Does Aristotle have a dialectical attitude in EE I 6: a negative answer

In this paper, I analyse EE I 6, where Aristotle presented a famous methodological digression. Many interpreters have taken this chapter as advocating a dialectical procedure of enquiry. My claim is that Aristotle does not keep a dialectical attitude towards endoxa or phainomena in this chapter. In order to accomplish my goal, I shall show that EE I 6 does not provide enough evidence for the dialectical construal of it, and that this construal, in turn, hangs on some assumptions brought out from other Aristotelian works (EN and Top.), which do not provide good evidence as well. By the analysis of these assumptions, I intend to show that Aristotle is not carrying out any sort of dialectic, especially dialectic conceived as conceptual analysis seeking the salvage of phainomena or endoxa

Price and wage setting in Portugal: learning by asking

This paper presents the main findings of a survey conducted on a sample of Portuguese firms. The main aim was to identify some relevant characteristics about the dynamics of prices and wages in Portugal. The most important conclusions are: i) changes to wages are more synchronized than changes to prices; ii) most wages are defined using inflation as a yardstick, even though there are no formal rules; iii) the wages of most workers are defined in terms of sector-related collective agreements; iv) a considerable proportion of workers receive wages above those been agreed under the collective agreement; v) firms make frequent use of other mechanisms to cut payroll costs as a way of overcoming the restrictions imposed by downward nominal wage rigidity. JEL Classification: D21, E30, J31indexation, institutions, price rigidity, survey data, wage rigidity

The Price Setting Behaviour of Portuguese Firms Evidence From Survey Data

This paper analyses the results of a survey conducted by the Banco de Portugal between May and September 2004 on a sample of 1370 Portuguese firms with the main purpose of investigating their price setting behaviour. The evidence points to the presence of a considerable degree of price stickiness: most firms do not review or change their prices more than once a year; time lags in price reactions to cost and demand shocks were found to be significant; and slightly more than half of the firms follow time-dependent price reviewing, though only one-third stick to this practice after the occurrence of specific shocks. The degree of price stickiness seems to be higher in services than in manufacturing. The presence of implicit contracts between firms and their customers under which the former pledge to stabilise their prices as a way to increase customers’ loyalty is apparently the main reason that prevents firms from changing their prices more promptly. Other relevant sources of price stickiness were also found: coordination problems arising from the preference of firms not to change their prices unless their competitors do so, the constraint imposed by a high proportion of fixed costs, marginal costs that vary little when costs are an important determinant in firms’ pricing decisions or the presence of formal contracts that are costly to renegotiate. In contrast, alternative explanations such as the existence of menu costs, the preference of firms to quote their prices according to certain thresholds and the costs of collecting the relevant information for pricing decisions were not considered very important.

The State of Impact Investing in Latin America

This report lays out an assessment of the current landscape, some of the critical challenges ahead and the likely path forward over the next five 5 to 10 years on impact investing in Latin America

La Dependencia Hídrica de Portugal Respecto a España: Cuestiones de Política y Seguridad

El objetivo de este artículo fue el de analizar la dimensión que los impactos directos de las alteraciones climáticas pueden tener sobre los recursos hídricos en Portugal, considerando su posición geográfica río abajo con respecto a España, ya que 2/3 de su territorio continental asientan en cuencas hidrográficas internacionales, y que cerca de 67% de los recursos hídricos a los que Portugal tiene acceso provienen de ellas. A pesar de comprobadas, con algún grado de seguridad, las consecuencias que las alteraciones climáticas podrán acarrear, en un futuro próximo, con profundos cambios en el medio ambiente y la vida humana, es evidente, a lo largo de las últimas décadas, la ausencia de intervención política e inversiones concretas por parte de Portugal para minorar esos impactos previsibles, y asimismo promover una adaptación gradual al conjunto de estas contingencias. Considerando el profundo impacto que la reducción del acceso al agua dulce podrá tener en Portugal, y que, al constituir uno de los propósitos del Estado, la Seguridad Nacional es uno de los fundamentos de la soberanía y garantía de perennidad, parece esencial averiguar si la dependencia hídrica de Portugal constituye una amenaza concreta a dicha Seguridad Nacional, y a qué nivel podrá ser reducida