A POLITICAL ECONOMY THEORY OF FISCAL POLICY AND UNEMPLOYMENT

This paper presents a political economy theory of fiscal policy and unemployment. The underlying economy is one in which unemployment can arise but can be mitigated by tax cuts and increases in public production. Such policies are fiscally costly, but can be financed by issuing government debt. Policy decisions are made by a legislature consisting of representatives from different political districts. With the available policies, it is possible for the government to completely eliminate unemployment in the long run. However, with political decision making, the economy always has unemployment. Unemployment is higher when the private sector experiences negative shocks. When these shocks occur, the government employs debt‐financed fiscal stimulus plans which involve both tax cuts and public production increases. When the private sector is healthy, the government contracts debt until it reaches a floor level. Unemployment levels are weakly increasing in the economy's debt level, strictly so when the private sector experiences negative shocks. Conditional on the level of workers employed, the mix of public and private output is distorted.     

The Cyclical Volatility of Equilibrium Unemployment and Vacancies: Evidence From Italy

In this study, we explore the fluctuations of unemployment and vacancies in the Italian labour market over the last 20 years. Relying on the available sources of data for unfilled job openings, we find that even in Italy, similarly to other developed countries, there is a clean evidence of the unemployment volatility puzzle. In other words, we empirically assess that the tightness indicator is significantly more volatile than productivity over the whole period. In addition, on the theoretical ground, we show that a matching model with segmented labour markets and on‐the‐job search has the potential to provide a rationale for this pattern.     

Is There Still a Wage Penalty for Being Overeducated But Well‐matched in Skills? A Panel Data Analysis of a Swiss Graduate Cohort

Using two periods' panel data from the Swiss Graduate Survey, this study examines the incidence, persistence and wage effects of overeducation. An alternative measure of overeducation that accounts for graduate heterogeneity in perceived skills mismatch is used. This analysis differs from previous panel data studies in that two estimation methods are applied to control for unobserved ability. Results indicate that graduates who are overeducated and mismatched in skills are the most penalized in terms of earnings. This evidence is still valid when unobserved ability is accounted for, whereas the pay penalty is no more significant for graduates who are overeducated but matched in skills. This result is robust to different definitions of perceived skills mismatch and is consistent with the notion that apparent overeducation reflects a lack of unobserved attributes, such as ability.     

Strategic investment decisions in multi-stage contests with heterogeneous players

When heterogeneous players make strategic investment decisions in multi-stage contests, they might conserve resources in a current contest to spend more in a subsequent contest, if the degree of heterogeneity in the current (subsequent) contest is sufficiently large (small). We confirm these predictions using data from German professional soccer, in which players are subject to a one-match ban if they accumulate five yellow cards. Players with four yellow cards facing the risk of being suspended for the next match are (i) less likely to be fielded when the heterogeneity in the current match increases and (ii) more likely to receive a fifth yellow card in the current match when heterogeneity in the next match increases or heterogeneity in the next match but one (when they return from their ban) decreases.

     

Nash Bargaining Theory,Nonconvex Problems and Social Welfare Orderings

In this paper we deal with the extension of Nash bargaining theory to nonconvex problems. By focussing on the Social Welfare Ordering associated with a bargaining solution, we characterize the symmetric Nash Bargaining Solution (NBS). Moreover, we obtain a unified method of proof of recent characterization results for the asymmetric single-valued NBS and the symmetric multivalued NBS, as well as their extensions to different domains.     

Exploring Employee Perceptions towards Smart Working during the COVID-19 Pandemic: a Comparative Analysis of Two Italian Public Research Organizations

Public Organization Review - Of all the socio-economic changes caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the disruption to workforce organizations will probably leave the largest indelible mark. The way...     

Influence of alliance portfolio diversity on innovation performance: the role of internal capabilities of value creation

In this study, we suggest a new perspective on the linkage between alliance portfolio diversity and innovation performance based on a contingency approach. Using a longitudinal data set on alliance portfolios and patents of 182 firms in the U.S. manufacturing industries, we examined that alliance portfolio diversity has a U-shaped relationship with firm-level innovation. Internal value creation capabilities in terms of routine and ability are found to moderate the relationship between alliance portfolio diversity and innovation performance: organizational search routine strengthens the relationship of alliance portfolio diversity and innovation performance while technological capabilities weaken and flip the relationship.

     

Concomitant-Variable Latent-Class Beta Inflated Models to Assess Students’ Performance: An Italian Case Study

Students’ performance is a crucial aspect for university programs effectiveness and organization. In this paper, we introduce and analyze a performance index for the first-year students of a private Italian university, namely the Libera Università Maria Ss. Assunta. We use administrative data on 532 undergraduate students enrolled in any of the eight available bachelor degrees in 2015. Our aim is to improve the general understanding of performance linking it with personal student’s characteristics and with degree-specific aspects. A beta inflated latent class approach is employed to identify clusters of performance establishing a link with all available explanatory variables. The empirical analysis unveils that a good and balanced degree organization may improve students’ performance. The student’s ability plays a crucial role in discriminating between good and bad performances, and also strongly depends on individual-specific characteristics, such as the final mark obtained at high school.

     

Fitting spatial regressions to large datasets using unilateral approximations

Maximum likelihood estimation of a spatial model typically requires a sizeable computational capacity, even in relatively small samples, and becomes unfeasible in very large datasets. The unilateral approximation approach to spatial model estimation (suggested in Besag 1974 Besag, J. E. 1974. Spatial interaction and the statistical analysis of lattice systems. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series B (Methodological) 36 (2):192–236.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) provides a viable alternative to maximum likelihood estimation that reduces substantially the computing time and the storage required. In this article, we extend the method, originally proposed for conditionally specified processes, to simultaneous and to general bilateral spatial processes over rectangular lattices. We prove the estimators’ consistency and study their finite-sample properties via Monte Carlo simulations.