This paper deals with the determinants of agents’ acquisition of information. Our econometric evidence shows that the general index of Italian share-prices and the series of Italy’s financial newspaper sales are cointegrated, and the former series Granger-causes the latter, thereby giving...

This paper analyzes a model of economic growth that explains differences in economic structure across countries. It highlights the interplay between productivity, talents utilization and entrepreneurship incentives. The paper has two main results. First, it argues that when measuring human...

This paper discusses pooling versus model selection for now- and forecasting in the presence of model uncertainty with large, unbalanced datasets. Empirically, unbalanced data is pervasive in economics and typically due to di¤erent sampling frequencies and publication delays. Two model classes...

In structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) models identifying restrictions for shocks and impulse responses are usually derived from economic theory or institutional constraints. Sometimes the restrictions are insufficient for identifying all shocks and impulse responses. In this paper it is...

Using a survey approach, we ask consumers to reveal their preferences over pricing schemes that may differ in terms of the average price of consumption, the amount of price variation, and the probability of being rationed. We find that consumers dislike pricing schemes that vary prices more but...

The empirical trade literature examining the effect of tariff reductions on productivity commonly proxies the former with Nominal Tariff Rates(NTR) and estimates the latter as the production function residual. In the context of the South African trade reform experience we examine the different...

What can be learnt from revisiting the Optimal Currency Areas (OCA) theory 50 years from its birth, in light of recent advances in open economy macro and monetary theory? This paper presents a stylized micro-founded model of the costs of adopting a common currency, relative to an ideal benchmark...

Distance effects in empirical gravity equations appear to be too high to be explained by transport costs alone. Moreover, despite the strong and ongoing reduction of transport costs, the estimated coefficients are rather increasing than decreasing over the last six decades. To address the two...

This paper studies a model of optimal redistribution policies in which agents face unemployment risk and in which savings may provide partial self-insurance. Moral hazard arises as job search effort is unobservable. The optimal redistribution policies provide new insights into how an...

The paper investigates the robustness of different efficiency measures that can support the implementation of diverse forms of incentive regulation in the context of U.S. telecommunications. Comparisons, in terms of an output orientation, are considered for efficiency scores obtained from Data...