Life Expectancy, Human Capital, Social Security and Growth

Revised: 2006-11.-- Published as an article in: Journal of Public Economics 90(12), December, 2006, pp. 2323-2349.

La internacionalización de la empresa manufacturera española: Efectos del capital humano genérico y específico

[ES] La eficiencia y capacidad competitiva de las organizaciones depende —además de otros factores— de la calidad del capital humano de que disponen. Así, el objetivo de este trabajo es analizar el efecto del capital humano de la empresa tanto en la decisión de entrar en los mercados internacionales como en la intensidad de ventas realizadas en dichos mercados utilizando modelos de regresión logit y tobit. El trabajo empírico se realiza sobre una muestra de empresas manufactureras españolas. El capital humano se evalúa desde una doble óptica, por un lado se considera la formación genérica de los empleados y por otro lado la formación específica de los mismos. Los resultados muestran que la formación genérica y la específica tienen un efecto positivo y significativo tanto sobre la decisión de entrar en los mercados internacionales como en la intensidad de ventas realizadas en dichos mercados.

Demanda de información sobre capital intelectual en las Universidades públicas españolas

[ES] En el actual contexto de la Sociedad del Conocimiento las instituciones de educación superior deben prestar una atención preferente a las nuevas demandas informativas de sus stakeholders. El objetivo de este trabajo será evidenciar la necesidad de que las universidades incorporen información sobre capital intelectual en su actual sistema de información contable.

Association analyses of DNA polymorphisms in bovine SREBP-1, LXRα,FADS1 genes with fatty acid composition in Canadian commercial crossbred beef steers

Two previously reported DNA polymorphisms of sterol regulatory element binding transcription factor 1 (SREBP1) and liver X receptor alpha (LXRα) and two DNA polymorphisms of fatty acid desaturase 1 (FADS1) were evaluated for associations with fatty acids in brisket adipose tissue of Canadian cross-bred beef steers. The polymorphism of 84 bp insert/deletion in intron 5 of SREBP1 was significantly associated with the concentration of 9c C17:1 (P=0.013). The G>A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the exon 4 of LXRα gene was associated with the concentration of 9c, 11t C18:2 (P=0.04), sum of conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) (P=0.025) and 11c C20:1(P=0.042). Two DNA polymorphisms in the promoter region of FADS1, deletion/insertion of ->GTG in rs133053720 and SNP A>G in rs42187276, were significantly associated with concentrations of C17:0 iso, C17:0 ai, total branched chain fatty acids (BFA), 12t C18:1, 13t/14t C18:1, 15t C18:1, and 13c C18:1 (P<0.05). Further studies are needed to validate the associations and to delineate the roles of the gene polymorphisms in determining the fatty acid composition in beef tissues.

Medición de capital intelectual en empresas asiáticas: el caso de Reliance Industries Ltd. (India)

El objetivo de este trabajo es presentar un marco conceptual integrador de la literatura de capital intelectual. A partir de él, se analizará la elaboración de informes de capital intelectual en Asia, en particular, es una empresa con una posición competitiva privilegiada en India: Reliance Industries LTD.

El Venture capital como fuente de financiación del proceso emprendedor

En los últimos años la financiación de empresas de nueva creación se ha convertido en uno de los principales obstáculos para los emprendedores a la hora de poner en marcha sus ideas de negocio. La difícil situación económico-financiera actual y las características particulares de estas empresas hacen que la financiación bancaria sea una alternativa más bien inviable. Este trabajo pretende explorar otras fuentes de financiación alternativas a la bancaria que se puedan ajustar más a las características de las empresas de reciente creación y, más en concreto, estudiar el papel que ha jugado y juega el venture capital como fuente de financiación, analizando aspectos teóricos del mismo y su evolución en los últimos años para, posteriormente, desarrollar un estudio empírico que analice las características y resultados obtenidos por las empresas financiadas por venture capital en España en los últimos años.

Structural capital, innovation capability, and company performance in technology-based colombian firms

[EN] In today s economy, innovation is considered to be one of the main driving forces behind business competitiveness, if not the most relevant one. Traditionally, the study of innovation has been addressed from different perspectives. Recently, literature on knowledge management and intellectual capital has provided new insights. Considering this, the aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of different organizational conditions i.e. structural capital on innovation capability and innovation performance, from an intellectual capital (IC) perspective. As regards innovation capability, two dimensions are considered: new idea generation and innovation project management. The population subject to study is made up of technology-based Colombian firms. In order to gather information about the relevant variables involved in the research, a questionnaire was designed and addressed to the CEOs of the companies making up the target population. The sample analyzed is made up of 69 companies and is large enough to carry out a statistical study based on structural equation modelling (partial least squares approach) using PLS-Graph software (Chin and Frye, 2003). The results obtained show that structural capital explains to a great extent both the effectiveness of the new idea generation process and of innovation project management. However, the influence of each specific organizational component making up structural capital (organizational design, organizational culture, hiring and professional development policies, innovation strategy, technological capital, and external structure) varies. Moreover, successful innovation project management is the only innovation capability dimension that exerts a significant impact on company performance.

How central are clients in sexual networks created by commercial sex?

Sex workers are traditionally considered important vectors of transmission of sexually transmitted infections (STI). The role of clients is commonly overlooked, partially due to the lack of evidence on clients' position in the sexual network created by commercial sex. Contrasting the diffusion importance of sex workers and their clients in the map of their sexual encounters in two Web-mediated communities, we find that from diffusion perspective, clients are as important as sex workers. Their diffusion importance is closely linked to the geography of the sexual encounters: as a result of different movement patterns, travelling clients shorten network distances between distant network neighborhoods and thus facilitate contagion among them more than sex workers, and find themselves more often in the core of the network by which they could contribute to the persistence of STIs in the community. These findings position clients into the set of the key actors and highlight the role of human mobility in the transmission of STIs in commercial sexual networks.

El capital social de las minorías religiosas en el País Vasco

328 p.

Información del Capital Humano: la generación de intangibles y la responsabilidad social

[ES] Los recursos de naturaleza intangible se han convertido en los bienes más importantes que poseen las empresas para generar riqueza de manera sostenible, en concreto el Capital Humano. Sin embargo, el éxito y supervivencia de la empresa se encuentra sometida a la aprobación de sus grupos de interés (stakeholders). Por ello, las empresas deben adoptar medidas para garantizar que sus actuaciones sean percibidas por sus stakeholders como legítimas; una manera para legitimarse es mediante el suministro de información voluntaria. Por tanto, bajo el marco de la Teoría de la Legitimidad y de los Stakeholders, nuestro objetivo es analizar cómo las empresas españolas están informando de manera voluntaria sobre su Capital Humano en los informes anuales, desde una doble perspectiva informativa: la generación de intangibles (conocimiento) y la responsabilidad social. Así, usando la metodología del análisis de contenido, la evidencia empírica muestra que las empresas españolas suministran escasa información acerca de su Capital Humano, siendo los temas relacionados con la formación y el desarrollo de los empleados los más divulgados. No obstante, y con respecto a la responsabilidad social, hay que destacar la tendencia alcista por parte de las empresas a suministrar información relativa a la política de igualdad y diversidad, la prevención de riesgos laborales y las relaciones entre empleadores y empleados.

Identification of Sex and Female’s Reproductive Stage in Commercial Fish Species through the Quantification of Ribosomal Transcripts in Gonads

The estimation of maturity and sex of fish stocks in European waters is a requirement of the EU Data Collection Framework as part of the policy to improve fisheries management. On the other hand, research on fish biology is increasingly focused in molecular approaches, researchers needing correct identification of fish sex and reproductive stage without necessarily having in house the histological know-how necessary for the task. Taking advantage of the differential gene transcription occurring during fish sex differentiation and gametogenesis, the utility of 5S ribosomal RNA (5S rRNA) and General transcription factor IIIA (gtf3a) in the molecular identification of sex and gametogenic stage was tested in different economically-relevant fish species from the Bay of Biscay. Gonads of 9 fish species (, Atlantic, Atlantic-chub and horse mackerel, blue whiting, bogue, European anchovy, hake and pilchard and megrim), collected from local commercial fishing vessels were histologically sexed and 5S and 18S rRNA concentrations were quantified by capillary electrophoresis to calculate a 5S/18S rRNA index. Degenerate primers permitted cloning and sequencing of gtf3a fragments in 7 of the studied species. 5S rRNA and gtf3a transcript levels, together with 5S/18S rRNA index, distinguished clearly ovaries from testis in all of the studied species. The values were always higher in females than in males. 5S/18S rRNA index values in females were always highest when fish were captured in early phases of ovary development whilst, in later vitellogenic stages, the values decreased significantly. In megrim and European anchovy, where gonads in different oogenesis stages were obtained, the 5S/18S rRNA index identified clearly gametogenic stage. This approach, to the sexing and the quantitative non-subjective identification of the maturity stage of female fish, could have multiple applications in the study of fish stock dynamics, fish reproduction and fecundity and fish biology in general.