Is there life beyond the ISI journals lists? the international impact of Spanish, Italian, French and German economics journals

This comparative study looks at the international impact of leading economics journals published in Spain, Italy, France and Germany. It also aims to establish whether they play a similar role in any of these 4 countries. For this purpose data were collected on the number of times that articles published in these journals are cited in international journals on the ISI Journals lists. The study focused on the number and characteristics of the citations received during the period 1996-2004 by articles published between 1995 and 1999 in a limited number of Spanish, Italian, French and German journals. The international impact of the Spanish journals was found to be similar in size and characteristics to that of the Italian publications. However, it differed sharply from the impact of the highest-ranking French and German journals. These last received a higher volume of citations, some of which also showed very different qualitative characteristics

Is there life beyond the ISI journals lists? the international impact of Spanish, Italian, French and German economics journals.

This comparative study looks at the international impact of leading economics journals published in Spain, Italy, France and Germany. It also aims to establish whether they play a similar role in any of these 4 countries. For this purpose data were collected on the number of times that articles published in these journals are cited in international journals on the ISI Journals lists. The study focused on the number and characteristics of the citations received during the period 1996-2004 by articles published between 1995 and 1999 in a limited number of Spanish, Italian, French and German journals. The international impact of the Spanish journals was found to be similar in size and characteristics to that of the Italian publications. However, it differed sharply from the impact of the highest-ranking French and German journals. These last received a higher volume of citations, some of which also showed very different qualitative characteristics.

Regional integration and specialisation patterns in Spain

The aim of this paper is to analyse how economic integration in Europe has affected industrial geographical concentration in Spain and explain what the driving forces behind industry location are. Firstly, we construct regional specialisation and geographical concentration indices for Spanish 50 provinces and 30 industrial sectors in 1979, 1986 and 1992. Secondly, we carry out an econometric analysis of the determinants of geographical concentration of industries. Our main conclusion is that there is no evidence of increasing specialisation in Spain between 1979 and 1992 and that the most important determinant of Spain¿s economic geography is scale economies. Furthermore, traditional trade theory has no effects in explaining the pattern of industrial concentration- L'objectiu d'aquest treball és analitzar com la integració econòmica a Europa ha afectat a la concentració geogràfica de les indústries a Espanya i explicar quines són les forces determinants de la localització industrial. En primer lloc, construïm índexs d'especialització regional i de concentració geogràfica per a les 50 províncies espanyoles i per 30 sectors industrials el 1979, 1986 i 1992. En segon lloc, realitzem una anàlisi economètrica dels determinants de la concentració geogràfica de les indústries. Les nostres conclusions més importants són que no existeix evidència d¿un augment en l'especialització a Espanya entre 1979 i 1992 i que el determinant més important de la geografia econòmica espanyola són les economies d'escala. A més a més, la teoria tradicional del comerç no explica el patró de concentració industrial

IS THERE LIFE BEYOND THE ISI JOURNALS LISTS? THE INTERNATIONAL IMPACT OF SPANISH, ITALIAN, FRENCH AND GERMAN ECONOMICS JOURNALS

This comparative study looks at the international impact of leading economics journals published in Spain, Italy, France and Germany. It also aims to establish whether they play a similar role in any of these 4 countries. For this purpose data were collected on the number of times that articles published in these journals are cited in international journals on the ISI Journals lists. The study focused on the number and characteristics of the citations received during the period 1996-2004 by articles published between 1995 and 1999 in a limited number of Spanish, Italian, French and German journals. The international impact of the Spanish journals was found to be similar in size and characteristics to that of the Italian publications. However, it differed sharply from the impact of the highest-ranking French and German journals. These last received a higher volume of citations, some of which also showed very different qualitative characteristics.

Industrial agglomerations and wage gradients: the Spanish economy in the interwar period (?)

The geographical distribution of Spanish industry shows today two interesting features. On the one hand, a high concentration, higher than what we can find in the majority of European countries. On the other hand, the coexistence of two industrial cities: Madrid and Barcelona. In Spain, the larger increases in the levels of concentration are to be found during the long period that goes from the middle of the 19th century to the Civil War (1936-1939). As for the geographical location of large industrial centers, the second half of the 19th century was dominated by the rising of Barcelona as the main center of industrial production in Spain. In those years, Barcelona got to concentrate a third of Spanish industrial output. However, the turning of the century marks a halt in this process, and Madrid begins then to increase its share in Spanish manufacturing, filling the gap gradually with the Catalan city. In this paper we suggest two explanatory hypothesis to these facts. On the one hand, we believe that the increase in the geographical concentration of Spanish industries along the period 1850-1935 is linked to the existence of scale economies in a context of increasing domestic market integration. On the other hand, we think that the initial development of Barcelona as the Spanish industrial capital and its subsequent loss of punch in front of other locations like Madrid, both the capital-city of the country and its geographical center, could be related, though not exclusively, with the changes in Spanish trade policy at the end of the 19th century. At this point in time, the nationalistic reaction after the loss of the remaining colonies, supposes the abandon of a liberal regime, characterized by a relative openness, and the adoption of a nationalistic model of development that breaks the former dynamics and imposes harsh restrictions in the international trade of goods and raw materials. The paper pretends also to provide new evidence on the relationship between integration and industrial agglomeration in the presence of scale economies, by testing directly one of the predictions that can be derived from Krugman (1991) seminal paper, that is, the existence of regional nominal wage gradients and its transformation following changes in trade regimes. Hanson (1996, 1997, 1998) has analyzed in depth these effects in the case of the Mexican economy and has shown how trade reform has weakened the industrial belt around Mexico city, giving rise to new industrial centers in the north of the country. On the contrary, our case study analyzes the effects of the substitution of an open economy by a closed economy regime, exactly the opposite process studied by Hanson. To this aim, in the empirical analysis, we test the existence of a nominal wage gradient centered in Barcelona during the period 1914-1930. Our results indicate the existence of a wage gradient centered in Barcelona during the interwar period (1914-1930) and its weakening after 1925. The evidence on the genesis of a new wage gradient centered in Madrid is not conclusive.

Clonación. Justificación de una actividad científica

Gustavo A. Tirado (biografía): Nació en Valverde, República Dominicana. Es ingeniero agrónomo y tiene una maestría en suelos y recursos naturales. Fue director del Departamento de Recursos Naturales de la Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña (UNPHU) y es profesor de Ecología en UNAPEC. Publicó Los suelos de la República Dominicana.Este trabajo es una justificación de la clonación, actividad científica que consiste en la reproducción asexual de seres vegetales o animales, es decir, la generación de un nuevo ser con la intervención de un solo organismo o incluso de una sola célula. El autor recuerda que la clonación vegetal se realiza desde el establecimiento de la agricultura, y que la animal se originó a principios del siglo XX, sobre todo cuando el doctor francés Alexis Carrel, que recibió el Premio Nobel, realizó trabajos consistentes en la reproducción in vitro y mantenimiento de tejidos vivos de corazón de pollo a fin de facilitar la investigación sobre males fisiológicos en el ser humano. El autor, que explica las dificultades que ese proceso enfrenta en los casos de animales superiores, lo justifica en virtud de la necesidad que tiene la ciencia de seguir estudiando, descubriendo y potenciando las facultades del género humano. Por eso, arguye, esa búsqueda del conocimiento no debería detenerse ni siquiera ante la perspectiva de que el ser vivo a reproducir sea el ser humano, pues ello sería solo un paso más —necesario y obligado— en el crecimiento y avance del hombre

Modelos de crecimiento económico endógeno e historia económica: ¿Una nueva perspectiva ante el debate protección-librecambio?

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