The hub continent? Immigrant networks, emigrant diasporas and FDI

This paper studies the effects of immigrant networks on the bilateral FDI of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, and, for Italy and Spain, also of the emigrant diasporas. It analyses the effects of skilled and unskilled immigrants and of networks linked to developing and developed countries. Results show that the FDIs of the UK, Germany and France are affected by the networks of skilled immigrants, while those of Italy and Spain are prompted only by the emigrant diasporas. Networks linked to OECD and non-OECD countries have similar effectsmigration, networks, skills, diasporas, FDI

The hub continent? Immigrant networks, emigrant diasporas and FDI

This paper studies the effects of immigrant networks on the bilateral FDI of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, and, for Italy and Spain, also of the emigrant diasporas. It analyses the effects of skilled and unskilled immigrants and of networks linked to developing and developed countries. Results show that the FDIs of the UK, Germany and France are affected by the networks of skilled immigrants, while those of Italy and Spain are prompted only by the emigrant diasporas. Networks linked to OECD and non-OECD countries have similar effectsmigration, networks, skills, diasporas, FDI

Migrant Business Networks and FDI

This paper studies the effects of migration on the bilateral FDI of four European countries, Germany, Italy, France and the U.K. It is based on four distinct datasets with time spans going from 1990 to 2004. It focuses on the impact on FDI of skilled and less-skilled immigrants and on the networks’ ties with the less developed countries. Results are that the effects of skilled immigrants are positive and robust for both inward and outward FDI, and that networks linked to the developing countries mostly have stronger effects on the outward FDI than those related to the developed economies.Migrant Business Networks, Skills, FDI

Industrial Symbiotic Networks as Coordinated Games

We present an approach for implementing a specific form of collaborative industrial practices-called Industrial Symbiotic Networks (ISNs)-as MC-Net cooperative games and address the so called ISN implementation problem. This is, the characteristics of ISNs may lead to inapplicability of fair and stable benefit allocation methods even if the collaboration is a collectively desired one. Inspired by realistic ISN scenarios and the literature on normative multi-agent systems, we consider regulations and normative socioeconomic policies as two elements that in combination with ISN games resolve the situation and result in the concept of coordinated ISNs.Comment: 3 pages, Proc. of the 17th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS 2018

The Federal Funds Rate and the Conduction of the International Orchestra

In the first ten years of EMU, monetary policy choices of the European Central Bank (ECB) in setting the short-term interest rate have followed, systematically, monetary policy decisions made by the Federal Reserve System (Fed). For, despite the presence of variable lags with respect to Fed decisions, turning points of European short-term interest rates have been largely anticipated by movements in the federal funds rate. In this paper we show that, in the context of a bivariate cointegrated system, a clear long-run US dominance emerges. Moreover, the structural analysis reveals that a permanent increase in the federal funds rate causes a permanent one-for-one movement in the eonia rate.Monetary policy; Identification; Structural Cointegrated VARs

A Catalytic and Selective Scissoring Molecular Tool for Quadruplex Nucleic Acids

A copper complex embedded in the structure of a water-soluble naphthalene diimide has been designed to bind and cleave G-quadruplex DNA. We describe the properties of this ligand, including its catalytic activity in the generation of ROS. FRET melting, CD, NMR, gel sequencing, and mass spectrometry experiments highlight a unique and unexpected selectivity in cleaving G-quadruplex sequences. This selectivity relies both on the binding affinity and structural features of the targeted G-quadruplexes

The Attractiveness of Countries for FDI. A Fuzzy Approach

This paper presents a new method for measuring the attractiveness of countries for FDI. A ranking is built using a fuzzy expert system whereby the function producing the final evaluation is not necessarily linear and the weights of the variables, usually defined numerically, are replaced by linguistic rules. More precisely, weights derive from expert opinions and from econometric tests on the determinants of countries’ FDI. As a second step, the view-point of investors from two different investing economies, the UK and Italy, are taken into account. Country-specific factors, such as the geographic, cultural and institutional distances existing between the investing and the partner economies are included in the analysis. This shows how the base ranking changes with the investor’s perspectiveforeign direct investments; fuzzy expert systems; attractiveness;

Political institutions and central bank independence revisited

We build on earlier studies regarding Central Bank independence (CBI) by relating it to political, institutional and economic variables. The data suggest that CBI is positively related to the presence of federalism, the features of the electoral system and parties, the correlation between the shocks to the level of economic activity in the countries included in the sample and, for a sub-sample of economies, the convergence criteria to join the European Monetary Union (EMU).ICentral Bank independence; institutional systems; variable selection

The Italian Labour Market and the Crisis

The aim of this paper is to analyse the effects of the crisis on the Italian labour market. The Italian labour market is characterized by deep gender differences and regional variability. The data show that the crisis lead to an increase in the gap of female employment rates and women?s inactivity rates with respect to Europe. The North of Italy experienced a higher increase in unemployment than the South, where many people withdrew from the labour market because of poor employment prospects. Moreover, in Italy, the increase in unemployment has been mitigated by the increase in the number of workers having access to the wage supplementation fund who are not computed within the unemployed. However, the heterogeneity in the system of unemployment benefits increased inequalities amongst the unemployed. Using a micro simulation techniques, we estimate the effect of the crisis on income distribution and poverty and find that at the national level, the population showed a reduction in equivalised household income by about 1 percent. The limited impact on household?s equivalent income can be connected to the relatively high share of unemployed who are young with relatively low income and sustained by other members of the householdlabour market, poverty, economic crisis

Immigrants, schooling and background. Cross-country evidence from PISA 2006

Using data from PISA 2006, we examine the performance of immigrant students in different international educational environments. Our results show smaller immigrant gaps – differences in scores with respect to natives - where educational systems are more flexible and students’ mobility between courses and school programs is higher. Unlike previous studies, our analysis reveals no direct relation between these gaps and education models, be they comprehensive or tracking, adopted by countriesInternational migration; educational systems; PISA;