What is the relationship between Unofficial and Official Economy? An analysis in Latin American Countries.

This paper analyzes the relationship between unofficial economy (UE) and official GDP. Through the study of the UE within an institutional comprehensive empirical framework, a positive correlation is found between unofficial and official GDP. Empirical evidence on the procyclicality of UE supports the conclusion that the two sectors are rather complements than substitutes for Latin American countries. Then UE is considered as beneficial to sustain economic growth. Suggestions for economic policy and hints for further research are also offered.Unofficial economy, Economic Development, Latin America, Institutions.

Istituzioni, Diseguaglianza ed Economia Sommersa: quale relazione?

In this paper, we investigate on the determinants of the size of shadow economy (SE) in Latin America. While the analysis of economic causes of SE has been extensively studied in literature, here we offer a wider prospective. In addition to overall economic development, unemployment rate, and marginal tax rate, we examine the relationships of SE with institutional indicators and income inequality. We find empirical evidence to state that the institutional background is essential to explain the size of SE; income inequality is weakly correlated with SE; the level of GDP is correlated positively with SE as percentage of official economy.Institutions, Shadow economy, Inequality, Latin America.

Estimating the Shadow Economy in Italy: a Structural Equation Approach

Working paper Department of Economics, Aarhus University (DK). ISSN. 1396-242

Virus decomposition provides an important contribution to benthic deep-sea ecosystem functioning

Virus decomposition provides an important contribution to benthic deep-sea ecosystem functionin

The relevance of the theory of fiscal illusion. The case of the Italian tax system

This work analyses the phenomenon of fiscal illusion (Puviani, 1903) in the context of the Italian tax system. Financial (or fiscal) illusion refers to mechanisms which cause a cognitive alteration on the part of the taxpayer regarding the evaluation of the costs and benefits of public policies. Puviani (1903) was the first to classify the different types of financial illusions. He highlighted the main strategies used to hide the real costs of financing public goods and services through taxes (illusions on revenue) or to overestimate their usefulness (illusions on expenditure). The main conclusions of the work are that: (i) from a methodological point of view, there is a connection between Puviani’s theory of fiscal illusion and some of the assumptions of the behavioral approach and (ii) from an operational point of view, it is a useful tool to understand the motives that could have inspired several recent taxes and legislative measures within the Italian tax system. These results support the relevance of Puviani’s theory to the contemporary theory and practice of public finance

Major consequences of an intense dense shelf water cascading event on deep-sea benthic trophic conditions and meiofaunal biodiversity

Numerous submarine canyons around the world are preferential conduits for episodic dense shelf water cascading (DSWC), which quickly modifies physical and chemical ambient conditions while transporting large amounts of material towards the base of slope and basin. Observations conducted during the last 20 yr in the Lacaze-Duthiers and Cap de Creus canyons (Gulf of Lion, NW Mediterranean Sea) report several intense DSWC events. The effects of DSWC on deep-sea ecosystems are almost unknown. To investigate the effects of these episodic events, we analysed changes in the meiofaunal biodiversity inside and outside the canyon. Sediment samples were collected at depths varying from ca. 1000 to > 2100 m in May 2004 (before a major event), April 2005 (during a major cascading event) and in October 2005, August 2006, April 2008 and April 2009 (after a major event). We report here that the late winter-early spring 2005 cascading led to a reduction of the organic matter contents in canyon floor sediments down to 1800 m depth, whereas surface sediments at about 2200 m depth showed an increase. Our findings suggest that the nutritional material removed from the shallower continental shelf, canyon floor and flanks, and also the adjacent open slope was rapidly transported to the deep margin. During the cascading event the meiofaunal abundance and biodiversity in the studied deep-sea sediments were significantly lower than after the event. Benthic assemblages during the cascading were significantly different from those in all other sampling periods in both the canyon and deep margin. After only six months from the cessation of the cascading, benthic assemblages in the impacted sediments were again similar to those observed in other sampling periods, thus illustrating a quick recovery. Since the present climate change is expected to increase the intensity and frequency of these episodic events, we anticipate that they will increasingly affect benthic bathyal ecosystems, which may eventually challenge their resilience

Certainty equivalent citation: a generalized class of citation indexes

Citation indexes have attracted the interest of many researchers in the recent years. In this paper we propose a new class of citation indexes which is shown to generalize most of the citation indexes in the existing literature (h-, g-, f-, t-index). The class of indexes is obtained borrowing from the notion of ``certainty equivalent income'' or ``equally distributed equivalent income'' which has been largely implemented in the field of risk and inequality measurement. As a result citation orderings are shown to depend on a parameter of concentration/dispersion aversion capturing the value judgments of the decision-maker with respect to the distribution of citations. In order to verify the sensitivity of scientific productivity orderings with respect to concentration/dispersion aversion, an empirical application to a representative sample of Italian academic economists is presented

Certainty equivalent citation: generalized classes of citation indexes

Citation indexes have attracted the interest of many researchers in the recent years. In this paper we propose a new class of citation indexes which is shown to generalize most of the citation indexes in the existing literature (h-, g-, f-, t-index). The class of indexes is obtained borrowing from the notion of ``certainty equivalent income'' or ``equally distributed equivalent income'' which has been largely implemented in the field of risk and inequality measurement. As a result citation orderings are shown to depend on a parameter of concentration/dispersion aversion capturing the value judgments of the decision-maker with respect to the distribution of citations. In order to verify the sensitivity of scientific productivity orderings with respect to concentration/dispersion aversion, an empirical application to a representative sample of Italian academic economists is presented

Comparative fiscal illusion: A fiscal illusion index for the European Union

This paper provides an empirical analysis of fiscal illusion by estimating an index of fiscal illusion for 28 European countries over the period 1995–2008 employing a structural equation approach. Using MIMIC models, the paper investigates the main indicators of fiscal illusion and develops an index of fiscal illusion. It concludes that the chief deterninants for the deployment of fiscal illusion strategies are the share of self-employment on total employment, the educational level of citizens, and the size of tax burden. At the same time, policy makers attempt to ‘conceal’ the real tax burden by means of debt illusion, fiscal drag, wage withholding taxes, as well as taxes on labour