Agenda

Economics Seminars are study seminars held on current research proposals or on studies carried out by eminent international researchers and teachers. They are an opportunity for discussion of new theories, developments, models and debates, focussing on various current economics topics.

Economics Seminars are generally held on Mondays at 12:15 in Meeting Room 1 (Complex A – San Giobbe Economics Campus – map).

Upcoming event:

Federica Romei (University of Oxford) - Why does Capital Flow from Equal to Unequal Countries? (with de Ferra, Sergio, and Mitman, Kurt)

Abstract: We document that capital has flowed from equal to unequal countries since the 1990s. Differences in private savings between equal and unequal countries drive the flows. This empirical regularity holds across advanced economies. We develop a simple framework to analytically characterize how international financial integration can lead to capital flows from countries with low-income inequality to those with high inequality when trading assets is subject to endogenous constraints arising from limited enforcement of contracts. Finally, we show a calibrated two-country heterogeneous-agent general-equilibrium model with limited enforcement frictions that can quantitatively account for the observed capital flows. Incorporating the friction, as opposed to assuming exogenously incomplete markets, is crucial for the success of the model in explaining the data.