Migrants’ countries of origin will play a key role in the success of Obama’s executive actions

In discussions of President Obama’s controversial executive action on immigration last month, most commentators have focused on the role of the U.S. government. Alexandra Délano looks at the part that Mexico’s U.S. consulates will now play, writing that they will have to bear the brunt of providing advice and assistance to the millions of migrants in the U.S. that are potentially eligible for work authorization. She also argues that Obama’s newly announced measures, like his 2012 expansion of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, will have a significant impact in migrants’ relationships to their home and host country. She writes that the gradual change in U.S. immigration policy will allow Mexico to explore new ways of engaging with migrants who have benefitted from these programs, and allow expatriates to better reconnect with their home country

The invisibility of undocumented migrants in 9/11 relief and commemoration is a symptom of their wider social and political isolation

Despite their lack of recognition, undocumented immigrants are not immune from the disasters and tragedies that occur in the U.S. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2011 were no exception. Alexandra Délano and Benjamin Nienass look at how, in the wake of 9/11, the undocumented immigrants that were involved in the tragedy and their families were practically ‘invisible’ to state and non-state institutions who would have otherwise provided assistance and recognition. They argue that this failure of public life for undocumented immigrants is down to their own fears about coming forward due to their legal status, procedural requirements which called for documents that they did not possess, and the post 9/11 associations between immigration, security and terrorism

Spreads Soberanos: Una Aproximación Factorial

In this paper, we examine the importance of idiosyncratic and common factors in the evolution and volatility of sovereign spreads, with special focus on Chile. Our empirical results support the view that few common factors explained most of common volatility of sovereign spreads between January 1998 and June 2004. Consistent with a differentiation of international investors based on sovereign ratings, a larger proportion of common volatility of non-investment economies is explained by common factors compared to investments. For Chile, common factors explained about 25 percent of sovereign spread volatility. This result may be associated to a sharper differentiation of countries economic performance by international investors. In fact, in recent years, movements of spreads have been mainly explained by idiosyncratic factors. Finally, the recent downturn of Chilean's spread was associated to a joint decrease of domestic and common factors.

Productividad y Tipo de Cambio Real en Chile

This paper studies the relation between productivity gains and the RER in Chile using three complementary methodologies. First, we calibrate a simple RER with Balassa-Samuelson effect with Chilean data. Second, we estimate cointegration vectors for the relation between RER with fundamentals (including productivity differentials). Third, we look at the international evidence on the relation between productivity and the RER using a panel of 92 countries with data from 1960 to 1990. The three methods yield surprisingly similar results. Explicitly considering the way the RER is constructed in Chile, our estimation indicates that the annual appreciation due to productivity differentials for the 1990-1997 period is in the range 0.7% to 0.9%.

Treescapes

We’ve each been looking to the trees for a long time. One of us painting, the other writing, with, by the trees. In the middle of the city and its noise, finding the branches. Standing, inquiring, returning. Why the trees, how we belong to each other, is a question worth asking again and again. These paintings and poems are part of an ongoing conversation, of many layers, of many trees, of what we lose and find under their canopies, in blooms, in dirt & seasons. What walking among the trees has taught us is that every art is an invitation to the mutuality of life. Through paintings it means creating an opening of treescapes and orchards for people to become a part of & inhabit. & every exchange of poetry is a welcoming to community, listening, growth

SOVEREIGN SPREADS: A FACTORIAL APPROACH

This paper explores and estimates idiosyncratic and global factors that affect the evolution of sovereign spreads in emerging economies, with an emphasis on the Chilean case, for the period from January 1998 to September 2005. We find that a small number of global factors explain a large part of the sovereign spreads’ variability. In line with certain differentiation of international investors toward investment-grade economies, global factors seem to account for a smaller proportion of the sovereign spreads’ variability in these economies. In addition, we find that the recent reduction in Chile’s country risk can be explained by the evolution of both the idiosyncratic factor determined in principle by robust macrofinancial fundamentals and—mainly—of the global factors associated with world growth projections.

Secondary Metabolism in Amaranthus spp. — A Genomic Approach to Understand Its Diversity and Responsiveness to Stress in Marginally Studied Crops with High Agronomic Potential

Cultivated amaranths are crops with an unrealized agronomical potential despite their high nutritional value and nutraceutic properties of their seeds and/ or leaves. They tolerate growing conditions unsuitable for cereals, and are tolerant to biotic aggressors. Several Amaranthus species are abundant of sources of secondary metabolites, mostly phenylpropanoids, predominantly in seeds and leaves, many of which may confer health benefits associated with their antioxidant properties. They could also act as defensive compounds against predators or pathogens. Recent biochemical and molecular approaches partly defined the mechanisms responsible for grain amaranth´s tolerance against biotic stress. However, the role played by secondary metabolites in (a)biotic stress amelioration in amaranth is practically unknown. Our group has identified several genes coding for enzymes involved in secondary metabolism pathways in A. hypochondriacus, in addition to related regulatory transcription factors. More than 50% of these genes involve the phenylpropanoid pathway. In this chapter, the role played by this pathway in (a)biotic stress amelioration in plants will be briefly reviewed, followed by an examination of its involvement in the conferral of nutraceutic properties to amaranth plants. A description of the progress obtained so far regarding the characterization of phenylpropanoid genes in grain amaranth will close this chapter