on barriers and challenges which a renovation programme has to face, has been carried out.JRC.G.5-European laboratory for structural assessmen

Evaluation of geothermal resources in a hotspot realm: Mauritius Island (Indian Ocean)

Geochemical and geothermal investigations were performed in the Mauritius Island, located along the Seychelles-Mascarene Plateau, aimed at the preliminary assessment of possible geothermal resources. The central part of the island may be the most suitable as characterized by the most recent volcanic activity (0.03 Ma). Geochemical analyses of water samples collected from this area indicate no mature water and the chemical features are ascribable to short-term water-rock interaction in shallow hydrogeological circuits. A gradient borehole was drilled and thermal logs performed after complete thermal equilibration to evaluate the thermal gradient in central part of the island. A value of 43 \ub0C km-1 was measured and a similar result was obtained by logging a deep well no longer used for water extraction. The results point to a weak or null deep-seated thermal anomaly beneath Mauritius. This might mean that the deep thermal processes (mantle plume) invoked to occur in the hotspot area do not likely yield any particular thermal signature