Labour market assimilation of immigrants in Spain: employment at the expense of bad job-matches?

Spain has traditionally been known as a country of emigrants. However, in the last decade, Spain has experienced an unprecedented boom of immigration from three localized areas: Latin America, Africa and East Europe. In this paper, we study the behaviour of recent immigrants in the Spanish labour market identifying the major differences with the native population and tracking whether these differences fade away as their years of residence in Spain increase. With this objective, we focus on four labour market outcomes: labour supply, unemployment, incidence of overeducation and incidence of temporary contracts. Results show that, compared to natives, immigrants face initially higher participation rates, higher unemployment rates, higher incidence of overeducation and higher incidence of temporary contracts. However, five years after their arrival we could broadly say that participation rates start to converge to native rates, unemployment rates decrease to levels even lower than those of natives, and the incidence of temporary contracts and overeducation remains constant: no reduction of the gap with Spanish workers is observed. Therefore, we conclude that the Spanish labour market is managing to absorb the so called, 'immigration boom ', but at the expense of allocating immigrants in bad job-matches.immigration; assimilation; labor force participation; unemployment; overeducation; temporary contracts;

Social norms and household time allocation

Economic theories of the household predict that increases in female relative human capital lead to decreases in female housework time. However, longitudinal and cross-sectional evidence seems to contradict this implication. Women's share of home time fails to decrease despite increases in women's relative earnings. The literature has proposed social norms on the household division of labor as an alternative explanation. We use the 2002-2003 Spanish Time Use Survey (STUS) to explore the presence of social norms associated with the household division of housework and childcare. First, we observe that wives who earn more than their husbands still do more than 50% of the housework and childcare. Second, we find that a woman's relative share of housework decreases as her relative earnings increase, but only up to the point where she earns the same as her husband. Finally, independently of the definition of childcare, the relative time devoted to childcare does not vary with spouses' relative earnings. All these findings suggest that social norms may be an important factor in the division of household time.Household production; intrahousehold allocation; time allocation; social norms;

The human side of leadership: Inspirational leadership effects on follower characteristics and happiness at work (HAW)

Leadership has received significant attention over the past years. Now is the time to refine how leaders impact on followers and their attitudes. This study examines how inspirational leaders influence follower characteristics (FC), and in turn, their happiness at work. In this study, the mediating effect of follower characteristics in the relationship between inspirational leadership and happiness at work was specifically examined. Data was gathered from 389 frontline banking employees working in Italian and Spanish banks. A confirmatory factor analysis revealed a positive partial mediating role of follower characteristics in the relationship between inspirational leadership and happiness at work. Results showed that inspirational leadership exerts a more positive influence on followers' happiness at work when follower characteristics are more positive. Our discussion highlights the importance of understanding the role of the follower characteristics that are involved in the effectiveness of inspirational leadership

Nanotechnology, Industry Competitiveness and University Strategies: the Case of the UWS Nanotechnology Network in South-West Sydney

University-industry alliances have long been pursued by public funded programs hoping to boost innovation spillovers in a geographical or cognitive area of research-strength by universities. However, there is still a lack of industry-university cooperation in many fields while at the same time the benefits of universities to their regions’ knowledge intensity is firmly advocated (Acs 2004, Martinez-Fernandez & Leevers 2004, Martinez-Fernandez 2004)). The issue is not limited to the dissemination of knowledge, a traditional role of universities, but to introducing change into the region’s innovation system through activities that increase industry competitive advantage. Results from a project conducted in South-West Sydney from 2003 to 2005 shows that active industry engagement by Universities offering specific expertise in frontier technologies has a positive effect in university-industry cooperation if compared with other technologies well established in the private sector. The project results also show that the role of Universities as active facilitators of industry engagement in frontier technologies is a critical element in the regional/local innovation system where the university operates. The paper discusses first the context of the emergence of the UWS Nanotechnology Network as a sophisticated knowledge intensive service activity led by the University. Secondly the paper discusses the particular case of nanotechnology as a science in an early path and the role of universities at this particular stage. Thirdly, the paper discusses the use and barriers of firms to nanotechnology applications and the role played by UWS during the duration of the project. Finally policy issues arise in relation to the role of the public education sector in the early promotion of frontier technologies. References Acs, Z. (2002) Innovation and the Growth of Cities. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. Martinez-Fernandez, M.C. (2004) ‘Regional Collaboration Infrastructure: Effects in the Hunter Valley of NSW’, Australian Planner Vol 41(4); Planning Institute of Australia: Queensland. Martinez-Fernandez, M.C. and K. Leevers (2004) ‘Knowledge Creation, Sharing and Transfer as an Innovation Strategy: The Discovery of Nano-technology by South-West Sydney’. International Journal of Technology Management (IJTM), Volume 28 (3/4/5/6): 560-581.

The colonial hispanicamerican world in the Revista de Filosofía

En la extensa colección de la Revista de Filosofía (Buenos Aires, 1915 - 1929) hay algunos artículos cuyo tema es la historia, la sociedad o la cultura en la América Hispana colonial. Si bien el número de estos artículos no es dominante en relación con otros temas de esa publicación, interesa esclarecer qué clase de mirada ofrece la revista sobre ese campo del saber, sobre todo teniendo en consideración que el perfil ideológico de la publicación es predominantemente cientificista y modernizador. En consecuencia, la mirada sobre el mundo colonial americano, presente en estos trabajos, amerita ser analizada y sistematizada para establecer su función en el seno de la publicación así como las relaciones mutuas y jerarquías de las disciplinas desde las cuales se aborda la cuestión.The aim of this paper is to analize the Revista de Filosofía collection (Buenos Aires, 1915 - 1929). In this journal, there are some articles devoted to the study of the history, the society or the culture in the Colonial Spanish America. The number of the articles on this topic is lower than the number of other themes, because the ideological orientation of the review is modern and scientific. However, even if reduced in number, it is significant to study the place and function of these texts in the journal and the sort of relationship between the object (the colonial world) and the disciplines that examine it.Fil: Fernandez, Cristina Beatriz. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Humanidades. Departamento de Letras. Centro de Letras Hispanoamericanas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata; Argentin

El uso científico de la palabra poética. Modernismo y biopolítica en un caso de la revista 'Archivos'

En el año 1908 se publicó en revista Archivos de Psiquiatría, Criminología y Ciencias Afines, de Buenos Aires, un breve poemario erótico de marcadas resonancias modernistas que había sido escrito por un alienado, quien había muerto en un sanatorio de la misma ciudad. A partir del análisis de estos textos y la revista en la que se publicaron, nos interesa observar el uso científico de la palabra poética: su función como indicio de la enfermedad mental, en sintonía con el debate de finales de siglo XIX acerca del decadentismo y del lugar de la poesía en la sociedad urbana moderna.In 1908, a brief collection of erotic poems was published at the review Archivos de Psiquiatría, Criminología y Ciencias Afines, in Buenos Aires. These poems were inspired by the modernista aesthetics and were written by a mentally-ill person, who died in the same city, in a mental hospital. We analyse these texts and the review where they were published in order to observe the scientific use of the poetic word: its function as a signal of mental illness, according to the ending nineteenth century debate on Decadence and the significance of poetry in the modern urban society.Fil: Fernandez, Cristina Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Humanidades. Departamento de Letras. Centro de Letras Hispanoamericanas; Argentin

Modernity and its Shadows in some Rubén Darío's Tales

El objetivo de nuestro trabajo es analizar algunos cuentos de Rubén Darío, especialmente la “Historia prodigiosa de la princesa Psiquia” y “Huitzilopoxtli”, para deslindar algunos aspectos de la visión crítica que Darío ofrece en ellos acerca del proceso de racionalización moderna. En el primero, nos centramos en los aspectos fáusticos con que es diseñado el personaje de la princesa Psiquia –contracara de la princesa triste de la célebre “Sonatina”– así como en la reflexión de corte gnoseológico sobre el conocimiento y sus límites, en la que se ven involucrados saberes de diverso tenor, desde la moderna filología hasta las ciencias ocultas. En el segundo, nos detenemos en el sentido atribuido a la revolución mexicana, como un episodio histórico moderno que es leído en clave de invocación de divinidades primitivas y crueles. En ambos casos, encontramos que hay un patrón interpretativo sobre las posibilidades y límites de la modernidad así como una puesta en escena de las derivas inesperadas de los procesos modernos de secularización.The aim of this paper is to analyse some tales written by Rubén Darío: the “Historia prodigiosa de la princesa Psiquia” and “Huitzilopoxtli”. Our interest is to understand Darío's critical vision of the modern rationalization process. In the first one, we study the character of Princess Psiquia –a variation of the sad princess of the “Sonatina”–, her faustic traits and the gnoseological reflection on knowledge and its boundaries, a reflection that involves modern philology and occultism. In the second one, we pay attention to the Mexican Revolution, a historical and modern event presented as an invocation to primitive and cruel deities. In both cases, we found a common interpretative pattern on the modernity possibilities and limits, and an exhibition of the unexpected results of the secularization modern process.Fil: Fernandez, Cristina Beatriz. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Humanidades. Departamento de Letras. Centro de Letras Hispanoamericanas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata; Argentin