CIVIL CONFLICT AND FORCED MIGRATION: THE MICRO DETERMINANTES AND THE WELFARE LOSSES OF DISPLACEMENT IN COLOMBIA

During the last decade, forced internal displacement in Colombia has been a growing phenomenon closely linked to the escalation of the internal armed conflict - particularly in rural areas. The displacement problem has affected nearly every region and vulnerable groups of the population. Two emerging policy questions are whether the magnitude of the response to this problem has been proportional to its size and to what extent the instruments chosen are the most adequate to address it. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, to identify the determinants of displacement behavior and to compare these findings with standard migration literature. Second, to estimate the burden or welfare losses of displacement. Empirical evidence shows that the welfare loss of displacement is considerable and amount to 37 percent of the net present value of rural lifetime aggregate consumption for the average household. This loss is estimated for each household with a method that derives welfare changes from behavioral model estimates - widely used in environmental economics. Our empirical findings also show that the level of violence at the origin site is not only the dominant factor of displacement behavior, but also that in a violent environment other migration determinants have the opposite effect, relative to the one expected by the migration literature in a non-violent context. That is, the violent environment modifies the migration incentives for risk aversion, access to information, the planning horizon, and location-specific assets - human and non-human.Forced displacement

Local Institutions and Armed Group Presence in Colombia

This paper investigates the causal impact of non-state armed groups on local institutions during the armed conflict in Colombia, and tests competing theoretical mechanisms that may shape such effect. Our identification strategy is based on the construction of contiguous-pairs of rural communities that share common socio-economic characteristics but differ in armed group presence. The results show that the presence of armed groups is associated with increases in overall participation in local organizations, with a particularly strong effect on political organizations. This strengthening of local institutions during wartime appears to be driven by coercion exercised by armed groups that capture local organizations for strategic war purposes, rather than a reflection of a vibrant civil society

Agricultural production amidst conflict : the effects of shocks, uncertainty and governance of non-state armed actors

This paper examines the effect of conflict on agricultural production of small-farmers. We use a unique household survey applied to 4.800 households in four micro-regions of Colombia. The survey collects detailed information on households’ economic conditions, incidence of violent shocks, and presence of non-state armed actors. We separate the effects of conflict on direct impacts, measured through conflict-induced shocks, and indirect impacts, measured through years of presence of nonstate armed actors. The results show the association between lower agricultural production and conflict transmits through different channels. In regions with an intense conflict, yearly agricultural revenues per hectare and investments are lower, and households concentrate production on seasonal crops and pasture. Presence of non-state armed actors is associated with an immediate increase in production costs, lower access to formal financial institutions, and lower investments. The results suggest that households are affected by indirect and direct impacts that may induce sub-optimal agricultural decisions. Although traditional reconstruction efforts are crucial, post-conflict policies should also aim to reduce uncertainty and improve the rule of law to foster increases in production

Els colors de la vida

Els colors de la vid

La bella dorment: Un conte de llavors

La bella dorment: Un conte de llavor

Tots els colors de l'Arc de Sant Martí

Tots els colors de l'Arc de Sant Mart&iacute

Ungüents, pomades, cremes, cosmètics i altres potingues...

Ungüents, pomades, cremes, cosmètics i altres potingues..

Models degeneratius de la malaltia de Parkinson

Els models d'experimentació animals que més s'utilitzen com a aproximació a la malaltia de Parkinson consisteixen a provocar la degeneració de la via nigroestriatal per procediments químics. Els compostos que més s'han utilitzat en rosegadors són: la 6-hidroxidopamina (6-OHDA), que injectada estereotàcticament al feix nigroestriatal de la rata provoca la degeneració selectiva de les neurones dopaminèrgiques d'aquesta via, i la 1-metil- 4-fenil-1,2,3,6-tetrahidropiridina (MPTP), que administrada perifèricament a ratolins provoca una pèrdua important i selectiva de la dopamina estriatal. En el nostre laboratori s'ha assajat en rates l'administració estereotàctica intraestriatal de la 6-OHDA i de 1'MPP+, metabòlit tòxic de 1'MPTP, amb la finalitat d'estudiar el procés neurodegeneratiu retrògrad. Ambdós compostos provoquen una important depleció inicial de dopamina estriatal, detectable per mesures del seu contingut tissular i per tècniques de microdiàlisi, i redueixen dràsticament 1'activitat motora dels animals. El transport retroaxonal comporta, en el cas de la 6-OHDA, una pèrdua progressiva de dopamina estriatal i la destrucció de la substància negra. En el cas de 1'MPP+, a diferència de la 6-OHDA, la substància negra no s'afecta significativament i els nivells estriatals de dopamina es recuperen parcialment. Amb MPP+, a diferència de la lesió amb 6-OHDA, tenim un efecte menys selectiu sobre neurones no dopaminèrgiques, sobre estructures no neuronals i sobre el metabolisme oxidatiu estriatal, probablement mediat per una sobreproducció de radicals hidroxils lliures. Les lesions estriatals provocades per 1'MPP+ tenen, a més a més, una correlació amb la disminució de nivells d'àcid homovaníl·lic en el liquid cefaloraquidi, tal com s'observa en les formes mes avançades de la malaltia de Parkinson. En definitiva, les lesions químiques del feix nigroestriatal, tot i no reproduir totes les característiques bioquímiques i les manifestacions de comportament de la malaltia de Parkinson, representen una eina eficaç per a 1'estudi de les vies de connexió entre els ganglis basals i dels processos que poden conduir a la seva degeneració

Planta una planta

Planta una plant

LC-QTOF MS screening of more than 1,000 licit and illicit drugs and their metabolites in wastewater and surface waters from the area of Bogotá, Colombia

A large screening of around 1,000 emerging contaminants, focused on licit and illicit drugs and their metabolites, has been made in urban wastewaters (both influent and effluent) and surface waters from the area of Bogotá, Colombia. After a simple generic solid-phase extraction (SPE) step with Oasis hydrophilic-lipophilic balanced (HLB) cartridges, analyses were made by ultra high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QTOF MS) under MSE mode (sequential acquisition of mass spectra at low energy (LE) and high collision energy (HE)). Accurate mass measurements and the information provided by MSE on the presence of the (de)protonated molecule and fragment ions allowed the reliable identification of the compounds detected, even without reference standards being available in some cases (tentative identification). The compounds most frequently found were acetaminophen/paracetamol, carbamazepine and its dihydro-dihydroxylated metabolite, clarithromycin, diclofenac, ibuprofen, gemfibrozil, lincomycin, losartan, valsartan, the two metabolites of metamizole (4-acetamido-antipyrine and 4-formylamino-antipyrine), sucralose, and cocaine and its main metabolite benzoylecgonine. Caffeine, the sweetener saccharin, and two hydroxylated metabolites of losartan were tentatively identified in almost all samples analyzed. Pharmaceutical lidocaine was tentatively identified and subsequently confirmed with reference standard. For the first time, a general overview of the occurrence of drugs and their metabolites in the aquatic environment of Colombia has been reported. In the near future, target methodologies, typically based on liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), will need to be set up for accurate and sensitive quantification of the contaminants selected on the basis on the information provided in the present paper