L'aventura d'apendre a parlar

Treball de recerca realitzat per un alumne d’ensenyament secundari i guardonat amb un Premi CIRIT per fomentar l'esperit científic del Jovent l’any 2005. L’objectiu fonamental ha estat la descripció i l’anàlisi lingüística de la parla dels nens petits, és a dir, dels nens de P-2 a P-5, mitjançant una aproximació eminentment pràctica amb un breu recolzament teòric. En una breu introducció teòrica es defineixen els termes lingüístics i les disciplines utilitzades en l’estudi, s’expliquen els diferents factors que intervenen en el procés de la parla, ja que el fet de parlar suposa haver arribat a un grau determinat de desenvolupament físic, motor, sensorial, cognitiu, etc. També s’esmenten les relacions entre llenguatge i pensament i les diverses teories que expliquen l’origen del llenguatge. I, per acabar, es fa una pinzellada a les característiques evolutives dels nens des del seu naixement fins que tenen cinc-sis anys. En la part pràctica, s’analitza la parla dels nens de P-2 a P-5 mitjançant el mètode de l’enquesta directa a una seixantena de nens i d’altres proves, fent referència a una sèrie d’aspectes lingüístics considerats importants per tal d’entendre l’evolució de la parla en cada edat com són els nivells morfològic, sintàctic, fonètic, lèxic, així com els elements de la comunicació no verbal.

Firm Size and Geographical Aggregation: An Empirical Appraisal in Industrial Location

This paper assesses empirically the importance of size discrimination and disaggregate data for deciding where to locate a start-up concern. We compare three econometric specifications using Catalan data: a multinomial logit with 4 and 41 alternatives (provinces and comarques, respectively) in which firm size is the main covariate; a conditional logit with 4 and 41 alternatives including attributes of the sites as well as size-site interactions; and a Poisson model on the comarques and the full spatial choice set (942 municipalities) with site-specific variables. Our results suggest that if these two issues are ignored, conclusions may be misleading. We provide evidence that large and small firms behave differently and conclude that Catalan firms tend to choose between comarques rather than between municipalities. Moreover, labour-intensive firms seem more likely to be located in the city of Barcelona. Keywords: Catalonia, industrial location, multinomial response model. JEL: C250, E30, R00, R12

Should fiscal authorities cooperate in a monetary union with public deficit targets?

In this paper we analyse the setting of optimal policies in a monetary union with one monetary authority and various fiscal authorities that have a public deficit target. We will show that fiscal cooperation among the fiscal authorities, in the presence of positive supply shocks, ends up producing higher public deficits than in a non-cooperative regime. JEL No. E61, E63, F33, H0. Keywords: monetary union, fiscal policy coordination.

The Determinants of Entry are not Independent of Start-up Size: Some evidence from Spanish manufacturing

In this paper we explore the determinants of firm start-up size of Spanish manufacturing industries. The industries' barriers to entry affect the ability of potential entrants to enter the markets and the size range at which they decide to enter. In order to examine the relationships between barriers to entry and size we applied the quantile regression techniques. Our results indicate that the variables that characterize the structure of the market, the variables that are related to the behaviour of the incumbent firms and the rate of growth of the industries generate different barriers depending on the initial size of the entrants. Keywords: Entry, regression quantiles, start-up size. JEL classification: L110, L600

Delegation and information sharing in oligopoly

Information sharing in oligopoly has been analyzed by assuming that firms behave as a sole economic agent. In this paper I assume that ownership and management are separated. Managers are allowed to falsely report their costs to owners and rivals. Under such circumstances, if owners want to achieve information sharing they must use managerial contracts that implement truthful cost reporting by managers as a dominant strategy. I show that, contrary to the classical result, without the inclusion of message-dependent payments in managerial contracts there will be no information sharing. On the other hand, with the inclusion of such publicly observable payments and credible ex-ante commitment by owners not to modify these payments, there will be perfect information sharing without the need for third parties. Keywords: Information sharing, Delegation, Managerial contracts. JEL classification numbers: D21, D82, L13, L21

A territorial approach to firm entry: The effect of city size

This paper concerns the effects of territorial factors on the processes involved in the creation of manufacturing firms in Spanish cities. Most contributions have focused on regional factors rather than urban ones. Here we assume that it is possible to identify certain urban factors that attract new firms. We use data for the entry of firms in Spanish manufacturing industries between 1994 and 2002. This paper contributes to the existing literature on market entry. Key words: cities, regions, firm entry and Spanish economy. JEL: R0, R12, L60

Firm Size and Short-Term Dynamics in Aggregate Entry and Exit

Much of the research on industry dynamics focuses on the interdependence between the sectorial rates of entry and exit. This paper argues that the size of firms and the reaction-adjustment period are important conditions missed in this literature. I illustrate the effects of this omission using data from the Spanish manufacturing industries between 1994 and 2001. Estimates from systems of equations models provide evidence of a conical revolving door phenomenon and of partial adjustments in the replacement-displacement of large firms. KEYWORDS: aggregation, industry dynamics, panel data, symmetry, simultaneity. JEL CLASSIFICATION: C33, C52, L60, L11

Síntesi en fase sólida d'oligosacàrids cardioactius

Estudi aproximatiu a la síntesi en fase sòlida de la part glicosídica de la digitoxina, essencial per l’activitat biològica com a reguladora de les propietats farmacocinètiques, i per tant molt important per l’avenç de la química mèdica i bioinorgànica. La metodologia que s’ha seguit inclou: síntesi de la pentosa de partença adequada, a partir de la qual, es van obtindre les unitats de 2,6- didesoxiglicósids; síntesi dels suports polimèrics necessaris per la síntesi en fase sòlida dels compostos objectiu; estudi de diferent tipus de glicosil dadors i activador de tioglicosids, lactols i tricloroacetimidats per la reacció de glicosilació amb el linker. S’ha assolit comprensió i coneixement de la tecnologia associada a la síntesi en fase sòlida, que requereix procediment diferenciat de la síntesi en solució convencional.

A Characterization of single-peaked preferences

We identify in this paper two conditions that characterize the domain of single-peaked preferences on the line in the following sense: a preference profile satisfies these two properties if and only if there exists a linear order $L$ over the set of alternatives such that these preferences are single-peaked with respect L. The first property states that for any subset of alternatives the set of alternatives considered as the worst by all agents cannot contains more than 2 elements. The second property states that two agents cannot disagree on the relative ranking of two alternatives with respect to a third alternative but agree on the (relative) ranking of a fourth one. Classification-JEL: D71, C78