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Strategic Interaction in Interacting Particle Systems
No full textIn the last decades, models inspired by statistical mechanics have been vastly used in the context of social sciences to model the behavior of interacting economic actors. In particular, parallel updating models such as Probabilistic Cellular Automata have been proved to be very useful to represent rational agents aiming at maximize their utility in the presence of social externalities. What PCA do not account for is strategic interaction, i.e., the fact that, when deciding, agents forecast the action of other agents. In this contribution, we compare models that differ in the presence of strategic interaction and memory of past actions. We will show that the emergent equilibria can be very different: Fixed points, cycles of period 2, and chaotic behavior may appear and, possibly, coexist for some values of the parameters, of the model
Modeling Systemic Risk with Markov Switching Graphical SUR Models
No full textWe propose a Markov Switching Graphical Seemingly Unrelated Regression (MS-GSUR) model to investigate time-varying systemic risk based on a range of multi-factor asset pricing models. Methodologically, we develop a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) scheme in which latent states are identified on the basis of a novel weighted eigenvector centrality measure. An empirical application to the S&P100 constituents shows that cross-firm connectivity significantly increased over the period 1999-2003 and the financial crisis of 2008-2009. Finally, we provide evidence that firm-level centrality does not correlate with market values and is instead positively linked to realized financial losses
A computational model of labor market participation with health shocks and bounded rationality
No full textThis paper presents a computational agent-based model of labor market participation, in which a population of agents, affected by adverse health shocks that impact the costs associated with working efforts, decides whether to leave the labor market and retire. This decision is simply taken by looking at the working behaviors of the other agents, comparing the respective levels of well-being and imitating the more advantageous decision of others. The analysis reveals that such mechanism of social learning and imitation suffices to replicate the existing empirical evidence regarding the decline in labor market participation of older people. As a consequence, the paper demonstrates that it is not necessary to assume perfect and unrealistic rationality at the individual level to reproduce a rational behavior in the aggregate
Modeling management behaviors in lean production environments
No full textPurpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify and empirically validate a repertoire of management behaviors associated with the adoption of lean systems, showing how a subset of such behaviors differentiates more advanced lean systems in a specific setting.
Design/methodology/approach: The study applies regression analysis and non-parametric hypothesis testing to an original data set coming from field research of 26 cases of adoption of lean operations practices. Findings: The study: identifies in the lean literature a repertoire of management behaviors that support lean implementations and complement the adoption of lean practices; provides a way to operationalize them; validates this repertoire of behaviors; and shows that a subset of these behaviors is associated with more advanced lean implementations, suggesting the necessity to adopt a situational approach to lean leadership. Research limitations/implications: The findings have boundary conditions, defined by the national, industrial, and size context in which the study was conducted. Practical implications: The study provides practical guidance for lean system implementation suggesting a repertoire of management behaviors within which firms can identify and validate specific, appropriate subsets of behaviors aligned with the company strategy, culture, size, environment, bundle of lean operation practices adopted, and maturity stage of lean adoption. Originality/value: This is the first study to provide quantitative, non-anecdotal evidence of the relationship between specific management behaviors and the successful implementation of lean operations practices. It offers a novel method to operationalize and measure lean management behaviors
La collezione etrusca: osservazioni preliminari sulle urne cinerarie
No full textA recent revision of the Classical collection preserved in the Museum was led by the author in the 2014-2015. The present contribution focuses on the Etruscan collection of the Museum that counts about thirty objects: vases, bronzes, terracotta statuettes and cinerary urns. A preliminary iconographical and stylistic study of the ten urns suggests to assign them to the artisanal production of ancient Chiusi and Perugia. The analyses of the inscriptions preserved confirm this provenance and provide important information about the composition of the Lodovico Pogliaghi’s antiquities collection
Are We Better-off for Working Hard?
No full textWhen traders are uncertain on being informed and make effort to reduce their uncertainty, we would expect an improvement in both the welfare and price efficiency. By considering the
disutility of the effort, we characterize the non-cooperative information game on traders' decision of making effort through a Nash equilibrium and asset price through a noisy rational
expectation equilibrium. We show that making effort to be informed is harmful for social welfare. Also improving market efficiency is always at the cost of welfare reduction.
Therefore, with the disutility of making effort to reduce the uncertainty on being informed, social welfare can be improved when traders make less effort, and more importantly, social
welfare and price efficiency cannot be improved simultaneously