Capital Destruction, Optimal Defense and Economic Growth

The effects of capital destruction are endogenized in a neoclassical growth model where the economy can optimally allocate part of its labor force to defend capital from being destroyed. The purpose is to explain the optimal allocation of the labor force between productive and deterrence activities along the optimal growth path in response to exogenous terrorist attacks against the material wealth of the economy. The article makes special case to the recent Colombian case and sheds some light on the dramatic increase in the defense activities in Colombia as a result of the increase of terrorist attacks by rebeld groups.Capital accumulation, deterrence, capital destruction and economic growth.

Populist Policies in the Transition to Democracy

This paper develops a political economy model that provides an explanation as for why ruling elites in oligarquic societies may rely on income redistribution to the poor (the masses) in order to prevent them from attempting a revolution. We refer to this kind of redistribution as populist redistribution because, first it does not increase the poor’s productive capacity (human capital), and second it seeks to “buy” political support (peace) to perpetuate the elite’s control of political power. We examine the conditions under which ruling elites choose to deter the poor (by means of military repression and/or populist redistribution), to engage in a dispute with the poor for the control of political power, or, alternatively, to extend democracy. According to the results of the model populist redistribution (or military repression), if any, increases with initial wealth inequality and with the amount of redistribution that the poor can undertake under democracy, and decreases with the relative importance of a human capital externality in production. The model explains why in some cases the use of an apparently ine cient policy of populist redistribution turns out to be optimal for both groups (the ruling elite and the poor class) when the alternative is to use of military repression or default to conflict.Populism, oligarchy, democracy, conflict, inequality.

Cocaine Production and Trafficking: What do we know?

The main purpose of this chapter is to summarize the information currently available on cocaine production and trafficking. The chapter starts by describing the available data on cocaine production and trade, the collection methodologies, (if available) used by different sources, the main biases in the data, and the accuracy of different data sources. Next, the chapter states some of the key empirical questions and hypotheses regarding cocaine production and trade and takes a first look at how well the data matches these hypotheses. Also, the chapter states some of the main puzzles in the cocaine market and studies some of the possible explanations. These puzzles and empirical questions should guide future research into our understanding of the key determinants of illicit drug production and trafficking. Finally, the chapter studies the different policies that producer countries have adopted to fight against cocaine production and the role consumer countries play in the implementation of anti-drug policies.Cocaine; Narcotraffic; War on Drugs. Classification JEL: K42; C81; H56.

EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF HEALTH CARE REFORM IN COLOMBIA: FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE

This article presents an evaluation of an ambitious health reform implemented in Colombia during the first half of the nineties. The reform attempted to radically change public provision of health services, by means of the transformation of subsidies to supply (direct transfers to hospitals) into a new scheme of subsidies to demand (transfers targeted at the poorest citizens). Although the percentage of the population having medical care insurance has notably increased, mostly among the poorest, problems of implementation have been numerous. It has not been possible to achieve the transformation of subsidies to supply into subsidies to demand. At the same time, competition has not made it possible to increase the efficiency of many public hospitals, which continue to operate with very low occupation rates, while receiving hefty money transfers. Subsidies increased demand for medical consultations, but have curbed demand for hospitalizations. Nonetheless, subsidies might have adversely affected female´s labor market participation and even household consumption. As a whole, evidence suggests that the health reform has been effective in rationalizing households´ demand for health, but not in rationalizing public supply, and neither in increasing the efficiency of service providers.demand subsidies, targeted social services, instrumental variables

Dynamical mechanisms leading to equilibration in two-component gases

Demonstrating how microscopic dynamics cause large systems to approach thermal equilibrium remains an elusive, longstanding, and actively-pursued goal of statistical mechanics. We identify here a dynamical mechanism for thermalization in a general class of two-component dynamical Lorentz gases, and prove that each component, even when maintained in a non-equilibrium state itself, can drive the other to a thermal state with a well-defined effective temperature.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Stabilization of explicit methods for convection diffusion equations by discrete mollification

AbstractThe main goal of this paper is to show that discrete mollification is a simple and effective way to speed up explicit time-stepping schemes for partial differential equations. The second objective is to enhance the mollification method with a variety of alternatives for the treatment of boundary conditions. The numerical experiments indicate that stabilization by mollification is a technique that works well for a variety of explicit schemes applied to linear and nonlinear differential equations

Do changes in the frequency of data affect the accuracy of estimation of the trend parameter in a jump diffusion process?

This paper explores the effect of the frequency of data on the accuracy (measure by variance) of the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) of the trend parameter μ in a jump-diffusion process à la Press (1967). First, we consider the case without jumps (i.e., the geometric Brownian motion (GBM)) as a benchmark case to show that the frequency of data is irrelevant in this first setting. Then, we consider the case with jumps and highlight that things are different in this second situation. Specifically, the asymptotic variance of the MLE of the trend parameter turns out to be higher compared to the case without jumps. Nevertheless, we also prove that when sampling occurs infinitely often (i.e., high frequency) it is possible to obtain the same accuracy for the MLE of μ as for the GBM, given that for higher frequencies it is easier to “identify” price discontinuities (i.e., jumps) for this model. Mathematical proofs are performed under the assumption that the MLE of μ is estimated given the other parameters, but numerical (Montecarlo) simulations indicate that this is also the case even when all parameters are estimated together.Este artículo explora el efecto que tiene la frecuencia de los datos en la precisión (medida por la varianza) del estimador de máxima verosimilitud (MLE - maximum likelihood estimator) del parámetro de tendencia μ en un proceso de difusión con salto a la Press (1967). Para ello, consideramos primero el caso sin saltos (es decir, el movimiento Browniano geométrico o GBM – geometric Brownian motion) como el modelo referencia, con el que se evidencia que la frecuencia de los datos es irrelevante. Acto seguido, consideramos el caso con saltos, en donde enfatizamos que las cosas son diferentes. Específicamente, observamos que en este caso la varianza asintótica del MLE del parámetro de tendencia es más alto que cuando no había saltos. Sin embargo, también observamos que cuando la frecuencia ocurre lo suficientemente seguido (alta frecuencia), es posible obtener la misma precisión para el MLE de μ que cuando se tiene el GBM, dado que para frecuencias más altas es más fácil “identificar” discontinuidades (saltos) en el precio para este modelo. Las pruebas matemáticas se llevan a cabo bajo el supuesto de que el MLE de μ se estima dados los demás parámetros, pero las simulaciones numéricas (Monte Carlo) demuestran que este es el caso también cuando todos los parámetros se estiman en conjunto

Language learning beliefs and intercultural communicative competence development through a virtual exchange project: a case study

Several studies on learners’ beliefs about language learning, the development of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) and virtual exchange (VE) have highlighted the positive effect they have on language learning success in many contexts of instruction; however, little is known about how the integration of the three develop effectiveness in language learning in rural classrooms in Colombia. By making use of virtual exchange project, this exploratory case study aimed to explore English language learners’ beliefs about language learning and their ICCs to determine whether such exchange could positively affect said ideas and competencies for Colombian rural learners of English. This exploratory case study was carried out with a group of young students of a public, rural secondary school on the north coast of Colombia. Data was collected through the BALLI pre- and post-questionnaire for the virtual exchange program and used descriptive analysis, semi-structured interviews, and e-mail exchanges were analyzed following thematic analysis before, during and after the 14-week VE program. Findings indicate that learners’ beliefs about language learning had a positive shift. Furthermore, integration of cross-cultural interaction developed most of the dimensions of ICC: Attitudes, Knowledge, Skills of Interpreting and Relating, and Skills of Discovery and Interaction; however, the fundamental Critical Cultural Awareness was not featured on the students’ performance. Virtual Exchange proved to be beneficial to language learning achievement, experience and for language learning in rural environment in Colombia.MaestríaMagister en la Enseñanza del Ingle

Reflexiones sobre los juegos de azar en la sociedad contemporánea : hacia una biografía del riesgo

Con este articulo proponemos una aproximación teórica de los estudios sobre los juegos de azar (Gambling studies), planteando una mirada cultural hacia un fenómeno que, hoy en día, ha adquirido un carácter masivo. Nuestro objetivo es, precisamente, desvincular el análisis de los aspectos patológicos inherentes al juego problemático -ludopatías- con el fin de captar los aspectos culturales que han determinado el crecimiento exponencial de la industria de los juegos de azar en las últimas dos décadas y que caracterizan las experiencias subjetivas de los jugadores/as no problemáticos en el contexto actual. En el contexto de una economía avanzada, proponemos una reflexión que sepa reconocer en el concepto de riesgo, definido por autores como Ulrich Beck y Antony Giddens, la fuerza motriz de esta enorme expansión del azar en la sociedad contemporánea.With this article we propose a theoretical review of Gambling studies, planning a cultural insight towards a phenomenon, nowadays, massively expanded. Our objective is, precisely, to decouple the analysis from the pathologic aspects inherent in problem gambling - gambling addiction - with the aim to capture the cultural aspects that determined the exponential growth of Gambling industries in the last two decades and characterize the subjective experiences of no problematic gamblers in the current context. In a context of advanced economy, we propose a reflection capable to recognize the concept of risk proposed by Ulrich Beck and Antony Giddens, as a powerful driver of this enormous expansion of Gambling in contemporary society