What determines productivity level in the long run? Evidence from Italians regions

In this paper we estimate the long-run relationship between total factor productivity, R&D capital stock and human capital in the Italian regions between 1980 and 2001. We exploit recent developments of panel cointegration techniques to estimate the cointegration relationship, allowing for endogeneity and heterogeneity of regional cointegration vectors. The evidence shows that there exists a long-run equilibrium among the variables and that human capital elasticity is larger than R&D elasticity. Conditioned on the long-run equilibrium, we set out an Error Correction Model of TFP growth. In this framework, we test for exogeneity of TFP determinants, by carrying out Granger-causality tests. Our findings show that human capital is exogenously generated out of the model, while TFP and R&D are simultaneously determined.

Approccio olistico alla selezione dei materiali nel settore industriale professionale

Materials selection heavily influences the product success on the market and represents one of the factors that contribute in pre-evaluating the performance and impact of each component during the life cycle of the product. The research, in collaboration with the Chemistry, Material and Chemical Engineering Department "Giulio Natta" and Electrolux Professional S.p.A., is applied to the field of professional food processing and laundry appliances and has the aim to develop a versatile materials selection method that could help engineers and designers in evaluating quantitative and qualitative properties of materials. The innovative method wants to overcome the limits of the selection methods currently applied in the field, correlating materials technical properties with the sensorial ones (visual, tactile and auditory). The evaluation of user-interaction aspects with the products would highlight which sensorial properties are involved in the user-experience with the materials the components are made of, and how they influence the quality perception of the product

Emerging Markets Spreads and Global Financial Conditions

In this article, we analyse how much of the reduction in emerging markets spreads can be ascribed to specific factors - linked to the improvement in the 'fundamentals' of a given country - rather than to common factors - linked to global liquidity conditions and agentsÂ’ degree of risk aversion. By means of factor analysis, we find that a single common factor is able to explain a large part of the co-variation in emerging market economies spreads observed in the last four years; on its turn, this common factor might be traced back mainly to financial markets volatility. Due to the particularly benign global financial conditions in recent years, spreads seem to have declined to levels lower than those warranted by improved fundamentals. As a consequence, EMEs do remain vulnerable to sudden shift in financial market conditions.emerging markets, spreads, factor analysis

What determines productivity level in the long run? Evidence from Italians regions

In this paper we estimate the long-run relationship between total factor productivity, R&D capital stock and human capital in the Italian regions between 1980 and 2001. We exploit recent developments of panel cointegration techniques to estimate the cointegration relationship, allowing for endogeneity and heterogeneity of regional cointegration vectors. The evidence shows that there exists a long-run equilibrium among the variables and that human capital elasticity is larger than R&D elasticity. Conditioned on the long-run equilibrium, we set out an Error Correction Model of TFP growth. In this framework, we test for exogeneity of TFP determinants, by carrying out Granger-causality tests. Our findings show that human capital is exogenously generated out of the model, while TFP and R&D are simultaneously determined

La ricerca empirica in materia di droga

L’articolo discute alcuni elementi di metodo da tenere presenti nell’ambito dello studio dei fenomeni connessi alla droga. Prioritaria al riguardo è la considerazione di tale fenomeno criminale come “reato senza vittima” e la preponderante presenza della cifra oscura. Le soluzioni adottate per bilanciare questi e altri problemi tipici includono la rigorosa definizione logico/semantica dei termini oggetto di studio e il ricorso a criteri di analisi mutuati da altre discipline, su tutti la demografia e la topografia urbana. Di particolare importanza l’adozione di criteri correttivi dei dati offerti dalle statistiche ufficiali, consistenti nella proiezione ragionata degli indicatori raccolti per un numero di situazioni equivalenti riconosciute a partire dall’accurato esame di casi particolari. Inoltre la selezione nell’ambito delle basi di dati di sottoinsiemi limitati di controllo (estratti in maniera da essere esenti da possibili azioni di filtraggio più o meno consapevole) consente la validazione dei risultati raccolti e la valutazione di possibili ulteriori spunti di ricerca

Emerging market spreads in the recent financial turmoil

This work examines how much of the variation in emerging market economies' (EMEs) spreads can be ascribed to 'country-specific' factors rather than to 'common' factors, once the existence of an interaction between the state of macroeconomic fundamentals and global financial conditions is properly taken into account. By means of factor analysis we find that a single common factor is able to explain a large part of the covariation in EME spreads in the period January 1998-June 2008; in turn, the common factor can be traced back mainly to financial market volatility. Once we have controlled for a set of idiosyncratic macroeconomic fundamentals, the common factor turns out to be a significant determinant of EME spread variations in the recent period of financial turmoil. Finally, the interaction term between global financial conditions and the state of macroeconomic fundamentals plays a significant role in most of the countries, allowing us to show that, for some less virtuous economies, the negative effects of a worsening of global conditions have been magnified by weakening domestic macroeconomic fundamentals.Sovereign spreads, emerging markets, factor analysis, international finance

Child labor and household poverty in Argentina

El modelo de Basu y Van (1998) plantea a nivel teórico la llamada hipótesis de lujo según la cual los hogares están comandados por padres altruistas y pobres que recurren al trabajo infantilcomo estrategia deescape dela pobreza. Según esteenfoque, si la economía está en una situación deequilibrio múltiple, puede ocurrir quela aplicación efectiva de las leyes que prohíben el trabajo infantil provoque un empeoramiento del bienestar delos hogares y aumentela pobreza. Con datos dela Encuesta de Actividades de Niños, Niñas y Adolescentes realizada en la Argentina en 2004, seexplora empíricamentela hipótesis de padres altruistas examinando en qué medida la pobreza monetaria y las privaciones materiales pueden considerarse determinantes de la participación económica de niñas, niños y adolescentes.The model of Basu and Van (1998) presents, at a theoretical level, the so-called luxury hypothesis, according to which households are headed by altruistic and poor parents who recur to child labor as a strategy to escape poverty. This focus states that if theeconomy is in a situation of multiple equilibrium, it may happen that the effective application of laws prohibiting child labor lead to a worsening of household welfare and an increasein poverty. Using data from the Activities of Boys, Girls and Adolescentscarried out in Argentina in 2004, weexploreempirically the altruistic parent hypothesis,examining how monetary poverty and material privation can be considered determinants of economic participation by girls, boys and adolescents.Fil: Paz, Jorge Augusto. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Jurídicas y Sociales. Instituto de Estudios Laborales y del Desarrollo Económico; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Salta; ArgentinaFil: Piselli, Carolina. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Jurídicas y Sociales. Instituto de Estudios Laborales y del Desarrollo Económico; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Salta; Argentin

AGGREGATE FLUCTUATIONS IN A UNIONIZED LABOR MARKET

-

Trabajo y educación de niñas, niños y adolescentes en América Latina y el Caribe

El trabajo realizado por las niñas, niños y adolescentes es señalado en la literatura como uno de los factores con mayor impacto sobre el abandono escolar y el rendimiento académico. Si bien existe evidencia de esta relación todavía hay mucho que aportar debido a su ambigüedad relativa: Muchos estudios muestran también que el trabajo de niñas, niños y jóvenes resulta un complemento (y no un sustituto) de su formación. En este trabajo se analizan los determinantes de la asistencia escolar y del trabajo infantil y adolescente y la relación entre ambas actividades, usando datos de 9 países de la región entre principios y mediados de la presente década. Se concluye que existe un trade-off importante entre el estudio y el trabajo y que dicho trade-off es mayor entre los varones.Trabajo infantil, Educación y trabajo, América Latina