Structural Changes in the Transmission Mechanism of Monetary Policy in Mexico: A Non-linear VAR Approach

In this paper we present a first approach to the study of the transformation in the transmission mechanism of monetary policy that has taken place in Mexico in recent years. For this purpose, we use a non-linear VAR model that allows for regime shifts. The comparison of the different regimes identified leads to the following main findings: a) there was a major structural change in the transmission mechanism around January 2001, date that coincides with the formal adoption of the inflation targeting framework; b) after this change, fluctuations in the real exchange rate have had smaller effects on the process of price formation, the formation of inflation expectations and the nominal interest rate; c) also, there have been stronger reactions of the nominal interest rate to increases in the output gap and the rate of inflation; and d) the movements of the nominal interest rate have a more effective influence on the real exchange rate and the rate of inflation.Monetary policy, Mexico, Monetary transmission mechanism

Uncertainty about the Persistence of Cost-Push Shocks and the Optimal Reaction of the Monetary Authority.

In this paper we formalize the uncertainty about the persistence of cost-push shocks using an open economy optimal control model with Markov regime-switching and robust control. The latter is used in only one of the regimes producing relatively more persistent cost-push shocks in that regime. Conditional on being in the regime with relatively less persistence, we obtain two main results: a) underestimating the probability of switching to the regime with relatively more persistent cost-push shocks causes higher welfare losses than its overestimation; and b) the welfare losses associated with either underestimation or overestimation of such probability increase with the size of the penalty on inflation deviations from its target. Keywords: Model uncertainty, Robustness, Markov regime-switching, Monetary policy, Inflation targeting.Model uncertainty, Robustness, Markov regime-switching, Monetary policy, Inflation targeting

Rural development, population aging and gender in Spain: the case of rural women in the autonomous community of Castilla y León

The transformation that rural areas have undergone during the last 30 years constitutes a very important phenomenon in Spain, but it is especially relevant in certain regions such as the Autonomous Community of Castilla y León. The constant process of depopulation, which a great number of villages of that region are suffering, primarily caused by the continuous transfer of labour force from agriculture activities to the industrial sector and, more recently, towards the service sector of urban areas, is provoking the progressive demographic and economic decadence of rural areas. In this context, women played a key role in the process of rural exodus, especially in the case of young women. This trend has created highly aged, male rural populations, with few potential human resources, which are incapable of sustaining and promoting economic and social development in the future. This project attempts to determine to which extent women have been and continue to be the protagonists of the social and economic transformations which have affected rural areas during the last decades. To this aim, we will undertake an analysis by sex of different demographic, economic and social variables at the municipal level, which will show women’s spatial situation, according to rural criteria. We will also undertake a prospective analysis of the population evolution of these rural areas, in order to obtain a probable demographic scenario which rural women will have to face in the future. The specific focus of this study will be the territory of the Autonomous Community of Castilla y León. The results of this analysis will serve as a very useful reference for the public authorities as well as for private agents of this and other Spanish regions whenever they have to design alternative policies and actions regarding the role that rural women play and will play in the economic maintenance and development of rural areas. This is especially true given that, until now, studies which focus on the quantitative analysis of the economic and social situation of rural women have been practically nonexistent.

Manuel Ortells Ramos e Isabel Tapia Fernández (dirs. y coords.). El Proceso Penal en la Doctrina del Tribunal Constitucional (1981-2004)

Sin resume

Régimen de los procesos sobre estado civil en la ley de enjuiciamiento civil (con especial atención a los procesos sobre capacidad de las personas)

Study on the regulation in the Spanish Law of Civil Procedure of 2000 about the general dispositions applicable to the processes on civil state, focussing in the processes relative to the declaration of incapacity, reintegration of the capacity and nonvoluntary entrance of the incapable one in appropiated health institutions

Fractional Integration Analysis and its Implications on Profitability: the Case of the Mackerel Market in the Basque Country

This paper analyses weekly prices for mackerel landed by the inshore fleet at the ports of the Basque Country in 1995-2008, using new econometric techniques never before applied to the fishing market. The idea is to learn to what extent fishermen can pass on the effects of negative shocks (e.g. fuel price increases) to their ex-vessel prices. This will give an idea of the profitability of the fishery in question. To that end, a cyclical ARFIMA model is adjusted to the series analysed, then the impulse-response function is constructed. Among other things, the behaviour of this function shows that possible increases in production costs are not being passed on to prices, which lowers the profitability of fishing. In view of these results, it is suggested that fishermen need to be able to pass the shocks that they suffer on to prices if the profitability of this fleet is to be assured.long memory, seasonality, fishing market, mackerel, impulse response function

El martirio de los diez mil. Dante en la pintura de Vittore Carpaccio

Vittore Carpaccio, hacia 1515, nos ofrece la crónica visual del suplicio de los diez mil mártires en el monte Ararat que ya quedó relatada en martirologios carolingios. En alguno, como el de Usuardo, impreso en Venecia para esta fecha podemos encontrar la fuente literaria de la composición. El relato repara en la batalla, en la victoria y en el martirio al que fueron condenados, también en la divina promesa de la resurrección, aspecto este último que no encontramos en otras representaciones del tema, y que Carpaccio nos ofrece siguiendo la arquitectura cósmica que propone Dante en su Comedia. PALABRAS CLAVES: Carpaccio, mártires del monte Ararat, Usuardo, martirologio, Dante, Iconografía.Vittore Carpaccio, around 1515, offered us the visual chronicle of the torture suffered by the ten thousand martyrs on Mount Ararat that had been previously related in Carolingian martyrologies. In some, such as that by Usuard, printed in Venice by the date of the painting, we can find the literry source of its composition. The tale focuses on the battle, the victory, and the martyrdom to which the soldiers were condemned, as well as on the divine promise of resurrection. This latter aspect is not found in other depictions of the theme, and Carpaccio offers it to us following the same cosmic architecture that Dante proposes in his Comedia. KEYWORDS: Carpaccio, Martyrs of Mount Ararat, Usuard, Martyrology, Dante, Iconography

Numerical and experimental investigation of a vertical LiBr falling film absorber considering wave regimes and in presence of mist flow

The absorber represents the most critical component in absorption systems and one of the key issues. In this component complex heat and mass transfer phenomena during the absorption process takes place simultaneously. For this reason the development of mathematical models validated against experimental data always constitutes useful tools for the design and improvement of falling film absorbers. A testing device has been designed and built to reproduce absorption phenomena in vertical LiBr-H2O falling film absorbers with the primary objective to obtain experimental data. On the other hand, a mathematical model of falling film absorption of H2O vapour in LiBr aqueous solutions has been implemented. Wave regime is considered by including and solving the Free Surface Deflection Equation. The numerical results are validated using the experimental data. During the development of this work, the authors have paid careful attention to the verification of experimental data. Such verification consists of performing energy and mass balances in the fluid film side. Important discrepancies were found in our experimental data. Therefore, an extensive study was carried out in order to find the source of such errors. The conclusion is that there is a drag of LiBr solution in the water vapour which increases with the Re number. This mist flow cannot be measured experimentally, but can be evaluated in an indirect way. The mathematical models have been adapted in order to consider the influence of mist flow. On the other hand, in the literature there are not many experimental works related to falling film absorbers which expose enough information to verify the reliability of their experimental data.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

El arte sepulcral como una de las mayores manifestaciones del renacimiento en la Vitoria del siglo XVI

El Renacimiento en Vitoria comienza a partir de la segunda década del S. XVI, siendo su obra emblemática el Hospital de Santa María. En esta ciudad confluyen dos tendencias renacentistas: el purismo ornamental burgalés y un repertorio icónico de sepulcros y sotocoros, propios de la tradición gótica. La manifestación del Renacimiento más al gusto italiano en cuanto a estética y humanismo, se puede encontrar en el arte sepulcral. Los conjuntos funerarios se realizan en el interior de los templos, principalmente en el caso de personajes de mayor dignidad social y eclesiástica. En Vitoria, los principales conjuntos se levantan por personajes de alta dignidad civil y comercial. Los conjuntos funerarios de importancia en el S. XVI se realizan en las iglesias de San Pedro, San Vicente y Catedral de Santa María. El Renacimiento en Vitoria es esencialmente decorativo. En el primer Renacimiento se presentan los mayores elementos icónicos en base a grutescos que siguen modelos de grabados flamencos. En el manierismo se da una menor decoración y nos presenta unas líneas arquitectónicas más definidas, se da una influencia más italianizante. Dentro de esta última tendencia destaca Esteban de Velasco, introductor de los nuevos elementos plásticos, que colaboró con Juan de Anchieta. La traza arquitectónica de los monumentos realizados en la segunda mitad del S. XV presenta relación con los modelos de Diego Sagredo plasmados en su obra "Medidas de lo romano". La ausencia de elementos icónicos indica la penetración del gusto italiano. Los temas de los sepulcros son claramente religiosos: las virtudes, el rosario..., en relación con la idea de Redención. El arte sepulcral vitoriano presenta obras de gran talla y permite estudiar las huellas de las nuevas tendencias estéticas llegadas de Itali

Three low environmental terraced houses: a case of good practices in a central region of Spain

Topic III: Best practices and failures in realized SB projects in Mediterranean section. The purpose of this paper is to present a POSTER PRESENTATION about a good practice, which will be presented with plans, photographs and text in A0 poster. The good practice is composed by three terraced houses of low environmental impact built in Valladolid, a medium size Spanish city. The research about the reduction of CO2 emissions on this project has been awarded by the Obra Social of Caja España de Inversiones, Caja de Ahorros y Monte de Piedad, in their Research Prize Convocation for renewable energies in 2003. The three houses has been finalized in 2004. Every houses have a floor area of 190 m2 each one, with conventional family program, from a private promotion in a residentia l area. The technical construction level is an average between light or high techno