Evolution and recent developments of Spanish wine sector, 1950-2008

Since the 1980s the traditional European winegrowing regions have been carrying out deep changes in response to the onslaught of winegrowers in the New World. In recent years Spanish regions have been foremost in Europe in terms of change in areas turned over to wine production and distribution. This study analyses the main sequences of changes the Spanish wine industry has undergone: the evolution of consumption through the changes in consumer drinking habits; the leading role of exports in international markets; the spread of different types of marketing and business organization; the distribution in large and small sellers, and the main factors that have been involved in the chain of production and in the modernization of the wineries.

Regulatory federalism in network industries

Report for the scientific sojourn at the UC Berkeley, USA, from march until july 2008. This document starts by surveying the literature on economic federalism and relating it to network industries. The insights and some new developments (which focus on the role of interjurisdictional externalities, multiple objectives and investment incentives) are used to analyze regulatory arrangements in telecommunications and energy in the EU and the US. In the long history of vertically integrated monopolies in telecommunications and energy, there was a historical trend to move regulation up in the vertical structure of government, at least form the local level to the state or nation-state level. This move alleviated the pressure on regulators to renege on the commitment not to expropriate sunk investments, although it did not eliminate the practice of taxation by regulation that was the result of multiple interest group action. Although central or federal policy making is more focused and especialized and makes it difficult for more interest groups to organize, it is not clear that under all conditions central powers will not be associated with underinvestment. When technology makes the introduction of competition in some segments possible, the possibilities for organizing the institutional architechture of regulation expand. The central level may focus on structural regulation and the location of behavioral regulation of the remaining monopolists may be resolved in a cooperative way or concentrated at the level where the relevant spillovers are internalized.

New developments of peace research: The impact of recent campaigns on disarmament and human security

The present text, based on previous work done by the authors on peace research (Grasa 1990 and 2010) and the disarmament campaigns linked to Human Security (Alcalde 2009 and 2010), has two objectives. First, to present a new agenda for peace research, based on the resolution/transformation of conflicts and the promotion of collective action in furtherance of human security and human development. Second, to focus specifically on collective action and on a positive reading of some of the campaigns that have taken place during the last decades in order to see how the experiences of such will affect the future agenda for peace research and action for peace.

When federalism is not enough? Paths to cooperation in Federal democracies

This paper explores an overlooked issue in the literature on federations and federalism: the relationship between federalism and democracy. Starting from the assumption that federalism per se is not enough to guarantee cooperative intergovernmental dynamics between different levels of governments, this article analyzes how democracy reinforces cooperative intergovernmental relations under a federal design. Drawing from empirical evidence of federations in the making – Brazil, India, Malaysia, Mexico, South Africa and Spain – this article shows that in countries where the federal design was built under democratization, namely Brazil, Spain and South Africa, intergovernmental dynamics evolved under an increasingly cooperative mode of interaction.

Educational policy in Spain - a federal illusion?

Education and health policy are two of the public policies, which in Spain have been assigned to the Autonomous Communities (AC). This transfer of powers could be considered a proof for the strong “self-rule” of the AC, which in turn shows that Spain could be classified as a federal state. In the following analysis the authors in some parts disagree with that conclusion, showing that considering the education area Spain is “heavy at the top”. Due to the state’s exclusive power to regulate the basic conditions guaranteeing the equality of all Spanish citizens, the important and final decisions are taken at the center through the framework legislation. The AC play a minor role in the legislation process, they have to adopt the center decisions. De-centralization and extension of the framework legislation are highly connected: The central state reacted with strong framework legislation to the stages of the educational decentralization process. In addition, the concentration of important framing powers within the central state does not make educational reforms more infrequent. However, such reforms are the results of a competition between the parties, and not between the AC or between the AC and the central state

Traducción de la Ley federal alemana relativa a prestaciones y permisos parentales (Bundeselterngeld- und Elternzeitgesetz) y análisis comparativo de la legislación española

En la UE existen diversas propuestas de nuevas políticas familiares para alcanzar la conciliación de la vida laboral con la familiar.La comparación de las principales novedades de la BEEG con la respectiva legislación española manifiesta las diferencias entre ambos países europeos en su reto de enfrentarse al problema común del envejecimiento poblacional.

Tobin meets Oates: Solidarity and the optimal fiscal federal structure

We explore the implications for the optimal degree of fiscal decentralization when people spreferences for goods and services, which classic treatments of fiscal federalism (Oates, 1972)place in the purview of local governments, exhibit specific egalitarianism (Tobin, 1970), orsolidarity. We find that a system in which the central government provides a common minimumlevel of the publicly provided good, and local governments are allowed to use their ownresources to provide an even higher local level, performs better from an efficiency perspectiverelative to all other systems analyzed for a relevant range of preferences over solidarity.

The Handheld Library: Developments at the Rector Gabriel Ferraté Library, UPC

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the mobile services developed by the Rector Gabriel Ferraté Library (BRGF) of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC Barcelona Tech) in Barcelona, Spain.We hope this paper will be of use to other libraries exploring new technologies for communicating and delivering their services to users at a time when mobile services are an emerging topic in librarianship and information science literature. By setting out the successive steps involved in the as yet unfinished process of building our mobile services portfolio, we aim to offer a detailed picture of the mobile services and features offered by a university library from a case study perspective.The main topics to be discussed include:- The BRGF’s mobile website, including the information available, its interactivecapabilities and the services it provides to its users.- The mobile-friendly version of UPCommons (the UPC Library Service’s institutionalrepositories).- The UPC Library Service’s mobile OPAC.- The mobile version of u-win (BRGF’s videogame service).- The use of QR codes to deliver information to mobile devices.- Text message notifications.Additional topics for discussion include:- The library’s organisation and the organisational concepts that underpin andmake possible its technological developments (including mobile).- BRGF’s concern regarding the reduction of investment in the development of mobile services.- The criteria and tools used to guide the library’s decisions regarding thedesign and orientation of current and future mobile services.- How mobile services can help to improve the image of the library as a leadingtechnology site.- Selected mobile features that BRGF plans to offer in the near future.Ultimately, this paper aims to delineate the effectiveness and potential of deliveringlibrary services by the preferred means of communication of a new generation of studentsand teachers.

Supremacía del derecho federal sobre el Common Law en materia de requisitos de seguridad y eficacia terapéutica de productos sanitarios. Comentario a Riegel v. Medtronic, Inc. [552 U.S.__ (2008); February 20, 2008]

En Riegel v. Medtronic Inc. (552 U.S.__2008; February 20, 2008), el Sr. Riegel tuvo que ser sometido a un by-pass como consecuencia de la rotura del catéter, fabricado por Medtronic, con el que su médico le practicaba una angioplastia. A pesar de que el catéter había obtenido la autorización de comercialización de la FDA y cumplía los requisitos de seguridad previstos por el sistema regulatorio federal, el Sr. Riegel y su mujer interpusieron una acción de daños contra Medtronic –y no contra el médico- conforme a las reglas de responsabilidad civil objetiva y por negligencia del Common Law neoyorquino. Sin embargo, el Tribunal Supremo federal de los EE.UU., en ponencia del Magistrado Antonin Gregory Scalia, votó, por mayoría de ocho magistrados, rechazar el recurso de la Sra. Riegel y confirmar la sentencia de segunda instancia, desestimatoria de la demanda, porque consideró que la regla de primacía del derecho regulatorio federal sobre seguridad de productos sanitarios [Medical Device Amendments de 1976, 21 U.S.C. Artículo 360k(a)] excluye la aplicabilidad no sólo del derecho regulatorio estatal sobre seguridad de productos sanitarios, sino también del Common Law sobre responsabilidad civil del fabricante.

Compositional data analysis of vote shares in the 2001 Australian Federal election

First application of compositional data analysis techniques to Australian election data