Enrico D’Elia

Current researches

A model of firm’s growth taking into account the discontinuity of size changes as its main feature

An economic system composed of a huge number of actors with weak micro-level coordination may produce an aggregate outcome completely independent from, and possibly contrary to, the individual results. Particularly, firms change their size typically through a row of discrete leaps over time. Thus the dynamics of investment and performance of firms may diiverge from the corresponding macroeconomic statistical aggregates. The discontinuity of firms growth, and the decoupling between micro and macro outcomes, brings some consequence on incentives and taxation, other than on the interpretation of firm’s level and macro data.

 

The very final effects on income and wealth distribution of taxes, subsidies and other social allowances

Many studies, related to econophysics and the trickle down theory, suggest that, in the long run, the distribution of income and wealth tends to revert to some “natural” distribution after a shock, owing to the circulation of money among individuals. For instance, subsidies given to the poorest people are likely spent for goods and services provided by rich people, nullifying the initial equalitarian redistribution of income almost completely. How to devise effective policies against poverty and inequality?

 

Measuring welfare

Individual welfare is assumedly a function of available material resources with decreasing returns (since doubling resources cannot double wellbeing, which is limited by a satiation constrain). Thus GDP, net wealth, etc. tend to overestimate welfare differentials and growth over time. How to treat available statistical data to take into account this non linearity?

 

 

If you share my research interests or have any suggestion and criticism,

please do not hesitate to contact me.

ED