El modelo social europeo: elementos constitutivos y viabilidad en un contexto adverso

El trabajo propone una definición y caracterización del modelo social europeo aun admitiendo la existencia de claras variantes . los elementos constitutivos del MSE son sometidos a contrastación con los datos observados en los distintos países buscando una evidencia de su entidad como modelo de desarrollo diferenciado propio de Europa occidental

Globalización y definición nacional de políticas de protección social

El artículo plantea la cuestión de la sostenibilidad de los niveles actuales de protección social, en un contexto de creciente exposición de las empresas a la competencia internacional y de paralela pérdida de autonomía en la formulación nacional de medidas típicas de mejora de la competitividad a corto plazo. Tras deducir la conexión teórica entre las estrategias de favorecimiento de la competitividad y la financiación de las prestaciones de protección social, se aporta alguna evidencia empírica (referida al entorno UE) que corrobora la existencia de riesgos potenciales para la consolidación de la intensidad protectora. ____________________________________________The essential objective of this article is to link the exposure of firms to increasing international competition and the evolution of social welfare systems, while states lose the use of some policies aimed to improve national competitiveness. The empirical study focuses on EU countries, and investigates whether trends in welfare provision levels and funding are coherent with theoretical hypothesis

The Social Dimension of the European Union: A Means to lock out Social Competition?

In the process of European integration, the social dimension has to date been subordinated to presumed economic requirements. There have been no specific commitments to preserve the European Social Model (ESM), which has been gradually diluted as a result of successive EU enlargements, the impact of ageing, job insecurity and socio-cultural changes on social protection systems and the pressure exerted by globalisation in a context of ever harsher market competition. Moreover, the decisions adopted by the EU in addressing the 2008 economic crisis have led Community institutions gradually to impose reforms of pension systems and labour markets, particularly in southern countries, which threaten to reduce the level of protection provided for citizens. This paper argues that the EU aquis is not sufficient to prevent social competition and warns of the risks arising from the current dynamic in terms of maintaining social cohesion, equal opportunities and fairness as basic features of European identity. Some data that illustrate the varying degrees of intensity and effort in social welfare provisions by Member States and the gradual divergence in social protection benefits are provided (using dispersion measurements). In an effort to be proactive, a number of proposals are given with a view to reversing this trend and consolidating the social content of the European project.Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature

Scenarios and research issues for a network of information

This paper describes ideas and items of work within the framework of the EU-funded 4WARD project. We present scenarios where the current host-centric approach to infor- mation storage and retrieval is ill-suited for and explain how a new networking paradigm emerges, by adopting the information-centric network architecture approach, which we call Network of Information (NetInf). NetInf capital- izes on a proposed identifier/locator split and allows users to create, distribute, and retrieve information using a com- mon infrastructure without tying data to particular hosts. NetInf introduces the concepts of information and data ob- jects. Data objects correspond to the particular bits and bytes of a digital object, such as text file, a specific encod- ing of a song or a video. Information objects can be used to identify other objects irrespective of their particular dig- ital representation. After discussing the benefits of such an indirection, we consider the impact of NetInf with respect to naming and governance in the Future Internet. Finally, we provide an outlook on the research scope of NetInf along with items for future work

La dimensión social de la política de cohesión

El artículo valora la contribución de la política de cohesión a la dimensión social de la UE, partiendo de la evolución de su sentido, tanto desde el punto de vista conceptual como por el contexto cambiante de referencia, a medida que se incrementaba la heterogeneidad estructural de la Unión con las sucesivas ampliaciones. Tras repasar el tratamiento dispensado a la cohesión en la legislación primaria y en los presupuestos comunitarios, se recogen los indicios disponibles del impacto de los sucesivos programas y estrategias comunitarias en materia de cohesión, tratando de estimar los alcances más relevantes en términos de la dimensión social de la UE. Las conclusiones apuntan a que, pese a algunos logros tangibles que mejoran las condiciones de vida y de trabajo de los ciudadanos europeos, el enfoque de la política de cohesión se centra en los territorios, buscando tanto una reducción de las disparidades regionales como la legitimación de la Unión en los territorios más rezagados; en todo caso, es una política muy condicionada por las limitaciones de recursos y los requerimientos de calidad institucional y elegibilidad en las zonas receptoras. Recibido:27 noviembre 2017 Aceptado: 09 enero 2018 Publicación en línea: 28 marzo 201

Reconfiguring global value chains in a post-Brexit world: A technological interpretation

[EN]With the uncertainties that it may entail in terms of possible trade barriers between the UK and the EU, increased exchange rate risk, restrictions on the establishment of professionals and possible changes in regulations on the environment, tax and protection of competition, Brexit could exacerbate the process of re-localisation of operations that commenced to a small extent some years ago. This process was based on technological innovations under the heading of Industry 4.0, and more recently strengthened by the supply problems that came to light during the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. Although the social, political and institutional context matters a lot, we believe that technology is going to be a conditioning element in the ability of businesses to reconfigure the value chains in which they are involved. We propose a typology based on this technological perspective that could have considerable potential impact in defining business strategies in numerous industries and in orienting industrial policy in countries striving to acquire a more central role or to prevent themselves from being cut out of the global value chain.The authors acknowledge research funding from University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) : Grant GIU19/078

State Aid, EU Maritime Transport Policies and Competitiveness of EU Country Fleets

Aim and purposes: This study conducts an across-the-board comparative analysis of the impact of the main measures used by the 10 leading maritime nations of the EU on the relative competitiveness of the fleets that they control, covering the period from 1996 to 2011. We propose two models to compare the relative effectiveness of the maritime policy measures implemented: one for the full set of countries and measures and the other specifically for each maritime nation. Findings: The estimation results make us conclude that generally the measures adopted in national-level maritime policies (tonnage tax, second register and other measures) seem to have been effective in that they have had a positive effect on the competitiveness of controlled fleets, but with uneven impact on the fleets of each countryThe authors acknowledge research funding from University of the Basque Country (grant GIU19/078); Econometrics Research Group (Basque Government Department of Education grant IT-1359-19) and Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness and ERDF (grant PID2019-105986GB-C22

Salarios y costes laborales unitarios en la economía española : la distribución funcional de la renta en la etapa de crecimiento económico

Between 1995 and 2007 the Spanish economy underwent a period of economic growth, with rates of economic growth above the average of the euro zone countries. However, and due to the strong creation of employment, real productivity per worker showed a relative stagnation throughout this period. In this study, we confirm that, despite the moderate growth of productivity, Spanish economy showed an almost constant drop on real Unit Labour Costs and on wages, also seen in real terms (and not in nominal terms). The result of it in terms of functional distribution of income is clear: despite the significant increase of wages in the Spanish economy, during some phases of the period we studied, the restraint of the real ULCs prevented the wage incomes from gaining weight in the Spanish income as a whole.; Entre 1995 y 2007 la economía española experimentó un periodo expansivo, con tasas de crecimiento económico por encima del promedio de los países europeos de la zona euro. No obstante, y debido a la fuerte creación de empleo, la productividad real por ocupado mostró un relativo estancamiento en todo el periodo. A partir del trabajo realizado, comprobamos que, a pesar del moderado crecimiento de la productividad, en la economía española se registró un descenso casi constante de los Costes Laborales Unitarios reales y de los salarios también expresados en términos reales (no así en términos nominales). El resultado en términos de distribución funcional de la renta parece claro: a pesar de que durante el periodo estudiado hubo fases en las que se incrementó significativamente la tasa de asalarización de la economía española, la contención de los CLU reales impidió que las rentas salariales ganasen peso en el conjunto de la renta española.; 1995-2007 epealdian espainiar ekonomiak hedatze aroa bizi zuen, euro guneko beste europar Estatuetako bataz besteko hazkunde ekonomikoaren tasen gainetik. Hala ere, eta sortutako enplegua handia izan zelako, langile bakoitzaren benetako produktibitateak geldialdi erlatiboa jasan zuen aldi horretan. Egindako lanetik abiatuz, produktibitatearen hazkunde moderatua egon arren, egiaztatzen da espainiar ekonomian modu konstantean jaitsi zirela Lan Kostu Bateratu errealak bai eta termino errealetan adierazitako soldatak ere (ez termino nominaletan adierazitakoak). Errentaren banaketa funtzionalaren ikuspegitik emaitza argia da: aztertutako aldiaren zenbait fasetan espainiar ekonomian asalarizazio-tasa modu esanguratsuan igo bazen ere, LKB errealei eutsi izanak soldaten errentek espainiar errenta osoan pisua irabaztea galarazi zuen

Industry 4.0 and potential for reshoring: A typology of technology profiles of manufacturing firms

The paper analyses the trend towards reshoring processes in the field of manufacturing industry as a result of the massive digitisation of the technical solutions used by most product fields. The paper analyses the trend towards reshoring processes in the new productive scenario of industry 4.0 posed by the manufacturing industry because of the overall application of ICT and other technologies in their product fields. The incorporation of Industry 4.0 technologies (I 4.0 T) and the resulting digitalisation raises needs for technology adaptation in production plants that have strong territorial effects derived from the technological constraints linked to the adaptation process itself and that result, in many cases, in reshoring. Our analytical proposal takes a logical-formal point of view based on the cognitive composition of the technical solutions used by manufacturing industry, and draws up a typology of technology profiles to help determine the potential for reshoring among offshored plants and the difficulties that the process may entail. The results enable us to identify a growing role for reshoring processes, distinguishing different degrees of intensity depending on the characteristics of the technological scenario in which each plant is located, with the technological resources offered by its local setting playing a fundamental role

Cannabis sativa extracts protect LDL from Cu2+-mediated oxidation

Background: Multiple therapeutic properties have been attributed to Cannabis sativa. However, further research is required to unveil the medicinal potential of Cannabis and the relationship between biological activity and chemical profile. Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to characterize the chemical profile and antioxidant properties of three varieties of Cannabis sativa available in Uruguay during progressive stages of maturation. Methods: Fresh samples of female inflorescences from three stable Cannabis sativa phenotypes, collected at different time points during the end of the flowering period were analyzed. Chemical characterization of chloroform extracts was performed by 1 H-NMR. The antioxidant properties of the Cannabis sativa extracts, and pure cannabinoids, were measured in a Cu2+-induced LDL oxidation assay. Results: The main cannabinoids in the youngest inflorescences were tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THC-A, 242 ± 62 mg/g) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, 7.3 ± 6.5 mg/g). Cannabinoid levels increased more than twice in two of the mature samples. A third sample showed a lower and constant concentration of THC-A and THC (177 ± 25 and 1 ± 1, respectively). The THC-A/THC rich cannabis extracts increased the latency phase of LDL oxidation by a factor of 1.2–3.5 per μg, and slowed down the propagation phase of lipoperoxidation (IC50 1.7–4.6 μg/mL). Hemp, a cannabidiol (CBD, 198 mg/g) and cannabidiolic acid (CBD-A, 92 mg/g) rich variety, also prevented the formation of conjugated dienes during LDL oxidation. In fact, 1 μg of extract was able to stretch the latency phase 3.7 times and also to significantly reduce the steepness of the propagation phase (IC50 of 8 μg/mL). Synthetic THC lengthened the duration of the lag phase by a factor of 21 per μg, while for the propagation phase showed an IC50 ≤ 1 μg/mL. Conversely, THC-A was unable to improve any parameter. Meanwhile, the presence of 1 μg of pure CBD and CBD-A increased the initial latency phase 4.8 and 9.4 times, respectively, but did not have an effect on the propagation phase. Conclusion: Cannabis whole extracts acted on both phases of lipid oxidation in copper challenged LDL. Those effects were just partially related with the content of cannabinoids and partially recapitulated by isolated pure cannabinoids. Our results support the potentially beneficial effects of Cannabis sativa whole extracts on the initial phase of atherosclerosis