The European union

Introduction An overview of media markets shows that rapid growth and the integration of some of the most dynamic market segments are characteristics of this fast-moving industry. The main players are the established incumbents upstream and the delivery segments of media downstream. The presence of incumbents, inheritors of previous public monopolies, has led Member States to use regulation in a complementary role with competition. In these markets, strategies to deliver new products and services and to serve new geographic markets focus less on organic growth than on alliances and mergers in order to create multi-media offshoots, bid for control of content rights, increase the diffusion of products and services, and develop technologies for conditional access and transmission standards to capture advantages through proprietary technology. As a result, vertically integrated dominant positions either upstream or downstream have tended to emerge. There is nothing wrong with vertical integration except when there is market power at one stage of the vertical chain. Indeed, as far as the media industry is concerned, there are some specific challenges at the European level. The new EU regulatory framework grants some specific competition principles which can be integrated into ex ante regulation. EU merger control may also prevent potential distortion of competition resulting from the creation or the strengthening of a single or collective dominant position in the media sector at a horizontal level, or from foreclosure effects at a vertical level.

El TFG: sus modalidades, objetivos y competencias a validar. Reflexiones a partir de la experiencia en la Facultad de Derecho de la UCM

El trabajo que se presenta se centra en dos aspectos que son fundamentales en el diseño y desarrollo de los TFG: Por una parte, los objetivos y competencias a validar en el TFG y, por otra, las modalidades que puede revestir dicho trabajo. Se trata de individualizar estos elementos en el marco regulador correspondiente y analizar cómo se desarrollan en el diseño de los TFG del Grado en Derecho en la UCM, y más concretamente los que son tutorizados en el Departamento de Derecho Constitucional. Finalmente se trata de individualizar los posibles problemas y aportar algunas reflexiones sobre su tratamiento académico.

Comunidades tradicionais em áreas protegidas: convergências e lacunas da Política Urbana e Ambiental na Reserva de Desenvolvimento Sustentável Estadual Ponta do Tubarão/RN

This work presents a reflection on possibilities and boundaries of consolidation and expansion of human settlements characterized as traditional communities that are located within protected areas, using as study reference the State Sustainable Development Reserve Ponta do Tubarão, at Rio Grande do Norte state. The main topics highlight the conflict between the right to housing and the prevalence of fundamental rights of traditional populations, opposed to the diffuse right to environment, according to the regulatory framework of the Brazilian Urban and Environmental Policies. At the same time that these settlements, historically built, are substantiated by the principles of recognition of rights to traditional populations, they are in a condition of complexity to the resolution of conflicts in its urban dimension and lead to an impairment of natural sites. This work questions how the instruments of land use and occupation are defined and relate to environmental planning, especially considering that the settlements are located in Permanent Preservation Areas (APP). It aims to further the discussion of the urban dimension in settlements, characterizing its formation and growth process, to identify the gaps and convergences between the Urban and Environmental Policy, under the foundations of a socio-environmental approach. The results spotlights the conflicts between occupation and natural areas, inferring that the definition of Urban Policies instruments and its integration with Environmental Policies instruments account for essential and priority actions to the achievement to the rights to a sustainable city, as determined in the Cities Statute and environmental protection goals, defined for the Conservation Units

Is there a case to be made for a global patent system? The example of plant biotechnology

The assessment of patterns of patentability in plant biotechnology on the basis of existing statistics shows a considerable concentration of patents to a few countries, in particular the United States, Australia, Japan, China, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, Canada, New Zealand, South Korea, India, Spain and Hungary. These patterns suggest that there is a clear relationship between the choice of patent jurisdictions and the biotechnology regulatory framework. This observation of the geographic distribution of biotechnology patents lends credence to maintaining a system of territorial rights that allow for regulatory competition, but continuing the process of substantive patent law harmonization which potentially minimize trade barriers.

Risk premiumin the global creditMarkets: 2006-2012

¿What have we learnt from the 2006-2012 crisis, including events such as the subprime crisis, the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers or the European sovereign debt crisis, among others? It is usually assumed that in firms that have a CDS quotation, this CDS is the key factor in establishing the credit premiumrisk for a new financial asset. Thus, the CDS is a key element for any investor in taking relative value opportunities across a firm’s capital structure. In the first chapter we study the most relevant aspects of the microstructure of the CDS market in terms of pricing, to have a clear idea of how this market works. We consider that such an analysis is a necessary point for establishing a solid base for the rest of the chapters in order to carry out the different empirical studies we perform. In its document “Basel III: A global regulatory framework for more resilient banks and banking systems”, Basel sets the requirement of a capital charge for credit valuation adjustment (CVA) risk in the trading book and its methodology for the computation for the capital requirement. This regulatory requirement has added extra pressure for in-depth knowledge of the CDS market and this motivates the analysis performed in this thesis. The problem arises in estimating of the credit risk premium for those counterparties without a directly quoted CDS in the market. How can we estimate the credit spread for an issuer without CDS? In addition to this, given the high volatility period in the credit market in the last few years and, in particular, after the default of Lehman Brothers on 15 September 2008, we observe the presence of big outliers in the distribution of credit spread in the different combinations of rating, industry and region. After an exhaustive analysis of the results from the different models studied, we have reached the following conclusions. It is clear that hierarchical regression models fit the data much better than those of non-hierarchical regression. Furthermore,we generally prefer the median model (50%-quantile regression) to the mean model (standard OLS regression) due to its robustness when assigning the price to a new credit asset without spread,minimizing the “inversion problem”. Finally, an additional fundamental reason to prefer the median model is the typical "right skewness" distribution of CDS spreads...

Avoided losses on LV networks as a result of microgeneration

In the scope of the discussions about microgeneration (and microgrids), the avoided electrical losses are often pointed out as an important value to be credited to those entities. Therefore, methods to assess the impact of microgeneration on losses must be developed in order to support the definition of a suitable regulatory framework for the economic integration of microgeneration on distribution networks. This paper presents an analytical method to quantify the value of avoided losses that microgeneration may produce on LV networks. Intervals of expected avoided losses are used to account for the variation of avoided losses due to the number, size and location of microgenerators, as well as for the kind of load distribution on LV networks.

Regulation of microgeneration and microgrids

The concept of microgrid (μGrid) has been emerging as a way to integrate microgeneration (μG) in low-voltage (LV) networks and simultaneously improve its potential benefits. Technical requirements to connect μgrids to LV networks have been studied in order to make this concept technologically feasible and safe to operate. However, the regulatory framework for economic integration of μG and μGrids on distribution systems, despite being crucial, is still an open issue. The main purpose of this paper is to contribute for the development of an appropriate economic regulation framework that removes the barriers to μG and μGrid development. To do so, the relevant costs and benefits resulting from the establishment of μG and μGrid are identified and a methodology for sharing those costs and benefits among the involved economic agents is presented. The only pre-requisite of such a methodology is the existence of a net benefit to all economic agents.

Revisión sistemática de la literatura de las intervenciones diseñadas para el comportamiento de automedicación no responsable

La automedicación no responsable se ha convertido en un problema de salud pública global en las últimas décadas, por sus consecuencias individuales (por ejemplo, la intoxicación) y colectivas (por ejemplo, la resistencia microbiana a los antibióticos). Las intervenciones orientadas a este comportamiento han sido aisladas y muy diferentes. Aunque se tiene evidencia de que su aplicación puede traer beneficios en diferentes poblaciones, no se halló en la literatura una compilación sistemática de dichas intervenciones. El objetivo de la presente revisión es sistematizar la literatura científica sobre las diferentes alternativas de intervención del comportamiento individual de automedicación no responsable. En cuanto al método, la revisión de literatura involucró la búsqueda sistemática de “automedicación” e “intervención” en las bases de datos académicas internacionales con contenidos de psicología, suscritas por la Biblioteca de la Universidad del Rosario. Como resultado se encontró que las intervenciones orientadas al comportamiento de automedicación no responsable se pueden clasificar en dos grandes grupos: (a) intervenciones regulatorias, con dirección “arriba hacia abajo”, que suponen una acción de los Estados nacionales por medio de sus legislaciones o de entidades internacionales (por ejemplo, Organización Mundial de la Salud); y (b) intervenciones educativas, con dirección “abajo hacia arriba”, que suponen acciones con individuos y comunidades con el fin de enseñar acerca del uso adecuado de los medicamentos. Se concluye acerca de la necesidad de complementar ambos tipos de intervención, los cuales, si bien demuestran resultados positivos, aisladamente son insuficientes para contrarrestar integralmente este fenómeno creciente y complejo.

Derechos humanos y construcción de ciudadanía en la escuela. Una propuesta para construir democracia participando en la actividad sociocultural

ResumenEste trabajo pretende ser un instrumento de reflexión sobre el rol histórico de la autoridad en el aula. El supuesto es que los períodos autoritarios han dejado huellas en las cosmologías docentes y por ello el autoritarismo se resiste a partir. Esto último impide enfatizar en actitudes y acciones didácticas de tipo cooperativo; invisibilizando derechos fundamentales, principalmente aquellos referidos en la infancia y adolescencia. Se hace hincapié en la participación democrática de docentes y estudiantes, enfatizando en la exaltación de un tipo de socialización enmarcada en la participación democrática desde la escuela, que pueda aportar hábitos trasladables a otros ámbitos sociales, contribuyendo a formar actitudes deliberativas, necesarias para participar activamente. El marco utilizado es, en el caso de las teorías del aprendizaje y como soporte metodológico, el principio de Zona de Desarrollo Próximo (Vigotsky) y el supuesto de aprendizaje práctico/participativo (Rogoff), además de brindar algunas concepciones sobre filosofía política en educación (Gutman).Respecto al marco normativo, se presta atención al cuerpo jurídico internacional sobre derechos humanos poniendo énfasis en la esfera de la educación, las recientes leyes argentinas de educación (2006) y de protección de la infancia y la adolescencia (2006). Palabras clave: autoridad democrática, diálogo horizontal, ciudadanía activa, talleres pedagógicos. AbstractThis work aims to be an instrument of reflection on the historical role of authority in the classroom. The assumption is that authoritarian periods have left footprints in the cosmologies of teacher, hence authori­tarianisms resists to leave. This prevents the emphasis on didactic cooperative attitudes and actions, thus subduing fundamental rights, mainly those referred to infancy and adolescence. The teachers´ and students´ democratic participation is emphasized, remarking the exaltation of a kind of socialization framed by the democratic participation from the school, which can bring habits transferable to other social areas, facilitating the development of the deliberative attitudes needed to participate actively. The theoretical framework is, in the case of learning theories and as a methodological support, the principle of Near Area Development (Vigotsky) and as the second argument, we use the assumption of learning by doing/participatory (Rogoff). In the first case, a task that is done with help today will be autonomously tomorrow. For the latter, it means participatory activities in order to achieve habits that may relocate to other social environments. In the case of Guttmann, it is looking for framing issues of political theory of education, mainly those related to the new skills a twenty-first century citizenship must acquire. Regarding the regulatory framework, attention is paid to international norms on human rights with empha­sis on education, recent Argentinean education laws (2006) and new laws on childhood and adolescence protection (2006). Keywords: democratic authority, horizontal dialogue, active citizenship, pedagogical workshops.         

Essays in Applied Insurance Economics

The papers included in this thesis deal with a few aspects of insurance economics that have seldom been dealt with in the applied literature. In the first paper I apply for the first time the tools of the economics of crime to study the determinants of frauds, using data on Italian provinces. The contributions to the literature are manifold: -The price of insuring has a positive correlation with the propensity to defraud -Social norms constraint fraudulent behavior, but their strength is curtailed in economic downturns -I apply a simple extension of the Random Coefficient model, which allows for the presence of time invariant covariates and asymmetries in the impact of the regressors. The second paper assesses how the evolution of macro prudential regulation of insurance companies has been reflected in their equity price. I employ a standard event study methodology, deriving the definition of the “control” and “treatment” groups from what is implied by the regulatory framework. The main results are: -Markets care about the evolution of the legislation. Their perception has shifted from a first positive assessment of a possible implicit “too big to fail” subsidy to a more negative one related to its cost in terms of stricter capital requirement -The size of this phenomenon is positively related to leverage, size and on the geographical location of the insurance companies The third paper introduces a novel methodology to forecast non-life insurance premiums and profitability as function of macroeconomic variables, using the simultaneous equation framework traditionally employed macroeconometric models and a simple theoretical model of insurance pricing to derive a long term relationship between premiums, claims expenses and short term rates. The model is shown to provide a better forecast of premiums and profitability compared with the single equation specifications commonly used in applied analysis.

Ethical Perspectives on Big Data in Agri-food: Ownership and Governance for Safety

Big data are reshaping the way we interact with technology, thus fostering new applications to increase the safety-assessment of foods. An extraordinary amount of information is analysed using machine learning approaches aimed at detecting the existence or predicting the likelihood of future risks. Food business operators have to share the results of these analyses when applying to place on the market regulated products, whereas agri-food safety agencies (including the European Food Safety Authority) are exploring new avenues to increase the accuracy of their evaluations by processing Big data. Such an informational endowment brings with it opportunities and risks correlated to the extraction of meaningful inferences from data. However, conflicting interests and tensions among the involved entities - the industry, food safety agencies, and consumers - hinder the finding of shared methods to steer the processing of Big data in a sound, transparent and trustworthy way. A recent reform in the EU sectoral legislation, the lack of trust and the presence of a considerable number of stakeholders highlight the need of ethical contributions aimed at steering the development and the deployment of Big data applications. Moreover, Artificial Intelligence guidelines and charters published by European Union institutions and Member States have to be discussed in light of applied contexts, including the one at stake. This thesis aims to contribute to these goals by discussing what principles should be put forward when processing Big data in the context of agri-food safety-risk assessment. The research focuses on two interviewed topics - data ownership and data governance - by evaluating how the regulatory framework addresses the challenges raised by Big data analysis in these domains. The outcome of the project is a tentative Roadmap aimed to identify the principles to be observed when processing Big data in this domain and their possible implementations.

I servizi di investimento nella disciplina dell'imposta sul valore aggiunto: il quadro normativo europeo e la sua attuazione nazionale

Il presente lavoro di ricerca ha ad oggetto i profili fiscali IVA dei servizi di investimento, in ambito sia europeo che nazionale, prestati dalle banche, dalle Sim e da consulenti/società di consulenza finanziaria nei confronti della clientela al dettaglio. Ciò al fine di individuarne il corretto trattamento fiscale nonché le possibili soluzioni agli interrogativi che ancora oggi rimangono aperti, anche alla luce delle indicazioni fornite nel tempo dalla Corte di Giustizia europea. Constatata la profonda differenza esistente tra la classificazione MiFID dei servizi di investimento e quella fiscale delle operazioni finanziarie, oltre alla mancanza di coordinamento tra le relative normative europee, che non si incontrano neanche nell’attività ermeneutica della Corte di giustizia, si è cercato di interpretare la Direttiva IVA alla luce della normativa di settore (MIFID). L’analisi della Direttiva IVA e, più in particolare, del trattamento da essa riservato alle operazioni finanziarie è stata, quindi, svolta cercando di ricondurre queste ultime ai (singoli) servizi di investimento (e, quindi, alla Direttiva MiFID) al fine di tracciare un collegamento che né il legislatore comunitario né la CGE hanno individuato. È, tuttavia, apparso evidente come l’intero sistema dell’IVA, con particolare riferimento alle operazioni finanziarie, si sia ormai consolidato sulle interpretazioni della Corte di giustizia le quali hanno mostrato una elevata resilienza intrinseca. È, pertanto, auspicabile un intervento legislativo, a livello comunitario, finalizzato a rimettere mano alla Direttiva IVA al fine di fornire criteri più chiari e stringenti per l’applicazione delle disposizioni in essa contenute, con particolare riferimento a quelle relative alle operazioni finanziarie.

Il controllo sugli aiuti di Stato e i nuovi orizzonti della fiscalita europea

la tesi esamina l’applicazione del controllo sugli aiuti di Stato in materia fiscale tramite la disamina della giurisprudenza della Corte di giustizia. Il lavoro intende fornire una nuova prospettiva di analisi, valorizzando l’interazione tra la nozione di ‘aiuto fiscale’ ex art. 107(1) TFUE e le categorie tributarie nazionali, sottese all’applicazione del “test in tre fasi” coniato dalla Corte per identificare la presenza di un ‘vantaggio selettivo’. Facendo applicazione di tale prospettiva di analisi, la ricerca propone una nuova categorizzazione della ‘selettività fiscale’, tramite la quale vengono affrontate le tematiche più controverse legate all’applicazione dell’istituto. Infine, considerando i numerosi progetti di riforma della fiscalità diretta attualmente al vaglio delle Istituzioni europee, la tesi si confronta con il “futuro” del controllo sugli aiuti di Stato, identificato nella necessaria interazione con una cornice normativa armonizzata.

Dalla genesi alla liquidazione degli ELTIF. Un nuovo e "instabile" tassello nella composita disciplina della gestione collettiva del risparmio

La presente trattazione concerne gli European long-term investment fund, disciplinati dal regolamento UE 2015/760 del 29 aprile 2015, meglio noti come ELTIF, di cui si è inteso indagare i molteplici aspetti che attengono all’operatività degli stessi, dalla genesi sino alla fase della liquidazione. Trattandosi di uno dei più recenti tasselli della composita disciplina europea del risparmio gestito, si è ritenuto opportuno anzitutto prendere le mosse dall’evoluzione della regolamentazione, domestica e comunitaria, della gestione collettiva del risparmio, la quale rappresenta la “cornice” normativa di riferimento entro cui si colloca il veicolo in discorso. Definito il percorso evolutivo della disciplina de qua, si è posta quindi l’attenzione sulla regolamentazione degli ELTIF che, pur migliorabile sotto diversi profili, rappresenta un significativo passo in avanti nel senso della costruzione dell’Unione dei mercati di capitali e del rilancio dell’economia europea. In particolare, l’indagine ha riguardato anzitutto i connotati della nuova fattispecie (carattere europeo, orizzonte temporale di lungo periodo, illiquidità). L’analisi dei tratti fisiognomici è stata funzionale non solo a verificare se essi, nella loro peculiarità, siano o meno idonei a definire un tipo a sé stante di prodotto, ma altresì a valutare in che termini essi producano un effetto conformativo sulla disciplina del prodotto stesso, specie con riferimento alla fase dell’investimento e del disinvestimento. Con l’intento di vagliare l’opportunità di interventi sul dato normativo che mirino ad accrescere l’attrattività degli ELTIF, si è volta quindi l’attenzione alla fase finale della vita del fondo, in quanto l’esiguità della disciplina dettata con riferimento alla liquidazione si espone ad applicazioni dubbie che, in larga parte, lasciano spazio all’autonomia regolamentare del prodotto e, dunque, all’applicazione di discipline nazionali disomogenee; e ciò specie con riferimento a una peculiare ipotesi di liquidazione promossa dagli investitori in conseguenza del mancato soddisfacimento della richiesta di rimborso avanzata.

Ri-costruire per ri-generare. Un modello per le periferie urbane

In Italia, quasi il 90% delle abitazioni esistenti sono state edificate prima degli anni Settanta del Novecento, se consideriamo la tipologia costruttiva, le normative per la sicurezza strutturale in ambito sismico e il comportamento energetico, ne deriva che la maggior parte non risponde agli standard vigenti. A questo si aggiunge la consapevolezza che il patrimonio residenziale costruito in quel periodo, e che occupa le prime periferie delle città, non si presta per sua natura costitutiva ad essere oggetto di interventi di riqualificazione che siano giustificabili in termini di costi-benefici dal punto di vista economico e per ottimizzazione ingegneristica. È opportuno ripensare piani e programmi di rinnovamento non circoscritti alle categorie di risanamento, efficientamento, manutenzione, adeguamento, ma che siano in grado di assumere in positivo il tema della sostituzione secondo il paradigma del ri-costruire per ri-generare per sviluppare strategie a medio-lungo termine per soddisfare un quadro esigenziale-prestazionale coerente con la legislazione europea, in termini di sicurezza, efficienza e impatto ambientale, e promuovere la pianificazione e lo sviluppo sostenibile delle città. L’edilizia circolare è qui intesa come un’attività finalizzata alla costruzione e gestione degli edifici all’interno di un ecosistema economico basato sulla circolarità dei processi. L’obiettivo della ricerca è duplice: (i) metodologico, rivolto alla formalizzazione di un modello innovativo d’intervento associato ai principi della circolarità e basato sulla conoscenza approfondita del patrimonio esistente; e (ii) progettuale, prevede la progettazione di un prototipo di unità abitativa e l’applicazione del modello ad un caso di studio, che viene assunto come applicazione sperimentale ad un contesto reale e momento conclusivo del processo. La definizione di una matrice valutativa consente di formulare indicazioni operative nella fase precedente l’intervento per rendere espliciti, attraverso un indice sintetico di supporto decisionale, i criteri su cui fondare le scelte tra le due macro-categorie di intervento (demolizione con ricostruzione o rinnovo).