El contexto de la democracia y la participación en el sistema capitalista

La siguiente reflexión analiza las estructuras y los elementos del Estado moderno, sus primeras manifestaciones, pasando por su evolución y los fundamentos teóricos que se le fueron sumando en el contexto de la democracia capitalista y sus diversas formas de expresión en las distintas sociedades. Ubicadas en el marco formal del Estado moderno encontramos al mercado político en el que aparecen tanto la teoría de la representatividad como los partidos políticos; organizaciones indispensables para efectuarla y sin los cuales sería difícil comprender la política en sus modalidades de interlocución, negociación y demandas sociales. En este sentido también se mencionan cuestiones referentes a la administración tecnocrática del Estado y la precisión de los marcos teóricos de algunos de sus principales representantes, así como las referentes a la construcción de la ingeniería social de la democracia

f(R)f(R) quantum cosmology: avoiding the Big Rip

Extended theories of gravity have gathered a lot of attention over the last years, for they not only provide an excellent framework to describe the inflationary era but also yields an alternative to the elusive and mysterious dark energy. Among the different extended theories of gravity, on this work we focus on metric $f(R)$ theories. In addition, it is well known that if the late-time acceleration of the universe is stronger than the one induced by a cosmological constant then some future cosmic singularities might arise, being the Big Rip the most virulent one. Following this reasoning, on this work, we analyse the Big Rip singularity in the framework of $f(R)$ quantum geometrodynamics. Invoking the DeWitt criterium, i. e. that the wave function vanishes at the classical singularity, we proof that a class of solutions to the Wheeler-DeWitt equation fulfilling this condition can be found. Therefore, this result hints towards the avoidance of the Big Rip in metric $f(R)$ theories of gravity.Comment: V1:13 pages. Dedicated to the memory of Prof. Pedro F. Gonzalez-Diaz (our former PhD supervisor). V2: 9 pages (new style), minor clarifications included, no physics changes, 6 references added. Version accepted for publication in Physical Review

Pathological video game playing in Spanish and British adolescents: towards the exploration of Internet Gaming Disorder symptomatology

Research into problematic video gaming has increased greatly over the last decade and many screening instruments have been developed to identify such behaviour. This study re-examined the Problematic Videogame Playing [PVP] Scale. The objectives of the study were to (i) examine its psychometric properties in two European countries, (ii) estimate the prevalence of potential pathological gaming among adolescents in both countries, and (iii) assess the classification accuracy of the PVP Scale based on its symptomatology as a way of exploring its relationship with both the behavioural component model of addiction and the proposed Internet Gaming Disorder. The data were collected via a survey administered to 2,356 adolescents aged between 11 and 18 years from Spain (n=1,132) and Great Britain (n=1,224). Results indicated that the reliability of both versions was adequate, and the factorial and construct validity were good. Findings also showed that the prevalence of pathological gamers estimated with a rigorous cut-off point was 7.7% for Spanish and 14.6% for British adolescents. The scale showed adequate sensitivity, specificity and classification accuracy in both countries, and was able to differentiate between social and potential pathological gamers, and from their addictive symptomatology. The implications of these findings are discussed

Complementarity between human capital and trade in regional technological progress

The effect of openness and trade orientation on economic growth remains a highly contentious issue. Trade facilitates knowledge diffusion and the adoption of more advanced and efficient technologies which faster total factor productivity (TFP) growth and, hence, per capita income. New technologies that diffuse by trade require a sufficiently qualified labour force to adapt them into the domestic productive environment. Thus, openness and human capital accumulation will lead to TFP growth, and the larger the complementarity between both variables the higher TFP growth. The paper discusses the implications of these assumptions and tests their empirical validity using a pool of data for the industrial sector in the Spanish regions in a period in which both the stock of human capital and openness experienced a not able improvement. Key words: trade, human capital, technological progress and regions. JEL category: C23, D24, O33.

Las fracciones partidistas y su influencia en las coaliciones dominantes en el México de hoy

En las estructuras de los partidos políticos modernos siempre han existido tendencias de subunidades o pequeños grupos para organizarse e influir en las decisiones de las cúpulas partidistas denominadas también coaliciones dominantes. Éstas, a su vez, están formadas en su núcleo dirigente por miembros de esas fracciones o grupos que constantemente se encuentran en lucha con otros grupos dentro de los partidos por la renovación de las elites que formarán parte de esa misma coalición dirigente. El estudio empírico lo efectuamos a partir del caso de los partidos mexicanos que con sus fracciones se encuentran en constante movimiento y lucha permanente por arribar al "círculo selecto" de la coalición dominante de cada partido

El Derecho internacional público y el desequilibrio de los Estados con economías subdesarrolladas frente a la globalización económica

El presente trabajo es una reflexión dirigida al estudio de las estructuras internacionales del Derecho internacional público y su posición frente a tendencias que, como las de la globalización, actualmente desequilibran las estructuras políticas, sociales y económicas de naciones enteras como las latinoamericanas. Las nuevas dinámicas económicas del mundo han orillado a algunos países a ser más dependientes y frágiles frente a las potencias hegemónicas que se disputan el poder en diversos lugares del planeta, y esta problemática se podría profundizar colapsando las estructuras jur ídicas e institucionales del actual sistema capitalista. Es apremiante que hoy se afinen y ajusten las reglas jurídicas del Derecho internacional público y las estructuras internacionales para evitar los abusos de poder que se cometen contra las naciones subdesarrolladas; las organizaciones internacionales se deberán redimensionar en sus actividades e importancia, para frenar los abusos de poder de los fuertes en detrimento de los débiles

Complementarity between human capital and trade in regional technological progress

The effect of openness and trade orientation on economic growth remains a highly contentious issue in the literature. Trade facilitates the spread of knowledge and the adoption of more advanced and efficient technologies, which hastens total factor productivity (TFP) growth and, hence, per capita income. New technologies that spread through trade require a sufficiently skilled labour force to adapt them to the domestic productive environment. Thus, openness and human capital accumulation will lead to TFP growth and the greater the complementarity between both variables, the higher the TFP growth. This paper discusses the implications of these assumptions and tests their empirical validity, using a pool of data for manufacturing industry in Spanish regions in a period in which both the stock of human capital and openness experienced a notable increase.technological progress, industry, human capital, trade

Public infrrastructure and the performance of manufacturing industries: Short-and long-run

We present a theoretical framework for determining the short- and long-run effects of infrastructure. While the short-run effects have been the focus of most previous studies, here we derive long-run elasticities by taking into account the adjustment of quasi-fixed inputs to their optimum levels. By considering the impact of infrastructure on private investment decisions, we observe how, apart from the direct effect on costs in the short-run, infrastructure exerts an indirect source of influence in the long-run through their effect on private capital. The model is applied to manufacturing industries in the Spanish regions.long-run vs short-run equilibrium, public ingrastructure, manufacturing costs