Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Gunnar Heinsohn Author-Name: Otto Steiger Title: The Eurosystem and the Art of Central Banking Abstract: The Eurosystem and the Art of Central Banking (by Gunnar Heinsohn and Otto Steiger) - ABSTRACT: The Eurosystem is the fifth decentralized system in the history of central banks. It consists of the European Central Bank (ECB) and twelve National Central Banks (NCBs) forming the European Monetary Union (EMU). The stark decentrality of this System is so little known that ubiquitous statements by high level Euro experts on its supposed similarity with other decentralized systems, like the former Bundesbank System and the existing Federal Reserve System, are met with no protest. A closer look on European documents and the balance sheet of the ECB reveals, however, that the ECB - far from being the monopoly supplier of central bank money - cannot set the refinancing conditions to credit institutions in EMU. The latter are determined by the Council of Governors of the European Central Banks, while the main refinancing operations are executed by the NCBs leaving to the ECB the role of vicarious agent. The ECB can neither control all types of securities accepted for the NCBs? credit operations nor is it able to act as the lender of last resort. Yet, every possible manoeuvre to make the ECB look like a central bank of the NCBs is relentlessly employed, most obviously in the design of the Euro banknotes, which are issued by the NCBs but carry only the imprint of the ECB. Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages: Volume: 2002/76 Year: 2002 Issue:76 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=18047&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:steste:v:html10.3280/Ste2002-076001 Number: 1 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Giovanni B. Pittaluga Author-Name: Giampiero Cama Title: Origine ed evoluzione delle banche centrali: il ruolo delle lobby sociali Abstract: Origine ed evoluzione delle banche centrali: il ruolo delle lobby sociali (di Giampiero Cama e Giovanni B. Pittaluga) - ABSTRACT: In order to understand public economy and the institutions which are principally responsible for it, one must refer, inevitably, to any general model of the political system and the relations which exist between this system and the social system. We started by critically examining existing models: socio-centred approach and the diametrically opposed state-centred approach. We then moved on to test the political exchange model (between social lobbies and political actors) attempting to explain the origin and development of central banks by linking them to the combined impact of two factors: the evolution of instruments of payments, with the connected transaction and political costs, and the pre-existing constitutional context prior to their creation. Specifically, we identified two models of central bank creation and evolution. One, the topbottom model, is associated to a centralised political system which originated as a result of the rapid development of a unitary nation state. The other model, bottom-top, is connected to political systems which are highly decentralised or federalised. In these circumstances local power and interest groups tend to oppose the creation of a central bank, viewing them as an expression of centralised power. This explains the delay in their formation. Even after their creation, the relation between central banks and social lobbies proved crucial. A case in point was the anti-cyclical trend, stemming from the mismatch between providers and recipients of funds, in interest rate margins which increased the aversion to inflation amongst the financial and banking community; another was the presence of a strong and concentrated private banking sector, strongly imbued with the profit philosophy, which typically proved to be a considerable source of support for central bank autonomy and monetary policies aimed at achieving price stability. Sometimes, as we have shown, the nature of the relation can also be overturned: the active role can be carried out, above all by way of its regulatory and supervisory powers, by the central bank itself to construct a favourable social environment. Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages: Volume: 2002/76 Year: 2002 Issue:76 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=18048&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:steste:v:html10.3280/Ste2002-076002 Number: 2 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Annamaria Nese Author-Name: Adriana Barone Title: Caratteristiche del lavoro notturno in Italia Abstract: Caratteristiche del lavoro notturno in Italia (di Adriana Barone e Annamaria Nese) - ABSTRACT: The main aim of this paper is to underline the importance of night work in Italy, as previously done by Hamermesh (1995) for the U.S. and Germany, giving evidence that night work is mainly performed by low-skilled workers, thus underlining the importance of non-monetary returns to work. This paper uses the data, collected from the Bank of Italy 1998 Survey on Italian households, which allow us to estimate the impact that both the individual and job characteristics, such as education, gender, sector of economic activity and firm size, have on the probability of working at night.We estimated wage equations for employees working also at night and employees working only in the day-time taking account of the selectivity problem, and we found that the mean wage of the employees working only in the day-time is larger than the expected wage of an arbitrary individual with the same observed characteristics working also at night. Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages: Volume: 2002/76 Year: 2002 Issue:76 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=18049&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:steste:v:html10.3280/Ste2002-076003 Number: 3 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Marisa Cenci Author-Name: Margherita Scarlato Title: Settore sommerso e politiche di emersione: un approccio stocastico Abstract: Settore sommerso e politiche di emersione: un approccio stocastico (di Marisa Cenci e Margherita Scarlato) - ABSTARCT: The aim of this paper is to analyse the role of uncertainty in shaping the behavior of firms in the underground economy. Following the "option value" approach, we present a dynamic model which captures (1) the irreversibility of reallocation decisions from the underground sector to the legal sector and (2) the option value of delaying the reallocation decisions when stochastic shocks can change substantially the net present returns in both the legal and the underground sectors. This model allows us to draw a number of interesting policy implications. Last we use our theoretical results to address a number of specific issues that arise in the case of the Mezzogiorno of Italy. We show that our framework provides some insights that could be fruitfully considered in the current discussion on the appropriate interventions to reduce the size of the underground economy in the Italian Southern regions. Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages: Volume: 2002/76 Year: 2002 Issue:76 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=18050&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:steste:v:html10.3280/Ste2002-076004 Number: 4 Template-type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Antonio Acconcia Title: Convergenza: un'utopia per le regioni europee? Abstract: Convergenza: un'utopia per le regioni europee? (di Antonio Acconcia) - ABSTRACT: Looking at the distribution of income per capita across a large set of European regions since 1975 up to 1999, we conclude for a substantial stability of regional inequalities. It seems that on average the process of economic growth affect all regions in the same proportional way, that is, initial relative positions remain largely unaltered. A different conclusion is reached, however, if we concentrate on the evolution of labour productivity and employment ratio, respectively. In particular, our data suggest a process of decreasing dispersion in labour productivity (convergence), as well as a tendency for regions with relatively low (high) productivity levels to advantage of growth of employment ratio at a rate less (more) than the average. This determined an increase of the correlation between productivity and employment ratio. The latter conclusion is in line with both the traditional neoclassical theory and some of new growth theory models. Classification-JEL: Keywords: Note: Pages: Volume: 2002/76 Year: 2002 Issue:76 File-URL:http://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/Scheda_Rivista.aspx?IDArticolo=18051&Tipo=Articolo PDF File-Format: text/HTML Handle: RePEc:fan:steste:v:html10.3280/Ste2002-076005 Number: 5