In this article, we present a summary of the analysis and policy proposals presented at the forum on ‘‘A New European Industrial Strategy and the European Recovery Program after the Covid-19 Crisis’’ organised by the research group ‘‘Growth, Investment and Territory’’1. This forum aimed to emphasise economic growth and environmental policies in urban areas and the whole economy after more than ten years of sluggish growth in Europe since the 2007/08 financial crisis2. In addition, the current dramatic turmoil brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic emphasises this need even more.
According to the prevailing literature on capital accumulation with infinite horizon, convergence toward the optimal path requires that individuals are able to select the unique convergent (saddle) path. This is tantamount to assuming that individuals have ‘‘colossal’’ rational capabilities. Conversely, any minor deviation from the saddle-path would inevitably lead to a crash onto a zero per-capita consumption path. This paper aims to show that this contraposition is false. It will be proved that an asymptotic convergence result to the Ramsey steady state path is obtained for an individual who optimizes his present and future consumption levels step by step in each period, gauging the costs and benefits of current savings on future consumption levels, momentarily assumed to be equal to net income (this assumption of future zero-net savings is then revised at each subsequent period). A ‘‘market’’ solution is here provided, using a temporary equilibrium approach a` la Hicks.
The aim of this paper is to investigate the poverty changes in Albania using data coming from the Household Budget Surveys conducted in 2007-2016 by the Albanian National Statistics Institute (INSTAT). In particular, we employ both static and dynamic approaches to evaluate the effect of growth and inequality on poverty variation both at national and macro-region level. To better understand the effect of economic growth on poverty change, we also perform two simulations that account for two scenarios of economic growth. The results show that: (i) the increase in poor population is due to the lack of growth in consumption; (ii) the improvement in the distribution of consumption has stopped further increases in poverty level. Finally, the findings of the two economic growth simulations show that an economic growth without an increase in inequality could reduce poverty in all its dimensions.
The aim of this study is to determine in which direction the saving and borrowing behavior of individuals is changing in the context of digitalization. The research methodology is based on an analysis of the influence of two levels of digitalization: access to digital technology and the availability of digital skills. Using a probit model, we assessed the likelihood of saving and borrowing behavior by incorporating digital technologies into the theoretical model. Marginal effects were calculated to interpret the results of the savings and borrowing behavior model. The results of the study show that digital technologies increase the likelihood of financial behavior in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries. Moreover, digital skills increase the likelihood of savings behavior and borrowing behavior by 20% and 19%, respectively. Digital technologies stimulate both saving and borrowing behavior, a result that has implications for public policy designed to enhance the saving behavior of different groups of the population by income quantiles.
Undoubtedly, the XXth century’s great ideological models have gone into crisis, at least in the sense that today it is challenging for them to be fully taken by some government and as a polar reference by large political forces on a world scale. Today we are confronted with globalist ideologies and practices and communitarian tensions. The substance is in a confrontation, starting from the economic field, between strong powers, managed by international finance and big corporations, and intellectual and political tensions for a paradigm change. A new paradigm, a new Third Way, whose one of its primary goal is to realize extensive and real participation of everybody in the collective choices, every field, and level, is expressed in this Manifesto, a synthesis of an elaboration of a great number of scholars worldwide, showing a broad positive vision, with an explicit project proposal, here analyzed and discussed.
L. ESPOSITO - G. MASTROMATTEO Would Orwell have put a ‘‘like’’ to Zuckerberg? Sushanna Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism. The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power R. TARGETTI LENTI Vittorio Valli, The American Economy from Roosevelt to Trump
Digital issue
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