Social Capital and technical efficiency of wheat small farmers in the Bío Bío Region (Chile)

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the determinants of technical efficiency of wheat small farmers in Bío Bío Region, especially to investigate the relation between social capital, measured through participation in organizations, and technical efficiency. Using information of the VII Agricultural and Forestry Survey, a stochastic frontier production function was estimated. The results show that age, level of education, size of the farmer activity, degree of specialization, technology and agro-climatic zones are able to explain individual technical efficiency levels. Special importance receives participation in organizations in the achievement of higher technical efficiency levels, principally in low productivities zones. Specifically, participation in cooperatives deeply explains the improvements in efficiency in most of the cases. Characteristics related to the business model and productive aims that they exhibit, could help to explain these results.Technical efficiency, Stochastic frontier production function, Participation in organizations, Social capital.

Participación en Organizaciones Sociales en Chile. ¿Una Alternativa para Mejorar el Bienestar Económico de los Hogares?

El propósito de este trabajo es conocer los determinantes de la participación en organizaciones sociales en Chile, y evaluar si la participación ha conducido a una mejora en el bienestar económico de los hogares, utilizando el enfoque del capital social. Se estimaron modelos de participación e ingreso en el caso de las organizaciones económicas y vecinales, y un modelo de ecuaciones simultáneas en el caso de las organizaciones recreativo-culturales, debido a la existencia de endogeneidad del ingreso en la ecuación de participación. El modelo simultáneo propuesto incluye estimadores Two Stage Probit Least Squares, adecuados para corregir los sesgos derivados de la simultaneidad cuando una variable dependiente es dicotómica y la otra continua. Los resultados indican que la edad, educación, tenencia de una vivienda propia, zona de residencia y la percepción con respecto a la seguridad y convivencia entre los vecinos tienen una fuerte incidencia en la probabilidad de participar, y que existe una relación positiva entre ingreso y asociatividad económica.Capital Social, Organizaciones de la Sociedad Civil, Efectos en el Bienestar

What influence the individual decision to participate? A microeconomic social capital approach for Civil Society organizations in Chile

In defining the guidelines of central governments, regional and local, the participation of civil society has been incorporated as a guiding principle in the construction of development strategies. This initiative involves promoting the participation of people and strengthening civil organizations. To face this challenge it should study the process of formation of civil organizations. The objective of this work is to study the problem of participation from a microeconomic perspective, using the approach of social capital to determine the factors influencing the decision to participate. In order to achieve this objective information of CASEN 2003 was used to estimate a Probit Model. The results show lower levels of participation to the extent that the opportunity costs grow with individual incomes higher, more children at home and higher levels of unemployment. Participation is higher in the older population and level of education, which is related to increased capacity of expression and negotiation. Finally higher levels of participation are observed in the population belongs to some native people, married people, households who have own house and living in rural areas, which is associated with the possibility that social networks are specific communities.Social capital, Participation, Civil Society Organizations

Vivre ensemble en Colombie ? Le Plan Nacional de Música para la Convivencia (2002)

Au cours des dernières décennies, le ministère colombien de la Culture a élaboré une série de plans visant à faire de la musique l’instrument d’une paix sociale qui reste largement à construire, et l’outil avec lequel se forge l’image d’une Colombie riche de sa diversité culturelle. Ces politiques visaient à compenser la violence des affrontements militaires de longue date. Nous analysons ici trois de ces plans produits entre 2000 et 2006, après avoir conduit une enquête auprès du ministère de la Culture pour analyser la façon dont la musique a été inscrite à l’agenda politique. Le Plan Nacional de Música para la Convivencia de 2002 est au cœur de cette analyse.Over the last decades, the Colombian Ministry of Culture has developed a series of projects in which music is to play a key role in achieving social peace – still to be established – and in building the image of a country with a rich cultural diversity. Such policies aim at compensating the military conflicts that have plagued the country for a long time. In this essay, I analyse three projects which were produced between 2000 and 2006 by investigating the way music came to be placed on Colombia’s political agenda. I focus especially on the 2002 Plan Nacional de Música para la Convivencia

A infecção pelo HTLV- I não está associada a maior risco de morte em pacientes peruanos infectados pelo HIV

Limited and contradictory information exists regarding the prognosis of HIV/HTLV-I co-infection. Our goal was to estimate the effect of HTLV-I infection on mortality in HIV-infected patients at a HIV reference center in Peru. We studied a retrospective cohort of HIV-infected patients, who were exposed or unexposed to HTLV-I. Exposed patients were Western Blot (WB) positive for both retroviruses. Unexposed patients were WB positive for HIV, and had least one negative EIA for HTLV-I. These were selected among patients who entered our Program immediately before and after each exposed patient, between January 1990 and June 2004. Survival time was considered between the diagnosis of exposure to HTLV-I and death or censoring. Confounding variables were age, gender, baseline HIV clinical stage, baseline CD4+ T cell count, and antiretroviral therapy. We studied 50 exposed, and 100 unexposed patients. Exposed patients had a shorter survival compared to unexposed patients [median survival: 47 months (95% CI: 17-77) vs. 85 months (95% CI: 70-100), unadjusted p = 0.06]. Exposed patients had a higher rate of mortality compared to unexposed patients (HIV/HTLV-I (24/50 [48%]) vs. HIV only (37/100 [37%]), univariable p = 0.2]. HTLV-I exposure was not associated to a higher risk of death in the adjusted analysis: HR: 1.2 (0.4-3.5). AIDS clinical stage and lack of antiretroviral therapy were associated to a higher risk of dying. In conclusions, HTLV-I infection was not associated with a higher risk of death in Peruvian HIV-infected patients. Advanced HIV infection and lack of antiretroviral therapy may explain the excess of mortality in this population.Existe informação limitada e contraditória sobre o prognóstico da co-infecção pelo Vírus da Imunodeficiência Humana Tipo 1 (HIV-1) e Vírus Linfotrópico de Células T Humanas Tipo I (HTLV-I). Nosso objetivo foi estimar o efeito da infecção pelo HTLV-I na mortalidade de pacientes infectados pelo HIV-1 em Centro de Referência de HIV no Peru. Trata-se de uma coorte retrospectiva de pacientes infectados pelo HIV, expostos ou não expostos ao HTLV-I. Os pacientes expostos tiveram resultados positivos no Western Blot (WB) para ambos retrovírus. Os pacientes não expostos tiveram resultados positivos para o HIV-1 e pelo menos um teste de EIA negativo para o HTLV-I. Esses pacientes foram selecionados entre aqueles que entraram no nosso Programa imediatamente antes ou depois de cada paciente exposto, no período de janeiro de 1990 a junho de 2004. O tempo de sobrevida foi considerado entre o diagnóstico da exposição ao HTLV-I e a morte. As variáveis de confusão foram: idade, gênero, estágio clínico basal da infecção pelo HIV-1, contagem basal de células CD4, e terapia anti-retroviral. Estudamos 50 pacientes expostos e 100 não expostos. Os pacientes expostos tiveram menor sobrevida quando comparados aos não expostos [mediana de sobrevida: 47 meses (95% IC: 17-77) versus 85 meses (70-100), p não ajustado < 0.06]. Os pacientes expostos tiveram maior risco de morte quando comparados aos não expostos (HIV-1/HTLV-I (24/50 [48%]) versus HIV-1 só (37/100 [37%]) p univariado = 0.2). A exposição ao HTLV-I não foi associada a maior risco de morte na análise ajustada: HR: 1.2 (0.4-3.5). O estágio clínico da infecção pelo HIV-1 e a ausência de terapia anti-retroviral foram associados a maior risco de morte. Em conclusão, a infecção pelo HTLV-I não foi associada a maior risco de morte em pacientes peruanos infectados pelo HIV-1. A infecção avançada pelo HIV-1 e a falta de terapia anti-retroviral podem explicar o excesso de mortalidade nesta população

Capital social y eficiencia técnica de los pequeños agricultores de trigo de la Región del Bío Bío

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the determinants of technical efficiency of wheat small farmers in Bío Bío Region, especially to investigate the relation between social capital, measured through participation in organizations, and technical efficiency. Using information of the VII Agricultural and Forestry Survey, a stochastic frontier production function was estimated. The results show that age, level of education, size of the farmer activity, degree of specialization, technology and agro-climatic zones are able to explain individual technical efficiency levels. Special importance receives participation in organizations in the achievement of higher technical efficiency levels, principally in low productivities zones. Specifically, participation in cooperatives deeply explains the improvements in efficiency in most of the cases. Characteristics related to the business model and productive aims that they exhibit, could help to explain these results

Participación en Organizaciones de la Sociedad Civil en Chile. ¿Una Alternativa para Mejorar el Bienestar Económico?

The goal of this research is to find the determinants of individual participation on civil society organizations in Chile through a social capital approach, and to evaluate whether there is a relationship between participation and economic welfare. Several regressions that correct for double causality bias between participation and income were run. Econometric results point out that individual perceptions with respect to their neighbors and neighborhoods and the number years at school have a strong effect on participation. At the same time, they found a positive relationship between household economic welfare and participation in the case of economic organizations

Participación en Organizaciones de la Sociedad Civil en Chile. ¿Una Alternativa para Mejorar el Bienestar Económico?

The goal of this research is to find the determinants of individual participation on civil society organizations in Chile through a social capital approach, and to evaluate whether there is a relationship between participation and economic welfare. Several regressions that correct for double causality bias between participation and income were run. Econometric results point out that individual perceptions with respect to their neighbors and neighborhoods and the number years at school have a strong effect on participation. At the same time, they found a positive relationship between household economic welfare and participation in the case of economic organizations

¿Qué influye en la decisión individual de participar? Un enfoque microeconómico del capital social para el caso de las organizaciones de la Sociedad Civil en Chile

In defining the guidelines of central governments, regional and local, the participation of civil society has been incorporated as a guiding principle in the construction of development strategies. This initiative involves promoting the participation of people and strengthening civil organizations. To face this challenge it should study the process of formation of civil organizations. The objective of this work is to study the problem of participation from a microeconomic perspective, using the approach of social capital to determine the factors influencing the decision to participate. In order to achieve this objective information of CASEN 2003 was used to estimate a Probit Model. The results show lower levels of participation to the extent that the opportunity costs grow with individual incomes higher, more children at home and higher levels of unemployment. Participation is higher in the older population and level of education, which is related to increased capacity of expression and negotiation. Finally higher levels of participation are observed in the population belongs to some native people, married people, households who have own house and living in rural areas, which is associated with the possibility that social networks are specific communities

¿Qué influye en la decisión individual de participar? Un enfoque microeconómico del capital social para el caso de las organizaciones de la Sociedad Civil en Chile

In defining the guidelines of central governments, regional and local, the participation of civil society has been incorporated as a guiding principle in the construction of development strategies. This initiative involves promoting the participation of people and strengthening civil organizations. To face this challenge it should study the process of formation of civil organizations. The objective of this work is to study the problem of participation from a microeconomic perspective, using the approach of social capital to determine the factors influencing the decision to participate. In order to achieve this objective information of CASEN 2003 was used to estimate a Probit Model. The results show lower levels of participation to the extent that the opportunity costs grow with individual incomes higher, more children at home and higher levels of unemployment. Participation is higher in the older population and level of education, which is related to increased capacity of expression and negotiation. Finally higher levels of participation are observed in the population belongs to some native people, married people, households who have own house and living in rural areas, which is associated with the possibility that social networks are specific communities