1,721,011 research outputs found
Network Interaction with Material and Relational Goods: An Exploratory Simulation
No full textWe model interaction within the members of a work group, who carry on different projects and can choose to cooperate with each other or to exploit the work of the others. We focus our attention on the dynamic interdependence between their material performance and the structure of the relations among them. In particular, we assume that their satisfaction depends both upon the material outcome of their projects and upon the quality of their reciprocal relations (so that these two aspects are seen, to a certain extent, as psychological substitutes). As dissatisfaction may generate the disruption of social links, the consequent failure of the projects is a possible outcome. In turn, satisfactory relations and stable cooperation may loop positively together. Our model merges game theory and network representation of the relations among actors, thus opening a route of research that, to our knowledge, has not yet been explored
Social Capital Accumulation and the Evolution of Social Participation
No full textWe study the co-evolution of social participation and social capital accumulation, taking the view that the former contributes to the latter, and both contribute to socially enjoyed leisure. We show that a process
of substitution of private for social activities(observable in some advanced, affluent economies), might be
self-reinforcing and lead to a Pareto-dominated steady state.We find some scope for policy intervention, but
we also acknowledge its difficulty
Substitution Effects in Intertemporal Problems
Full text linkWe consider a broad class of intertemporal economic problems and characterize the short-run and long-run responses of the demand for a good to a permanent increase in its market price. Depending on the interplay between self-productivity and time discount- ing, we show that dynamic substitution effects can generate price elasticities of opposite signs in the short run and in the long run
Poor Institutions, Rich Mines: Resource Curse in the Origins of the Sicilian Mafia
No full textWith weak law-enforcement institutions, a positive shock to the value of natural resources may increase demand for private protection and opportunities for rent appropriation through extortion, favouring the emergence of mafia-type organisations. We test this hypothesis by investigating the emergence of the mafia in twentieth century Sicily, where a severe lack of state property-rights enforcement coincided with a steep rise in international demand for sulphur, Sicily's most valuable export commodity. Using historical data on the early incidence of mafia activity and on the distribution of sulphur reserves, we document that the mafia was more present in municipalities with greater sulphur availability
On the Possible Conflict Between Economic Growth and Social Development
No full textThe present contribution proposes a simple model of private and social capital to study the relationship between economic growth and
social development. We investigate whether these two processes move in the same direction or whether they conflict with each other, and
show that both outcomes are possible, depending on the initial relative endowment of private and social capital, social technology, and the degree of individual impatience. These dynamics affect and are affected by the choice of time allocation between labour and social
participation and by the choice of consumption of both private and relational goods. Taking all these aspects into account allows us to study in an articulated way the interplay between the private and social components of well-being
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
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