Vulnerability analysis of three remote voting methods

This article analyses three methods of remote voting in an uncontrolled environment: postal voting, internet voting and hybrid voting. It breaks down the voting process into different stages and compares their vulnerabilities considering criteria that must be respected in any democratic vote: confidentiality, anonymity, transparency, vote unicity and authenticity. Whether for safety or reliability, each vulnerability is quantified by three parameters: size, visibility and difficulty to achieve. The study concludes that the automatisation of treatments combined with the dematerialisation of the objects used during an election tends to substitute visible vulnerabilities of a lesser magnitude by invisible and widespread vulnerabilities.Comment: 15 page

Intergenerational income and educational mobility in urban Chile

This paper provides evidence on the degree and patterns of intergenerational income and educational mobility in urban Chile. We find intergenerational income elasticities for Greater Santiago in Chile in the range of 0.52 to 0.54. This is lower than recent nation-wide elasticities for Chile of about 0.6-0.7, but still stands as fairly high in comparison with the comparable international evidence. We also find that intergenerational educational mobility is lower for the younger cohorts, which however does not necessarily imply an increase of intergenerational educational mobility in the last decades, as life-cycle effects may be at work. Finally, we find evidence of a higher degree of intergenerational persistence of income at the two extremes of the income distribution, which is more accentuated at the top centiles of the distribution. We suggest that this may mirror the unusually high concentration of income at the top of the income distribution in Chile, a hypothesis that requires further research.Intergenerational mobility, Schooling, Mobility patterns

World cities and global commodity chains: an introduction

The purpose of this special anniversary issue is to assess the possible cross-fertilization between two prominent analytical frameworks: the World City Network framework, in which researchers have studied the emergence of a globalized urban system for the provision of a host of advanced corporate services: and the Global Commodity Chain framework, in which researchers have scrutinized the inter connected functions, operations and transactions through which specific commodities are produced, distributed and consumed in a globalized economy. These two approaches have developed in parallel but have rarely been brought together. This introductory essay identifies the common roots and recent history of these two frameworks, and outlines how the six articles contribute to their theoretical and empirical cross-fertilization

Catálogo de los tipos de Curculionoidea (Insecta, Coleoptera) depositados en el Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”, Buenos Aires

The type specimens of Curculionoidea (Apionidae, Brentidae, Anhribidae, Curculionidae, Platypodidae, and Scolytidae) from the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales (MACN), corresponding to all current categories, are herein catalogued. A total of 344 specific and subspecific names are alphabetically recorded, for their original binomina or trinomina, and spellings. Later combinations and synonyms are mentioned, as well as the information of all the labels associated to the specimens. In order to assist future research, three further lists are added: 1. specimens deemed to be deposited at MACN but not found in the collection; 2. specimens labeled as types of species which descriptions have probably never been published (non available names); and 3. specimens of dubious type status, because the information on the labels does not agree with that of the original publication.Se catalogan los ejemplares tipo de Curculionoidea (Apionidae, Brentidae, Anhribidae, Curculionidae, Platypodidae y Scolytidae) depositados en el Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales (MACN), correspondientes a todas las categorías de tipos aceptadas. Se registran 344 nombres específicos y subespecíficos, que se ordenan alfabéticamente según sus binomios, o trinomios, y grafías originales. Se mencionan las combinaciones posteriores y los sinónimos conocidos, y se brinda una descripción detallada de todos los rótulos del material mencionado. Para facilitar futuras investigaciones se agregan otras tres listas: 1. ejemplares tipo supuestamente depositados en el MACN pero no hallados en la colección; 2. ejemplares rotulados como tipos, pero cuyos nombres específicos o subespecíficos son no disponibles, pues sus descripciones probablemente no han sido publicadas; y 3. ejemplares rotulados como tipos pero cuyo status como tales es dudoso pues no hay concordancia entre los datos de los rótulos y los de la publicación.Fil: Bachmann, Axel Oscar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"; ArgentinaFil: Lanteri, Analía Alicia. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Entomología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

DIFFERENT LEGISLATIONS REGARDING OPAs

An analysis was made of then effect of the Tender Offer Law in Chile, and of the related situation of five countries with a more developed market than the Chilean one, reaching the conclusion that in order to successfully implement a Tender Offer Law it is necessary to bear in mind that the problem is not solved by establishing standards that regulate transactions,but by creating instances that contribute to a more dynamic and efficient market. In addition,there should exist a balance between protection of the minority stockholder and competition for corporate control. Finally, we can conclude that there is evidence that the Tender Offer Law has depressed the Stock Exchange.Tender Offer, Tender Offer Law andTender Offer System Law.

Peer Effects and Relative Performance of Voucher Schools in Chile

The assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of vouchers has been hindered by the lack of sufficient empirical evidence. The Chilean education voucher system was established at a national scale and has data for more than 15 years. The empirical literature developed to evaluate the voucher system in Chile faced methodological and/or data limitations up until late 1999, since there was no individual data available, and papers used the school as a unit of study. Additionally, the studies lacked good information on the socioeconomic characteristics of the students. The most recent literature uses individual data and introduces the correction for selection bias, but do not take into account that some public schools receive additional resources from the government. In the first section of this paper we control for the amount of per capita funds received by the public schools from the government, and find that when public and private voucher schools receive similar per capita subsidies, the effect of treatment on the treated (where treatment is attendance to a private voucher school) is large in magnitude and statistically significant. Some fear that this result may be the consequence of sorting and peer effect, and not of the effectiveness of private voucher schools. To analyze the importance of peer effects on the previous results, in the second section we estimate new treatment parameters controlling for peer group characteristics. If the positive treatment effect estimated earlier were exclusively the result of the sorting process and peer effect, this new treatment parameter should be zero. This hypothesis is rejected. Even when we condition on peer group characteristics, we find a treatment parameter that is positive, large in magnitude and statistically significant, when public and private voucher schools receive similar per capita subsidies. Hence, papers that have asserted that positive treatment effects are due to the peer effect and/ or sorting are proved wrong

The Effects of Privatization on Firms and on Social Welfare: The Chilean Case

Chile led the Latin American pack in launching its far-reaching privatization program, but the question of whether the process has made firms more profitable remains. Also unclear is whether society as a whole is better off because of privatization. This paper looks at the performance of several industries to gauge the effects of privatization on Chilean firms and social welfare. The authors’ research, which is both broad and deep, yields some surprising findings. For example, contrary to commonly-held perceptions of bloated state-run bureaucracies, the authors find that the employment ranks of regulated entities actually swelled after their ownership switched to private hands. The paper evaluates a wide range of aspects of the privatization process, from highway tolls to private pension fund returns to school vouchers, and concludes with some concrete recommendations for future improvements.