Unemployment insurance and informality in developing countries

ABSTRACT: We analyze whether the introduction of unemployment insurance (UI hereafter)benefits in developing countries would reduce the effort made by unemployed to secure a new job in the formal sector. We show that one shot UI benefits unambiguously increase the effort to secure a new job in the formal sector. The relative strength of income/substitution effects only determine how leisure and informal activities are affected. Consequently, our (partial equilibrium) analysis reveals that short term UI benefits in developing countries do not reduce incentives to securea new formal job and therefore cannot be interpreted as a subsidy to the informalsector.Unemployment insurance, informal sector, income effects, develop-ing countries.

Magnetic Scanometric DNA Microarray Detection of Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether Degrading Bacteria for Environmental Monitoring

A magnetoresistive biosensing platform based on a single magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) scanning probe and DNA microarrays labeled with magnetic particles has been developed to provide an inexpensive, sensitive and reliable detection of DNA. The biosensing platform was demonstrated on a DNA microarray assay for quantifying bacteria capable of degrading methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), where concentrations as low as 10 pM were detectable. Synthetic probe bacterial DNA was immobilized on a microarray glass slide surface, hybridized with the 48 base pair long biotinylated target DNA and subsequently incubated with streptavidin-coated 2.8 μm diameter magnetic particles. The biosensing platform then makes use of a micron-sized MTJ sensor that was raster scanned across a 3 mm by 5 mm glass slide area to capture the stray magnetic field from the tagged DNA and extract two dimensional magnetic field images of the microarray. The magnetic field output is then averaged over each 100 μm diameter DNA array spot to extract the magnetic spot intensity, analogous to the fluorescence spot intensity used in conventional optical scanners. The magnetic scanning result is compared with results from a commercial laser scanner and particle coverage optical counting to demonstrate the dynamic range and linear sensitivity of the biosensing platform as a potentially inexpensive, sensitive and portable alternative for DNA microarray detection for field applications

Theoretical formulation of a didactic sequence focused on problem based learning methodology to promote receptive skills in a public school

Secondary education is an essential factor for students to develop the appropriate competencies that allow them to have a good performance in the income to the highest education or to the labor field as a response to the needs of the country and the globalized world. As learners need to acquire these competencies in a meaningful way, Morales and Landa (2004) argued that the necessities and the context of the learners in the modern world have to be changed radically and for this reason is important to provide them new approaches that help them to develop the abilities that they need..

Unemployment insurance and informality in developing countries

We analyze whether the introduction of unemployment insurance (UI hereafter) benefits in developing countries would reduce the effort made by unemployed to secure a new job in the formal sector. We show that one shot UI benefits unambiguously increase the effort to secure a new job in the formal sector. The relative strength of income/substitution effects only determine how leisure and informal activities are affected. Consequently, our (partial equilibrium) analysis reveals that short term UI benefits in developing countries do not reduce incentives to secure a new formal job and therefore cannot be interpreted as a subsidy to the informal sector