Predictive Modeling of the Non-Profit Sector in the US

The Non-Profit Sector contributes almost $1 trillion to the US economy, representing 5.4% of GDP, and generating over 12 million jobs in 2017. Yi (2010) suggests that a better understanding of the factors that affect fundraising should be of great interest to policy makers, and fundraisers. However, the workings of the sector are subject of much debate. Matsunaga, Yamauchi and Okuyama (2010) relate its size to the Theory of Government Failure. Sokolowski (2013) proposes that government funding does have a positive effect on revenues. Curry, Rodin and Carlson (2012) suggested they swing with GDP, but, Berman, Brooks and Murphy (2006) contend that macroeconomic variables do not affect short-run dynamics. List (2011) found that non-profit revenues react more to economic upswings than downturns. And the National Philanthropic Trust (2016) relates ups and downs to certain events and public awareness. Wallace (2016) points to the fact that predictive modeling has focused big-donor analytics, aimed at the identification of potential donors. We set out instead to define a working model. After locating complete time series for an emblematic segment, the environmental cause, Factor Analysis allowed us to pinpoint independent variables. We found that Non-Profit Revenues (NPR) depend largely on Public Awareness, as measured by TV coverage, and Disposable Personal Income (DPI), specifically: NPR = -4401.542 + 528.327(DPI) +23.121(TVCoverage) +

What type of innovative firms acquire knowledge intensive services and from which suppliers?

Knowledge intensive services (KIS) and, in particular, R&D services contribute significantly to innovation in firms. The objective of this paper is to find out which characteristics of firms explain the acquisition of R&D services and to analyse whether there are differences depending on the typology of the supplier (universities, technology centres and consulting firms). Three main conclusions emerge from the econometric estimations. Firstly, the results show that size and age matter in the decision to buy R&D services, but these characteristics of firms do not have any particular influence in the decision to choose a specific supplier. Secondly, our results are consistent with the relevance that the literature gives to human capital in absorbing external knowledge. The variables used to control for human skills have a positive effect on the decision to buy R&D services. On the contrary, the estimates of other variables that capture internal knowledge base suggest that there is a substitution process between internal R&D activities and acquiring R&D services. Thirdly, innovation policy has a significant influence on the decision to acquire R&D services.Knowledge intensive services; R&D services; universities; technology centres; consulting firms; innovation policy

Inventando el pasado. La familia judeoconversa Herrera de Córdoba y Granada

El de judíos y conversos ha sido un tema especialmente recurrente para la historiografía española, aunque los especialistas se han centrado mayoritariamente en la relación de éstos con la Inquisición, obviando, en gran medida, el análisis de su integración en la sociedad cristiano vieja y de su capacidad de ascenso. Aquí mostramos uno de los muchos ejemplos de familias de origen converso que mediante el poder del dinero y el engaño genealógico, entre otras estrategias, lograron alcanzar las filas de la nobleza castellana.Jews and conversos has been a common issue for the Spanish historians although they only focus in the relationship between them and the Inquisition. As a result of that, we have not analysis of his integration in the Christian Society and his upward mobility. This article presents one of the many examples we have of one family with jewish ancestors whose members could become part of the nobility, in spite of his legacy, using his economical power and the genealogical hiding

Which firms want PhDs? The effect of the university-industry relationship on the PhD labour market

PhD graduates hold the highest education degree, are trained to conduct research and can be considered a key element in the creation, commercialization and diffusion of innovations. The impact of PhDs on innovation and economic development takes place through several channels such as the accumulation of scientific capital stock, the enhancement of technology transfers and the promotion of cooperation relationships in innovation processes. Although the placement of PhDs in industry provides a very important mechanism for transmitting knowledge from universities to firms, information about the characteristics of the firms that employ PhDs is very scarce. The goal of this paper is to improve understanding of the determinants of the demand for PhDs in the private sector. Three main potential determinants of the demand for PhDs are considered: cooperation between firms and universities, R&D activities of firms and several characteristics of firms, size, sector, productivity and age. The results from the econometric analysis show that cooperation between firms and universities encourages firms to recruit PhDs and point to the existence of accumulative effects in the hiring of PhD graduates.

Topological spectrum of classical configurations

For any classical field configuration or mechanical system with a finite number of degrees of freedom we introduce the concept of topological spectrum. It is based upon the assumption that for any classical configuration there exists a principle fiber bundle that contains all the physical and geometric information of the configuration. The topological spectrum follows from the investigation of the corresponding topological invariants. Examples are given which illustrate the procedure and the significance of the topological spectrum as a discretization relationship among the parameters that determine the physical meaning of classical configurations