Argentine Agricultural Policy: Producer and Consumer Support. Estimates 2007-2012

This paper analyzes agricultural policy in Argentina and calculates the degree of support received by producers and consumers. We present a summary of developments in the agricultural policy environment that have occurred in the last decades in Argentina, as well as the resulting performance of the agricultural sector. The concepts of Producer Support Estimates, Consumer Support Estimates, General Services Support Estimates, Producer Nominal Assistance Coefficient and Nominal Protection Coefficient are used to analyse different dimensions of transfers occurring between agricultural producers, consumers and taxpayers in the period 2007-2012. Total transfers from producers have averaged US$ 11.000 million annually or 26% of total gross farm receipts. Support flowing from the public sector to producers in the form of R&D, infrastructure and other “public good” type of inputs totalize some 500 million annually.Fil: Gallacher, Guillermo Marcos. Universidad del Cema; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Lema, Daniel. Universidad del Cema; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria; Argentin

An Examination of Mississippi Gulf Coast Casino Management Styles with Implications for Employee Turnover

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of casino employees on management styles and the relationship of these perceptions on the employee turnover rate. The sample consisted of a balanced representation of supervisory and nonsupervisory employees. Supervisors tended to perceive themselves and their managerial style in a much move favorable light than did their employees. Future research should continue to address issues of employee retention in the casino industry and adopt strategies that can retain valuable employees while reducing employee turnover costs. Human resource development processes should support managerial styles that facilitate collaborative decision making and participative learning opportunities throughout the organization

Electoral Budget Cycles: The case of the Argentine Provinces

This paper presents subnational evidence of electoraly-motivated changes in the level of public expenditures, budgetary deficits and composition of public expenditures in Argentina. The empirical study is made using a dynamic panel data analysis (GMM) for 22 provinces during period 1985-2001. We find evidence of political cycles in policies around the election date. Results shows that deficits and public expenditures increase in election years. Evidence also suggest that expenditures shift toward more visible public investment and away from current consumption goods.Electoral Budget Cycles, Argentina, Political Economy, Fiscal Policy

El rol de las organizaciones internacionales dentro de los pueblos indígenas para salvaguardar los derechos territoriales : análisis caso Sarayaku vs. Ecuador ante la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos

Throughout history, the indigenous peoples of Ecuador have fought to obtain recognition of their existence and their rights, turning to international tools such as international organizations to safeguard their human rights, especially their territorial rights...A lo largo de la historia los pueblos indígenas del Ecuador han luchado para conseguir el reconocimiento de la existencia de los mismos y se sus derechos, acudiendo a órganos internacionales como organizaciones internacionales para que estas salvaguarden sus derechos humanos, en especial sus derechos territoriales..

Temporal aggregation in political budget cycles

While existing cross-country studies on political budget cycles rely on annual data, we build a panel with quarterly and monthly data from Latin American and OECD countries over the 1980-2005 period. Disaggregated data allow to center the electoral year more precisely, and show the effects are concentrated in a three-quarter window around elections. Cycles are statistically significant only in Latin America, but the pattern is similar to OECD countries: the budget surplus/GDP ratio falls in the election period and rises in the post-election period. In line with the logic of rational opportunistic manipulation, these effects cancel out.temporal aggregation, electoral window, pre- and post-electoral effects, political budget cycles, rational opportunistic cycles

Food demand elasticities in Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia. Econometric estimation from household surveys

This paper presents the methodology and estimation of food demand elasticities for Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia using household survey data. The paper reviews the theoretical and empirical approach behind the applied food demand estimation. The empirical approach consists in the estimation of a censored corrected LinQuad incomplete demand system using microdata from national household surveys. The empirical implementation and results are consistent with the state of the art in applied demand estimations using censored cross sectional data.Fil: Lema, Daniel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Economía y Sociología; Argentina.Fil: Brescia, Víctor. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Economía y Sociología; Argentina.Fil: Berges, Miriam. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales; Argentina.Fil: Casellas, Karina. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales; Argentina

Factors associated with utilization of long acting and permanent contraceptive methods among married women of reproductive age in Mekelle town, Tigray region, north Ethiopia

Background: Ethiopia is the second most populous country in Sub-Saharan Africa. Total Fertility Rate of Ethiopia is 5.4 children per women, population growth rate is estimated to be 2.7% per year and contraceptive prevalence rate is only 15% while the unmet need for family planning is 34%. Overall awareness of Family Planning methods is high, at 87%. The prevalence of long acting and permanent contraceptive methods (LAPMs) in Tigray region was very low which accounts for 0.1% for implants and no users for intra-uterine contraceptive device (IUCD) and female sterilization. Moreover almost all modern contraceptive use in Ethiopia is dependent on short acting contraceptive methods. The objective of this study was to assess factors associated with utilization of long acting and permanent contraceptive methods (LAPM) among married women of reproductive age group in Mekelle town. Methods: A cross sectional community based survey was conducted from March 9-20, 2011. Multistage sample technique was used to select the participants for the quantitative methods whereas purposive sampling was used for the qualitative part of the study. Binary descriptive statistics and multiple variable regressions were done. Results: The study consisted of quantitative and qualitative data. From the quantitative part of the study the response rate of the study was 95.6%. Of the qualitative part two FGDs were conducted for each married women and married men. 64% of the married women heard about LAPMs. More than half (53.6%) of the married women had negative attitude towards practicing of LAPMs. The overall prevalence of LAPMs use was 12.3% however; there were no users for female or male sterilization. The main reason cited by the majority of the married women for not using LAPMs was using another method of contraception 360 (93.3%). Mothers who had high knowledge were 8 times more likely to use LAPMs as compared with those who had low knowledge (AOR = 7.9, 95% CI of (3.1, 18.3). Mothers who had two or more pregnancies were 3 times more likely to use LAPM as compared with those who had one pregnancy (AOR = 2.7, 95% CI of (1.4, 5.1). Conclusion: A significant amount of the participants had low knowledge on permanent contraceptive particularly vasectomy. More than half (53.6%) of married women had negative attitude towards practicing of LAMPs. Few of married women use female sterilization and none use of female sterilization and or vasectomy. Positive knowledge of LAMPs, women who had two and above pregnancies and women who do not want to have additional child were significantly associated. Information education communication should focus on alleviating factors hinder from practicing of LAPMs

Spectral function and quasiparticle weight in the generalized t-J model

We extend to the spectral function an approach which allowed us to calculate the quasiparticle weight for destruction of a real electron Z_c sigma (k) (in contrast to that of creation of a spinless holon Z_h(k) in a generalized $t-J$ model, using the self-consistent Born approximation (SCBA). We compare our results with those obtained using the alternative approach of Sushkov et al., which also uses the SCBA. The results for Z_c sigma (k) are also compared with results obtained using the string picture and with exact diagonalizations of a 32-site square cluster. While on a qualitative level, all results look similar, our SCBA approach seems to compare better with the ED one. The effect of hopping beyond nearest neighbors, and that of the three-site term are discussed.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure