Economia Politica最新文献

According to Kaldor and Verdoorn, the evolution of output is expected to structurally enhance labour productivity by generating economies of scale. At the same time, Okun’s law suggests a pro-cyclical association between output and productivity. These two aspects of the relationship often pose challenges in empirical studies when distinguishing between short-run (à la Okun) and long-run (à la Verdoorn) effects. In light of these complexities, our paper offers three contributions. First, we discuss the extant approaches to the estimation of long-run Verdoorn effects. Second, we investigate the presence of a short-run, Okun-like effect. Third, we propose a methodological advancement to separate the cyclical from the structural relationship between output and productivity. We employ panel cointegration-based techniques on data from a large set of OECD countries over the period 1970–2019. Our findings reveal a short-run coefficient of about 0.3 between growth rates and a long-run elasticity of about 0.5 between levels.

Abstract

We study how macro policies affected women’s and men’s incomes during the financial crisis in Europe. We consider the monetary stance, proxied by benchmark interest rates, and the fiscal stance, measured by the variation in public expenditures and public revenues, and investigate how they are associated to women’s and men’s labor and capital incomes, using microdata for 27 European countries between 2008 and 2016. We individualize household-level data by considering four scenarios of intra-household sharing of resources. We also explore how and to what extent macro-policies affect the distribution of labour incomes for men and women by applying a conditional quantile regression approach. Results highlight that the ECB’s expansionary policies had a positive effect on both labor and capital incomes for both men and women, while austerity policies had a mixed impact. Reductions in public expenditure had the effect of reducing labor incomes for both men and women, particularly at the median of the wage and labor distributions. In contrast, increases in public revenues benefited capital incomes, for all income quantiles.

The present work argues that wind energy is either a positive or negative determinant against the risks associated with its use, and aims at: evaluating the incidence of energy risks on the perception of wind energy; analysing the trade-offs between a wind farm installation, land conservation and energy risks; suggesting adequate policy indications for the efficiency of future energy markets. The study compares the results from logit models, which estimate the distribution of the utility coefficients with a Choice Experiment approach using a stated preference efficient design and honesty priming techniques to overcome the hypothetical bias. Main findings indicate a positive attitude for the proposed wind energy scenarios in terms of Aesthetical impact, CO₂ and Bill savings, and Costs, as well as more densely distributed wind farms producing more energy. Installation and maintenance costs and the rate of avian collisions are considered acceptable. From the main findings, useful policy insights assess the efficiency of wind farms projects to reduce costs and energy prices. Simplification of bureaucracy, direct economic benefits for local communities, citizens’ participation, and dissemination of information are key practices for future developments of wind energy markets.

Abstract

This paper provides new evidence about the impact of an agricultural development initiative focused on the cherry sector and implemented in rural areas of the Bekaa Valley (Lebanon). The initiative aims to enhance economic opportunities of smallholder farmers by strengthening technical skills, fostering sustainable productions and developing market linkages. Using original micro data from a sample of 118 smallholder cherry farmers, we explore, through a Difference-in-Differences approach, whether the development initiative, based on the provision of extension services and accompaniment through technical training, impacts on a broad set of alternative agricultural outcomes—namely, total cherry production, average market price, management competency and the adoption of improved agricultural practices. The results show that beneficiary small-scale farmers achieve better performances in three outcomes out of the four considered, with the adoption of improved and sustainable agricultural practices as the most remarkable result. Conversely, the management of the agricultural economic activity does not experience any statistically significant variation connected to the initiative implementation. The analysis of a limited source of treatment heterogeneity discloses the primary role of technical training, rather than other kinds of material support, to explain the main results.

The dynamics of debt-to-GDP ratio is one of the major elements scrutinized by policymakers, especially in the present context characterized by the sequence of global financial crises, the Covid-19 pandemic and, more recently, armed conflicts in Europe. Such events call for greater public support to prevent economic collapse, raising questions about the sustainability of the sovereign debt. In this paper, we investigate the impact of selected shocks and policies on the debt-to-GDP ratio dynamics by adopting a disaggregated multi-sectoral Computable General Equilibrium model calibrated on the Social Accounting Matrix for Italy. Particularly, according to several scenarios, a rise in energy prices and a drop in exports are considered jointly with budget policies, regarding the expansion of public investment and alternative monetary policies, aimed at sustaining the economies from different perspectives. The impact of these scenarios is discussed in terms of changes in the main macroeconomic variables and dynamics of the debt-to-GDP ratio.

The aim of this paper is to estimate the effect of longer schooling on the probability of entering a high-skill job and analyse whether the size of this effect depends on the (mis)match between the education attained by workers and the education required by the jobs. We use PIAAC data to estimate a multinomial logit model that predicts the odds of working in each occupational category and then simulate how these probabilities change for workers who have completed one more year of education, broken down by whether or not this additional year matches the educational requirements of the job. Our results suggest that, as observed from wages estimated according to an ORU equation, better education is positively associated with better jobs but the increased probability of getting a high-skill job as a result of completing one more year of education is greater for required than for mismatched education. The results differ notably by gender, with women being the ones who benefit most from an increase in education, especially in the absence of educational mismatch. These trends are observed whatever the institutional context, but we also found noteworthy differences by country.

This paper aims to explore if there is a connection between public debt and wage share; the intention is to contribute to the literature regarding both the efficacy of fiscal policy and financialisation of economics. The paper examines the case of Italy between 1960 and 2019, a rather long period during which the country, much like many other advanced economies, was affected by the contemporaneous presence of deteriorating public accounts and a reduced share of national income going to labour. The empirical analysis employs a long run dynamic technique and finds that an increase in debt decreases wage share, challenging the effect of fiscal policies on employment and national income. However, when distinguishing between the components fuelling debt, the estimates reveal controversial outcomes: primary deficit increases wage share, while interests in public debt decrease it. The results are consistent with the changes in policy strategy that occurred in three subperiods and suggest that public debt should be managed, accounting for the reciprocal effects of fiscal and monetary policy and considering the introduction of a common safe asset to preserve labour income.

Abstract

Common public debt in Europe is on the rise. Could it open a new chapter in fiscal integration? Over the past 15 years it has gained in prominence to provide collective funds for financial assistance and investment projects to meet common objectives, in particular when national budgets were stretched. This article reviews how the political focus of the Member States on keeping the financial position of the European Union (EU) under tight control has given way to large-scale common public debt issuance as the logical but still exceptional response to a crisis, pandemic, or war that demands collective action. To open a new chapter in fiscal integration, Member States will need to grant the EU a permanent option to borrow capital within pre-defined limits as well as a standing source of tax revenues for fulfilling its stabilisation, redistribution, and allocation functions. A central fiscal capacity with a permanent role for common public debt in turn requires effective central fiscal surveillance to secure sound national public finances.

Abstract

The interrelations between trade, FDI and migrations have an important impact on the global economy that resulted in the golden age of globalization at first and in a process of slowbalization in the last decade. Against this background, this paper focuses on migrations and FDI and shows that migrant networks encourage cross-border investments. The presence of immigrants is likely to attract new FDI from their country of origin. FDI abroad, furthermore, are positively related to the presence of migrants, thanks to their knowledge of the two markets. We apply a multilevel mixed model to disentangle the hierarchical structure of the data in order to test the relations between FDI and (directional) migration flows. More specifically we test how and to what extent the structure of the international migrants’ network contributes to bilateral FDI flows, besides standard models. Results show that migrants’ networks exploit the information migrants have on both source and destination markets, and that a more diverse migrants’ community in investing countries lowers bilateral FDI.

Political economy developed from profound transformations in economic and political life. The economic sphere extended from the management of individual units, such as households or the royal demesne, to a system defined as the collection of economic activities subject to sovereign authority, and characterized by widening webs of productive and social interdependencies across manifold units. In the political sphere, sovereign decisions came to be considered in the light of the material opportunities and constraints associated with productive interdependencies. Accordingly, the principle of economic life moved from the allocation principles of the household to system-level decision-making, guided by the correspondence between means and polity-level objectives and understood in the light of the material and social interdependences in the polity. The paper maintains that the relationship between economic structures and objectives at the systemic level should become again a central object of political economy. It goes on to argue that the development of structural economic analysis since the 20th century provides powerful analytical tools to investigate: (i) the systemic objectives that polities could pursue given their economic structure; (ii) the social aggregates that could form out of those which economic structure makes possible, and the particular objectives they could construe and pursue; and (iii) the constraints that economic structure imposes on the pursuit of all objectives, be they systemic or particular.