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In this paper we analyze the role of pollution for industry location and residence choice. We present a new economic geography (NEG) model in which manufacturing generates local pollution (that does not accumulate) and uses two types of labour input: unskilled workers that cannot migrate and work where they live; and high-skilled entrepreneurs that choose where to produce and where to live. Taking on board costless commuting or, in alternative, distance working, entrepreneurs can live in a different location from production. Both types of households enjoy utility from consuming all commodities (locally and imported variants) and suffer from local pollution. The resulting model is of the footloose entrepreneur variant, but involves two dynamic equations: the standard one governing the residential choice of entrepreneurs, and another one governing where production is located. The current paper analyses the discrete time dynamic process defined by a two-dimensional piecewise smooth map. Depending on parameters this map can have possibly coexisting attractors of various types (fixed points, cycles, closed curves as well as chaotic attractors). We analytically obtain stability conditions for the fixed points. Using numerical methods we describe also some global dynamic properties of the considered map. Finally, we propose an economic interpretation of the results concerning local stability analysis and global dynamics.

Heterogeneity and interacting among boundedly rational agents have received increasing attention in the finance and economics literature. Recent developments on the role of heterogeneous beliefs on asset pricing and the adaptive behaviour of financial markets shed light into the complex behaviour of financial markets and provide some explanations of certain market behaviour and anomalies. This paper surveys these developments, to which the author and several coauthors have contributed in several papers, and discusses the extent to which they can address market anomalies, complexity, and stylized facts in financial markets.

The paper presents a survey of the literature that has grown out of the work of Hyman Minsky and, in particular, of the main models which have mathematically formalised the cyclical dynamics of a capitalist economy implied by the Financial Instability Hypothesis. We identify some of the issues that the existing literature has left unsolved. We then briefly summarise the contributions by Chiarella and Di Guilmi (J Econ Dyn Control 35(8):11511171, 2011c) and (Stud Nonl Dyn Econom forthcoming, 2012), highlighting how these papers have addressed the open questions and how they could be further developed.

The Online Chemical Modeling Environment is a web-based platform that aims to automate and simplify the typical steps required for QSAR modeling. The platform consists of two major subsystems: the database of experimental measurements and the modeling framework. A user-contributed database contains a set of tools for easy input, search and modification of thousands of records. The OCHEM database is based on the wiki principle and focuses primarily on the quality and verifiability of the data. The database is tightly integrated with the modeling framework, which supports all the steps required to create a predictive model: data search, calculation and selection of a vast variety of molecular descriptors, application of machine learning methods, validation, analysis of the model and assessment of the applicability domain. As compared to other similar systems, OCHEM is not intended to re-implement the existing tools or models but rather to invite the original authors to contribute their results, make them publicly available, share them with other users and to become members of the growing research community. Our intention is to make OCHEM a widely used platform to perform the QSPR/QSAR studies online and share it with other users on the Web. The ultimate goal of OCHEM is collecting all possible chemoinformatics tools within one simple, reliable and user-friendly resource. The OCHEM is free for web users and it is available online at http://www.ochem.eu . © 2011 The Author(s).