Expanding Support for Education in Fragile States: What Role for the Education for All – Fast Track Initiative?

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Corporate information transparency on the Internet by listed companies in Spain (IBEX35) and Mexico (IPYC)

Financial and non-financial disclosure play a central role in the functioning of capital markets. In this context, the Internet has been adopted as an effective mechanism for large companies to disseminate corporate information. The institutional theory approach has been applied to identify both formal (fundamentally legal and economic) and informal factors that significantly influence listed companies’ level of corporate transparency on the Internet. Our work aims to build on existing study by focusing on two main objectives. Firstly, to make a comparative study of the corporate transparency of listed companies from Mexico and Spain by creating an index of corporate transparency on the Internet (e-CTI). And secondly, to identify the factors that affect this index using multiple regression analysis. Our study population is comprised of 70 companies, of which 35 belong to the Mexican Price and Quotations Index (IPyC) and 35 to the Spanish IBEX 35 index. The descriptive analysis reveals significant differences in the level of information disclosure between the two countries. The companies listed in Mexico obtain an e-CTI of 59%, while the Spanish ones register 80%, i.e. more importance is assigned to the disclosure of corporate governance data in Spain than in Mexico. Furthermore, this analysis shows that the factors most telling with regards to corporate transparency are the strength and application of law, GDP per capita, inflation and firm-level variables such as ownership concentration and Chairman of the Board-Chief Executive Officer (COB-CEO) duality. However, other variables such as board size and composition, profitability, leverage and firm size are not significant for the purposes of this analysis. Our work is of great relevance today, since most studies have focused on developed countries, mainly in the U.S. and Europe, with few comparisons being made between developed and developing countries, such as Spain and Mexico

Does aid educate? Dynamic panel evidence on the role of official development assistance in determining outcomes in primary education

This research evaluates the effectiveness of Official Development Assistance in determining primary education enrolment and completion, as well as the differential role that the quality of recipient country governance and presence of conflict play in influencing its impact. A panel dataset is constructed to allow analysis of educational and aid data for 61 countries over the period 1970-2013 using the dynamic panel system Generalised Methods of Moments estimator. The macro analysis is complemented by analysis of the disaggregated panel data and a review of education aid evaluations for select countries in order to profile the patterns of educational aid and enrolment growth. The results find education aid to be a highly significant predictor of enrolment, with a US$ 1 increase in education aid equated with a 0.3 rise in the primary net enrolment rate. Aid committed to countries with more stable governance is shown to be significant in the production of higher levels of primary enrolment as is education aid given during times of conflict. Both the results of the macro analysis and the four case studies - Pakistan, India, Malawi and Mozambique - point to aid effectiveness being highly dependent upon the context to which it is delivered. By analysing how differing ‘structural vulnerabilities’ have influenced the impact of aid for education, the thesis encourages the global debate to move on from asking whether or not aid works to looking at when aid works and how it can work better, arguing that increased emphasis will need to be placed on the strategic allocation of aid if the new ambitious sustainable education goal is to be met. The implications of the research for the practice of donor aid-giving post-2015 are important, as the results question current aid allocation practices and the proposed benefits of earlier calls to adopt a ‘big push’ approach to scaling-up education aid. It is argued that aid should be allocated on the basis of educational need and the focus ought primarily to be on ensuring the effectiveness of education aid projects where governance and/or political will is weak by identifying innovative and context-appropriate aid delivery mechanisms

Resistance as a practice that allows subjectivation An approach to the ritual-concert of Music of Resistance

En la sociedad actual existe un interés, por parte de los aparatos de poder, de gobernar al ser humano. Sin embargo, también está presente una inquietud genuina en los gobernados de no ser administrados. En este sentido, la búsqueda de estrategias para ejercer resistencia es algo necesario. Esta no es una tarea fácil, pero existe la posibilidad de que el sujeto encuentre en un pequeño pliegue del discurso opresor la oportunidad de resistir y comandar desde sí y para sí su pensamiento, conducta y acciones. La subjetivación, entendida como un proceso por medio del cual un sujeto puede tener acción sobre sí mismo y moldearse bajo sus propios designios, es una de las consecuencias de la resistencia, y en este trabajo la exploramos en un contexto en específico: los conciertos de música de resistencia entendidos como rituales. En esta investigación describimos uno de estos conciertos-rituales tomando en cuenta solo tres elementos: la música de resistencia, el lugar donde se llevan a cabo y los sujetos que asisten. Cada uno de estos componentes posee características particulares que pueden propiciar prácticas de resistencia y, en consecuencia, el proceso de subjetivación. Así pues, el objetivo de este trabajo es explorar brevemente la relación entre la resistencia, la subjetivación y la práctica ética en un contexto específico que es el concierto-ritual.In today’s society there is an interest on the part of the power devices to govern the human being. However, it is also present a genuine concern in the governed of not being administered. Therefore, the search for strategies to exercise resistance is a necessity. This is not an easy task, but there is a possibility for the subject to find an opportunity to resist, and command from itself and for itself his own thinking, behavior and actions. The subjectivation, understood as a process by which a subject can have action and molded itself under its own purposes, is one of the consequences of resistance and in this paper we explore it in a specific context: music concerts understood as resistance rituals. In this research we describe one of these concerts considering three elements: the music of resistance, where are performed this concerts and subjects attending. Each of these components has particular characteristics that can encourage practices of resistance and consequently the process of subjectivation. Thus, the aim of this paper is to briefly explore the relationship between resistance, subjectivation and practices in a specific context that is the concert-ritual

Rhythm and corporeity in Virgilio Piñera’s short stories (1947)

En 1947 el escritor cubano Virgilio Piñera (1912-1979) viajó a la Argentina en busca de mejores oportunidades económicas y de interlocución estética. En Buenos Aires conoció muy pronto al escritor polaco Witold Gombrowicz, con quien diseñó un efímero programa de confrontación de la alta cultura porteña, representada esta por el grupo nuclear de la revista Sur (1931-1970). El presente trabajo analiza las contribuciones de la producción cuentística de Virgilio Piñera a este proyecto «banalizador», profundizando en los elementos que Piñera incorpora desde su peculiar mirada caribeña, tales como la materialidad corporal y el ritmo, dispuestos como un combate crítico a la noción elitista de cultura.  In 1947 the Cuban writer Virgilio Piñera (1912-1979) traveled to Argentina in order to seek for better income and artistic dialogue. In Buenos Aires he soon met Polish writer Witold Gombrowicz, together they designed a program destined to attack the high culture represented by Sur’s (1931-1970) nuclear group. This paper aims to analyze Piñera’s contributions to this “trivializing program” in the tale “La risa”, showing that his Caribbean point of view, in means of fictionalizing materiality and rythm, participate in a particular attack to the notion of “high culture

Buñuel-Ripstein: ¿vasos comunicantes?

Pérez Turrent, T. (1996). Buñuel-Ripstein: ¿vasos comunicantes?. Nosferatu. Revista de cine. (22):14-19. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/40985.Importación Masiva14192

Cuerpo y heterotopía en los cuentos de Virgilio Piñera

In this paper I aim to examine four short tales written by cuban writer Virgilio Piñera (1912-1979): “Las partes” (1944), “Cosas de cojos” (1956), “La cara” (1956), and “Oficio de tinieblas” (1961), all collected in El que vino a salvarme (1970). Mi reading focuses on a set of physical conditions, such as blindness, lameness and body disaggregation. I analyze how these conditions create protected spaces, insularities that differentiate, physical and socially from crhonological time and cotidianity meaning. I’m interested in how these universes build hetherotopia (Foucault, 1994), in other words, reserved places that resist to external logic and where characters use their bodies to construct new kinds of relationships, in terms of otherness and community (Nancy, 2000).En el presente trabajo examino los cuentos “Las partes” (1944), “Cosas de cojos” (1956), “La cara” (1956) y “Oficio de tinieblas” (1961), recogidos en la edición argentina El que vino a salvarme (1970) del escritor cubano Virgilio Piñera (1912-1979). Centro el análisis en un conjunto de condicionamientos físicos como la ceguera, la cojera y la desagregación corporal que, como sostengo, posibilitan la figuración de espacios diferenciados y protegidos, esto es, formas de insularidad que configuran una gramática física y social que se desfasa del sentido cronológico del tiempo y el curso cotidiano de las cosas. Me interesa leer estos cuentos como la edificación de heterotopías (Foucault, 1994), esto es, sitios reservados que sostienen cierta relación con la realidad pero se resisten a ésta. Quienes los habitan forjan vínculos mediados por el cuerpo, entendido éste como reducto radical de semejanza que se abre a la alteridad hasta construir formas de comunidad (Nancy, 2001).In this paper I aim to examine four short tales written by cuban writer Virgilio Piñera (1912-1979): “Las partes” (1944), “Cosas de cojos” (1956), “La cara” (1956), and “Oficio de tinieblas” (1961), all collected in El que vino a salvarme (1970). Mi reading focuses on a set of physical conditions, such as blindness, lameness and body disaggregation. I analyze how these conditions create protected spaces, insularities that differentiate, physical and socially from crhonological time and cotidianity meaning. I’m interested in how these universes build hetherotopia (Foucault, 1994), in other words, reserved places that resist to external logic and where characters use their bodies to construct new kinds of relationships, in terms of otherness and community (Nancy, 2000

Family CEOs and CSR performance in Ibero-American family firms

Based on the behavioral agency theory, this paper aims to analyze the relationship between family CEOs and the social and environmental adopted practices by family listed firms in Ibero-America, and how board structure (size, independence and female on the board) moderate this relationship. An unbalanced panel data integrated by 836 yearly-observations during 2011-2016 period and GMM method are adopted to carry out several econometric analyses. The results show that family CEOs increase social performance, particularly in the aspects related to labor practices, work condition and human rights. The main limitation of the study is the sample of study, focused on those companies with the highest stock market prices in four Ibero-American countries. This research contributes to advance both the family firms and CSR literature at a comparative level, and emphasizes that socio-emotional wealth preservation constitutes a strategic mechanism for family CEOs, which, in turn, enhances the non-financial performance of Ibero-American firms.CEOs familiares y el desempeño de la RSC en las empresas familiares iberoamericanasBasado en la teoría de agencia conductual, este trabajo tiene como objetivo analizar la relación entre los CEOs familiares y las prácticas sociales y ambientales adoptadas por empresas familiares cotizadas en Iberoamérica, y cómo la composición del consejo de administración (tamaño, independencia y participación de mujeres consejeras) modera esta relación. Un panel de datos no balanceado integrado por 836 observaciones-año durante el periodo 2011-2016 es adoptado para realizar diversos análisis econométricos.  Los resultados muestran que los CEOs familiares incrementan el desempeño social, particularmente en los aspectos relacionados a prácticas laborales, condiciones de trabajo y derechos humanos. La principal limitación del trabajo es la muestra de estudio, centrada en aquellas empresas con mayor capitalización en los mercados de valores de cuatro países en Iberoamérica. Esta investigación contribuye en extender la literatura comparativa internacional en empresas familiares y pone de manifiesto que la preservación de la riqueza socio-emocional constituye un mecanismo estratégico para los CEOs familiares, lo cual a su vez, favorece el desempeño no financiero de empresas Iberoamericanas

Performance and abilities of family-member ceos in a context of formal institutional weakness

Antecedentes: desde la perspectiva de la teoría institucional, este artículo estudia la relación entre las habilidades de los directores generales pertenecientes a la familia y el desempeño financiero de las empresas familiares listadas en un entorno caracterizado por la debilidad de las instituciones formales. Metodología: la muestra se compone de empresas familiares no financieras listadas en la Bolsa Mexicana de Valores durante el periodo 2001-2014. El análisis econométrico utiliza modelos lineales para datos de panel estimados por mínimos cuadrados ordinarios (mco). Para tomar en cuenta la endogeneidad, las regresiones se corren con el método generalizado de momentos (mgm). Conclusiones: en un contexto de debilidad institucional, invertir en educación superior en el área de negocios —de alta calidad y proporcionada en el propio país— es una buena estrategia a largo plazo para empresas familiares que quieran promover a un director general de la familia.Background: From the perspective of institutional theory, this paper studies the relation between the abilities of family-member ceos and the financial performance of listed family companies, in a setting of formal institutional weakness. Methodology: The study sample is composed of non-financial family firms listed in the Mexican Stock Exchange during the 2001-2014 period. Econometric analysis is attained through linear models for panel data, estimated by ordinary least squares (ols). To take into account endogeneity concerns, regressions are run through the generalized method of moments (gmm). Conclusions: In a context of formal institutional weakness, investment in businessrelated higher education —of high quality, and in one’s own country— is a good long-term strategy for family businesses that wish to promote a family-member ce