More Lessons from Taking an AK Model to the Data.

We take an AK model to the PWT data. In the model both technology (intratemporal) and investment (intertemporal) shocks determine the variation of the growth rate. In earlier work we looked at singular models where we extracted only the technology shock using the policy functions from dynamic optimality. Here we recover time series for both shocks for a panel of countries and we isolate what we believe are pervasive patterns in macroeconomic models and postwar data: a negative correlation between intra and intertemporal shocks, and a somewhat lesser role for the intertemporal shock.endogenous growth; technology shocks; investment shocks

(Relative Price) Lessons from Taking an AK Model to the Data

Endogenous Growth, Technology Shocks, Investment Shocks.

The Poverty of Linear Nations: Lessons from Taking an AK Model to the Data.

This paper takes an AK model to the PWT data. In the model, intratemporal and intertemporal shocks are reduced forms for different technologies, and determine the variation of the growth rate. Using the policy functions of the model we recover time series for the unobserved technology shock for a panel of countries. We can then evaluate both how well the model fits the data and what the contribution of the different shocks to the variation of growth rates is. We find that the data is largely inconsistent with the AK structure. However, we isolate what we believe are pervasive patterns in macroeconomic models: a negative correlation between intra and intertemporal shocks, and an ever increasing level of technology matched with ever cheaper consumption relative to investment.endogenous growth; technology shocks; investment shocks

Coastal evolution in a Mediterranean microtidal zone: mid to late Holocene natural dynamics and human management of the Castelló lagoon, NE Spain

© 2016 Ejarque et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. We present a palaeoenvironmental study of the Castelló lagoon (NE Spain), an important archive for understanding long-term interactions between dynamic littoral ecosystems and human management. Combining geochemistry, mineralogy, ostracods, diatoms, pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, charcoal and archaeo-historical datasets we reconstruct: 1) the transition of the lagoon from a marine to a marginal environment between ∼ 3150 cal BC to the 17 th century AD; 2) fluctuations in salinity; and 3) natural and anthropogenic forces contributing to these changes. From the Late Neolithic to the Medieval period the lagoon ecosystem was driven by changing marine influence and the land was mainly exploited for grazing, with little evidence for impact on the natural woodland. Land-use exploitation adapted to natural coastal dynamics, with maximum marine flooding hampering agropastoral activities between ∼ 1550 and ∼ 150 cal BC. In contrast, societies actively controlled the lagoon dynamics and become a major agent of landscape transformation after the Medieval period. The removal of littoral woodlands after the 8 th century was followed by the expansion of agrarian and industrial activities. Regional mining and smelting activities polluted the lagoon with heavy metals from the ∼ 11 th century onwards. The expansion of the milling industry and of agricultural lands led to the channelization of the river Muga into the lagoon after ∼ 1250 cal AD. This caused its transformation into a freshwater lake, increased nutrient load, and the infilling and drainage of a great part of the lagoon. By tracking the shift towards an anthropogenically-controlled system around∼ 750 yr ago, this study points out Mediterranean lagoons as ancient and heavily-modified systems, with anthropogenic impacts and controls covering multi-centennial and even millennial timescales. Finally, we contributed to the future construction of reliable seashell-based chronologies in NE Spain by calibrating the Banyuls-sur-Mer ▵ R offset with ceramic imports from the Emporiae archaeological site

Pitch production during the Roman period: an intensive mountain industry for a globalised economy?

The authors’ research project in the Pyrenees mountains has located and excavated Roman kilns for producing pitch from pine resin. Their investigations reveal a whole sustainable industry, integrated into the local environmental cycle, supplying pitch to the Roman network and charcoal as a spin-off to the local iron extractors. The paper makes a strong case for applying combined archaeological and palaeoenvironmental investigations in upland areas, showing mountain industries to have been not so much marginal and pastoral as key players in the economy of the Roman period and beyond it into the seventh century AD

Applying the Economy for the Common Good Framework to the European Firms: Antecedents, Profile, and Measurement Theory Validation

En las últimas dos décadas, los fallos de mercado han impulsado el surgimiento de diferentes enfoques organizativos y teorías alternativas al sistema económico actual, impulsadas por una perspectiva más humanista y social. Así, la crisis económica que comenzó en 2008 impulsó al sociólogo y activista político austriaco Christian Felber, junto con el apoyo de un grupo de empresarios austríacos, a presentar en 2008 un documento titulado "Nuevos valores para la economía". Este documento planteaba las bases para un sistema alternativo al capitalismo y al comunismo, dando así a luz un nuevo modelo económico y social conocido como Economía del Bien Común (EBC). El modelo de la EBC deriva de diferentes enfoques organizativos y, al mismo tiempo, aporta algunas contribuciones sobre estos enfoques. En particular, nos referimos a la teoría de Stakeholders (Freeman, 1984), al enfoque del valor compartido propuesto por Porter & Kramer (2011) y en la propuesta de triple valor (TBL) propuesta por Elkington (1997). Por su parte, el emprendimiento social (ES) se entiende como una herramienta poderosa para crear riqueza para las sociedades promoviendo el desarrollo económico y social, por lo que es el más cercano a los principios de Economía del Bien Común. En consecuencia, la EBC es un modelo organizativo que puede conducir a la hibridación de las empresas normales. Por lo tanto, esta disertación se centró en analizar la contribución del modelo EBC al ES y establecer la relación que existe entre ambos conceptos mediante una revisión sistemática de la literatura. Por tanto, demostramos que el modelo de la EBC y el ES comparten una serie de principios y características en común. Sin embargo, los documentos sobre el modelo de la EBC todavía son escasos debido a su nueva aplicación en el ámbito empresarial. Por tanto, nos encontramos ante un modelo de negocio relativamente nuevo. En segundo lugar, en esta tesis se realizó un análisis comparativo para determinar el grado de implicación del modelo organizativo de la EBC en las empresas europeas. Para ello, se procedió a analizar el perfil de las empresas EBC mediante el análisis descriptivo de las variables objeto de estudio. Así, identificamos 657 organizaciones europeas implicadas en la implementación del modelo EBC, de las que 400 habían producido y auditado su Balance del Bien Común hasta el 31 de diciembre de 2017. Después, concluimos que las empresas EBC europeas se centran en variables sociales y ambientales a la hora de implementar el modelo de la EBC. Finalmente, esta disertación también tuvo como objetivo presentar el modelo EBC como un marco alternativo de gestión y control de la sostenibilidad. En este sentido, el marco de la EBC permite la operacionalización de la Sostenibilidad Corporativa, permitiendo así la operacionalización de los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible en el contexto empresarial de cualquier tipo de organización, incluidas las PYMES. Para ello, completamos el proceso de validación estadística de la teoría de medición de la EBC mediante un análisis factorial confirmatorio (AFC) en una muestra de 206 empresas europeas. Los resultados del AFC permitieron validar y redefinir las escalas de medición incluidas en el marco de la EBC.Over the last two decades, market faults have driven to emerge different new organizational approaches and alternative theories to the current economic system driven by a more humanistic and social perspective. Thus, the economic crisis that began in 2008 drove the Austrian sociologist and political activist Christian Felber, together with the support of a group of Austrian entrepreneurs to presented in 2008, a document entitled “New values for the Economy”. This document raised the bases for an alternative system to capitalism and communism. Thus, giving birth to a new economic and social model known as the Economy for the Common Good (ECG). The ECG model derives from different organizational approaches and provides some contributions over those approaches. In particular, we refer to the Stakeholder theory (Freeman, 1984), Shared Value approach proposed by Porter & Kramer (2011), and the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) proposed by Elkington (1997). By its part, social entrepreneurship (SE) is understood as a powerful tool to create wealth for societies by promoting economic and social development, thus being is the closest to Economy for the Common Good principles. Consequently, the ECG is an organizational model that can lever the hybridization of ordinary companies. Therefore, this dissertation focused on analyzing the contribution of ECG model to SE and establishing the relationship that exists between both concepts by means of a systematic literature review. Thus, we evidenced that SE and ECG model share several principles and features. However, papers on the ECG model are still scarce due to its novel application in the business sphere. Therefore, we are facing a relatively new business model. Secondly, this dissertation performed a comparative analysis to determine the degree of implication of the EGC organizational model on European firms. To do so, we proceed to analyze the ECG firms’ profile by means of the descriptive analysis of the variables under study. Thus, we identified 657 European organizations involved in the implementation of the ECG model, of which 400 had produced and audited their Common Good Balance Sheet up to December 31, 2017. Then, we concluded that ECG European companies focus on social and environmental variables when implementing the ECG model. Finally, this dissertation also aimed to present the ECG model as an alternative sustainability management and control framework. In this sense, the ECG framework enables the operationalization of Corporate Sustainability. Thus, allowing the operationalization of Sustainable Developments Goals into the business context for any type of organization, including SMEs. To do so, we completed the statistical validation process of the ECG measurement theory using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on a sample of 206 European firms. The results of CFA allowed to validate and redefine the measurement scales included in the ECG framework

Assessing the Effect of the Economy for the Common Good System on Business Performance

Extant literature has pointed to organizational hybridity to lever sustainable business transformation. Moreover, some authors hold that there is a possible trade-off between sustainability and performance. However, there is still little empirical evidence on the impact that such sustainability- driven hybridization systems have on performance. Thus, the present study's main goal is to fill this gap by providing empirical evidence on the impact of the implementation of the Economy for the Common Good, as a sustainability-driven organizational system, on business performance. To do so, the authors relied on a sample of 206 businesses from five European countries. Then, the authors followed a quantitative research approach based on a hierarchical regression analysis that allowed them to test for linear, curvilinear, and moderating effects. The authors found a positive relationship between the implementation of a sustainability-driven hybridization system and firm performance. Besides, they identified some curvilinear effects pointing to the existence of a 'too much of a good thing' effect, along with some moderating effects derived from organizational size

TANGO: Transparent heterogeneous hardware Architecture deployment for eNergy Gain in Operation

The paper is concerned with the issue of how software systems actually use Heterogeneous Parallel Architectures (HPAs), with the goal of optimizing power consumption on these resources. It argues the need for novel methods and tools to support software developers aiming to optimise power consumption resulting from designing, developing, deploying and running software on HPAs, while maintaining other quality aspects of software to adequate and agreed levels. To do so, a reference architecture to support energy efficiency at application construction, deployment, and operation is discussed, as well as its implementation and evaluation plans.Comment: Part of the Program Transformation for Programmability in Heterogeneous Architectures (PROHA) workshop, Barcelona, Spain, 12th March 2016, 7 pages, LaTeX, 3 PNG figure

Assessing the economy for the common good measurement theory ability to integrate the sdgs into msmes

Over the past decades, sustainability and corporate sustainability have gained a lot of attention. Currently, the focus of attention has shifted to the integration of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into businesses operation. The extant literature points to the proposed frameworks as not fitting micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSME) reality and, also, to a lack of empirical evidence in this field. With research at the intersection of business and SDGs still being scarce, the Economy for the Common Good (ECG) model allows operationalizing the SDGs employing its novel measurement theory. The present study is aimed at completing the statistical validation process of the ECG measurement theory using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on a sample of 206 European firms. Thus, after having performed an exploratory factor analysis (EFA), this study takes as a starting point the previously published knowledge and proceeds with the second step of the statistical validation process. The results of CFA confirm the conclusions of the EFA and allow to redefine the measurement scales included in the ECG framework to achieve a sufficient level of goodness of fit