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Jointly sponsored by the Department of Public Economics at the University of Rome. This series of annual lectures was initiated to honor the memory of Federico Caffè. Where Caffè held a chair from 1970 to 1987, and the Bank of Italy, where he served as a long-term advisor. The publication of the lectures provides a vehicle for leading scholars in the economics profession to reflect on the pressing economic and social problems of the times.

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9 results in Federico Caffè Lectures

Central Banks as Fiscal Players
  • The Drivers of Fiscal and Monetary Policy Space
  • Willem Buiter
  • Published online:
    02 November 2020
    Print publication:
    12 November 2020
  • It is well known that the balance sheets of most major central banks significantly expanded in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007-2011, but the consequences of this expansion are not well understood. This book develops a unified framework to explain how and why central bank balance sheets have expanded and what this shift means for fiscal and monetary policy. Buiter addresses a number of key issues in monetary economics and public finance, including how helicopter money works, when modern monetary theory makes sense, why the Eurosystem has a potentially fatal design flaw, why the fiscal theory of the price level is a fallacy and how to escape from the zero lower bound.

Rediscovering Economic Policy as a Discipline
  • Nicola Acocella
  • Published online:
    16 July 2018
    Print publication:
    26 July 2018
  • Government interventions in market failures can encounter objections from those who doubt their efficacy. Acocella, a leading expert on economic policy, counters these unfounded criticisms, making the convincing case for the foundation, coordination and reach of government action through economic policy. Arguing for the governmental potential to devise democratic, fair and effective institutions and policies, this book also demonstrates the validity of the principles outlined by Frisch and Tinbergen, amongst others, for controlling the economy, in a strategic context, equivalent to the rational expectations assumption. Demonstrating how unconventional monetary policies (such as macro-prudential regulation, new fiscal rules, and new forms of international policy coordination) can offer an effective response to the multiplicity of current economic issues, the recent financial crisis arguably indicates that economic policy must once again take centre stage as the applied complement to mainstream economic theory.

The New Economics of Inequality and Redistribution
  • Samuel Bowles
  • Published online:
    05 February 2013
    Print publication:
    12 July 2012
  • Economists warn that policies to level the economic playing field come with a hefty price tag. But this so-called 'equality-efficiency trade-off' has proven difficult to document. The data suggest, instead, that the extraordinary levels of economic inequality now experienced in many economies are detrimental to the economy. Moreover, recent economic experiments and other evidence confirm that most citizens are committed to fairness and are willing to sacrifice to help those less fortunate than themselves. Incorporating the latest results from behavioral economics and the new microeconomics of credit and labor markets, Bowles shows that escalating economic disparity is not the unavoidable price of progress. Rather it is policy choice - often a very costly one. Here drawing on his experience both as a policy advisor and an academic economist, he offers an alternative direction, a novel and optimistic account of a more just and better working economy.

Regulation and Development
  • Jean-Jacques Laffont
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    10 March 2005
  • In Regulation and Development Jean-Jacques Laffont provides the first theoretical analysis of regulation of public services for developing countries. He shows how the debate between price-cap regulation and cost of service regulation is affected by the characteristics of less developed countries (LDCs) and offers a positive theory of privatization that stresses the role of corruption. He develops a new theory of regulation with limited enforcement capabilities and discusses the delicate issue of access pricing in view of LDC's specificities. In the final chapter he proposes a theory of separation of powers which reveals one of the many vicious circles of underdevelopment made explicit by the economics of information. Based on organization theory and history, and using simple empirical tests wherever possible, Professor Laffont offers a comprehensive evaluation of the different ways to organize the regulatory institutions and opens up a rich new research agenda for development studies.

Diagnosing Unemployment
  • Edmond Malinvaud
  • Published online:
    06 July 2010
    Print publication:
    14 April 1994
  • In this collection of essays. Edmond Malinvaud aims at explaining what he learned as a government statistician, particularly with respect to the unemployment problems of the last two decades. The government expert must forecast for diagnosing spontaneous trends or assessing the likely impact of public decisions. Such forecasts rely on a more or less intensive analysis. To understand the main distinction between frictional and disequilibrium unemployment requires a more rigorous conceptual apparatus than is often acknowledged; this leads to a properly defined Beveridge curve playing the major role. The most vexing issue concerns the effect of real wages on the medium term trend of labour demand; it cannot be well grasped without a good understanding of investment, for which the author presents his reference model.

Reciprocity
  • An Economics of Social Relations
  • Serge-Christophe Kolm
  • Published online:
    22 September 2009
    Print publication:
    22 May 2008
  • Reciprocity is the basis of social relations. It permits a peaceful and free society in which people and rights are respected. The essence of families and communities, it also enables the working of markets and organisations, while correcting their main failures. Reciprocity is also a basis of politics, and it justifies social policies. Although the importance of reciprocity has been widely recognised in other social sciences, it has, until recently, been somewhat ignored in economic analysis. Over the past three decades, economic theorist and moral philosopher Serge-Christophe Kolm has been at the forefront of research into the economics of the deepest aspects of societies. In Reciprocity, he provides a unique in-depth analysis of the motives, conducts, and effects of reciprocal relationships. In doing this, he explains crucial functionings of society and its economy, and the ways in which they can be improved. This book should be read by economists, sociologists, philosophers, and anyone concerned with understanding the economy of social relationships and its far-reaching consequences.

Welfare, Choice and Solidarity in Transition
  • Reforming the Health Sector in Eastern Europe
  • János Kornai, Karen Eggleston
  • Published online:
    22 September 2009
    Print publication:
    31 May 2001
  • Reform of the welfare sector is an important yet difficult challenge for all countries in transition from socialist central planning to market-oriented democracies. Here a scholar of the economics of socialism and post-socialist transition and a health economist take on this challenge. This 2001 book offers health sector reform recommendations for ten countries of Eastern Europe, drawn consistently from a set of explicit guiding principles. After discussing sector-specific characteristics, lessons of international experience, and the main set of initial conditions, the authors advocate reforms based on organized public financing for basic care, private financing for supplementary care, pluralistic delivery of services, and managed competition. Policymakers need to achieve a balance, both assuring social solidarity through universal access to basic health services and expanding individual choice and responsibility through voluntary supplemental insurance. The authors also consider the problems that undermine effectiveness of market-based competition in the health sector.

Underdevelopment
  • A Strategy for Reform
  • Paolo Sylos Labini
  • Published online:
    22 September 2009
    Print publication:
    10 May 2001
  • The process of globalization, evidenced by environmental change, migration, industrial relation and the extraordinary acceleration of industrial economic relations, has not led to increased convergence in the global economy. Rather, in some cases it has been accompanied by greater divergence between the fortunes of the world's richest and poorest nations. Professor Sylos Labini argues that mainstream economics provide limited help in considering these phenomena and instead adopts the perspectives of Adam Smith, David Riccardo and Malthus, who put economic growth at the centre of their analyses. In this short book he offers a fresh approach to the theory of economic growth and reminds us of the great variety of economic trajectories in developing countries. He further proposes a strategy of institutional reform to respond to the problem of underdevelopment. For Africa he recommends a strategy of organizational reforms, including a programme to eradicate illiteracy and to promote rural and industrial districts.

The Monetary Theory of Production
  • Augusto Graziani
  • Published online:
    03 July 2009
    Print publication:
    04 September 2003
  • In mainstream economic theory money functions as an instrument for the circulation of commodities or for keeping a stock of liquid wealth. In neither case is it considered fundamental to the production of goods or the distribution of income. Augusto Graziani challenges traditional theories of monetary production, arguing that a modern economy based on credit cannot be understood without a focus on the administration of credit flows. He argues that market asset configuration depends not upon consumer preferences and available technologies but on how money and credit are managed. A strong exponent of the circulation theory of monetary production, Graziani presents an original and perhaps controversial argument that will stimulate debate on the topic.