Adolescents and Young Adults in Latin America, Critical Decisions at a Critical Age: Young Adult Labor Market Experience

This study explores and analyzes the labor market experience of young adults in 18 Latin American countries. For men, the period of young adulthood (18-25 years of age) was found to be one of smooth convergence towards patterns associated with full adulthood. Females show more complex and less clear-cut trajectories, which seem to be affected by entrance into motherhood. Educational attainment shapes the labor market experience of young adults, regardless of gender: the more educated postpone entry into the market, and more educated women display higher participation rates as they reach late young adulthood. Also, during young adulthood, the more educated display higher unemployment rates, possibly because they are newer in the market, but their rate of participation in the informal sector of the economy is lower. Female labor market experience was found to be affected by motherhood. In many countries women with lower levels of education leave the labor market during young adulthood, while women with higher levels of education postpone such exits and are also less likely to leave. Finally, young Latin American adults with college education were found to experience rapid labor market absorption, featuring swift entry into the formal sector, high participation rates and low and rapidly decreasing unemployment rates. Earnings equations show that education, experience and gender have significant and positive effects on the earnings of young adults. In general, returns from education increase with age and educational level, with the sharpest marginal change occurring in early young adulthood. Return for education and experience of young adults tend to be close to those obtained by prime age adults, although in the case of experience the returns obtained by young adults tend to be larger. In general, formal education has a consistently larger effect than experience. Although the previous findings hold for young adults in almost all countries included in the study, it is important to note that the individual countries results show large variation in the levels of all coefficients (education, experience and gender) and among age groups.

Political Institutions, Policymaking Processes, and Policy Outcomes in Venezuela

This case study of Venezuela`s democratic institution and policymaking processes is part of the broader regional project based on the theoretical framework developed by Spiller, Stein and Tommasi (2003). The framework focuses on the conditions that foster political cooperation among political actors to sustain inter-temporal policy commitments. The study shows that the political institutions that established Venezuela`s democracy in the 1960s were deliberately set up to generate a cooperative equilibrium with low stakes of power. Constitutionally weak presidents and strong centralized political parties characterized this institutional framework. Cooperation induced a relatively effective policymaking process and good policy outcomes. However, an oil boom and its aftermath, in the 1970s and 1980s, unraveled the cooperative framework and induced rapid economic decay. The political reforms implemented in the late 1980s to improve the democratic process, although in itself desirable, further weakened the party system and induced a highly uncooperative and volatile policymaking process. The recent political reforms, increasing the stakes of power, have stimulated a complete breakdown in cooperation and a highly polarized political system.

The Infrared Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) for TMT: Instrument Overview

We present an overview of the design of IRIS, an infrared (0.84 - 2.4 micron) integral field spectrograph and imaging camera for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). With extremely low wavefront error (<30 nm) and on-board wavefront sensors, IRIS will take advantage of the high angular resolution of the narrow field infrared adaptive optics system (NFIRAOS) to dissect the sky at the diffraction limit of the 30-meter aperture. With a primary spectral resolution of 4000 and spatial sampling starting at 4 milliarcseconds, the instrument will create an unparalleled ability to explore high redshift galaxies, the Galactic center, star forming regions and virtually any astrophysical object. This paper summarizes the entire design and basic capabilities. Among the design innovations is the combination of lenslet and slicer integral field units, new 4Kx4k detectors, extremely precise atmospheric dispersion correction, infrared wavefront sensors, and a very large vacuum cryogenic system.Comment: Proceedings of the SPIE, 9147-76 (2014

Prospects for observing and localizing gravitational-wave transients with Advanced LIGO, Advanced Virgo and KAGRA

Abstract: We present our current best estimate of the plausible observing scenarios for the Advanced LIGO, Advanced Virgo and KAGRA gravitational-wave detectors over the next several years, with the intention of providing information to facilitate planning for multi-messenger astronomy with gravitational waves. We estimate the sensitivity of the network to transient gravitational-wave signals for the third (O3), fourth (O4) and fifth observing (O5) runs, including the planned upgrades of the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. We study the capability of the network to determine the sky location of the source for gravitational-wave signals from the inspiral of binary systems of compact objects, that is binary neutron star, neutron star–black hole, and binary black hole systems. The ability to localize the sources is given as a sky-area probability, luminosity distance, and comoving volume. The median sky localization area (90% credible region) is expected to be a few hundreds of square degrees for all types of binary systems during O3 with the Advanced LIGO and Virgo (HLV) network. The median sky localization area will improve to a few tens of square degrees during O4 with the Advanced LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA (HLVK) network. During O3, the median localization volume (90% credible region) is expected to be on the order of 105, 106, 107Mpc3 for binary neutron star, neutron star–black hole, and binary black hole systems, respectively. The localization volume in O4 is expected to be about a factor two smaller than in O3. We predict a detection count of 1-1+12(10-10+52) for binary neutron star mergers, of 0-0+19(1-1+91) for neutron star–black hole mergers, and 17-11+22(79-44+89) for binary black hole mergers in a one-calendar-year observing run of the HLV network during O3 (HLVK network during O4). We evaluate sensitivity and localization expectations for unmodeled signal searches, including the search for intermediate mass black hole binary mergers

Political Institutions, Policymaking Processes, and Policy Outcomes in Venezuela

This case study of Venezuela's democratic institution and policymaking processes is part of the broader regional project based on the theoretical framework developed by Spiller, Stein and Tommasi (2003). The framework focuses on the conditions that foster political cooperation among political actors to sustain inter-temporal policy commitments. The study shows that the political institutions that established Venezuela's democracy in the 1960s were deliberately set up to generate a cooperative equilibrium with low stakes of power, resulting in a relatively effective policymaking process and good policy outcomes. However, an oil boom unraveled the cooperative framework and induced rapid economic decay. The political reforms implemented in the late 1980s to improve the democratic process further weakened the party system and induced a highly uncooperative and volatile policymaking process. The recent political reforms, increasing the stakes of power, have stimulated a complete breakdown in cooperation and a highly polarized political system.

El juego político en América Latina: ¿Cómo se deciden las políticas públicas?

¿Qué determina la capacidad de los países para diseñar, aprobar e implementar políticas públicas efectivas? Para abordar esta pregunta, este libro analiza el proceso de formulación de políticas en ocho países latinoamericanos en base a una metodología común con fundamentos en la teoría de juegos y el análisis institucional. Este análisis sistemático se concentra en estudiar tanto las instituciones políticas, y el funcionamiento de las instituciones y organizaciones políticas, como los resultados de las políticas. El resultado es un texto que se beneficia tanto de un detallado análisis sobre las complejidades del proceso de formulación de políticas en cada país por separado, como de un análisis interdisciplinario y comparativo de los procesos de formulación de políticas en la región.

Policymaking in Latin America: How Politics Shapes Policies

What determines the capacity of countries to design, approve and implement effective public policies? To address this question, this book builds on the results of case studies of political institutions, policymaking processes, and policy outcomes in eight Latin American countries. The result is a volume that benefits from both micro detail on the intricacies of policymaking in individual countries and a broad cross-country interdisciplinary analysis of policymaking processes in the region.