We challenge the widely held belief that New Keynesian models cannot predict an optimal positive inflation rate. In fact we find that even for the US economy, characterized by relatively small government size, optimal trend inflation is justified by the Phelps argument that the inflation tax...

It is widespread opinion that the concept of poverty, as well as measures of the extent of poverty at national or local level, cannot be entirely linked to income and assets but because of its multidimensionality necessarily involves a variety of individual/household characteristics (age,...

Economic and demographic factors are key determinants of health status in old age. Although,in recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the evaluation of the relationships between these factors and individual health status in Italy, limited attention has been devoted to the link...

This article derives optimal fiscal rules within a stochastic model of Keynesian type in the context of Poole (1970) analysis. By using optimal control theory and applying the Hamilton-Jacoby Bellman equation, we extend the original Poole results concerning the output stabilization properties of...

A growing body of research is exploring the role of community-based initiatives (CBIs) in the promotion of sustainable regional transitions. While existing research and policies acknowledge the relevant contribution of community activism in providing a soft, self-governed and bottom-up path...

Questo lavoro intende mettere in luce sia l’evoluzione subita dal pensiero economico negli ultimi decenni sia gli orientamenti concreti dell’azione pubblica, con il proposito di coglierne i nessi reciproci. L’indagine si sofferma in particolare sulle ragioni che portarono ad una pronta...

I processi di degrado dei suoli sono ascrivibili a diverse cause. Il presente lavoro mira ad evidenziare la tipologia che viene definita in letteratura dei fattori socio-economici. Ricostruendo la storia territoriale della Basilicata, a partire dagli anni cinquanta, con particolare attenzione...

L’ambiente per sua natura è un bene pubblico e la sua tutela richiede, quindi, qualche tipo d’intervento. L’uso delle risorse naturali per attività economiche, anziché a fini di protezione ambientale, ad esempio, può essere regolato a livello di comunità locale per evitare un...

The paper sketches some features of Caffè’s contribution to the construction, diffusion and applications of economic policy as a discipline, in addition to his personal traits and his qualities as a teacher. Not only was he one of the main proponents in Italy of the study of welfare economics...

In this paper we construct a general theory of forward guidance in economic policy making, in order to provide a framework to explain the role and strategic advantages of including forward guidance as an explicit part of policy design. We do this by setting up a general policy problem in which...