We derive a measure of technological change using firm-level panel data and controlling for imperfect competition, increasing returns and unobserved factor utilization. We show that the latter variable accounts for a relevant portion of the cyclicality of the Solow residual. Our key finding is...

Recent contributions have suggested that technology shocks have a negative short-run effect on labor input, contrary to the predictions of standard flexible-price models of the business cycle. Some authors have interpreted this finding as evidence in favor of stickyprice models, while others...

We develop a model which accounts for the observed equity premium and average risk free rate, without implying counterfactually high risk aversion. The model also does well in accounting for business cycle phenomena.

In an economy where entrepreneurs with unequal "abilities" face alternative investment projects, which differ in degree of risk and productivity, we analyse the Nash equilibrium contracts arising from a banks-borrowers game in the context of asymmetric information. We show that, for a particular...

In an economy where entrepreneurs with unequal "abilities" face alternative investment projects, which differ in degree of risk and productivity, we analyse the Nash equilibrium contracts arising from a banks-borrowers game in the context of asymmetric information. We show that, for a particular...

The creation of the Euro area has increased the importance of obtaining timely information about short-term changes in the area's real activity. In this paper we propose a number of alternative short-term forecasting models, ranging from simple ARIMA models to more complex cointegrated VAR and...

This paper examines the creation of some new provinces in Italy in the 1990s to assess whether the reduction in the size of the local jurisdiction led to benefits in terms of local development, human capital and road quality, which are three public goods provided by the Italian provinces in...

We compare the magnitude of local productivity advantages associated with two different spatial concentration patterns in Italy � urban areas and industrial districts. The former have high population density and host a wide range of economic activities, while the latter are marked by a high...

We investigate the prediction of Italian industrial production. We first specify a model based on electricity consumption; we show that the cubic trend in such a model mostly captures the evolution over time of the electricity coefficient, which can be well approximated by a smooth transition...

The debate in Italy on the recent disappointing performance of GDP growth has focused on the increasing competitive pressure exerted by firms located in the developing countries and specialized in key product sectors of Italian manufacturing. This paper contributes by explicitly quantifying the...