The paper suggests that casting the choice problem in terms of alternative time-consuming activities can foster the fruitful cross-fertilization between economics and psychology along the lines suggested by Scitovsky in the Joyless Economy. The first part emphasizes how mainstream, utility-based...

During the 1990s, some important European countries, particularly Italy and Sweden, have radically transformed their public pension system by adopting defined-contribution rules while retaining a pay-as-you-go financial architecture. This paper inquires into the theoretical properties of these...

The paper uses a Sraffa-type two-sector model to study how the presence of retired workers interacts with the distribution of the surplus between workers and capitalists (firms). In particular, the paper investigates how the ongoing diminution of the ratio between active and retired workers...

The main tenet of the paper is that cost-plus non-competitive prices, while obviously set by firms according to expected market demand for their output, can be assumed to be independent of possible discrepancies between the expected and the actual demand for firms' output. The analysis is placed...

The aim of this paper is to propose an analytical framework wherein the individuals' choice problem is addressed in terms of alternative time-consuming activities rather than alternative bundles of goods and services. In particular, the paper reverses Becker's (1965, The Economic Journal, 75...

During the 1990s, some important European countries, particularly Italy and Sweden, have radically transformed their public pension system by adopting defined-contribution rules while retaining a pay-as-you-go financial architecture. This paper inquires into the theoretical properties of these...