Suchergebnisse

The collapse of the Soviet Union led to the formation of a new geopolitical reality in the post-Soviet space with the emergence in 1991 of five new independent states in Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) and a complete transformation of their political and economic systems. The purpose of this study is the institutional and socio-economic evolution of the Central Asian region (CAR) and its states after Chapter I defines geographically the different possible boundaries of the Central Asian region, which over the centuries were part of different empires, kingdoms, and states, and the population of which historically de jure and de facto never had their independent national statehood until 1991. The study also focuses on the consequences of the policy of the ethnic and territorial division adopted in the Soviet era in Central Asia on the current political instability in the region. The chapter analyzes the features and results of the transformation of the Soviet political system into a Western democratic system in the CAR. Why did Central Asian countries abandon communism for democracy, then turn to authoritarian rule? This paper proposes a theoretical framework, which discusses the durability and sustainability of the super-presidential regimes in the region, and the key factors that have largely determined the failure of a democratic transition in all five post-Soviet Central Asian states. Special attention is given to the issues of political legitimacy of the current authoritarian regimes and the prospects of further democratic modernization. Chapter II is devoted to an analysis of the main features and results of the socio-economic transformation of the Soviet planned economy to a market economy in Central Asian states. The research area includes an analysis of the structural changes in the five Central Asian economies. State capitalism and critical dependence on external factors have become today the main common features of all these economies. In particular, the second chapter describes the restrictions imposed on the Central Asian commodity and labor exported economies and the protectionist policies adopted by national governments. Protectionist policies are aimed at reducing the economies' vulnerability to external shocks, which are due to the high sectorial and geographical concentration of exports, significant migrants' remittances and consistent inflows of foreign direct investments. The chapter discusses the issues of regional cooperation and integration and the perspectives of sustainable economic development in the states of Central Asia. Finally, this study highlights the emerging challenges associated with the intersection of the competitive multidirectional interests of the major world powers, which consistently expand and strengthen their control over the natural resources of the CAR. Through different economic instruments, such as providing loans and investments, or the formation of alternative macro-regional integration projects in Eurasia, they seek to achieve their ambitious strategic objectives in Central Asia.

Si analizzano le componenti asiatiche della situazione di egemonia mondiale da parte degli USA e si mettono in luce i fattori asiatici che stanno determinando il declino dell'egemonia americana nel mondo.

Il contributo ha carattere d'introduzione al volume, disamina i temi principali dell'opera attraverso i saggi in esso contenuti, una parte dei quali presentata al convegno internazionale "East Asia. Cross-cultural, scientific and economic exchanges. Historical perspectives, topical issues, programmes, and projects for sustainable development" (Novedrate, Como, Università eCampus, 18-19 giugno 2015), curato dalla stessa Autrice. L'introduzione chiarisce la genesi del volume e del convegno che lo ha preceduto e offre una riflessione tanto sul passato quanto sulla realtà odierna e globale degli scambi culturali, scientifici ed economici dell'Asia orientale anche in prospettiva storica, declinati alla luce delle più recenti pratiche e politiche per lo sviluppo sostenibile.

This dissertation represents an attempt to find out whether and to what extent transatlantic economic cooperation has been institutionalized in the last decade. More broadly, it is also a review of trade relations between the European Union and the United States in the past twenty years. Firstly, my claim is that the institutionalization of practices like trade dialogues and/or fora after the New Transatlantic Agenda had a weak impact on how transatlantic actors govern their respective economic ties. Consideration is given to both 'who' governs in transatlantic relations (either state and non-state actors) and 'how', as evidence is sought either in official documents and case-studies to prove or disprove the claim that a "re-centralisation" of decision-making powers has resulted in less 'policy setting' and 'policy shaping' by lower level civil servants and non-state actors. Moreover, another key issue is what drove the overall design and strategy of trade and economic relations forward, on both sides of the Atlantic. Extensive use of case studies, process-tracing, and interviews is applied to a wide range of topics, covering the period from the establishment of the New Transatlantic Agenda until the re-launch of the partnership with the Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC) in 2007. A particular attention is devoted to public opinion as an explanatory variable. Trade undisputedly reflects better than any other topic the determinants and features of decision-making, and shows how strongly they are shaped by a variety of factors. Non-tariff barriers to trade are one of the most important limits to transatlantic dialogue, especially in sectors such as food products, health, chemicals or data privacy. The role of private actors in (re)shaping regulatory standards is increased for example during current negotiations in Brussels and in Washington for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Finally, policy-making in the transatlantic sphere is adjusted to the needs and exigencies of the different relevant actors. Therefore, the peculiarity of the topic I am going to present can not be treated as if it was simply a matter of institutions, rational choices and bargaining. Policies are a result of a complex web of interactions, which can be framed by theories and are shaped by ideas and norms, as it will be shown in the theoretical part. I assume that political decisions can be explained by looking both at the different levels to which they are agreed upon and at the different factors they may be influenced by.

The article reconstructs the evolution of the political and economic relations developed between Australia and China from the birth of the Confederation up to the present day, resuming – according to the Australian perspective – the ranks of the relations that have taken place over time between these two countries, which are extremely different in terms of historical political, social, cultural events. The critical examination of a wide range of English-language literature, produced over time by scholars of various disciplines, aims to understand and discuss the various phases of a comparison that –albeit in alternate, discontinuous, contradictory and sometimes conflictual forms – has always been kept alive. The current situation sees both States strongly linked by a delicate and complex connection of political and economic interests, as well as leading players in the "crowded" and dynamic Asia Pacific region. This set of circumstances poses specific questions to Australia about the future of its bilateral relations with China, which – in a short and medium-term perspective – must not be separated from careful planning that also takes due account of the knowledge of the complex development of past experiences.

The recent Nobel Prize assigned to Paul Krugman "for his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity" witnesses the important role that the scienti�c community gives to the insights of the so-called New Economic Geography (NEG) literature. This field of economic analysis has always been particularly appealing to policy makers, given the direct link between its results and regional policy rules. For the same reason it is useful to deepen the analysis of its most important outputs by testing the theoretical robustness of some of its more relevant statements. This thesis tries to o¤er a contribution in this direction by focusing on a particular sub-field of NEG literature, the so-called New Economic Geography and Growth (NEGG) literature, having in Baldwin and Martin (2004) and Baldwin et. al (2004) the most important theoretical syntheses. These two surveys collect and present in an uni�ed framework the works by Baldwin, Martin and Ottaviano (2001), where capital is immobile and spillovers are localized, Martin and Ottaviano (1999) where spillovers are global and capital is mobile. Other related papers are Baldwin (1999) which introduces forward looking expectations in the so-called Footloose capital model developed by Martin and Rogers (1995); Baldwin and Forslid (1999) which introduces endogenous growth by means of a q-theory approach; Baldwin and Forslid (2000) where spillovers are localized, capital is immobile and migration is allowed. Some more recent developments in the NEGG literature can be distinguished in two main strands. One takes into consideration factor price differences in order to discuss the possibility of a monotonic relation between agglomeration and integration (Bellone and Maupertuis (2003) and Andres (2007)). The other one assumes firms heterogeneity in productivity (first introduced by Eaton and Kortum (2002) and Melitz (2003)) in order to analyse the relationship between growth and the spatial selection e¤ect leading the most productive firms to move to larger markets (see Baldwin and Okubo (2006) and Baldwin and Robert-Nicoud (2008). These recent developments are related to our work in introducing some relevant departures from the standard model. Indeed this thesis develops and extends the theoretical framework of New Economic Geography theory along several routes. In the third chapter of the thesis we develop a New Economic Geography and Growth model which, by using a CES utility function in the second-stage optimization problem, allows for expenditure shares in industrial goods to be endogenously determined. The implications of our generalization are quite rel-evant. In particular, we obtain the following novel results: 1) catastrophic agglomeration may always take place, whatever the degree of market integration, provided that the traditional and the industrial goods are su¢ ciently good substitutes; 2) the regional rate of growth is affected by the interregional allocation of economic activities even in the absence of localized spillovers, so that geography always matters for growth and 3) the regional rate of growth is af- fected by the degree of market openness: in particular, depending on whether the traditional and the industrial goods are good or poor substitutes, economic integration may be respectively growth-enhancing or growth-detrimental. In the fourth chapter of the thesis we build a New Economic Geography and Growth model based on Baldwin, Martin and Ottaviano (2001) with an additional sector producing Non-tradable goods (services). By assuming intersectoral and localized knowledge spillovers from the innovation sector to the service sector, we show that firms'allocation affects regional real growth. More precisely we assume that the unit labour requirements (and thereby the prices) in the service production are a negative function of the output of innovation, i.e. the stock of knowledge capital. Due to this new specification, real growth rates in the two regions always diverge when the firms allocation pattern differs from the symmetric one. This result is a novelty in the standard theoretical NEGG literature where regional gap in real growth rate is always zero. Moreover, this result has strong policy implications because it suggests that concentrating in- dustries in only one region may also bring a dynamic loss for the periphery. By analyzing the trade-o¤ between the dynamic gains of agglomeration (due to localized intertemporal spillovers) and the dynamic loss of agglomeration (due to localized intersectoral spillovers), we also discuss different notions of optimal level of agglomeration. The thesis will proceed as follows: in the chapters one and two we describe the state of the art in New Economic Geography and its further developments such as the New Economic Geography and Growth, the possibility of a monotonic relation between agglomeration and integration, and finally the firms heterogeneity in New Economic Geography models. Instead in chapters three and four we present our original contribution to the theory, i.e. the analysis of endogenous expenditure shares and intersectoral knowledge spillovers on the agglomeration patterns and economic growth.

Gli ultimi anni hanno visto importanti cambiamenti positivi nella cooperazione interstatale in Asia centrale. Crescenti minacce come il terrorismo internazionale, l'estremismo religioso e politico, il traffico di droga, ecc, causati dagli interessi geopolitici e geo-economici delle potenze mondiali, hanno contribuito alla formazione di una politica estera più coordinata e coerente degli Stati della regione. Questo processo si manifesta nella partecipazione attiva dell'istituzionalizzazione della Shanghai Organizzazione del Commonwealth (SOC), Conferenza sulle misure di costruzione d'interazione e fiducia in Asia (CICA) e Organizzazione del Trattato di Sicurezza Collettiva (CSTO). Problemi moderni di sicurezza in Asia centrale dovrebbero essere risolti in dei nuovi modi, non convenzionali. Le nuove minacce alla sicurezza richiedono modi non standard per risolvere il problema. Considerate le differenze fondamentali dell'Unione europea e degli Stati dell'Asia centrale nei valori e dal punto di vista in materia di sicurezza. I paesi dell'Asia centrale non sono pronti per l'integrazione politica. Nonostante questo, nell'Asia centrale sono state adottate misure per contrastare le minacce non convenzionali. L'esperienza europea di unire gli sforzi della regione per garantire la sicurezza interna, può essere utilizzata dai paesi dell'Asia centrale, soprattutto, in primo luogo sulla formazione del quadro istituzionale e giuridico per la cooperazione operativa delle forze dell'ordine per le seguenti aree: • prevenzione del traffico di droga attraverso gli Stati dell'Asia centrale; • lotta contro nuove forme di terrorismo ed estremismo; • limitare la dimensione della migrazione clandestina; • migliorare la protezione giuridica dei cittadini. Fino a poco tempo fa, questi temi hanno ricevuto poca attenzione, sia nella teoria sia nella pratica, poiché i problemi di sicurezza della società erano principalmente ridotti per evitare il pericolo di guerra. ; Recent years have seen major positive changes in interstate cooperation in Central Asia. Growing threats such as international terrorism, religious extremism and political, drug trafficking, etc., caused by geopolitical and geo-economic interests of the world powers, have contributed to the formation of a more coordinated and coherent foreign policy of states in the region. This process is manifested in the active participation of the institutionalization of the Shanghai Organization of the Commonwealth (SOC), Conference on measures of interaction and confidence building in Asia (CICA) and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Modern problems of security in Central Asia should be solved in new ways, unconventional. The new security threats require non-standard ways to solve the problem. Given the fundamental differences of the European Union and Central Asian states in the values and in terms of safety. The Central Asian countries are not ready for integration policy. Despite this, in Central Asia have been taken to counter unconventional threats. The European experience to join efforts in the region to ensure internal security, can be used by Central Asian countries, especially in the first place on the formation of the institutional and legal framework for operational cooperation of law enforcement for the following areas: • prevention of drug trafficking through Central Asian states; • fight against new forms of terrorism and extremism; • limit the scale of illegal migration; • improve the legal protection of citizens. Until recently, these issues have received little attention, both in theory and in practice, since the security problems of the company were mainly reduced to avoid the danger of war.

Le relazioni tra Repubblica popolare cinese e Russia post-sovietica nel corso degli anni Novanta e all'inizio del XXI secolo e le loro implicazioni strategiche, politiche ed economiche, con particolare riferimento alla partnership russo-cinese in Asia centrale e al ruolo della Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Socio-economic performance differs not only across countries but within countries too and can persist even after religion, language, and formal institutions are long shared. One interpretation of these disparities is that successful regions are characterized by higher levels of trust, and, more generally, of cooperation. Here we study a classic case of within-country disparities, the Italian North-South divide, to find out whether people exhibit geographically distinct abilities to cooperate independently of many other factors and whence these differences emerge. Through an experiment in four Italian cities, we study the behavior of a sample of the general population toward trust and contributions to the common good. We find that trust and contributions vary in unison, and diminish moving from North to South. This regional gap cannot be attributed to payoffs from cooperation or to institutions, formal or informal, that may vary across Italy, as the experimental methodology silences their impact. The gap is also independent of risk and other-regarding preferences which we measure experimentally, suggesting that the lower ability to cooperate we find in the South is not due to individual \moral" flaws. The gap could originate from emergent collective properties, such as different social norms and the expectations they engender. The absence of convergence in behavior during the last 150 years, since Italy was unified, further suggests that these norms can persist overtime. Using a millennium-long dataset, we explore whether the quality of past political institutions and the frequency of wars could explain the emergence of these differences in norms.

Economists have widely investigated the framework of politics and politicians, its mechanisms and its results. We collect some works, both theoretical and empirical, that describe some typical behaviour of politicians. In particular we focus on the following topics: political accountability, through the electoral systems and the role of citizens, the function of bureaucracy, the issue of multitasking. Finally we present a dynamic model that focuses on the degree of trust among voters.

This paper contributes to the debate on institutions and economic development by assessing the relationship between landownership concentration and education in Post-Unification Italy (1871-1921). Using historical data both at a district- and provincelevel, I nd evidence of a negative eect of land inequality on literacy rates. This result is conrmed when a large set of control variables is included in the analysis. IV estimates using the presence of malaria as a source of exogenous variation rule out further concerns regarding the presence of potential endogeneity. Further evidence is provided once I explore the panel dimension of the dataset. In addition, by analysing the impact on intermediate outputs such as enrolment rates in primary school, child-teacher ratio, school density, child labor and municipality expenditures, this paper provides insights on the mechanism behind this relationship. Land inequality may have adversely aected literacy rates not only by influencing the supply of schooling through the political process, but also through the private demand for education.

This contribution aims at briefly analysing the history of social cooperation in Italy, as a valuable and pluralistic reality in continuous expansion and transformation. The study and monitoring over time of cooperative organizations, with their occupational and economic impact, reveal a significant development in the community context of reference with regard to the supply of social, health and educational services, as well as opportunities for social and work inclusion also for people with disabilities. The historical narrative of Italian social cooperatives goes hand in hand with a possible global response to the needs of humanity, the demand for economic democracy and sustainable development. In the dramatic era of the Coronavirus, the culture of cooperation needs to be shaped according to a complex and peculiar business model, inspired by principles of solidarity and mutualism not conveyed by rhetoric but by social responsibility enhanced by inclusive processes. ; Il presente contributo intende sinteticamente analizzare la storia della cooperazione sociale in Italia, quale preziosa e pluralista realtà in continua espansione e trasformazione. Lo studio e il monitoraggio nel tempo delle organizzazioni cooperative, con il loro impatto occupazionale e economico, rilevano un significativo sviluppo nel contesto comunitario di riferimento relativamente all'offerta di servizi sociosanitari e educativi, oltre all'opportunità di inclusione sociale e lavorativa anche per le persone con disabilità. La narrazione storica delle cooperative sociali italiane si affianca a una possibile risposta globale ai bisogni dell'umanità, alla domanda di democrazia economica e di sviluppo sostenibile. Nella drammatica epoca del Coronavirus la cultura della cooperazione necessita di plasmarsi secondo un complesso e peculiare modello di impresa, ispirato a principi solidali e mutualistici non veicolati dalla retorica ma dalla responsabilità sociale potenziata dai processi inclusivi.

Il contributo utilizza la critica che l"economia femminista ha mosso all"homo oeco-nomicus per presentare le più recenti visioni dello sviluppo, del benessere e della felici-tà. Questi ultimi vengono, pertanto, analizzati in una nuova prospettiva che tiene contodi aspetti quali: i beni relazionali, la responsabilità sociale, il valore della cura, della col-laborazione e del rispetto reciproco. A tal proposito, vengono presentati alcuni innovati-vi indici di sviluppo già adottati da vari Paesi volti a indirizzarne le proprie politiche e-conomiche e sociali verso la promozione del benessere dei propri cittadini.

Scopo di questo lavoro è analizzare dal punto di vista delle relazioni diplomatico-economiche i rapporti tra l'Italia e le cinque Repubbliche ex sovietiche (Uzbekistan, Kirghizistan, Tagikistan, Turkmenistan e Kazakistan), soprattutto per quanto riguarda la politica energetica promossa dall'Italia nell'area, coadiuvata anche dalla cd. "diplomazia parallela" dell'Eni. Un focus particolare è stato, inoltre, riservato alla regione del Mar Caspio e alle politiche adottate dai suoi Paesi rivieraschi per la spartizione dei fondali e delle risorse ivi contenute, data anche la recente firma della "Convenzione sullo status giuridico del Mar Caspio". È stata, infine, approfondita la posizione nella regione delle compagnie energetiche italiane, prime fra tutte l'Eni, e il continuo adoperarsi di queste ultime affinché il corridoio energetico dal Mar Caspio diventi un nuovo canale d'approvvigionamento nazionale extraeuropeo. This paper aims to analyse the diplomatic and economic relations between Italy and the five Central Asian post-Soviet States (Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan e Kazakhstan), with a particular focus on the Italian energy policy, and on the "diplomazia parallela" conducted by ENI. The work also addresses the Caspian Region's energy supply policies, and specifically the partitioning of seabeds and their resources, following the recent signing of the "Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea". We then focused on the role of Italian energy companies in the Caspian area, first of all Eni, in their constant effort to turn the Caspian energy corridor in a new extra-European supply channel for Italy.

Si analizza il ruolo culturale svolto da Giorgio Borsa, il fondatore degli studi italiani sull'Asia contemporanea, mettendo in luce la sua formazione di anti fascista e i rapporti con il filosofo Piero Martinetti (uno dei pochissimi docenti universitari che rifiutò il giuramento di fedeltà al fascismo). In questa prospettiva si ricostruiscono le vicende dell'Osservatorio "Asia Maior", voluto da Borsa nel 1989, e da lui guidato fino alla morte (2002), sottolineando come esso abbia continuato fino ad oggi la tradizione di studi critici sull'Asia contemporanea di cui Borsa fu l'iniziatore e, fino alla sua scomparsa, il massimo esponente.