Valerio Filoso

Towards a Multiregional NEG Framework: Comparing Alternative Modelling Strategies

This chapter reviews the New Economic Geography (NEG) models that explain the uneven distribution of economic activity across space employing endogenous agglomeration processes, and the interplay of agglomeration and dispersion forces. Unlike the two-region models that have a restricted applicability, this chapter focuses on the multiregional NEG models recently developed in the literature, reviews their contributions systematically and compares different modelling strategies. As unifying framework, we use the footloose entrepreneur model considering the role and nature of transport costs, and the welfare properties of the spatial equilibria and the design of optimal economic policies.

DIVORCE AND THE OPTION VALUE OF MARITAL SEARCH

This work tests whether the introduction of divorce law changes the timing of marital search. Rational agents should adjust to the divorce risk by increasing the average search spell, whereas option value theory stresses the role of irreversible investments: in this case, the new exit option should result in shorter spells. Using a dynamic model of marital search, a new data set of retrospective individual Italian data, and two robust statistical specifications, we find strong evidence that the legal innovation actually lowered the age at marriage, thereby worsening the level of marital matching, and possibly reinforcing self-fulfilling prophecies of divorce.

Sulla domanda di economia irrazionale: Naomi Klein vs. Milton Friedman

The persistence of demand for economic irrationality, as expressed by the big success gained by the literature on no-globalism, is an empirical puzzle and the recent book by Naomi Klein The Shock Doctrine (2007) is a rampant example. An explanation for this anomaly is provided by the theory of rational irrationality (Caplan, 2007). While in the field of natural sciences confutation of wrong theories sets them apart forever, in the field of economics rebutted theories can still have an appeal on nonprofessional readers, even though the underlying theory has already been proved wrong. This is due to the low private cost of economic opinion and the big gain derived from the illusion of grasping complex economic phenomena.

Bright and Wealthy: Exploring Assortative Mating

Institutional and Social Dynamics of Growth and Distribution presents a set of original contributions to the much-debated issues of long-run economic growth in relation to institutional and social progress.