Economic Development, Institutional Quality and Regional integration: Evidence from Africa Countries.

The aim of this paper is to provide new empirical evidence about the determinants of per capita income in African countries, with particular attention to the affects of governance institutional quality and sub regional integration on income level. We use a sample of 49 countries from the period 1996-2004 and the Generalized Method of Moments Estimation model for dynamic panel, proposed by Arellano and Bond (1991). The results show that African regional groups with better institutions, higher degrees of regional integration cooperation, higher rates of investment in human capital and lower rates of population growth, show a higher level of per capita incomeSub-Regional Integration, Institutional Quality, Economic development

Spanish peseta and purchasing power parity in the long term (1868-2001)

El objetivo de este trabajo es contrastar la teoría de la paridad del poder adquisitivo para el caso de la peseta española frente a tres monedas de referencia, como son el dólar, el franco y la libra. El período de contrastación abarca toda la vida de la peseta, lo cual permite realizar un análisis de largo plazo. Se utilizan tanto tipos de cambio bilaterales como multilaterales. Los resultados muestran que la teoría no se cumple cuando se emplean los tipos de cambio oficiales para todo el período, pero sí se cumple cuando se sustituyen los citados tipos de cambio por los cotizados en el mercado libre de Tánger durante las décadas de los cuarenta y cincuenta._____________________________________________The aim of this paper is to contrast the theory of purchasing power parity (PPP) in the case of the Spanish peseta against the dollar, the franc and the pound. The period of study covers the entire life of the peseta, which allows a long-term analysis. We use both bilateral and multilateral exchange rates. The results don’t show evidence of PPP when we use the official exchange rates for the whole period, but PPP holds when these are replaced by the exchange rates quoted in the free market in Tangier during the decades of the forties and fifties

Transformation As Search

In model-driven engineering, model transformations are con- sidered a key element to generate and maintain consistency between re- lated models. Rule-based approaches have become a mature technology and are widely used in different application domains. However, in var- ious scenarios, these solutions still suffer from a number of limitations that stem from their injective and deterministic nature. This article pro- poses an original approach, based on non-deterministic constraint-based search engines, to define and execute bidirectional model transforma- tions and synchronizations from single specifications. Since these solely rely on basic existing modeling concepts, it does not require the intro- duction of a dedicated language. We first describe and formally define this model operation, called transformation as search, then describe a proof-of-concept implementation and discuss experiments on a reference use case in software engineering

Flexural wave propagation in slowly varying random waveguides using a finite element approach

This work investigates structural wave propagation in waveguides with randomly varying properties along the axis of propagation, specifically when the properties vary slowly enough such that there is negligible backscattering. Wave-based methods are typically applied to homogeneous waveguides but the WKB (after Wentzel, Kramers and Brillouin) approximation can be used to find a suitable generalisation of the wave solution in terms of the change of phase and amplitude, but is restricted to analytical solutions. A wave and finite element (WFE) approach is proposed to extend the applicability of the WKB method to cases where no analytical solution is available. The wavenumber is expressed as a function of the position along the waveguide and a Gauss-Legendre quadrature scheme is used to obtain the phase change while the wave amplitude is calculated using conservation of power. The WFE method is used to evaluate the wavenumbers at each integration point. The flexural vibration example is considered with random field proprieties being expressed by a Karhunen-Loeve expansion. Results are compared to a standard FE approach and to the WKB analytical solution. They show good agreement and require only a few WFE evaluations, providing a suitable framework for spatially correlated randomness in waveguides

Transforming Very Large Models in the Cloud: a Research Roadmap

International audienceModel transformations are widely used by Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) platforms to apply different kinds of operations over models, such as model translation, evolution or composition. However, existing solutions are not designed to handle very large models (VLMs), thus facing scalability issues. Coupling MDE with cloud-based platforms may help solving these issues. Since cloud-based platforms are relatively new, researchers still need to investigate if/how/when MDE solutions can benefit from them. In this paper, we investigate the problem of transforming VLMs in the Cloud by addressing the two phases of 1) model storage and 2) model transformation execution in the Cloud. For both aspects we identify a set of research questions, possible solutions and probable challenges researchers may face

Industrial-strength Rule Interoperability using Model Driven Engineering

Model Driven Engineering (MDE) is rapidly maturing and is being deployed in several situations. We report here on an experiment conducted in the context of ILOG, a leader in the development of Business Rule Management Systems (BRMS). BRMSs aim at enabling business users automating their business policies. There is a growing number of BRMS supporting different languages, but also a lack of tools for bridging them. In this paper, we present an approach based on MDE techniques for bridging rule languages; the solution has been fully implemented and tested on different BRMS. The success of the experiment has led to the development of a significant number of model transformations. At the same time, this deployment has shown new problems arising from the management of a high number of artifacts. We discuss the positive assessment of MDE in this field, but also the need to address the complexity generated

Determinantes de la calidad institucional de los países

El objetivo del presente trabajo es contribuir con nueva evidencia empírica al debate existente en torno a cuáles son los factores que determinan la calidad institucional de los países. Se plantea para ello un modelo que incluye de forma conjunta las variables más relevantes propuestas en la literatura sobre crecimiento e instituciones, y se utilizan los “Indicadores agregados de Gobernabilidad” de Kaufmann et. al. (2003). Su estimación pretende contrastar algunas hipótesis sugeridas en investigaciones recientes, en relación a la supremacía de algunos determinantes institucionales frente a otros. Se trabaja, además, con distintas submuestras de países (renta alta, media y baja), al objeto de detectar la posible presencia de distintos patrones de comportamiento que impiden ofrecer una respuesta global en relación a los citados determinantes de la calidad institucional.calidad institucional, crecimiento, indicadores de gobernabilidad

Calidad institucional y factores político-culturales: un panorama internacional por niveles de renta

El objetivo del presente trabajo es contribuir con nueva evidencia empírica al debate existente en torno a cuáles son los factores que determinan la calidad institucional de los países. Para ello, se han utilizado los “Indicadores agregados de Gobernabilidad” construidos por los economistas del Banco Mundial Kaufmann, Kraay y Zoido-Lobatón (2003). Los resultados obtenidos sugieren que los países pobres, etnolingüísticamente heterogéneos, con origen legal francés y socialista y con elevada proporción de católicos y musulmanes, cuentan con inferiores desempeños institucionales. Además, la apertura comercial y la reducción en las desigualdades en renta, contribuirían a mejorar dichos desempeños. No obstante, el análisis efectuado por subgrupos de países, clasificados en función del nivel de renta, pone de manifiesto la imposibilidad de ofrecer una respuesta global en relación a los determinantes de la calidad institucional.Calidad institucional, Indicadores agregados de Gobernabilidad