RISULTATI RICERCA

Debt and Profit Rate: A Heterodox Model of Financial Instability ABSTRACT: The purpose of this paper is to extend the Minskyan tradition of financial instability to the scope of a Cambridgian model with a quasi-complete saving function. First, we show that an important part of Minskyan contributions suffer from the lack of attention towards a complete analysis of agents’ saving behaviours. Second, we propose a dynamic model which takes these remarks into account and introduces explicitly the demand of investment goods, trying thus to generalize some more recent heterodox contributions.

The basic propositions of this paper are that the modern severe economic crises, due to their monetary dimension, have deep consequences on mass psychology, and that a general model concerning the psychological processes involved is historically well grounded. In particular, we analyzed the corralito / corralon argentine crisis in 2001. We compared too our data and findings with several historical reports and analyses concerning other modern severe economic crises. Eventually, we put forward a two-phases general model, involving four main psychological processes.

The aim of this study is to ascertain if naive people are able to read data provided in table format (three-way) and which information can increase or prevent a correct understanding. The data utilized in the present research illustrated the Simpson’s paradox, in which the relationship between two variable differs depending on whether a third variable is taken in account. Participants, divided in four experimental conditions differentiated by information given about the three variables, had to make a judgement and to report their reasoning. The different experimental conditions lead to different judgements and elicited the use of different strategies. Naive people are able to read the trivariate relationship when the critical variable in the Simpson’s paradox was stressed.

Loneliness is a lasting condition of emotional suffering that implies the perception of a lack of social relationships. This often occurs amongst the elderly (Rook, 1984, Miceli, 981, 2003, Peplau & Perlman 1982; Cacioppo et al. 2003). The purpose of the survey was to understand the way in which loneliness is perceived by the elderly in Tuscany and what they thought about being alone. The survey covered both these aspects. It assumed that elderly people who perceive themselves as being alone believe that the condition of loneliness is part of being elderly. It also assumed that there would be differences based on age, sex and surroundings. Differences concerning the age, the kind and the territorial reality have at last been noticed. Method. The study involved 364 self-sufficient, non-institutionalised elderly people living in Tuscany. The average age was 75 (DS=7.26). The tools used were: the Loneliness Scale (UCLA) by Russell D. et al. (1980) to assess subjective feelings of loneliness, and a Questionnaire which revealed what the elderly thought about being alone. Both tools underwent structure and reliability checks. Results. As in the research carried out abroad, the results showed that feelings of loneliness imply dimensions that are linked to social relationships, to being on close terms with others, and to isolation. Introvert attitudes when defining loneliness, the consequences of loneliness and the ability to be alone, were taken into consideration. Conclusions. Elderly in Tuscany to do not appear to be quite as alone as reportsin general indicate. Taking into consideration the various variables taken in consideration (ages, kind and territorial reality) everyone understands it that, independently from the age, the Siena elders perceive themselves as less only with respect to those of Leghorn. For what which concerns the attitude towards the solitude it has at last emerged that most males and the group of the several young people (65-74 years) are more unanimous in affirming that the solitude is due to a closing attitude, that he prevents to relation with the other.

We present here the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Response Evaluation Measure (REM-71; Steiner et al., 2001) a self-administered instrument for the assessment of defense mechanisms in adolescents and adults; REM-71 was obtained through extensive revision of the Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ) and allows the measurement of 21 defense mechanisms. Methods The Italian version of REM-71 was obtained through back-translation; it was then administered, together with the original version, to 18 bilingual subjects in order to assess the score correlations between the two versions. 459 adolescents and adults were then asked to complete the Italian version of REM-71 in order to assess the internal consistency of each defense mechanisms, factorstructure and the effect of age and gender on mean scores. Results Our results suggest a good convergence between the Italian and English versions of the scale. Internal consistency was satisfactory; significant age and gender effects on defensive style were found, in line with the observations of Steiner et al. (2001). Conclusions In spite of some psychometric limitations which need to be further investigated, the Italian version of REM-71 proved a promising instrument for the assessment of defense mechanisms in adolescents and adults.

The article presents a research with 30 juvenile people living in residential communities and with four significant others for each of them: the father, the mother, a brother or sister and a teacher or employer. This sample is compared with a group of control similar in extension, age and socio-cultural characteristics. The total number of the subjects involved is 300. Using Kelly’s repertory grids a special method to measure interpersonal distances is proposed. In this way some relational indexes (acceptance, identification, similarity, predictive accuracy, etc.) are obtained and used to enlighten some characteristics of the construing of a deviant identity. Then self is always considered in relation to the interpersonal contexts within which it is construed and maintained.