Vizcaíno Sánchez, Jaime: La presencia bizantina en Hispania (siglos VI-VII): la documentación arqueológica. Antigüedad y Cristianismo. Monógrafías sobre la Antigüedad tardía XXIV, Murcia, 2009.

La serie editada por la Universidad de Murcia, especializada en trabajos sobre la antigüedad tardía y cristianismo, publica este nuevo libro que aborda la presencia de Bizancio en Hispania. Se trata de un tema de larga trayectoria historiográfica en la investigación histórica en España, que desde el estudio de M. Vallejo Girvés en 1993 se ha visto renovado y enriquecido con nuevas líneas interpretativas que persiguen la contextualización de las referencias aportadas por las fuentes escritas y, al mismo tiempo, la ampliación de las perspectivas de estudio con diversos argumentos de análisis, como es la discusión abierta en torno al componente social del proceso.

Jaime Rodrigo : El salvamento maritimo español necesita implantar el sistema britanico del SOSREP

Entrevista sobre Politica maritima y Gestion de la seguridad maritima. Enseñanzas nauticas. Especial referencia al modelo britanico de Salvamento Maritimo: SOSREP.

Entrevista Prof. Jaime Rodrigo de Larrucea: Ley de Navegación Marítima

Entrevista Prof. Jaime Rodrigo de Larrucea sobre la aprobada Ley de Navegación Marítima

Hacia una teoría general de la seguridad marítima. Discurso de ingreso Dr. Jaime Rodrigo de Larrucea

La comunicación pretende ser una aproximación holística a la Seguridad Marítima, enel sentido aristotélico del término: “el todo es mayor que la suma de sus partes». Elholismo es el tratamiento de un tema de tal forma que se consideren todos suscomponentes, incluyendo sus relaciones invisibles pero igualmente evidentes oexistentes. El elemento central del discurso es el tratamiento del riesgo: partiendo que elriesgo, en cualquier actividad humana nunca es 0, la seguridad se reduce a una opciónentre riesgos. Cuando hablamos de riesgo, debemos abordarlo desde una tripledimensión: el análisis del riesgo, la evaluación del riesgo y de manera principal lagestión del riesgo. La seguridad siempre es una opción de riesgo.

Consumption externalities, habit formation, and equilibrium efficiency

We analyze the welfare properties of the competitive equilibrium in a capital accumulation model where individual preferences are subjected to both habit formation and consumption spillovers. We also discuss how consumption externalities and habits interact to generate an inefficient dynamic equilibrium. Finally, we characterize optimal tax policies aimed to restore efficient decentralized paths.

Growth, habit formation, and catching-up\ with the Joneses

When habits are introduced multiplicatively in a capital accumulation model, the consumers' objective function might fail to be concave. In this paper we provide conditions aimed at guaranteeing the existence of interior solutions to the consumers' problem. We also characterize the equilibrium path of two growth models with multiplicative habits: the internal habit formation model, where individual habits coincide with own past consumption, and the external habit formation (or catching-up with the Joneses) model, where habits arise from the average past consumption in the economy. We show that the introduction of external habits makes the equilibrium path inefficient during the transition towards the balanced growth path. We characterize in this context the optimal tax policy.

Income taxation with habit formation and consumption externalities

We analyze the dynamic behavior and the welfare properties of the equilibrium path of a growth model where both habits and consumption externalities affect the utility of consumers. We discuss the effects of flat rate income taxes and characterize the optimal income taxation policy. We show that, when consumption externalities and habit adjusted consumption are not perfect substitutes, a counter-cyclical income tax rate allows the competitive equilibrium to replicate the efficient path. Our analysis highlights the crucial role played by complementarities between externalities and habits in order to generate an inefficient dynamic equilibrium.

Public enterprise reforms and efficiency in regulated environments: the case of the postal sector

Purpose - This paper focuses on analyzing the effect that public reforms have on the efficiency of state-owned enterprises in regulated environments. Design/methodology/approach - The research is focused in the postal sector where public and private companies must obey a legal framework related to provide a universal service. The analysis is carried out using a panel of 7 European postal operators for the period 1997-2003. The activity analyzed was the letter mail division; we take as key variable the unit cost of a letter and use a translog cost function where as independent variables we include traffic levels, labor cost per employee, quality and availability of the service as well as the type of ownership (public or private). Additionally, in a second stage the geographical differences among countries are considered. Findings - Results indicate that postal operators that experienced organizational changes without being privatized, such as the Spanish and Greek operators, do not have higher unit costs than privatized postal operators like the one of Germany and the Netherlands. Moreover, we find that in all cases the operator of Ireland appear to be the most efficient. In this case restructuring process has been carried out giving an important leadership role to workers. This suggests us that labor culture could be a key variable to study when analyzing reform processes in public enterprises. Originality/value - Our findings show that in a regulated environment like in the postal sector, public and private companies can obtain similar efficiency levels in term of unit costs.

Sistema inalámbrico de control de iluminación

L’objectiu principal del projecte és dissenyar un sistema de control automàtic de il·luminació en un recinte tancat, mitjançant la detecció de presència d’una persona que entra dins del radi d’actuació del sistema. Utilitzant dues plaques amb capacitat de comunicació inalàmbrica es controlaran dos components, un sensor i un actuador. El sensor té la funció de detectar la presència d’una persona per mitjà d’infraroigs, mentre que l’actuador ens proporciona la funcionalitat d’un interruptor amb el qual pogué actuar sobre la llum, encenent-la o apagant-la en funció de l’estat de detecció.

Organisational status and efficiency: the case of the spanish SOE "Paradores"

The purpose of this paper is to provide new evidence on the issue of the effect on public enterprises economic performance of the introduction of some given changes in organisational status and management practices, while keeping the enterprises under public control. Our approach is case study type and relies on comparative efficiency literature. We identify relevant changes on the organisational status of a State owned large hotel group along a period of twenty years, next we measure its annual efficiency indicators, and then evaluate to which extent the observed changes in economic performance can be attributable to the corresponding management reforms carried out. As a result we find that the formally more relevant change in organisational status (the enterprise passing to be a Limited Company), which implied a substantial increase in the enterprise autonomy, did not produce a significant improvement in its economic performance; a finding contrary to what we expected according to agency theory. However, a second relevant organisational change –five years later- when both the principal (government) and the agent (firm’s CEO) changed is consistently related to a significant improvement in economic performance. As a research implication we abide for use more precise agency theory statements; and as a practical implication we argue here that potentialities of improvement brought about by a formal-legal change in the status of the enterprise may require also –in order to actually improve firm’s efficiency- some changes in the firm’s key personal positions: supervisor (principal) and CEO (agent), in the sense that a change to a greater-autonomy for the enterprise it seems should come together a parallel new ‘management culture’. Practical implications Management good practises to apply to other public enterprise’s restructuring in order to improve their efficiency. It’s the first study on organizational changes and efficiency for an important Spanish public enterprise.

Trade of permits for greenhouse gas emissions; bilateral trade need not be the answer

The Kyoto Protocol sets national quotas on CO2 emissions and allows international trade of these quotas. We argue that this trade is characterized by asymmetric, identity-dependent externalities, and show that bilateral trade may not be sufficient for an efficient allocation of emissions. We derive conditions under which bilateral trade does improve the allocation of permits. The conditions are strong. In this sense, we argue that, for emissions permits, market design matters.

És sostenible el nostre sistema de pensions?

En el document es discuteix l’afirmació estàndard sobre que el sistema de pensions de jubilació públiques a Espanya –i, per extensió, els sistemes públics europeus- no és financerament viable. Es mostra perquè la pròpia interrogació retòrica que recull el títol és de fet una pregunta mal formulada (oblida coses essencials). I es posa de manifest que un sistema de pensions de jubilació privat –com els dels fons de pensions de les entitats financeres- sols és viable per a una minoria de la població: la de rendes més elevades