Quasi-potentials of the entropy functionals for scalar conservation laws

We investigate the quasi-potential problem for the entropy cost functionals of non-entropic solutions to scalar conservation laws with smooth fluxes. We prove that the quasi-potentials coincide with the integral of a suitable Einstein entropy.Comment: 26 pages, 4 figure

Does High Inequality in Developing Countries Lead to Slow Economic Growth?

The paper deals with the consequences of an unequal wealth distribution on economic growth in developing countries. Understanding whether or not there is a trade-off between inequality and growth is fundamental in order to give the adequate attention to those policies that avoid increases in inequality, which may hurt overall growth. With the use of crosscountry regressions in the context of modern growth theory and its idea of conditional convergence, the paper shows that higher initial income and land inequalities have a growth-reducing impact in the long run. A more in-depth analysis is necessary to establish the channels through which inequality affects growth. Nevertheless, the study highlights factors, such as land reform and access of the poor to legal and credit systems, as fundamental to open up opportunities in unequal societies and to eliminate privileges held only by the rich

Does wealth inequality reduce the gains from trade?

Panel data on 54 developing countries between 1960 and 2000 are used to investigate how the impact of opening to trade on economic growth is affected by wealth inequality. The results suggest (a) that opening to trade tends to accelerate growth but (b) that the addition to growth depends inversely on the level of wealth inequality prior to opening. These findings confirm the general importance for rapid growth in developing countries of reducing inequalities of opportunity.growth; inequality; openness; trade; developing countries

Trade, skill-biased technical change and wages in Mexican manufacturing

This paper analyses and quantifies the effects of trade liberalisation and skill-biased technical change, both exogenous and trade-induced, on the skill premium and real wages of unskilled and skilled workers in theMexican manufacturing sector, using industry- and firm-level data for 1984-1990 from the Encuesta Industrial Anual. The novelty of the paper lies in its strategy for identifying causality, which uses differences across industries over time in the relative price of machinery and equipment in the US as an instrument for skill-biased technical change. The effect of trade-induced SBTC on wages, and especially on wage inequality, appears substantial. The regressions show that trade liberalisation and changes in the relative price of equipment in the US, which induce exogenous SBTC in Mexico, explain one quarter of the increase in relative skilled wages between 1984 and 1990. This rise in the skill premium due to SBTC and trade liberalisation mainly reflect a rise in real skilled wages, although with some specifications it was amplified by a fall in the real wages of unskilled workers.trade liberalisation, skill-biased technical change, wage inequality, real wages, Mexico, manufacturing

Trade liberalisation, skill-biased technical change and wages in developing countries: a model with heterogeneous firms

This paper analyses the effects of trade liberalisation and technical change on real and relative wages. It builds a model with monopolistic competition, heterogeneous firms and two countries, North and South, and solves it numerically. Skill-biased technical change, caused by decreases in the price of imported equipment as a result of reduced trade costs or falls in its world price, tends to increase the relative wages of skilled workers. This increase in the skill premium can occur even in skill-scarce developing countries, as has often been observed in reality, even though Stolper-Samuelson effects pull the other way. What drives the rise in skilled wages when imported equipment becomes cheaper is the rise in demand for skilled workers in the most productive firms in each sector. Whether or not real unskilled wages increase absolutely after trade liberalisation appears to depend on whether trade costs are ad valorem or per-unit.trade liberalisation, skill-biased technical change, wage inequality, real wages, equipment-skill complementarity.

Labour Market Power and the Quest for an Optimal Minimum Wage: Evidence from Italy

none3noThis study investigates the recent trends in labour market power in Italy and assesses the impact of a potential minimum wage using a large sample of manufacturing rms. We show that, despite an average shift of labour market power from the owners to the workers, monopsony power is still widespread, especially in some sectors and regions. The introduction of a minimum wage would be benecial to workers and the economy as it reduces the monopsony power of highly productive rms paying low wages; however, it may also have a negative impact, since rms with low wages and low labour productivity may react by reducing the number of their employees or even by exiting the market. Finally, we nd that an optimal minimum wage, which minimises the negative eect and maximises the positive eect for the economy, ranges between 8.25 and 9.65 euro per hour.openMauro Caselli; Jasmine Mondolo; Stefano SchiavoCaselli, Mauro; Mondolo, Jasmine; Schiavo, Stefan

The Quality vs. the Quantity of Schooling: What Drives Economic Growth?

This paper challenges Hanushek and Woessmann’s [2008] contention that the quality and not the quantity of schooling determines a nation’s rate of economic growth. I first show that their statistical analysis is flawed. I then show that when a nation’s average test scores and average schooling attainment are included in a national income model, both measures explain income differences, but schooling attainment has greater statistical significance. The high correlation between a nation’s average schooling attainment, cumulative investment in schooling, and average tests scores indicates that average schooling attainment implicitly measures the quality as well as the quantity of schooling

COVID-19 Is a Multifaceted Challenging Pandemic Which Needs Urgent Public Health Interventions

Until less than two decades ago, all known human coronaviruses (CoV) caused diseases so mild that they did not stimulate further advanced CoV research. In 2002 and following years, the scenario changed dramatically with the advent of the new more pathogenic CoVs, including Severe Acute Respiratory Syndome (SARS-CoV-1), Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (MERS)-CoV, and the new zoonotic SARS-CoV-2, likely originated from bat species and responsible for the present coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which to date has caused 15,581,007 confirmed cases and 635,173 deaths in 208 countries, including Italy. SARS-CoV-2 transmission is mainly airborne via droplets generated by symptomatic patients, and possibly asymptomatic individuals during incubation of the disease, although for the latter, there are no certain data yet. However, research on asymptomatic viral infection is currently ongoing worldwide to elucidate the real prevalence and mortality of the disease. From a clinical point of view, COVID-19 would be defined as “COVID Planet “ because it presents as a multifaceted disease, due to the large number of organs and tissues infected by the virus. Overall, based on the available published data, 80.9% of patients infected by SARS-CoV-2 develop a mild disease/infection, 13.8% severe pneumonia, 4.7% respiratory failure, septic shock, or multi-organ failure, and 3% of these cases are fatal, but mortality parameter is highly variable in dfferent countries. Clinically, SARS-CoV-2 causes severe primary interstitial viral pneumonia and a “cytokine storm syndrome”, characterized by a severe and fatal uncontrolled systemic inflammatory response triggered by the activation of interleukin 6 (IL-6) with development of endothelitis and generalized thrombosis that can lead to organ failure and death. Risk factors include advanced age and comorbidities including hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Virus entry occurs via binding the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor present in almost all tissues and organs through the Spike (S) protein. Currently, SARS-CoV-2 infection is prevented by the use of masks, social distancing, and improved hand hygiene measures. This review summarizes the current knowledge on the main biological and clinical features of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, also focusing on the principal measures taken in some Italian regions to face