1,720,996 research outputs found
Sustainability and intertemporal equity: a multicriteria approach
Full text linkIn (macro) economics literature, the need to consider sustainability and intertemporal equity issues leads to propose different criteria (discounted utilitarianism, green golden rule, Chichilnisky criterion) in order to define social welfare. We compare and assess the outcomes associated to such alternative criteria in a simple macroeconomic model with natural resources and environmental concern (Chichilnisky et al. in Econ Lett 49: 174-179, 1995), by relying on a multicriteria approach. We show that among these three criteria, the green golden rule (discounted utilitarianism) yields the highest (lowest) welfare level, while the Chichilnisky criterion leads to an intermediate welfare level which turns out to be increasing in the weight attached to the asymptotic utility. These results suggest that completely neglecting finite-time utilities and focusing only on the asymptotic utility is not only more sensible from a sustainability point of view but also from a social welfare maximization standpoint
Pollution-induced poverty traps via Hopf bifurcation in a minimal integrated economic-environment model
Full text linkIn this paper we present a minimal integrated environment-economic growth model. The accumulations of capital and pollution are connected by reciprocal feedbacks. Pollution is an undesirable but inevitable by-product of production, whose efficiency is hindered by pollution. The nexus between pollution and production is embodied in a damage function. The evolution of capital is enriched by the specific technology adopted here, an S-shaped production function. The model dynamics is represented by a couple of nonlinear differential equations, whose long run behavior gives rise to multiple stationary points. A global analysis underlines the importance of a meditated choice of the relevant policy parameters. Pollution induced poverty traps emerge for low level of saving ratio and share of abated emission. Periodic behaviour of the economic and environmental variables represents an early signal of the imminent risk of being trapped in an unsatisfactory level of economic performance. Numerical examples corroborate the theoretical results of the paper
La tutela dei minori stranieri non accompagnati
No full textLe misure di protezione riconosciute dall’ordinamento per i minori stranieri non accompagnati segnano il perimetro di una tutela speciale che contempla l’obbligatorietà della rappresentanza legale, la difesa tecnica e un percorso senz’altro “agevolato “ per il riconoscimento del diritto di asilo. Ciò nonostante, il sistema di accoglienza e l’impianto di regole del procedimento amministrativo prima e del regime processuale poi si rivelano affatto inadeguati al “recupero” dei diritti umani compromessi dal peculiare fenomeno migratorio
A fuzzy goal programming model to analyze energy, environmental and sustainability goals of the United Arab Emirates
Full text linkGoal programming models offer an analytical framework to study multi-criteria problems involving several conflicting objectives. Real world problems often involve imprecise information, which makes fuzzy goal programming (FGP) models the most attractive choice. In this paper, we propose an FGP model that integrates optimal resource allocation to simultaneously satisfy prospective goals on economic development, energy consumption, workforce, and greenhouse gas emission reduction applied to key economic sectors of the United Arab Emirates. The model offers valuable insights to decision makers for strategic planning and investment allocations towards sustainable development. We demonstrate the validity and applicability of the model through a numerical example
Epidemics and macroeconomic outcomes: Social distancing intensity and duration
Full text linkWe analyze the determination of the optimal intensity and duration of social distancing policy aiming to control the spread of an infectious disease in a simple macroeconomic–epidemiological model. In our setting the social planner wishes to minimize the social costs associated with the levels of disease prevalence and output lost due to social distancing, both during and at the end of epidemic management program. Indeed, by limiting individuals’ ability to freely move or interact with others (since requiring to wear face mask or to maintain physical distance from others, or even forcing some businesses to remain closed), social distancing has on the one hand the effect to reduce the disease incidence and on the other hand to reduce the economy's productive capacity. We analyze both the early and the advanced epidemic stage intervention strategies highlighting their implications for short and long run health and macroeconomic outcomes. We show that both the intensity and the duration of the optimal social distancing policy may largely vary according to the epidemiological characteristics of specific diseases, and that the balancing of the health benefits and economic costs associated with social distancing may require to accept the disease to reach an endemic state. Focusing in particular on COVID-19 we present a calibration based on Italian data showing how the optimal social distancing policy may vary if implemented at national or at regional level
Epidemic outbreaks and the optimal lockdown area: a spatial normative approach
Full text linkInfectious diseases generate heterogeneous economic and health impacts within countries, thus it is essential to account for the spatial dimension in the design of epidemic management programs. We analyze the optimal regional policy to contain the spread of a communicable disease in a spatial framework with endogenous determination of the regional borders characterizing which policy regime will prevail. Specifically, the social planner needs to choose how to split the entire spatial economy in a number of regions in which a different combination of lockdown and treatment measures will be employed: in some region the only mitigation instrument will be treatment, while in some other treatment will be accompanied by a partial lockdown. We characterize the optimal solution both in an early and an advanced epidemic setting, showing that according to the circumstances it may be convenient either to partition the spatial economy in multiple regions with differentiated policies or to consider it a unique region subject to the same policy measure. Moreover, we show that from a normative perspective it is rather difficult to understand how to effectively determine the optimal size of a lockdown area (and thus of the lockdown intensity) since this critically depends on a number of factors, including the initial spatial distribution of disease prevalence, the amount of resources diverted from one region to the other, and the possible spatio-temporal evolution of the disease
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
The anatomical basis of upper limb dystonia: lesson from secondary cases
No full textUpper limb dystonia is a focal dystonia that may affect muscles in the arm, forearm and hand. The neuroanatomical substrates involved in upper limb dystonia are not fully understood. Traditionally, dysfunction of the basal ganglia is presumed to be the main cause of dystonia but a growing body of evidence suggests that a network of additional cortical and subcortical structures may be involved. To identify the brain regions that are affected in secondary upper limb dystonia may help to better understand the neuroanatomical basis of the condition. We considered only patients with focal upper limb dystonia associated with a single localized brain lesion. To identify these patients, we conducted a systematic review of the published literature as well as the medical records of 350 patients with adult-onset dystonia seen over past 15 years at our movement disorder clinic. The literature review revealed 36 articles describing 72 cases of focal upper limb dystonia associated with focal lesions. Among patients at our clinic, four had focal lesions on imaging studies. Lesions were found in multiple regions including thalamus (n = 39), basal ganglia (n = 17), cortex (n = 4), brainstem (n = 4), cerebellum (n = 1), and cervical spine (n = 7). Dystonic tremor was not associated with any particular site of lesion, whereas there was a trend for an inverse association between task specificity and thalamic involvement. These data in combination with functional imaging studies of idiopathic upper limb dystonia support a model in which a network of different regions plays a role in pathogenesis
Modeling Shock Propagation on Supply Chain Networks: A Stochastic Logistic-Type Approach
No full textSupply Chains have been more and more suffering from unexpected industrial, natural events, or epidemics that might disrupt the normal flow of materials, information, and money. The recent pandemic triggered by the outbreak of the new COVID-19 has pointed out the increasing vulnerability of supply chain networks, prompting companies (and governments) to implement specific policies and actions to control and reduce the spread of the disease across the network, and to cope with exogenous shocks. In this paper, we present a stochastic Susceptible-Infected-Susceptible (SIS) framework to model the spread of new epidemics across different distribution networks and determine social distancing/treatment policies in the case of local and global networks. We highlight the relevance of adaptability and flexibility of decisions in unstable and unpredictable scenarios
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