The Decision to Export and the Volatility of Sales

This paper studies the export decision of risk-averse firms in a model featuring aggregate uncertainty and no capital markets. Firms seeking to enter the foreign market face a sunk cost as well as a fixed participation cost every period they export. Using a calibrated version of the model, I show that firms are more likely to export when the correlation between domestic and foreign aggregate shocks is negative and when their degree of risk-aversion is higher. Counterfactual experiments show that exporting increases the volatility of total sales.Exports, Aggregate uncertainty, Heterogeneous-firm models of international trade

Exports, Investment and Firm-Level Sales Volatility

This paper presents a dynamic model of risk-averse producers’ decision to invest in physical capital and to export. The model features irreversible investment, no capital markets and fixed and sunk costs to export. Several features of the distribution of investment rates and export participation patterns observed in firm-level data are closely matched in a calibration exercise. Counterfactual experiments show that large adjustments in total sales associated with entry into foreign markets increase the volatility of total sales for exporting firms.exports, investment, uncertainty

Political Environment and Privatization Prices

This paper studies the link between the political and institutional context and privatization sales prices. The latter serves as a measure for assessing the relative performance of the privatization goals. Whereas this link has been studied theoretically, there are very few, if any, empirical papers on this relationship. Using data from 308 privatizations around the world and applying a cross-country approach (including instrumental variables), we find that, while the overall political regime does not matter much for prices, the political processes beyond the basic regime do matter. Institutional context also produces a significant impact on prices. Both results are robust to changes in specification.

Maquiladoras and Informality: A Mixed Blessing

Mexico experienced a tremendous expansion of its export-processing maquila sector during the 1990s. At the same time, a large proportion of its labor force remains employed in the informal sector. Since one of the main objectives of the maquiladora program was to increase formal employment, we study how the rapid increase in maquiladora activity has affected labor market outcomes in Mexico. We develop a heterogeneous firm model with imperfect labor markets that captures salient features of the Mexican economy such as the differences between maquila and non-maquila manufacturing plants and the existence of an informal sector. We calibrate the model's parameters to match key cross-sectional moments characterizing the Mexican economy. Our quantitative model indicates that the expansion of the maquila sector during the 1990s produced an increase in informality of 0.9% and a reduction in the skill premium and overall welfare of 2.7% and 3.7%, respectively. A counterfactual experiment in which we shut down the informal sector completely results in a reduction of Mexican welfare of 33.5% relative to the equilibrium with an informal sector.offshoring, informal sector, maquiladoras, trade and labor markets, Mexico

Luz y sombra como ensamble de arquetipos

Trabajo de gradoEste trabajo busca ofrecer solución a la carencia de espacios dedicados a fomentar las relaciones entre personas en el barrio Las Cruces, ubicado en la Unidad de planeamiento zonal (UPZ) 95 Las Cruces, que pertenece a la localidad Santa Fe, de la ciudad de Bogotá D.C. Esta propuesta parte con un análisis detallado de la estructura socioeconómica y espacial, funcional y de servicios, y ecológica principal planteadas en el Plan de Ordenamiento Territorial (POT).PregradoArquitect

Protectionism through exporting: subsidies with exportshare requirements in China

We study the effect of subsidies subject to export share requirements (ESR) - that is, conditioned on a firm exporting at least a given fraction of its output - on exports, the intensity of competition and welfare, through the lens of a two-country model of trade with heterogeneous firms. Our calibrated model suggests that this type of subsidy boosts exports more and provides greater protection for domestic firms than a standard unconditional export subsidy, albeit at a substantial welfare cost

Design of an instrument for the assessment of didactic sequences with a cognitive approach for the teaching of Spanish as a Foreign Language (ELE)

La Gramática Cognitiva (GC) se ha proyectado en años recientes como una alternativa filosófica, teórica y metodológica de gran interés en la enseñanza de ELE. Este enfoque lingüístico propone un punto de vista innovador que entiende los conceptos gramaticales, no como un conjunto de reglas que se imponen sobre la lengua, sino que aboga por entender el significado junto a la forma. Una unión indisoluble entre forma y significado que se conoce como significado conceptual. Sus principios se sustentan en los procesos cognitivos que el cerebro humano emplea de manera natural en el aprendizaje. Procesos cognitivos como la categorización, el uso de metáforas, la construcción de prototipos, de ayudas visuales y de representaciones espaciales se aprovechan para entender conceptos gramaticales con un solo significado lógico. De esta manera, se evita la memorización de listas de usos y de excepciones a las reglas, tan comunes en los enfoques tradicionales. Entre los conceptos gramaticales que en el campo de ELE son considerados como complejos se destacan las preposiciones por y para, el pretérito imperfecto y el subjuntivo. Estos conceptos han llamado la atención de manera especial en el campo de la GC, y se han propuesto maneras lógicas y rentables para facilitar la enseñanza de estos aspectos. Sin embargo, a pesar del auge de esta perspectiva entre teóricos y en la Academia, la producción de materiales cognitivos, su divulgación y uso en el salón de clases todavía no parecen tener la misma fuerza. Esta situación puede deberse, por un lado, al temor de las instituciones y docentes al cambio de paradigmas y todo lo que ello implica. Y, por otro lado, a la falta de evaluación de los materiales. Por esta razón, la presente investigación tuvo como objetivo diseñar un instrumento para la evaluación de secuencias didácticas con enfoque cognitivo para la enseñanza de ELE. Para lograr este objetivo, el marco conceptual contó con las propuestas de evaluación de materiales de McGrath (2002) y Ellis (1998), estableciendo un tipo de evaluación predictiva y de carácter minucioso. Se tuvieron en cuenta, además, el modelo de secuencias didácticas de Díaz-Barriga (2013), y los aportes en GC de Llopis García (2011) y Ruiz Campillo (2022). El Marco metodológico contó con una adaptación de las tres primeras etapas del modelo de evaluación de materiales de Alkhaldi (2010), a saber: establecimiento de razones y propósitos, articulación de criterios y desarrollo de la lista integral. Se complementó, además, con una fase de validación, realizada mediante el juicio de expertos que confirmó de manera positiva la relevancia, la pertinencia, la practicidad, la confiabilidad y la coherencia del instrumento diseñado. Esta etapa contó con las valoraciones de José Plácido Ruiz Campillo y Claudia Cortés, docentes investigadores con larga trayectoria en el campo de ELE y en la GC. Para la selección de categorías y criterios del instrumento de evaluación, se tuvieron en cuenta las seis reglas para una gramática operativa (Ruiz Campillo, 2022); procesos cognitivos generales como la categorización, las redes semánticas y los prototipos; y significados conceptuales específicos como la personificación, la focalización, el uso de escenas espaciales, marcos de visualización y trayectores. Si bien el instrumento diseñado cuenta con una gran influencia de los postulados operativos de Ruiz Campillo (2022), es consecuente con los principios generales de la GC. Se trata de una propuesta adaptable a más conceptos gramaticales y a otras visiones dentro de la GC. Con el instrumento propuesto se espera que los docentes de ELE dispongan de una herramienta confiable para evaluar materiales de corte cognitivo, y al mismo tiempo, motivarlos a crear sus propias secuencias didácticas a la luz de este enfoque, evaluarlas y emplearlas con mayor solidez y confianza en el aula de ELE.Cognitive Grammar (CG) has emerged in recent years as a philosophical, theoretical, and methodological alternative of significant interest in the teaching of Spanish as a Foreign Language (ELE). This linguistic approach offers an innovative perspective, viewing grammatical concepts not as a set of imposed rules but advocating for an understanding of meaning in conjunction with form. This inseparable connection between form and meaning is known as conceptual meaning. The principles of CG are rooted in the cognitive processes naturally employed by the human brain in learning, including categorization, the use of metaphors, construction of prototypes, visual aids, and spatial representations. These processes facilitate the comprehension of grammatical concepts through a unified logical meaning, eliminating the need for memorizing extensive lists of uses and exceptions, a common practice in traditional approaches. Within the realm of ELE, certain grammatical concepts such as the prepositions "por" and "para," the past imperfect, and the subjunctive are deemed complex. These concepts have garnered special attention in the field of Cognitive Grammar, leading to the proposition of logical and cost-effective methods to facilitate their teaching. Despite the growing prominence of this perspective among theorists and in academic circles, the production, dissemination, and utilization of cognitive materials in the classroom appear to lack the same momentum. This situation may be attributed, in part, to institutional and teacher reluctance to embrace paradigm shifts and the associated challenges. Additionally, a lack of material evaluation may contribute to this disparity. Consequently, this research aims to design an instrument for evaluating didactic sequences with a cognitive approach for teaching ELE. To achieve this goal, the conceptual framework relied on the assessment proposals for materials by McGrath (2002) and Ellis (1998), establishing a type of predictive and thorough evaluation. Additionally, the didactic sequences model by Díaz-Barriga (2013) and the contributions in GC by Llopis García (2011) and Ruiz Campillo (2022) were taken into account. The methodological framework involved an adaptation of the first three stages of Alkhaldi's (2010) material evaluation model, namely: establishing reasons and purposes, articulating criteria, and developing the comprehensive list. It was complemented with a validation phase, carried out through expert evaluation that positively confirmed the relevance, pertinence, practicality, reliability, and coherence of the designed instrument. This stage was assessed by José Plácido Ruiz Campillo and Claudia Cortés, teacher-researchers with extensive experience in the field of ELE and in CG. For the selection of categories and criteria in the evaluation instrument, the six rules for an operative grammar (Ruiz Campillo, 2022) were taken into account, along with general cognitive processes such as categorization, semantic networks, and prototypes. Specific conceptual meanings such as personification, focalization, the use of spatial scenes, visualization frames, and trajectories were also considered. While the designed instrument is greatly influenced by Campillo’s postulates (2022), it is consistent with the general principles of CG. It is a proposal that could be adapted to more grammatical concepts and to other perspectives within CG. With the proposed instrument, it is expected that ELE teachers have a reliable tool to assess cognitively-oriented materials and, at the same time, be motivated to create their own didactic sequences in light of this approach, evaluate them, and use them with greater confidence in the ELE classroom.Magíster en Lingüística Aplicada del Español como Lengua ExtranjeraMaestrí

Computational search for UV radiation resistance strategies in Deinococcus swuensis isolated from Paramo ecosystems

Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is widely known as deleterious for many organisms since it can cause damage to biomolecules either directly or indirectly via the formation of reactive oxygen species. The goal of this study was to analyze the capacity of high-mountain Espeletia hartwegiana plant phyllosphere microorganisms to survive UVR and to identify genes related to resistance strategies. A strain of Deinococcus swuensis showed a high survival rate of up to 60% after UVR treatment at 800J/m2 and was used for differential expression analysis using RNA-seq after exposing cells to 400J/m2 of UVR (with \u3e95% survival rate). Differentially expressed genes were identified using the R-Bioconductor package NOISeq and compared with other reported resistance strategies reported for this genus. Genes identified as being overexpressed included transcriptional regulators and genes involved in protection against damage by UVR. Non-coding (nc)RNAs were also differentially expressed, some of which have not been previously implicated. This study characterized the immediate radiation response of D. swuensis and indicates the involvement of ncRNAs in the adaptation to extreme environmental conditions

Twin Peaks

Received wisdom suggests that most exporters sell the majority of their output domestically. In this paper, however, we show that the distribution of export intensity not only varies substantially across countries, but in a large number of cases is also bimodal, displaying what we refer to as twin peaks. We reconcile this new stylized fact with an otherwise standard, two-country model of trade in which firms are heterogeneous in terms of the demand they face in each market. We show that when rm-destination-specific revenue shifters are distributed lognormal, gamma, or Frechet with sufficiently high dispersion, the distribution of export intensity has two modesin the boundaries of the support and their height is determined by a country's size relative to the rest of the world. We estimate the deep parameters characterizing the distribution of export intensity. Our results show that when the conditions for the existence of twin peaks are met, differences in relative market size can explain most of the observed variation in the distribution of export intensity across the world

La Jurisdicción Especial para la Paz frente al Estado de Derecho y el Derecho Administrativo

Una de las grandes novedades que han presentado los acuerdos de paz que se adelantaron en La Habana, entre el Gobierno del presidente Juan Manuel Santos y la cúpula de las FARC, radica en la propuesta de crear una Jurisdicción Especial para la Paz (JEP), que incluye la implementación de un Tribunal Especial de Paz (TEP). Estas jurisdicciones y tribunales no son una novedad en el plano mundial, puesto que dentro de contextos de justicia transicional varios países han acudido a este tipo de figuras, punto en el cual cabe destacar las experiencias del Líbano, Sierra Leona, Camboya, Timor y Bosnia Herzegovina, a las cuales se deben agregar las experiencias vividas en el Cono Sur de nuestro continente, y donde destacan los casos de Argentina y Chile. Cada una de estas experiencias ha tenido sus propias particularidades de acuerdo a la caracterización y estructura de su sistema jurídico-político. Para el caso específico de Colombia, una vez se conoció el punto quinto de las negociaciones de La Habana (diciembre de 2015), las críticas y los cuestionamientos no se hicieron esperar, pues si bien es cierto, los Acuerdos de La Habana eran, para ese momento, tan solo un esbozo de lo que planeaba hacerse, quedo en evidencia que algunos de sus puntos contravienen claramente la naturaleza del Estado de Derecho y socavan la estructura y funcionamiento del Estado, especialmente porque se desconoce el principio de tridivisión de poderes y se afecta la imparcialidad y autonomía de la función judicial, tal como pasaremos a ver.Universidad Libre de Colombia - Facultad de Derecho - Maestría en Derecho Administrativ