2,122 research outputs found
On the convergence of the Fitness-Complexity Algorithm
We investigate the convergence properties of an algorithm which has been
recently proposed to measure the competitiveness of countries and the quality
of their exported products. These quantities are called respectively Fitness F
and Complexity Q. The algorithm was originally based on the adjacency matrix M
of the bipartite network connecting countries with the products they export,
but can be applied to any bipartite network. The structure of the adjacency
matrix turns to be essential to determine which countries and products converge
to non zero values of F and Q. Also the speed of convergence to zero depends on
the matrix structure. A major role is played by the shape of the ordered matrix
and, in particular, only those matrices whose diagonal does not cross the empty
part are guaranteed to have non zero values as outputs when the algorithm
reaches the fixed point. We prove this result analytically for simplified
structures of the matrix, and numerically for real cases. Finally, we propose
some practical indications to take into account our results when the algorithm
is applied.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figure
Economic Development and Inequality: a complex system analysis
By borrowing methods from complex system analysis, in this paper we analyze
the features of the complex relationship that links the development and the
industrialization of a country to economic inequality. In order to do this, we
identify industrialization as a combination of a monetary index, the GDP per
capita, and a recently introduced measure of the complexity of an economy, the
Fitness. At first we explore these relations on a global scale over the time
period 1990--2008 focusing on two different dimensions of inequality: the
capital share of income and a Theil measure of wage inequality. In both cases,
the movement of inequality follows a pattern similar to the one theorized by
Kuznets in the fifties. We then narrow down the object of study ad we
concentrate on wage inequality within the United States. By employing data on
wages and employment on the approximately 3100 US counties for the time
interval 1990--2014, we generalize the Fitness-Complexity algorithm for
counties and NAICS sectors, and we investigate wage inequality between
industrial sectors within counties. At this scale, in the early nineties we
recover a behavior similar to the global one. While, in more recent years, we
uncover a trend reversal: wage inequality monotonically increases as
industrialization levels grow. Hence at a county level, at net of the social
and institutional factors that differ among countries, we not only observe an
upturn in inequality but also a change in the structure of the relation between
wage inequality and development
A teaching/learning path on the concept of mass and mass-energy relationship for upper secondary school
A content-oriented research on the fundamental physics concept of mass and mass-energy relationship was carried out, according to the tenets of Design-based Research and adopting the Model of Educational Reconstruction. The classical and special-relativistic meanings of mass were reconstructed through a vertical approach, by exploiting a \uabhistorical line\ubb. This brought to design two teaching/learning paths, which were iteratively tested and revised by 14 formative intervention experiments in upper secondary school. Inquiry-based Learning, visualization, WTL strategy, RTEI (POE, PEC), \uabcollective reasoning\ubb by interactive/dialogic and interactive/authoritative discourse were used, together with innovative educational materials. Students\u2019 learning process was locally and globally studied by analysing conceptual change, learning pathways and reasoning profiles.\uc8 stata condotta una ricerca specifica sul concetto fisico fondamentale di massa e sulla relazione massa-energia, secondo i principi della Design-based Research e adottando il Model of Educational Reconstruction. I significati di massa in fisica classica e relativit\ue0 ristretta sono stati ricostruiti attraverso un approccio verticale, utilizzando una \uablinea storica\ubb. Ci\uf2 ha portato a progettare due percorsi di insegnamento/apprendimento, che sono stati testati e modificati iterativamente attraverso 14 sperimentazioni didattiche nella scuola secondaria superiore. Sono stati utilizzati Inquiry-based Learning, visualizzazione, strategia WTL, RTEI (POE, PEC), ragionamento collettivo tramite conversazioni interattivo/autoritarie e interattivo/dialogiche, assieme a materiali didattici innovativi (in particolare esperimenti mentali). Il processo di apprendimento degli studenti \ue8 stato studiato globalmente e localmente analizzando il cambio concettuale, i percorsi di apprendimento e i profili di ragionamento
The Spinning Jenny and the Guillotine: Technological Diffusion at the Time of Revolutions
Why was England the cradle of the Industrial Revolution? The present work shows that scale economies and demand, combined with the conditions of the relative prices of input factors, allow to provide a purely economic answer to this question. The labor-saving innovations of the Industrial Revolution were profitable only if, after their adoption, sales expanded enough to cover the upfront cost of capital. For some time, England was the only country in which sales exceeded the minimum threshold required to make adoption profitable. This fact is illustrated here by means of a detailed case study centered on the cotton industry and on the adoption of the spinning jenny in England and in France at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. By then, the sufficiently large and relatively well-off English middle class could guarantee to cotton spinners a level of sales that was not viable in France, where income was lower and more concentrated in the hands of the upper classes.Industrial Revolution, income distribution, economies of scale, choice of technique, spinning jenny
Collaborate, compete and share
We introduce and study a model of an interacting population of agents who
collaborate in groups which compete for limited resources. Groups are formed by
random matching agents and their worth is determined by the sum of the efforts
deployed by agents in group formation. Agents, on their side, have to share
their effort between contributing to their group's chances to outcompete other
groups and resource sharing among partners, when the group is successful. A
simple implementation of this strategic interaction gives rise to static and
evolutionary properties with a very rich phenomenology. A robust emerging
feature is the coexistence in the population of agents who invest mainly in the
success of their group and agents who concentrate in getting the largest share
of their group's profits.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, published versio
The scientific influence of nations on global scientific and technological development
Determining how scientific achievements influence the subsequent process of
knowledge creation is a fundamental step in order to build a unified ecosystem
for studying the dynamics of innovation and competitiveness. Relying separately
on data about scientific production on one side, through bibliometric
indicators, and about technological advancements on the other side, through
patents statistics, gives only a limited insight on the key interplay between
science and technology which, as a matter of fact, move forward together within
the innovation space. In this paper, using citation data of both research
papers and patents, we quantify the direct influence of the scientific outputs
of nations on further advancements in science and on the introduction of new
technologies. Our analysis highlights the presence of geo-cultural clusters of
nations with similar innovation system features, and unveils the heterogeneous
coupled dynamics of scientific and technological advancements. This study
represents a step forward in the buildup of an inclusive framework for
knowledge creation and innovation
Dynamics in the Fitness-Income plane: Brazilian states vs World countries
In this paper we introduce a novel algorithm, called Exogenous Fitness, to calculate the Fitness of subnational entities and we apply it to the states of Brazil. In the last decade, several indices were introduced to measure the competitiveness of countries by looking at the complexity of their export basket. Tacchella et al (2012) developed a non-monetary metric called Fitness. In this paper, after an overview about Brazil as a whole and the comparison with the other BRIC countries, we introduce a new methodology based on the Fitness algorithm, called Exogenous Fitness. Combining the results with the Gross Domestic Product per capita (GDPp), we look at the dynamics of the Brazilian states in the Fitness-Income plane. Two regimes are distinguishable: one with high predictability and the other with low predictability, showing a deep analogy with the heterogeneous dynamics of the World countries. Furthermore, we compare the ranking of the Brazilian states according to the Exogenous Fitness with the ranking obtained through two other techniques, namely Endogenous Fitness and Economic Complexity Index
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