The Importance of Composition of Fiscal Policy: Evidence from Different Exchange Rate Regimes

We study the macroeconomic effects of fiscal policies in an open economy. We emphasize two transmission mechanisms: the cost channel, by which wage government spending and labor taxes raise the real wage firms must pay, and the exchange rate channel, by which the nominal exchange rate shifts induced by fiscal policy have real effects if (some) prices and wage are sticky. The latter channel implies that changes in wage government spending or in labor taxation should have different effects under flexible than under fixed exchange rates. In a 1964-93 panel of OECD countries we find significant evidence for both channels. Moreover, we find that the real product wage and profitability are more responsive than quantities (employment and output) to fiscal policy innovations.

A comparison of calculated and measured background noise rates in hard X-ray telescopes at balloon altitude

An actively shielded hard X-ray astronomical telescope has been flown on stratospheric balloons. An attempt is made to compare the measured spectral distribution of the background noise counting rates over the energy loss range 20-300 keV with the contributions estimated from a series of Monte Carlo and other computations. The relative contributions of individual particle interactions are assessed

Capital regulation and tail risk

The paper studies risk mitigation associated with capital regulation, in a context when banks may choose tail risk assets. We show that this undermines the traditional result that higher capital reduces excess risk-taking driven by limited liability. When capital raising is costly, poorly capitalized banks may limit risk to avoid breaching the minimal capital ratio. A bank with higher capital has less chance of breaching the ratio, so may actually take more risk. As a result, banks which have access to tail risk projects may take greater risk when highly capitalized. The results are consistent with stylized facts about pre-crisis bank behavior, and suggest implications for the optimal design of capital regulation

BREVETTI STANDARD ESSENTIAL E RIFIUTO DI LICENZA

Questa tesi si occupa dei brevetti essenziali per l\u2019attuazione degli standard tecnici, e in particolare della liceit\ue0 ai sensi del diritto antitrust dell\u2019esercizio dei diritti di esclusiva spettanti in forza di questi brevetti. Dopo aver verificato (nel cap. I) che la natura standard essential di un brevetto pu\uf2 avere incidenza sul conseguimento da parte del titolare di una posizione dominante ex art. 102 TFUE, ed escluso tuttavia tuttavia che su questa natura possa fondarsi una presunzione di dominanza, il lavoro prosegue (al cap. II) con un esame dei criteri interpretativi tradizionalmente utilizzati dalla giurisprudenza dell\u2019Unione Europea in relazione alle ipotesi di rifiuto di licenza opposto da imprese in posizione dominante, nonch\ue9 di quelli specificamente adottati con riguardo a brevetti standard essential. Da questo esame emerge che l\u2019assoggettabilit\ue0 al diritto antitrust del rifiuto di licenza riguardante brevetti essenziali per standard formali \ue8 maggiore rispetto a quella del rifiuto riguardante brevetti essenziali per standard di fatto. Infine la tesi (cap. III) si dedica allo studio delle condizioni alle quali l\u2019esercizio dell\u2019azione inibitoria da parte del titolare di un brevetto standard essential deve qualificarsi come rifiuto di licenza illecito ai sensi del diritto antitrust, rilevando una tendenza delle decisioni degli organi giurisdizionali nazionali, della Commissione e della Corte di Giustizia ad attribuire al riguardo rilievo determinante alla posizione soggettiva delle parti nel contesto delle trattative relative alla licenza e, al contempo, l\u2019opportunit\ue0 dell\u2019adozione di interpretazioni che valorizzino il pi\uf9 possibile elementi oggettivi.This thesis deals with patents which are essential for the implementation of technical standards and, in particular, with the lawfulness under antitrust law of exercising the exclusive rights appertaining to such patents. After ascertaining (Chapter I) that the standard essential nature of a patent may affect the holder\u2019s attainment of a dominant position under art. 102 TFEU, but ruling out the possibility of a presumption of dominance being based on said nature, the work goes on to examine (Chapter II) the interpretative criteria traditionally used by the EU Courts in relation to refusal by companies in a dominant position to grant licences, as well as those specifically adopted in relation to standard essential patents. This examination reveals that refusal to grant a license on patents essential for formal standards is more likely to be considered unlawful under antitrust law than such refusal in relation to patents essential for de facto standards. The thesis concludes (Chapter III) by studying the conditions according to which refusal on the part of the holder of a standard essential patent must be considered unlawful refusal to grant a licence under antitrust law, pointing out a trend in the decisions of the national courts, the Commission and the Court of Justice to give decisive importance in this regard to the subjective position of the parties in licence negotiations and, at the same time, the advisability of adopting interpretations which valorize objective elements as much as possible

PSI-based methodology to land subsidence mechanism recognition

Abstract. A methodology based on Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) is proposed in order to disentangle the contribution of different processes that act at different spatio-temporal scales in land subsidence (i.e. vadose zone processes as swelling/shrinkage of clay soils, soil consolidation and fluid extraction). The methodology was applied in different Italian geological contexts characterized by natural and anthropic processes (i.e. a Prealpine valley and the Po Plain in northern Italy)