In this paper we consider a class of nonparametric estimators of a distribution function F, with compact support, based on the theory of IFSs. The estimator of F is tought as the fixed point of a contractive operator T defined in terms of a vector of parameters p and a family of affine maps W...

In this paper I propose a definition of 'Citizenship goods'. Standard microeconomics distinguishes between purely private, purely public and mixed goods, based on the degree of non-rivalry and excludability. This is however a definition based on technical features of the goods that fails to...

The paper considers price trends as signals for the evaluation of reforms leading to ownership or market structure changes in public services. In order to do so, we focus on a specific example: electricity prices in four countries, namely UK, France, Germany and Italy.We consider that these...

Europe needs a huge investment effort for (broadly defined) infrastructure in the next decade. A combination of EU grants, loans by the EIB and the EBRD, and their leverage effect on private capital is going to mobilise a huge amount of savings. Planners should establish priorities and criteria....

A subthreshold signal is transmitted through a channel and may be detected when some noise { with known structure and proportional to some level { is added to the data. There is an optimal noise level, called stochastic resonance, that corresponds to the highest Fisher information in the problem...

This paper offers a review and discussion of the evidence concerning the underpricing and long run performance of British PIPOs (Privatisation Initial Public Offerings) between 1977-1996, i.e. from the first privatisation under a Labour Government (British Petroleum), until the last ones by a...

Two different methodologies, Nonlinear PCA and Partial Credit version of Rasch model, are applied to real data to obtain a quantitative measure of a latent factor. Specifically the goal is to identify the level of damage of a set of particurarly valuable public buildings. Several ordinal...

In this paper we focus on the relation between product quality and information, which let us distinguishing search and experience goods. We show how literature has studied the way firms signalling the high quality of their products/services: introductory discount pricing, strong advertising...