Improving the Relationship between Welfare Economics and Ethics

In this essay, the essential aspects of Welfare Economics are summarized in order to analyse the possible links with Ethics, and consequently to provide useful suggestions for Economic Policy. The Introduction contains the principles of neoclassical Welfare Economics, without considering the circumstances in which the so‑called failures of competitive markets occur. The second part of this paper contains a description of two possible solutions to the problem concerning the integration of Welfare Economics and Ethics. The first solution is the determination of the optimal combination of general competitive equilibrium principles and social ethics ones, without removing the theoretical structure of Welfare Economics. This first proposal, while retaining some economic liberalism principles, assigns a central role to the government, which is delegated to superimpose on the Pareto criterion a distributive justice rule. Another solution, which is suggested by Sen, is essentially directed to modify Welfare Economics by ethical criteria aimed at improving every individual deprivation, and it is based on the distinction between the two concepts of ‘utility’ and ‘agency’. We also proposed exploiting the original considerations written by Smith about social aspects as a useful integration and support to Sen’s approach.The “Annales. Ethics in Economic Life” is affiliated and co-financed by the Faculty of Economics and Sociology of the University of Lodz

AMERICAN AND ITALIAN PERSPECTIVES ON PUBLIC AND PRIVATE EDUCATION CHOICES

This work is based on the analysis of the public and private support to education and human capital development in two specific national contexts: the U.S. and Italy. Recent researches have firmly demonstrated the value of higher levels of education for socio-economic development, poverty reduction, higher incomes, employment and eliminating child labour, gender equality. The increased competition and globalization of economic activity, acceleration in technological and scientific knowledge, information revolution and more recently the worldwide economic recession continue to raise the value of education and training in preparing individuals for future employment, upgrading skills for greater workplace mobility, and underpinning wealth creation and economic development through human capital formation. The International Labour Organization (2010) has pointed out the key role played by higher levels of education and skills training in employment and social protection policies. In the Western world, the education industry is complex and diverse. It combines a dominant public sector of schools and universities and community colleges which educate the majority of students; a varied private sector mainly consists of nonprofit organizations that encompass some of the world's most elite education and scientific institutes. The importance of education for economic growth and development is well documented from a historical and economic standpoints. In this research we examine some evolving relationships between the marketplace, the state, and education institutions, knowing that the context of these relations has evolved strikingly in recent years, which have seen three major developments: a growing system differentiation, changing governance patterns, and a diminished direct involvement of governments in the funding and provision of education. Therefore, we are interested in understanding on one hand the possible evolution of the studied phenomenon, and on the other if the experience of a leading country as the U.S. may represent a useful starting point of imitation. So that, our analysis is focused on the investigation, through a period of ten years, of students enrollment according to the willingness to invest in education, independently of the resources needed. In particular, we use the Box-Jenkins methodology to fit data by using an ARIMA model and in order to achieve more information about the phenomenon. Our findings show a similar trend over time both for public and private enrollments although backgrounds and rules are very different in the two nations considered.human capital, public and private education, time series analysis.

INTERNATIONALIZATION AND INNOVATION: THE CHALLENGES FOR EUROPE IN A CHANGING WORLD

A large part of the economic literature is unanimous in believing technological progress and openness to foreign trade are key variables to trigger the processes of stable and persistent economic growth. An in-depth analysis of these factors, thus, becomes necessary both to meet the challenges of the international market, and to strengthen the European integration process. This paper aims to provide an empirical analysis of the interaction between foreign trade and technological progress by performing a multidimensional scaling. This technique is used to produce a graphical representation of the 27 EU member states, in accordance to the degree of similarity or dissimilarity between them. The indicators used, and the indexes calculated, reflect the different degree of internationalization of each country's economy, the regulation of trade flows, investment in specific R&D and technological progress.International trade, integration, technological progress

FROM INDUSTRIAL DISTRICTS TO FIRMS NETWORKS: THE ITALIAN CASE

The local source for competitiveness is vital to achieve static and dynamic economies of scale for firms; it is useful to interact with the aim of learning and innovating. The local system can create benefit by opening to international markets and it should be a good source of knowledge and technology. Nowadays, the concept of industrial district, usually characterized by the spatial proximity of the involved firms, may evolve into firms network; this may emphasize the advantages deriving from cooperation, without the need of spatial proximity. Firms networks may represent the evolution of industrial districts, where territoriality is overcome by the dissolution of borders. The importance of firms networks is increased since they intensify information exchange, continuous learning, stimulate economies of scale, allow economic development and give more market opportunities. Firms networks share different aims, resource, common interests and factors, like material and immaterial inputs and outputs. This new form of cooperation may allow to overcome physical distance and replicate knowledge and information. Firms networks may represent a success organizational forms that may give impetus to development in an economy. They are based on mutual trust between partners and are created over time to facilitate information circulation, knowledge dissemination and innovation. Trust reduces uncertainty and transaction cost and limits the opportunistic behaviour by free-rider agents. The aim of the paper is to assess the determinants for firms networks training in the Italian context using regional data. Particularly, the firms networks development needs key factors such as ICTs diffusion, high rate of social security, open capability, RxD activities. These factor constitute the basis for a new kind of capital, the so called “network capital”. It consists of collaborative practices in a network as the result of cooperation in the ICTs era. Network capital may be considered as social capital evolution in a globalized context. The entrance in the knowledge economy era, in which technological advancement runs very quickly and the pace of innovation is intensified, significantly reduces the exploitation of competitive advantages. Industrial districts, therefore, should develop, improve and change their shape in a new competitive environment, where the globalization of markets cancels the boundaries of many firms that collaborate beyond national boundaries. The paper analyzes the firms networks determinant for Italian regions and the role of network capital as pre-condition for their development. The multidimensional scaling analysis it the chosen methodology that allows us to identify the relations among Italian regions in terms of proximity/distance with respect to considered determinants, and to provide a spatial representation of them

Stay or emigrate? How social capital influences selective migration in Italy

ABSTRACTInternal migration in Italy has been characterised by deep changes in its composition, because of the growing share of high-skilled migrants (the emigration of which contributes to widening the internal brain drain) and the decreasing proportion of low-skilled migrants. Furthermore, recent interest in the literature in the role played by noneconomic elements in affecting migration decisions has highlighted the importance of a nonpecuniary factor, namely social capital (SC). For these reasons, this paper empirically investigates the role played by SC in interprovincial selective migration, considering migrants according to two education levels using data on 103 Italian provinces (2004–2012). The main findings reveal that provincial SC mainly contributes to reducing the migration flows of low-skilled individuals, albeit while also deterring the emigration of high-skilled individuals. Control variables confirm that better income conditions represent an important determinant of high-skilled migrants most likely because they seek to earn more, while better socioeconomic conditions such as labour market efficiency mostly influence those with a lower level of education

The Chinese Inland-Coastal Inequality: The Role of Human Capital and the 2007–2008 Crisis Watershed

We investigate the role of human capital (HC) in the Chinese inland-coastal inequality and, related to this, how the consequences of the 2007–2008 crisis may induce China to re-focus its development path on HC. We compare panel data analyses for two periods (1998–2008 and 2009–2017) for two diverging groups of provinces (the richer/coastal and the relatively poor/inland areas). In the first period, the economic strengths that influenced the Chinese take-off and the dualism are confirmed. However, the results show that an evolution in local economic endowments is taking place: first, HC has a more evident economic effect after the crisis only in the inland provinces; second, the development path of the inland area is changing, with an evolution towards more productive sectors which can favor higher returns to HC

AMERICAN AND ITALIAN PERSPECTIVES ON PUBLIC AND PRIVATE EDUCATION CHOICES

This work is based on the analysis of the public and private support to education and human capital development in two specific national contexts: the U.S. and Italy. Recent researches have firmly demonstrated the value of higher levels of education for socio-economic development, poverty reduction, higher incomes, employment and eliminating child labour, gender equality. The increased competition and globalization of economic activity, acceleration in technological and scientific knowledge, information revolution and more recently the worldwide economic recession continue to raise the value of education and training in preparing individuals for future employment, upgrading skills for greater workplace mobility, and underpinning wealth creation and economic development through human capital formation. The International Labour Organization (2010) has pointed out the key role played by higher levels of education and skills training in employment and social protection policies. In the Western world, the education industry is complex and diverse. It combines a dominant public sector of schools and universities and community colleges which educate the majority of students; a varied private sector mainly consists of nonprofit organizations that encompass some of the world's most elite education and scientific institutes. The importance of education for economic growth and development is well documented from a historical and economic standpoints. In this research we examine some evolving relationships between the marketplace, the state, and education institutions, knowing that the context of these relations has evolved strikingly in recent years, which have seen three major developments: a growing system differentiation, changing governance patterns, and a diminished direct involvement of governments in the funding and provision of education. Therefore, we are interested in understanding on one hand the possible evolution of the studied phenomenon, and on the other if the experience of a leading country as the U.S. may represent a useful starting point of imitation. So that, our analysis is focused on the investigation, through a period of ten years, of students enrollment according to the willingness to invest in education, independently of the resources needed. In particular, we use the Box-Jenkins methodology to fit data by using an ARIMA model and in order to achieve more information about the phenomenon. Our findings show a similar trend over time both for public and private enrollments although backgrounds and rules are very different in the two nations considered

INTERNATIONALIZATION AND INNOVATION: THE CHALLENGES FOR EUROPE IN A CHANGING WORLD

A large part of the economic literature is unanimous in believing technological progress and openness to foreign trade are key variables to trigger the processes of stable and persistent economic growth. An in-depth analysis of these factors, thus, becomes necessary both to meet the challenges of the international market, and to strengthen the European integration process. This paper aims to provide an empirical analysis of the interaction between foreign trade and technological progress by performing a multidimensional scaling. This technique is used to produce a graphical representation of the 27 EU member states, in accordance to the degree of similarity or dissimilarity between them. The indicators used, and the indexes calculated, reflect the different degree of internationalization of each countrys economy, the regulation of trade flows, investment in specific RD and technological progress

CREDIT AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: STRUCTURAL DIFFERENCES AMONG THE ITALIAN REGIONS

The international economic crisis of 2007 has had long-lasting negative effects on the financial markets and the real economy of many countries. The occurred uncertainty and the complications of the balance sheets of many banks, due to the strong international connections, particularly impacted on the ability and willingness of financial market, on granting credit to consumer households and companies. Credit, and the financial system in general, represent according to the economic literature, one of the determinants of economic development and, particularly, its efficiency determines the speed of growth and the potential level. The difficulties in the transmission of monetary policy and the structural inefficiency have worsened the negative effects of the economic crisis in many European countries, including Italy, where large differences in the socio-economic context of the various macro-areas still persist. The role of banks is to exploit tools and knowledge to the best addressing of funds, by subjects in excess to those in deficit, or towards who may exploit them for productive purposes. In addition, banks are locally a guidance to entrepreneurs and an entity aware of the local needs and potentials. In this paper we combine several variables on the credit and the quality of banking contracts, in addition to real economic and R&D variables, with reference to the Italian regions. The aim is to identify structural differences among the Italian regions in terms of financial and economic development, and in addition to observe the discrepancy between the various macro areas, even considering the effects of the international financial crisis broken out in the U.S. in 2007. We consider data over sufficiently long periods before and after the advent of the crisis and the long subsequent period of economic recession. The detail of the analysis is regional, in order to have a sufficient number of contexts that are grouped into homogeneous groups, helping to clarify and explain the dynamics of the socioeconomic differences that still exist. We use a Multidimensional scaling analysis with the aim of exploring the relationship between credit and socioeconomic development in the different Italian areas, observing in particular the structural differences that could lead to a deeper distance of the wellbeing of the poorest regions in the South compared to that of North-central