Endogenous growth and property rights over renewable resources

We study how different regimes of access rights to renewable natural resources - namely, open access versus full property rights – affect sustainability, growth and welfare in the context of modern endogenous growth theory. Resource exhaustion may occur under both regimes but is more likely to arise under open access. Moreover, under full property rights, positive resource rents increase expenditures on manufacturing goods and temporarily accelerate productivity growth, but also yield a higher resource price at least in the short-to-medium run. We characterize analytically and quantitatively the model’s dynamics to assess the welfare implications of differences in property rights enforcement

The Employment (and Output) of Nations: Theory and Policy Implications

I study a model where firms bargain with unions over wages and employment levels. This interaction generates unemployment. Households take unemployment risk as given in making their participation decisions. I am thus able to study the interactions of product and labor market institutions in a three-states representation of the labor market. Unemployment matters because is inserts a wedge between labor supply (participation) and employment. Employment matters because it determines output. I uncover two feedback mechanisms, each reinforced by endogenous participation. The firt exploits the endogeneity of the number of firms to amplify the adverse effects on output of regulations and frictions that raise labor costs, work practice rigidities and the bargaining power of workers. The second exploits the endogeneity of market size to amplify the adverse effects of product market frictions that raise the costs of entry or of operation for firms. The multiplier effects due to these feedback mechanisms have interesting implications for the current policy debate. Labor market reforms that reduce the cost of labor are actually more attractive when one considers the endogenous structure of the product market. Similarly, pro-competitive product market reforms are more attractive when one considers the positive feedback on market structure that runs through the labor marketproduct market, labor market, employment, unemployment

Corporata Taxes, Growth and Welfare in a Schumpeterian Economy

Endogenous Growth, Market Structure, Dividends, Corporate Taxes

The Employment (and Output) of Nations: Theory and Policy Implications

Product Market, Labor Market, Market Structure, Employment, Unemployment

The effect of the integration interval on the measurement accuracy of RMS values and powers in systems with nonsinusoidal waveforms

In this paper the possibility of errors in the measurement of average values (in particular rms values or active powers) in power systems under nonsinusoidal conditions are discussed. The errors considered are either due to the fact that the measurement time interval is not an exact multiple of the fundamental period of the voltage and current signals, or due to the presence of interharmonics or subharmonics. The errors are calculated and the results are illustrated by means of simple examples

Resource Wealth, Innovation and Growth in the Global Economy

We analyze the relative growth performance of open economies in a two-country model where different endowments of labor and a natural resource generate asymmetric trade. A resource-rich economy trades resource-based intermediates for final manufacturing goods produced by a resource-poor economy. Productivity growth in both countries is driven by endogenous innovations. The effects of a sudden increase in the resource endowment depend crucially on the elasticity of substitution between resources and labor in interme- diates' production. Under substitution (complementarity), the resource boom generates higher (lower) resource income, lower (higher) employment in the resource-intensive sector, higher (lower) knowledge creation and faster (slower) growth in the resource-rich economy. The resource-poor economy adjusts to the shock by raising (reducing) the relative wage, and experiences a positive (negative) growth effect that is exclusively due to trade.Endogenous Growth, Endogenous Technological Change, Natural Resources, International Trade.

Growth on a Finite Planet: Resources, Technology and Population in the Long Run

We study the interactions between technological change, resource scarcity and population dynamics in a Schumpeterian model with endogenous fertility. There exists a pseudo- Malthusian equilibrium in which population is constant and income grows exponentially: the equilibrium population level is determined by resource scarcity but is independent of technology. The stability properties are driven by (i) the income reaction to increased resource scarcity and (ii) the fertility response to income dynamics. If labor and resources are substitutes in production, income and fertility dynamics are self-balancing and the pseudo-Malthusian equilibrium is the global attractor of the system. If labor and resources are complements, income and fertility dynamics are self-reinforcing and drive the economy towards either demographic explosion or human extinction. Introducing a minimum resource requirement, we obtain a second steady state implying constant population even under complementarity. The standard result of exponential population growth appears as a rather special case of our model.Endogenous Innovation, Resource Scarcity, Population Growth, Fertility Choices

Scale Effects, An Error of Aggregation Not Specification: Empirical Evidence

In a set of influential papers, Charles Jones (1995a, 1995b, 1999) argued that R&D based endogenous growth models are inconsistent with the data. He showed, in a very striking manner, that the scale effects prediction of early endogenous growth models (e.g. Romer, 1986 and 1990, Grossman and Helpman, 1991, and Aghion and Howitt, 1992) is not borne out in the data. Standard endogenous growth models attribute constant or increasing returns in the stock of knowledge or technology to the aggregate level of resources. This assumption leads to the counterfactual prediction that the rate of productivity growth should be increasing in the aggregate amount of resources devoted to accumulating knowledge. This paper presents empirical evidence in support of R&D based endogenous growth models without scale effects (e.g. Young, 1998, Howitt, 1999, Thompson, 2001, and Peretto and Smulders, 2002). In these models the average level of workers or R&D workers per firm drives growth as opposed to the aggregate level and do not share the scale effects property in the limit. Using data for the US covering 1964-2001, we show that when the number of employees or scientists/engineers are scaled down on a per establishment basis, the empirics support the latter version of endogenous growth models. Specifically, the long-run size of establishments is stable, neither declining or growing in the long-run, where size is measured in two ways: by workers per establishment and R&D workers per establishment. Second, we demonstrate a positive effect running from average establishment size to productivity growth as predicted by the theories.

La Viticoltura in Sardegna: cenni storici ed evoluzione attuale

A Sardenya la vinya forma part encara del paisatge, se'n pot trobar una mica per tota l'illa i contribueix notablement a l'economia sarda. Estudis arqueològics recents indiquen que és possible que ja hi hagués activitat enovitícola a l'època dels nurags. Altres estudis indiquen que Sardenya va tenir un paper important en el desenvolupament de la Vitis vinifera. La seva superfície abans de la fil·loxera era de 80.000 hectàrees aproximadament i va patir una reducció molt forta a conseqüència d'aquest flagell, fins a arribar a les 26.600 actuals. A Sardenya trobem una gran riquesa de varietats de cep, però únicament unes quantes ocupen una superfície important, com són la cannonau, la vermentino, la monica, la nuragus i la carignano. L'estructura de producció és molt petita, ja que hi ha 38.000 productors per 26.000 hectàrees. I, pel que fa a l'estructura de transformació, consta actualment de 23 cellers cooperatius i 140 de privats. La producció de vi és de 508.000 hectolitres; el 66 % d'aquesta producció són vins de qualitat. La DOC1 Alghero té 1.100 hectàrees i aplega empreses vitivinícoles molt importants, com Sella & Mosca, que té una explotació de 524 hectàrees amb 132 hectàrees de torbato, o el celler cooperatiu Cantina Santa Maria la Palma, amb 320 socis i 600 hectàrees de vinya. La DOC Alghero es va constituir el 19 d'agost de 1995 i és una de les denominacions d'origen de Sardenya que té més tipus de vins diferents.En Cerdeña la viña forma parte aún del paisaje, se encuentra repartida por toda la isla y contribuye notablemente a la economía sarda. Estudios arqueológicos recientes indican que es posible que ya se hubiera producido actividad enovitícola en la época de los nuragas. Otros estudios indican que Cerdeña tuvo un papel importante en el desarrollo de la Vitis vinifera. Su superficie antes de la filoxera era de 80.000 hectáreas aproximadamente y sufrió una drástica reducción a consecuencia de este parásito hasta llegar a las 26.000 hectáreas actuales. En Cerdeña, además, encontramos una gran riqueza de viñedos, aunque solo algunos ocupan una superficie importante, como el cannonau, el vermentino, el monica, el nuragus y el carignano. La estructura de producción es pequeña: nos encontramos con 38.000 productores para 26.000 hectáreas. Y la estructura de producción la forman actualmente 23 cooperativas y 140 bodegas privadas. La producción total de vino es de 508.000 hectolitros, y el 66 % de esta producción se basa en vinos de calidad. La DOC2 Alghero tiene una superficie de 1.100 hectáreas y reúne empresas vitivinícolas muy importantes, como Sella & Mosca, que cuenta con 524 hectáreas de viña, 132 de las cuales son de torbato, y la cooperativa Cantina Santa Maria la Palma, con 320 socios que poseen 600 hectáreas de viña. La DOC Alghero se constituyó el 19 de agosto de 1995 y es una de las denominaciones de origen de Cerdeña que tiene una mayor variedad de tipos de vino