Contracting Institutions,Agro‐food Trade and Product Quality

The agro‐food sector has experienced a profound transformation of contractual arrangements along the value chain, coinciding with important technological innovations and product quality upgrading. Our understanding of the impact that this transformation has had on trade flows in the agricultural sector is very limited. In particular, we have limited knowledge about the extent to which the patterns in agro‐food trade have been driven by the quality of contractual institutions. Using existing measures which capture the sensitivity of agro‐food products to contractual imperfections, we show that countries with better contract enforcement specialise in the production of food which requires higher level of relationship‐specific investments. We also find that countries with better contracting institutions and producing contract‐intensive goods specialise in exporting high quality foods. In addition, we show that the quality of contracting institutions might importantly affect the process of product quality upgrading.     

A comprehensive view of intelligent transport systems for urban smart mobility

ABSTRACT

Information accuracy and decision-making speed are of paramount importance in managing today’s mobility of goods and people inside the city. Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) can provide road users with updated information and forecasts on both traffic and weather conditions. The result is a higher efficiency in the use of resources and a better management of physical flows. The purpose of this paper is to conduct an in-depth review on the role of ITS supporting urban Smart Mobility, in order to identify the main gaps in the literature and propose future research streams. In total, 71 papers have been thoroughly analysed: they are mainly focused on technology, with limited attention to value creation. Even though some benefits have been examined, a general lack of quantitative models emerged. Eventually, there is a lack of contributions considering both people and freight transport, even if they are strongly related, especially in an urban environment.     

Reaching nirvana with a defaultable asset?

We study the optimal dynamic portfolio exposure to predictable default risk, taking inspiration from the search for yield by means of defaultable assets observed before the 2007–2008 crisis and in its aftermath. Under no arbitrage, default risk is compensated by an ‘yield pickup’ that can strongly attract aggressive investors via an investment-horizon effect in their optimal non-myopic portfolios. We show it by stating the optimal dynamic portfolio problem of Kim and Omberg (Rev Financ Stud 9:141–161, 1996) for a defaultable risky asset and by rigorously proving the existence of nirvana-type solutions. We achieve such a contribution to the portfolio optimization literature by means of a careful, closed-form-yielding adaptation to our defaultable asset setting of the general convex duality approach of Kramkov and Schachermayer (Ann Appl Probab 9(3):904–950, 1999; Ann Appl Probab 13(4):1504–1516, 2003).     

Remote control and maintenance outsourcing networks and its applications in supply chain management

The paper analyzes the impact of e-business technologies on maintenance management and supply chain operations. The aim of this work is to investigate the network organization level of supply chains in case of remote maintenance application and to understand how maintenance policies are coupled with information technology (IT) solutions. To this purpose two literature reviews are presented: firstly, on the supply chain and network integration, and then on the evolution of maintenance using information technology. Following this, the paper present four specific industrial case-studies of eMRO network organisation. They have been chosen as reference models from a set of practical applications and pilot tests performed by the authors in different production sectors in the last 5 years. Technology complexity environments, maintenance outsourcing level, and supply chain integration context are discussed for each case-studies with particular regards to the profitable forms of collaboration provided by the introduction of IT and the Web. This analysis work toward the development of a framework useful to: (1) classify different e-maintenance systems and understand the relationships between the different members of the network, and (2) identify the variables which can influence the introduction and development of the systems.     

From the Nation-State to a World Society: An Institutional Reading of Globalization

This article highlights the inadequacy of classical and neoclassical theories for understanding the set of changes experienced by economic systems in their process of development. The institutional dimension concerning the issue of well-defined rules (through the introduction of economic policies) and involving all stakeholders in the regulatory process (starting from the firm), seems to better interpret micro- and macro-economic aspects of the evolving capitalist model. This means questioning the complicated economic governance and society in the transition from the nation-state to a world society (or world state).     

Schumpeterian patterns of innovation and the sources of breakthrough inventions: evidence from a data-set of R&D awards

This paper examines the relationship between Schumpeterian patterns of innovation and the generation of breakthrough inventions. Our data source for breakthrough inventions is the “R&D 100 awards” competition organized each year by the magazine Research & Development. Since 1963, this magazine has been awarding this prize to 100 most technologically significant new products available for sale or licensing in the year preceding the judgment. We use USPTO patent data to measure the relevant dimensions of the technological regime prevailing in each sector and, on this basis, we provide a characterization of each sector in terms of the Schumpeter Mark I/Schumpeter Mark II archetypes. Our main finding is that breakthrough inventions are more likely to emerge in ‘turbulent’ Schumpeter Mark I type of contexts.     

On the cost-benefit of the regionalisation of the National Health Service

In this paper we analyse in formal terms the desirability of the regionalisation of a National Health Service. The policy consists of a devolution process, i.e. the increase in the health services provision to be decided by a region and financed by an increase in its revenues. The change is a marginal one, as it regards the part of supply of the health services exceeding a minimum standard, which for purposes of equity is maintained uniform in the national territory. As the central government is responsible for this component of the provision of health care (a federal “mandate”), the level of the said component is chosen by this authority and financed by federal taxation. Moreover, the government also applies an equalisation scheme based on the difference between a standard level of tax revenues and the revenues which the region is deemed able to raise for this purpose. Within the theoretical context of welfare improving reforms with distortionary taxation, we derive two conditions which focus on the regional, as well as the social, convenience of regionalisation. Received: May 5, 1999 / Accepted: January 21, 2000     

The Sraffian schools

After briefly recalling Sraffa's own contribution, the article surveys the ensuing debate, concerning both the critique of the marignalist theory, the revival of the classical approach, and the analytical contributions on specific aspects of Sraffa's 1960 book. Three lines of research for a modern reconstruction of th classical approach are then illustrated: Pasinetti's lsquo;Ricardianrsquo; reconstruction, Garegnani's lsquo;Marxianrsquo; reconstruction, and Sylos Labini's lsquo;Smithianrsquo; reconstruction. Finally, an assessment of these three research lines is provided, together with some suggestion for their integration.     

The two sides of academic research: do basic and applied activities complement each other?

It is generally acknowledged that the cuts in government funding for research implemented in several European countries will induce academic researchers to increase their interaction with non academic entities to promote the acquisition of external funding for research. Indirectly this implies that there will be a shift in the focus of academic scientific activity from basic to applied research via private research contracts and consultancy work. The aim of our paper is to assess the extent of the trade-off between basic research and applied activity in academic research departments. We use data for the universe of Italian academic departments over the period 2006–2011 and estimate whether increased applied activity is substituting or complementing basic research activity. We provide empirical evidence of a strong substitution effect for life sciences departments and, to a lesser extent, for engineering and technology departments, while there does not seem to be evidence of a substitution effect for departments whose scientific activity revolves around basic science.     

On the nonexistence of recursive equilibrium in stochastic OLG economies

We study a class of stochastic Overlapping generations (OLG) economies that have one-memory equilibria, that is equilibria that are determined by the current and past realizations of the states of uncertainty. This class is negligible, but important. In particular, it contains all the known examples of nonexistence of recursive equilibrium. We show that, within this restricted domain, the existence of recursive equilibrium is actually typical, and such examples are therefore nonrobust. We thank Felix Kubler, Herakles Polemarchakis and Steve Spear for many useful discussions. This paper was started while the first author was visiting Columbia Business School.