Fighting austerity: Why after 80 years the General Theory is still relevant today,

The guiding spirit of the Keynesian Revolution is that full employment is a goal which can be pursued not by following the free market rules, but by reshaping them by means of public intervention. This message was widely accepted for thirty years as from the end of the Second World War by all the advanced countries which actively engaged in full employment and welfare policies, and subsequently abandoned with the neo-liberal Restoration which saw the dogmas of individualism and de-regulation prevailing. In reclaiming the topical importance of the General Theory, we should take into consideration the changed circumstances of today’s world when compared to those of twenty – let alone eighty – years ago, although there are notable similarities between the Great Depression of the 1930s – Keynes’s world – and our contemporary crisis. However, his prescription for a better society is still relevant: it lies in setting rules and limitations in the market arena, not letting individual self-interest prevail, and putting some governing bodies in charge of filling the gap when deficient aggregate demand occurs, so that the acquisition of material goods and the fruition of the enjoyments of life be not a privilege of the few but the conquest of civilization

Money and Markets:Introduction

In the history of economic thought the relationship between money and market has been interpreted from two contrasting points of view. On the one hand, money is seen as an instrument created by individuals to overcome the difficulties involved in barter, its basic function being as a medium of exchange, while the other view has it that money developed before the market and that its principal function is that of a standard of value. Evidently, therefore, in the former case the unit of account function is seen to have emerged from a practice (exchange of goods and services) based on the advantages to be had for individuals seeking to maximise their utility, while in the latter case money emerges as a rule adopted by members of the community (the political authorities promoting it and ensuring it be respected) which pre-dates the market. As in the case of money, also for the market two approaches have come into confrontation in the course of the history of economic thought. With the first the market is seen as a column bearing the economies characterised by private property and freedom of enterprise. It represents the means by which members of society democratically come to decisions about the use of resources and distribution of income. In the second approach, on the other hand, the market is seen as the means by which decisions on the use of resources and distribution of income, once taken by the groups enjoying economic command, are passed on to the other members of society to be implemented. In the first case the market lies at the heart of the system and serves to prevent the enjoyment of privileges and position rents by some members of society excluding others, while in the second it merely plays a supporting role for the existing patterns of power.Money, markets, alternative theories

Quelle place pour le Cap dans la mondialisation ? :<br />Stratégies spatiales des IDE et dynamique urbaine

Mesurer les processus complexes de la mondialisation dans une perspective géographique conduit à s'intéresser aux stratégies spatiales des investissements directs étrangers. En effet, les investissements directs à l'étranger (IDE) constituent l'un des aspects les plus visibles de la mondialisation (Levasseur, 2002 ; Bost, 2004). Aussi, les recherches menées sur les répercussions spatiales des IDE dans les villes sud-africaines (Vacchiani-Marcuzzo, 2005), à travers les stratégies du Greenfield investment (implantation ex-nihilo d'établissements), permettent-elles de mesurer et de différencier les dynamiques des différentes agglomérations. Elles soulignent la place croissante du Cap dans le réseau des villes. D'autres recherches menées récemment en géographie comme en économie (Van der Merwe, 2004 ; Gibb, 2007) mettent en avant la ville du Cap pour sa place et son rôle croissants dans le contexte mondialisé. Le Cap est-elle réellement une nouvelle ville mondiale (global city) ? Comment a-t-elle évolué par rapport aux autres grandes villes sud-africaines, notamment depuis la fin de l'apartheid ? Quels sont les facteurs de son attractivité ? Et quel rôle jouent les politiques locales dans cette nouvelle phase de trajectoire urbaine

Fonction centrale et fonction administrative des villes petites et moyennes sud africaines

International audiencePrendre comme objet d'étude les villes petites et moyennes peut sembler surprenant dans un pays où le domaine d'intervention en géographie urbaine se concentre essentiellement sur les grandes villes et les métropoles. C'est en effet là que la situation est la plus urgente, que les crises provoquées par de longues années d'oppression raciale sont les plus aiguës, que les effets de la ségrégation raciale et de l'inégal accès aux ressources se font le plus douloureusement sentir. Cependant, plusieurs arguments justifient la mise en valeur de ce champ de recherche consacré à un échelon inférieur de la hiérarchie urbaine. Au sein du continent africain, par comparaison avec les systèmes de villes des autres pays, l'Afrique du Sud dispose d'un nombre important de villes de cette taille (seuils choisis : 5000-100000 habitants). Il est ainsi pertinent de considérer ce niveau comme un élément constituant d'un système, entité cohérente, où les villes sont constamment en relation et où les dynamiques d'évolution des villes, des plus petites aux plus grandes, sont complémentaires et interdépendantes. En outre, les villes petites et moyennes peuvent jouer un rôle majeur dans la fixation d'une partie des flux migratoires. Elles peuvent devenir autant de relais de diffusion du développement par l'intermédiaire de leurs équipement publics, de leurs services et commerces ou de leurs entreprises. Leur dynamique actuelle et à venir est donc un élément important pour une répartition plus équilibrée des citadins et pour l'élévation souhaitable du niveau de vie de l'ensemble de la population

Mondialisation, investissements étrangers et évolution du système des villes sud-africaines

International audienceThe aim of this paper is to analyse the probably disturbing effects induced by the economic opening on cities in South Africa. Subjected to the economic globalization, measured here through the spatial distribution of the foreign direct investments, will the South African urban system evolve with the globalisation process, as other systems did or does South Africa's international opening have particular modalities according to the specificities of the urban system? The aim is here to measure how the spatial structure of the system of cities is affected : are there growing concentration of activities, increasing unequalities, or a general convergence on the long run ?Cet article propose d'analyser les effets éventuellement perturbateurs d'une ouverture économique internationale brutale sur les villes en Afrique du Sud. Soumis à la mondialisation de l'économie, mesurée ici à travers la distribution spatiale des investissements directs étrangers, le système des villes sud-africaines évolue t-il comme d'autres systèmes déjà connus ou bien l'ouverture prend-elle des modalités particulières liées aux spécificités de la genèse et de l'histoire du système ? L'objectif est ici d'évaluer, à l'échelle inter-urbaine, les reconfigurations spatiales à l'œuvre et les dynamiques de concentration, d'accentuation des disparités ou au contraire de rattrapage sur le long terme

Implementation of a thermal-based food recommendation system

Mestrado de dupla diplomação com a UTFPR - Universidade Tecnológica Federal do ParanáO modelo convencional de uma consulta de nutricionista baseia-se na análise dos dados do paciente pelo nutricionista e na provisão de um plano nutricional com base nos objetivos do paciente, e este ciclo é repetido a cada consulta. Para fazer isso, o nutricionista coleta a maior quantidade de informações possíveis durante a consulta e é com base nesse conjunto de dados que ele estabelece o plano nutricional. Por outro lado, a definição desse plano não é uma tarefa fácil, pois existe uma grande variedade de alimentos e o plano deve seguir muitas restrições e ao mesmo tempo dar alguma liberdade para o paciente escolher entre um conjunto de possibilidades. Outra questão importante é a possibilidade de monitorar a dieta do paciente, obtendo mais informações para os próximos planos sem a necessidade de agendar uma nova consulta. Neste projeto, propomos um sistema capaz de coletar dados do usuário para que o nutricionista possa analisar o paciente e fornecer planos nutricionais mais precisos, eficazes e com uma maior variedade de refeições com base nas preferências de cada usuário, tornando a experiência mais agradável para o usuário e auxiliando o trabalho do nutricionista. Um sistema de recomendação também foi proposto para auxiliar o nutricionista na geração do plano nutricional. Este sistema seria capaz de analisar as preferências do usuário e preencher as refeições do plano nutricional seguindo as regras impostas. Além disso, foi projetado para incluir e priorizar os alimentos termicamente baseados produzidos no contexto do projeto Aquae Vitae.The conventional model of a nutritionist consultation is based on the nutritionist analyzing the patient’s data and providing a nutritional plan based on the patient’s goals, and this cycle is repeated at each consultation. In order to do that the nutritionist collects the greatest amount of information that it’s possible to get during the consultation and is based on that set of data that he establish the nutritional plan. By other hand, the definition of that plan isn’t an easy task because there is an huge variety of food and the plan should follow lots of restrictions and at the same time give some freedom to the patient to choose in between a set of possibilities. Another important issue is the possibility of monitoring the patient diet geting more information for the next plans without the need to schedule a new consultation. In this project we proposed a system capable of collecting data from the user so that the nutritionist can analyze the patient and provide nutritional plans that are more accurate, effective, and with a greater variety of meals based on each user’s preferences, making the experience more pleasant for the user and assisting the nutritionist’s work. A recommendation system was also proposed to aid the nutritionist in generating the nutritional plan. This system would be capable of analyzing the user’s preferences and filling in the meals of the nutritional plan following the imposed rules. Moreover, it has been designed to include and prioritize the thermally-based food items produced within the context of the Aquae Vitae project

John Maynard Keynes: The Economist as Investor

John Maynard Keynes: The Economist as Investor Abstract Keynes the investor has recently attracted the attention of several scholars and quite a few articles have come out in the last five years. A description of Keynes’s dealings has emerged, assessing his performance as an investor as superior but not as stellar as had previously been believed. However, overall evaluation of Keynes’s performance is still lacking. This paper contributes to this growing literature by filling some of the gaps, especially in relation to Keynes’s investment philosophy and economic theory, and by undertaking a more comprehensive review of the available evidence, drawing on some unpublished sources which have not as yet been fully exploite