Economia Politica. Rivista di teoria e analisi Economia Politica. Rivista di teoria e analisi
Sommari degli articoli pubblicati nel n.2, 1998
Index 1998 (forthcoming) Content of no.2, 1998
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This note originates from the results of the Strategic Project of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR) on "Unemployment". Three polar self sustaining processes have been suggested as relevant: standardisation and variety; global and local context; codified and tacit knowledge. Three are also the main interpretations of unemployment. Two of them agree that economic growth is an essential condition for reducing unemployment and exclusion. However, in the first one "passive" (short term) flexibility is considered as a necessary and sufficient condition for virtuous growth. In the second interpretation "innovative" (long term flexibility) is to be implemented through the action of networks and associations and the co-ordination mechanism is lead by co-operation. The third interpretation tends to consider economic growth irrelevant (or impracticable) with respect to employment and this is why the appropriate remedies are discovered in a radical reform of the social architecture. On the whole, a partial equilibrium approach is not deemed sufficient and it is proposed the use a whole array of policy options differentiated with respect to the national and local setting and to the influence on the growth potential or the capability to exploit this potential.
On the Economic Definition of the Species of Commodities (J.E.L.: D51)
by Paolo Scapparone
In economic theory, commodities are usually classified into different species on the ground of some characteristics which they possess (physical or chemical qualities, spatial or temporal location, the state of nature in which they will be available, etc.); this classification is established once and for all, even before knowing the needs the different commodities can satisfy, or the productive uses they can serve for. On the contrary, in this work the classification into different species will be based on the strictly economic notion of perfect substitutability among commodities; therefore, it will be one of the outcomes of the theoretic construction and will depend on households' preferences in an essential way. The very notion of perfect substitutability will also allow the measurement of the commodities belonging to the same species.
Wage Stickiness and Employment Dynamics in Goodwin-Type Growth Models (J.E.L.: E3, J0)
by Luciano Fanti and Piero Manfredi
This paper is concerned with the problem of wage stickiness within the frame
of Goodwin-type models. The first part of the paper is devoted to a critical
review of some recent important contributions on the effects of time delays
on the labour market by Farkas (in 1984) and Farkas and Kotsis (in 1992). Our
discussion shows how the apparently reasonable assumption made by Farkas and
Kotsis of a logistic growth of the employment rate in absence of the
predatory role of wages, suffers of theoretical inconsistencies with respect
to Goodwin's frame. In the second part we use some results by Farkas to show
how persistent periodic behaviours arise when we combine, consistently with
the maintained assumptions of Goodwin's model, the assumption of wage
stickiness with that of an endogenous supply of labour accordingly to the
"discouraged worker" hypothesis.
The 1997 Pensions System Revision in Italy: How Could It Have Been ? (J.E.L.: H53, H55)
by Piero Giarda
The paper esamines the consistency of the Italian pensions reform of 1995 vis-a-vis the objectives that had motivated it. With respect to long run prospects, it shows that the new system - theoretically capable to produce long run financial equilibrium between revenues and expenditures - has adopted technical solutions that (a) provide pension benefits too high with respect to contributions, (b) contain too many special provisions and exceptions, (c) do not provide timely adjustments to demographic changes. With respect to short and medium term prospects, it stresses that the transition from the "old" to the "new" regime is very slow and provides inadequate treatment to important questions of horizontal equity. The paper suggests an agenda for the forthcoming 1997 correction of the 1995 reform and a proposal for a division of labour between Government, Parliament and trade unions on the different topics of the agenda. An appendix presents a summary of the revisions actually adopted in the fall of 1997.
The 1995 Pension Reform in Italy: What Has to Be Done Yet? (J.E.L.: H53, H55)
by Sandro Gronchi
The note is a comment on the recent pension reform in Italy passed by the Dini Government in 1995. The promise (which was made by the trade unions) to renounce real indexing of pensions appears to be a 'sham' used in order to make the first yearly pension payment more generous, but which will be sociallly impossible to maintain. Equalization will be necessary and will unhinge once again the financial balance of the system because the rate of return will be pushed beyond the rate of growth of overall wages and the golden rule will be violated. As well, the individual rate of return will again be diversified by favouring those working people whose retirement period might be longer (in terms of the working period) and/or characterized by more frequent or more generous adjustments.
An Un-Fashionable Comment upon the Pensions-Reform in Italy (J.E.L.: H53, H55)
by Anna Soci
This brief note intend to be a general comment on some important questions which stay behind the on-going social security reform in Italy. It firstly aims to address the question whether this reform will turn out to be exclusively a prop reform of the social security system, or it will come up in rethinking the role of the State as a whole. We wonder then if the economic indicators which are utilised are thought of as the most suitable to lighten the booming evolution of the pensions system and even more to be helpful in suggesting proposals to modify it. The last question we ask is about the effects on the nature of capitalism itself that pension-funds are likely to bring forth, in a system like the Italian one, where the development of financial markets is still in progress.
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