Foreign direct investment spillovers: what can we learn from portuguese data?

This paper investigates the impact of foreign direct investment on the productivity performance of domestic firms in Portugal. The data comprise nine manufacturing sectors for the period 1992-95. Relatively to previous studies, model specification is improved by taking into consideration several aspects: the influence of the “technological gap” on spill-overs diffusion and the choice of its most appropriate interval; sectoral variation in the coefficients of the spill-overs effect; identification of constant, idiosyncratic sectoral factors by means of a fixed effects model; and the search for inter-sectoral positive spillover effects. The relationship between domestic firms productivity and the foreign presence does take place in a positive way, only if a proper technology differential between the foreign and domestic producers exists and the sectoral characteristics are favourable. In broad terms, spillovers diffusion is associated to modern industries in which the foreign owned establishments have a clear, but not too sharp, edge on the domestic ones. Besides, other specific sectoral influences can be pertinent; agglomerative location factors being one example.

Business diplomacy: the compass rose of foreign markets

With transnational corporations (TNCs) around the world today numbering over 60,000 and more than 800,000 affiliates working abroad, it is easy to understand how modern day international business could have transformed into a major global player serving at the axis of politics, social and environmental responsibility. Additionally, with accountability to a large variety of both public and private stakeholders, all exerting significant power and influence, today’s global corporate structure is reinventing modern international relations, and in some cases, dominating it. (Muldoon 2005) This transformative nature of globalization today can also serve as a source of friction among this growing chorus of players and is bringing irreversible change to these relationships and how they impact and influence business around the world. (Muldoon 2005) From the largest to the smallest international corporation seeking to expand into new international markets, the challenges that come with corporate ambition can mean the difference between success and failure and they find a home at the intersection of international relations, diplomacy and economics. To successfully navigate these challenges, especially in emerging economies, a company must now factor in more than just the “bottom line” and address complex issues that include human rights differences, environmental regulations, labor rights and values of each country. (Henisz, 2014) Combined with modern-day mobility achieved through technology and the Internet, corporations today have a great capacity to reach targeted audiences and establish a presence, but it is this same technology that also allows for immediate response to any corporate action. This constant, 24-hour news cycle, where everyone is made to be a real-time reporter through social media, has created a situation that demonstrably necessitates the ability to not only 3 respond immediately, but also to have real-time understanding of the challenges faced by a corporation as it looks toward global expansion. International Business Diplomacy, or simply Business Diplomacy as it will be referred to in this paper, combines all of these nuanced factors into a relatively new discipline that offers companies looking to expand into new markets, guidelines and directives so that they can more strategically map corporate direction, limit risk and achieve their objectives. This paper will examine the history of diplomacy and how the concept of statecraft became intertwined with the increasing globalization of business. Following a scholarly examination of how modern Business Diplomacy came into being, and the unique challenges that come with its application, particularly the liabilities needed to be overcome, this paper will apply the concept to the Brazilian aerospace manufacturer Embraer, tracking its strategic emergence from a small, regionally focused aircraft producer to global leader in the regional and executive jet market platforms. It will then examine Embraer’s entrance into the Chinese market, where the company suffered from several missteps and eventually had to refocus its business model from commercial to executive jets. Finally, as globalization continues to “emancipate international business from its institutional and social constraints,” (Muldoon 2005) this paper will address how the relatively new and emerging discipline of Business Diplomacy is continuing to mature and grow in stature and influence through the proposition of a new challenge or “liability” that corporations must also overcome as they expand into new markets. Through the analysis of Embraer in China, this paper will introduce the Liability of Governance to the lexicon of Business Diplomacy and propose specific steps that a company can undertake to avoid it.

Chemical process to separate iron oxides particles in pottery sample for EPR dating

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Modernization and foreign trade in the health services

Includes bibliography

Influence of Helmet Use in Facial Trauma and Moderate Traumatic Brain Injury Victims of Motorcycle Accidents

Objective: The objective of this research was to study the influence of the use of helmet in facial trauma victims of motorcycle accidents with moderate traumatic brain injury. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the incidence of facial injuries in helmeted and nonhelmeted victims with moderate traumatic brain injury at a referral trauma hospital. Results: The sample consisted of 272 patients predominantly men (94.5%) and between 21 and 40 years old (62.9%). The majority of patients were using helmet (80.1%). The occurrence of facial fractures was most frequent for zygomatic bone (51.8%), followed by mandible (18.8%) and nasal bones (9.2%). Conclusions: Individuals in the most productive age group are most affected, which causes a great loss to financial and labor systems. It is important to take measures to alert the public regarding the severity of injuries likely to occur in motorcycle-related accidents and ways to prevent them.

Beyond socialism: Tanzanian theatre, neoliberalism and foreign aid complexity

Theatralität ist ein gängiges Konzept, um Theater in Afrika zu definieren. Wird dieses Konzept angewendet, so treten die historischen Unterschiede zwischen den verschiedenen Theaterformen in den Hintergrund. Deshalb ist es wichtig, Theater in einen kulturellen Kontext zu stellen, aus dem das Theater entsteht. Dadurch können nationale und internationale Suprastrukturen, die die sozialpolitische und wirtschaftliche Atmosphäre bestimmen, analysiert werden,. Da sich die aktuelle „globale“ Entwicklung auf neoliberale Grundsätze stützt, ist es offensichtlich, dass man Theater nicht diskutieren kann, ohne näher auf Neoliberalismus, Imperialismus, Kapitalismus, Entwicklungshilfe und Geberpolitik einzugehen.rnDerzeit werden die meisten Theaterprojekte in Tansania durch die Entwicklungshilfe oder ausländische Geberorganisationen unterstützt. Diese Organisationen stellen finanzielle Mittel zur Verfügung, um Theaterproduktionen auf unterschiedlichem Niveau zu ermöglichen. Diese Spendenpraxis hat zu der Fehlannahme geführt, dass Theater nur dann ein Theater ist, wenn es durch ausländische Organisationen finanziert wird. Jedoch ist es offensichtlich, dass diese finanziellen Mittel eine große Rolle in der Machtpolitik spielen. Diese Studie untersucht deshalb die Frage: Welchen Einfluss hat die neoliberale Politik, insbesondere durch die Entwicklungshilfe, auf das Theater in Tansania? Die Arbeit deckt einmal die Verbindung zwischen dem produzieren Theater und den verschiedenen dominierenden politischen Richtungen – von Nationalismus bis Neoliberalismus – auf. Darüber hinaus wird gezeigt, dass diese Verbindungen es dem Theater erschweren, diese Suprastrukturen zu vermeiden, durch die es finanziert wird. Das bedeutet, dass die neoliberale Politik mit seinen Merkmalen von Einengung, Unterdrückung und Ausbeutung auch ein eingeengtes, unterdrücktes und ausbeuterisches Theater hervorbringt. Dieser Studie bezeichnet ein solches Theater als Theater (Neo-)Liberalismus. Es ist ein Theater, das apolitisch auftritt, aber tatsächlich unter der neoliberal Politik des freien Markts und der Subventionsstreichungen ums Überleben kämpft.rnIndem diese Verbindungen zwischen Theater, Entwicklungshilfe und Geberorganisationen erläutert werden, kommt diese Forschung zu folgendem Ergebnis: Die Geberorganisationen haben kein Recht, unabhängig von der Höhe ihrer Spende, in die Souveränität eines Staates einzugreifen oder ein neues System einzuführen. Deshalb sollte die Loslösung von ausländischen Geberländern an erster Stelle stehen, damit sich das Theater ganz entwickeln und unabhängig überleben kann. Es ist deshalb notwendig, das Konzept des Volkstheaters neu zu definieren. Das Theater soll wieder mit den Initiativen von Menschen zu tun haben und ihre eigenen Themen in einem gewissen zeitlich und räumlichen Rahmen ansprechen.rnrn

Influence of water immersion, water gymnastics and swimming on cardiac output in patients with heart failure

Background Whole-body water immersion leads to a significant shift of blood from the periphery into the intra-thoracic circulation, followed by an increase in central venous pressure and heart volume. In patients with severely reduced left ventricular function, this hydrostatically in-duced volume shift might overstrain the cardiovascular adaptive mechanisms and lead to cardiac decompensation. The aim of this study is to assess the hemodynamic response to water immer-sion, gymnastics and swimming in patients with heart failure (CHF). Methods We examined 10 patients with compensated CHF (62.9 +/- 6.3 years, EF 31.5 +/- 4.1%, peak VO2 19.4 +/- 2.8 ml/kg/min.), 10 patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) but preserved left ventricular function (57.2 +/- 5.6 years, EF 63.9 +/- 5.5%, peak VO2 28.0 +/- 6.3 ml/kg/min.) and 10 healthy subjects (32.8 +/- 7.2 years, peak VO2 45.6 +/- 6.0 ml/kg/min.). Hemodynamic response to thermo-neutral (32 degrees C) water immersion and exercise was measured using a non-invasive foreign gas rebreathing method during stepwise water immersion, water gymnastics and swimming. Results Water immersion up to the chest increased cardiac index by 19% in healthy subjects, by 21% in CAD patients and 16% in CHF patients. While some CHF patients showed a decrease of stroke volume during immersion, all subjects were able to increase cardiac index (by 87% in healthy subjects, 77% in CAD patients and 53% in CHF patients). Oxygen uptake during swim-ming was 9.7 +/- 3.3 ml/kg/min. in CHF patients, 12.4 +/- 3.5 ml/kg/min. in CAD patients and 13.9 +/- 4.0 ml/kg/min. in healthy subjects. Conclusions Patients with severely reduced left ventricular function but stable clinical conditions and a minimal peak VO2 of at least 15 ml/kg/min. during a symptom-limited exercise stress test tolerate water immersion and swimming in thermo-neutral water well. Although cardiac in-dex and oxygen uptake are lower compared with CAD patients with preserved left ventricular function and healthy controls, these patients are able to increase cardiac index adequately during water immersion and swimming.

Pottery as an indication of mobilities?

Pottery is one of the most common and stylistically differentiated sources in prehistoric archaeology. This might be the reason why it served as a waste projection surface for archaeological notions about culture, identity, and mobility in the past. As we do not have access to emic categorisations of Neolithic societies we focus on contexts of practice in which pottery was incorporated. It is the moment of production, which left some of the clearest traces on the vessels. Different ways of using raw materials, specific techniques, and characteristic pottery styles can be observed. We understand them as a result of habitus, as socially shared internalized schemes, patterns and habits in pottery production. Taking this as a staring point, two main pottery groups can be differed on the Swiss Plateau between 3900 and 3500 BC: the Mediterranean influenced Cortaillod pottery in Western Switzerland and the Danubian influenced Pfyn pottery in North-Eastern Switzerland. These pottery styles were not only entangled to some degree. Furthermore, in some settlements vessels made in “foreign” styles - Michelsberg, Munzingen, Néolithique Moyen Bourguignon - are present too. Some of them were travelling objects, as their nonlocal raw materials show. Others were locally made, indicating long-term mobility of their producers. To analyse these phenomena of mobilites and entanglements in our PhDs we plan to apply different archaeological and archaeometrical methods, thus striving for a deeper understanding of the transformative potential of moving people, objects and ideas in Neolithic societies on the Swiss Plateau.

Factors that influence the decision to produce exportables in the Chilean agricultural sector

This study analyzes there lative importance of the factors that influence the decision to produce for foreign markets in the Chilean agricultural sector. Using data obtained from personal interviews with 368 farmers, the market/production decision was estimated using a multinomial logit model. Three market/production alternatives were analyzed: production aimed for the external market, production for the internal market but with expectations of being exported, and production targeted only for the internal market. Marginal effects, odds ratios and predicted probabilities were used to identify the relevance of each variable. The results showed that a producer that is male, with a higher educational level, that does not own the land, but rents it, whose farm has irrigation and is located in an area that has a high concentration of exporting producers, will have a high probability of producing exportables. However, the factor that has the highest impact on producing for the external market is the geographic concentration of exporting producers, that is, an export spillover effect. Indeed, when the concentration change from 0 to its maximum (0.26), the odds of producing exportables rather than producing traditional products increases by a factor of 70 (against a factor of 10 in the case of irrigation).

Ejercer el poder en un pueblo de frontera : Juan Lorenzo Castro, hacendado, pulpero y alcalde de Chascomús (Buenos Aires) a inicios del siglo XIX

En el artículo se aborda el ejercicio de la autoridad en la frontera sur desde la perspectiva de su vinculación con las prácticas consuetudinarias que regulaban la producción ganadera en el mundo rural bonaerense de principios del siglo XIX. A partir de la reconstrucción de las actividades económicas y del comportamiento como funcionario de Juan Lorenzo Castro se procede a caracterizar la influencia que las costumbres ejercían en el accionar de las autoridades locales a la hora de resolver conflictos originados en la producción pecuaria. El estudio de litigios y su resolución en la escala local oficia de medio para avanzar en la caracterización de la trama de vínculos que permitieron el despliegue de instancias institucionales de poder en la campaña

Ejercer el poder en un pueblo de frontera : Juan Lorenzo Castro, hacendado, pulpero y alcalde de Chascomús (Buenos Aires) a inicios del siglo XIX

En el artículo se aborda el ejercicio de la autoridad en la frontera sur desde la perspectiva de su vinculación con las prácticas consuetudinarias que regulaban la producción ganadera en el mundo rural bonaerense de principios del siglo XIX. A partir de la reconstrucción de las actividades económicas y del comportamiento como funcionario de Juan Lorenzo Castro se procede a caracterizar la influencia que las costumbres ejercían en el accionar de las autoridades locales a la hora de resolver conflictos originados en la producción pecuaria. El estudio de litigios y su resolución en la escala local oficia de medio para avanzar en la caracterización de la trama de vínculos que permitieron el despliegue de instancias institucionales de poder en la campaña

Ejercer el poder en un pueblo de frontera : Juan Lorenzo Castro, hacendado, pulpero y alcalde de Chascomús (Buenos Aires) a inicios del siglo XIX

En el artículo se aborda el ejercicio de la autoridad en la frontera sur desde la perspectiva de su vinculación con las prácticas consuetudinarias que regulaban la producción ganadera en el mundo rural bonaerense de principios del siglo XIX. A partir de la reconstrucción de las actividades económicas y del comportamiento como funcionario de Juan Lorenzo Castro se procede a caracterizar la influencia que las costumbres ejercían en el accionar de las autoridades locales a la hora de resolver conflictos originados en la producción pecuaria. El estudio de litigios y su resolución en la escala local oficia de medio para avanzar en la caracterización de la trama de vínculos que permitieron el despliegue de instancias institucionales de poder en la campaña

Political influence in commercial and financial oil trading : the evidence from US firms

International politics affects oil trade. But do financial and commercial traders who participate in spot oil trading also respond to changes in international politics? We construct a firm-level dataset for all U.S. oil-importing companies over 1986-2008 to examine how these firms respond to increases in "political distance" between the U.S. and her trading partners, measured by divergence in their UN General Assembly voting patterns. Consistent with previous macro evidence, we first show that individual firms diversify their oil imports politically, even after controlling for unobserved firm heterogeneity. However, the political pattern of oil imports is not entirely driven by the concerns of hold-up risks, which exist when oil transactions via term contracts are associated with backward vertical FDI that is subject to expropriation. In particular, our results indicate that even financial and commercial traders significantly reduce their oil imports from U.S. political enemies. Interestingly, while these traders diversify their oil imports politically immediately after changes in international politics, other oil companies reduce their oil imports with a significant time lag. Our findings suggest that in designing regulations to avoid harmful repercussions on commodity and financial assets, policymakers need to understand the nature of political risk.

The Pro-Western Turn in Russia's Foreign Policy: Causes, Consequences and Prospects. OSW Point of View, September 2002

From Europe and Poland's point of view, one of the most important recent developments in international politics was the re-orientation of Russia's foreign policy. This paper aims to answer three important questions relating to this issue: 4. When and why did the "pro-Western turn" in the Russian Federation's policy take place? 5. Has it been profitable for Russia? 6. What goals will the Russian policy pursue in the future? An analysis of the last two years in Russia's foreign policy leads to the several conclusions, including those: 5. Clearly, the Russian leaders realise that in the longer term, Russia - in its desire for more influence in the world - will not be able to survive as an independent pole of power in international politics and it will have to join forces with the West (most likely, the European Union). 6. September 11 was not the cause of Russia's pro-Western turn, but rather a catalyst that put the process which started when Vladimir Putin took his office in sharp focus. 7. In the nearest future, this new direction of Russia's foreign policy seems not be challenged by internal opposition in Russia. 8. The "pro-Western turn" proved to be beneficial for Russia, although: d. Russia has not become a strategic ally of the US e. There has been no breakthrough in the relations between Russia and the European Union, and Moscow has not gained any real influence on NATO's important decisions. f. Russia has not become a major decision-maker of international politics. 5. Russia's closing to the West is in Poland's and Europe's interest.

Trudny "Sojusznik" Bialorus w polityce Rosji. Prace OSW 2008. = Difficult "ally." Belarus in Russia's foreign policy. OSW Study 28/2008

Belarus holds a special position in Russian policy due to its geopolitical, military and transit significance. Russia's influence and position in the entire Eastern European region largely depend on how strong Russian influence in Belarus is. The process of Russian-Belarusian integration began in 1994, when Alyaksandr Lukashenka came to power in Minsk. At the time, Russia's policy towards Belarus was based on twomain assumptions. Firstly, the Kremlin supported Lukashenka's authoritarian regime. This allowed Russia to keep Belarus within its orbit of political influence and prevent other states from getting involved, since an undemocratic Belarus could not count on closer contacts with the West. Secondly, Russia heavily subsidised Belarus with cheap energy resources (way below the market price) and allowed the duty-free access of Belarusian goods to its market. Thus Belarus became a kind of 'sponsored authoritarianism' with a specific economic model, owing its existence to Russia's economic and political support. At the same time, Moscow's key objective in its policy towards Belarus was to make Minsk accept the Russian conditions concerning integration, which would in fact lead to Belarus' incorporation by the Russian Federation. However, Belarus managed to maintain its sovereignty, while Alyaksandr Lukashenka bandied the term 'integration' about in order to maintain the preferential model of his state's relations with Russia. Russia's intention to alter the nature of these bilateral relations became evident when Vladimir Putin took power in 2000. However, Moscow faced Minsk's refusal to accept the Russian integration plan (which, among other measures, provided for the takeover of Belarusian economic assets by Russian companies). This forced Russia to use its main tool against Minsk: the supplies of cheap gas and oil that had been sustaining Belarus' archaic economy. The most serious crisis in Russian-Belarusian relations broke out at the beginning of 2007, following Moscow's decision to raise the energy resource prices. This decision marked the beginning of the application of market principles to settlements between Moscow and Minsk. The key question this study is meant to answer concerns the consequences of the aforementioned decision by Russia for future Russian-Belarusian relations. Are they at a turning point? What are Russia's policy objectives? What results can come from the process of moving mutual relations onto an economic footing? What policy will replace Russia's 'sponsoring of Belarusian authoritarianism', which it has been implementing since 1994? Finally, what further measures will Russia undertake towards Belarus? The current study consists of five chapters. The first chapter offers a brief presentation of Belarus' significance and position in Russian policy. The second analyses the development of Russian-Belarusian political relations, first of all the establishment of the Union State, Belarus' position in Russian domestic policy and Russia's influence on Belarusian policy. The third chapter presents bilateral economic relations, primarily energy issues. The fourth chapter describes the state and perspectives of military cooperation between the two states. The fifth chapter presents conclusions, where the author attempts to define the essence of the ongoing re-evaluation in Russian-Belarusian relations and to project their future model.