The currency denomination of trade has important effects on inflation and macroeconomic transmiss... more The currency denomination of trade has important effects on inflation and macroeconomic transmission of shocks. While the theoretical literature of currency invoicing is quite advanced the empirical evidence is scant, perhaps due to data availability. This paper examines the currency denomination of the universe of Italian exports and Italian imports to countries outside of the European Union during 2010. Because of the unique nature of the data we test, and find evidence to suggest that the currency denomination of trade doesn't always follow immutable laws and that the market structure for an industry impacts the currency denomination decision.
We show that recent methodological advances in econometric theory raise questions about the resul... more We show that recent methodological advances in econometric theory raise questions about the results obtained by Lane and Milesi-Ferretti (LMF) in relation to the determinants of international investment patterns (International Investment Patterns, The Review of Economics and Statistics 2008; 90(3): 538{549). We find that LMF's estimated equations are affected by heteroscedasticity (which can lead to inconsistent estimates in log-linearized models), and that the results depend on the pattern of heteroscedasticity assumed and on the estimation method applied. Thus, LMF's findings need to be reassessed. Moreover, we extend the dataset over time to estimate the panel version of the LMF's equations (over years 2001{2009). Our panel allows for the proper accounting of unobserved heterogeneity through country-pair fixed effects and improves the cross-section analysis reconciling empirical evidence with economic theory. Irrespective of the estimation method, we identify a clear ...
L’articolo ha l’obiettivo di analizzare e proporre una misurazione del livello di “assicurazione”... more L’articolo ha l’obiettivo di analizzare e proporre una misurazione del livello di “assicurazione” del consumo alimentare nei paesi sottosviluppati. Il test proposto riesce a individuare l’importanza relativa dei vari meccanismi di assicurazione dal rischio di privazione di consumo . In particolare viene approfondita l’analisi della gestione degli stocks che appare uno dei fattori più rilevanti nei meccanismi di assicurazione del consumo alimentare
BackgroundThe Covid-19 pandemic is characterized by extreme variability in the outcome distributi... more BackgroundThe Covid-19 pandemic is characterized by extreme variability in the outcome distribution and mortality rates across different countries. Some recent studies suggested an inverse correlation with BCG vaccination at population level, while others denied this hypothesis. In order to address this controversial issue, we performed a strict epidemiological study collecting data available on a global scale, considering additional variables such as cultural-political factors and adherence to other vaccination coverages.MethodsData on 121 countries, accounting for about 99% of Covid-19 cases and deaths globally, were from John’s Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, United Nations, Human Freedom Report, and BCG Atlas. Statistical models used were Ordinary Least Squares, Tobit and Fractional Probit, implemented on Stata/MP16 software.ResultsBased on our results, countries where BCG vaccination is or has been mandated in the last decades have ...
It is a well known result that through national lump sum taxes and transfers everybody can gain f... more It is a well known result that through national lump sum taxes and transfers everybody can gain from international trade. This is always the case when domestic lump sum tax and transfers are implemented before trade. This brief note points out that if domestic transfers are possible only after trade it may well happen that some agents' losses can no longer be compensated. This simple reasoning helps make the case for supra-national political and economical institutions. (This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
Background: The Covid-19 pandemic is characterized by extreme variability in the outcome distribu... more Background: The Covid-19 pandemic is characterized by extreme variability in the outcome distribution and mortality rates across different countries. Some recent studies suggested an inverse correlation with BCG vaccination at population level, while others denied this hypothesis. In order to address this controversial issue, we performed a strict epidemiological study collecting data available on a global scale, considering additional variables such as cultural-political factors and adherence to other vaccination coverages. Methods: Data on 121 countries, accounting for about 99% of Covid-19 cases and deaths globally, were from John's Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, United Nations, Human Freedom Report, and BCG Atlas. Statistical models used were Ordinary Least Squares, Tobit and Fractional Probit, implemented on Stata/MP16 software. Results: Based on our results, countries where BCG vaccination is or has been mandated in the last d...
This work constitutes an attempt to estimate time preference factors in a direct way from survey ... more This work constitutes an attempt to estimate time preference factors in a direct way from survey data, without relying on consumption data and on particular estimation techniques. By using microeconomic data obtained from the Bank of Italy Survey of Household Income and Wealth (for the year 2000) and a simple second order Taylor expansion of a generic utility function we will compute, for each agent, a utility discount factor. The interesting features of the dataset will also enable us to relate discount factors to a large number of social, economic, and demographic variables. Agents do appear to discount future utility flows at rates which vary across age, education, civil status, income and wealth situations; more importantly, it is suggested that risk and market incompleteness should be considered as important determinants of time preference parameters.
We use experimental matching data from the 2000 Bank of Italy Survey of Household Income and Weal... more We use experimental matching data from the 2000 Bank of Italy Survey of Household Income and Wealth to compare the relative frequencies of hyperbolic and exponential discounters. Among 3,235 Italian respondents, less than one-fourth exhibited hyperbolic discounting; this finding is both statistically significant and robust across a wide variety of economic, social, and demographic characteristics. The youngest, poorest, and least educated individuals are the most likely to be hyperbolic discounters.
This paper aims to fill the gaps in the analysis of risk‐sharing channels at the microlevel, both... more This paper aims to fill the gaps in the analysis of risk‐sharing channels at the microlevel, both within and across households. Using data from the Bank of Italy's Survey on Household Income and Wealth covering the financial crisis, we are able to quantify in a unified and consistent framework several risk‐sharing mechanisms that so far have been documented separately. We find that Italian households were able to smooth on average about 85% of shocks to household head's earnings in both 2008–2010 and 2010–2012 spells. The most important smoothing mechanisms turn out to be self‐insurance through savings/dissavings (40% and 47% in 2008–2010 and 2010–2012, respectively), and within‐household risk‐sharing (16% and 14%). Interestingly, risk‐sharing through portfolio diversification and private transfers is rather limited, but the overall percentage of shock absorption occurring through private risk‐sharing channels hovers around four‐fifths, as opposed to around one‐fifth of a sh...
Objective: Currently, unlike earlier years, patients affected by multiple primary malignancies (M... more Objective: Currently, unlike earlier years, patients affected by multiple primary malignancies (MPM) are significantly increased, thus representing a clinical-pathologic category worthy of attention. Their clinical features and prognosis still need to be studied thoroughly, and this is the aim of our study. Methods: Patients with MPM involving lung cancer admitted in our center between January 2006 and December 2016 were considered. Parametric and nonparametric testing was used for statistical comparisons. Univariate and multivariate analysis was used to evaluate the variables associated with a prognostic value. Results: MPM incidence was 19.8%. Among the 222 patients with MPM enrolled, 204 (91.8%) had two malignancies, while 18 (8.2%) had three malignancies, 38 (17.1%) were synchronous, 41 (18.5%) had lung cancer first (LCF) and 181 (81.5%) had other cancer first (OCF). A significant difference between the time of first cancer diagnosis to the second cancer diagnosis in the LCF vs ...
Journal of the Japanese and International Economies
This paper analyzes the determinants of the wealth decumulation behavior of the retired elderly i... more This paper analyzes the determinants of the wealth decumulation behavior of the retired elderly in Japan using unique information from two household surveys, and by so doing, attempts to assess the relative importance of precautionary saving and bequest motives in explaining the lower than expected rates of wealth decumulation of the retired elderly. Taken together, our analyses of these two datasets show that precautionary saving plays a relatively important role in explaining the lower than expected wealth decumulation rate of the retired elderly, at least in the case of Japan, even though both precautionary saving and bequest motives are important drivers behind this puzzle. Our results also suggest the possibility that financial burden of parental care may also affect the wealth decumulation behavior of the retired elderly in Japan. Given that parental care responsibilities tend to i The empirical work undertaken in this paper utilizes micro data from the Preference Parameters Study of Osaka University's 21 st Century Center of Excellence (COE) Program "Behavioral Macrodynamics Based on Surveys and Experiments" and its Global COE Project "Human Behavior and Socioeconomic Dynamics." We acknowledge the program/project's contributors─Yoshiro Tsutsui, Fumio Ohtake, and Shinsuke Ikeda. We also use data from the Survey on Households and Saving for our empirical analysis. We are grateful to the Yu-cho Foundation for providing us with these data. We are also grateful to
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 00036840802600285, Aug 19, 2009
ABSTRACT The conventional measures of absolute and relative risk aversion are appropriate for mea... more ABSTRACT The conventional measures of absolute and relative risk aversion are appropriate for measuring preferences locally, but because they rely on differential calculus, they cannot accurately capture attitudes towards high-stakes risks involving potentially large changes in wealth. Eisenhauer (2006) has recently proposed an alternative approach which avoids the use of calculus. The present article extends that work in two ways. First, the Pratt-Arrow coefficient of absolute risk aversion is generalized into a measure of interval risk aversion, suitable for analysing preferences over risks of any magnitude, and a corresponding interval measure of relative risk aversion is constructed from preference and risk parameters, without explicit reference to initial wealth or income. Second, the new measures are applied to survey data from the Bank of Italy, to illustrate their empirical applicability to large-scale risk.
... Please update your bookmarks. Can Irrelevant Product Differentiation Matter ? LuigiVentura ()... more ... Please update your bookmarks. Can Irrelevant Product Differentiation Matter ? LuigiVentura (). No 1995077, CORE Discussion Papers from Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE). ...
Profit maximization is not a well defined objective when markets are incomplete. Several criteria... more Profit maximization is not a well defined objective when markets are incomplete. Several criteria of investment choice have therefore been put forward in the literature, some of which crucially hinge upon aggregation of shareholders' preferences, as is the case with the criteria proposed by Drèze (1974) and Grossman and Hart (1979). This note shows that these criteria are normalization dependent, i.e. their outcome depends on the good chosen to express individuals' marginal rates of substitution.
The currency denomination of trade has important effects on inflation and macroeconomic transmiss... more The currency denomination of trade has important effects on inflation and macroeconomic transmission of shocks. While the theoretical literature of currency invoicing is quite advanced the empirical evidence is scant, perhaps due to data availability. This paper examines the currency denomination of the universe of Italian exports and Italian imports to countries outside of the European Union during 2010. Because of the unique nature of the data we test, and find evidence to suggest that the currency denomination of trade doesn't always follow immutable laws and that the market structure for an industry impacts the currency denomination decision.
We show that recent methodological advances in econometric theory raise questions about the resul... more We show that recent methodological advances in econometric theory raise questions about the results obtained by Lane and Milesi-Ferretti (LMF) in relation to the determinants of international investment patterns (International Investment Patterns, The Review of Economics and Statistics 2008; 90(3): 538{549). We find that LMF's estimated equations are affected by heteroscedasticity (which can lead to inconsistent estimates in log-linearized models), and that the results depend on the pattern of heteroscedasticity assumed and on the estimation method applied. Thus, LMF's findings need to be reassessed. Moreover, we extend the dataset over time to estimate the panel version of the LMF's equations (over years 2001{2009). Our panel allows for the proper accounting of unobserved heterogeneity through country-pair fixed effects and improves the cross-section analysis reconciling empirical evidence with economic theory. Irrespective of the estimation method, we identify a clear ...
L’articolo ha l’obiettivo di analizzare e proporre una misurazione del livello di “assicurazione”... more L’articolo ha l’obiettivo di analizzare e proporre una misurazione del livello di “assicurazione” del consumo alimentare nei paesi sottosviluppati. Il test proposto riesce a individuare l’importanza relativa dei vari meccanismi di assicurazione dal rischio di privazione di consumo . In particolare viene approfondita l’analisi della gestione degli stocks che appare uno dei fattori più rilevanti nei meccanismi di assicurazione del consumo alimentare
BackgroundThe Covid-19 pandemic is characterized by extreme variability in the outcome distributi... more BackgroundThe Covid-19 pandemic is characterized by extreme variability in the outcome distribution and mortality rates across different countries. Some recent studies suggested an inverse correlation with BCG vaccination at population level, while others denied this hypothesis. In order to address this controversial issue, we performed a strict epidemiological study collecting data available on a global scale, considering additional variables such as cultural-political factors and adherence to other vaccination coverages.MethodsData on 121 countries, accounting for about 99% of Covid-19 cases and deaths globally, were from John’s Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, United Nations, Human Freedom Report, and BCG Atlas. Statistical models used were Ordinary Least Squares, Tobit and Fractional Probit, implemented on Stata/MP16 software.ResultsBased on our results, countries where BCG vaccination is or has been mandated in the last decades have ...
It is a well known result that through national lump sum taxes and transfers everybody can gain f... more It is a well known result that through national lump sum taxes and transfers everybody can gain from international trade. This is always the case when domestic lump sum tax and transfers are implemented before trade. This brief note points out that if domestic transfers are possible only after trade it may well happen that some agents' losses can no longer be compensated. This simple reasoning helps make the case for supra-national political and economical institutions. (This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
Background: The Covid-19 pandemic is characterized by extreme variability in the outcome distribu... more Background: The Covid-19 pandemic is characterized by extreme variability in the outcome distribution and mortality rates across different countries. Some recent studies suggested an inverse correlation with BCG vaccination at population level, while others denied this hypothesis. In order to address this controversial issue, we performed a strict epidemiological study collecting data available on a global scale, considering additional variables such as cultural-political factors and adherence to other vaccination coverages. Methods: Data on 121 countries, accounting for about 99% of Covid-19 cases and deaths globally, were from John's Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, United Nations, Human Freedom Report, and BCG Atlas. Statistical models used were Ordinary Least Squares, Tobit and Fractional Probit, implemented on Stata/MP16 software. Results: Based on our results, countries where BCG vaccination is or has been mandated in the last d...
This work constitutes an attempt to estimate time preference factors in a direct way from survey ... more This work constitutes an attempt to estimate time preference factors in a direct way from survey data, without relying on consumption data and on particular estimation techniques. By using microeconomic data obtained from the Bank of Italy Survey of Household Income and Wealth (for the year 2000) and a simple second order Taylor expansion of a generic utility function we will compute, for each agent, a utility discount factor. The interesting features of the dataset will also enable us to relate discount factors to a large number of social, economic, and demographic variables. Agents do appear to discount future utility flows at rates which vary across age, education, civil status, income and wealth situations; more importantly, it is suggested that risk and market incompleteness should be considered as important determinants of time preference parameters.
We use experimental matching data from the 2000 Bank of Italy Survey of Household Income and Weal... more We use experimental matching data from the 2000 Bank of Italy Survey of Household Income and Wealth to compare the relative frequencies of hyperbolic and exponential discounters. Among 3,235 Italian respondents, less than one-fourth exhibited hyperbolic discounting; this finding is both statistically significant and robust across a wide variety of economic, social, and demographic characteristics. The youngest, poorest, and least educated individuals are the most likely to be hyperbolic discounters.
This paper aims to fill the gaps in the analysis of risk‐sharing channels at the microlevel, both... more This paper aims to fill the gaps in the analysis of risk‐sharing channels at the microlevel, both within and across households. Using data from the Bank of Italy's Survey on Household Income and Wealth covering the financial crisis, we are able to quantify in a unified and consistent framework several risk‐sharing mechanisms that so far have been documented separately. We find that Italian households were able to smooth on average about 85% of shocks to household head's earnings in both 2008–2010 and 2010–2012 spells. The most important smoothing mechanisms turn out to be self‐insurance through savings/dissavings (40% and 47% in 2008–2010 and 2010–2012, respectively), and within‐household risk‐sharing (16% and 14%). Interestingly, risk‐sharing through portfolio diversification and private transfers is rather limited, but the overall percentage of shock absorption occurring through private risk‐sharing channels hovers around four‐fifths, as opposed to around one‐fifth of a sh...
Objective: Currently, unlike earlier years, patients affected by multiple primary malignancies (M... more Objective: Currently, unlike earlier years, patients affected by multiple primary malignancies (MPM) are significantly increased, thus representing a clinical-pathologic category worthy of attention. Their clinical features and prognosis still need to be studied thoroughly, and this is the aim of our study. Methods: Patients with MPM involving lung cancer admitted in our center between January 2006 and December 2016 were considered. Parametric and nonparametric testing was used for statistical comparisons. Univariate and multivariate analysis was used to evaluate the variables associated with a prognostic value. Results: MPM incidence was 19.8%. Among the 222 patients with MPM enrolled, 204 (91.8%) had two malignancies, while 18 (8.2%) had three malignancies, 38 (17.1%) were synchronous, 41 (18.5%) had lung cancer first (LCF) and 181 (81.5%) had other cancer first (OCF). A significant difference between the time of first cancer diagnosis to the second cancer diagnosis in the LCF vs ...
Journal of the Japanese and International Economies
This paper analyzes the determinants of the wealth decumulation behavior of the retired elderly i... more This paper analyzes the determinants of the wealth decumulation behavior of the retired elderly in Japan using unique information from two household surveys, and by so doing, attempts to assess the relative importance of precautionary saving and bequest motives in explaining the lower than expected rates of wealth decumulation of the retired elderly. Taken together, our analyses of these two datasets show that precautionary saving plays a relatively important role in explaining the lower than expected wealth decumulation rate of the retired elderly, at least in the case of Japan, even though both precautionary saving and bequest motives are important drivers behind this puzzle. Our results also suggest the possibility that financial burden of parental care may also affect the wealth decumulation behavior of the retired elderly in Japan. Given that parental care responsibilities tend to i The empirical work undertaken in this paper utilizes micro data from the Preference Parameters Study of Osaka University's 21 st Century Center of Excellence (COE) Program "Behavioral Macrodynamics Based on Surveys and Experiments" and its Global COE Project "Human Behavior and Socioeconomic Dynamics." We acknowledge the program/project's contributors─Yoshiro Tsutsui, Fumio Ohtake, and Shinsuke Ikeda. We also use data from the Survey on Households and Saving for our empirical analysis. We are grateful to the Yu-cho Foundation for providing us with these data. We are also grateful to
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 00036840802600285, Aug 19, 2009
ABSTRACT The conventional measures of absolute and relative risk aversion are appropriate for mea... more ABSTRACT The conventional measures of absolute and relative risk aversion are appropriate for measuring preferences locally, but because they rely on differential calculus, they cannot accurately capture attitudes towards high-stakes risks involving potentially large changes in wealth. Eisenhauer (2006) has recently proposed an alternative approach which avoids the use of calculus. The present article extends that work in two ways. First, the Pratt-Arrow coefficient of absolute risk aversion is generalized into a measure of interval risk aversion, suitable for analysing preferences over risks of any magnitude, and a corresponding interval measure of relative risk aversion is constructed from preference and risk parameters, without explicit reference to initial wealth or income. Second, the new measures are applied to survey data from the Bank of Italy, to illustrate their empirical applicability to large-scale risk.
... Please update your bookmarks. Can Irrelevant Product Differentiation Matter ? LuigiVentura ()... more ... Please update your bookmarks. Can Irrelevant Product Differentiation Matter ? LuigiVentura (). No 1995077, CORE Discussion Papers from Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE). ...
Profit maximization is not a well defined objective when markets are incomplete. Several criteria... more Profit maximization is not a well defined objective when markets are incomplete. Several criteria of investment choice have therefore been put forward in the literature, some of which crucially hinge upon aggregation of shareholders' preferences, as is the case with the criteria proposed by Drèze (1974) and Grossman and Hart (1979). This note shows that these criteria are normalization dependent, i.e. their outcome depends on the good chosen to express individuals' marginal rates of substitution.
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