The Political Economy of Investor Protection

Why do some countries suffer from backward financial institutions and weak corporate governance rules? We show that, even if, overall, the economy would benefit corporate governance reforms, not all the agents would stand to gain from the improvement. In particular, entrepreneurs and firms that are already well-established fear better rules, which would allow the financing of new firms and enhance competition. As a consequence, industry incumbents will try to influence the political process to block the reforms. If national political institutions are weak, these efforts are likely be successful.Corporate Governance, Entry, Financial Development, Investor Protection, Politics

Public sector efficiency and political culture

The capability of a country's public sector to provide high-quality goods and services in a cost-effective way is crucial to fostering long-term growth. In this paper we study the determinants of public service efficiency (PSE) and in particular the role of citizens' political values. Indeed, we argue that citizens' willingness to invest time and effort monitoring public affairs is necessary if policy-makers are to be held accountable for what they do and deterred from wasting public resources. Contrary to other papers, our empirical analysis exploits within-country variation, therefore reducing the risk of omitted variable bias and implicitly controlling for differences in formal institutions. First, we compute PSE measures for several public services (namely education, civil justice, healthcare, childcare and waste disposal) for the 103 Italian provinces; then we show that a higher degree of political engagement increases PSE. This remains true even after controlling for the possible endogeneity of political culture. In our analysis, values specifically related to the political sphere are kept distinct from generically pro-social values. Our results suggest that the latter have no independent impact on PSE.public spending, efficiency, culture

What determines debt intolerance? The role of political and monetary institutions

Why do some states default on their debt more often than others? We argue that sovereign default is the outcome of a political struggle among different groups of citizens. It is more likely to happen if: (i) domestic debt-holders are relatively weak; (ii) the the political costs of the financial turmoil typically triggered by a sovereign bankrupcy are small. We show that these conditions are in turn more likely to be present if a country lacks a well-developed financial system and/or a sufficiently independent central bank.fiscal sustainability, political economy, bank runs, central bank independance, financial development.

What determines annuity demand at retirement?

In most advanced countries, future retirees will have to rely less on social security schemes and more on private pension plans, which mostly leave to the worker the choice between ashing-in or annuitizing pension wealth at retirement. Therefore, a better understanding of the determinants of the demand for annuities will soon become a priority. Research in this field has been hampered by lack of data (due to current market thinness) and by difficulties in disentagling demand from supply-side effects. In this paper, we avoid these problems resorting to ad hoc survey data from Italy. Our results highlight the importance of wealth, impatience, education and (to a lesser extent) financial literacy in shaping annuity demand.annuities, retirement, life cycle model

The effect of age on portfolio choices: evidence form an Italian pension fund

Optimal Portfolio Theory prescribes that investors reduce their exposure to financial market risk as they get near to retirement. To assess the effect of ageing on portfolio choices, we study the case of an Italian defined contribution pension fund during the period 2002-08. We find that on average the willingness to hold risky assets does indeed significantly decrease with age, but we also document that inertial behaviour is quite widespread, and can be very costly.pension funds, portfolio choice

Fiscal sustainability and policy implications for the euro area

In this paper we examine the sustainability of euro area public finances against the backdrop of population ageing. We critically assess the widely used projections of the Working Group on Ageing Populations (AWG) of the EU's Economic Policy Committee and argue that ageing costs may be higher than projected in the AWG reference scenario. Taking into account adjusted headline estimates for ageing costs, largely based upon the sensitivity analysis carried out by the AWG, we consider alternative indicators to quantify sustainability gaps for euro area countries. With respect to the policy implications, we assess the appropriateness of different budgetary strategies to restore fiscal sustainability taking into account intergenerational equity. Our stylised analysis based upon the lifetime contribution to the government's primary balance of different generations suggests that an important degree of pre-funding of the ageing costs is necessary to avoid shifting the burden of adjustment in a disproportionate way to future generations. For many euro area countries this implies that the medium-term targets defined in the context of the revised stability and growth pact would ideally need to be revised upwards to significant surpluses. JEL Classification: H55, H60Fiscal sustainability, generational accounting, mediumterm objectives for fiscal policy, Population ageing

Fiscal sustainability and policy implications for the euro area

In this paper we examine the sustainability of euro area public finances against the backdrop of population ageing. We critically assess the widely used projections of the Working Group on Ageing Populations (AWG) of the EU's Economic Policy Committee and argue that ageing costs may be higher than projected in the AWG reference scenario. Taking into account adjusted headline estimates for ageing costs, largely based upon the sensitivity analysis carried out by the AWG, we consider alternative indicators to quantify sustainability gaps for euro area countries. With respect to the policy implications, we assess the appropriateness of different budgetary strategies to restore fiscal sustainability taking into account intergenerational equity. Our stylised analysis based upon the lifetime contribution to the government's primary balance of different generations suggests that an important degree of pre-funding of the ageing costs is necessary to avoid shifting the burden of adjustment in a disproportionate way to future generations. For many euro area countries this implies that the medium-term targets defined in the context of the revised stability and growth pact would ideally need to be revised upwards to significant surpluses.population ageing, fiscal sustainability, generational accounting, medium-term objectives for fiscal policy

Fiscal sustainability and policy implications for the euro area

In this paper we examine the sustainability of euro area public finances against the backdrop of population ageing. We critically assess the widely used projections of the Working Group on Ageing Populations (AWG) of the EU's Economic Policy Committee and argue that ageing costs may be higher than projected in the AWG reference scenario. Taking into account adjusted headline estimates for ageing costs, largely based upon the sensitivity analysis carried out by the AWG, we consider alternative indicators to quantify sustainability gaps for euro area countries. With respect to the policy implications, we assess the appropriateness of different budgetary strategies to restore fiscal sustainability taking into account intergenerational equity. Our stylised analysis based upon the lifetime contribution to the government's primary balance of different generations suggests that an important degree of pre-funding of the ageing costs is necessary to avoid shifting the burden of adjustment in a disproportionate way to future generations. For many euro area countries this implies that the medium-term targets defined in the context of the revised stability and growth pact would ideally need to be revised upwards to significant surpluses. --population ageing,fiscal sustainability,generational accounting,medium-term objectives for fiscal policy

A power efficient frequency divider with 55 GHz self-oscillating frequency in SiGe BiCMOS

A power efficient static frequency divider in commercial 55 nm SiGe BiCMOS technology isreported. A standard Current Mode Logic (CML)-based architecture is adopted, and optimizationof layout, biasing and transistor sizes allows achieving a maximum input frequency of 63 GHz anda self-oscillating frequency of 55 GHz, while consuming 23.7 mW from a 3 V supply. This resultsin high efficiency with respect to other static frequency dividers in BiCMOS technology presentedin the literature. The divider topology does not use inductors, thus optimizing the area footprint:the divider core occupies 60×65μm2on silicon

Fiscal sustainability and policy implications for the euro area" by

Abstract In this paper we examine the sustainability of euro area public finances against the backdrop of population ageing. We critically assess the widely used projections of the Working Group on Ageing Populations (AWG) of the EU's Economic Policy Committee and argue that ageing costs may be higher than projected in the AWG reference scenario. Taking into account adjusted headline estimates for ageing costs, largely based upon the sensitivity analysis carried out by the AWG, we consider alternative indicators to quantify sustainability gaps for euro area countries. With respect to the policy implications, we assess the appropriateness of different budgetary strategies to restore fiscal sustainability taking into account intergenerational equity. Our stylised analysis based upon the lifetime contribution to the government's primary balance of different generations suggests that an important degree of pre-funding of the ageing costs is necessary to avoid shifting the burden of adjustment in a disproportionate way to future generations. For many euro area countries this implies that the medium-term targets defined in the context of the revised stability and growth pact would ideally need to be revised upwards to significant surpluses