Aseguramiento para la población pobre: una herramienta de protección financiera

La financiación de los sistemas de salud en los países en desarrollo mediante esquemas de aseguramiento, presenta el desafío estructural de la informalidad de los mercados laborales. Ni el esquema de financiamiento comunitario ni el del subsidio a la oferta, parecen ofrecer una garantía de acceso a los grupos más vulnerables. Pero la extensión de esquemas de seguro subsidiado también implica mayores presiones sobre el gasto social. Este artículo es una revisión de la literatura sobre el tema, en el cual se revisan experiencias internacionales de los tipos mencionados, y se analiza su relevancia para Colombia.

Conflict, wages, and multiple equilibria

Firms’ compensation practices affect the protection of investors’ interests and the degree of economic inequality by changing the stakes of engaging in appropriation activities versus respecting the status quo. We use a general equilibrium model where workers can either work peacefully or join a guerrilla movement that expropriates entrepreneurs. If workers are peaceful, they receive a competitive wage. If they join a guerrilla movement, they receive a share of the appropriated wealth, which depends positively on the number of guerrilla members. In this framework, we find one low-income, low-wage equilibrium with guerrilla activity and one peaceful, high-income, high-wage equilibrium. The peaceful equilibrium can be reached through redistribution policies, which can be implemented at the firm level. In essence, through their compensation policies entrepreneurs, not the state might be able to protect their assets against expropriation and simultaneously control the internal principal-agent problem.

Beneficios y desventajas para la industria textil colombiana, específicamente en el sub sector de algodón, ante la eventual firma y ratificación de un tratado de libre comercio entre Colombia e India

Este proyecto realiza un estudio sobre las principales características de los sub sectores de producción de algodón en India y en Colombia. Ello, debido a que a pesar de no existir ningún acuerdo comercial en la materia entre ambos países, la hipótesis de que este llegase a presentarse resulta atractiva. En este sentido, las características del cultivo, producción y comercialización tanto de India como de Colombia, ofrecen un panorama que invita a reflexionar sobre los beneficios y desventajas para el sub sector de algodón, frente a la eventual firma de un Tratado de Libre Comercio. En este orden de ideas, en este trabajo se observan elementos tales como los distintos pormenores de cada proceso de producción, además de las estrategias de comercialización y las políticas gubernamentales de cada país con relación al cultivo de algodón. Asimismo, se da una mirada a la actualidad del sub sector de algodón en Colombia e India a través la balanza comercial de estos países. De este modo, se proponen una serie de estrategias para contrarrestar las desventajas que podrían presentarse, como a su vez plantear los beneficios que también tendrían lugar y las políticas a implementar.

Informality in the City: a Theoretical Analysis

This thesis theoretically studies the relationship between the informal sector (both in the labor and the housing market) and the city structure.

Análisis de las consecuencias del TLC con Estados Unidos frente al subsector ganadero colombiano

Colombia es un país que gracias a sus características topográficas y ubicación privilegiada se destaca por su amplia variedad de ganado en las diferentes regiones del país, esto le ha permitido tener diversas ventajas frente a otros países. Sin embargo, desde el año 2012 entro en vigencia el Tratado de Libre Comercio con Estados Unidos, en donde se demostró que debido a los subsidios y al bajo costo en la producción ganadera, este país ofrece precios inferiores a los de Colombia, con los cuales es más difícil disputar. Por esto es importante que Colombia logré implementar estrategias para competir con precios como los de Estados Unidos y a su vez debe buscar la admisibilidad sanitaria para lograr exportar nuestros productos a esta Potencia. Además, Colombia debe identificar las oportunidades, fortalezas y amenazas que se tienen con el Tratado de Libre comercio, para establecer diferentes proyectos y programas los cuales permitan potencializar el subsector ganadero colombiano.

La política comercial de Estados Unidos en el marco de la Organización Mundial del Comercio. Discurso vs. comportamiento con relación a prácticas anticompetitivas

El objetivo principal de esta monografía es identificar cuáles son las razones que justifican las contradicciones entre el discurso y el comportamiento de Estados Unidos en el marco de la Organización Mundial del Comercio, particularmente con relación a prácticas anticompetitivas derivadas del programa de protección a la agricultura del país. Para ello se analizan el interés nacional y los elementos de la seguridad nacional a partir de los cuales éste se ha construido. También se evalúan los procesos de formulación de política comercial y las interacciones entre los representantes políticos, las asociaciones de productores y el sector privado para mostrar como este comportamiento contradictorio corresponde a la legitimización de un interés particular.

Natural resources, redistribution and Human capital formation

How do resource booms affect human capital accumulation? We exploit time and spatial variation generated by the commodity boom across local governments in Peru to measure the effect of natural resources on human capital formation. We explore the effect of both mining production and tax revenues on test scores, finding a substantial and statistically significant effect for the latter. Transfers to local governments from mining tax revenues are linked to an increase in math test scores of around 0.23 standard deviations. We find that the hiring of permanent teachers as well as the increases in parental employment and improvements in health outcomes of adults and children are plausible mechanisms for such large effect on learning. These findings suggest that redistributive policies could facilitate the accumulation of human capital in resource abundant developing countries as a way to avoid the natural resources curse.

Estudi sobre l'habitatge a la demarcació de Girona: habitatges principals, segones residències i apartaments turístics

Aquesta tesi doctoral estudia diferents aspectes sobre els habitatges a la província de Girona, combinant l'anàlisi sobre l'evolució històrica dels habitatges, el fenomen de les segones residències i el mercat d'apartaments turístics. El paper de la població és el principal motor del creixement dels habitatges durant el segle XX. Tot i així, durant la segona meitat, el pes dels habitatges secundaris en zones turístiques com Costa Brava i municipis de muntanya han tingut el seu paper significatiu. Altres factors determinants en els darrers anys han estat la immigració i la disminució del tamany de les llars. Les segones residències a Girona s'ubiquen en gran part a la Costa Brava (al voltant del 75% del total a la província). S'observa un fenomen d'expansió en forma de "taca d'oli" des de la Costa Brava cap a l'interior i des de la Cerdanya cap a zones més orientals. Dins el mercat d'apartaments turístics, una sèrie de regressions hedòniques han posat de manifest les variables que més influeixen sobre el preu final del lloguer de l'habitatge turístic com el nombre d'habitacions, el tipus d'allotjament, la distància sobre la platja, el municipi d'ubicació i la temporada turística. Respecte als hotels (el mateix exercici) com a bé substitutiu destaquen les mateixes variables excepte la piscina (menys valorat) i el pàrking (més valorat).

RENT–A–CAR

A relativamente escassa bibliografia disponível sobre o tema “rent-acar” e a falta de conhecimento neste domínio, quer entre operadores turísticos, estudantes e público em geral, proporciona uma boa oportunidade para se divulgarem algumas reflexões sobre este sector, realçando a sua história e a sua importância económica na actividade turística. Referem-se ainda neste artigo alguns dados estatísticos sobre grupos de viaturas disponíveis e sobre preços em vigor actualmente em Portugal, bem como um breve enquadramento legislativo que suporta esta actividade. Este artigo é uma síntese de um trabalho mais vasto apresentado no âmbito da unidade curricular “Sistemas de Transportes Turísticos” no decurso do corrente ano lectivo.

A violência no âmbito de escolas públicas do ensino fundamental do Município de Aracaju

RESUMO: A violência escolar, entendida como todo ato praticado de maneira isolada ou em grupo nas instituições de ensino ou em suas redondezas, envolvendo o corpo discente e/ou docente desses estabelecimentos, é uma realidade vivenciada pelos mesmos e reconhecida por toda a sociedade. Nessa perspectiva, a presente pesquisa investigou a problemática nas instituições de ensino público da Cidade de Aracaju, capital de Sergipe, Brasil. A pesquisa possibilitou demonstrar algumas das causas e consequências da violência, e entender os motivos que permitem o seu desenvolvimento em escolas públicas, campo da pesquisa, com subsídios não somente na ciência da educação como também na ciência jurídica, visto que fundamenta suas ideias em Leis e Normas que orientam e tipificam o comportamento do indivíduo na sociedade. Nesta pesquisa – de caráter exploratório e descritivo, de cunho analítico, coerente com as questões e objetivos propostos ao objeto de estudo – recorreu-se a uma pesquisa de campo com análise quali-quantitativa com resultados apresentados em gráficos, quadros e registros de ocorrência, utilizando como universo pesquisado escolas públicas municipais de Aracaju, através de questionário aplicado aos diretores e funcionários em visita “in loco”. A pesquisa é baseada em teorias que fundamentam os resultados encontrados de que o “homem é produto do meio”, isto é, a sociedade em que vive e a família têm uma influência e um papel fundamental na formação da personalidade do indivíduo, seja ele bom ou ruim. ABSTRACT: The school violence, understood as any act performed in isolation or in groups in educational institutions or in its surroundings, involving the student body and / or teaching of these establishments, is a reality faced by them and recognized throughout society. From this perspective, this research investigated the issue in public education institutions in the city of Aracaju, capital of Sergipe, Brazil. The research allow us to demonstrate some of the causes and consequences of violence, and understand the reasons that allow its development in public schools, field of research, with subsidies not only in science education as well as in legal science, since it bases its ideas on Laws and Regulations that guide and typify the behavior of the individual in society. In this research, exploratory and descriptive character, of an analytical view, consistent with the proposed objectives and issues to the object of this study - resorted to a field research with quantitative and qualitative analysis with results presented in graphs, charts and records of occurrence, using as group studied public schools in Aracaju, through a questionnaire applied to directors and employees to visit in the place. The research is based on theories that motivate the results found that “the man is the product of the environment”, this means, the society in which they live and the family have an influence and a key role in shaping the character of the individual, be it good or bad. KEYWORDS: school

Relações étnico-raciais : um estudo de caso sobre os impactos da lei nº 10.639/03 no cotidiano escolar

A questão central desta pesquisa foi analisar a concepção de seis professores e 100 estudantes de uma escola da rede Estadual de ensino de Pernambuco situada na Região do Agreste Meridional do Estado sobre o papel da história e cultura afro-brasileira e africana como instrumento de combate ao preconceito étnico-racial na escola. Para tanto, elencamos o estudo bibliográfico do período XIX ao XXI referente ao racismo no Brasil, o currículo escolar, a proposta da lei 10.639/03. O processo investigativo foi realizado com entrevista aos professores do Ensino Médio, aplicação de questionário aos estudantes na faixa etária entre 16 e 19 anos, foi utilizada a metodologia qualiquantitativa. Sendo a análise do discurso e o programa SPSS 13.0 utilizado nas tabelas e gráficos, observamos a percepção de professores e alunos no que tange a história e cultura afro-brasileira e africana e do preconceito racial apontados pelos professores e seus estudantes. Observamos que há a carência de uma formação acadêmica referente a Lei 10.639/03 para que estes profissionais consigam perceber atitudes de preconceito racial em suas salas de aula e tenham subsídios para construírem atividades pedagógicas voltadas para a desconstrução do preconceito racial e possam imprimir na cotidianidade escolar projetos e atividades que favoreçam o reconhecimento e a valorização da cultura de ancestralidade africana e afro-brasileira.

Shale Gas and the EU Internal Gas Market: Beyond the Hype and Hysteria. CEPS Working Document No. 369, September 2012

This paper analyses the interplay between shale gas and the EU internal gas market. Drawing on data presented in the 2012 International Energy Agency’s report on unconventional gas and additional scenario analyses performed by the Joint Research Centre, the paper is based on the assumption that shale gas will not fundamentally change the EU’s dependence on foreign gas supplies. It argues that attention should be shifted away from hyping shale gas to completing the internal gas market. Two main reasons are given for this. First, the internal gas market is needed to enable shale gas development in countries where there is political support for shale gas extraction. And second, a well-functioning internal gas market would, arguably, contribute much more to Europe’s security of supply than domestic shale gas exploitation. This has important implications for the shale gas industry. As it is hard to see how subsidies or exemptions from environmental legislation could be justified, shale gas development in Europe will only go ahead if it proves to be both economically and environmentally viable. It is thus up to the energy industry to demonstrate that this is the case.

The EU budget becomes politically more explosive. CEPS Commentary, 3 December 2012

H. Onno Ruding describes the negotiations on the EU budget, which will resume in 2013 following their collapse in late November, as “more awkward than usual”. In this new CEPS Commentary, he advises EU leaders to make the instrument more forward-looking in promoting economic growth in Europe and less focused on maintaining legacy entitlements of past years. In his view, this means more spending on research, innovation, education and infrastructure and also requires further reductions in the still-dominant agricultural subsidies as well as regional and structural funds.

Agricultural Policy and Nest Success of Prairie Ducks in Canada and the United States

The Prairie Pothole Region of North America has been modified by agriculture during the past 100 yr, resulting in habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation that have reduced the abundance and productivity of many wildlife species. The 1985 U.S. Farm Bill provided economic incentives to agriculture that are considered by many to be beneficial to nesting waterfowl and other wildlife. Canada has not experienced an equally comprehensive legislative initiative, which would seem to indicate that benefits to waterfowl in Canada should lag behind those in the United States. However, with the removal of some agricultural subsidies in Canada during the 1990s, the amount of perennial cover in the Canadian prairies increased to levels similar to those of the 1970s. Therefore, it is unclear whether and how the U.S. and Canadian prairies might differ with regard to habitat quality for nesting waterfowl. We used historical and contemporary data to compare temporal trends in duck nest success between the United States and Canada and to assess how mean nest success varied with proportion of cropland and wetland density. The data best supported models with nonlinear temporal trends that varied between the two countries and suggested that mean nest success in Canada declined from its high point in 1930s and remained below the long-term value of 0.16 until the end of the time series in 2005. Mean nest success in the United States also declined from its high point in the 1930s, but increased to above the long-term value of 0.25 during the early 2000s. Mean nest success varied negatively with proportion of cropland in both the United States and Canada. Mean nest success was positively correlated with pond density at Canadian sites, but showed only a weak association with pond density at U.S. sites. All models explained the low proportions of the variation in nest success, suggesting that unmeasured factors such as the abundance and identity of nest predators may have strong effects on nest success. Nonetheless, these results support earlier suggestions that agricultural policy that encourages permanent cover positively influences duck reproductive success. We also found that, for reasons that are not entirely clear, nest success for the same intensity of row cropping was generally higher in the United States than in Canada. Further research is required to elucidate the exact nature of the composition, size, and distribution of permanent cover that coincides with greater average nest success by dabbling ducks in the United States. In addition, the data suggest that the benefits that might accrue from increases in the amount of perennial cover in Canada would be better realized if these efforts are accompanied by strong measures to conserve wetlands.

MFN status and the choice of tariff regime

The gradualist approach to trade liberalization views the uniform tariffs implied by MFN status as an important step on the path to free trade. We investigate whether a regime of uniform tariffs will be preferable to discriminatory tariffs when countries engage in non-cooperative interaction in multilateral trade. The analysis includes product differentiation and asymmetric costs. We show that with the cost asymmetry the countries will disagree on the choice of tariff regime. When the choice of import tariffs and export subsidies is made sequentially the uniform tariff regime may not be sustainable, because of an incentive to deviate to a discriminatory regime. Hence, an international body is needed to ensure compliance with tariff agreement.