This paper purports to apply the Kydland-Prescott framework of dynamic inconsistency to the case of fiscal policy, by considering the trade-off between output and debt stabilization. The Government budget constraint provides the link between debt dynamics and the level of activity, influenced by...

This work shows that the risk premium can be a mistaken measure of the reduction in utility caused by uncertainty since, when different level of wealth are considered, the relative size of the former is related to that of the latter only in some cases. The analysis indicates that this is because...

This work makes a joint analysis of prevention and saving decisions. First we determine the optimal levels of the two variables and we analyze substitution between them. Second we provide some comparative statics results in order to determine the effects on optimal saving and prevention of...

The paper examines the effects of environmental uncertainty on Pigouvian tax and abatement policy used, either separately or contemporaneously, to counteract pollution. We discuss uncertainty in three aspects: environmental quality, pollution effect and the impact of abatement. For each case we...

The paper develops an agent-based coordination game in which agents seek, try out and maintain coordination in the presence of positive search and coordination costs. Agents are perfectly rational in the sense that they optimise their individual payoff through coordination. They are moreover...

In this paper we attempt to estimate labour supply elasticities for four categories of Italian workers: married men, married women, unmarried men, unmarried women. We use microdata provided by the Bank of Italy 2002 survey adopting a piecewise linear labour supply functional form. Sample...

Local public good provision from different government levels is subject to many bias coming from the political process; incentives indeed, vary with the size of the beneficiaries’ set and costs may affect the results of political competition by reducing total resources available for...

We employ input-output tables to study the relation between off-shoring and productivity growth in the Italian manufacturing industries in 1995-2003. Our results indicate that not all types of off-shoring are positively related to productivity growth. In particular, the international outsourcing...

Is the rapid growth of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) activities shaping new local specialization and industrial concentration? Does the analysis of local economic conditions help to explain the formation of “places” specialized in ICT? We use 2001 Census data by Local...