We briefly describe the recent evolution of the crisis and, by reviewing some of its explanations... more We briefly describe the recent evolution of the crisis and, by reviewing some of its explanations based on different theories, we proceed towards our own interpretation. The deregulation wave of the last decades has created new profit opportunities in various contexts -from labour flexibility to privatisation, from financialisation to globalisation -so promoting a renewed process of capitalist accumulation after the stagflation of the 1970s. This has taken place at the cost of a wide-ranging increase of inequality and instability, thus implying a crescendo of crises until the last one (and maybe beyond).
Novembre 30, 2011 @ 5:12 pm -Scitto da admin per Nuovi assetti del capitale, Politiche fiscali e ... more Novembre 30, 2011 @ 5:12 pm -Scitto da admin per Nuovi assetti del capitale, Politiche fiscali e di bilancio, Primo Piano, Pubblico versus privato | 4 Commenti Sembra che il consistente aumento del debito pubblico, seguito alla socializzazione delle perdite private prodotte dalla recente crisi, sia diventato negli ultimi tempi il principale problema di molti paesi occidentali (in particolare, dell'area Euro). Molti commentatori sostengono che per uscire dalla crisi sono necessarie politiche economiche di "austerità". Altri, invece, che le politiche restrittive causeranno una grave recessione (e un peggioramento dei conti pubblici). Esistono, quindi, posizioni alternative rispetto agli interventi di politica economica da intraprendere per contrastare la crisi. Da una parte, infatti, la spiegazione dei fatti recenti come una "crisi finanziaria" (con "effetti reali"), dovuta al fallimento di aspetti specifici dei mercati finanziari, potrebbe suggerire una soluzione "tecnica" dei problemi emersi, per continuare a percorrere la strada neoliberista "una volta riparate alcune buche"; dall'altra parte, l'inquadramento degli attuali problemi come il risultato di una "crisi sistemica" dovuta a "cause reali" (con "effetti finanziari" che hanno prima posticipato e poi amplificato la crisi) dovrebbe invece condurre ad un cambiamento radicale volto alla costruzione di un nuovo modello di sviluppo.
We firstly provide a brief description of the crisis episodes, from the 2007-8 "liquidity crisis"... more We firstly provide a brief description of the crisis episodes, from the 2007-8 "liquidity crisis" to the 2008-9 "global recession". Then, we discuss some possible interpretations of the recent evolution, focussing on diverse aspects of the crisis: from the elements of novelty (financial innovations and new practices of risk management) to known mechanisms (the pro-cyclicality of the credit supply and the role of finance in a monetary production economy) and its fundamental causes which, in our opinion, date back to the deregulation policies implemented in many countries during the last decades, starting from the US and the UK. These decisions have created new profit opportunities in various contexts, so promoting a renewed process of capitalist accumulation. This process has taken place at the cost of a wide-ranging increase of inequality and instability, thus implying a crescendo of crisis episodes (both at the national and the international level) until the more recent one. Accordingly, we think that the current crisis is linked to the underlying movements of capitalist accumulation (from the financiarization of "advanced economies" to the gradual shift of the "centre" of the world economy towards China and other Asian emerging countries), its functioning as a monetary production economy and its political dimension. * Questo lavoro ha beneficiato di discussioni con numerose persone. Una parte del presente lavoro è stata inserita, in forma revisionata e ridotta, come appendice ad uno dei capitoli del testo "Politica economica: teorie, scuole ed evidenze empiriche" (in corso di pubblicazione per Giappichelli) di Enrico Marelli e Marcello Signorelli, che desidero ringraziare per i preziosi suggerimenti e gli spunti critici proposti. Ringrazio inoltre, Leonardo Bargigli, Alessia Lo Turco, Giancarlo Lutero, Enzo Valentini ed, in particolare, Adelino Zanini. Le interpretazioni proposte, così come gli inevitabili errori, sono riconducibili esclusivamente all'autore.
Conventional wisdom is increasingly of the view that austerity isn't working. The combination... more Conventional wisdom is increasingly of the view that austerity isn't working. The combination of tax increases and public spending cuts is typically justified as a necessary measure to reduce public debt-to-GDP ratios, yet after years of austerity the public debt-to-GDP ratio is increasing in many European countries. Austerity's supporters respond that what looks like failure is merely the short-term pain of transition towards economic sustainability. Once economic growth resumes, they insist, the positive effects of the restructuring of public finances will be manifest in a structurally balanced budget and a reduced public deficit.
Dopo anni di austerità, l’economia non riparte, la disoccupazione aumenta e i conti pubblici pegg... more Dopo anni di austerità, l’economia non riparte, la disoccupazione aumenta e i conti pubblici peggiorano (anche in paesi, come la Spagna, con un basso rapporto tra debito pubblico e pil prima della “crisi finanziaria”). I policy maker sono intervenuti per “salvare” il sistema, anche con salvataggi bancari (e un conseguente aumento del debito pubblico). E il sostegno alla domanda? Mancano i soldi, dicono. Ciò che vogliamo evidenziare è semmai il contrario: ci sono “troppi” soldi, concentrati in poche mani. See more at: http://www.economiaepolitica.it/index.php/europa-e-mondo/loccidente-nella-trappola-della-ricchezza/
We briefly describe the recent evolution of the crisis and, by reviewing some of its explanations... more We briefly describe the recent evolution of the crisis and, by reviewing some of its explanations based on different theories, we proceed towards our own interpretation. The deregulation wave of the last decades has created new profit opportunities in various contexts -from labour flexibility to privatisation, from financialisation to globalisation -so promoting a renewed process of capitalist accumulation after the stagflation of the 1970s. This has taken place at the cost of a wide-ranging increase of inequality and instability, thus implying a crescendo of crises until the last one (and maybe beyond).
We briefly describe the evolution of the global process of capitalist accumulation during the neo... more We briefly describe the evolution of the global process of capitalist accumulation during the neoliberal decades, to stress the “real causes” of the current crisis. This analysis leads to the search for a radical alternative to “austerity”, that is the economic policy approach tied to an interpretation of the crisis due to problems of “financial nature”. In our view, the political alternative to the neoliberal management of the crisis should be based on a large extension of education in the context of a “green” and “egalitarian” process of economic development. This requires a significant involvement of the public sector (in collaboration with private capitals) in providing the bases for economic growth, and a political support to an appropriate taxation of wealth (by now highly concentrated in a very small fraction of the population).
In this paper we propose a stochastic model in which wealth accumulation depends on the role that... more In this paper we propose a stochastic model in which wealth accumulation depends on the role that agents play in the society: capitalists or workers. A random mechanism of class selection shapes the social structure of the economy based on wealth distribution dynamics. As a result, the society may evolve towards an unequal outcome with few rich and many poor individuals, even starting from perfect equality. We study the dynamic properties of the model by means of computer simulations. A maximum likelihood estimation procedure is applied to analyse the Pareto or power law tail of wealth distribution. We also provide a scenario analysis to explore the system's behaviour under alternative parameter settings.
In this paper we focus on the impact of involuntary unemployment on wage formation using experime... more In this paper we focus on the impact of involuntary unemployment on wage formation using experimental evidence. We use the well-known Gift Exchange Game to analyze players' interaction in a simplified job market. The aim of this paper is twofold: on the one hand, we are interested in analyzing the relation between involuntary unemployment and wages; on the other hand, we aim at understanding whether the interaction between employers and employees could be affected by reciprocity. Our results show that unemployment has a negative impact on wages. Moreover, there is a positive correlation between wage and effort.
... ALBERTO RUSSO MICHELE CATALANO EDOARDO GAFFEO MAURO ... basilare sul quale si fonda la teoria... more ... ALBERTO RUSSO MICHELE CATALANO EDOARDO GAFFEO MAURO ... basilare sul quale si fonda la teoria economica dominante, considera individui del tutto razionali che prendono delle decisioni separatamente, senza interagire tra di loro, utilizzando come ...
The present work analyzes the individual behavior in an experimental asset market in which the on... more The present work analyzes the individual behavior in an experimental asset market in which the only task of each player is to predict the future price of an asset. To form their expectations, players see the past realization of the asset price in the market and the current information about the mean dividend and the interest rate. We investigate the mechanism of expectation formation in two di�erent contexts: in the �first one the fundamental value is constant, while in the second the fundamental price increases over repetitions. The aim of this work is twofold: on the one hand, based on the �nding of the recent literature about expectations, we investigate whether agents make their prediction according to adaptive expectation instead of rational one. On the other hand, we test the accuracy of the aggregate forecasts compared with the individual ones. Results show that there is heterogeneity both within and between groups. Agents follow adaptive rules to predict future prices and th...
In this paper we focus on the impact of involuntary unemployment on wage formation using experime... more In this paper we focus on the impact of involuntary unemployment on wage formation using experimental evidence. We use the well-known Gift Exchange Game to analyze players' interaction in a simplified job market. The aim of this paper is twofold: on the one hand, we are interested in analyzing the relation between involuntary unemployment and wages; on the other hand, we aim at understanding whether the interaction between employers and employees could be affected by reciprocity. Our results show that unemployment has a negative impact on wages. Moreover, there is a positive correlation between wage and effort.
We model a network economy with three sectors: downstream firms, upstream firms, and banks. Agent... more We model a network economy with three sectors: downstream firms, upstream firms, and banks. Agents are linked by productive and credit relationships so that the behavior of one agent in fluences the behavior of the others through network connections. Credit interlinkages among agents are a source of bankruptcy diffusion: in fact, failure of ful lling debt commitments would lead to bankruptcy chains. All in all, the bankruptcy in one sector can diff�use to other sectors through linkages creating a vicious cycle and bankruptcy avalanches in the network economy. Our analysis show how the choices of credit supply by both banks and fi rms are interrelated. While the initial impact of monetary policy is on bank behaviour, we show the interactive play between the choices made by banks, the choices made by fi rms in their role as providers of credit, and the choices made by firms in their role as producers.
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Papers by Alberto Russo
aim of this paper is twofold: on the one hand, we are interested in analyzing the relation between involuntary unemployment and wages; on the other hand, we aim at understanding whether the interaction between employers
and employees could be affected by reciprocity. Our results show that unemployment has a negative impact on wages. Moreover, there is a positive correlation between wage and effort.