Search-theoretic models of international currency

Money ; International finance

Gains from trade and measured total factor productivity

We develop and calibrate a model where di¤erences in factor en-dowments lead countries to trade di¤erent goods, so that the existenceof international trade changes the sectorial composition of output fromone country to another. Gains from trade re ect in total factor produc-tivity. We perform a development decomposition, to assess the impactof trade and barriers to trade on measured TFP. In our sample, themedian size of that e¤ect is about 6.5% of output, with a median of17% and a maximum of 89%. Also, the model predicts that changes inthe terms of trade cause a change of productivity, and that e¤ect hasan average elasticity of 0.71.

Country role models for development success: The case of Costa Rica

In this paper, I discuss the reasons for Costa Rica's economic performance over the last quarter of a century. Three complementary sets of policies (investments in human capital, careful stabilization, and an intelligent and aggressive integration into the world economy) explain the successful trends, and can be thought of - at least in hindsight - as a development strategy. While fruitful, this strategy has been incomplete, as there have been less results in other policy areas, including income distribution, infrastructure, adequate taxation and telecoms. These omissions result from the weakness of the political system to deliver decisions and implement chosen policies. Despite these problems, Costa Rica's case is interesting and worthy of study from the perspective of other small, developing countries

Marriage and Employment Participation with Wage Bargaining in Search Equilibrium

The empirical literature addressing links between the labor and the marriage markets is numerous and varied. Despite this, the theoretical (equilibrium) literature that explicitly links the two markets is less developed, particularly so with frictional markets. We build an equilibrium search model where married couples make joint decisions on home production and labor market participation. We then analyze the implications of our results for a frictional marriage market allowing us to consider the interaction between both markets. A worker´s bargaining position reflects their own productivity, and also the employment status and conditions of their spouse. We find that couples with very different productivities have different strategies regarding labor market participation. In symmetric couples, the partners behave symmetrically. Workers get better job offers when their spouses are employed, and in some equilibria a person may search for transitory jobs with the sole purpose of raising the long-term wages of their spouse. In some cases, firms unilaterally increase a worker’s wage in order to reduce turnover, by ensuring that the spouse stays at home. Whether firms follow that strategy or not may be a matter of multiple equilibria, depending on parameter values. All this provides an additional explanation for wage and search behavior heterogeneity of similar workers and/or couples

Las diferentes posturas críticas alrededor del capital humano y su medición en la contabilidad

El trabajo presentado a continuación describe las diversas posturas críticas desde la contabilidad sobre el recurso humano y como estas se han ponderado al interior de las organizaciones. Es claro quela dirección de las empresas valoran las cifras exactas, fijas, y los datos están rodeados de explicaciones simples en las que las respuestas corresponden a gastos incurridos. Pero la contabilidad nos abre un mundo de enfoques diferentes en los que podemos basarnos para que las cifras no sean estáticas, y los gastos de nómina no sean tomados solo como unos servicios gastados por unos terceros.Pregrad

Identificación de peligros y evaluación de factores de riesgos químicos y ergonómicos en un terminal portuario

The studied operation, a Chemical Liquid Bulk Port Terminal, does not count with a risk identification and evaluation for their activities. The lack of information about the chemical industry risk evaluation and statistics has somehow influenced to establish operational controls based on the accidents and incidents, defining into a reactive management instead of a preventive one. By not having a complete mapping of the required information, one or several risks may not have been taken into account for control, leaving the possibility to have an incident. This study is descriptive, observational and transversal, through on site variables reviews for a proper risk evaluation. It is focused in determining the chemical risks, as its handling is their core business, and the ergonomic risks on postures and overexertion, considering that the plant activity is mainly manual. To carry out the evaluation, various methods were used, such as the French INRS, confirmed by the NTP standards 897 and 750, REBA, RULA and NIOSH. By this means, it was identified that the predominant risk that personnel are exposed is in chemical handling.La empresa en estudio, un terminal portuario de productos químicos al granel, no cuenta con una identificación y evaluación de riesgos de sus operaciones. La escasa información con respecto a estadísticas y evaluación de riesgos en la empresa química de alguna manera ha influenciado a establecer controles basados en la ocurrencia de accidentes e incidentes, definiendo gestiones reactivas en vez de preventivas. Al no tener un levantamiento completo de la información, uno o varios riesgos pudiesen no estar controlados, dejando la posibilidad de ocurrencia de un incidente. A su vez, tomando en consideración la importancia que está dando al gobierno en lo referente a la seguridad y salud ocupacional, se vuelve indispensable realizar una adecuada gestión de riesgos aportando con mejorar los controles necesarios para una operación y a dar cumplimiento de la legislación aplicable vigente. El presente estudio es de carácter descriptivo, observacional y transversal, mediante la revisión en campo de las variables para una evaluación de los riesgos. Se enfocó en la determinación de los riesgos químicos, al ser su actividad principal el manejo de ellos, y los riesgos ergonómicos por posturas y sobreesfuerzos, tomando en consideración que la actividad en planta es manual. Para llevar a cabo esto se utilizó métodos avalados internacionalmente, como son de la INRS de Francia, confirmados en las normas NTP 897 y 750, método RULA, REBA y NIOSH, con lo que se pudo identificar que los riesgos predominantes a los que el personal se expone son los químicos y permitió establecer recomendaciones específicas para los hallazgos