1,721,035 research outputs found
Electoral competition with ideologically biased voters
Full text linkThis paper studies pork barrel spending in a model where two symmetric parties compete for an electorate consisting of groups which have different ideological preferences. In equilibrium, party electoral promises decrease with voter ideological biases, and a “swing voter” outcome emerges. In this context, a problem of exclusion from party transfer plans arises which depends on ideology distribution. Groups with extreme ideological preferences are excluded from these plans, and also within moderate groups a share of voters receives a nil transfer from the parties. This exclusion problem is generally reduced if a transformation of the electorate occurs which decreases the polarization of the distribution of ideology
Asymmetry in Second Language Development: The case of Russian copular sentences
No full textThis paper explores a biolinguistic approach to second language acquisition by combining Di Sciullo’s (2011) Directional Asymmetry Principle with Rizzi’s (2010) refined analysis of Merge. My hypothesis is that grammatical development in a second language can be determined by increasingly greater asymmetrical relations along four sequential stages: i) Fluctuating Primary Merge Asymmetry, ii) Stabilised Primary Merge Asymmetry, iii) Phrasal Merge Asymmetry, and iv) Extended Phrasal Merge Asymmetry. This hypothesis is tested in relation to the development of Russian copular sentences, which display a variety of complex symmetry-breaking processes, and supporting evidence is provided by a small-scale cross-sectional study of 5 learners of Russian as a second language at different proficiency levels
“Labour Market Regulation and Retirement Age”, WP 2/2005, Dipartimento di Economia, Università degli Studi di Parma
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A Processability Theory approach to the development of marked word orders in Russian and Italian as second languages
No full textIn questa tesi viene indagata la sequenza in cui gli apprendenti di russo e italiano come lingue seconde (L2) – due lingue caratterizzate da una bassa configurazionalità dal punto di vista tipologico (cfr. Van Valin 2007) – imparano a superare la rigidità dell’ordine canonico al fine di ottimizzare le proprie necessità comunicative. L’acquisizione degli ordini marcati in russo L2 e in italiano L2 è un compito complesso; infatti, per produrre queste strutture senza comprometterne il contenuto proposizionale, gli apprendenti devono imparare non solo ordini sintattici più flessibili, ma anche i mezzi morfologici necessari in queste due lingue per marcare le funzioni grammaticali in modo inequivocabile. In quanto lingua dependent-marking, il russo (cfr. King 1995, Comrie 2011) marca tali funzioni principalmente con il caso; in quanto lingua head-marking, l’italiano (cfr. Salvi-Vanelli 2004, Schwarze 2009) le marca principalmente con la flessione verbale, servendosi del clitico di ripresa per la topicalizzazione dell’oggetto.
Il presente studio si colloca nell’ambito della Teoria della Processabilità (TP – Pienemann 1998; Pienemann, Di Biase & Kawaguchi 2005), una teoria psicolinguistica che spiega lo sviluppo grammaticale sulla base di una gerarchia di stadi implicazionali. In particolare, viene utilizzato più recente approccio formulato in Bettoni e Di Biase (2015), che presenta due importanti vantaggi ai fini di questo lavoro. In primo luogo, la nuova Ipotesi della Prominenza offre una più completa spiegazione all’interfaccia tra sintassi e discorso dello sviluppo grammaticale a partire dall’ordine non marcato verso quelli più marcati. In secondo luogo, questo approccio affronta aspetti di cruciale importanza anche all’interfaccia tra morfologia e sintassi, con particolare attenzione ad alcune corrispondenze tra gli stadi dell’Ipotesi della Prominenza e quelli dello sviluppo morfologico nella gerarchia di Pienemann (1998).
Per spiegare come gli apprendenti di russo L2 e italiano L2 procedono dall’ordine canonico verso gli ordini marcati, sono state formulate tre ipotesi di sviluppo. La prima deriva dall’applicazione della sequenza universale dell’Ipotesi della Prominenza alle due lingue scelte. Le seconde due ipotesi si collocano all’interfaccia tra l’Ipotesi della Prominenza e quella dello sviluppo morfologico, e spiegano lo sviluppo del caso in russo L2 e dei pronomi clitici in italiano L2. Attraverso la somministrazione di specifici task comunicativi messi a punto per l’elicitazione delle strutture oggetto di questo studio, le tre ipotesi vengono testate in uno studio trasversale composto da due gruppi di apprendenti (10 di russo L2 e 10 di italiano L2). In entrambi i gruppi i soggetti sono adulti con diversi livelli di competenza nella L2 e con varie L1 di partenza.
I risultati confermano pienamente le ipotesi di sviluppo. In entrambe le lingue, mostrano che tutti gli apprendenti organizzano i loro enunciati sulla base delle loro necessità pragmatico-discorsive, collocando il topic all’inizio della frase. Le principali complessità si verificano quando il topic non coincide con il soggetto della frase. La maggior parte degli apprendenti è in grado di topicalizzare un aggiunto, lasciando però intatta la sequenza canonica che segue, ma solo gli apprendenti più avanzati sanno topicalizzare anche l’oggetto, marcandolo con il caso accusativo in russo, e con il clitico di ripresa in italiano. I risultati rivelano anche ulteriori aspetti interessanti all’interfaccia tra morfologia e sintassi nello sviluppo del caso, e tra sintassi e discorso nello sviluppo dei pronomi clitici. Tali aspetti contribuiscono in modo sostanziale alla comprensione di alcune importanti interfacce tra le scalette di sviluppo ipotizzate dalla TP.This thesis investigates how learners of Russian and Italian as second languages (L2) – two languages located towards the less configurational end of the typological spectrum (cf. Van Valin 2007) – acquire the skills to move beyond the fixed frame of canonical word order in order to optimise their communicative needs. Acquiring marked word orders in Russian L2 and Italian L2 is no easy task, because in order to produce them without affecting the propositional content of their message, learners must be able not only to free up canonical order, but also to mark grammatical functions (GFs) unequivocally by morphological means. Russian, a more dependent-marking language (cf. King 1995, Comrie 2011), marks GFs mostly by case; Italian, a more head-marking language (cf. Salvi & Vanelli 2004, Schwarze 2009), marks GFs mostly by verbal inflection, resuming topical objects by means of a co-referential clitic pronoun.
The present study is conducted within the framework of Processability Theory (PT – Pienemann 1998; Pienemann, Di Biase & Kawaguchi 2005), a psycholinguistic theory of hierarchically-staged grammatical development. Specifically, this work follows the recently reconceptualised approach of Bettoni & Di Biase (2015), which proves advantageous to my purposes in two important respects. First, it offers a newly reformulated hypothesis dealing specifically with the development from unmarked to marked word orders at the syntax-discourse interface, namely the Prominence Hypothesis. Secondly, it addresses important issues at the interface between morphology and syntax, with particular reference to the correspondences between the stages along the Prominence Hypothesis and those in Pienemann’s (1998) hierarchy of processing procedures.
Three hypotheses are put forward to account for learners’ development from unmarked to marked word orders. The first hypothesis is formulated by adapting the universal staged sequence of the Prominence Hypothesis to Russian L2 and Italian L2. The other two hypotheses are at the interface between the Prominence Hypothesis and the hierarchy of processing procedures, and specifically account for the development of case in Russian L2 and of clitic pronouns in Italian L2. Using especially devised communicative tasks, such hypotheses are tested cross-sectionally on two groups of learners: one of 10 learners of Russian L2, and one of 10 learners of Italian L2 – all adults at different proficiency levels and from a varied L1 background.
Results fully support the developmental hypotheses. In both languages, results show that all learners organise their utterances according to their discourse and pragmatic needs, placing the discourse topic sentence-initially. Trouble for learners begins when the discourse topic differs from the subject. Most of them are able to front adjunct constituents, but leave the fixed canonical order frame intact. Only more advanced learners can topicalise object constituents, marking them by accusative case in Russian, and by the resumptive clitic pronoun in Italian. Results also reveal further interesting patterns at the interface between morphology and syntax in the development of Russian case, and between syntax and discourse in the development of Italian clitic pronouns. Such findings contribute to enhancing our understanding of some of the interfaces between PT’s developmental schedules
Electoral Competition, Decentralization and Public Investment Underprovision
No full textThe paper analyzes the optimal level of decentralization in local-public-good provision.
Although all voters pay for such investments, only a subset benefit from them; their rate of return, however, is positive.Through pork-barrel projects,which
do not increase welfare, any resource allocation is realizable. Candidates competing in local and national elections therefore face a trade-off between targetability and efficiency, which causes some profitable projects to be discarded. Decentralization
affects underinvestment because the share of the electorate who benefit from an investment and the share of total budget absorbed by its costs depend on the size of that electorat
Two-Player All-Pay Auctions with a Favored Player: Equilibria and Applications to Economic Policy.
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A new interpretation of the condition for precautionary saving in the presence of an interest-rate risk
No full textThis note reconsiders the classical problem of precautionary saving in the presence of an interest-rate risk, and provides a new interpretation of the threshold of 2 for the relative prudence index, which characterizes the necessary and sufficient condition for precautionary saving
Lo sviluppo delle interrogative wh- in russo L2: uno studio trasversale
No full textAcquiring wh- questions is no mean feat for the L2 learner, in so far as they are sentences marked both pragmatically and linguistically. Pragmatically, they are used to request new information, and hence always have an element in focus; structurally, their focus must respond to language-specific constraints. This paper hypothesises a staged development of wh- questions in L2 Russian within the framework of Processability Theory (Pienemann et al., 2005). Russian is a multiple fronting language which marks most question words by case, and thus offers an intriguing testing ground. Results of a cross-sectional study of 8 learners at different proficiency levels and from a variety of L1 backgrounds confirm the developmental hypotheses. They also reveal further interesting patterns at the interface between the development of wh- questions and that of declaratives in L2 Russian
Is the pendulum swinging back? Policy and politics in the return of big government
No full textIn the era of «small government», policy was considered the right way to conceive the role of the state in society and in the economy. This was intended as a perspective able to reduce the room for politics, considered a (dangerous) clash of power and party interests, and ideology. Given the current return of «big government», how does one deal with the unavoidable return of politics? In this paper we construct a model showing that politics should be considered purposely in a rational setting, to support effective policy, insofar as the state and its activities need substantial consensus
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