Using a large industrial panel, we show that the size distribution of Italian manufacturing firms can be well approximated by a two-parameter generalized Pareto distribution (GPD); the fitting is particularly good for medium-large companies. This evidence seems to hold using different proxies of...

In this paper we deal with the validation of an agent-based model and, in particular, with the technical validation process, that is to say all the set of test and methods used to analyze if the results of a simulation agree with reality. Today, thanks to some important studies, validation...

Recent economic literature indicates that imperfections in the credit market can amplify business fluctuations causing financial fragility. Starting from the framework of Greenwald and Stiglitz (1993) and Delli Gatti et al. (2005), we make a more careful model of the banking sector in Italy and...

Alternative pension schemes, and early retirement provisions in particular, can produce different effects on retirement behavior, with significant economic consequences. This paper presents new evidence on the effect of different seniority pension reforms, considering the evolution of an...

The aim of this paper is to empirically validate the agent-based macroeconomic model of Gaffeo et al. [2008]. We show that the microsimulated version of the model is able to replicate actual data with a satisfactory degree of precision. From a theoretical point of view, our validation approach...

We discuss a special Pólya lattice model to study cascading failures of firms in a simple industrial economy. In particular, every firm is represented by a Pólya-like urn, whose reinforcement is function of time, of the neighboring urns and their compositions, and of a random variable...

We examine the Boulogne wholesale fish market, analysing the structure of the trading network between sellers and buyers. Differently from other works in the literature, our analysis indicates a significant amount of ‘bilateral loyalty’ seller--buyer. Loyalty is from buyers to a few sellers...