Economia Politica. Rivista di teoria e analisi

Abstracts of articles published in no.3, 1997

Sommari degli articoli pubblicati nel n.3, 1997

Index 1997
Content of no.3, 1997

Summaries

Introductory Note

From the Delors Report to the Maastricht Treaty and Beyond. What Have the Economists to Say ?
by Roberto Tamborini
The process towards the European Monetary Union has been completed by almost all the European Union's countries, including, with high probability, Italy. Nonetheless, some scholars still warns that the serious deficiencies embedded in the Maastricht Treaty, that surfaced during the convergence process, may hinder the functioning of the monetary union. This note agrees with this warning and puts forward some considerations on the reasons that may have led to the present situation, in particular as regards the role that economists have played, and may play in the future, in the elaboration of the "economic constitution" of the European Union.
Download (Winword 6.0, Kb.50)

(Note: to download the file click the right button of the mause, then select Save Link As)

Articles

Economic Dynamics, Endogenous Growth and Technical Progress in Adam Smith (J.E.L.: O31, L11, B12)
by Nicola De Liso
In this work I recall some features of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations central to the economic analysis of technological change. In particular themes related to division of labour, learning-by-doing, returns to scale and technical progress are tackled, and made intelligible in an 'endogenous growth' context. A new production function, in which labour is the only input, is used. Such a function is capable of generating increasing returns to scale which are due to process reorganisation - as necessary when new workers are employed - and learning-by-doing properly defined.

Equilibrium Dynamics in Self-Reproducing Non-Basic Sectors (J.E.L.: C61, O41)
by Giuseppe Freni
This paper analyses the equilibrium paths leading to a long-run stationary state in a one-sector model in which a self-reproducing non-basic is produced. It is shown that, provided external effects are absent, the equilibrium path is unique, although multiple long-run equilibria may exist under decreasing returns. When costs are decreasing, uniqueness of the equilibrium path is lost. Even local uniqueness may fail if strong scale economies in the use of primary resources and/or basic commodities are coupled with diseconomies in the use of the non-basic commodity.

Natural Evolution and Selection in the Work of Siro Lombardini: A Note (JEL: O10, 040)
by Alberto Quadrio Curzio and Giovanni Marseguerra
This note reviews a recent book by Siro Lombardini on Growth and Economic Development. The review re-examines old and new theories of growth. In particular, the importance of the recent theoretical models of endogenous growth (aiming at identifying endogenous, as opposed to exogenous, engines of growth) is assessed. The paper also analyses a recent and promising line of research pursued by Siro Lombardini By using the theory of natural evolution and selection, Lombardini enlarges Schumpeter's theory of economic development and shows how innovation can account for growth.

A Formalization for Income Taxes (J.E.L.: E24)
by Andrea Rancan
Here we propose a formalization of personal income taxes using the mathematical measure theory and the Lebesgue integral We show how such mathematical instruments adapt themselves to our problem in a natural way and how they put in evidence the constitutive elements of direct taxation. By the interpretation of the properties of such above said mathematical instruments we obtain the characteristics of income taxes. Among the possible applications, we show a study on redistributive effects of taxation and a way to consider the fiscal drag. Finally we make a simulation of 1996 Irpef and a calculation of the income concentration.

Review Article

Credit Markets, Financial Intermediations and Macroeconomic Fluctuations: Some Recent Developments (J.E.L.: D82, E44, G20)
by Emilio Colombo
This article provides a critical evaluation of recent developments in the literature on financial market imperfections and on the role played by them in the explanation of business cycles. The emphasis is primarily on those imperfections that arise from informational failures and that are at the origin of rationing, of agency costs and of variations in asset prices. The theoretical conclusions are compared with the results obtained by the empirical analysis.

Go back to the Home Page Go back to the Index

Redazione: econpol@spbo.unibo.it

Webmaster: lrossi@spbo.unibo.it