Self-Commitment-Institutions and Cooperation in Overlapping Generations Games

This paper focuses on a two-period OLG economy with public imperfect observability over the intergenerational cooperative dimension. Individual endowment is at free disposal and perfectly observable. In this environment we study how a new mechanism, we call Self-Commitment-Institution (SCI), outperforms personal and community enforcement in achieving higher ex-ante e¢ ciency. Social norms with and without SCI are characterized. If social norms with SCI are implemented, agents might freely dispose of their endowment. As long as they reduce their marginal gain from deviation in terms of current utility, they also credibly self-commit on intergenerational cooperation. Under quite general conditions we .nd that, even if individual strategies are still characterized by behavioral uncertainty, the introduction of SCI relaxes the inclination toward opportunistic behavior and sustains higher e¢ ciency compared to social norms without SCI. We quantify the value of SCI and investigate the role of memory with di¤erent social norms. Finally, applications on intergenerational public good games and transfer games with productive SCI are providedCooperation; Free disposal; Imperfect public monitoring; Memory; Overlapping generation game; Self-Commitment Institution;

A Dynamic Politico-Economic Model of Intergenerational Contracts

This paper investigates the conditions for the emergence of implicit intergenerational contracts without assuming reputation mechanisms, commitment technology and altruism. We present a tractable dynamic politico-economic model in OLG environment where politicians play Markovian strategies in a probabilistic voting environment, setting multidimensional political agenda. Both backward and forward intergenerational transfers, respectively in the form of pension benefits and higher education investments, are simultaneously considered in an endogenous human capital setting with labor income taxation. On one hand, social security sustains investment in public education; on the other hand investment in education creates a dynamic linkage across periods through both human and physical capital driving the economy toward di¤erent Welfare State Regimes. Embedding a repeated-voting setup of electoral competition, we find that in a dynamic efficient economy both forward and backward intergenerational transfers simultaneously arise. The equilibrium allocation is education efficient, but, due to political overrepresentation of elderly agents, the electoral competition process induces overtaxation compared with a Benevolent Government solution with balanced welfare weights.aging, Benevolent Government allocation, intergenerational redistribution, Markovian equilibria, repeated voting;

Self-Commitment-Institutions and Cooperation in Overlapping Generations Games

This paper focuses on a two-period OLG economy with public imperfect observability over the intergenerational cooperative dimension. Individual endowment is at free disposal and perfectly observable. In this environment we study how a new mechanism, we call Self-Commitment-Institution (SCI), outperforms personal and community enforcement in achieving higher ex-ante efficiency. Social norms with and without SCI are characterized. If social norms with SCI are implemented, agents might freely dispose of their endowment. As long as they reduce their marginal gain from deviation in terms of current utility, they also credibly self-commit on intergenerational cooperation. Under quite general conditions we find that, even if individual strategies are still characterized by behavioral uncertainty, the introduction of SCI relaxes the inclination toward opportunistic behavior and sustains higher efficiency compared to social norms without SCI. We quantify the value of SCI and investigate the role of memory with different social norms. Finally, applications on intergenerational public good games and transfer games with productive SCI are provided.Cooperation, Free disposal, Imperfect public monitoring, Memory, Overlapping generation game, Self-Commitment Institution

A Dynamic Politico-Economic Model of Intergenerational Contracts

This paper investigates the conditions for the emergence of implicit intergenerational contracts without assuming reputation mechanisms, commitment technology and altruism. We present a tractable dynamic politico-economic model in OLG environment where politicians play Markovian strategies in a probabilistic voting environment, setting multidimensional political agenda. Both backward and forward intergenerational transfers, respectively in the form of pension benefits and higher education investments, are simultaneously considered in an endogenous human capital setting with labor income taxation. On the one hand, social security sustains investment in public education; on the other hand investment in education creates a dynamic linkage across periods through both human and physical capital driving the economy toward different Welfare State Regimes. Embedding a repeated-voting setup of electoral competition, we find that in a dynamic efficient economy both forward and backward intergenerational transfers simultaneously arise. The equilibrium allocation is education efficient, but, due to political overrepresentation of elderly agents, the electoral competition process induces overtaxation compared with a Benevolent Government solution with balanced welfare weights.aging, Benevolent Government allocation, intergenerational redistribution, Markovian equilibria, repeated voting.

The positive impact of physical activity on working memory abilities: Evidence from a large Italian pre-adolescent sample

Physical activity (PA) is an essential component of people's well-being. Copious evidence argues for its protective effect across individuals' lifespan. However, its role as a factor of enhancement for human cognitive skills is still a matter of study. The present work aims to provide conclusive evidence about PA's role in modulating working memory skills in active pre-adolescent children. By enrolling a large number of participants, we tested the effect of PA on Digit Span Backwards (DSB), a well-consolidated test taxing primarily short-term auditory memory, i.e., less dependent on attention fluctuations. Higher working memory capacity was assumed to emerge in the participants practising PA compared to the less active ones. Moreover, due to the different activities participants reported to practice, we expected that children practising open-skill activities manifested better memory skills than the peers practising closed-skill activities, due to the intrinsic nature of the two forms of exercises. Data supported the previous hypothesis highlighting PA's positive effect; however, they did not keep the assumed differences for open vs closed skills. Results are discussed in the light of the cognitive efforts required to sport beginners, particularly in the light of what they are prompted to code, remember and recall in each step of the proposed exercises

Advances in the genetics of hypertension: The effect of rare variants

Worldwide, hypertension still represents a serious health burden with nine million people dying as a consequence of hypertension-related complications. Essential hypertension is a complex trait supported by multifactorial genetic inheritance together with environmental factors. The heritability of blood pressure (BP) is estimated to be 30–50%. A great effort was made to find genetic variants affecting BP levels through Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS). This approach relies on the “common disease–common variant” hypothesis and led to the identification of multiple genetic variants which explain, in aggregate, only 2–3% of the genetic variance of hypertension. Part of the missing genetic information could be caused by variants too rare to be detected by GWAS. The use of exome chips and Next-Generation Sequencing facilitated the discovery of causative variants. Here, we report the advances in the detection of novel rare variants, genes, and/or pathways through the most promising approaches, and the recent statistical tests that have emerged to handle rare variants. We also discuss the need to further support rare novel variants with replication studies within larger consortia and with deeper functional studies to better understand how new genes might improve patient care and the stratification of the response to antihypertensive treatments

A Dynamic Politico-Economic Model of Intergenerational Contracts

This paper investigates the conditions for the emergence of implicit intergenerational contracts without assuming reputation mechanisms, commitment technology and altruism. We present a tractable dynamic politico-economic model in OLG environment where politicians play Markovian strategies in a probabilistic voting environment, setting multidimensional political agenda. Both backward and forward intergenerational transfers, respectively in the form of pension benefits and higher education investments, are simultaneously considered in an endogenous human capital setting with labor income taxation. On the one hand, social security sustains investment in public education; on the other hand investment in education creates a dynamic linkage across periods through both human and physical capital driving the economy toward different Welfare State Regimes. Embedding a repeated-voting setup of electoral competition, we find that in a dynamic efficient economy both forward and backward intergenerational transfers simultaneously arise. The equilibrium allocation is education efficient, but, due to political overrepresentation of elderly agents, the electoral competition process induces overtaxation compared with a Benevolent Government solution with balanced welfare weights

A Dynamic Politico-Economic Model of Intergenerational Contracts

This paper investigates the conditions for the emergence of implicit intergenerational contracts without assuming reputation mechanisms, commitment technology and altruism. We present a tractable dynamic politico-economic model in OLG environment where politicians play Markovian strategies in a probabilistic voting environment, setting multidimensional political agenda. Both backward and forward intergenerational transfers, respectively in the form of pension benefits and higher education investments, are simultaneously considered in an endogenous human capital setting with labor income taxation. On the one hand, social security sustains investment in public education; on the other hand investment in education creates a dynamic linkage across periods through both human and physical capital driving the economy toward different Welfare State Regimes. Embedding a repeated-voting setup of electoral competition, we find that in a dynamic efficient economy both forward and backward intergenerational transfers simultaneously arise. The equilibrium allocation is education efficient, but, due to political overrepresentation of elderly agents, the electoral competition process induces overtaxation compared with a Benevolent Government solution with balanced welfare weights

Electrochemical CO2 conversion in Ionic Liquid-based electrolytes

The exponential increase in the concentration of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere is considered one of the most important reasons for climate change. Carbon Dioxide is the most significant anthropogenic gas that contributes to global warming. CO2 capture and storage (CCS) has been proposed as one of the most important invention to mitigate CO2 emissions. Moreover, conversion of carbon dioxide into energy-rich chemicals is a viable approach to reducing the global carbon footprint. The most common techniques to remove CO2 from gas streams are the chemical and physical adsorption by liquid solvents. Traditionally, aqueous amine solutions have been used as chemical solvents because of their high selectivity, high reactivity and low price. Unfortunately, they present also many disadvantages associated with the high energy demand required for the solvent regeneration, corrosion issues and loss of solvent because of their high volatility. Hence, in the need to find more efficient solvents for CO2 capture and conversion, Ionic Liquids (ILs) have been highlighted as very good alternatives to common amine solution.[1] Within this field lies this research, which in turn is part of a much broader European project called SunCoChem. For this project we are testing the stability and performance of various ionic liquids, provided by Iolitec, Ionic Liquids Technologies GmbH, and in particular their ability to capture and electrochemically convert a pure CO2 stream to CO with high efficiencies. The ionic liquids were tested in a two-compartment H-type electrochemical cell. In the anodic chamber a nickel mesh electrode was immersed in a solution of potassium hydroxide and in the cathodic one a silver foil cathode was employed in a solution of acetonitrile and ionic liquid. An organic solvent was used to favor the dissolution of the ionic liquid and the homogenization of the solution. Other organic solvents such as propylene carbonate, ethylene glycol and 1-butanol were also tested with the aim of finding the best compromise between low viscosity, good conductivity and high electrochemical stability window. The Ionic Liquids (ILs) tested so far have a cationic part based on imidazole, which is expected to stabilize and lower the activation energy for the reduction of CO2. During Linear Sweep Voltammetry (LSV) tests this trend was confirmed by a shift to more positive potentials of the onset (~ 0.5V) for the CO2 reduction reaction in the presence of these Ionic Liquid and interesting value of current density were reached. Throughout the Chronopotentiometry (CP) studies, some ILs evidenced a decrease in the applied potential indicating the increase of the electrolyte conductivity. Our results evidence relevant current density values, a good stability during chronopotentiometry (CP) tests and a high selectivity towards the target product: CO, which however change depending on the used IL. AKCNOWLEDGMENT: The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Action programme under the SunCoChem project (Grant Agreement No 862192). REFERENCES: [1] Shokat Sarmad et al, Carbon Dioxide Capture with Ionic Liquids and Deep Eutectic Solvents: A New Generation of Sorbents, 2016, https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.20160098