Propagation of Economic Shocks in Input-Output Networks: A Cross-Country Analysis

This paper investigates how economic shocks propagate and amplify through the input-output network connecting industrial sectors in developed economies. We study alternative models of diffusion on networks and we calibrate them using input-output data on real-world inter-sectoral dependencies for several European countries before the Great Depression. We show that the impact of economic shocks strongly depends on the nature of the shock and country size. Shocks that impact on final demand without changing production and the technological relationships between sectors have on average a large but very homogeneous impact on the economy. Conversely, when shocks change also the magnitudes of input-output across-sector interdependencies (and possibly sector production), the economy is subject to predominantly large but more heterogeneous avalanche sizes. In this case, we also find that: (i) the more a sector is globally central in the country network, the largest its impact; (ii) the largest European countries, such as those constituting the core of the European Union's economy, typically experience the largest avalanches, signaling their intrinsic higher vulnerability to economic shocks.Comment: 9 pages, 12 figures, supplemental material sectio

Bouncing solutions from generalized EoS

We present an exact analytical bouncing solution for a closed universe filled with only one exotic fluid with negative pressure, obeying a Generalized Equations of State (GEoS) of the form $P(\rho)=A\rho+B\rho^{\lambda}$, where $A$, $B$ and $\lambda$ are constants. In our solution $A=-1/3$ and $\lambda=1/2$ and $B<0$ is kept as a free parameter. For particular values of the initial conditions, we obtain that our solution obeys Null Energy Condition (NEC), which allows us to reinterpret the matter source as that of a real scalar field, $\phi$, with a positive kinetic energy and a potential $V(\phi)$. We compute numerically the scalar field as a function of time as well as its potential $V(\phi)$, and find an analytical function for the potential that fits very accurately with the numerical results obtained. The shape of this potential can be well described by a Gaussian-type of function, and hence, there is no spontaneous symmetry minimum of $V(\phi)$. We further show that the bouncing scenario is structurally stable under small variations of the parameter $A$, such that a family of bouncing solutions can be find numerically, in a small vicinity of the value $A=-1/3$.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figure

Electrokinetic and hydrodynamic properties of charged-particles systems: From small electrolyte ions to large colloids

Dynamic processes in dispersions of charged spherical particles are of importance both in fundamental science, and in technical and bio-medical applications. There exists a large variety of charged-particles systems, ranging from nanometer-sized electrolyte ions to micron-sized charge-stabilized colloids. We review recent advances in theoretical methods for the calculation of linear transport coefficients in concentrated particulate systems, with the focus on hydrodynamic interactions and electrokinetic effects. Considered transport properties are the dispersion viscosity, self- and collective diffusion coefficients, sedimentation coefficients, and electrophoretic mobilities and conductivities of ionic particle species in an external electric field. Advances by our group are also discussed, including a novel mode-coupling-theory method for conduction-diffusion and viscoelastic properties of strong electrolyte solutions. Furthermore, results are presented for dispersions of solvent-permeable particles, and particles with non-zero hydrodynamic surface slip. The concentration-dependent swelling of ionic microgels is discussed, as well as a far-reaching dynamic scaling behavior relating colloidal long- to short-time dynamics

Mass dependence of vector meson photoproduction off protons and nuclei within the energy-dependent hot-spot model

We study the photoproduction of vector mesons off proton and off nuclear targets. We work within the colour dipole model in an approach that includes subnucleon degrees of freedom, so-called hot spots, whose positions in the impact-parameter plane change event-by-event. The key feature of our model is that the number of hot spots depends on the energy of the photon--target interaction. Predictions are presented for exclusive and dissociative production of $\rho^{0}$, $\mathrm{J/}\psi$, and $\Upsilon(1S)$ off protons, as well as for coherent and incoherent photoproduction of $\rho^{0}$ off nuclear targets, where Xe, Au, and Pb nuclei are considered. We find that the mass dependence of dissociative production off protons as a function of the energy of the interaction provides a further handle to search for saturation effects at HERA, the LHC and future colliders. We also find that the coherent photonuclear production of $\rho^{0}$ is sensitive to fluctuations in the subnucleon degrees of freedom at RHIC and LHC energies.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures. Typo in legend of figs. 1 and 2 correcte