Suchergebnisse

After reviewing the main empirical and theoretical findings about the evolution of inequality and its impact on macroeconomic dynamics, this thesis expands the analysis performed with an agent-based model by Napoletano, Roventini and Gaffard (2016). In the model, which is characterized by heterogeneous households with credit constraints, an inequality shock is introduced. This generates a fall in aggregate demand and income. Scenarios with different degrees of inequality are compared, and what emerges is that higher inequality is associated with more severe recessions. Moreover, a redistributive fiscal policy, in the form of a subsidy, is introduced after the crisis. This policy significantly dampens the fall in aggregate output implied by the inequality shock and is more effective than direct government expenditure in stimulating the economy.

Mathematical game theory – developed starting from the publication of The Theory of Games and Economic Behavior (1944), by John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern – aims to outline an ideal model of behaviour of rational agents involved in some interaction with other rational agents. For this reason, game theory has immediately attracted the attention of philosophers dealing with practical rationality and, since the fifties, has been applied to the analysis of several issues concerning ethics and philosophy of politics. Here we will focus on one of the most interesting applications of game theory to ethical-political inquiry, i.e., with the game theoretic analysis of some problems related to the evolution of moral norms. Firstly, we will provide a short outline of the development of game theory, which has lead to the formulation of a plurality of different game theories. It will be shown that such theories can be classified in two main groups: rationalistic game theories –in two different versions: classical and epistemic – and evolutionary game theories. Moreover, some basic elements of classical game theory will be introduced and the key ideas of epistemic and evolutionary game theories will be illustrated. Afterwards, the main approaches developed within the ethical-political applications of game theory will be shortly described. Finally, some results obtained in the last twenty years by the researchers who have analysed the evolution of moral norms by the conceptual tools of evolutionary and epistemic game theories, will be examined.

In the aftermath of Japan's closing edicts of the 1640s, the curious episode of the mission of the Dutch agent Andries Frisius to the court of Iemitsu in 1650 was an emblematic case of the new course of the diplomatic relations established by the Tokugawa government with Europeans. Local authorities' occasional contacts with the Dutch still revealed uncertainty in diplomatic and commercial exchanges based on rules set by the central government, not yet fully implemented at the local level. Besides the embarrassment in developing official relations, the few European agents admitted in the archipelago had to satisfy the numerous requests from the authorities, as evidenced by the singular case of Frisius. Agents' commitments also included the presentation of official reports, the so-called fūsetsugaki, the news on overseas affairs and European historical events that envoys of the Dutch East India Company were asked to present regularly to the shogunal authorities in Edo. These chronicles had implications in terms of the reception of the image of Europe, influencing to some extent the foreign policy of the time. ; In the aftermath of Japan's closing edicts of the 1640s, the curious episode of the mission of the Dutch agent Andries Frisius to the court of Iemitsu in 1650 was an emblematic case of the new course of the diplomatic relations established by the Tokugawa government with Europeans. Local authorities' occasional contacts with the Dutch still revealed uncertainty in diplomatic and commercial exchanges based on rules set by the central government, not yet fully implemented at the local level. Besides the embarrassment in developing official relations, the few European agents admitted in the archipelago had to satisfy the numerous requests from the authorities, as evidenced by the singular case of Frisius. Agents' commitments also included the presentation of official reports, the so-called fūsetsugaki, the news on overseas affairs and European historical events that envoys of the Dutch East India Company were asked to present regularly to the shogunal authorities in Edo. These chronicles had implications in terms of the reception of the image of Europe, influencing to some extent the foreign policy of the time.

The article analyzes the debate on "racial" or "ethnic voting" in postapartheid South Africa, looking at its implications for democratic theory. A critical review is offered of "sociological" (culture- & class-based) as well as "psychological" & political communication explanations for the unexpected tendency of the 'coloured' voters in the Cape area to "betray" the African National Congress & line up with the white electorate after 1993. An alternative explanation is also offered that seeks to combine elements from the theory of cleavages, class voting theory, & the Downsian theory of elections. It is based on the application of some recent developments of European & American rational choice sociology to the genesis of voting preferences, as well as on the concept of language repertoire & central place theory. Finally, some possible adjustments to the liberal democratic model in contexts marked by economic, language, culture, & geographic differentials are recommended from within the theoretical framework of the neo-contractarian views of democracy. 8 Tables, 2 Figures, 72 References. Adapted from the source document.

This thesis is a collection of three essays about the economics of coordination. Coordination issues arise when, in presence of multiple equilibria, heterogeneously informed agents need to coordinate with each other towards a Pareto-superior outcome. Electoral outcomes, collective decision-making, currency attacks or polit- ical regime changes examples of coordination problems. The first chapter provides a game theoretic analysis of group decision making, investigating how an agent's communication behavior is affected by different voting systems. I show that in an ideal state where communication is noisy but agents can communicate without opportunity costs, agents will always reach unanimous consensus regardless of which voting system governs the deliberative process. I further show that under the more realistic case in which communication involves opportunity costs, voting systems shape an agent's communication behavior. Specifically, when the opportunity costs of communication are low, a voting system based on unanimity approximates the results of the ideal state. Conversely, when communication involves high opportunity costs, a voting system based on majority is more desirable. The second essay is an experimental test of the predictions developed in the first chapter. The experiment is designed to determine how different voting institutions in uence the process of communication of collective decision bodies when communication can be costly. In contrast with the existing literature, I have found that different voting institutions induce different decision outcomes. In particular, a voting system based on unanimity fosters subjects' communication and information sharing. Once subjects choose to communicate, I also have observed that communication unambiguously improves the quality of the decision outcome across each voting rule. The third and final essay provides a political regime-change interpretation of the organized crime phe- nomenon. Under the assumption that the a criminal organization in a society benefits of the support of individuals, I investigate the strategic interplay between a criminal organization and a large number of citizens who might be more inclined to support the criminal organization rather than reporting its illegal activities to the legal authority. Borrowing from the economic literature on coordination and regime change, I model a criminal organization as an autocratic regime and claim that illegal activities are used in order to raise citizens support.

It is well known that Locke's political theory with regard to the concepts of the law of nature, the state of nature and the transition from it to the commonwealth is at best highly problematic, if not inconsistent. Locke's incoherence has often been related to the combination of different approaches; he accepted the traditional metaphysical doctrine of natural law (which he found restated in Richard Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity), but combined it with naturalistic ethics of Epicurean origin centred on the ideas of self-preservation and of the search for pleasure and avoidance of pain as the basic motivations of human behaviour. In my essay I examine the notion of natural law and try to show the inadequacy of this theory to account for the transition from the state of nature to political society. I focus particularly on theologico-political issues related to the transgression of natural law, which is conceived both as an ideal rational norm and as a natural, practical principle. Locke's texts conceal a dilemma which he never discussed, but which undermines his political theory: either natural law's obligation is effective, and in this case rational human agents should live in a self-regulating natural society without need of building the commonwealth and its repressive apparatus; or natural law is no more than a postulated set of ideal values, unable to regulate the dominant forces of human actions, and in this case it is difficult to understand how the positive laws of the commonwealth should respect its supposed prescriptions. I conclude my essay arguing that the shaky theological foundation of Locke's political theory is not merely related to Locke's inconsistencies, but reveals the deficiency of the traditional notion of natural law when faced with the elements of realism which Locke includes in his theory and which he shares with modern political thought.

LIUC PAPERS-41 Serie Economia e Impresa 10, maggio 1997 In this essay I suggest a first-best solution to the collusion problem in a three-levels principal-supervisor-agent hierarchy (Tirole 1986, Laffont-Tirole 1993) in the context of a repeated games model. I introduce a new player in the component game i.e. a group of consumers which is also modelled as the constituency of the principal. An ex ante incomplete constitutional contract of authorisation links the principal to the group of consumer. At the next move in the game the group of consumers has a choice on the level of support and compliance to the principal's authority, which I intend as a specific investment. Due to the incompleteness of contracts problem, according to the economic theory of corporate culture (Kreps 1990) and code of ethics (Sacconi 1997), the principal may only announce a code of basic principles of good administration, being not automatically enforceable. In the repeated game among the three levels hierarchy and an infinite series of short-lived groups of consumers/supporters, I prove by a reputation effects construction (Fudenberg-Levine 1989, 1992) that the first best contract offered by the principal to the supervisor and the agent is part of a self-enforcing equilibrium profile making possible to the principal to get a payoff that approximates the Stakelberg payoff in nearly all the component games.

Work-life balance is one of the current issues within the academic, political, and managerial debate. An article discussed in a TAO Research Programs seminar held in June 2015 at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, suggests a critical interpretation of the mainstream literature and its related controversial results in terms of work-life reconciliation practices. The article also provides an alternative analytical framework based on Bruno Maggi's organization theory, Norbert Elias' theory of time, and Amartya Sen's theory of justice. Scholars from different universities and disciplines contribute with comments on the notions of time, justice, organization and the proposed interpretative framework as well.

This introduction discusses the rhetoric of the 'rule of law'. Based on various ethnographies, it reflect on negotiating order to which legal and illegal definitions are subject in the practice of social agents. The aim is to demonstrate the effectiveness of the legal anthropological perspective in eradicating the legal monism and in discussing the hegemony of rule of law, shifting attention to the plurality of normative available to rights holders. The paper focuses on the interstices between law and politics and on the new issues that have arisen in the contemporary. These require an openness to an idea of law less dogmatic and hegemonic and therefore flexible, dialogic and negotiated.

none ; Per le loro caratteristiche e per le loro modalità di funzionamento, i sistemi multi-agente o agent-based models (ABMs) rappresentano uno strumento a disposizione della ricerca sociale per affrontare il problema dell'analisi interna del comportamento sistemico. Questi strumenti si sposano con una concezione della ricerca sociale che sposta il fuoco dell'attenzione dallo studio dei fattori di influenza allo studio dell'attore sociale e della sua definizione della situazione, dallo studio delle proprietà e delle relazioni tra esse allo studio delle attività nell'interazione sociale, dallo studio trasversale dei fenomeni allo studio dei processi sociali, dall'ottica delle proprietà sociali concepite come sostanze all'analisi delle configurazioni sociali generate dall'interazione a livello micro. L'obiettivo è la comprensione dell'interazione tra le componenti individuali o elementari di un sistema, che costituisce un passaggio fondamentale per guardare al comportamento complesso di un sistema sociale. Gli ABM possono così costituire uno strumento per la costruzione di modelli sui fenomeni sociali, in grado di rappresentare tutti i passaggi dello schema di relazione tra livello micro e livello macro e rappresentare dinamicamente l'evoluzione del comportamento di un sistema di azione Nel testo la simulazione sociale viene introdotta partendo dall'attività che nelle scienze sociali viene descritta come modeling o Modellbildung, che si potrebbe tradurre con la locuzione modellizzazione o costruzione di modelli. In particolare, l'attenzione viene focalizzata sulla relazione tra il ricercatore, la teoria, il piano empirico inerente al sistema di azione studiato, il modello relativo al sistema di azione e la simulazione di questo modello. Nel quadro delle diverse opportunità offerte dalla simulazione sociale sono illustrate le caratteristiche denotative dei sistemi multi-agente. Le stesse caratteristiche, le opportunità e i vincoli tecnici dello strumento hanno delle implicazioni dirette nel rapporto tra impiego ...

The aim of this work is to investigate a solvolysis process for recycling polystirenic materials either expanded and not, with the target to identify the main design conditions for an industrial plant which provides for successive cycles of dissolution and precipitation to separate the polymer from the flame retardant agent: hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD). In fact the current legislation allows the use of recycled GPPS (General Purpose PolyStyrene) only with a concentration of HBCD less than 100 ppm, because this agent is persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic. The experimental work has been developed through several phases. In the first phase a laboratory set-up was implemented to study the solubilization process of the polymer with dialkylcarbonates or their mixtures and the subsequent precipitation with butanol. In this context, various agitation systems and feeding methods of the mixtures have been experimented to evaluate the influence of fluid dynamics on the process. The following phases were focused on the identification and experimental validation of other solvent / non-solvent couples, keeping the toxicity for humans and the environment as a mandatory parameter. A helpful tool in the search for more efficient solvent / non-solvent pairs in purifying the polymer from HBCD (requiring less cycles of dissolution and subsequent precipitation) was found in HSPiP software, based on Hansen's solubility parameters and allowing to overcome the lack of data in the literature. Then, the experimental set up was implemented and the operating conditions were optimized to obtain the best precipitate and selected the most efficient solvent / non-solvent couple in removing HBCD.

Working from administrative and military archival sources, the article investigates the dynamics of cooperation and conflict between the prefects and the army involved in the struggle against the counter-revolutionary brigandage in the Province of Foggia (Capitanata) after the Italian unification. Prefects and military leaders played a crucial role in elaborating a counter-insurgency strategy based on the combination of police measures, military operations and popular mobilization. The balance of power between the two authorities proved to be an essential issue in local politics, deeply influenced by the contrast between liberals and democrats on a nationwide scale. Claiming for a leading role of civil authorities in maintaining public order, the prefects, far from being the passive agents of the central government, acted as the representatives of their province's interests and tried to limit the military power within the new state.

Working from administrative and military archival sources, the article investigates the dynamics of cooperation and conflict between the prefects and the army involved in the struggle against the counter-revolutionary brigandage in the Province of Foggia (Capitanata) after the Italian unification. Prefects and military leaders played a crucial role in elaborating a counter-insurgency strategy based on the combination of police measures, military operations and popular mobilization. The balance of power between the two authorities proved to be an essential issue in local politics, deeply influenced by the contrast between liberals and democrats on a nationwide scale. Claiming for a leading role of civil authorities in maintaining public order, the prefects, far from being the passive agents of the central government, acted as the representatives of their province's interests and tried to limit the military power within the new state.

In the last 25 years, a vast empirical literature has seriously chal- lenged many assumptions on which the standard microeconomic approach is based. Inspired by this evidence, behavioural economics suggests that a research program that integrates the economic, psychological and neuro- scientific literature can provide a theory of human decision-making with stronger descriptive, predictive and normative power. This interdisci- plinary approach does not necessarily imply abandoning the neoclassical modelling tools and losing analytical tractability. As an example, the evo- lution of the economic theory on intertemporal choice is presented, show- ing that some standard economic assumptions can be viewed as special cases in which self-control and dynamic consistency are always guaranteed.