Eines bibliogràfiques per a passejar per la ciberciutat actual

Des de la seva definició inicial, la ciberciutat s'ha interpretat freqüentment com un espai urbà fictici, allunyat de les nostres pràctiques quotidianes actuals, i també com una realitat suplementària i afegida a la "veritable ciutat". Amb aquesta revisió tractem de mostrar que potser la ciberciutat -formada per nous espais, tecnologies i pràctiques socials- no es troba tan lluny. Això queda reflectit en un ampli ventall de llibres que, des de diferents disciplines i posicions teòriques, expliquen com són les ciutats del present, amb l'auge de les noves tecnologies com a teló de fons. Fem una tria d'algunes de les obres sobre la ciberciutat amb un propòsit doble: per una banda, que aquesta exposició sobre la ciberciutat convidi a passejar-s'hi d'una manera diferent -potser tenint més present com aquesta desdibuixa els límits entre allò que és real i allò que és virtual-; i, per altra banda que, des d'un punt teòric i metodològic, aquests conceptes i textos es converteixin en eines elementals per a analitzar i observar l'espai urbà contemporani

The relation between dividends and insider ownership in different legal systems: international evidence

This paper provides new international evidence on the relationship between dividend policy and insider ownership by analysing a sample of firms from countries characterised by an Anglo-Saxon tradition and a matching sample of companies from countries with Civil Law legal systems. We hypothesize that, due to the different characteristics of both the legal system and the nature of agency conflicts in firms from those countries, the relation between dividend policies and ownership by insiders will be considerably distinct between the two sets of companies. We find that while in firms from Anglo-Saxon tradition the relation between dividends and insider ownership follows the pattern negative-positive-negative, in Civil Law countries the relation is positive-negative-positive. These results are consistent with our hypotheses and breed new insights into the role of dividend policy as a disciplining mechanism in countries with different legal systems and distinct agency problems.dividend policy, corporate governance, insider ownership, international financial markets, dynamic panel data and GMM estimation

More class time, better achievement?

Spanish press has widely criticized the fact that students spend almost their whole day at school, a practice rooted in the common belief that higher instruction time enhances students’ learning. However, in spite of this high amount of instruction time that Spanish students are receiving, their results do not seem to outstand in comparison with other countries with similar or lower instruction time. In this context, this research intends to accomplish two main objectives: the first one is to check if the amount of instruction time received by 15 year-old Spanish students actually affects their academic achievement. The second one intends to analyse if this potential influence of instruction time may be affecting Spanish Autonomous Communities in different ways, as each one is responsible for setting instruction time in its own region. In order to accomplish these objectives, the methodology employed let us isolate the effect of instruction time from other covariates by using students’ fixed effects by subject, using PISA 2009 and 2012 data. Results have shown that there is not any effect of instruction time on academic achievement, being this conclusion extended to every Autonomous Community in Spain. Further checks have corroborated the robustness of these results and have also highlighted that the effect of instruction time is a question of quality more than quantity, as students’ engagement and the classroom climate during lessons may be causing differences in academic achievement, rather than the amount of instruction time per se.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

The influence of gender and social roles on academic achievement

The analysis of the influence of certain social aspects across countries on gender differences in educational achievement has gained a great relevance. In this research the main objective is to deepen into the knowledge of these cultural factors. In order to accomplish this aim, international data from many countries has been used, grouped into education system characteristics, child qualities supported socially, views and opinions on gender roles, and risk-aversion attitudes. The empirical analysis carried out has shown that it is necessary to foster entrepreneurship attitudes during students’ tertiary education, with special emphasis on girls, as they are more affected by gender stereotypes and risk-aversion in comparison to boys. In spite of the existence of unexplained gender differences, individual and country-level factors may have a different effect on the academic achievement of boys and girls.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Are early writers and readers more successful than their counterparts?

There exists an increasing number of scientific contributions focused on the influence of the attendance to early childhood and/or preprimary education on the future academic track of the students, which employ the quarter of birth of the student as a proxy for infants’ maturity. The present work goes a step further by employing information on the precise time when children begin to exhibit the basic competences (reading and writing), controlling by the effect of the quarter of birth, for andalusian students aged 10-11 and 14-15. This study uses descriptive analysis as starting point to specify multivariate estimates for the age at which the student began to read and write, together with students’ quarter of birth. Moreover, the effect of these variables on the likelihood of repeating a course has also been analyzed. Results show that the quarter of birth and the age when the student began to read and write affect students’ early academic achievement –primary education– and the likelihood of repeating, but this effect is weakened once non-repeaters reach age 14-15. In addition, students from households where parents have a low level of education present a late start in beginning to read and write and, thus, lower achievement than their older counterparts. This highlights the need to increase the investments in public early education for students living in this kind of families –by increasing the supply of public early education places and scholarships–, so they can develop these competences as soon as possible. This kind of interventions could have a relevant role in fostering higher social mobility.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech; Andalusian Regional Ministry of Innovation, Science and Employment [PAI group SEJ-532 and Excellence Project SEJ-2727]; the Research Plan of the University of Malaga (Capacity Building Programme I+D+i of Universities 2014-2015) and by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain [Research Project ECO2014-56397-P]

Piedra, papel y tijera. Vivienda y gestión del asentamiento de la población Rrom / gitana rumana en el área metropolitana de Barcelona (2006-2014)

La población rrom (gitana) rumana en el Área Metropolitana de Barcelona ha sido objeto cíclicamente de atención en relación con la vivienda por parte de los medios (particularmente en los momentos previos a unas elecciones). Dicha población, presente fundamentalmente en Badalona y Santa Coloma de Gramenet vive mayoritariamente en pisos; y es precisamente en este último ámbito en el que se concentran la mayor parte de las problemáticas que sirven como escenario para el conflicto (sobreocupación, acumulación de chatarra, etc.) sea éste más o menos magnificado por los actores políticos y los medios. Sin embargo, pocas veces las narrativas sobre el mismo van más allá de una esencialización cultural, analizando en profundidad los factores que intervienen en el acceso a la vivienda de dicha población. La intención de este texto, además de analizar someramente cómo se están construyendo dichos discursos, es ofrecer una visión concreta de la interrelación de diferentes factores y sus consecuencias sobre la propia población a partir de un trabajo etnográfico realizado en los últimos siete años.Romanian Roma population in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona have cyclically been given visibility by media in aspects related with housing (particularly prior to elections). The majority of this population, residing mainly in Badalona and Santa Coloma de Gramenet municipalities, inhabits in flats; and it is precisely this subject the one that concentrates most of the issues pointed out as conflictive (overcrowding, scrap metal collection, and so on) being it magnified or not by the political actors and the media. However, almost never the narratives about that situation go beyond a cultural essentialism, analyzing in depth the factors that intervene in access to proper housing for that population. The aim of this text, aside of briefly analyze how these discourses are being constructed, is to offer a concrete perspective of the interrelation of different factors and their consequences on the population itself, using data from an ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the last seven years

La construcción de la ‘Cuestión Gitana Rumana’ en el Área Metropolitana de Barcelona: espacios públicos urbanos, conflictos vecinales y política local.

This paper intends to present a general overview of the situation of the Romanian Roma Population in Barcelona Metropolitan Area and briefly describe and analyse the ways in which their presence is being managed. Methodology used range from media analysis to ethnographic fieldwork. First, I will offer some references as well as a general background of the presence and migratory process of the Romanian Roma population in Spain and Barcelona. Next, I will focus on the local construction of the ‘Roma Issue’, briefly using three different and interrelated examples: public space regulation and marginal economic strategies; settlement policies and the idea of nomadism-mobility; and finally political construction and culturalization of concrete neighbourhood conflicts. Finally, I intend to offer some conclusions as well as some reflections about the possible evolution of these processes both at a local and state level

Universalismos / relativismos y antropología : una aproximación al debate

Este artículo pretende una aproximación inicial al debate universalismo/relativismo en Antropología, en el que se intentan sistematizar algunas de las críticas y contracríticas que se han articulado en la discusión. Sin embargo, más que de una revisión histórica, se ha intentado desarrollar una postura "relativista radical" y contraponerla con diferentes aportaciones, con la intención de explorar algunas de las implicaciones del debate para la práctica antropológica.This paper is intended to be an initial approach to the universalism / relativism debate in Anthropology, trying to systematize some of the critics and counter-critics that have been used in that discussion. However, more than an historical review, it tries to expound a "radical relativist" position and confront it with different contributions, with the objective of exploring some of the implications of the debate for anthropological practice