A descriptive and analytic look at Marxs own explanations for the falling rate of profit

Marxs conclusions about the falling rate of profit have been analysed exhaustively. Usually this has been done by building models which broadly conform to Marxs views and then showing that his conclusions are either correct or, more frequently, that they can not be sustained. By contrast, this paper examines, both descriptively and analytically, Marxs arguments from the Hodgskin section of Theories of Surplus Value, the General Law section of the recently published Volume 33 of the Collected Works and Chapter 3 of Volume III of Capital. It also gives a new interpretation of Part III of this last work. The main conclusions are first, that Marx had an intrinsic explanation of the falling rate of profit but was unable to give it a satisfactory demonstration and second, that he had a number of subsidiary explanations of which the most important was resource scarcity. The paper closes with an assessment of the pedigree of various currents of Marxian thought on this issue.

A descriptive and analytic look at Marxs own explanations for the falling rate of profit (Long Version)

Marxs conclusions about the falling rate of profit have been analysed exhaustively. Usually this has been done by building models which broadly conform to Marxs views and then showing that his conclusions are either correct or, more frequently, that they can not be sustained. By contrast, this paper examines, both descriptively and analytically, Marxs arguments from the Hodgskin section of Theories of Surplus Value, the General Law section of the recently published Volume 33 of the Collected Works and Chapter 3 of Volume III of Capital. It also gives a new interpretation of Part III of this last work. The main conclusions are first, that Marx had an intrinsic explanation of the falling rate of profit but was unable to give it a satisfactory demonstration and second, that he had a number of subsidiary explanations of which the most important was resource scarcity. The paper closes with an assessment of the pedigree of various currents of Marxian thought on this issue.

A marxian model of the breakdown of capitalism

This paper sets out a Marxian model that is based on the one by Stephen Marglin with one sector and continuous substitution. It is extended by adding technical progress and land as a factor of production. It is then shown that capital accumulation causes the preconditions for the breakdown of capitalism to emerge; that is, it causes the organic composition of capital to rise, the rate of profit to fall and the rate of exploitation to rise. A compressed history of the idea of the breakdown of capitalism is then set out and an explanation is given as to how the model relates to this and how it may serve as the basis for further research.

Venture capital meets contract theory: risky claims or formal control?

This paper develops a theory of the joint allocation of formal control and cash-flow rights in venture capital deals. We argue that when the need for investor support calls for very high-powered outside claims, entrepreneurs should optimally retain formal control in order to avoid excessive interference. Hence, we predict that risky claims should be be negatively correlated to control rights, both along the life of a start-up and across deals. This challenges the idea that risky claims should a ways be associated to more formal control, and is in line with contractual terms increasingly used in venture capital, in corporate venturing and in partnership deals between biotech start-ups and large drug companies. The paper provides a theoretical explanation to some puzzling evidence documented in Gompers (1997) and Kaplan and Stromberg (2000), namely the inclusion in venture capital contracts of contingencies that trigger both a reduction in VC control and the conversion! of her preferred stocks into common stocks.

Redistribution and subsidies for higher education

The financing of higher education through public spending imposes a transfer of resources from taxpayers to university students and their parents. We provide an explanation for this phenomenon. Those who attend higher education will earn more income in the future and will pay more taxes. People whose children do not attend higher education, however should agree to help pay the cost of such education, providing that the taxes are sufficiently high to ensure that there will be an adequate redistribution in favor of their own children at some time in the future.

Relating severe poverty and chronic poverty

The severely poor are very poor since their consumption is far below the absolute poverty line, and the chronically poor are very poor since their consumption persists for long periods below the absolute poverty line. A combination of chronic poverty and severe poverty (CSP) must represent the very worst instance of poverty. Yet the exercise in this paper of asking simple questions about CSP shows large research gaps. Quantified statements on CSP at the country level can be made for just 14 countries, and at the household level in just six countries. This data suggests a positive correlation between severe poverty and chronic poverty, both at the country level and the household level. Understanding the CSP relationship – whether it is strong, where it arises, what causes it – may improve our explanation of observed cross-country variation in the elasticity between macroeconomic growth and poverty reduction, and why within countries, some households take better advantage of opportunities afforded by macroeconomic growth. Some limited data suggests similarity in socioeconomic characteristics of the severe poor and the chronic poor in terms of location, household size, gender, education and economic sector of work. Of concern is that microlongitudinal datasets drop large proportions of their base year samples, and how this affects our understanding of CSP is not well evaluated. On causal mechanisms, evidence suggests that CSP may be caused by parental CSP (i.e. an intergenerational CSP cycle) and in households not previously poor, CSP may be caused by a morbidity cycle.

Who participates in R&D subsidy programs? The case of spanish manufacturing firms.

Empirical evidence on the effectiveness of R&D subsidies to firms has produced mixed results so far. One possible explanation is that firms and project selection rules may be quite heterogeneous both across agencies and across industries, leading to different outcomes in terms of the induced additional private effort. Here we focus on the participation stage. Using a sample of Spanish firms, we test for differences across agencies and industries. Our results suggest that firms in the same industry face different hurdles to participate in different agencies’ programs, that participation patterns may reflect a combination of agency goals, and that patterns differ across high-tech and low-tech industries.

Anàlisi de l'estructura d'aprenentatge en l'ensenyament de l'educació fí­sica en l'educació obligatòria

En el present treball de recerca s'analitza l'estructura d'aprenentatge que els mestres utilitzen en diverses classes d'educació física en l'educació obligatòria. El treball s'organitza en dues parts, una primera part on s'explica què s'entén per educació física i estructura d'aprenentatge i on es relacionen els objectius generals de l'àrea amb els tipus d'estructura d'aprenentatge, individualista, competitiva o cooperativa, més adient per tal d'aconseguir-los. I una segona part on es dissenyen els instruments per a l'anàlisi de l'estructura i l'aprenentatge i s'utilitzen per l'observació de les classes de cinc mestres de cinc escoles diferents de la comarca d'Osona. En les conclusions del treball s'analitza la idoneïtat dels instruments analitzats i es constata la gran utilització de l'estructura d'aprenentatge competitiva en les classes observades.

The Determinants of pricing in pharmaceuticals: are U.S. prices really higher than those of Canada?

This paper studies price determination in pharmaceutical markets using data for 25 countries, six years and a comprehensive list of products from the MIDAS IMS database. We show that market power and the quality of the product has a significantly positive impact of prices. The nationality of the producer appears to have a small and often insignificant impact on prices, which suggests that countries which regulates prices have relatively little power to do it in a way that advances narrow national interest. We produce a theoretical explanation for this phenomenon based on the fact that low negotiated prices in a country would have a knock-on effect in other markets, and is thus strongly resisted by producers. Another key finding is that the U.S. has prices that are not significantly higher than those of countries with similar income levels. This, together with the former observation on the effect of the nationality of producers casts doubt on the ability of countries to purs

Diseño de filtros con topología apilada mediante resonadores FBAR

Els continguts de la memòria es divideixen en dues parts fonamentals, precedides d’una breu explicació on s’introdueix al lector en el tema; primer s’exposen les bases d’un ressonador simple FBAR, d’on s’obtenen equacions de control vitals, i seguidament es plantegen les bases per a un ressonador apilat SCR, derivades de l’estudi previ d’un ressonador simple. La primera part fonamental del treball es centra en l’anàlisi d’un ressonador SCR. Aquest anàlisi es recolza sobre el punt de vista teòric dels paràmetres imatge, el nostre punt de sortida. Aquesta primera part és la més teòrica: obtenció i aplicació dels paràmetres imatge i obtenció dels elements discrets que conformen el circuit equivalent SCR, una xarxa de dos ports. Posteriorment, s’analitza què succeeix modificant els valors dels elements discrets sense variar determinats paràmetres imatge i finalment, es proposa una aproximació per a controlar determinades especificacions de disseny, com són l’ample de banda de transmissió de la xarxa i el factor de qualitat, en funció de les modificacions dels elements discrets. En la segona part s’analitzen, de forma qualitativa, xarxes compostes per diferents ressonadors apilats connectats en cascada. Aquest segon estudi es divideix en dues subparts. En la primera connectem N ressonadors idèntics, plantegem algunes equacions de control i analitzem les respostes. En la segona, es planteja la connexió de dos (N=2) ressonadors diferents amb freqüències de ressonància properes. Aquest segon anàlisi es també totalment qualitatiu, però ens aporta informació que amb la unió de N ressonadors iguals no aconseguíem. Finalitzant aquesta segona part, es planteja l’optimització dels resultats obtinguts per a N=2, mitjançant estructures N=3 ressonadors.

Ràdio participativa amb difusió per Internet

Aquesta memòria reuneix una explicació del treball que s'ha dut a terme per a desenvolupar el projecte final de carrera. Aquest tracta d'implementar una ràdio musical que s'emet per Internet però amb la característica d'ésser una ràdio que decideixi la programació musical en funció de la seva audiència. Per a realitzar això es distingiran dos tipus d'usuaris: els oients i els gestors de la ràdio musical. El gestors de la ràdio tindran la responsabilitat d'alimentar de música la ràdio, etiquetar i classificar aquesta música perquè la ràdio estableixi criteris de similitud entre cançons. Els oients seran responsables d'opinar sobre les cançons que emet la ràdio, si els agrada o desagrada, per guiar la ràdio cap al gust musical del propi oient. La complexitat està en què no es tracta d'una ràdio musical amb un sol oient sinó que hi ha diferents oients i s'haurà de saber gestionar correctament els gustos dispersos dels oients. En el present document recullim tots els treballs realitzats, l'anàlisis formal del problema, l'explicació de la solució proposada i com hem realitzat aquesta solució.

Gestió i desenvolupament d'un conjunt comprensiu de pràctiques per les assignatures de sistemes operatius

En aquest projecte s'ha desenvolupat un entorn repositori de pràctiques per a emmagatzemar i donar una eina de control del material docent que es disposa. El desenvolupament dels mòduls del sistema s'han realitzat després de contemplar els diferents rols que existeixen dintre dels membres del personal docent, sent aquest becaris o professors. Atès que el personal destinat a l'ensenyament està sotmès a un alt grau de rotacions aquest sistema intentarà ser un punt de trobada de totes les seves aportacions, ajudant així la tasca d'avaluació i explicació de les pràctiques. L'estudi d'un nou ventall de pràctiques ha permès conèixer un nou entorn de treball, que ofereix camps no tractats fins al moment a través de la implantació d'un sistema operatiu simulat per sobre del sistema operatiu Linux.

From creative ideas to new emerging ventures: the process of identification and exploitation among finnish design entrepreneurs

This study focuses on identification and exploitation processes among Finnish design entrepreneurs (i.e. selfemployed industrial designers). More specifically, this study strives to find out what design entrepreneurs do when they create new ventures, how venture ideas are identified and how entrepreneurial processes are organized to identify and exploit such venture ideas in the given industrial context. Indeed, what does educated and creative individuals do when they decide to create new ventures, where do the venture ideas originally come from, and moreover, how are venture ideas identified and developed into viable business concepts that are introduced on the markets? From an academic perspective: there is a need to increase our understanding of the interaction between the identification and exploitation of emerging ventures, in this and other empirical contexts. Rather than assuming that venture ideas are constant in time, this study examines how emerging ideas are adjusted to enable exploitation in dynamic market settings. It builds on the insights from previous entrepreneurship process research. The interpretations from the theoretical discussion build on the assumption that the subprocesses of identification and exploitation interact, and moreover, they are closely entwined with each other (e.g. McKelvie & Wiklund, 2004, Davidsson, 2005). This explanation challenges the common assumption that entrepreneurs would first identify venture ideas and then exploit them (e.g. Shane, 2003). The assumption is that exploitation influences identification, just as identification influences exploitation. Based on interviews with design entrepreneurs and external actors (e.g. potential customers, suppliers and collaborators), it appears as identification and exploitation of venture ideas are carried out in close interaction between a number of actors, rather than alone by entrepreneurs. Due to their available resources, design entrepreneurs have a desire to focus on identification related activities and to find external actors that take care of exploitation related activities. The involvement of external actors may have a direct impact on decisionmaking and various activities along the processes of identification and exploitation, which is something that previous research does not particularly emphasize. For instance, Bhave (1994) suggests both operative and strategic feedback from the market, but does not explain how external parties are actually involved in the decisionmaking, and in carrying out various activities along the entrepreneurial process.

Un estudi de les argumentacions d’estudiants anglesos i catalans en activitats de resolució de problemes no formals en ciències i de les estratègies didàctiques dels professors que afavoreixen l’argumentació a les classes

Una de les contribucions de la recerca sobre concepcions prèvies dels estudiants en ciències durant els darrers 25 anys ha estat mostrar la influència del context sociocultural dels nois i noies en les idees i concepcions que desenvolupen i mantenen des de la seva infància. Hi ha l’acord que algunes diferències en les concepcions poden dependre de la cultura social en la qual s’integren. Alguns investigadors també pensen que els esquemes argumentatius també poden ser influenciats per la cultura de les comunitats. Els contextos Català i Anglès semblen similars, ambdós formen part del context cultural de les societats desenvolupades; per tant, podem pensar que els esquemes argumentatius que els estudiants apliquen, poden tenir moltes similituds, però també importants diferències. Les dades analitzades provenen de les respostes escrites dels estudiants individuals i de les transcripcions de 8 grups de discussió sobre quatre tasques. L’anàlisi es fa a tres nivells: 1)comparació del nombre d’arguments entre tasques i entre països, 2) qualitativa i descriptiva comparació entre tipus d’esquemes argumentatius per tasques i per països i 3) explicació de tipus d’esquemes argumentatius que es donen molt, i identificació d’estructures argumentatives complexes que lliguen diversos esquemes en un argument més gran i que poden caracteritzar l’argumentació d’alguns grups (aplicant Toulmin) i que poden ser indicadors d’aspectes cooperatius i de canvis de punts de vista en les discussions. Els resultants ens indiquen que encara que els estudiants Catalans dediquen més temps a les discussions, la ratio nombre d’esquemes per unitat de temps és similar als dos països. S’han trobar algunes diferències entre tipus d'esquemes per països i per tasques, també que molts arguments es basen en valors i idees preconcebudes. S’han pogut identificar també algunes estructures argumentatives complexes no gaire comunes.

Private Governance of Financial Markets: the US Regulatory Regime on Hedge Funds

The article investigates the private governance of financial markets by looking at the evolution of the regulatory debate on hedge funds in the US market. It starts from the premise that the privatization of regulation is always the result of a political decision and analyzes how this decision came about and was implemented in the case of hedge funds. The starting point is the failure of two initiatives on hedge funds that US regulators launched between 1999 an 2004, which the analysis explains by elaborating the concept of self-capture. Facing a trade off between the need to tackle publicly demonized issues and the difficulty of monitoring increasingly sophisticated and powerful private markets, regulators purposefully designed initiatives that were not meant to succeed, that is, they “self-captured” their own activity. By formulating initiatives that were inherently flawed, regulators saved their public role and at the same time paved the way for the privatization of hedge fund regulation. This explanation identifies a link between the failure of public initiatives and the success of private ones. It illustrates a specific case of formation of private authority in financial markets that points to a more general practice emerging in the regulation of finance.