On-line content delivery and vertical alliances between conduit and content providers are nowadays crucial issues in on-line content markets. In this paper, we discuss and compare two types of model for on-line content delivery: push and pull. We assume non-zero marginal cost for network...

Access to finance and sound banking institutions are two critical elements in any attempt to promote economic development in least-developed countries. Nevertheless, only in recent years have existing relations between financial liberalization, banking practices and the economic performance of...

Il concetto di poverta' e stato, negli ultimi anni, ampiamente dibattuto all'interno delle scienze sociali. La giungla terminologica e la polisemia di significati associati al termine hanno, tuttavia, alimentato piu' confusioni e dispute che agevolato la reale comprensione delle diverse radici...

In this note, we firstly discuss Chakravarty (2003) axiomatic foundation of the Generalized Human Development Index (GHDI) then we pro- pose a different set of axioms through which a class of Foster-Shorrocks-like Human Development Measures phases out. As we will argue, this class better deals...

In this paper we study duopolistic competition between closed and open source software. Inspired by recent contributions on open source, we propose a two-stage game with perfect information and product differentiation, in which producers first set software quality and then determine prices (the...

In this essay, we summarize the main features of Yunus' economic thought and discuss whether it is possible to conclude, as seems straightforward according to Yunus (1997), that microfinance is good for the poor and that it exemplifies a typical activity of social enterprise. To do this, we...

By starting from two recent books by Brookings, in this review we briefly argue for institutions: building processes aimed to provide rules, norms and standards for the collective governance of financial markets. Copyright Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, 2004