A tango tale: on the closure of the Argentine fully funded system

With an early welfare system, Argentina’s demography is more similar to the South European countries than to the majority of Latin American ones. The country reformed its old fashioned Pay-As-You-Go system in the 1990s, introducing a Fully Funded scheme, which was intended to solve the financial stress of the social security, as well as to yield positive externalities on the financial system, the savings rate and economic growth. After 15 years of functioning, the system was closed, their affiliates sent to Pay-As-You-Go again, and the accumulated savings went to the public social security administration, which is in charge of future benefits. The official explanation for such an ending was that the international financial crisis was a peril for future pensioners, and also that the (private) pension funds administrators were not the proper managers of the funds. In the Congress, the political majorities for this reform were remarkable strong in both chambers. Protests of the saving accounts owners were not loud, in a country with a tradition of mass demonstrations. How it happened? Why? Did pension fund administrators work properly for their affiliates, given the constraints they faced? Can we learn some lessons, relevant to other countries with similar characteristics (i.e., Latin American, Eastern European or Central Asian), besides the uniqueness of the local circumstances? We think so, and we worked on developing the lessons of this experience. We debate on the process and we asked if it could occur in some other place. We conclude that it can, since weak political consensus on the reform is built. It also could happen when the objectives and the instruments are not properly differentiated. Are we in search of fixing the social security or of promoting national savings? Also, the marketing and the counter marketing of the reform could polarize the debate, and to difficult the per se complex consensus. Finally, the counter reform has unexpected pay- offs, since making implicit the public debt due to the social security system, and the sudden disposal of a source of resources to finance the State budget increases the appeal of eliminating the Fully Funded scheme. The long run responses of the ageing process and the short run political horizon add up to the counter reform coalition.Pension Funds; Argentina; Reform; Portfolio regulation

One-pot multicomponent synthesis of 2,3-dihydropyrans: new access to furanose–pyranose 1,3-C–C-linked-disaccharides

An efficient synthesis of 2,3-dihydropyrans starting from different terminal alkynes was developed. The 2,3-dihydropyrans were obtained in a few minutes through a microwave-assisted multicomponent enyne cross-metathesis/hetero-Diels–Alder reaction. Starting from C-ethynyl-ribofuranose, a new multicomponent approach to furanose–pyranose 1,3-C–C-linked disaccharides was also developed

Domino alkylation-cyclization reaction of propargyl bromides with thioureas/thiopyrimidinones: A new facile synthesis of 2-aminothiazoles and 5H-thiazolo[3,2-a]pyrimidin-5-ones

A new synthesis of 2-aminothiazoles and 5H-thiazolo[3,2-a]pyrimidin-5-ones was developed as a domino alkylation-cyclization reaction of propargyl bromides with thioureas and thio¬pyrimidinones, respectively. Domino reactions were performed under microwave irradiation leading to desired compounds in a few minutes and high yield

Inserción laboral de personas con discapacidad

Esta ponencia trabaja, en un primer momento, las distintas discapacidades que pueden padecer las personas y la forma en la cual se puede comprenderlos y respetarlos dentro de un ámbito laboral o social, siempre viendo lo que ellos tienen y no los que les falta. Luego se va a abordar la contratación de personas con discapacidad y beneficios que reciben las empresas.Fil: Castagnolo, Leonardo . Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Institutos Multidisciplinario

Stereoselective protecting group free synthesis of d,l-gulose ethyl glycoside via multicomponent enyne cross metathesis—hetero Diels–Alder reaction

An efficient and stereoselective synthesis of d,l-gulose was described. The key step of the synthetic route is represented by a multicomponent enyne cross metathesis—hetero Diels–Alder reaction which allows the formation of the pyran ring from cheap and commercially available substrates in a single synthetic step. The synthesis of d,l-gulose was accomplished without the use of protecting groups making this approach highly desirable also in terms of atom economy

Synthesis, biological evaluation, and SAR study of novel pyrazole analogues as inhibitors of Mycobacterium tuberculosis: Part 2. Synthesis of rigid pyrazolones

Two series of novel rigid pyrazolone derivatives were synthesized and evaluated as inhibitors of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), the causative agent of tuberculosis. Two of these compounds showed a high activity against MTB (MIC = 4 μg/mL). The newly synthesized pyrazolones were also computationally investigated to analyze if their properties fit the pharmacophoric model for antitubercular compounds previously built by us. The results are in agreement with those reported by us previously for a class of pyrazole analogues and confirm the fundamental role of the p-chlorophenyl moiety at C4 in the antimycobacterial activity

On the closure of the Argentine Fully-Funded System

Argentine demography more closely resembles southern European countries than most other Latin American nations. Its pay-as-you-go welfare system, implemented in the first half of the twentieth century, was reformed in the 1990s. The new fully funded scheme intended to solve its stressed pay-as-you-go system, as well as to yield positive externalities in the financial system, the savings rate and economic growth. After 15 years in place, the system was closed in 2008; its affiliates were sent back to the pay-as-you-go plan and the accumulated savings were transferred to the public social security administration, which must pay all future benefits. The official explanation for such a measure was twofold: the international financial crisis imperiled the value of the savings of future pensioners, and the (private) pension funds administrators were not managing the funds properly. In Congress, the political support for this reform was remarkably strong in both chambers. In a country with a tradition of mass demonstrations, the owners of the savings accounts protested little. How and why did this happen? Did pension funds administrators, given the regulatory constraints, act in the best interests of their affiliates? Can we learn some lessons that would be relevant to other countries with similar characteristics (that is, in Latin America, Eastern Europe or Central Asia), despite the uniqueness of the local circumstances? We think we can, and have developed some lessons based on this experience. We discuss the process and ask whether it could occur elsewhere. We think it could occur if a weak political consensus on the reform were built and/or if the objectives and instruments were not properly differentiated. Does the reform intend to fix the social security system or to promote national savings? In addition, the marketing and counter-marketing of the reform could polarize the debate and hamper the per se complex achievement of the extended consensus. Finally, the counter-reform has had unexpected pay-offs by hiding the public debt of the social security system, which the previous reform had made explicit. In addition, the available resources from contributions to finance the State budget in the short run increases the appeal of eliminating the fully funded scheme, where that contribution went to personal savings. The long-run responses to the aging process and the short-run political horizon have given rise to the counter-reform coalition.Fil: Ferro, Gustavo Adolfo. Universidad Argentina de la Empresa; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Castagnolo, Fernando. No especifíca

Algunas consideraciones sobre los alcances y limitaciones metodológicas del cuerpo conceptual marxista para explicar el voto popular en las elecciones presidenciales 2015 en Argentina

El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo contribuir a la discusión sobre las limitaciones que se presentan para poder comprender la coyuntura política actual, utilizando como disparador una reflexión hipotética sobre las condiciones de posibilidad del análisis de las últimas elecciones presidenciales argentinas de noviembre de 2015. En particular reflexionaremos a partir de algunos conceptos teóricos desarrollados por el marxismo heterodoxo. La situación sociopolítica actual que advierte el avance del neoliberalismo en Latinoamérica, en cada formación social con su especificidad, impone a la agenda de las ciencias sociales la necesidad de discutir de qué modo y con cuáles herramientas metodológicas podríamos obtener hoy la materia prima que nos permita dar cuenta de la especificidad de las formaciones sociales concretas, de modo tal, de alimentar los conceptos mediante los cuales pretendemos reflexionar sobre ellas. Nuestra reflexión está encuadrada dentro de las categorías del cuerpo conceptual althusseriano como así también de los aportes centrales con los que N. Poulantzas contribuye a la teoría del Estado en el marxismo, sin dejar de lado a intelectuales ineludibles de la región como A. García Linera, en tanto rescata la importancia de Poulantzas para pensar los procesos políticos en las periferias.Fil: Castagnolo, Héctor D.. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y SocialesFil: Gelman, Mariela. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociale

Studies on the acylation of 4-(2-aminoethylthio)-7-nitrobenzofurazan: the role of bases in promoting the formation of fluorescent S-acyl derivatives through S–N Smiles rearrangement

The acylation of 4-(2-aminoethylthio)-7-nitrobenzofurazan has been investigated. Depending on the use of the base, a competitive Smiles rearrangement occurs during the acylation step leading to the formation of N-acyl and/or fluorescent S-acyl derivatives. The acylating agent also affects the ratio of N/S acylated isomers