Fostering Collaborative Knowledge Building by the Effective Provision of Knowledge about the Discussion Process

Peer-reviewed

Informe d'Autors UOC a ISI Web of Knowledge. Gener 2015

UOC

Informe d'Autors UOC a ISI Web of Knowledge. Febrer 2015

UOC

Does social capital reinforce technological inputs in the creation of knowledge? Evidence from the Spanish regions

In this paper we seek to verify the hypothesis that trust and cooperation between individuals, and between them and public institutions, can encourage technological innovation and the adoption of knowledge. Additionally, we test the extent to which the interaction of social capital with human capital and R&D expenditures improve their effect on a region’s ability to innovate. Our empirical evidence is taken from the Spanish regions and employs a knowledge production function and longitudinal count data models. Our results suggest that social capital correlates positively with innovation. Further, our analysis reveals a powerful interaction between human and social capital in the production of knowledge, whilst the complementarity with R&D efforts would seem less clear.

Knowledge misallocation and growth

We develop a growth model where knowledge is embodied in individuals and diffused across sectors through labor mobility. The existence of labor mobility costs constrains mobility and, thus, generates labor misallocation. Different levels of labor misallocation imply different levels of exploitation of available knowledge and, therefore, different total factor productivity across countries. We derive a positive relationship between growth and labor mobility, which is consistent with the empirical evidence, by assuming aggregate constant returns to capital. We also analyze the short and long run effects of labor mobility costs in the case of decreasing returns to capital. It turns out that changes in mobility costs have larger economic effects when different types of worker have small rather than large complementarities. Finally, we show that different labor income taxes or labor market tightness imply different rates of labor mobility and, therefore, can explain differences in Gross Domestic Product across countries.

Informe d'Autors UOC a ISI Web of Knowledge. Març 2015

UOC

Informe d'Autors UOC a ISI Web of Knowledge. Abril 2015

UOC

El territorio y la ciudad de Tarraco

This paper presents a brief description of the archaeological research in the territory and in the city of Tarraco, the ancient capital of provincia Hispania Tarraconensis and one of the main centres for the spread of Hispanic Christianity. Althoug Tarraco was the last capital under imperial control and the firs Hispanic metropolitan see, the city had only a secondary role by comparison with other Hispanic cities during late antiquity. This evolution shaped the development of Tarraco during the 7th century, but archaeologists identify an important architectural vitality still in the 6th century at the same time as other episcopal cities were evolving. During this period, the final Christianization of the symbolic spaces of ancient paganism took place, establishing the ideological basis of medieval urbanism that is still preserved today. The paper also interprets the sites through raising key questions as well as describing rural settlements, where archaeological knowledge is not so far advanced, due in part to the difficult nature of archaeological research, and in part to the need to study new construcitve models, as well as to the systematic collection of the relevant material culture.

Informe d'Autors UOC a ISI Web of Knowledge. Maig 2015

UOC

Coneixement lingüístic i matemàtic d'escolars de nivel sociocultural baix en programes d'immersió = Linguistic and mathematic knowledge in pupils of low sociocultural level in immersiom programmes

This piece of research compares knowledge of Catalan, Castilian and mathematics, as well as the attitudes to these two languages, of a sample of non-Catalan speaking pupils of low sociocultural level in their fourth year of primary school. Some of the pupils had followed an immersion programme in Catalan, whereas others had approached Catalan through their habitual language (Castilian). The findings show that not only did the immersion pupils obtain significantly better results in L2 (Catalan), but their mother tongue (Castilian) competence was undiminished and their performance on the mathematics test was superior to that of the other group. Moreover, the findings indicate that in pupils starting out from less favourable conditions (a low sociocultural level and a low I.Q.) the effect of the educational approach variable is greater than in other cases

Informe d'Autors UOC a ISI Web of Knowledge. Juny 2015

UOC