Neoclassical growth and the natural resource curse puzzle

We advance a novel mechanism that helps to explain the puzzling evidence on the natural resource curse. The new channel arises in a standard dynamic Heckscher-Ohlin model composed of small-open economies that take international output prices as given. Within this framework, a more capital-intensive primary sector implies that natural-resource abundant economies grow more slowly along the adjustment path. This effect might be only temporary because the natural input also affects long-run income, and not necessarily in the same direction as transitional growth. We produce quantitative results that show that the new mechanism can account for a significant fraction of the observed output growth gap between resource rich and resource poor U.S. states

Convergence in a dynamic Heckscher–Ohlin model with land

Convergence among nations that share the same preferences and technologies is a key result of the closed-economy neoclassical growth framework that has received substantial support in the data. However, Heckscher–Ohlin versions of the two-sector neoclassical growth model predict that nations that differ in their capital–labor ratios may not converge to the same steady state, even if they are identical in all other aspects. This is a puzzling result that warns us about potential dangers of international trade. In this paper we show that when land, an input in fixed supply, is introduced into the model, international trade in goods no longer limits the capacity of poor nations to catch up with the advanced world

The Quest for Productivity Growth in Agriculture and Manufacturing

We develop a theory to explain the transition from stagnation to modern growth. We focus on the forces that shaped the evolution of total factor productivity in agriculture and manufacturing across history. More specifically, we build a multisector model of endogenous technical-change and economic growth. We consider an expanding-variety setup with rising labor specialization and two different R&D technologies, one for agriculture and another for manufacturing. As a consequence, total factor productivity in the model can increase via two different channels. First, population growth allows larger levels of specialization of land and labor in the economy that bring efficiency gains. This type of productivity improvement is capital saving, but can not generate sustained growth. Technical change is also possible by investing in R&D. Unlike specialization, new technologies generated in this way are land and labor augmenting, and are the key to modern growth. In the model, the economy has not incentives to invest in R&D until a minimum knowledge base is available to researchers. This is in line with ideas contained in Mokyr (2005). To make possible the accumulation of this minimum knowledge base, we assume that learning-by-doing is the implicit underlying force that leads to specialization. However, land and labor specialization is based on knowledge whose nature differs in agriculture and in manufacturing. More specifically, whereas this knowledge is farm-specific in agriculture, mainly concern with the acquisition of uncodified information about local conditions of soil and whether, specialization in manufacturing is the result of general knowledge, mainly codified, that contributes at a larger extent to the knowledge base.stagnation, modern growth, specialization, learning-by-doing, R&D, Knowledge base

Term Structure and the Estimated Monetary Policy Rule in the Eurozone

Published as an article in: Spanish Economic Review, 2008, vol. 10, issue 4, pages 251-277.NKM model, term structure, policy rule, indirect inference

The New Keynesian Monetary Model: Does it Show the Comovement Between Output and Inflation in the U.S.?

Published as article in: Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control (2008), 32(May), pp. 1466-1488.comovement, VAR forecast errors, optimal policy, NKM model

PATHS OF DEVELOPMENT IN OPEN ECONOMIES: THE ROLE OF LAND

This paper shows, within a Heckscher-Ohlin version of the two-sector neoclassical growth model, that land, besides having long-run effects, is also a main determinant of the speed of convergence toward the steady state when there are cross-sector capital share differences. This result stands in sharp contrast to the predictions of standard neoclassical growth frameworks, and calls for a reinterpretation of the conditional-convergence and the resource-curse findings. More specifically, the model predicts that the former finding requires the existence not only of diminishing returns but also of relatively small differences in capital shares across sectors. With respect to the latter finding, our results imply that it may be a consequence of purely transitional effects of natural riches on growth, and that it can not be interpreted as evidence that natural inputs necessarily harm long-run welfare. We produce empirical evidence on the relationship between land, income levels, and growth rates, and present data on cross-sector capital shares. We claim that most of that evidence is consistent with the predictions of the model.Small-Open Economy, land, long-run income, convergence speed

Los arabismos del "Libro conplido" y otras huellas árabes

El propósito de este artículo es dar a conocer el rico material lingüístico que proporciona el Libro Conplido en los Iudizios de las Estrellas, traducción romance de un tratado árabe de Astrología escrito el año 1040. Los ámbitos de influjo de la lengua árabe del original en el romance castellano de la traducción son: 1) influjos sintácticos y estilísticos, 2) préstamos léxicos: de la lengua común, tecnicismos astrológicos. Se añade un glosario con todas las citas, en las que aparecen los préstamos árabes.The aim of this article is to present the rich linguistic material that provides the Libro Conplido en los Iudizios de las Estrellas, a romance translation of an Arab essay written in 1040 about Astrology. The domains of influence of the original in Arab language on the Castilian romance translation are: 1) syntactic and stylistic influences, 2) lexical loans: from the common language and astrological tecnicisms. A glossary with all the quotations, in which the Arabic borrowings appear, is added

Human mitochondrial degradosome prevents harmful mitochondrial R loops and mitochondrial genome instability

R loops are nucleic acid structures comprising an DNA-RNA hybrid and a displaced single-stranded DNA. These structures may occur transiently during transcription, playing essential biological functions. However, persistent R loops may become pathological as they are important drivers of genome instability and have been associated with human diseases. The mitochondrial degradosome is a functionally conserved complex from bacteria to human mitochondria. It is composed of the ATP-dependent RNA and DNA helicase SUV3 and the PNPase ribonuclease, playing a central role in mitochondrial RNA surveillance and degradation. Here we describe a new role for the mitochondrial degradosome in preventing the accumulation of pathological R loops in the mitochondrial DNA, in addition to preventing dsRNA accumulation. Our data indicate that, similar to the molecular mechanisms acting in the nucleus, RNA surveillance mechanisms in the mitochondria are crucial to maintain its genome integrity by counteracting pathological R-loop accumulation.European Research Council ERC2014 AdG669898 TARLOOPMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad BFU2013-42918-P, BFU2016-75058-

Multifunctional enzymatically generated hydrogels for chronic wound application

The healing of chronic wounds requires intensive medical intervention at huge healthcare costs. Dressing materials should consider the multifactorial nature of these wounds comprising deleterious proteolytic and oxidative enzymes and high bacterial load. In this work, multifunctional hydrogels for chronic wound application were produced by enzymatic cross- linking of thiolated chitosan and gallic acid. The hydrogels combine several beneficial to wound healing properties, controlling the matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and myeloperoxidase (MPO) activities, oxidative stress, and bacterial contamination. In vitro studies revealed above 90% antioxidant activity, and MPO and collagenase inhibition by up to 98 and 23%, respectively. Ex vivo studies with venous leg ulcer exudates confirmed the inhibitory capacity of the dressings against MPO and MMPs. Additionally, the hydrogels reduced the population of the most frequently encountered in nonhealing wounds bacterial strains. The stable at physiological conditions and resistant to lysozyme degradation hydrogels showed high biocompatibility with human skin fibroblastsPeer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Interpretative Categories, Textual Markup, and Codification in XML-TEI for the Study of Paratexts in the Early Modern Age (BIESES)

[Resumen] Este artículo explica el proceso de trabajo de edición digital y marcado de categorías de análisis de los paratextos contenidos en obras de escritoras españolas de la primera edad moderna, desde los primeros impresos conservados hasta los años finales del siglo XVIII. Una primera parte de este trabajo se dedica a analizar la metodología de investigación que el equipo de investigación del Proyecto BIESES ha llevado a cabo para definir las categorías de análisis que explican la escritura femenina de este período, en relación a los conceptos de autora, obra y receptor. En la segunda parte se da cuenta de las fases de trabajo de edición digital del corpus paratextual, marcado en TEI y el diseño de un buscador que permite recuperar esas categorías de análisis. El resultado de este proyecto de investigación es un entorno virtual de trabajo, que pone a disposición de la comunidad investigadora, en acceso abierto, herramientas de análisis, textos y una propuesta metodológica que proyecta el análisis literario en las humanidades digitales[Abstract] This paper describes the work process of digital edition and the markup of categories of analysis of paratexts contained in the works of female Spanish writers of the Early Modern Age, from the first recorded printings to works of the late eighteenth century. The initial part of this work is devoted to the analysis of the research methodology used by the BIESES project research team to define the categories of analysis that describe female writing of this period, considering the concepts of author, work, and receiver. In the second part, the phases of the digital edition work of the paratextual corpus, TEI markup, and the design of a search engine to recover these categories of analysis are described. The results of this research project consist of a virtual work environment that offers the research community open access, analysis tools, texts, and a methodological proposal for literary analysis in the digital humanitie