El futuro de la ropa ecológica en Colombia a partir de las tendencias desarrolladas en Reino Unido y Suecia y su impacto ambiental

Durante los últimos años, los consumidores han tomado conciencia acerca del cuidado medio ambiental, obligando a las empresas a realizar modificaciones tanto en sus procesos como en los insumos empleados. Un claro ejemplo de ello es la ropa ecológica, esta industria busca promover la fabricación de prendas de vestir a partir de insumos orgánicos y/o reciclados, minimizando desperdicios e impacto durante su proceso de producción. Actualmente, hay varias empresas que han empezado a fabricar este tipo de prendas, especialmente en Europa, siendo Suecia y Reino Unido los más representativos. El presente trabajo estudió la factibilidad de la ropa ecológica en Colombia, tomando como punto de referencia los países mencionados. Para lograrlo, se realizaron encuestas a una muestra representativa, al igual que un análisis detallado sobre la producción y tendencias de consumo de la ropa ecológica en Bogotá, Colombia. Además, mediante las encuestas aplicadas, se estudió el comportamiento del consumidor colombiano y se realizó un comparativo frente a estudios desarrollados en países europeos en los últimos años. En conclusión, se encontró que a pesar de la ausencia de empresas y tiendas enfocadas en dicha industria, el consumidor colombiano estaría dispuesto a comprar ropa ecológica. A lo largo del documento, se explica con detalle las características que buscan los colombianos al momento de comprar estas prendas, el lugar en donde prefieren hacerlo, el valor que están dispuestos a pagar y las razones o motivos por los cuales realizan estas acciones.

La actualización del modelo socialista y sus efectos en el Partido Comunista Cubano

El VI Congreso del Partido Comunista de Cuba introdujo una nueva agenda económica que el Gobierno llama la actualización del modelo socialista. Muchos piensan que en esencia se trata de una serie de reformas y reducen su importancia a su dimensión económica. Esta monografía busca explicar la actualización aplicando el análisis de sistemas-mundo de Immanuel Wallerstein, aportando una interpretación no convencional del fenómeno. Se puntualizará en las variables de poder y en los actores políticos que han determinado la nueva política económica: el Partido Comunista de Cuba (PCC) y las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias (FAR). Ambos conforman lo que Wallerstein denomina un movimiento antisitémico. El argumento principal es que el movimiento ha puesto en marcha las reformas buscando fortalecer el Estado y así garantizar su supervivencia al consolidar su posición como el competidor único del poder estatal. Como se verá, estas metas han llevado al movimiento a sacrificar parte de su naturaleza antisistémica.

EL CAMINO DE MULAS EN COSTA RICA Y PANAMA

El Camino de Mulas, con excepción de las veredas y trillos precolombinos, fue el primero, y por muchos años el único camino para las comunicaciones interiores y exteriores. El camino fue construido ya en 1601 con el objeto de unir Cartago (en la  oriental de la Depresión Tectónica Central) con Tierra Firme (Panamá), pero también el camino contribuyo a unir Nicaragua, Costa Rica y Panamá. Por el se transportaban los productos y materias primas hasta la feria de Portobelo y desde esta las mercaderías por el mismo camino hacia las colonias. El tráfico origino importantes ingresos públicos y con ellos fue posible pagar los gastos militares y administrativos de la provincia. Ejemplos de contratos de venta, hipotecas y opciones de compraventa, incluso por parte de eclesiásticos, son presentados en el trabajo. Sin embargo, la supresión de la feria en 1746, determinó la decadencia económica de Panamá, la reducción del tráfico de mulas a lo largo del camino y la subsecuente disminución y, finalmente, la desaparición de los impuestos, todo lo cual puede ser verificado en las cuencas de Tesoro Real de la provincia de Costa Rica.  ABSTRACT The Mule Trail, with exceptions to the Pre-colombian footpaths, was the first, and for many years the only, interior and international communications route. The trail was constructed in 1601 with the object being to link Cartago (in the Eastern Sub-Basin of the Central Tectonic Depression) with Tierra Firme (Panamá) but also the trail contributed in linking Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panamá because it permitted. The transportation of products and raw materials to the Portobelo fair and also allowed Spanish merchandise to arrive to the colonies. The traffic originated ingresses and with the money it was possible to pay the Administrative and Military debts of the province. Example of sales contracts, mortgages and buying and selling options, even used by the ecclesiastics, are presented in this essay.  Nevertheless, the suppression of the fair in 1746, determined the economic decadence of Panamá, the reduction of mule traffic over the trail and the subsequent diminish and finally disappearance of the accounting of the Royal Treasury of the Province of Costa Rica.

The US actuarial balance model for the pay-as-you-go system and its application to Spain

The aim of this paper is to formulate an approximation of the US actuarial balance model and apply it to the Spanish public retirement pension system under various scenarios in order to determine a consistent indicator of the system's financial state comparable to those used by the most advanced social security systems. This will enable us to answer the question as to whether there is any justification for reforming the pension system in Spain. This type of actuarial balance uses projections to show future challenges to the financial side of the pension system deriving basically from ageing, the projected increase in longevity and fluctuations in economic activity. If one is compiled periodically it can provide various indicators to help depoliticize the management of the pay-as-you-go system by bringing the planning horizons of politicians and the system itself closer together.

Does it pay to be social responsible? Portuguese SMEs feedback

The research on corporate social responsibility has been focused mainly on Anglo-Saxon countries and big companies. Most scholars agree there is a positive relationship between companies social and economic performance, however, this is not unanimous. Moreover,during economic downturns, companies struggle for survival and might consider corporate social responsibility efforts should be postponed. This research investigates if there is a positive relationship between social performance and key business results using a large sample of small and medium Portuguese companies over an extended period of time. The research results support the existence of valid positive relationships between companies’ social performance and key business results, confirming it does pay to invest in corporate social responsibility even in less favorable economic scenarios and for small and medium companies across all business sectors.

An investigation on the pay-off to generic competences for core employees in Catalan manufacturing firms

The aim of this paper is to measure the returns to human capital. We use a unique data set consisting of matched employer-employee information. Data on individuals' human capital include a set of 26 competences that capture the utilization of workers' skills in a very detailed way. Thus, we can expand the concept of human capital and discuss the type of skills that are more productive in the workplace and, hence, generate a higher payoff for the workers. The rich information on firm's and workplace characteristics allows us to introduce a broad range of controls and to improve previous research in this field. This paper gives evidence that the returns to generic competences differ depending on the position of the worker in the firm. Only numeracy skills are reward independent of the occupational status of the worker. The level of technology used by the firm in the production process does not directly increase workers’ pay, but it influences the pay-off to some of the competences. JEL Classification: J24, J31

Does it pay to be socially responsible? Evidence from spanish retail banking sector

This paper presents a theoretical and empirical analysis of strategic competition in retail banking when some of the financial firms are non-profit organisations that invest in social activities. Banking literature about competition is fairly large, but the strategic interaction between profit maximizing and non profit maximizers has not been extensively analysed except for Purroy and Salas (1999). In this paper, a completely different approach is taken. An adaptation of Hotelling’s two stage model of spatial competition is developed to take into account consumer perceptions respect to the two different types of financial institutions. The empirical analysis confirms that consumers take into account other features different from the price, such as social contribution or closer service to make a deposit or mortgage decision. These conclusions are of interest in the debate about a firm’s social or ethical activities. It is shown that if consumers value social activities, firms can improv

Report of Recommendations to the Iowa Department of Transportation on a Review of Selected General and Application Controls Over the Contractor Pay System, April 5, 2004 through May 21, 2004

State Agency Audit Report

From severance pay to self-insurance: Effects of severance payments savings accounts in Colombia

In 1990 Colombia replaced its traditional system of severance paymentswith a new system of severance payments savings accounts (SPSAs). Althoughseverance payments often are justified on the grounds that they provideinsurance against earnings loss, they also increase costs for employersand distort employment decisions. The impact of severance payments dependslargely on how much of the costs to employers can be shifted to workers.The theoretical analysis in this paper shows that, in contrast to atraditional system of severance payments, the system of SPSAs facilitatesthe shifting of severance payments costs to workers in the form of lowerwages. Empirical results using the Colombian National Household Surveysindicate that the introduction of SPSAs shifted around 80% of the totalseverance payments contributions to wages and had a positive effect onweekly hours. Results using the 1997 Colombian Living Standards MeasurementSurvey suggest that, although SPSAs in part replaced employer insurancewith self-insurance, SPSAs continue to play a consumption smoothing rolefor the non-employed.

Simple models for multi-attribute choice with many alternatives: When it does and does not pay to face tradeoffs with binary attributes

Working Paper no longer available. Please contact the author.

State of Iowa : Something of its History, its Institutions, its Resources and Natural Advantages, Published by Iowa Commissioners to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, 1904.

The Commissioners for the State of Iowa to the Louisisana Purchase Exposition believed it wise to place the facts contained in this booklet in the hands of Commissioners from other States and other Nations to be preserved as souvenirs of the year and the occasion which brought together at St. Louis the marvelous exhibition of the world's wealth. This booklet contains facts of Iowa and its citizens and history.