Spanish unemployment: normative versus analytical regionalisation procedures

In applied regional analysis, statistical information is usually published at different territorial levels with the aim of providing information of interest for different potential users. When using this information, there are two different choices: first, to use normative regions (towns, provinces, etc.), or, second, to design analytical regions directly related with the analysed phenomena. In this paper, provincial time series of unemployment rates in Spain are used in order to compare the results obtained by applying two analytical regionalisation models (a two stages procedure based on cluster analysis and a procedure based on mathematical programming) with the normative regions available at two different scales: NUTS II and NUTS I. The results have shown that more homogeneous regions were designed when applying both analytical regionalisation tools. Two other obtained interesting results are related with the fact that analytical regions were also more stable along time and with the effects of scale in the regionalisation process. Keywords: Unemployment, normative region, analytical region, regionalisation. JEL Codes: E24, R23, C61.

Design of homogenous territorial units: a methodological proposal

One of the main questions to solve when analysing geographically added information consists of the design of territorial units adjusted to the objectives of the study. In fact, in those cases where territorial information is aggregated, ad-hoc criteria are usually applied as there are not regionalization methods flexible enough. Moreover, and without taking into account the aggregation method applied, there is an implicit risk that is known in the literature as Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP) (Openshaw, 1984). This problem is related with the high sensitivity of statistical and econometric results to different aggregations of geographical data, which can negatively affect the robustness of the analysis. In this paper, an optimization model is proposed with the aim of identifying homogenous territorial units related with the analyzed phenomena. This model seeks to reduce some disadvantages found in previous works about automated regionalisation tools. In particular, the model not only considers the characteristics of each element to group but also, the relationships among them, trying to avoid the MAUP. An algoritm, known as RASS (Regionalization Algorithm with Selective Search) it also proposed in order to obtain faster results from the model. The obtained results permit to affirm that the proposed methodology is able to identify a great variety of territorial configurations, taking into account the contiguity constraint among the different elements to be grouped.

Research networks and scientific production in Economics, The recent Spanish Experience.

This paper studies Spanish scientific production in Economics from 1994 to 2004. It focuses on aspects that have received little attention in other bibliometric studies, such as the impact of research and the role of scientific collaborations in the publications produced by Spanish universities. Our results show that national research networks have played a fundamental role in the increase in Spanish scientific production in this discipline.Bibliometric techniques, scientific production in Economics, research networks.

IS THE WAGE CURVE FORMAL OR INFORMAL? EVIDENCE FOR COLOMBIA

The objective of this paper is to analyse the existence or not of a wage curve in Colombia, paying special attention to the differences between formal and informal workers, an issue that has been systematically ignored in the wage curve literature. The obtained results using microdata from the Colombian Continuous Household Survey (CHS) between 2002 and 2006 show the existence of a wage curve with a negative slope for the Colombian economy. Using information on metropolitan areas, the estimates of the elasticity of individual wages to local unemployment rates was -0.07, a value that is very close to those obtained for other countries. However, the disaggregation of statistical information for formal and informal workers has shown significant differences among both groups of workers. In particular, for the less protected groups of the labour market, informal workers (both men and women), a high negatively sloped wage curve was found. This result is consistent with the conclusions from efficiency wage theoretical models and should be taken into account when analysing the functioning of regional labour markets in developing countries.Wage curve, unemployment, formal and informal sectors

Supervised regionalization methods, a survey.

This paper reviews almost four decades of contributions on the subject of supervised regionalization methods. These methods aggregate a set of areas into a predefined number of spatially contiguous regions while optimizing certain aggregation criteria. The authors present a taxonomic scheme that classifies a wide range of regionalization methods into eight groups, based on the strategy applied for satisfying the spatial contiguity constraint. The paper concludes by providing a qualitative comparison of these groups in terms of a set of certain characteristics, and by suggesting future lines of research for extending and improving these methods.regionalization, constrained clustering, analytical regions.

Uso del programa televisivo "hora de aventura" como estrategia de enseñanza en los estudiantes del grado 5to del colegio Sur Oriental de Pereira

Desde el 13 de junio de 1954, tras la llegada de la televisión en Colombia, ésta se ha convertido en un elemento fundamental de los hogares y ha participado y contribuido en la construcción del imaginario colectivo de la sociedad colombiana desde los contenidos que en ella se desarrollan. Si bien es entendido que como medio de comunicación su propósito no va más allá de transmitir información a sus receptores, este proceso pudiese llegar a generar una problemática social importante, dado que cualquier persona puede tener acceso a sus contenidos, los cuales son susceptibles de generar una respuesta negativa en los receptores; más aún en los niños. A partir de ello se observa la necesidad de realizar una inclusión de los medios televisivos dentro del proceso de enseñanza de los niños, tomando los programas de televisión como elemento de apoyo en la formación y generación de conciencia crítica y construcción del conocimiento. Para conseguir lo anterior, la investigación se enfocara en primera instancia a identificar los programas de televisión más observados por la población objetivo del estudio, generando de este un plan de enseñanza donde se genere una interacción valida y productiva con los contenidos televisivos para fortalecer y afianzar diferentes áreas en el proceso de aprendizaje

Memoria metodológica del trabajo de grado: plan exportador para la Pyme antioqueña Elecprocol S.A.S.

El presente trabajo consta de la memoria metodológica del plan exportador para la pyme antioqueña Elecprocol S.A.S., en el marco del Grupo Antioquia Exporta Más -- Los países seleccionados para hacer el estudio fueron Perú y México, los cuales evidencian un interesante potencial de exportaciones para Colombia -- En el documento, se puede observar la situación abordada, el proceso llevado a cabo y las principales conclusiones y aprendizajesThe following document consists in the methodologic memory of export plan for the pyme Elecprocol S.A.S. in the frame of “Antioquia Exporta Mas Group” -- The countries selected for the study were Peru and Mexico, which show an interesting potential of exports for Colombia -- In the document, you can see the situation addressed, the process carried out and the main conclusions and learning