L'azione economica tra etica e neurobiologia

The heated debate over the conflict between ethics and economics is often described as an epochal issue, an expression of present-day fragility, resulting from the implosion of the development model, which has characterised western society. The debate, however, exposes a paradox. Whilst, on the one hand, the neoclassical economic theory is radically criticized, on the other such criticism does not appear to delineate any solid, practicable alternative. Thus, the mainstream economic theory is still taught, practised by individuals as well as institutions, and further developed by the prevailing academic research. For this reason, a viable alternative needs to be sought, along with a new research methodology, which would allow to apply novel and more coherent theoretical assumptions into effective research and real cases. The theoretical instruments by which to create the models for human behaviour need to take into account the biological foundation of behaviour, expressed in evolutionary genetics terms. The aim of this paper is to establish whether our moral knowledge of economics may claim any scientific objectivity in light of advances in subject areas that differ in their scope and methods: moral philosophy, economics, cognitive neuroscience and artificial intelligence, each of which makes a specific contribution to understanding the operation of the human mind and towards forming the moral values onto which economic choice and action are founded. Given that the object of the study of economic science is the analysis of complex systems, nowadays the most efficient method seems to be artificial life simulation.

Il Sistema di Revenue Management strumento per lo sviluppo turistico sostenibile delle destinazioni

Businesses interact constantly with the environment, realizing several and heterogeneous exchanges. Organizations can be considered a system of different interests, frequently conflicting and the satisfaction of different stakeholders is a condition of success and survival. National and international literature attempts to explain the complex connection between companies and environment. In particular, the Stakeholder Theory considers crucial for businesses the identification of different stakeholders and their involvement in decision-making process. In this context, profit can not be considered the only purpose of companies existence and business aims become more numerous and different. The Stakeholder Theory is often utilized as framework for tourism studies, in particular in Sustainable Tourism Development research. In fact, authors consider sustainable the tourism development able to satisfy interests of different stakeholders, traditionally identified as local community and government, businesses, tourists and natural environment. Tourism businesses have to guarantee the optimal use of natural resources, the respect of socio-cultural tradition of local community and the creation of socio-economic benefits for all stakeholders in destinations. An obstacle to sustainable tourism development that characterizes a number of destinations worldwide is tourism demand seasonality. In fact, its negative impact on the environment, economy and communities may be highly significant. Pollution, difficulties in the use of public services, stress for residents, seasonal incomes, are all examples of the negative effects of seasonality. According to the World Tourism Organization (2004) the limitation of seasonality can favour the sustainability of tourism. Literature suggests private and public strategies to minimize the negative effects of tourism seasonality, as diversification of tourism products, identification of new market segments, launching events, application of public instruments like eco-taxes and use of differential pricing policies. Revenue Management is a managerial system based on differential pricing and able to affect price sensitive tourists. This research attempts to verify if Revenue Management, created to maximize profits in tourism companies, can also mitigate the seasonality of tourism demand, producing benefits for different stakeholders of destinations and contributing to Sustainable Tourism Development. In particular, the study attempts to answer the following research questions: 1) Can Revenue Management control the flow of tourist demand? 2) Can Revenue Management limit seasonality, producing benefits for different stakeholders of a destination? 3) Can Revenue Management favor the development of Sustainable Tourism? The literature review on Stakeholder Theory, Sustainable Tourism Development, tourism seasonality and Revenue Management forms the foundation of the research, based on a case study approach looking at a significant destination located in the Southern coast of Sardinia, Italy. A deductive methodology was applied and qualitative and quantitative methods were utilized. This study shows that Revenue Management has the potential to limit tourism seasonality, to mitigate negative impacts occurring from tourism activities, producing benefits for local community and to contribute to Sustainable Tourism Development.