The determinants of regional exchange in Mercosur: geography and trade liberalization

Since the mid-eighties many Latin American countries have been involved in a process of trade liberalization. The direct consequence of this liberalization was a strong increase in international trade flows between these countries and the rest of the world. This raise in the overall level of international trade has also been accompanied by an even stronger increase in regional exchange of goods and services. What explains this upsurge in trade flows among Latin America countries? What role have played commercial policies in this phenomenon? In particular, have unilateral -non preferential- trade liberalization schemes played an important role in this phenomenon? What about the effect of sub-regional liberalizations schemes that became popular in the 1990s? . How important is geography (distance) and "neighborhood" in explaining this increase in regional trade? The purpose of this paper is to address these questions, concentrating our attention on the countries belonging to MERCOSUR. Both the theoretical analysis and the empirical evidence suggest that unilateral trade liberalization couple with geography has been an important factor at work. Mercosur itself -with its tariff preferences- was also an element that contributed to raise trade within the area; nevertheless, its quantitative importance is reduced once we control for the other variables

Efectos del Sistema Generalizado de Preferencias en las exportaciones de Argentina y Brasil

El trabajo intenta determinar los efectos del Sistema Generalizado de Preferencias de los Estados Unidos sobre las exportaciones de Argentina y Brasil. Para ello utiliza datos de exportaciones y arancelarios desagregados a seis dígitos del Sistema Armonizado para un período de 18 años. Los efectos se estiman con una serie de regresiones por Mínimos Cuadrados Ordinarios con Efectos Fijos que controlan por la heterogeneidad inobservable entre productos. Los principales resultados encontrados son que el SGP tiene un efecto positivo sobre el margen intensivo y extensivo de las exportaciones de productos beneficiarios, y que existe desvío de comercio desde otros países hacia los Estados Unidos.Facultad de Ciencias Económica

Effects of Food Prices on Poverty: The Case of Paraguay, a Food Exporter and a Non-Fully Urbanized Country

A vast proportion of households in developing countries like Paraguay are both consumers and producers of food, and thus the effects of food price fluctuations on welfare are not obvious. Historically, the agricultural sector in Paraguay has played a key role in economic development and has contributed significantly, and increasingly, to economic growth. In recent years, sharp movements in commodity prices have been added to the inherent volatility of the sector linked to climate conditions. In this work, we use the 2011/12 expenditure and income survey, as well as monthly price data for 127 food items for the period 2007/15, to simulate the effect of a potential hike in food prices on welfare. Our main results suggest that the expenditure effect is negative and regressive everywhere, but larger in rural than urban areas. The income effect is positive and progressive in rural areas and negligible in urban ones. Therefore, we find that the potential overall impact of an unexpected increase in food prices in Paraguay is a very flat U-shaped curve. We conclude with a simple exercise where we simulate a policy response in order to help those affected by the initial increase in food prices.Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociales (CEDLAS

Aspects of Localized Gravity Around the Soft Minima

n-Dimensional pure gravity theory can be obtained as the effective theory of an n+1 model (with non-compact extra dimension) where general n+1 reparametrization invariance is explicitly broken in the extra dimension. As was pointed out in the literature, a necessary consistency condition for having a non-vanishing four dimensional Newton constant is the normalizability in the extra dimension of the zero mass graviton. This, in turn, implies that gravity localization is produced around the local minima of a potential in the extra dimension. We study gravity in the neighborhood of the soft ("thick") local minima.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure

Identidades Corporales: entre el relato y el aguante

In this work we analyze the uses and representations of the bodies of football’s hinchada members, working on the articulation that those supporters make between body ideals, male models and body contest’s practices. This articulation results in the construction of a particular sense of community, based in and through body experience. The body itself, fighting against rivals and fellows, is the tool that allows the identification with a group of peers; the action, the practice, is the element that defines the group’s membership. This is the way in which we analyze the identifications and the construction of collectivities that are focused in practices and actions and not primordially in narrative dimensions. The discourses of identity that create and re-create ‘others’ and ‘us’ have different dimensions: narrative, gesture, body, written ones (among others). Through the expressive manners of football spectators we propose to analyze how some social groups and some identity configurations are built, giving a priority role to the body and the experience that is anchored on it.En este trabajo reconstruimos los usos y representaciones corporales de los integrantes de una hinchada del fútbol, analizando la articulación que los hinchas realizan entre ideales de cuerpo, modelos masculinos y prácticas de enfrentamiento corporal. Articulación que tiene como resultado la conformación de un particular sentido de comunidad constituido en y a través de la experiencia corporal. Es el cuerpo, luchando contra rivales y compañeros, la herramienta que asegura la identificación con el grupo de pares; es la acción, la práctica, el elemento que delimita el ingreso al grupo. De esta forma, analizamos la existencia de identificaciones y la construcción de colectivos que se centran en las prácticas y en las acciones y no, primordialmente, en las dimensiones narrativas. Los discursos identitarios, que crean y recrean "otros" y "nosotros", tienen diferentes dimensiones: narrativas, gestuales, corporales, escritas, etc. A través de las formas expresivas de los espectadores de fútbol, proponemos analizar cómo algunos grupos sociales y algunas formas identitarias se construyen otorgando un papel preponderante a lo corporal y a la experiencia que en éste se ancla. En este trabajo reconstruimos los usos y representaciones corporales de los integrantes de una hinchada del fútbol, analizando la articulación que los hinchas realizan entre ideales de cuerpo, modelos masculinos y prácticas de enfrentamiento corporal. Articulación que tiene como resultado la conformación de un particular sentido de comunidad constituido en y a través de la experiencia corporal. Es el cuerpo, luchando contra rivales y compañeros, la herramienta que asegura la identificación con el grupo de pares; es la acción, la práctica, el elemento que delimita el ingreso al grupo. De esta forma, analizamos la existencia de identificaciones y la construcción de colectivos que se centran en las prácticas y en las acciones y  no, primordialmente, en las dimensiones narrativas. Los discursos identitarios, que crean y recrean “otros” y “nosotros”, tienen diferentes dimensiones: narrativas, gestuales, corporales, escritas, etc. A través de las formas expresivas de los espectadores de fútbol, proponemos analizar cómo algunos grupos sociales y algunas formas identitarias se construyen otorgando un papel preponderante a lo corporal y a la experiencia que en éste se ancl

Eficiencia y equidad del gasto público en educación como clave para el desarrollo de las provincias argentinas

Este trabajo estudia la equidad y la eficiencia del gasto público en educación básica que realizan las jurisdicciones sub-nacionales de Argentina y a su vez explora la relación entre ambos aspectos con el nivel de desarrollo de las mismas. Los resultados hallados sostienen que: i) el gasto en educación resulta pro-pobre y progresivo, provocando mejoras en la distribución del ingreso de cada jurisdicción; ii) el análisis de eficiencia sugiere que existen espacios para mejorar la ejecución de dicho gasto; y iii) aquellas jurisdicciones que muestran un gasto más equitativo y eficiente están asociadas a un mayor nivel de desarrollo. De este modo, mejorar en la focalización y en el uso óptimo del gasto público educativo se vuelven aspectos cruciales para una distribución del ingreso más igualitaria y un uso más eficiente de los recursos, sobre todo en aquellas regiones menos desarrolladas.Facultad de Ciencias Económica

Robots, exports and top income inequality: evidence for the U.S.

The last decades have witnessed a revolution in manufacturing production characterized by increasing technology adoption and a strong expansion of international trade. Simultaneously, the income distribution has exhibited both polarization and concentration among the richest. Combining datasets from the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, the International Federation of Robotics, EU KLEMS, and COMTRADE, we study the causal effect of industrial automation on income inequality in the U.S. during 2010–2015. We exploit spatial and time variations in exposure to robots arising from past differences in industry specialization across U.S. metropolitan areas and the evolution of robot adoption across industries. We document a robust positive impact of robotics on income for only the top 1 percent of taxpayers, which is largest for top income fractiles. Therefore, industrial automation fuels income inequality and, particularly, top income inequality. According to our estimates, one more robot per thousand workers results in relative increments of the total taxable income accruing to fractiles P99 to P99.9, P99.9 to P99.99 and P99.99 to P100, of 2.1 percent, 3.5 percent and 5.9 percent, respectively. We also find that robotization leads to increased exports to high-income and upper-middle-income economies, and that this is one of the key mechanisms behind the surge in top income inequality.Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociale

Effects of Food Prices on Poverty: The Case of Paraguay, a Food Exporter and a Non-Fully Urbanized Country

A vast proportion of households in developing countries like Paraguay are both consumers and producers of food, and thus the effects of food price fluctuations on welfare are not obvious. Historically, the agricultural sector in Paraguay has played a key role in economic development and has contributed significantly, and increasingly, to economic growth. In recent years, sharp movements in commodity prices have been added to the inherent volatility of the sector linked to climate conditions. In this work, we use the 2011/12 expenditure and income survey, as well as monthly price data for 127 food items for the period 2007/15, to simulate the effect of a potential hike in food prices on welfare. Our main results suggest that the expenditure effect is negative and regressive everywhere, but larger in rural than urban areas. The income effect is positive and progressive in rural areas and negligible in urban ones. Therefore, we find that the potential overall impact of an unexpected increase in food prices in Paraguay is a very flat U-shaped curve. We conclude with a simple exercise where we simulate a policy response in order to help those affected by the initial increase in food prices.Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociales (CEDLAS

Spanish expert consensus on the use of safinamide in Parkinson's disease

La safinamida es un nuevo fármaco para el tratamiento de pacientes con enfermedad de Parkinson (EP) con fluctuaciones como tratamiento complementario a levodopa. Dado que por el momento aún no existen estudios de fase IV postautorización debido a la reciente incorporación de la safinamida a la práctica clínica habitual, el interés de este proyecto radica en el desarrollo de una guía de manejo clínico de la safinamida basada en las opiniones de expertos de trastornos del movimiento. Este proyecto se desarrolló en 2 fases: una primera fase que constó de 16 reuniones locales y una segunda fase que consistió en una reunión nacional. Dichas reuniones siguieron un guion de trabajo preestablecido. Tras la reunión nacional se recopilaron las principales conclusiones de los expertos, que han supuesto la base para redactar la presente guía clínica. Se concluyó que la safinamida es eficaz en la reducción de las fluctuaciones motoras y no motoras. Los pacientes con EP con fluctuaciones leves-moderadas son los que más se benefician del tratamiento, si bien el fármaco puede contribuir a mejorar diversos problemas clínicos en pacientes con EP avanzada. Se ha destacado la posibilidad de reducir la dosis de otros fármacos dopaminérgicos tras la introducción de la safinamida, lo cual contribuiría a reducir efectos adversos como el trastorno de control de impulsos. Se hipotetizó sobre el posible efecto de la safinamida sobre la mejoría de las discinesias a dosis más altas de las habitualmente utilizadas. Se ha consensuado que la safinamida es bien tolerada y presenta un perfil de efectos adversos favorable frente a placebo.Safinamide is a new add-on drug to levodopa for the treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD) with motor fluctuations. Due to the recent incorporation of safinamide into routine clinical practice, no post-authorisation phase IV studies on the safety of safinamide have been conducted to date. This study provides clinical management guidelines for safinamide based on the opinion of a group of experts in movement disorders. This project was developed in 2 phases: 16 local meetings in phase 1 and a national meeting in phase 2. The meetings followed a pre-established agenda. The present clinical practice guidelines are based on the main conclusions reached during the national meeting. The group concluded that safinamide is effective in reducing motor and non-motor fluctuations. PD patients with mild-to-moderate fluctuations benefit most from treatment, although the drug may also improve the clinical status of patients with advanced PD. The dose of other dopaminergic drugs may be reduced after introducing safinamide, which would contribute to reducing such adverse reactions as impulse control disorder. At doses higher than those usually prescribed, safinamide may also improve dyskinesia. The experts agreed that safinamide is well tolerated and causes few adverse reactions when compared with placebo

Localized thinning for strain concentration in suspended germanium membranes and optical method for precise thickness measurement

We deposited Ge layers on (001) Si substrates by molecular beam epitaxy and used them to fabricate suspended membranes with high uniaxial tensile strain. We demonstrate a CMOS-compatible fabrication strategy to increase strain concentration and to eliminate the Ge buffer layer near the Ge/Si hetero-interface deposited at low temperature. This is achieved by a two-steps patterning and selective etching process. First, a bridge and neck shape is patterned in the Ge membrane, then the neck is thinned from both top and bottom sides. Uniaxial tensile strain values higher than 3% were measured by Raman scattering in a Ge membrane of 76 nm thickness. For the challenging thickness measurement on micrometer-size membranes suspended far away from the substrate a characterization method based on pump-and-probe reflectivity measurements was applied, using an asynchronous optical sampling technique.EC/FP7/628197/EU/Heat Propagation and Thermal Conductivity in Nanomaterials for Nanoscale Energy Management/HEATPRONAN