RIVISTA INTERNAZIONALE DI SCIENZE SOCIALI

This paper examines the evolution of the financial market impact of Federal Reserve monetary policy announcements. I begin by describing the changes in Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) communication practices, especially during and after the recent financial crisis. Then, I discuss the financial market effects of three types of monetary policy announcements: decisions about the current level of the federal funds target rate, forward guidance about the future path of the federal funds rate, and announcements about future large-scale asset purchases. The existing literature has reached a consensus that Federal Reserve actions, such as changes in the federal funds target rate and asset purchases, and communication have economically important and highly significant effects on asset prices. Moreover, Fed communications and asset purchases were effective monetary policy tools during the 2008-2015 period. Hence, the Federal Reserve has not been significantly constrained by the zero lower bound on policy rates.

Companies devise strategies to successfully navigate an uncertain business environment. They need to tackle regulatory or market obstacles in order to succeed. This study focuses on the complex relationship between strategies, obstacles and firm performance. It uses regression techniques on a cross-national sample of 37,150 European companies in 14 Member States to study the correlation between: i) firms’ perceptions about the importance of strategies and obstacles, and ii) firms’ innovation and economic performance. The findings indicate that firms pursuing cost reduction strategies and perceiving the lack of demand and adequate finance as obstacles experience poor performances. By contrast, those pursuing adaptability strategies and perceiving the lack of qualified personnel as an obstacle grow faster, and those with explicit product innovation strategies innovate more. High-growth enterprises appear less sensitive about financial constraints, more interested in the availability of skilled labour and benefiting more from cooperation than the others.

This study assesses farm productivity patterns, determinants and implications in Punjab, Pakistan by using farm-level data for 2003-04 and 2007-08. It is observed that farm productivity declined by 50 per cent from 2003-04 to 2007-08, which, in turn, led to decrease in farm income by 27.5 per cent, while off-farm income was increased. The results reveal that determinants like seeds, fertilizers, irrigation and labour contributed positively and significantly to productivity in both periods. Surprisingly, land contributed negatively to productivity in the second period, and this can be explained by the increase in land value. This study recommends that the farmers should be supplied quality farm inputs timely at reasonable prices along with the provision of effective extension services to boost productivity and thus income and savings of farm households of Punjab.

The European migration regime has traditionally been based on the temporary labour model. Coherently with the processes of social construction of migrants’ role, this model has encouraged migrants’ ‘‘natural’’ concentration in the lowest ranks of the professional hierarchy, which, in turn, has produced a condition of structural disadvantage, often transmitted to the second generation. Despite the significant efforts made towards the inclusion and equalization of migrants and their offspring, migrants’ participation in the labour market continues to mirror a model of subordinate incorporation. The latter, in turn, is consistent with many phenomena typical of current accumulation regimes, which have implied general degradation of working and salary conditions. The Italian experience is emblematic, as proven by many indicators that show a tendency towards the ethno-stratification of the labour market and the society. All these phenomena make migrants’ condition paradigmatic with regard to the sustainability of the current accumulation regime.

The Economist, in the time of its 175th birthday, has drawn up and submitted a ‘‘Manifesto for Renewing Liberalism for the XXIst Century’’. Here is carried out an analysis of the main goals of this Manifesto, that is the emphasis on the importance of the idea of liberty as a guideline for life, action and development of every individual and of every community. In the current crisis of liberalism, within the context of a wide political, economic and social crisis of the Western world, the Manifesto tries to give elements for an answer about what seem the main difficulties. This paper offers an illustration of weaknesses and shortcomings of the main elements of the deep difficulty in the liberal thought and in the action of the cultural and political movement drawing inspiration from this, discussing the elaboration carried out by the Economist.