Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Luigi Capoani Author-Name: Gianluca Bortoletto Author-Name: Samuele Fratini Author-Name: Violetta Van Veen Author-Name: Cristoforo Imbesi Title: The Genesis and Evolution of the Blue Banana Region Abstract: This article aims to present a balanced bibliographic review on the genesis of the Blue Banana and its further developments. Different contributions have been collected to obtain a comprehensive picture of the European regional concept from both historical and theoretical perspectives. Besides the review of the litera-ture, this article contributes to the existing research on the Blue Banana with a comprehensive investigation of its current features, including urbanization, infra-structures, labor market, productivity, and competitiveness. These aspects raise significant implications at the EU level in terms of promoting policies aimed at the reduction of disparities among the European regions, whose development strate-gies could be further scrutinized, thus benefiting the continent as a whole. Classification-JEL: N10, N14, N94, R11, R12 Keywords: Note: Pages:5-45 Volume: 2022/2 Year: 2022 Issue:2 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=72332&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:spespe:v:html10.3280/SPE2022-002001 Number: 1 X-File-Ref: http://www.francoangeli.it/Riviste/References.ashx?idArticolo=72332 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Luca Fiorito Author-Name: Valentina Erasmo Title: Norman Edwin Himes?s "Eugenics and Democracy: A Call to Action" (1939). The Eugenic Manifesto of a Devote Carverian Abstract: This note presents an unpublished 1939 address given by the American sociologist and population specialist Norman Edwin Himes on ?Eugenics and Democracy: A Call to Action. Himes?s discussion of eugenics and democracy has a two-fold relevance. First, it provides further evidence that among population studies specialists a generalized commitment to eugenics persisted well beyond the era of the so-called Progressive Era and continued throughout the 1930s. Second, Himes?s approach reveals an attempt to reformulate a eugenic agenda along ?liberal? lines, which was intended to distance him from the coercive and racialist approach of his progressive predecessors. Yet, it will be shown, even though Himes seemed to temper the extremism of the earlier movement with sociological and voluntaristic language, there was little actual change in the ultimate goals of his agenda regardless of the apparent switch to democratic eugenics. Classification-JEL: A12, B20, B31 Keywords: Note: Pages:47-76 Volume: 2022/2 Year: 2022 Issue:2 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=72333&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:spespe:v:html10.3280/SPE2022-002002 Number: 2 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Mario Pomini Title: The Early Invention of the so-called Laffer Curve and the Mathematics of the Progressive Tax in the Italian Tradition Abstract: The theories of progressive income taxation developed in the Italian debate of the last century have been discussed in depth in a review article by Domenican-tonio Fausto (2008). Italian economists have taken an active part in the debate on the progressive taxation of income and wealth. In general, despite a few oppo-nents, the idea of progressive taxation is agreed upon for political and social rea-sons. In this broad debate on progressivity developed in Italy, there is also an ana-lytical path that Fausto?s article does not consider. The first mathematical contri-bution on this topic was put forward by Tullio Martello in his polemic book against the progressive tax, La progressivit? in teoria e in pratica (1895). The debate was concluded in the 1950s by a mathematical economist and follower of Pareto, Raf-faele D?Addario. D?Addario is worth considering because he explicitly introduced the revenue curve. The decreasing part is well known today as the Laffer curve. Classification-JEL: B26, B30 Keywords: Note: Pages:77-93 Volume: 2022/2 Year: 2022 Issue:2 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=72334&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:spespe:v:html10.3280/SPE2022-002003 Number: 3 X-File-Ref: http://www.francoangeli.it/Riviste/References.ashx?idArticolo=72334 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Stefano Figuera Author-Name: Guglielmo Forges Davanzati Author-Name: Andrea Pacella Title: Considerations on the Legacy of Ordoliberalism in European Monetary Policy Abstract: The paper aims to analysis the ordoliberal legacy in European Monetary Policy between 1998 and 2020. What emerges is that although ordoliberal principles were incorporated into the guiding values of the European treaties, they did not play a key role in guiding either the monetary policy strategies fixed in 1998 and 2003 or the ECB interventions implemented between 2011 and 2020 in response to the Great Recession and the sovereign debt crisis. This is basically due to a) the ECB?s acceptance of the New Consensus Macroeconomics (NCM) that recognises the endogenous nature of money and its partial non-neutrality, b) the ECB?s constant tendency to act discretionally in order to reach different goals. Classification-JEL: B22, E00, E50, E52, E58 Keywords: Note: Pages:95-122 Volume: 2022/2 Year: 2022 Issue:2 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=72335&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:spespe:v:html10.3280/SPE2022-002004 Number: 4 X-File-Ref: http://www.francoangeli.it/Riviste/References.ashx?idArticolo=72335 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Albertina Nania Title: Redesigning the International Monetary System. Intellectual Influences and the Return of the Special Drawing Rights: An Open Issue Abstract: The paper suggests to explore the theoretical and cultural influences on the re-forms made to the International Monetary System since the 1960s, when Triffin?s Dilemma ?was apparent for all to see?, as Volcker suggested. Schmelzer argues that ?when Milton Friedman published his article calling for flexible exchange rates in 1953, less than 5 percent of economists around the world shared his view,? while in the late 1960s, ?about 90 percent of economists did, and they were joined by powerful figures within the government and banking community?. Such con-sensus contributed to strengthening the influence of neoliberal theories not only in the scientific environment of economists, but also and especially in the terrain of the directions taken internationally by political and financial institutions. It is therefore high time to ascertain through an empirical and chronological investigation whether there is any correlation between neoliberal paradigms and the International Monetary Fund?s restrictive policy choices regarding the allocations of special drawing rights (the basket currency that was supposed to provide for global liquidity needs), and whether their supporters followed any specific and shared view. Classification-JEL: B22, B20, E02, E50, E52, E42, E44, N20 Keywords: Note: Pages:123-129 Volume: 2022/2 Year: 2022 Issue:2 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=72336&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:spespe:v:html10.3280/SPE2022-002005 Number: 5 X-File-Ref: http://www.francoangeli.it/Riviste/References.ashx?idArticolo=72336 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: A cura della Redazione Title: Book review Abstract: Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages:131-153 Volume: 2022/2 Year: 2022 Issue:2 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=72337&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:spespe:v:html10.3280/SPE2022-002006 Number: 6