The writing of this paper is occasioned by the very critical comments of Giacomo Costa (2022) regarding my book L’illusione liberista. However, the paper is not meant to be a general reply to Costa’s remarks. It rather represents an attempt to go deeper into issues that I regard as foundational for contemporary economics and politics alike: the invisible hand theorem and the transformation from a market economy to a market society; the unpleasantness of homo economicus; the (unnecessary) link between self-interest and rationality; the negative effects of the generational egoism that underlies the neoliberal approach on climate change; the contrast between homo economicus, homo cooperans and homo moralis; the difficult coexistence of markets and incentives with goods that should not have a price.
The spectre of inflation is haunting Europe. In 2021, inflation rose to levels not seen since the 1980s. The increase in energy prices is mostly to blame. What is the proper monetary policy stance to adopt in this context? Several arguments are at variance with the effectiveness of the standard restrictive monetary policy. On the one hand, the presence of ‘hysteresis’ suggests that a restrictive monetary policy can have long-lasting negative effects determining persistently lower employment and economic activity levels. Moreover, the cost-push nature of inflation casts doubt on the effectiveness of current monetary policy. This paper argues that trying to deflate the economy by raising interest rates and limiting the growth of demand may be self-defeating. Therefore, after showing the meaning and the functioning of hysteresis, we argue that restrictive monetary policy can produce a persistent negative effect on output without reducing the inflation rate.
In this article, we estimate the impact of the non-contributory social pension known as Bono de Desarrollo Humano (Human Development Bonus) on the consumption of poor older people in Ecuador. We use data from the latest Living Conditions Survey, carried out between 2013 and 2014, and apply propensity score matching to estimate the impact of the programme. The estimations show that the pension negatively affects different types of consumption. These results suggest that the social pension does not contribute to a reduction in consumption poverty (based on food, medicine, and health services consumption indicators) among older people in Ecuador. Nevertheless, it helps many people who have no access to social insurance to obtain some income in their old age.
This study investigates the factors associated with the productivity of scholars affiliated with Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore at international level. A survey was administered to all members of the academic community with a 9.45% response rate (n=466). Productivity was measured by means of the number of peer-reviewed articles published and analysed using a negative binomial model. The findings indicate that factors such as a research period abroad, co-authorship with international colleagues, and participation in research networks have a positive impact on productivity. Additionally, funding was found to be a key factor, but only in the context of international research. The results suggest that collaboration among scholars leads to an increase in productivity and that funding and other forms of collaboration may enhance the productivity in scientific research.
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