Iberoamérica de reojo en la visión de Tocqueville

Resumen: La democracia en América de Alexis de Tocqueville contiene una teoría de las causas de la república democrática anglosajona en el norte del continente que se entremezcla con la explicación de los factores de la prosperidad norteamericana. A lo largo del libro el autor francés formula una serie de observaciones dispersas sobre los países del Nuevo Mundo colonizados por España y Portugal. El artículo analiza sistemáticamente estas observaciones, de manera de reconstruir la teoría comparativa del desarrollo económico de ambas regiones culturales, en parte esbozada y en parte implícita en este libro de Tocqueville. La revisión del peso relativo de a) las leyes, b) las costumbres y c) lo que Tocqueville llama circunstancias o causas accidentales en el desarrollo de la república democrática y su prosperidad, descubre inconsistencias de interés para quienes desean comprender las causas del atraso material de Iberoamérica respecto de Angloamérica.

Plumas letradas en la Revista Latinidad (1939-1947) : el aporte de intelectuales locales en una publicación de la colectividad franco-argentina

Resumen: En el presente trabajo se analiza el aporte que un grupo de poetas, políticos e intelectuales argentinos en la revista Latinidad –creada por el impresor francés Mauricio Bouxin en 1920 y reeditada entre 1939 y 1947–, para dar cuenta de una posible apertura en la recepción de colaboraciones. Esto, en una variedad de sentidos: en cuanto a la nacionalidad y pertenencia de quienes escribían, su espectro ideológico y militancia, el posicionamiento en cuanto a la Segunda Guerra Mundial –tópico principal de la publicación– y, en cuanto a opiniones sobre política interna argentina. Plantearemos cómo la latinidad fue propuesta como un factor cohesionante, no sólo dentro de la propia comunidad francesa, sino en el contexto latinoamericano con el que pretendían estrechar lazos de identidad compartida, en el marco del conflicto bélico mundial.

The Comovement between Monetary and Fiscal Policy Instruments during the Post-War Period in the U.S.

This paper empirically studies the dynamic relationship between monetary and fiscal policies by analyzing the comovements between the Fed funds rate and the primary deficit/output ratio. Simple economic thinking establishes that a negative correlation between Fed rate and deficit arises whenever the two policy authorities share a common stabilization objective. However, when budget balancing concerns lead to a drastic deficit reduction the Fed may reduce the Fed rate in order to smooth the impact of fiscal policy, which results in a positive correlation between these two policy instruments. The empirical results show (i) a significant negative comovement between Fed rate and deficit and (ii) that deficit and output gap Granger-cause the Fed funds rate during the post-Volcker era, but the opposite is not true.

Markov Switching Risk Premium and the term structure of interest rates. Empirical evidence from US post-war interest rates

This paper considers the basic present value model of interest rates under rational expectations with two additional features. First, following McCallum (1994), the model assumes a policy reaction function where changes in the short-term interest rate are determined by the long-short spread. Second, the short-term interest rate and the risk premium processes are characterized by a Markov regime-switching model. Using US post-war interest rate data, this paper finds evidence that a two-regime switching model fits the data better than the basic model. The estimation results also show the presence of two alternative states displaying quite different features.

The changing behaviour of the term structure of post-war US

Using U.S. interest rate data covering the period 1950:1-1992:7, this paper tests the rational expectations model of the term structure of interest rates. We show evidence that the rational expectations model of the term structure is supported by the data during the seventies and a period lasting from the mid-eighties to the end of the sample. However, during the …fties, sixties and a period that covers most of the Volcker’s office term (from September 1979 to April 1986) the term structure model is rejected by the data. Moreover, wefind evidence of regime changes in the short-term rate process and the term structure of interest rates. These regime switches roughly coincide with changes in the Federal Reserve chairman. The switches in monetary policy taking place when the chairmanship of the Federal Reserve changes therefore seem to play an important role in characterizing the term structure of interest rates.

Switching Regimes in the Term Structure of Interest Rates During U.S. Post-War: A case for the Lucas proof equilibrium?

Published as an article in: Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, 2004, vol. 8, issue 1, pages 5.

80 C 146 U.S. Aeroplane carrier "Saratoga" and French cruiser "Joan D'Arc" in Pedro Miguel Lock - Panama Canal - 2/7/28

Leonard Carpenter Panama Canal Collection. Photographs: Views of Panama and the Canal. [Box 1] from the Special Collections & Area Studies Department, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida.

Analysis of volatility transmissions in integrated and interconnected markets: The case of the Iberian and French markets

This paper models the mean and volatility spillovers of prices within the integrated Iberian and the interconnected Spanish and French electricity markets. Using the constant (CCC) and dynamic conditional correlation (DCC) bivariate models with three different specifications of the univariate variance processes, we study the extent to which increasing interconnection and harmonization in regulation have favoured price convergence. The data consist of daily prices calculated as the arithmetic mean of the hourly prices over a span from July 1st 2007 until February 29th 2012. The DCC model in which the variances of the univariate processes are specified with a VARMA(1,1) fits the data best for the integrated MIBEL whereas a CCC model with a GARCH(1,1) specification for the univariate variance processes is selected to model the price series in Spain and France. Results show that there are significant mean and volatility spillovers in the MIBEL, indicating strong interdependence between the two markets, while there is a weaker evidence of integration between the Spanish and French markets. We provide new evidence that the EU target of achieving a single electricity market largely depends on increasing trade between countries and homogeneous rules of market functioning.

Voyages and travels into Brasil and east-Indies : containing an exact description of the dutch Brasil and divers parts of the east-Indies, their provinces, cities, living creatures, and products, the manners, customs, habits and religion the inhabitants : with a particular account of all the remarkable passages that happened during the author's stay of nine years in Brasil, especially in relation to the revolt of the portugueses, and the intestine war carried on there from 1640 to 1649 : as also a most ample description of the most famous city of batavia in the east-Indies

Joan Nieuhoff, viajante alemão, nasceu em Usen, Vesfália, em 1618, e morreu em Madagascar, em 1672. Trabalhou na Companhia das Índias Orientais, foi nomeado agente em Batávia, em 1654. Em 1655, foi à China tratar da abertura dos portos daquele país ao comércio holandês. Governou o Ceilão de 1662 a 1667. Em 1672, desembarcando em Madagascar, foi morto pelos nativos.

O elo entre o pensamento e a ação em Marc Bloch: um estudo sobre o nacionalismo e a experiência da Segunda Guerra Mundial

O presente trabalho pretende analisar a força e os limites do nacionalismo na trajetória de Marc Bloch. A partir da problematização de sua memória post-mortem, construída por seus amigos e familiares, procura-se entender como a imagem de Bloch se consagrou na França como a de alguém que sacrificou sua vida em nome desta comunidade imaginada. A partir daí, busca-se compreender que elementos de sua trajetória foram responsáveis por dar espaço a essa construção. É aí que se apresentam as múltiplas identidades de Marc Bloch soldado, judeu, resistente, historiador, cidadão. Por fim, buscar-se-á, a partir da análise de seu livro Létrange défaite, analisar como o próprio historiador construiu a imagem de si mesmo e da França de sua época.

A photographic record of a pre- and post-lake creation event from World War II at Valley, Isle of Anglesey, UK

The article compares a recent aerial photograph of the lowlands of the Isle of Anglesey area with a German surveillance photograph from 1941. The authors aim to infer the environmental changes made to this sand dune and lake system as a direct consequence of constructing the airfield. Part of Tywyn Trewan, the extensive sand dune system, was completely destroyed in order to create runways and the technical and domestic accommodation to house a strategic airfield. As part of the dredging, six new water bodies with a combined surface area of approximately 6 ha were created.

Joint Anglo-Soviet biological surveillance exercise on River Dnieper

As one part of an on-going programme concerned with environmental protection as provided for under the terms of a UK/USSR Joint Environmental Protection Agreement signed in London, 21 May 1974, a seminar — ”The elaboration of the scientific basis for monitoring the quality of surface water by hydrobiological indices” was held at Valdai in Russia 12—14 July, 1976. As a continuation of this theme it was agreed that delegations of hydrobiologists from each side should carry out reciprocal visits to carry out comparative field tests on selected systems of biological surveillance in use in the respective countries. In May 1978 a team of British hydrobiologists visited the USSR, under the auspices of the Department of Environment, to carry out joint exercises on the River Dnieper and some tributaries. This paper reports the results of selected methods used by the British side when applied to the conditions found in the River Dnieper.

Comparison of systems of biological indication approved during the course of the joint Anglo-Soviet investigations held under the auspices of the Institute of Hydrobiology of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR

In accordance with the plan for joint Anglo-Soviet scientific and technical collaboration on environmental problems, the comparative evaluation of systems of hydrobiological analysis of the surface water quality started in 1977 at the Regional Laboratory of the Severn-Trent Water Authority in Nottingham were continued in the spring of 1978. The investigations were carried out under the auspices of the Institute of Hydrobiology of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. Hydrobiological and hydrochemical samples were collected by Soviet and British specialists from the Kiev reservoir and the rivers Dnieper, Sozh, Desna and Snov. The samples were processed on the expedition ships and in the Laboratory for the Hydrobiology of Small Water Bodies of the Institute of Hydrobiology of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. The possible approved methods to be adopted were evaluated from the samples using the phytoperiphyton, phytoplankton, zooplankton and zoobenthos against a background of hydrochemical characteristics. The study concludes that weather conditions complicated the work on testing the systems of biological indication of water quality and made it inadvisable to use those methods of comparison which were used when similar work was carried out in Nottingham.

A Câmara Municipal do Rio de Janeiro, das invasões corsárias ao governo de Luis Vahia Monteiro (1710 a 1732): uma história de conflitos pelo uso do território colonial.

As câmaras municipais constituíram-se em um dos mais notáveis mecanismos de manutenção do vasto império ultramarino português. Originavam-se dos antigos conselhos medievais, aglutinavam os interesses das elites coloniais ao serem compostas pelos homens bons da colônia, detinham considerável poder sobre a sociedade local além de terem a liberdade de representar ao rei de Portugal seus anseios ou dificuldades. Paralelo, ao poder do senado da câmara municipal, encontravam-se as autoridades nomeadas pelo rei de Portugal: governadores coloniais. Este compartilhamento do poder na colônia gerava, muitas vezes, conflitos entre a câmara municipal e os funcionários régios. No Rio de Janeiro, setecentista, vários fatores internos e externos à colônia deterioraram as relações entre os governadores coloniais e os membros do senado.Tal situação agrava-se com as incursões corsárias francesas de 1710 e 1711 que demonstraram a fragilidade do império português que há muito deixara de ter um poder naval significativo, perdendo espaços para potências como a França, Inglaterra e Holanda. Incapaz de conter os inimigos no vasto oceano, desprovido de meios navais capazes de patrulhar os litorais de suas colônias na África, Ásia e América, em especial o do Brasil, o império português dependia cada vez mais dos recursos humanos de suas colônias para a manutenção do seu território ultramarino. A corte portuguesa sofreu duro impacto com a conquista da cidade do Rio de Janeiro por Duguay-Trouin e, ao longo dos próximos anos, procurou fortalecer o sistema defensivo de sua colônia com o envio de tropas e navios além da construção de novas fortalezas e o reaparelhamento do sistema defensivo já existente.Todo este esforço para a guerra era bancado, em sua maior parte, com recursos da própria colônia do Rio de Janeiro. Obviamente este ônus não agradava a incipiente elite mercantil que florescia na colônia resultando no fato de que a política de enclausurar o Rio de Janeiro entre muralhas e fortificações, ás custas da economia colonial, colocou em campos opostos os funcionários do rei e os membros do senado por várias vezes nas primeiras décadas do século XVIII. Surgiram inevitáveis conflitos pelo uso e posse do território urbano do Rio de Janeiro cada vez mais pontilhado por fortalezas, sulcado por extensas valas e trincheiras a impedir-lhe o crescimento urbano. Além do conflito territorial, em função da expansão da atividade mercantil desenvolvida pelos colonos, as disputas comerciais envolveram as elites locais, ávidas por lucros e impulsionadas ao comércio devido à descoberta do ouro na região das Minas, e as autoridades e comerciantes lusos, uns querendo controlar a atividade comercial que crescia em acelerado ritmo, outros querendo lucrar e disputar espaços com as elites coloniais locais. No meio destes embates encontrava-se a Câmara Municipal do Rio de Janeiro, objetivo maior desta pesquisa, a defender os interesses das elites da colônia, pois delas era representante. Era uma disputa em que, muitas vezes, seus membros pagaram com a perda da liberdade e dos seus bens frente a governadores coloniais mais intolerantes