The Future of the Working Classes: A Comparison Between J.S. Mill and A. Marshall

Both J. S. Mill and A. Marshall had a lifelong concern with the living conditions of the working classes and theorized the possibility of a new age, characterized by a widespread mental and moral cultivation. This paper compares the precise arguments put forward by them in the period ranging from Mill‟s “The Claims of Labour” (1845) to Marshall's "Principles" (1890), against the background of the evidence of progress they had. It is argued that, at different stages and with different specific arguments, their predictions relied on self-reinforcing mechanisms, in which a better life was the cause, no less than the effect, of progress. In order to make similarities and differences more transparent from a logical point of view, two simple mathematical formulations are proposed.

Marco Fanno’s Tax Incidence Theory: A Formal Exposition

Marco Fanno’s contributions to the theory of supply at joint cost and the theory of demand for substitute goods contain some original analyses of tax incidence, based on a “less partial” application of the Marshallian supply and demand paradigm. Fanno’s overall theory, however, soon fell into oblivion, partially due to the enormous success of the emerging Hicks-Allen approach, at the end of the 1930s; and so did his more practical results. In this paper, we present a modern formalisation of Fanno’s tax incidence theory, which tries to do justice to a series of results which have still today some normative validity.

Measuring productivity increase by long-run prices: The early analyses of G.R. Porter and R. Giffen

The 19th century economic commentators did not possess a formal measure of the rate at which productivity was increasing during the industrial take-off. Yet they did develop an intuitive method based on the comparative change in prices and wages. This paper reviews the contributions of G.R. Porter and R. Giffen and, in the light of some modern contributions, presents an assessment of their rationality and improvability under current standards. It is argued, in particular, that a proper measure of industrial productivity increase based on the change in real earnings rates is the mathematical dual of a Solovian measure of the industrial Total Factor Productivity growth

A Dual-Solovian Measure of Productivity Increase and its Early Antecedents

The duality between a production function and the cost function generated by it implies that a Solovian ‘growth accounting’ measure of productivity increase, as referred to the industry, has an equivalent dual measure, based on what may be called ‘price accounting’. It is argued in this paper that the dual measure provides a coherent framework for considering productivity increase in relation to inflation/deflation, earnings dispersion, long-run variations in domestic relative prices and in external terms of trade. Even though the theoretical interest in measures based on real input prices dates back to the late 1960s, few or no attempts have been made thereafter to adopt it in practice. Curiously enough, the practical adoption of some kind of ‘price accounting’ dates to much earlier. We argue in this paper that, during the 19th century, distinguished statisticians and economic commentators such as G.R. Porter and R. Giffen based their evaluations on the comparative change in prices, wages and profits and in so doing they followed a logic that remarkably resembles that of a dual-Solovian measure

Measuring productivity increase by long-run prices: The early analyses of G.R. Porter and R. Giffen

The 19th century economic commentators did not possess a formal measure of the rate at which productivity was increasing during the industrial take-off. Yet they did develop an intuitive method based on the comparative change in prices and wages. This paper reviews the contributions of G.R. Porter and R. Giffen and, in the light of some modern contributions, presents an assessment of their rationality and improvability under current standards. It is argued, in particular, that a proper measure of industrial productivity increase based on the change in real earnings rates is the mathematical dual of a Solovian measure of the industrial Total Factor Productivity growth

Impaired release of Vitamin D in dysfunctional adipose tissue: New cues on Vitamin D supplementation in obesity

Context: Vitamin D accumulates in adipose tissue (AT) and vitamin D deficiency is frequent in obesity. Objective: We hypothesize that trafficking of vitamin D is altered in dysfunctional AT. Design, Patients, Settings: 54 normal-weight and 67 obese males were recruited in a prospective study and randomly assigned to supplementation with 50 \ub5g/week 25-hydroxyvitamin-D3 (25(OH)D) or 150 \ub5g/week vitamin D3 for 1 year, raising dosage by 50% if vitamin D-sufficiency (serum 25(OH)D>50 nomol/l), was not achieved at 6 months; 97 subjects completed the study. Methods: Vitamin D3 (D3) and 25(OH)D were quantified by HPLC-MS in control and insulin-resistant (IR) 3T3-L1 cells and subcutaneous AT (SAT) from lean and obese subjects, incubated with or without adrenaline; expression of 25-hydroxylase (CYP27A1), 1\u3b1-hydroxylase (CYP27B1) and vitamin D receptor (VDR) were analysed by real-time PCR. Results: In IR adipocytes the uptake of D3 and 25(OH)D was higher, but after adrenaline stimulation, the decrement in D3 and 25(OH)D was stronger in control cells, which also showed increased expression of CYP27A1 and CYP27B1 and higher levels of 25(OH)D. In SAT from obese subjects, the adrenaline-induced release of D3 and 25(OH)D was blunted; in both IR cells and obese SAT, protein expression of \u3b22-adrenergic receptor was reduced. Supplementation with 25-hydroxyvitamin-D3 was more effective in achieving vitamin D sufficiency in obese, but not in normal weight subjects. Conclusion: Dysfunctional AT shows a reduced catecholamine-induced release of D3 and 25(OH)D, and altered activity of vitamin D-metabolizing enzymes, for these reasons supplementation with 25-hydroxyvitamin-D3 is more effective in obese individuals

RET codon 609 mutations: a contribution for better clinical managing

Medullary thyroid carcinoma currently accounts for 5–8% of all thyroid cancers. The clinical course of this disease varies from extremely indolent tumors that can go unchanged for years to an extremely aggressive variant that is associated with a high mortality rate. As many as 75% of all medullary thyroid carcinomas are sporadic, with an average age at presentation reported as 60 years, and the remaining 25% are hereditary with an earlier age of presentation, ranging from 20 to 40 years

Real cost reduction and productivity increase in an individual industry: a price-accounting approach in theory and practice

The inter-industry diversity in productivity increase stimulated many studies on the industrial sources of economic growth. Much less efforts have been devoted to the study of the industrial sources of real income increase. Albeit from the standpoint of the economic system these aspects are two sides of the same coin, one can consistently trace back an observable change in real wages (in terms of a certain output) and in capital compensation to its industrial sources only by using data on prices, wages etc. and by fitting them into a consistent ‘price-accounting’ scheme of the industry. The conceptual framework presented in this paper is centered around the notion of ‘Real Cost Reduction’, its breakdown into components, and its outcome in terms of increasing labour and capital compensations. We also provide an illustration of the data sets required, of the qualitative results that can be obtained, and of some practical problems that need to be solved in order to extend the analysis and to compare its quantitative results with those of conventional industrial TFP analysis

Real cost reduction and productivity increase in an individual industry: a price-accounting approach in theory and practice

The inter-industry diversity in productivity increase stimulated many studies on the industrial sources of economic growth. Much less efforts have been devoted to the study of the industrial sources of real income increase. Albeit from the standpoint of the economic system these aspects are two sides of the same coin, one can consistently trace back an observable change in real wages (in terms of a certain output) and in capital compensation to its industrial sources only by using data on prices, wages etc. and by fitting them into a consistent ‘price-accounting’ scheme of the industry. The conceptual framework presented in this paper is centered around the notion of ‘Real Cost Reduction’, its breakdown into components, and its outcome in terms of increasing labour and capital compensations. We also provide an illustration of the data sets required, of the qualitative results that can be obtained, and of some practical problems that need to be solved in order to extend the analysis and to compare its quantitative results with those of conventional industrial TFP analysis