O que é este blog?

Este blog trata basicamente de ideias, se possível inteligentes, para pessoas inteligentes. Ele também se ocupa de ideias aplicadas à política, em especial à política econômica. Ele constitui uma tentativa de manter um pensamento crítico e independente sobre livros, sobre questões culturais em geral, focando numa discussão bem informada sobre temas de relações internacionais e de política externa do Brasil. Para meus livros e ensaios ver o website: www.pralmeida.org. Para a maior parte de meus textos, ver minha página na plataforma Academia.edu, link: https://itamaraty.academia.edu/PauloRobertodeAlmeida.

Mostrando postagens com marcador SSRN. Mostrar todas as postagens
Mostrando postagens com marcador SSRN. Mostrar todas as postagens

terça-feira, 30 de julho de 2024

Farewell of a Scholar — SSRN’s Gregg Gordon

 


Dear SSRN community,

I wanted to write to you with some personal news. After thirty years as Managing Director of SSRN, the last eight within Elsevier, I've decided that it's now time, in the immortal words of John Cleese, for something completely different.

My career and life changed for the better back in 1994 when my KPMG tax client, Michael Jensen, asked me to help him launch a business to share "Tomorrow's Research Today." Three decades later, the Social Sciences Research Network has expanded across all sciences and evolved to include more than 70 disciplines. Today, the SSRN platform holds over 1,230,000 pre-print articles from over 1,700,000 researchers, which have been downloaded over 275,000,000 times.

Leading a team of pioneers that made sharing early-stage research online possible, well before online is what it is today, has brought tremendous joy to me and many of you. Together with the support and trust from academic researchers who shared our vision, we have helped transform an industry for the better. Elsevier has proved an incredible home for SSRN, fulfilling all we as a team and I as an individual hoped to achieve. I leave it feeling very pleased that the company Mike, I and countless others helped to build is in good hands.

I have had the distinct honor and pleasure to work with many wonderful colleagues at Elsevier and throughout the academic and scholarly publishing worlds. Many friendships were forged over the years at work, conferences, and dinners. I'll miss working and spending time with all of you.

This month will be my last at SSRN. When recently I was asked if I was leaving the industry, I laughed and said I work at the second greatest scholarly publisher of all time and helped found the first – so where would I go? I'm not moving, as my family and I love Rochester, New York, and I will soon share our next adventure on LinkedIn. You can also look forward to an announcement soon about the evolution of the SSRN leadership team.

In the meantime, I can't thank enough all the people who have worked with and around me at SSRN for enriching my life. You have been truly spectacular, and I look forward to seeing many of you again in the next phase.

Thank you again,
Gregg

terça-feira, 19 de novembro de 2019

SSRN envia o link do meu artigo sobre Brazilian Trade Policy

Recebi hoje:

Brazilian Trade Policy in Historical Perspective: Constant Features, Erratic Behavior

Revista Brasileira de Direito Internacional – Brazilian Journal of International Law (vol. 10, n. 1, 2013, número especial: Direito Internacional Econômico; p. 11-26; doi:10.5102/rdi.v10i1.2393

Paulo Roberto de Almeida

Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Relations; Centro Universitário de Brasília (UniCEUB)
Date Written: May 14, 2013

Abstract

Historical essay on Brazilian trade policies since the 19th century, seen in connection with industrial and development policies that were implemented not always in a coordinated manner. Brazil was, and probably continues to be, one of the most protectionist countries in the world, at the beginning for fiscal reasons (financing of the State), then, in the 20th century, on behalf of deliberate industrializing and import substitution goals. The essay surveys the many policies followed in different phases of Brazilian economic history, including the regional integration process of Mercosur and the multilateral and hemispheric trade negotiations; it also discusses the recent re-commoditization of its foreign trade and the retrocession to a series of patently defensive policies, justified by a lack of competitiveness of its industries, by the way due to the excessive taxation and the bureaucratic entanglements set up by the very State that seeks to protect those industries from foreign competition.
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3483346

Outline: 

Introduction: basic characteristics 

Historical development of Brazilian trade policies

Reform and adjustment to the multilateral trade system

Regional integration process and the Mercosur path

Real challenges and lost opportunities: Brazilian illusions and deceptions

What went wrong? Brazil retrocedes into protectionism

What lies ahead: a fortress Brazil or an opening to globalization? 

Keywords: Trade policy; Brazilian economic policy; industrialization; development; economic history
JEL Classification: N, O

Mendeley Logo
 

sábado, 9 de novembro de 2019

Meus papers no SSRN - Paulo Roberto de Almeida

O que é o SSRN? 

Like SSRN, Mendeley and Elsevier are focused on creating tools that enhance researcher workflow and productivity. SSRN has been at the forefront of on-line sharing of working papers. We are committed to continue our innovation and this change will enable that to happen more quickly. SSRN will benefit from access to the vast new data and resources available, including Mendeley’s reference management and personal library management tools, their new researcher profile capabilities, and social networking features. Importantly, we will also have new access for SSRN members to authoritative performance measurement tools such as those powered by Scopus and Newsflo (a global media tracking tool). In addition, SSRN, Mendeley and Elsevier together can cooperatively build bridges to close the divide between the previously separate worlds and workflows of working papers and published papers.

Meus papers no SSRN: 



quinta-feira, 31 de outubro de 2019

Meu texto sobre a integração regional entre os Top Ten de SSRN

Acabo de receber, mas não vou receber nada por isso, apenas um pouco de afago no amor próprio:

Dear Paulo Roberto de Almeida:

Your paper, "REGIONAL INTEGRATION IN LATIN AMERICA: HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS, CURRENT CHALLENGES, ESPECIALLY IN MERCOSUR", was recently listed on SSRN's Top Ten download list for: PSN: Latin America/South America (Topic).

As of 31 October 2019, your paper has been downloaded 147 times. You may view the abstract and download statistics at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3182150.

Top Ten Lists are updated on a daily basis. Click the following link(s) to view the Top Ten list for:

PSN: Latin America/South America (Topic) Top Ten.

Click the following link(s) to view all the papers in:

PSN: Latin America/South America (Topic) All Papers.

To view SSRN's Top Ten lists for any network, subnetwork, eJournal or topic on the Browse list (reachable through the following link: http://www.ssrn.com/Browse), click the "i" button to the right of the name, and then select the "Top Downloaded" link in the popup window.

Your paper may be included in future Top Ten lists for other networks or eJournals. If so, you will receive additional notices at that time.

If you have any questions regarding this notification or any other matter, please visit the SSRN Help Desk online at Support.SSRN.com or call 877-SSRNHelp (877 777 6435) in the United States or +1 212 448 2500 outside of the United States.

Thank you,
SSRN Management

==============

Regional Integration in Latin America: Historical Developments, Current Challenges, Especially in Mercosur

Abstract

Regional integration in Latin America has a long history dating back the wars for independence in the 19th century. Notwithstanding, there is no need, for our purposes, to go back to the autonomist struggles of Simon Bolivar and other political and military leaders at the beginning of the 19th century, and to their premature attempts to forge an alliance between the many former Spanish colonies being liberated, because those efforts were most of a political nature and did not result in any institutional innovation at that time. 
At the beginning of the Eighties, a new wave of democratization touched Latin America, with the return to civilian and elected regimes, particularly in Argentina (1983) and Brazil (1985), which signaled a new emphasis on economic integration. But the European model of a common market was too much ambitious for Latin American countries, which were in a de facto preferential trade area, with the signing, a few years earlier, of the second Montevideo Treaty (1980), performing a flexible bilateral trade network among the members of the Latin American Integration Association (ALADI). The change from ALALC to ALADI was permitted by a decision under the Tokyo Round of multilateral trade negotiations (1979), which enabled developing contracting parties of the GATT system to exchange more limited trade liberalization than previously disciplined by Article 24 of GATT, which settled the rules for exceptions to the most-favored-nation clause, under the free trade or custom union formats. Mercosur was created in 1991, and since 1999 it is undergoing a structural crisis. 

Almeida, Paulo Roberto de, Regional Integration in Latin America: Historical Developments, Current Challenges, Especially in Mercosur (April 13, 2018). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3182150 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3182150


segunda-feira, 18 de março de 2019

SSRN: meus titulos nessa rede academica - Paulo Roberto de Almeida

Ingressei nessa nova rede de intercâmbio acadêmico apenas recentemente, mas recebi hoje um relatório sobre o acesso a meus trabalhos, que reproduzo abaixo.
Paulo Roberto de Almeida
Brasília, 18 de março de 2019

Dear Paulo Roberto de Roberto Almeida,

Congratulations your SSRN Papers have the following usage as of 18 March 2019 have:
87 Total Downloads
87 Downloads in the Last 12 Months
492 Total Abstract Views
Note: The totals above may differ slightly from the SSRN site due to the timing of the calculations.

Your Author Statistics as of 03/17/2019 (out of 432,356 authors in SSRN, based only on Publicly Available, Downloadable Papers)

173,865 is your AUTHOR RANK, based on 85 TOTAL DOWNLOADS.
46,324 is your AUTHOR RANK, based on 85 DOWNLOADS IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS.

You can find the complete table of the Top Authors Ranking by Downloads and Citations at https://hq.ssrn.com/rankings/Ranking_display.cfm?TRN_gID=7 

Your Contact Information

The contact information below is editable on your Personal Info page:

Professor of Political Economy, Master and Doctoral programs in Law
Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Relations
SEPN 707/909 - Campus UniCEUB
Asa Norte
Brasilia, DF 70790-075
Brazil
(55.61) 2030-6957 (Phone)
pralmeida@me.com

Centro Universitário de Brasília (UniCEUB)
SEPN 707/909 - Campus UniCEUB
Asa Norte
Brasilia, DF 70790-075
Brazil
556139661305 (Phone)
paulo.almeida@uniceub.br

View Author Page 

Your PUBLICLY Available Papers

Papers appear below ordered by Total Downloads. 

View Top Papers Ranking 

(1) REGIONAL INTEGRATION IN LATIN AMERICA: HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS, CURRENT CHALLENGES, ESPECIALLY IN MERCOSUR
Stable short-form URL for this paper:
https://ssrn.com/abstract=3182150

Paulo Roberto de Almeida, Professor of Political Economy, Master and Doctoral programs in Law, Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Relations

This paper currently has:
50 TOTAL DOWNLOADS
48 DOWNLOADS IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS
171 TOTAL ABSTRACT VIEWS
0 CITATIONS from papers in the SSRN eLibrary (you can access the links to papers citing this paper by clicking on the "Citations" tab on the SSRN public abstract page of this paper)

381,125 is the RANK of this paper, based on TOTAL DOWNLOADS out of 724,513 total full text papers on SSRN.
48,384 is the RANK of this paper by DOWNLOADS IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS.
171,257 is this paper's RANK by CITATIONS.

The abstract was first released for public viewing on 06/03/2018.
It is Classified in the following SSRN abstracting journals:
- Development Economics: Regional & Country Studies eJournal
- ERN: Latin America & the Caribbean (Development) (Topic)
- International Institutions: Regional Governance eJournal
- International Trade eJournal
- Latin American Economics eJournal
- PSN: Latin America/South America (Topic)

(2) A BRAZILIAN ADAM SMITH: CAIRU AS THE FOUNDING FATHER OF POLITICAL ECONOMY IN BRAZIL AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 19TH CENTURY
Stable short-form URL for this paper:
https://ssrn.com/abstract=3181322

Paulo Roberto de Almeida, Professor of Political Economy, Master and Doctoral programs in Law, Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Relations

This paper currently has:
26 TOTAL DOWNLOADS
26 DOWNLOADS IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS
218 TOTAL ABSTRACT VIEWS
0 CITATIONS from papers in the SSRN eLibrary (you can access the links to papers citing this paper by clicking on the "Citations" tab on the SSRN public abstract page of this paper)

484,161 is the RANK of this paper, based on TOTAL DOWNLOADS out of 724,513 total full text papers on SSRN.
89,626 is the RANK of this paper by DOWNLOADS IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS.
171,257 is this paper's RANK by CITATIONS.

The abstract was first released for public viewing on 05/31/2018.
It is Classified in the following SSRN abstracting journals:
- Comparative Political Economy: Comparative Capitalism eJournal
- History of Economics eJournal
- PSN: Other Comparative Capitalism (Topic)


(3) DE LA (NON) DÉMOCRATIE EN AMÉRIQUE (LATINE): A TOCQUEVILLE REPORT ON THE STATE OF GOVERNANCE IN LATIN AMERICA
Stable short-form URL for this paper:
https://ssrn.com/abstract=3203951

Paulo Roberto de Almeida, Professor of Political Economy, Master and Doctoral programs in Law, Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Relations

This paper currently has:
11 TOTAL DOWNLOADS
11 DOWNLOADS IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS
103 TOTAL ABSTRACT VIEWS
0 CITATIONS from papers in the SSRN eLibrary (you can access the links to papers citing this paper by clicking on the "Citations" tab on the SSRN public abstract page of this paper)

577,205 is the RANK of this paper, based on TOTAL DOWNLOADS out of 724,513 total full text papers on SSRN.
181,241 is the RANK of this paper by DOWNLOADS IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS.
171,257 is this paper's RANK by CITATIONS.

The abstract was first released for public viewing on 07/19/2018.
It is Classified in the following SSRN abstracting journals:
- Democratization: Building States & Democratic Processes eJournal
- EduRN: Political Science Education (PSN) (Topic)
- PSN: Comparative Political Institutions & Development (Topic)
- Political Economy - Development: Political Institutions eJournal
- Social Sciences Education eJournal


quarta-feira, 27 de junho de 2018

Meus papers no Social Sciences Research Network - Paulo Roberto de Almeida

Acabo de postar o meu "Tocqueville":

PUBLICLY AVAILABLE PAPERS  |  Instructions
This section contains your Approved Scholarly Papers that will display on your Author Page and are available in the SSRN eLibrary. These are searchable by SSRN and external search engines.
ReviseAbstract IDTitleeDocument
Public View
Date Created
Last Updated
Submitted ByStatusAvailabilityViews
Downloads
Comments
3203951
WPS
De La (Non) Démocratie En Amérique (Latine): A Tocqueville Report on the State of Governance in Latin AmericaYes
Yes
06/27/2018
06/27/2018
Paulo Roberto de AlmeidaUNDER SSRN REVIEWUnder Review by SSRN0  
0   
View Comments 
3182150
WPS
Regional Integration in Latin America: Historical Developments, Current Challenges, Especially in MercosurYes
Yes
05/20/2018
06/03/2018
Paulo Roberto de AlmeidaDISTRIBUTED66  
10   
View Comments 
3181322
WPS
A Brazilian Adam Smith: Cairu as the Founding Father of Political Economy in Brazil at the Beginning of the 19th CenturyYes
Yes
05/19/2018
05/31/2018
Paulo Roberto de AlmeidaDISTRIBUTED168  
22   
View Comments

quinta-feira, 1 de novembro de 2012

SSRN: seja um mestre em economia pela internetSSRN

Hoje em dia tudo, absolutamente tudo se encontra na internet, online, disponível, sem sequer precisar googlelizar um pouco que seja. As "coisas" caem literalmente na caixa postal, e é só abrir e aprender o que se pretende.
Abaixo, um curso completo sobre políticas fiscais pelo SSRN.
Paulo Roberto de Almeida 


In cooperation with Bank of Italy, the Economics Research Network (ERN) is pleased to announce a collection of eighteen conferences available in the SSRN eLibrary.

1998 Indicators of Structural Budget Balances Conference

Description: The first Banca d'Italia workshop on public finances aimed at providing a comprehensive overview of the debate concerning the development and the use of structural indicators for the budget balances. The new EMU framework enhances the importance of structural budget balances, which assess the budgetary position net of the cyclical component and provide an indication of the available room for manoeuvre. Structural balance estimates are essential for the effectiveness of the multilateral surveillance mechanism introduced by the Maastricht Treaty and completed by the Stability and Growth Pact. Past experience indicates that policy-makers often let the structural deficit increase in periods of relatively high economic growth. In other words, part of the improvement of budgetary balances stemming from the cycle was used to carry out expansionary discretionary policies. Thus the success of monetary union appears to require substantial changes in the policies implemented in good times. This requires, inter alia, also instruments allowing an accurate monitoring of budgetary situations.


2000 Fiscal Sustainability Conference

Description: The issue of fiscal sustainability takes on a special relevance in the European Union. It is actually at the core of the budgetary framework underlying European Monetary Union. The Treaty of Maastricht and the Stability and Growth Pact have set fiscal rules and monitoring procedures aimed at restraining deficit and debt levels while allowing room for fiscal stabilisation. The assessment of prospective compliance with EMU fiscal rules is crucial to timely corrective intervention. The second Banca d'Italia workshop on public finances examined all these issues and was divided in four sections. The first section sets the ground for the discussion by addressing conceptual and definitional issues. The second and the third sections include papers presenting applications of different techniques for the assessment of fiscal sustainability. The former covers expenditure and revenue projections and the latter deals exclusively with generational accounting. The fourth and concluding section focuses on policy issues.


2001 Fiscal Rules Conference

Description: Fiscal rules are one of the building blocks of European Monetary Union (EMU). The Treaty of Maastricht and the Stability and Growth Pact set rules and monitoring procedures geared at restraining deficit and debt levels while allowing room for fiscal stabilisation. This fact alone provides sufficient reason for a workshop on fiscal rules. However, further motivation is to be found in the recent debates taking place in several countries about the introduction of rules at the national or decentralised level and in the extensive literature about the rationale of rules. The third Banca d'Italia workshop on public finance aimed at providing an overview of the theoretical and empirical problems involved in the design and in the implementation of fiscal rules. It examines the role of rules at different levels of government and offers indications about the experiences of some countries. The analysis is particularly relevant as the policy debate is gradually moving from how to achieve fiscal consolidation to defining suitable medium and long-term objectives and also to designing institutions and rules that ensure the durability of sound fiscal positions. The papers presented at the workshop were allocated in four sessions. The first session examines the pros and cons of fiscal rules from a general point of view. In the second session, the focus narrows to the rules introduced in the European Union. In the third session, the analysis is broadened to encompass not only numerical rules but also budgetary procedures and institutions. In the fourth, the solutions experimented in different countries are analysed with reference to the specific institutional setting of fiscal federalism.


2002 The Impact of Fiscal Policy Conference

Description: The fourth Banca d'Italia workshop on public finances aimed at providing an overview of the theoretical and empirical problems that can be encountered in the analysis of the impact of fiscal policy. The papers contribute to the discussion by addressing the following questions: What do we know about the effects of fiscal policy in the short term? What indicators can we use? What is the impact of stabilisers? What do we know about the long-term effects of fiscal policy on economic growth? What are the policy issues under discussion in the main countries and economic areas? The papers presented at the workshop were allocated in four sessions. The first session considered the methodological issues related to the measurement of the impact of fiscal policy. The second session examined the effectiveness of fiscal policy in stabilising the economy and the roles of automatic stabilisers and discretionary policy. The third session considered the impact of fiscal policy on structural features of the economy and its effects on long-term growth. The fourth session was devoted to the analysis of the main policy issues faced by OECD countries, such as the seeming ineffectiveness of fiscal policy in some countries, the management of surpluses and the role of national policies in a currency union.


2003 Local Economies & Internationalization in Italy Conference

Description: The papers presented here mark the completion of a research project launched two years earlier and sponsored by Banca d'Italia and the Statistics Department of the University of Bologna. The project shed some light on the very particular structure of the Italian economy. In its distribution of firms by size, its sectoral specialisation and its technological level, the structure of the Italian economy contrasts sharply with that of the economies with which it is ordinarily compared. On this score very little has changed over the years; indeed, from a relative point of view Italian industry's distinctive sectoral and size characteristics have grown even more pronounced. Investigators of local systems of small enterprises have shown that these are not necessarily technologically backward, but it remains true that the sectoral specialisation of the Italian economy, and more specifically of Italian industry, is such that the more advanced sectors are significantly under-represented. The question, then, is whether this structure causes sub-optimal resource allocation or imposes constraints on growth. Sub-optimality and constraints could be due to two main causes: the prevalence of small firms could limit the exploitation of static and dynamic technical economies of scale, while the low incidence of sectors with higher growth potential, together with the high incidence of 'traditional' sectors that are labour-intensive (and thus potentially exposed to competition from the emerging countries) could limit the growth potential of the system as a whole owing to a composition effect.


2003 Tax Policy Conference

Description: The fifth Banca d'Italia workshop on public finances aimed at providing an updated overview of both the analytical developments and the policy debate concerning tax policy. It covered both microeconomics issues, such as the effects of taxation on labour and capital markets, and macroeconomic issues, such as the role of taxation in stabilisation policy. It explored the implications of economic integration on tax bases and the issue of tax harmonisation. It considered the effects of taxation on income distribution. It focused on the policy issues currently discussed in European countries and other regions, thereby highlighting similarities and differences in tax policy challenges across countries of different levels of development. They illustrate the multiple objectives pursued by recent tax reforms: limiting distortions of economic decisions, enhancing equity, ensuring fiscal stabilisation, raising competitiveness and contributing to the long term sustainability of public finances. The different methodological approaches of the papers emphasise the wide variety of research in the field. Some papers draw from theoretical models and others from empirical investigations, others directly from the policy debate. The workshop allowed experts from central banks, ministries and economic institutions of several countries, international economic organisations and the academic world to discuss the design and economic effects of tax policy.


2004 Public Debt Conference

Description: The sixth Banca d'Italia workshop on public finances aimed at providing an overview of the theoretical and empirical work concerning public debt. It included analytical papers examining the definition, the measurement, the role and the effects of public debt. It also included papers tackling policy issues from different angles and different national perspectives. The workshop allowed experts from central banks, ministries and economic institutions of several countries, the main international economic organisations and the academic world to discuss the economic effects of public debt and policy options. The papers illustrate the complexity of the definition of public liabilities. They examine the effects of public debt on saving, financial markets and intergenerational redistribution. They consider the role of public debt in the design and implementation of fiscal policy rules at the national and European levels. They evaluate the role of public debt in a context of demographic ageing. They examine the evolution of debt management. The various methodological approaches of the papers highlight the wide variety of research in the field of public debt analysis. Some papers draw from theoretical models, others from empirical investigations and others from the policy debate.


2005 Financial Accounts: History, Methods, the Case of Italy & International Comparisons Conference

Description: The financial accounts record financial assets and liabilities in terms of stocks and flows and are used to study subjects such as the composition of households' savings and wealth, the quantity of funds raised by enterprises and general government, the financial position of a country vis-a-vis the rest of the world, and the evolution of financial systems. The Bank of Italy has published Italy's financial accounts since the beginning of the sixties and contributes to the ECB presentation of the euro-area's financial accounts. This workshop provides an overview of different aspects of the financial accounts. It is organized into four Sections. The first Section covers historical issues concerning the origins of the financial accounts. The second Section analyzes methodological subjects, such as the reconstruction of annual financial accounts since 1950, the estimates of quarterly accounts, the inclusion of future pension liabilities in financial accounts, and the comparison with the Bank of Italy survey of household income and wealth. The third Section focuses on the evolution of the Italian financial system, on the impact of taxation on financial assets and liabilities and on the monetary policy effects on the flow of funds. The fourth Section provides some international comparisons of financial systems and studies the convergence of financial structures in Europe.


2005 Public Expenditure Conference

Description: The seventh Banca d'Italia workshop on public finances aimed at providing a comprehensive overview of the theoretical and empirical work concerning the role and effects of public expenditure and the policy debate about public expenditure management and reforms. The workshop included papers examining public expenditure trends, the efficiency and effects of public spending, the role of public spending in fiscal policy management and public expenditure reforms. The papers highlight the wide variety of research in the field of public expenditure analysis and the complexity of the policy issues. Some papers draw from theoretical models, others from empirical investigations, others directly from the policy debate. The workshop allowed experts from the central banks, the ministries and economic institutions of several countries, the main international economic organisations and the academic world to discuss the economic effects of public expenditure and policy options.


2006 Fiscal Indicators Conference

Description: The eighth Banca d'Italia workshop on public finances aimed at providing a comprehensive overview of the recent theoretical and empirical work on fiscal indicators and their use in the policy debate. The papers covered four topics: indicators of the effects of macroeconomic developments and discretionary policy decisions on public budgets; indicators of the impact of fiscal policy on output, growth and stabilisation; indicators of fiscal sustainability and the role of fiscal indicators in the policy debate. The papers highlight the progress made in the development of fiscal indicators and point to the problems still to be tackled. They also emphasize the complexity of the technical and policy issues involved in the use of fiscal indicators. The workshop allowed experts from the central banks, ministries and economic institutions of several countries, the leading international economic organisations and the academic world to discuss the main theoretical and empirical issues concerning fiscal indicators.


2007 Fiscal Policy: Current Issues & Challenges Conference

Description: The ninth Banca d'Italia workshop on public finances examined four issues that are at the core of the current fiscal policy debate: fiscal stabilisation, fiscal consolidation, budgetary institutions, and the control of public expenditure. Session 1 focused on the relationship between cyclical conditions and fiscal policy and the role of fiscal stabilisers and discretionary policy. Session 2 explored the factors affecting the success of fiscal consolidation efforts and the economic impact of fiscal adjustment. Session 3 examined the role of fiscal institutions and procedures in shaping fiscal policy and achieving and maintaining sound budgetary positions. Session 4 focused on the design of expenditure rules and the role of structural reforms. The papers provide a broad overview of the ongoing work in central banks, ministries, the main international economic organisations and the academic world. They highlight the wide variety of research in the field of fiscal policy and the complexity of the underlying policy issues. Some papers draw from theoretical models, others from empirical investigations, others directly from the policy debate.


2007 Household Wealth in Italy Conference

Description: Wealth is an essential indicator of households' material well-being: assessing its amount, trend and distribution is useful to understand our society and the way it evolves. Availability of data on wealth allows the central bank to understand better the interaction between households' behaviour, financial markets and the main macroeconomic variables, and supports the analysis needed to perform the institutional functions of a central bank. In Italy, systematic macroeconomic estimates on overall household wealth are currently not available. A research project focusing on this specific topic has been set up by the Bank of Italy, which has dealt with the analysis of households' economic behaviour for a long time and publishes data on financial assets and liabilities. The aim of the conference was to collect the experts' opinions on the methods used to obtain the wealth estimates in question. Moreover, the scientific works discussed at the conference have addressed the various aspects of wealth: amount, evolution, composition, distribution, origins. The discussion arising from this conference was helpful for the forthcoming production of the new estimates provided on a regular basis by the Bank of Italy.


2008 Fiscal Sustainability: Analytical Developments & Emerging Policy Issues Conference

Description: The tenth Banca d'Italia Workshop on public finances was devoted to the issue of Fiscal Sustainability. It aimed at highlighting recent analytical developments and emerging policy issues. Session 1 examined the new methodologies for assessing fiscal sustainability, either via long-term projections or summary indicators. Session 2 considered the fiscal policy implications of sustainability assessment. Section 3 examined health care and long-term care. Section 4 dealt with environmental issues and sustainability reporting in the policy debate.


2008 Policies for Local Development Conference

Description: There is a particularly rich tradition of local development policies in Italy. Measures to overcome geographical disparities received a boost in the mid-1990s when a new approach, the "Nuova Programmazione," was launched. Today, debate on how to evaluate recent policies continues together with proposals for intervention, changed in part by the experience of other countries. This workshop, organized by the Bank of Italy's Structural Studies Department, will provide the scientific community, policymakers and the public with analysis and empirical findings to contribute to an informed discussion on the effectiveness of policies for social cohesion.


2009 Financial Market Regulation in the Wake of Financial Crises: The Historical Experience Conference

Description: According to most observers, de-regulated or poorly regulated financial markets (particularly as far as innovative instruments are concerned) either produced or exacerbated the current financial crisis. Thorough reconsideration of financial regulation is currently underway and likely to result in deep re-regulation of financial markets. Several previous financial crises followed the same pattern: in particular, new - often encompassing - legislation about financial market regulation was introduced as the result of financial crises. A review of past experiences might therefore be useful to economists, regulators and policy makers as they set out to design a new regulatory environment in the wake of the current financial crisis. To that end, the Bank of Italy convened this conference on the historical experience of post-crisis financial regulation.


2009 Pension Reform, Fiscal Policy & Economic Performance Conference

Description: The 11th Workshop on Public Finance - organised by Banca d'Italia in Perugia on 26-28 March 2009 - examined the issue of pension reform with the purpose of highlighting the recent analytical developments and the most relevant policy issues. Session 1 examined the impact of pension reforms on the labour market and their effects on investments in human capital and productivity growth. Session 2 was devoted to the impact of pension reforms on capital markets, and specifically on the effects of funded schemes. Section 3 considered the impact of reforms on income distribution, within and across generations, and macroeconomic developments. Section 4 dealt with the political economy of pension reforms and their role in the broader fiscal policy context.


2010 Banks, Local Credit Markets & Credit Supply Conference

Description: On 24 March 2010, the Bank of Italy - together with the Paolo Baffi Centre of Universita Bocconi - organized a conference on "Banks, local credit markets and credit supply". The papers presented in the two sessions of the conference will analyse the organization of banks and their lending to small and medium enterprises.


2010 Fiscal Policy: Lessons from the Crisis Conference

Description: The 12th Workshop on Public Finance - organised by Banca d'Italia in Perugia on 25-27 March 2010 - focused on the implications for fiscal policy analysis of the 2008-09 recession, the most severe at global level since the Great Depression. Session 1 examined the lessons of the crisis for the role of automatic stabilisers and discretionary fiscal policy. Session 2 investigated the effects of policy actions on the economy. Section 3 considered the impact of the crisis on fiscal policy rules and procedures. Section 4 dealt with the economic legacy of the crisis and the policy actions required in the years to come.



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