Perspectives on gender, migration and transnational work: joint work of social reproduction and care in Southern Europe

This paper presents the "state of the art" and some of the main issues discussed in relation to the topic of transnational migration and reproductive work in southern Europe. We start doing a genealogy of the complex theoretical development leading to the consolidation of the research program, linking consideration of gender with transnational migration and transformation of work and ways of survival, thus making the production aspects as reproductive, in a context of globalization. The analysis of the process of multiscale reconfiguration of social reproduction and care, with particular attention to its present global dimension is presented, pointing to the turning point of this line of research that would have taken place with the beginning of this century, with the rise notions such as "global care chains" (Hochschild, 2001), or "care drain" (Ehrenreich and Hochschild, 2013). Also, the role of this new agency, now composed in many cases women who migrate to other countries or continents, precisely to address these reproductive activities, is recognized. Finally, reference is made to some of the new conceptual and theoretical developments in this area.

Keynes’s "Treatise on Money" and the role of the State

Este artículo hace una reconstrucción crítica de la visión de Keynes sobre la relación entre gasto público, tipo de interés, salarios y desempleo, tal y como se formula en su Tratado sobre el Dinero. El trabajo defiende que el enfoque de Keynes lleva a propuestas de política económica que enfatizan la necesidad de intervención estatal directa en la provisión de bienes y servicios. Esta conclusión se deriva de una interpretación circuitista de su obra.

El dinero en la historia del pensamiento económico: la teoría monetaria postkeynesiana y su confrontación con la ortodoxia

Las disputas en torno a determinados aspectos del dinero, como su neutralidad y el carácter endógeno o exógeno de la oferta monetaria, han sido permanentes entre las distintas escuelas de pensamiento y autores, estando su origen, probablemente, en la época de desarrollo del pensamiento escolástico. En este artículo pretendemos, en primer lugar, realizar un recorrido cronológico e histórico sobre el tratamiento científico económico del dinero, para, en segundo lugar, poner sobre la mesa la macroeconomía ortodoxa a la que han dado lugar las interpretaciones al respecto, así como los enfoques alternativos frente a este pensamiento dominante. Finalmente, intentamos poner en valor los desarrollos monetarios post-keynesianos, integrados en lo que denominan “Economía Monetaria de Producción”, confrontándolos con la llamada Nueva Síntesis Neoclásica.

Three essays on investment in human capital in Canada

Cette thèse examine l’investissement en capital humain au Canada en s’intéressant à la contribution de l’aide financière aux études, aux effets de la fiscalité, à la rentabilité de l’investissement en éducation postsécondaire et à la redistribution des revenus. Elle est subdivisée en cinq chapitres. Le premier chapitre présente une révue chronologique des études microéconomiques sur l’investissement en capital humain. Il présente également une synthèse des études canadiennes sur l’investissement en capital humain en insistant sur les limites portant essentiellement sur la non prise en compte de l’hétérogénéité des systèmes de prêts et bourses et des systèmes fiscaux à travers les provinces canadiennes et la faible analyse de la répartition des coûts et bénéfices de l’investissement en éducation au Canada. Le second chapitre présente la méthodologie de mesure des rendements de l’éducation et des gains issus des investissements en éducation. Il décrit les données utilisées et les résultats des régressions économetriques. Finalement, le chapitre présente SIMAID, un calculateur d’aide financière aux études élaboré pour les objectifs dans cette thèse et qui permet d’estimer le montant de l’aide financière devant être attribuée à chaque étudiant en fonction de ses caractéristiques personnelles et de celles de sa famille. Dans sa première section, le troisième chapitre présente les rendements sociaux, privés et publics de l’éducation et montre que les rendements de l’éducation varient selon les provinces, les filières de formation, le genre et les cohortes d’année de naissance et décroient avec le niveau d’éducation. Dans sa seconde section, le chapitre montre que l’aide financière aux études accroît le rendement des études du baccalauréat de 24.3% et 9.5% respectivement au Québec et en Ontario. Finalement, le chapitre indique qu’un changement du système d’aide financière aux études de Québec par celui de l’Ontario entraîne une baisse de 11.9% du rendement des études au baccalauréat alors qu’un changement du système fiscal québécois par celui ontarien entraine une hausse du rendement du baccalauréat de 4.5%. L’effet combiné du changement des systèmes d’aide financière et fiscal est une baisse du rendement du baccalauréat de 7.4%. Le quatrième chapitre fournit une décomposition comptable détaillée des gains sociaux, privés et publics des investissements en éducation. Le gain social de l’investissement au baccalauréat est de $738 384 au Québec et de $685 437 en Ontario. Ce gain varie selon les filières de formation avec un niveau minimal pour les études humanitaires et un niveau maximal pour les études en ingénierie. Le chapitre montre également que la répartition des bénéfices et des coûts de l’investissement en éducation entre les individus et le gouvernement est plus équitable en Ontario qu’à Québec. En effet, un individu qui investit à Québec supporte 51.6% du coût total et engrange 64.8% des gains alors que le même individu supporterait 62.9% des coûts sociaux et engrangerait 62.2% des gains en Ontario. Finalement, le cinquième chapitre présente et analyse les effets rédistributifs des transferts et des taxes suite à un investissement en éducation. Il examine aussi si l’aide financière aux études est effectivement allouée aux personnes les plus pauvres. L’argument selon lequel l’aide financière est destinée aux plus pauvres est rejeté en analysant la distribution du revenu permanent. En effet, il ressort que 79% des personnes bénéficiant de l’aide financière aux études se trouvent dans le cinquième quintile de la distribution des revenus permanents. Le chapitre montre également que l’investissement en éducation impacte positivement les effets rédistributifs en 2006, 2001 et 1996 et négativement en 1991 et 2011. L’impact est également perceptible sur les composantes de l’effet rédistributif. Toutefois, la sensibilité de l’impact au taux d’actualisation dépend de l’indice utilisé dans l’analyse.

Impact of reducing investment disincentives on the sustainability of the Moreton Bay prawn trawl fishery

The Moreton Bay prawn trawl fishery is one of Queensland’s oldest commercial fisheries, but is currently economically unsustainable. The fishery is characterized by a mix of large and small vessels, with the small vessels facing different licensing and boat replacement restrictions to the large. Industry have proposed the removal of the current two-for-one boat replacement policy that affects the smaller vessels to encourage investment and replacement by larger vessels, although there is concern by managers about the impact of this on total fishing effort and sustainability of the stocks, despite the existence of a total cap in vessel capacity units. We estimate the impact of removing the boat replacement policy for the smaller vessels on fleet performance and total fishing effort, and find that removing the boat replacement policy is unlikely to result in a substantial increase in fishing effort due to the existence of a vessel unitization scheme.

Normative conflicts in international investment law: the case of environmental law

This dissertation investigates the relationship between investment and environmental obligations from the perspective of international investment law. In order to do so, the dissertation will consider how these obligations might enter into conflicts and what tools are available to investment tribunals to solve these normative conflicts. The dissertation analyses in order interpretative techniques, conflict resolution tools available in general international law, as expressed in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, and finally express clauses in international investment agreements. The dissertation includes the review of some relevant case law arising from investment agreements in investment treaty tribunals, to discover how in practice these conflict resolution tools are applied and to assess their effectiveness. This dissertation places itself squarely within the debate between the unity and the fragmentation of international law; therefore it tackles the issue of normative conflicts resolution in a dispute settlement environment with the view of gauging their value in maintaining the unity of international law and defuse the risk of fragmentation. The dissertation can only conclude that much work remains to be done, including by providing a more comprehensive taxonomy of possible interventions, both on the legal and political sphere.

Solidarity, the network and the history of workers' self-management from the Gdańsk Agreement to shock therapy

This PhD thesis is an empirical research project in the field of modern Polish history. The thesis focuses on Solidarity, the Network and the idea of workers’ self-management. In addition, the thesis is based on an in-depth analysis of Solidarity archival material. The Solidarity trade union was born in August 1980 after talks between the communist government and strike leaders at the Gdansk Lenin Shipyards. In 1981 a group called the Network rose up, due to cooperation between Poland’s great industrial factory plants. The Network grew out of Solidarity; it was made up of Solidarity activists, and the group acted as an economic partner to the union. The Network was the base of a grass-roots, nationwide workers’ self-management movement. Solidarity and the self-management movement were crushed by the imposition of Martial Law in December 1981. Solidarity revived itself immediately, and the union created an underground society. The Network also revived in the underground, and it continued to promote self-management activity where this was possible. When Solidarity regained its legal status in April 1989, workers’ self-management no longer had the same importance in the union. Solidarity’s new politico-economic strategy focused on free markets, foreign investment and privatization. This research project ends in July 1990, when the new Solidarity-backed government enacted a privatization law. The government decided to transform the property ownership structure through a centralized privatization process, which was a blow for supporters of workers’ self-management. This PhD thesis provides new insight into the evolution of the Solidarity union from 1980-1990 by analyzing the fate of workers’ self-management. This project also examines the role of the Network throughout the 1980s. There is analysis of the important link between workers’ self-management and the core ideas of Solidarity. In addition, the link between political and economic reform is an important theme in this research project. The Network was aware that authentic workers’ self-management required reforms to the authoritarian political system. Workers’ self-management competed against other politico-economic ideas during the 1980s in Poland. The outcome of this competition between different reform concepts has shaped modern-day Polish politics, economics and society.

Current situation and perspectives of school libraries in Costa Rica

Costa Rica is a small country located in Central America, with an area of 51,100 square kilometers and a population of 2,192,410 inhabitants. The highest percentage of national budget, 26.73%, is dedicated to education. There are currently 360 kindergarten, schools and 317 colleges 3001, considering the different modes: academic, technical, agricultural, industrial, craft and art. These figures mean a huge effort for Costa Rican society is worth now the question what the country looks so large an investment? and what role school libraries are doing in achieving the goals of Education of Costa Rica? I believe unequivocally that those who lead us today reciprocated school libraries, we encourage the same spirit that is well expressed in the famous document UNESCO1. "Learning to Be".

Decisions on investment allocation in the post-keynesian growth model

Neste artigo os modelos de crescimento e alocação de investimento a la Feldman-Mahalanobis são estendidos para considerar a análise de decisões de alocação de investimento no contexto do modelo de crescimento pós-Keynesiano. Ao adotar essa abordagem é possível introduzir características distributivas no modelo de Feldman-Mahalanobis que nos permitem determinar a taxa de alocação de investimentos de acordo com as decisões de equilíbrio entre investimento e poupança. Finalmente, uma condição adicional é adicionada ao modelo de crescimento pós-keynesiano, a fim de caracterizar plenamente o caminho de equilíbrio em uma versão estendida deste, onde bens de capital também são necessários para produzir bens de capital. _________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT

Essays on Financial Constraints, R&D Investments, and Competition

This dissertation consists of two chapters of theoretical studies that investigate the effect of financial constraints and market competition on research and development (R&D) investments. In the first chapter, I explore the impact of financial constraints on two different types of R&D investments. In the second chapter, I examine the impact of market competition on the relationship between financial constraints and R&D investments. In the first chapter, I develop a dynamic monopoly model to study a firm’s R&D strategy. Contrary to intuition, I show that a financially constrained firm may invest more aggressively in R&D projects than an unconstrained firm. Financial constraints introduce a risk that a firm may run out of money before its project bears fruit, which leads to involuntary termination on an otherwise positive-NPV project. For a company that relies on cash flow from assets in place to keep its R&D project alive, early success can be relatively important. I find that when the discovery process can be expedited by heavier investment (“accelerable” projects), a financially constrained company may find it optimal to “over”-invest in order to raise the probability of project survival. The over-investment will not happen if the project is only “scalable” (investment scales up payoffs). The model generates several testable implications regarding over-investment and project values. In the second chapter, I study the effects of competition on R&D investments in a duopoly framework. Using a homogeneous duopoly model where two unconstrained firms compete head to head in an R&D race, I find that competition has no effect on R&D investment if the project is not accelerable, and the competing firms are not constrained. In a heterogeneous duopoly model where a financially constrained firm competes against an unconstrained firm, I discover interesting strategic interactions that lead to preemption by the constrained firm in equilibrium. The unconstrained competitor responds to its constrained rival’s investment in an inverted-U shape fashion. When the constrained competitor has high cash flow risk, it accelerates the innovation in equilibrium, while the unconstrained firm invests less aggressively and waits for its rival to quit the race due to shortage of funds.

Enterprise longevity in Colombian companies From a perspective of innovation and corporate social responsibility as a strategy

Hoy en día la Innovación y la Responsabilidad Social Empresarial son una herramienta clave para la perdurabilidad de una empresa a través del tiempo. Este es el caso de las organizaciones colombianas donde las decisiones de gerencia son enfocadas en el desarrollo de plataformas que soportan practicas sociales y éticas ya que estas incentivan a los trabajadores ofreciéndoles a sus clientes un mejor servicio y son necesarias para generar una estrategia de reputación, ganar fidelidad y credibilidad por parte de los consumidores. Crepes & Waffles es uno de los restaurantes colombianos más exitosos y que ha logrado mantenerse en el tiempo aún así en tiempos turbulentos. Su éxito se debe al uso de RSE en su estrategia, ellos crean innovación de valor en cada uno de sus platos al hacerlos diferentes, en el servicio al cliente y en los servicios y el buen trato que se le ofrece a los trabajadores. Por otro lado, Procolombia es una organización que promueve las exportaciones no tradicionales, la inversión extranjera y la marca país. Ellos al igual que Crepes & Waffles también se enfocan en la RSE y crea innovación de valor en sus procesos de orientar a las empresas a través de conferencias, seminarios, entrenamientos entre otras.

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.

Experimental analysis of the aerodynamic and mixing performance of a ventilation device

Numerous types of acute respiratory failure are routinely treated using non-invasive ventilatory support (NIV). Its efficacy is well documented: NIV lowers intubation and death rates in various respiratory disorders. It can be delivered by means of face masks or head helmets. Currently the scientific community’s interest about NIV helmets is mostly focused on optimising the mixing between CO2 and clean air and on improving patient comfort. To this end, fluid dynamic analysis plays a particularly important role and a two- pronged approach is frequently employed. While on one hand numerical simulations provide information about the entire flow field and different geometries, they exhibit require huge temporal and computational resources. Experiments on the other hand help to validate simulations and provide results with a much smaller time investment and thus remain at the core of research in fluid dynamics. The aim of this thesis work was to develop a flow bench and to utilise it for the analysis of NIV helmets. A flow test bench and an instrumented mannequin were successfully designed, produced and put into use. Experiments were performed to characterise the helmet interface in terms of pressure drop and flow rate drop over different inlet flow rates and outlet pressure set points. Velocity measurements by means of Particle Image Velocimetry were performed. Pressure drop and flow rate characteristics from experiments were contrasted with CFD data and sufficient agreement was observed between both numerical and experimental results. PIV studies permitted qualitative and quantitative comparisons with numerical simulation data and offered a clear picture of the internal flow behaviour, aiding the identification of coherent flow features.

Direct C–H silylation and borylation of biomass derivatives by iridium heterogeneous catalysts

Furfural and its derivatives represent renewable and readily available platforms for a wide range of chemicals. Much attention has been devoted to their functionalization over the last years. TM-catalysed C–H activation has emerged as a powerful tool for synthesizing new C–C and C–X bonds. Moreover, it provides a sustainable way to obtain molecules by reducing waste and saving steps. At the same time, iridium catalysts have proven to be very active in some C–H functionalizations of several (hetero)arenes. Although very promising, this technique is still poorly applied on an industrial scale due to the severe conditions required. Continuous flow chemistry using heterogeneous catalysts appears to be a valuable way to overcome these problems. In this work, we present different solutions for the immobilization of homogeneous iridium complexes on silica gels, using bidentate amines and phosphines as anchoring ligands. We successfully employed the catalysts in C–H silylation and borylation of furfural, using C2 located directing group. In this way, we finally obtained a suitable catalyst that could be potentially applied in continuous-flow chemistry.

Investimento materno e história reprodutiva de mães residentes em contextos com diferentes graus de urbanização

A presente pesquisa tem como objetivo caracterizar o investimento materno e a história reprodutiva de mães que vivem em diferentes contextos. Para tal, 150 mães que residiam em três contextos com diferentes graus de urbanização foram entrevistadas. Por meio da análise estatística dos dados constatou-se que houve diferenças significativas entre os contextos, além de correlações positivas entre os núcleos reprodutivos, como idade da primeira relação sexual e idade da mãe no nascimento do primeiro filho. Conclui-se que as estratégias reprodutivas são influenciadas pela história de vida das mães, das condições sociodemográficas atuais e do contexto onde vivem.