Temporary help agencies and workers' occupational mobility

This paper focuses on the occupational mobility of temporary helpagency workers by studying their job-to-job upgrading chances as opposedto those who have not been hired through these intermediaries. A screeningapproach to the role of those labor brokers suggests that agency workersmay expect greater chances of upgrading from one occupation to another.Results obtained with a sample of Spanish workers show that workingthrough those intermediaries comparatively offers stronger prospects ofoccupational upgrading for workers of a medium qualification level. Thisbasic result is reinforced when the existence of self-selection into thistype of intermediated work is appropriately taken into account.

How binding are legal limits? Transitions from temporary to permanent work in Spain

This paper studies the duration pattern of xed-term contracts and the determinantsof their conversion into permanent ones in Spain, where the share of xed-termemployment is the highest in Europe. We estimate a duration model for temporaryemployment, with competing risks of terminating into permanent employment versusalternative states, and exible duration dependence. We nd that conversion rates aregenerally below 10%. Our estimated conversion rates roughly increase with tenure,with a pronounced spike at the legal limit, when there is no legal way to retain theworker on a temporary contract. We argue that estimated di¤erences in conversionrates across categories of workers can stem from di¤erences in worker outside optionsand thus the power to credibly threat to quit temporary jobs.

Work, risk and health: differences between immigrants and natives in Spain

We analyze the impact of working and contractual conditions, particularly exposure to job risks, on the probability of acquiring a disability. We postulate a model in which this impact is mediated by the choice of occupation, with a level of risk associated to it. We assume this choice is endogenous, and that it depends on preferences and opportunities in the labour market, both of which may differ between immigrants and natives. To test this hypothesis we use data from the Continuous Sample of Working Lives of the Spanish SS system. It contains individual, job and firm information of over a million workers, including a representative sample of immigrants. We find that risk exposure increases the probability of permanent disability by 5.3%; temporary employment also influences health. Migrant status -with differences among regions of origin- significantly affects both disability and the probability of being employed in a risky occupation. Most groups of immigrants work in riskier jobs, but have lower probability of becoming disabled. Nevertheless, our theoretical hypothesis that disability and risk are jointly determined is not valid for immigrants: i.e. for them working conditions is not a matter of choice in terms of health.

A Political Agency Model of Coattail Voting

In this paper, I provide a formal justi…cation for a well-established coattail effect, when a popular candidate at one branch of government attracts votes to candidates from the same political party for other branches of government. A political agency frame- work with moral hazard is applied to analyze coattails in simultaneous presidential and congressional elections. I show that coattail voting is a natural outcome of the optimal reelection scheme adopted by a representative voter to motivate politicians' efforts in a retrospective voting environment. I assume that an office-motivated politician (executive or congressman) prefers her counterpart to be affiliated with the same political party. This correlation of incentives leads the voter to adopt a joint performance evaluation rule, which is conditioned on the politicians belonging to the same party or different parties. The two-sided coattail effects then arise. On the one hand, the executive's suc- cess/failure props up/drags down her partisan ally in congressional election, which implies presidential coattails. On the other hand, the executive's reelection itself is affected by the congressman's performance, which results in reverse coattails. JEL classi…fication: D72, D86. Keywords: Coattail voting; Presidential coattails; Reverse coattails; Simultaneous elections; Political Agency; Retrospective voting.

Experiències catalanes, angleses i irlandeses en el millorament de l’accès a l’habitatge

El Grup de Recerca d´Accés a l´Habitatge de la Universitat Rovira i Virgili ha portat a terme durant l´any 2011 una sèrie d´activitats gràcies a l´ajuda concedida per la convocatòria de l´AGAUR PBR-DGR 2010, que ha donat suport al Grup tant de forma directa (per exemple, en viatges i dietes) com indirecta (gràcies a l´ajuda prestada per la Sra. Helaine Cristina Madeira Santos, becària de suport al Grup de Recerca, que ha portat a terme tasques de coordinació i investigació). Així, el Grup ha portat a terme tasques d´investigació (per exemple, la signatura d´un Conveni amb l’Agència de l’Habitatge de Catalunya amb la finalitat de portar a terme en el termini de 3 anys l’elaboració d´un marc legislatiu sobre les tinences intermitges en el Dret català); tasques de formació (gràcies a la participació en Congressos i Jornades); esta coordinant una xarxa sobre grups d´habitatge (per exemple, mitjançant un Congrés internacional sobre habitatge celebrat a Granada); ha publicat llibres i articles científics (per exemple, la publicació dels treballs presentats en les III Jornades Internacionals de Housing de 2010); i finalment cal destacar que l´activitat del Grup ha tingut un gran impacte en els mitjans de comunicació. Tot aquest treball ha permès al Grup arribar a unes conclusions sobre el status quo de l´habitatge a Espanya, per exemple les mancances del mercat d´habitatge en propietat i en lloguer i els aspectes que cal reformar quant al règim tributari i processal d´aquestes formes de tinença immobiliària. La principal conclusió, però, és la necessitat de regular noves formes d´entendre la tinença de la terra tot seguint els models ja presents en altres països europeus (principalment, Anglaterra i Irlanda), com la propietat compartida i la propietat temporal, figures en les quals està aprofundint actualment el Grup de recerca.

Research work in Tokyo Institute of Technology

Research carried out in Tokyo Institute of Technology. The objective is to determine the influence of Interfacial Transition Zone (ITZ) around Lightweight aggregate in concrete on Chloride ion diffusivity. The ITZ of conventional concretes is the weakest point of concrete. The accumulating water on ITZ zone forms the most permeable area inside the concrete. Hence ITZ paves the way for chloride ion diffusion. The quality of ITZ depends on type and quality of aggregates used, water-cement ratio and also the method used for the production of concrete. It has been used two types of lightweight aggregates will be used, Chinese and Japanese, with different absorption capacities. The idea is to produce concrete with same effective water - cement ratio, using the same aggregates in two different conditions, dry and saturated, and compare the chloride ion diffusivity in these concretes (by diffusion test). A comparison of ITZ thickness of these concretes by SEM and EDAX-maps is also proposed. The chloride ion diffusion of concretes produced with the same effective water – cement ratio and same aggregates (dry and ssd) will depend, mainly, on ITZ.

What works best for getting the unemployed back to work: employment services or small-business assistance programs? evidence from Romania

Recent empirical evidence has found that employment services and small-business assistance programmes are often successful at getting the unemployed back to work. Â One important concern of policy makers is to decide which of these two programmes is more effective and for whom. Â Using unusually rich (for transition economies) survey data and matching methods, I evaluate the relative effectiveness of these two programmes in Romania. Â While I find that employment services (ES) are, on average, more successful than a small-business assistance programme (SBA), estimation of heterogeneity effects reveals that, compared to non-participation, ES are effective for workers with little access to informal search channels, and SBA works for less-qualified workers and those living in rural areas. Â When comparing ES to SBA, I find that ES tend to be more efficient than SBA for workers without a high-school degree, and that the opposite holds for the more educated workers.

Reversal of opinion: the implications of the work of Acemoglu and Robinson for marxist thought

This paper describes the implications for Marxist thought of the work of Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson. In the first two periods of this they explained how the rise of democracy brought prosperity to Europe  and why the same process had not worked in Latin America because of the possibility of coups. The implication is that mass poverty can better be alleviated by safeguarding democracy rather than moving to socialism. In the last period A and R have formalized doubts about the efficacy of democracy in this role. The implication here is that Marxists should work to find a system of government that is immune to elite dominance. Hugo Chávez is taken as an example.

Why the EU does not Have an Independent Competition Agency: French Interests and Transaction Costs in Early European Integration

A major achievement of new institutionalism in economics and political science is the formalisation of the idea that certain policies are more efficient when administered by a politically independent organisation. Based on this insight, several policy actors and scholars criticise the European Community for relying too much on a multi-task, collegial, and politicised organisation, the European Commission. This raises important questions, some constitutional (who should be able to change the corresponding procedural rules?) and some political-economic (is Europe truly committed to free and competitive markets?). Though acknowledging the relevance of legal and normative arguments, this paper contributes to the debate with a positive political-scientific perspective. Based on the view that institutional equilibria raise the question of equilibrium institutions, it shows that collegiality was (a) an equilibrium institution during the Paris negotiations of 1950-51; and (b) an institutional equilibrium for the following 50 years. The conclusion points to some recent changes in the way that European competition policy is implemented, and discusses how these affect the “constitutional” principle of collegial European governance.

Innovació tecnològica a la construcció subterrània

Report for the scientific sojourn carried out in the International Center for Numerical Methods in Engineering (CIMNE) –state agency – from February until November 2007. The work within the project Technology innovation in underground construction can be grouped into the following tasks: development of the software for modelling underground excavation based on the discrete element method - the numerical algorithms have been implemented in the computer programs and applied to simulation of excavation using roadheaders and TBM-s -; coupling of the discrete element method with the finite element method; development of the numerical model of rock cutting taking into account of wear of rock cutting tools -this work considers a very important factor influencing effectiveness of underground works -.

Agency cost of government ownership: a study of voluntary audit comitte formation in China

In this paper, we investigate the agency costs of government ownership and their impact on corporate governance and firm value. China is used as a laboratory because of the prevalent state shareholdings in exchange-listed firms. In this context, we specifically consider the trade-offs involved in the voluntary formation of an audit committee when the controlling shareholder is the state. The decision to improve corporate governance (in this case, introduce an audit committee) is shown to be value relevant and a function of existing agency relationships and non-trivial implementation costs. Our findings are robust to the level of pyramid groups, the ownership-control wedge, and financial leverage. The research adds to the debate regarding the effect of government shareholdings on corporate culture and performance - a topic that hastaken on renewed importance in recent times.

Yakimbo

Treball de recerca realitzat per alumnes d'ensenyament secundari i guardonat amb un Premi CIRIT per fomentar l'esperit científic del Jovent l'any 2009. Aquest treball és una creació d’un projecte empresarial, és a dir, una planificació estratègica que té per objectiu analitzar la viabilitat, examinar els objectius i descobrir els inconvenients del mateix. Aquest projecte final està enfocat al turisme i consisteix en crear una agència de viatges. S’ha decidit crear una agència de viatges de baix cost destinada principalment als joves, ja que aquest sector de població busca una manera de viatjar econòmica que combini diversió i cultura. El treball es basa en la recerca i aplicació de la informació sobre la idea inicial. En primer lloc, per tal de realitzar-lo s’ha fet un projecte d’empresa, un estudi de mercat i de l’entorn amb les seves corresponents enquestes i un pla de marketing. En segon lloc, s’ha realitzat una definició del mercat i la comunicació, una determinació dels preus i organització de les vendes així com una identificació i organització de l’empresa i els seus productes. Per últim, s’ha fet un estudi econòmic i financer del projecte i, les conclusions extretes d’aquest, diuen que el nostre projecte serà viable i tindrà un èxit tècnic.

Work values, endogenous sentiments and redistribution

We examine the interactions between individual behavior, sentiments and the social contract in a model of rational voting over redistribution. Agents have moral "work values". Individuals' self-esteem and social consideration of others are endogenously determined comparing behaviors to moral standards. Attitudes toward redistribution depend on self-interest and social preferences. We characterize the politico-economic equilibria in which sentiments, labor supply and redistribution are determined simultaneously. The equilibria feature different degrees of "social cohesion" and redistribution depending on pre-tax income inequality. In clustered equilibria the poor are held partly responsible for their low income since they work less than the moral standard and hence redistribution is low. The paper proposes a novel explanation for the emergence of different sentiments and social contracts across countries. The predictions appear broadly in line with well-documented differences between the United States and Europe.

Disseny d'un pla docent d'acord amb la filosofia ECTS per a la titulació de Nutrició humana i dietètica (Matèria Bromatologia i tecnologia dels aliments)

El projecte s’ha desenvolupat, en quatre etapes: a) recollida de dades: competències professionals, característiques de la titulació en diferents universitats i tasses d’èxit avaluacions dels estudiants; b) anàlisi i reflexió sobre la informació recollida; c) realització d’una enquesta als diferents entorns professionals i sobre les millores que, a títol experimental, s’han introduït durant aquest període, en la docència i d) formulació d’una proposta de pla docent. Cal dir que superada la meitat de la durada del projecte, es va fer pública la fitxa corresponent a la titulació i per tant els seus criteris i indicacions ja s’han inclòs en la proposta. Quan als tres primers apartats i com a aspectes mes destacables, s’observa: dificultat per configurar l’ensenyament atesa la seva dualitat individu – aliment, l’existència d’un cert grau de discrepància quant a continguts, entre les propostes del professorat i els interessos analitzats des dels àmbits professionals, en funció de l’àrea de treball. D’altra banda, i ja concretament en relació amb la matèria analitzada (Bromatologia i Tecnologia dels aliments), s’observa una evident inadequació de la distribució de la matèria en assignatures en el vigent pla d’estudis, tant pel que fa a la seva ubicació temporal com d’alguns dels seus continguts. Quan a l’apartat d), es proposen els següents aspectes de tipus general: definir 4 blocs temàtics (química i bioquímica dels aliments, bases de tecnologia dels aliments, control d’aliments, integració i descriptiva d’aliments). Amb aquests blocs, s’haurien de poder configurar alguna/es assignatura/es, fins i tot conjuntament amb blocs generats a partir d’altres mòduls. Es proposen competències a assolir per a cadascun, metodologies docents aplicables i també, el disseny d’activitats de treball individual o en grup. Quant a les pràctiques, s’han de centrar especialment en el bloc corresponent al control de qualitat d’aliments, a un nivell adequat per als objectius de la titulació.