This paper studies the convergence in the European Union on Purchasing Power Parity. Firstly, we develop a method for the estimation of PPP series and then, we put it into practice and estimate the monthly Purchasing Power Parity for the period January 1995 to July 2003. Secondly, convergence is...

Empirical evidence about income convergence among regions and countries is inconclusive and it is necessary to clarify the economic and institutional conditions for convergence. We investigate movements in the income distribution among regions in an integrated market with high mobility of labor,...

In rare event simulation, we look for estimators such that the relative accuracy of the output is ''controlled'' when the rarity is getting more and more critical. Different robustness properties have been defined in the literature, that an estimator is expected to satisfy. Though, those...

In this paper we study a class of evolutionary models of industrial agglomeration with local positive feedbacks, which allow for a wide set of empirically-testable implications. Their roots rest in the Generalized Polya Urn framework. Here, however, we build on a birth-death process over a...

This work explores the spatial distribution of productive activities in the Italian manufacturing industry. We propose an econometric model which tries to disentangle locationspecific from sectoral drivers in the dynamic process of spatial agglomeration. The basic idea is that the former...

In an economic geography model where both a negative pecuniary and a positive technological externality are present, we introduce an explicit dynamics of firms locational choice and we characterize its long run distribution. Our analysis shows that economic activities evenly distribute when the...

We consider an economy in which a heterogeneous population of agents have to choose among a common set of alternatives. The utilities associated to the different alternatives posses a common component and an individual component, which reflect differences in the underlying structure of agents...

We characterize transitions between stochastically stable states and relative ergodic probabilities in the theory of the evolution of conventions. We give an application to the fall of hegemonies in the evolutionary theory of institutions and conflict and illustrate the theory with the fall of...

In this paper, the relation between income inequality and population growth is analized from a Darwinian perspective. A Markov chain population growth model is presented and estimated using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). We estimate both population growth rates and...

In this paper, we investigate the impact of the accident reporting strategy of drivers, within a Bonus-Malus system. We exhibit the induced modification of the corresponding class level transition matrix and derive the optimal reporting strategy for rational drivers. The hunger for bonuses...