1,721,193 research outputs found
Relational Consumption and Nonlinear Dynamics in an Overlapping Generations Model. WP Series University of Verona Department of Economics (ISSN 2036-2919), 13/2012
No full textSee you on Facebook! A framework for analyzing the role of computer-mediated interaction in the evolution of social capital
No full textEmpirical studies have documented a decline in indicators of social participation in the last five decades. The responsibility of social disengagement has often been attributed to pervasive busyness and the increasing pressure on time. In this paper we argue that computer-mediated interaction, and particularly online networking, can help mitigate this downward trend. We develop a logical framework for assessing the role of the Internet in the evolution of social participation. We analyze an economy where agents can develop their social interactions through two main modes of participation, one encompassing both online networking and face to face interactions, and the other solely based on physical encounters. We study the interdependence between the increase in the pressure on time and the variation in the relative performance of the two strategies of participation. © 2012 Elsevier Inc
Bifurcations and Chaotic Attractors in an Overlapping Generations Model with Negative Environmental Externalities
No full textWe analyze an overlapping generations model with the following features. There exists a continuum of identical individuals whose welfare depends on leisure, on the stock E of a free access environmental good and on the consumption C of a private good. The private good is produced by a continuum of identical perfectly competitive firms via a constant returns technology (represented by a Cobb–Douglas production function); the representative firm uses physical capitalK and labour L of the representative individual as productive inputs. Each economic agent considers as negligible the negative impact of his choices on the environmental good; this implies that the choices of each agent generate negative externalities on the others.
Following Zhang (1999), Antoci et al. (2007) and Itaya (2008) (among the others), we assume that individuals’ utility function is non separable in E and C; that is, the marginal utility of C depends on the value of E; in particular, we consider both the cases in which marginal utility increases (i.e. C and E are substitutes) and decreases (i.e. C and E are complements) when the value of E decreases
The Solaria syndrome: social capital in a growing hyper-technological economy
No full textWe develop a dynamic model to analyze the sources and the evolution of social participation and social capital in a growing economy characterized by exogenous technical progress. We start from the assumption that the well-being of agents basically depends on material and relational goods. Material goods can replace relational ones for the satisfaction of social needs, or, at least, for compensating the deprivation of human interactions. We point out the role of technical progress and the substitutability/complementarity between the two kinds of good in social interaction and the accumulation of social capital. We find that, in best case scenarios, technology may play a crucial role in supporting a “socially sustainable” economic growth
Environmental Resources Depletion and Interplay Between Negative and Positive Externalities in a Growth Model
Full text linkWe analyse growth dynamics in an economy where the well-being of economic agents depends on three goods: leisure, a free access environmental good and a private good which can be produced by each agent through his own labour input. The private good can be consumed as a substitute for the environmental resource. The production process of the private good by each agent generates negative externalities on the other agents, by depleting the free access natural resource; but it also produces positive externalities by increasing the productivity of labour via a learning-by-doing mechanism of accumulation of knowledge [which is a pure public good]. In this context, we show that attracting steady states may exist which are Pareto-dominated by others where aggregate private consumption and labour productivity are lower. However, negative externalities can also be an engine of desirable growth: the deterioration of the environmental good can play the role of a coordination device leading economic agents to a wider exploitation of positive externalities.Self-protection choices, Consumption patterns, Negative externalities, Undesirable economic growth, Adaptive dynamics
See you on Facebook: a framework for analyzing the role of computer-mediated interaction in the evolution of social capital
Full text linkEmpirical studies have documented a decline in indicators of social participation in the last five decades. The responsibility of social disengagement has often been attributed to pervasive busyness and the increasing pressure on time. In this paper we argue that computer-mediated interaction, and particularly online networking, can help mitigate this downward trend. We develop a logical framework for assessing the role of the Internet in the evolution of social participation. We analyze an economy where agents can develop their social interactions through two main modes of participation, one encompassing both online networking and face to face interactions, and the other solely based on physical encounters. We study the interdependence between the increase in the pressure on time and the variation in the relative performance of the two strategies of participation
Tax evasion in a behaviorally heterogeneous society: an evolutionary analysis
No full textWe focus on the tax evasion dynamics emerging from repeated interaction of three types of taxpayers: cheaters, honest citizens and punishers. By assuming that cultural evolution is driven by material payoffs only, we show that a long overlooked behavioral attitude towards taxation such as tax morale is important to dynamically induce higher levels of tax compliance within a large-scale population. The results of our evolutionary analysis reveal that the presence of taxpayers who both act honestly in the first place and are willing to costly sanction cheaters plays an important role for the long-run success of the social battle against tax evasion
A Two-sector model of economic growth with social capital accumulation
Full text linkIn this paper we analyze a two-sector growth model in which the utility function is not additively separablein consumption and “quality leisure time”. Differently from the main body of theoretical literature onquality leisure, we assume that the “productivity” of leisure is not determined by the stock of humancapital but instead by the quality of social environment, which in turn depends on the joint action ofthe economy-wide average leisure and of the stock of social capital. In this context we show that thetime evolution of social capital may exhibit an inverted-U shaped path, according to which the stock ofsocial capital, initially increasing, becomes definitively decreasing. This result is consistent with severalempirical studies about the time evolution of social capital in industrialized economies (see e.g. Robert Putnam, 1995, 2000). Furthermore, we show that the inverted-U shaped evolution of the stock of socialcapital can be observed only if the balanced growth path is locally indeterminate
Economic Growth, Technological Progress and Social Capital: The Inverted U Hypothesis
Full text linkWe set up a theoretical framework to analyse the role of economic growth and technological progress in the erosion of social capital. Under certain conditions on parameters, the relationship between technological progress and social capital can take the shape of an inverted U curve. Furthermore, we show the circumstances that allow the economy to follow trajectories where the stock of social capital grows endogenously and unboundedly
- …
