Implementing Observation Protocols: Lessons for K-12 Education From the Field of Early Childhood

Examines issues for implementing standardized observation protocols for teacher evaluations. Makes recommendations based on lessons from preschool, such as the need to show empirical links between teacher performance and student learning and development

Mixing representation levels: The hybrid approach to automatic text generation

Natural language generation systems (NLG) map non-linguistic representations into strings of words through a number of steps using intermediate representations of various levels of abstraction. Template based systems, by contrast, tend to use only one representation level, i.e. fixed strings, which are combined, possibly in a sophisticated way, to generate the final text. In some circumstances, it may be profitable to combine NLG and template based techniques. The issue of combining generation techniques can be seen in more abstract terms as the issue of mixing levels of representation of different degrees of linguistic abstraction. This paper aims at defining a reference architecture for systems using mixed representations. We argue that mixed representations can be used without abandoning a linguistically grounded approach to language generation.Comment: 6 page

New Processes and New Products in Europe and Italy

This article investigates the differences in the mechanisms and strategies conducing to the introduction of new processes and products in Italy and Europe. Three models are proposed in order to identify the different business strategies and innovation inputs associated with new products and new processes. The empirical analysis uses innovation surveys data at the industry level for 8 European countries, with a specific focus on the Italian case. The analysis shows that while the two types of innovation have a strong complementarity, product and process innovations are the results of different innovative inputs and different strategies pursued by firms.product innovation, process innovation, Italian national innovation system.

Cycles and innovation.

This paper explores the way economic cycles influence the relationship between innovation and growth. A large literature has investigated this link in the long waves of development,focusing on the emergence of radical innovations and new technological paradigms; a parallel stream of research has examined differences in sectoral patterns of innovation and in industries’ technological regimes, emphasising their stability and persistence over time. We build on these approaches and we investigate whether the ups and downs of cycles, with changes in demand dynamics, alter the possibility to exploit the technological opportunities of sectors. Within industries’ innovative efforts, we identify on the one hand efforts based on R&D expenditure, focusing on new products and aiming at technological competitiveness and, on the other hand, investment in innovative machinery focusing on new processes and aiming at cost competitiveness.A model that explains sectoral growth in value added by combining technological and demand factors is proposed. The empirical test is based on data for six major European countries Germany, France, Italy, the UK, the Netherlands and Spain - at the level of 20 manufacturing sectors. Two upswings are considered - 1996-2000 and 2003-2007 – and their patterns are contrasted with that emerging from the downswing of 2000-2003. Results show that in upswings faster economic (and productivity) growth in industries is sustained by efforts to develop new products, while in downswings, due to a shortage of demand, process innovations aiming at restructuring result more relevant in supporting the increase in value added (or in containing its fall).Innovation, Cycles, Growth, Demand.

Economic inequality, an introduction.

In this paper we offer an introductory exploration of inequality, considering how political economy has analysed economic inequality. Its roots in market processes and in the functional distribution of income are investigated, considering the role of human capital, technological change and globalisation, and the relevance of intergenerational inequalities. We then consider the impact that public policies can have on inequalities through taxation, welfare expenditures, the provision of public services, redistribution and other actions.Inequality, Distribution, Welfare.

Innovation and demand in industry dynamics.

The links between three interconnected elements of the Schumpeterian sources of economic change are explored, conceptually and empirically, in this paper: the commitment of industries to invest profits in cumulative R&D efforts; the ability of industries’ R&D to lead to successful innovations; the impact of new products and processes on high entrepreneurial profits. We consider the nature and variety of innovative efforts – distinguishing in particular between strategies of technological and cost competiveness – and we introduce the role of demand in pulling technological change and supporting profits. We develop a simultaneous three-equation model and we test it at industry level – for 38 manufacturing and service sectors – on eight European countries over two time periods from 1994 to 2006. The results show that the model effectively accounts for the dynamics of European industries and highlights the interconnections between the different factors contributing to growth.R&D, Innovation, Profits, Demand, System Three Stages Least Squares.

Innovation and productivity in European industries

The labour productivity impact of innovation is investigated in this paper combining neo-Schumpeterian insights on the variety of innovation, with the importance of industrial structures and firm size; two models are proposed for explaining productivity and export success in European manufacturing industries and firm size classes. The empirical estimates are based on data from the European innovation survey (CIS 2), covering Austria, France, Italy, the Netherlands and the UK, broken down by 22 sectors and for large, medium and small firms. The econometric results, obtained adopting cross-sectional estimation methodologies able to account for unobserved industrial characteristics, show that productivity in Europe relies on product and process innovation, with the support of the efficiency gains provided by a grouped business structures. Conversely, in Italy the introduction of new machinery linked to innovation appears as the key mechanism supporting domestic productivity. When export success is considered, all countries have to rely on an innovation-based model of competitiveness.Innovation, productivity, export performance, industries

Relationships between Social Capital and regional development in Europe: a close examination

The study of the Social Capital and its relationships with the development is a topical subject. The theme has not an exactly definition yet. Some proofs at national and regional levels in Europe show interactions between the Social Capital and the economic growth and the labour market. From them, the paper aims to analyze these results, trying to specify the significances. Applying the Principal Components Analysis to several interesting single variables (coming from the European Values Survey database), some macro-variables were created and inserted in regressions, producing partial results. These macro-components summarize the elements of the Social Capital and they are broken down as single variables. A benchmarking between subjective variables and quantitative ones is realized to explain the concept of the Social Capital, with the aim of consider the individual and collective insight and the concrete effects of this multi-dimensional idea. To fulfill the analysis, a remark is faced on the relationships between the Social Capital and the development, as the causality between them deserves further examinations.

Explaining inequality in today’s capitalism.

Inequality within advanced countries has returned to levels typical of a century ago. At the global level it remains extremely high despite the rapid growth of major developing countries such as China, India and Brazil. This makes inequality a major economic issue, social problem and political challenge in today’s capitalism. However, economic inequality is the object of limited research efforts and attracts modest attention in the political arena.This is the result of several factors. Mainstream approaches view inequality as a necessary condition – or, at best, an unfortunate side effect - for achieving the more general objectives of economic growth and market efficiency. Most studies emphasise that inequality is to a large extent the consequence of international forces laying beyond the reach of policies by nation-states. More importantly, today’s inequality is the result of a variety of processes that have seriously increased its complexity, with major changes in its nature and mechanisms, compared to past decades. To the fundamental divide between capital and labour in the distribution of income between social classes and groups, new mechanisms have been added, that have fuelled income inequalities among individuals, rooted in the rise of top incomes, technological change, international production, labour markets, influence of families of origin and lack of intergenerational mobility. In this paper we propose an overall interpretation of the trajectory of inequality. The functional income distribution that leads to inequalities in factor incomes, with an increasing divide between the growing share of profits and financial rents – free to move across national borders, escape taxation and search for speculative gains – and the dwindling share of wages, nation-bound and unable to escape taxes. The specificity of top incomes – that combine rents, profits and “superstar” labour compensation complicates this picture with the effects of pro-rich policy changes. Inequalities have also strongly increased within wages, resulting from several factors. Education has an obvious influence, but plays a much smaller role than mainstream views would expect. Skill differences are increasingly important, and need to be examined in the context of specific professional groups, rather than with wide generalisations. Industry specificities, technology and international production do play a role, but in complex ways, depending on the nature of innovative strategies, local competences, market power and demand dynamics. Labour market arrangements – unionisation, presence of minimum wages or national contracts, diffusion of temporary or part-time labour contracts, etc. – are increasingly important factors in explaining the low pay of many young and low-skilled workers. Outside labour markets and the opportunities for social mobility promised by education, the family of origin remains a major determinant of individuals’ education and incomes, with an increasingly strong persistence of inequality across generations. The interpretation we provide offers a new explanation of the nature of today’s economic inequalities, of its consequences, and possible remedies.Inequality, Distribution, Welfare.