This paper proposes a general formulation of a nonparametric frontier model introducingexternal environmental factors that might influence the production process butare neither inputs nor outputs under the control of the producer. A representation isproposed in terms of a probabilistic model...

In this work, inspired by Winter (2006), in fact of vintage 1968, we discuss the relation between three different levels of analysis of technologies, namely as (i) bodies of problem-solving knowledge, (ii) organizational procedures, and (iii) input-output relations. We begin by arguing that the...

This paper provides a description of the production process by comparing different frameworks in which to analyze the relations between inputs and output. The analyses are performed on a representative sample of Italian manufacturing firms. We employ both parametric and non-parametric analysis....

This paper links the rise of new industries populated by skill-intensive companies, and the divergence in labour incomes between skills. Our model explains inequality by the fact that as the skilled workers move towards new Silicon-Valley type firms, the reduced complementarity between skilled...

We analyse labor market dynamics with an agent based model, which replicates a set of stylized facts in the labor market as well as aggregate regularities. We are able to reproduce the Beveridge curve, job creation and destruction flows, a persistent unemployment level, and wages stickiness. On...

The paper, as such a draft of a chapter for the second edition of the Handbook of Economic Socielogy, Edited by Neil J. Smelser and Richard Swedberg), is meant to offer some sort of roadmap accross a few fields of investigation concerning the relationships between technological learning and...

The paper attempts to interpret a few stylized facts of international economic growth by means of an open economy evolutionary model. The idea is that growth models that incorporate a richer representation of the properties and effects of technological change can give a better explanation of the...

This paper explores how firms' skills and organizational change affect the returns from investments in ICT. Our work contributes to the literature by testing the hypothesis of complementarity in a panel of 540 Italian manufacturing firms during 1995-2000. By drawing on different statistical...

In this work, we present an assessment of the nature and impact of current "globalizing" tendencies at various levels of observation. The evidence in this respect suggests that it has mostly concerned financial flows (especially short-term ones); to some extent trade flows; and only to very...