How are Spanish academics coping with changes? Responses from a life histories research.

Podeu consultar la versió en català a: http://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/handle/2445/20983[eng] This report is part of the research project, The effects of social changes in work and professional life of Spanish academics, partially financed by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (SEJ2006-01876), that has explored change in legislation, organisation, research schemes and so on, in the last thirty years. The main aim of this project is deepening our understanding of the impact of undergoing economic, social, cultural, technological and labour change in Spanish universities in the life and professional identity of the teaching and research staff, taking into account the national and european context. This paper gathers part of the results gained from the project, being its primary objective to contribute to an improved knowledge-base on professional knowledge and work experience in higher education institutions in Spain and, as a consequence, to understand how Spanish academics are coping with current changes.[spa] Este documento forma parte de la investigación, Los efectos de los cambios sociales en el trabajo y la vida profesional de los docentes universitarios, parcialmente financiado por el Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (SEJ2006-01876), en el que hemos explorado los cambios en la legislación, la organización, los contextos de la investigación y la docencia, etc., en los últimos treinta años. El principal objetivo de este documento es profundizar en nuestra comprensión sobre el impacto del cambio económico, social, cultural, tecnológico y laboral que están experimentando las universidades españolas en la vida y la identidad profesional del personal docente e investigador, teniendo en cuenta el contexto nacional y europeo. Este trabajo recoge parte de los resultados obtenidos en el proyecto, siendo su principal objetivo contribuir a mejorar el conocimiento basado en la investigación sobre el saber profesional y la experiencia laboral en las universidades españolas, y en consecuencia, favorecer nuestra comprensión sobre cómo los académicos se están enfrentando con los cambios actuales.[cat] Aquest document forma part de la investigació, Els efectes dels canvis socials en el treball i la vida professional dels docents universitaris, parcialment finançat pel Ministeri de Ciència i Innovació (SEJ2006-01876), on hem explorat els canvis de la legislació, l'organització, els contextos d'investigació i docència etc., durant els darrers trenta anys. El principal objectiu d'aquest document és aprofundir en la comprensió de l'impacte del canvi econòmic, social, cultural, tecnològic i laboral que s'està experimentant a les universitats espanyoles en la vida i en la identitat professional de les persones docents i investigadores, tenint en compte el context nacional i europeu. Aquest treball recull part dels resultats obtinguts en el projecte, essent el seu principal objectiu contribuir a la millora del coneixement basat en la investigació sobre el saber professional i l'experiència laboral a les universitats espanyoles, i conseqüentment, afavorir la comprensió sobre com els acadèmics estan encarant els actuals canvis

On the sustainability of the Spanish public budget performance

In this paper, we address the issue of whether the current fiscal policy in Spain is sustainable. For this purpose we apply traditional empirical tests of fiscal sustainability proposed in the literature and, in addition, we introduce a deeper univariate analysis of the series involved. Our results show that a structural break seems to have taken place gradually in the Spanish budget performance, allowing to verifying the intertemporal borrowing constraint in a «strong sense», which means that no problems in marketing public debt are expected to arise if fiscal variables follow the pattern of the past in the future. Classification-JEL : E60, F41,: Sustainability, cointegration, structural breaks, intertemporal borrowing constraint.

The economic effects of exogenous fiscal shocks in Spain: a SVAR approach

This paper estimates the effects of exogenous fiscal policy shocks in Spain in a VAR framework. Government expenditure expansionary shocks are found to have positive effects on output in the short-term at the cost of higher inflation and public deficits and lower output in the medium and long term. Tax increases are found to drag economic activity in the medium term while entailing an only temporary improvement of the public budget balance. The application of these results to the analysis of fiscal policy in Spain since the mid-nineties points to the conclusion that the consolidation process does not seem to have involved costs in terms of output growth. Moreover, the stance of fiscal policy has become more counter-cyclical in that period. JEL Classification: E62, H30Fiscal multipliers, Fiscal shocks, VAR

"Narco" Emotions: Affect and Desensitization in Social Media during the Mexican Drug War

Social media platforms have emerged as prominent information sharing ecosystems in the context of a variety of recent crises, ranging from mass emergencies, to wars and political conflicts. We study affective responses in social media and how they might indicate desensitization to violence experienced in communities embroiled in an armed conflict. Specifically, we examine three established affect measures: negative affect, activation, and dominance as observed on Twitter in relation to a number of statistics on protracted violence in four major cities afflicted by the Mexican Drug War. During a two year period (Aug 2010-Dec 2012), while violence was on the rise in these regions, our findings show a decline in negative emotional expression as well as a rise in emotional arousal and dominance in Twitter posts: aspects known to be psychological markers of desensitization. We discuss the implications of our work for behavioral health, facilitating rehabilitation efforts in communities enmeshed in an acute and persistent urban warfare, and the impact on civic engagement.Comment: Best paper award at the 32nd annual ACM conference on Human factors in computing systems (CHI '14). ACM, New York, NY, USA, pages 3563-357