9,131 research outputs found
The China-US co-dependency and the elusive costs of growth rebalancing
Full text linkThe global crisis burst in 2007 has revived the growth-rebalancing debate and backed the position of those advocating a fast reduction of the global imbalances centered on the symbiotic US-China relationship. In this work, we develop a two-country two-stage growth model reproducing the main features of the Sino-American co-dependency and we analyze alternative (medium- and long-term) scenarios for its evolution. We show that altering the Chinese exchange rate policy and down-sizing the US external deficits with a view to moving the production of tradables toward the US may imply some relevant costs. If exchange rate and fiscal policies are not properly tuned in both countries, the rebalancing process may lead to the emergence of structural unemployment in the US (due to the greater labor intensity of growth recorded in the nontradable sector than in the tradable sector) and to a slow-down in the process whereby the Chinese labor force is gradually absorbed in the modern sectors of the economyGrowth-rebalancing, global imbalances, structural unemployment
Household's preferences and monetary policy inertia
No full textAbsract
Interest rates set by central banks puzzlingly move with a certain inertia. We show that household's preferences can be important determinants of the optimal interest rate inertia due to their impact on the efficiency of the monetary policy transmission mechanism
Addressing the Core-Periphery Imbalances in Europe: Resource Misallocation and Expansionary Fiscal Policies
No full textHow can the euro area tackle its perennial problems of core/periphery imbalances and anaemic long-term growth? According to network members Luigi Bonatti and Andrea Fracasso, Università di Trento, there is no quick-fix solution. Temporary fiscal stimulus does not produce permanent improvements, while the upfront costs and short-term negative impact of structural reforms can feed distributional conflicts. Permanent cross-national transfers provide local relief, but also exacerbate tensions among member states. The authors advocate a nuanced approach focused on the key role of structural differences in affecting income and growth differentials, as well as competitive imbalances across the euro area
Policy regime changes, judgment and Taylor rules in the Greenspan era
No full textThis paper investigates policy deviations from linear Taylor rules motivated by the risk management approach followed by the Fed during the Greenspan era. We estimate a nonlinear monetary policy rule via a logistic smoothing transition regression model where policy-makers’ judgment, proxied by economically
meaningful variables, drives the transition across policy regimes. We find that ignoring judgment-induced nonlinearities while estimating Taylor rules has remarkable costs in terms of fit: above 250 bps in 10 quarters. Although linear Taylor rules describe well the broad contours of monetary policy, they fail to
detect relevant policy decisions driven by policy-makers’ judgment
Globalization, robotization, and electoral outcomes: Evidence from spatial regressions for Italy
No full textCriticism of economic globalization and technological progress has gained support in Italy in the last two decades. However, due to the differentiated exposure of local labor markets to this process, electoral outcomes have varied considerably across the country. By observing the local impact of three global economic phenomena (flows of migrants, foreign competition in international trade, and diffusion of robots) alongside with the patterns of local electoral outcomes potentially associated with discontent, this study analyzes the economic forces driving the evolution of general elections in 2001, 2008, and 2013 in Italy. The analysis reveals that all these global factors had an impact on political outcomes associated with discontent, albeit in different ways and changing over time. All three factors are associated with increases in votes for far‐right parties in the period 2001–2008, but only robotization continues to have such an impact in the following period, while immigration is associated with an increase in votes for the Five‐Star Movement at the expense of far-right parties. The results and extensions exploiting recent advances in political geography, political economy, and spatial econometrics make it possible to draw some general and methodological conclusions. Global drivers interact with elements pertaining to the political supply that empirical researchers should not be oblivious about. Political spillovers across neighboring areas add to the direct impact of locally mediated economic factors. Finally, the adoption of shift-share instrumental variables to identify the impact of robotization may lack robustness
Multiple banking relationships. The role of firm connectedness
No full textThis paper sheds light on the role of firm social connectedness in multiple banking relationships, controlling
for other firm-level determinants. Using a large sample of Italian manufacturing firms, we develop novel text-
based measures of firm connectedness and multiple banking relationships. We measure firm connectedness
by exploiting information on the number of links that a non-financial firm has with any other non-financial firm
through individuals who hold a position (such as shareholder, administrator, and technical or administrative
employee) in both firms. The paper finds empirical evidence that firm connectedness is positively associated
with the number of banks lending to the firm. This effect is stronger for younger, smaller, and more indebted
firms, suggesting that firm connectedness favors the diffusion of soft information and ultimately their access
to multiple sources of credit by reducing negotiation and transaction costs. Connectedness, on the other
hand, does not seem to reduce firms’ incentives to increase the number of lenders in order to minimize
hold-up risks
Robots and risk of COVID-19 workplace contagion: Evidence from Italy
No full textThis work investigates the cross-industry relationship between robot adoption and the risk of contracting COVID-19 in the workplace in Italy. Using a novel dataset on the risk of workplace contagion, we show that industries employing more robots tend to exhibit lower risks, thereby providing some empirical support for the widely held, but so far untested, hypothesis that robots can help mitigate the risk of contagion among workers by reducing the need for physical interactions. While we acknowledge the relevance of robots in the fight against COVID-19 and their possible role in enhancing the resilience of economic systems against future pandemics, we also thoroughly discuss a series of potential trade-offs between workplace safety and employment conditions that could arise (especially in the short run) due to a substantial increase in the rate of robot adoption
Andrea Bacová
No full textAndrea Bacová focuses on research and teaching in the field of residential architecture. Her work includes systematic research on residential buildings and their urban context. She actively participates in promoting Slovak architecture and is the author of several publications and exhibitions
Viewer-, Author-, and Ownership in the Work of Andrea Zittel
Full text linkAndrea Zittel invites others to collapse the distinctions between artist, viewer, and collaborator by interacting with her usable works. This thesis explores the process of interacting with Zittel\u27s works, and how it affects viewer-, author- and ownership
Un modello di simulazione come supporto decisionale alla pianificazione della produzione
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