Education and Gender Wage Differentials in Portugal: What Can We Learn From an Age Cohort Analysis?

Deep changes characterize the evolution of the Portuguese labor market concerning the average schooling of workers, particularly since the 1980s. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the consequences of those changes in the gender wage gap. In particular, we analyze and compare the way that this process has evolved in the groups of young workers and older workers. Our findings suggest that the major part of the pay gap refers to employer discrimination practices for both age group cohorts: in the case of the younger workers, discrimination plays an increasing role in explaining the wage gap whereas for the older workers discrimination remains stable overtime. Furthermore, the attributes related to the characteristics of jobs are the major sources of the explained pay gap. In particular, the different way men and women are distributed among the sectors of industry is the main reason of the gap for both cohorts.Labor market; discrimination; salary wage differentials

The Gender Wage Gap in Portugal: Recent Evolution and Decomposition

Using data from the Personnel Records (Quadros de Pessoal) for the period 1985-2000, we analyse the gender wage gap in Portugal. We estimate wage discrimination and endowment differentials using four decomposition methods. Our main concern is to analyse the key factors that lie behind the persistent gender pay gap despite the deep changes that characterise the recent evolution of the Portuguese labour market and the high female participation rate that exists in the country. Moreover, using the Neumark methodology, we discuss the relative contribution of different factors in explaining the gender pay gap. The results suggest that, in accordance with previous international research, the measured discrimination differential dominates the estimated endowment differential. Over time, a relevant discrimination gap persisted and it didn’t show any tendency to decrease. Results are also consistent in showing that the most important difference in attributes to explain the gender pay gap is the way how males and females are distributed by sector of industry. As to human capital variables, their relative importance to the explanation of the gender pay gap has reduced sharply, particularly along the 90’s.Labour market; discrimination; wage differential; gender

The ephemeral aesthetic of spontaneous design on the streets of São Paulo, Brazil

There are few opportunities when the poor and prosperous can be spoken about with respect to the same, shared cultural experience. And yet, visual culture, and the design process that contributes to its materialisation in specific contexts, offers an opportunity to recognise a socially inclusive activity that reveals similarity rather than difference. This paper celebrates an ephemeral aesthetic that is appreciated by people at different ends of the economic, political and social spectrum. A mutual appreciation for the medium of collage differs only in terms of the environment within which the recycled object is eventually revealed. This paper explores some of these different contexts, and those who recognise and practise this phenomenon in a South American and European context. The conclusion of this speculative and exploratory study is that there is potential to develop this unique medium as an accessible and inclusive visual language, giving voice to those who often do not have the opportunity or the means to speak and be heard. Collage is recognised as a channel that mediates between social exclusion and inclusion when political and economic means have been exhausted. The resulting ephemeral aesthetic is proven to have visual appeal, satisfying low- and high-order human needs. Keywords: Bricolage; Ephemeral Aesthetic; Urban Poor; Human Need; Graphic Design</p

Long Term and Short Term Effects of Perturbations in a Immune Network Model

In this paper we review the trajectory of a model proposed by Stauffer and Weisbuch in 1992 to describe the evolution of the immune repertoire and present new results about its dynamical behavior. Ten years later this model, which is based on the ideas of the immune network as proposed by Jerne, has been able to describe a multi-connected network and could be used to reproduce immunization and aging experiments performed with mice. Besides its biological implications, the physical aspects of the complex dynamics of this network is very interesting {\it per se}. The immunization protocol is simulated by introducing small and large perturbations (damages), and in this work we discuss the role of both. In a very recent paper we studied the aging effects by using auto-correlation functions, and the results obtained apparently indicated that the small perturbations would be more important than the large ones, since their cumulative effects may change the attractor of the dynamics. However our new results indicate that both types of perturbations are important. It is the cooperative effects between both that lead to the complex behavior which allows to reproduce experimental results.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure

Acute Multidimensional Poverty: A New Index for Developing Countries

This paper presents a new Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) for 104 developing countries. It is the first time multidimensional poverty is estimated using micro datasets (household surveys) for such a large number of countries which cover about 78 percent of the world´s population. The MPI has the mathematical structure of one of the Alkire and Foster poverty multidimensional measures and it is composed of ten indicators corresponding to same three dimensions as the Human Development Index: Education, Health and Standard of Living. Our results indicate that 1,700 million people in the world live in acute poverty, a figure that is between the $1.25/day and$2/day poverty rates. Yet it is no $1.5/day measure. The MPI captures direct failures in functionings that Amartya Sen argues should form the focal space for describing and reducing poverty. It constitutes a tool with an extraordinary potential to target the poorest, track the Millennium Development Goals, and design policies that directly address the interlocking deprivations poor people experience. This paper presents the methodology and components in the MPI, describes main results, and shares basic robustness tests.Poverty Measurement, Multidimensional Poverty, Capability Approach, Multidimensional Welfare, Human Development, HDI, HPI

Checkpoint proteins come under scrutiny

Details are emerging of the interactions between the kinetochore and various spindle checkpoint proteins that ensure that sister chromatids are equally divided between daughter cells during cell division

Innovación en productos turísticos. Dark tourism: concepto, situación actual y casos de estudio

En este trabajo se conceptualiza la práctica del Dark Tourism (Turismo Oscuro), por el cual ha aumentado el interés en la literatura y por parte de los turistas en los últimos años. Se estudian los puntos clave, así como los principales motivos que tienen los viajeros para visitar determinados lugares, sus experiencias y las características principales de los visitantes para acudir a estos sitios. Se incluyen ejemplos a modo de casos de estudio de diversos países en los que se experimenta esta tipología turística y se describe la Ruta Europea de los Cementerios, una nueva ruta que comprende un gran número de cementerios de distintos lugares europeos. El trabajo contribuye a clarificar el concepto, a través de la revisión de la literatura realizada y con la muestra de casos reales.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Assessing French Inflation Persistence with Impulse Saturation Break Tests and Automatic General-to-Specific Modelling

This paper has three different motivations. Firstly, we wish to contribute to the debate on whether French inflation has been persistent since the mid-eighties. Empirical evidence in this domain has been mixed. We use the standard method of testing for breaks in the mean of the inflation series to conclude whether possible unit root findings are the result of neglected breaks. Then, we build standard autoregressive representations of inflation, using an automatic general-to-specific approach. We conclude against inflation persistence in the sample period, and the point estimates of persistence we obtain are several percentage points below those achieved with other break tests and model selection methods. Moreover, our final model is congruent. Secondly, we provide the first empirical application of the new impulse saturation break test. The resulting estimates of the break dates are in line with other literature findings and have a sound economic meaning, confirming the good performance the test had revealed in theoretical and simulation studies. Finally, we also illustrate the shortcomings of the Bai-Perron test when applied to a small sample with high serial correlation. Indeed, we show the Bai- Perron break dates’ estimates would not allow us to build a congruent autoregressive representation of inflation.Inflation Persistence, Break Tests, Model Selection, General-to-Specific