Bénéfices de la diversité culturelle en entreprises : Études de cas dans les entreprises québécoises

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal

Influence of Agricultural Support on Sale Prices of French Farmland: A comparison of different subsidies, accounting for the role of environmental and land regulations. Factor Markets Working Document No. 51, June 2013

This paper investigates the determinants of agricultural land price in several regions in France over the period 1994-2011, using individual plot transaction data, with a particular emphasis on agricultural subsidies and nitrate zoning regulations. It found a positive but relatively small capitalisation effect of the total subsidies per hectare. The data revealed that agricultural subsidies capitalised, at least to some extent, but the magnitude of such a capitalisation depends on the region considered, on the type of subsidy considered, and on the location of the plot in a nitrate surplus zone or not. Only land set-aside premiums significantly capitalise into land price, while single farm payments have a significant positive capitalisation impact only for plots located in a nitrate-surplus zone.

The Economics of Subsidies for R&D: The Intrinsic Difficulty of Determining Optimum Subsidies and Implications for Reform of EU State Aid Rules on R&D. Bruges European Economic Research (BEER) Papers 26/February 2013

The European Commission is reforming state aid rules. An important element of the reform is to prevent the granting of excessive subsidies. This paper shows that the determination of the optimum subsidy for research is difficult. What appears to be the socially optimum level of research effort depends on the benchmark of comparison and whether this benchmark is the situation before subsidies or the situation after subsidies. In the presence of asymmetric information, policy makers should induce firms to reveal their true costs and should grant subsidies to the relatively more efficient firms by allocating subsidies not on a first-come-first- serve basis but through a competitive process. However, competitive selection of subsidy recipients is not a panacea as it may not be possible to be effectively used in all cases and for all research programmes. This is because in principle public subsidies should support those programmes with the largest value for society, rather than with the lowest costs. Although this paper focuses on R&D, its findings are relevant to any subsidy whose aim is to remedy market failure caused by positive externalities.

DVD-based distance-learning program for university entrance exams -- RCT experiments in rural Bangladesh

In contrast to the remarkable progress in developing countries in improving primary education, access to higher education in many countries remains limited, especially in rural areas where the quality of education is inadequate. We evaluate a DVD-based distance-learning program in rural Bangladesh, targeted at students aiming to take university entrance tests. We conducted two experiments: one to evaluate the effect of the distance-learning program and the second to determine the demand and price sensitivity. Our first experiment shows that the DVD-based distance-learning program has a considerable positive effect on the number of students passing entrance exams. This effect does not depend on cognitive scores, but does depend on non-cognitive attributes, indicating the importance of commitment, which is imposed through our program. In the second experiment, we offered a random subsidy to interested participants. The uptake decision is price-sensitive, although the price sensitivity is not correlated with students' past academic performance or their socio-economic status, suggesting that increasing the price should not disproportionately exclude poor students.

Bénéfices de la diversité culturelle en entreprises : Études de cas dans les entreprises québécoises

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal

Miscellanies, relating to Lancashire and Cheshire.

Includes index.

Lifetime Subsidies in Australian Private Health Insurance Markets with Community Rating

This paper considers the problem of inducing low-risk individuals of all ages to buy private health insurance in Australia. Our proposed subsidy scheme improves upon the age-based penalty scheme under the current "Australian Lifetime Cover" (LTC) scheme. We generate an alternative subsidy profile that obviates adverse selection in private health insurance markets with mandated, age-based, community rating. Our proposal is novel in that we generate subsidies that are both risk- and age-specific, based upon actual risk probabilities. The approach we take may prove useful in other jurisdictions where the extant law mandates community rating in private health insurance markets. Furthermore, our approach is useful in jurisdictions that seek to maintain private insurance to complement existing universal public systems.

Changes in use of disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs in Australia over the period 1992-2004

Purpose Evidence is growing that early use of disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and combinations of these drugs provide optimal care for people with rheumatoid arthirits. The aim of this study was to describe objectively the pattern of consumption of DMARDs in the Australian community (community-based prescribing, specialist and general practitioner) 1992-2004, and to compare this with prescribing patterns reported in other countries. Method Dispensing statistics from the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme (PBS-Australia's universal prescription subsidy scheme) were analysed and temporal trends evaluated. Drug consumption was calculated as the number of dispensed defined daily doses (DDD)/1000 inhabitants/day (WHO ATC/DDD classification 2005). Results The consumption of DMARDs in the Australian community increased steadily from 2.6 DDD/1000 inhabitants/ day in 1992 to 5.5 DDD/1000 inhabitants/day. Over the period 1992-2004, methotrexate (MTX) was the most commonly used DMARD (from 0.6 to 3.0 DDD/1000 inhabitants/day). Consumption of gold (parentcral and oral) and penicillamine declined during this time. The inclusion of leflunomide on the PBS in 2000 contributed to the increase in DMARD usage. Conclusion Use of DMARDs within the Australian community has increased in recent years, coinciding with the change in guidelines for therapy for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to earlier use of DMARDs and the more common use of combinations. This study used DDD methodology to quantify trends for DMARD consumption and these trends are broadly consistent with international prescribing patterns assessed using different methodologies. Copyright (c) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A ADMINISTRAÇÃO DA EXTENSÃO UNIVERSITÁRIA NAS IES PARTICULARES: LIMITES E POTENCIALIDADES NA VISÃO DOS GESTORES

A presente dissertação trata da visão dos gestores sobre a extensão universitária nas Instituições de Ensino Superior particulares na região do Grande ABC. A revisão do tema indica que extensão universitária é diretamente dependente da visão política da instituição a qual pertence. Existem, portanto, diversos modelos conceituais e práticos. Originalmente assumiu o caráter de cursos livres abertos à sociedade, mais tarde conhecida como prestação de serviços, assessorias, ação comunitária, assistencialismo e atualmente discute-se a extensão universitária sob uma perspectiva de desenvolvimento social e como articuladora entre o ensino e a pesquisa. A pergunta norteadora do trabalho é: de que forma a extensão universitária é administrada nas IES particulares? Por meio de seu objetivo geral, a pesquisa busca analisar a administração da extensão universitária, tendo como foco as Instituições de Ensino Superior particulares na região do Grande ABC. Para auxiliar no alcance deste objetivo geral, foram delimitados dois objetivos específicos: (a) identificar as concepções políticas, assim como as práticas extensionistas declaradas pelas IES, e (b) analisar a visão do gestor na administração da extensão. Os dados coletados foram analisados sob o ponto de vista de três dimensões administrativas, a saber: humana, material e sistêmica. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa, exploratória e descritiva. A pesquisa documental e entrevistas semiestruturadas fazem parte da coleta de dados que subsidiarão a análise final. A contribuição científico-social que se discute neste trabalho é a reflexão sobre os limites e potencialidades da administração da extensão diante dos atuais diálogos sobre o tema.

MÍDIA E DISCURSO: UM ESTUDO DO DISCURSO DA VEJA SOBRE O FUNK CARIOCA

O trabalho aborda a Revista Veja, publicação da editora Abril, com o objetivo de identificar qual o discurso utilizado nas matérias que abordam o funk carioca como tema. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa, com perfil descritivo, na qual as teorias da Análise de Discurso da linha francesa foram utilizadas como subsídio para análise. O corpus é composto por um recorte baseado em sete reportagens da publicação. Verificou-se que o funk carioca é relacionado com sexualidade e consumismo e a revista utiliza um discurso autoritário para impor as diferenças de classes sociais dos participantes do gênero e dos leitores da publicação, além da busca por denegrir a imagem do funk carioca, opinando e utilizando a ironia.(AU)

COMENIUS E O DIREITO À EDUCAÇÃO: A VISÃO PIONEIRA A CAMINHO DA UNIVERSALIDADE

Essa dissertação teve a seguinte hipótese de trabalho: Comenius e seu pensamento compõem uma das bases estruturais do direito à educação, como é entendido atualmente . Para discuti-la, buscou-se promover um diálogo entre o pensamento comeniano e a Declaração Mundial Sobre Educação Para Todos de Jomtien, 1990, UNESCO. Jan Amos Comenius, pedagogo e bispo morávio do século XVII, empenhou-se na criação e disseminação de sua proposta pansófica na sociedade, tendo a educação como papel central na renovação da cultura. Pretendeu-se apresentar Comenius como um pioneiro da educação , haja vista sua defesa por uma educação universal em meio a um contexto social desigual em meados dos anos mil e seiscentos, bem como na atualidade, o reconhecimento de seu pioneirismo pela própria UNESCO, considerando-o o antecessor espiritual daquela Organização. O pedagogo buscava uma sistematização do saber em chave pansófica, representada pela tríade omnes, omnia, omnino - ensinar tudo a todos e totalmente. Assim, objetivou-se especificamente: a) conhecer as fases de sua vida, que abarcam suas obras, bases teológicas e pedagógicas e vivências em seu contexto histórico; b) apresentar seu pensamento educacional e c) compreender especificamente sua proposta pansófica, que se liga ao direito à educação. A opção metodológica na análise histórico-documental, inspiração para a pesquisa, foi a História da Longa Duração, fundamentada em Fernand Braudel, Jacques Le Goff, Marc Bloch e Peter Burke. Autores que serviram como referência sobre Comenius são, entre outros: Olivier Cauly, João Luiz Gasparin, Franco Cambi, Frederick Eby, Jean Piaget, Will Monroe, Sérgio Covello, Latourette e Walker. A conclusão deste trabalho filosófico-jurídico apontou para a constatação de convergências entre o pensamento de Comenius e a citada Declaração de Jomtien, demonstrando sua notável presença na construção do conceito de direito à educação como um de seus pilares fundamentais na contemporaneidade. A pesquisa foi edificada sobre um ideal universal, que transcende épocas e encontra-se com o desejo intrinsecamente humano da igualdade através do conhecimento e pretende servir de subsídio e motivação para novos estudos a respeito do pensamento de Comenius relacionado ao direito à educação.

Essays on Development Policy and the Political Economy of Conflict

Electoral Rules and Leader Selection: Experimental Evidence from Ugandan Community Groups. Despite a large body of work documenting how electoral systems affect policy outcomes, less is known about their impact on leader selection. We study this by comparing two types of participatory decision making in Ugandan community groups: (i) vote by secret ballot and (ii) open discussion with consensus. Random assignment allows us to estimate the causal impact of the rules on leader types and social service delivery. Vote groups are found to elect leaders more similar to the average member while discussion group leaders are positively selected on socio-economic characteristics. Further, dropout rates are significantly higher in discussion groups, particularly for poorer members. After 3.5 years, vote groups are larger in size and their members save less and get smaller loans. We conclude that the secret ballot vote creates more inclusive groups while open discussion groups favor the already economically successful. Preparing for Genocide: Community Meetings in Rwanda. How do political elites prepare the civilian population for participation in violent conflict? We empirically investigate this question using data from the Rwandan Genocide in 1994. Every Saturday before 1994, Rwandan villagers had to meet to work on community infrastructure. The practice was highly politicized and, according to anecdotal evidence, regularly used by the political elites for spreading propaganda in the years before the genocide. This paper presents the first quantitative evidence of this abuse of the community meetings. To establish causality, we exploit cross-sectional variation in meeting intensity induced by exogenous weather fluctuations. We find that an additional rainy Saturday resulted in a five percent lower civilian participation rate in genocide violence. Selection into Borrowing: Survey Evidence from Uganda. In this paper, I study how changes to the standard credit contract affect loan demand and selection into borrowing, using a representative sample of urban micro enterprises, most with no borrowing experience. Hypothetical loan demand questions are used to test whether firm owners respond to changes in loans' contractual terms and whether take-up varies by firms' risk type and other firm owner characteristics. The results indicate that contracts with lower interest rates and less stringent collateral requirements attract less risky borrowers, suggesting that there is scope for improvement of standard financial contract terms. Credit Contract Structure and Firm Growth: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial. We study the effects of credit contract structure on firm outcomes among small and medium sized firms. A randomized control trial was carried out to distinguish between some of the key constraints to efficient credit use connected to the firms' business environment and production function, namely (i) backloaded returns (ii) uncertain returns and (iii) indivisible fixed costs. Each firm was followed for the 1-year loan cycle. We describe the experiment and present preliminary results from the first 754 out of 2,340 firms to have completed the loan cycle. Firms offered a grace period have higher profits and higher household income than firms receiving a rebate later on as well as the control group. They also increased the number of paid employees  and reduced the number of unpaid employees, an effect also found among firms that received a cash subsidy at the beginning of the loan cycle. We discuss potential mechanisms behind these effects.

Centralised or decentralised? Strategic implications of resource allocation models

This paper examines the strategic implications of resource allocation models (RAMs). Four interrelated aspects of resource allocation are discussed: degree of centralisation, locus of strategic direction, cross-subsidy, and locus of control. The paper begins with a theoretical overview of these concepts, locating the study in the contexts of both strategic management literature and the university. The concepts are then examined empirically, drawing upon a longitudinal study of three UK universities, Warwick, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and Oxford Brookes. Findings suggest that RAMs are historically and culturally situated within the context of each university and this is associated with different patterns of strategic direction and forms of strategic control. As such, the RAM in use may be less a matter of best practice than one of internal fit. The paper concludes with some implications for theory and practice by discussing the potential trajectories of each type of RAM.

A comparison of integrated biomass to electricity systems

This thesis presents a comparison of integrated biomass to electricity systems on the basis of their efficiency, capital cost and electricity production cost. Four systems are evaluated: combustion to raise steam for a steam cycle; atmospheric gasification to produce fuel gas for a dual fuel diesel engine; pressurised gasification to produce fuel gas for a gas turbine combined cycle; and fast pyrolysis to produce pyrolysis liquid for a dual fuel diesel engine. The feedstock in all cases is wood in chipped form. This is the first time that all three thermochemical conversion technologies have been compared in a single, consistent evaluation.The systems have been modelled from the transportation of the wood chips through pretreatment, thermochemical conversion and electricity generation. Equipment requirements during pretreatment are comprehensively modelled and include reception, storage, drying and communication. The de-coupling of the fast pyrolysis system is examined, where the fast pyrolysis and engine stages are carried out at separate locations. Relationships are also included to allow learning effects to be studied. The modelling is achieved through the use of multiple spreadsheets where each spreadsheet models part of the system in isolation and the spreadsheets are combined to give the cost and performance of a whole system.The use of the models has shown that on current costs the combustion system remains the most cost-effective generating route, despite its low efficiency. The novel systems only produce lower cost electricity if learning effects are included, implying that some sort of subsidy will be required during the early development of the gasification and fast pyrolysis systems to make them competitive with the established combustion approach. The use of decoupling in fast pyrolysis systems is a useful way of reducing system costs if electricity is required at several sites because• a single pyrolysis site can be used to supply all the generators, offering economies of scale at the conversion step. Overall, costs are much higher than conventional electricity generating costs for fossil fuels, due mainly to the small scales used. Biomass to electricity opportunities remain restricted to niche markets where electricity prices are high or feed costs are very low. It is highly recommended that further work examines possibilities for combined beat and power which is suitable for small scale systems and could increase revenues that could reduce electricity prices.

Technical and economic study of plantain food products

Plantain (Banana-Musa AAB) is a widely growing but commercially underexploited tropical fruit. This study demonstrates the processing of plantain to flour and extends its use and convenience as a constituent of bread, cake and biscuit. Plantain was peeled, dried and milled to produce flour. Proximate analysis was carried out on the flour to determine the food composition. Drying at temperatures below 70ºC produced light coloured plantain flour. Experiments were carried out to determine the mechanism of drying, the heat and mass transfer coefficients, effect of air velocity, temperature and cube size on the rate of drying of plantain cubes. The drying was diffusion controlled. Pilot scale drying of plantain cubes in a cabinet dryer showed no significant increase of drying rate above 70ºC. In the temperature range found most suitable for plantain drying (ie 60 to 70ºC) the total drying time was adequately predicted using a modified equation based on Fick's Law provided the cube temperature was taken to be about 5ºC below the actual drying air temperature. Studies of baking properties of plantain flour revealed that plantain flour can be substituted for strong wheat flour up to 15% for bread making and up to 50% for madeira cake. A shortcake biscuit was produced using 100% plantain flour and test-marketed. Detailed economic studies showed that the production of plantain fruit and its processing into flour would be economically viable in Nigeria when the flour is sold at the wholesale price of NO.65 per kilogram provided a minimum sale of 25% plantain suckers. There is need for government subsidy if plantain flour is to compete with imported wheat flour. The broader economic benefits accruing from the processing of plantain fruit into flour and its use in bakery products include employment opportunity, savings in foreign exchange and stimulus to home agriculture.