Building trust? Conditional cash transfers and social capital

In this paper we propose a measure of social capital based on the behaviour in a public good game. We play the public good game within 28 groups in two similar neighborhoods in Cartagena, Colombia, one of which had been targeted for over two years by a conditional cash transfer program that has an important social component. The level of cooperation we observe in the ‘treatment’ community is considerably higher than in the ‘control’ community. The two neighborhoods, however, although similar in many dimensions, turned out to be significantly different in other observable variables. The result we obtain in terms of cooperation, however, is robust to controls for these observable differences. In the last part of the paper we also compare our measure of social capital with other more traditional measures that have been used in the literature

Peace and goodwill? Using an experimental game to analyse the Desarrollo y Paz initiative in Colombia

Several decades of conflict, rebellion and unrest severely weakened civil society in parts of Colombia. Desarollo y Paz is the umbrella term used to describe the set of locally-led initiatives that aim at addressing this problem through initiatives to promote sustainable economic development and community cohesion and action. In this paper we analyse the findings from a series of 'public good' games that were conducted between November 2005 and February 2007 in 104 municipalities in rural and urban Colombia with mainly poor participants. The data covers municipalities both with ('treatment') and without ('control') a PRDP in place, and within the 'treatment' municipalities, both beneficiaries and non beneficiaries of the PRDP initiative. The data for 'control' municipalities was collected as part of the evaluation of Familias en Accion (FeA), Colombia's conditional cash transfer programme. The game is structured as a typical free-rider problem with the act of contributing to the 'public good' (a collective money pot) being always dominated by non-contribution. We interpret contribution as an act consistent with a high degree of social capital. Potentially endogenous selection into the programme makes identifying programme effects difficult but we find strong and suggestive evidence that exposure to PRDPs improve social capital and that this extends beyond direct beneficiaries of the programme. In particular, the duration of programme operation and the proportion of programme beneficiaries in a game session increase contribution to the public good, suggesting that in order to have a major impact the programme must be sufficiently 'intensive'.

Search Costs in Airline Markets

This paper recovers consumer search cost estimates in airline markets consistent with theoretical search models. We follow an empirical framework developed in the recent literature on the structural estimation of search models to retrieve information on consumer search costs using price information. A unique data set of airline fares coupled with detailed ticket characteristics allows us to utilize this framework. We work in this paper with non-refundable and restricted tickets. Results show that the magnitude of search costs borne by air travelers in our ticket group is economically important. Specifically, search cost means vary between 4.75% and 8.12% of the mean route fare across markets and can be as high as US$58 for certain consumers in our sample. Consistent with previous work in other markets, our estimates indicate that most consumers sample just a few prices before buying while a relative small fraction of consumers search intensively. Results suggest that consumer search cost plays an important role in explaining part of the price dispersion observed in the airline industry

Melo Torres, Félix Armando El llamado fin de las FARC para Colombia. No aceptamos la violencia, creemos en la razón. Bogotá, Facultad Ciencias Humanas, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, 2008, 72 páginas. Sin ISBN.

Melo Torres, Félix Armando El llamado fin de las FARC para Colombia. No aceptamos la violencia, creemos en la razón. Bogotá, Facultad Ciencias Humanas, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, 2008, 72 páginas. Sin ISBN

El problema de la deuda externa dominicana

Entre diciembre de 1966 y diciembre de 1985 la deuda externa dominicana pasó de 166 millones de dólares a unos 3,720 millones, importe que significaba más de cuatro veces el valor anual de las exportaciones dominicanas en el período 1980-1986. Para los primeros cinco años de esa década solo el pago anual de los intereses era correspondiente al valor de la tercera parte de lo generado por las exportaciones. Esa carga era tan gravosa que el país tenía que endeudarse más para poder seguir pagando el servicio de la deuda, lo que ocasionaba el perjuicio añadido de restar las divisas necesarias para el mantenimiento de las importaciones (maquinarias, materias primas, petróleo) que requería el crecimiento económico del país. Por eso República Dominicana experimentó un descenso en la tasa de crecimiento de sus exportaciones, que se limitó a menos de un 1% entre 1980 y 1983 y a un -1.73% entre 1984 y 1986. En esos años el país pagó anualmente más de 100 millones de dólares por encima de lo que estaba recibiendo por concepto de préstamos externos. Esta grave situación convirtió al país en un exportador de capitales, y ello, junto con las drásticas recetas de austeridad del FMI, afectó de modo serio la vida de la gran mayoría de la población

Tracing the geographical origin of Argentinean lemon juices based on trace element profiles using advanced chemometric techniques

This study examines the application of chemometric techniques associated with trace element concentrations for origin evaluation of lemon juice samples. Seventy-four lemon juice samples from three different provinces of Argentina were evaluated according to their microelement contents to identify differences in patterns of elements in the three provinces. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used for the determination of twenty-five elements (Ag, Al, As, Ba, Bi, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ga, In, La, Li, Mn, Mo, Ni, Rb, Sb, Sc, Se, Sn, Sr, Tl, V, and Zn). Once the analytical data were collected, supervised pattern recognition techniques were applied to construct classification/discrimination rules to predict the origin of samples on the basis of their profiles of trace elements. Namely, linear discriminant analysis (LDA), partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), k-nearest neighbors (k-NN), random forest (RF), and support vector machine with radial basis function Kernel (SVM). The results indicated that it was feasible to attribute unknown lemon juice samples to its geographical origin. SVM had better performance compared to RF, k-NN, LDA and PLS-DA, listed in descending order. Eventually, this study verifies that trace element pattern is a powerful geographical indicator when identifying the origin of lemon juice samples by analyzing trace element data with the help of SVM technique. This level of accuracy provides an interesting foundation to propose the combination of trace element contents with SVM technique as a valuable tool to evaluate the geographical origin of lemon juice samples produced in Argentina.Fil: Gaiad, José Emilio. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Química Básica y Aplicada del Nordeste Argentino. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Naturales y Agrimensura. Instituto de Química Básica y Aplicada del Nordeste Argentino; ArgentinaFil: Hidalgo, Melisa Jazmin. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Química Básica y Aplicada del Nordeste Argentino. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Naturales y Agrimensura. Instituto de Química Básica y Aplicada del Nordeste Argentino; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste; ArgentinaFil: Villafañe, Roxana Noelia. Universidad Nacional de San Luis; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis. Instituto de Química de San Luis. Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Química, Bioquímica y Farmacia. Instituto de Química de San Luis; ArgentinaFil: Marchevsky, Eduardo Jorge. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis. Instituto de Química de San Luis. Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Química, Bioquímica y Farmacia. Instituto de Química de San Luis; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Luis; ArgentinaFil: Pellerano, Roberto Gerardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Química Básica y Aplicada del Nordeste Argentino. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Naturales y Agrimensura. Instituto de Química Básica y Aplicada del Nordeste Argentino; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste; Argentin

Intra-regional classification of grape seeds produced in Mendoza province (Argentina) by multi-elemental analysis and chemometrics tools

The feasibility of the application of chemometric techniques associated with multi-element analysis for the classification of grape seeds according to their provenance vineyard soil was investigated. Grape seed samples from different localities of Mendoza province (Argentina) were evaluated. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used for the determination of twenty-nine elements (Ag, As, Ce, Co, Cs, Cu, Eu, Fe, Ga, Gd, La, Lu, Mn, Mo, Nb, Nd, Ni, Pr, Rb, Sm, Te, Ti, Tl, Tm, U, V, Y, Zn and Zr). Once the analytical data were collected, supervised pattern recognition techniques such as linear discriminant analysis (LDA), partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), k-nearest neighbors (k-NN), support vector machine (SVM) and Random Forest (RF) were applied to construct classification/discrimination rules. The results indicated that nonlinear methods, RF and SVM, perform best with up to 98% and 93% accuracy rate, respectively, and therefore are excellent tools for classification of grapes.Fil: Canizo, Brenda Vanina. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Laboratorio de Química Analítica para Investigación y Desarrollo; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza; ArgentinaFil: Escudero, Leticia Belén. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Laboratorio de Química Analítica para Investigación y Desarrollo; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza; ArgentinaFil: Pérez, María Belén. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Laboratorio de Química Analítica para Investigación y Desarrollo; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza; ArgentinaFil: Pellerano, Roberto Gerardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Química Básica y Aplicada del Nordeste Argentino. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Naturales y Agrimensura. Instituto de Química Básica y Aplicada del Nordeste Argentino; ArgentinaFil: Wuilloud, Rodolfo German. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Química Básica y Aplicada del Nordeste Argentino. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Naturales y Agrimensura. Instituto de Química Básica y Aplicada del Nordeste Argentino; Argentin

Toxic trace element contents in gluten-free cereal bars marketed in Argentina

Celiac disease is a food intolerance triggered by the ingestion of gluten-containing cereals; the only therapy is a strict gluten-free diet for life. In recent years, gluten-free cereal bars has achieved considerable attention as an interesting alternative food considering its several advantages, such as functional properties, nutritional contents, variety of presentations and flavors. The aim of this study was to determine the contents of three toxic trace elements (arsenic, cadmium and lead) in commercial gluten-free cereal bars marketed in Argentina by ICP-MS and assess the dietary intake of the three toxic elements compared with reference values. The results obtained indicated that the highest total concentration of arsenic is provided by the gluten-free cereal bars with green apple pomace (28.2 μg/kg) and the levels of cadmium were lower than 10 μg/kg or even below MDL in all samples. The lead contents in all bars with honey samples were exceptionally higher than in the other samples (levels greater than 130 μg/kg). The intake of available gluten-free cereal bars are generally safe for consumers, but particular attention should be paid to monitor the content of arsenic and lead gluten-free cereal bars to ensure the quality of the product. Further studies are necessary to achieve an exact risk evaluation, concerning the bioavailability of trace elements in gluten-free food sources.Fil: Hidalgo, Melisa Jazmin. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Naturales y Agrimensura. Departamento de Química; ArgentinaFil: Villafañe, Roxana Noelia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis. Instituto de Química de San Luis. Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Química, Bioquímica y Farmacia. Instituto de Química de San Luis; ArgentinaFil: Sgroppo, Sonia Cecilia. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Naturales y Agrimensura. Departamento de Química; ArgentinaFil: Marchevsky, Eduardo Jorge. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis. Instituto de Química de San Luis. Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Química, Bioquímica y Farmacia. Instituto de Química de San Luis; ArgentinaFil: Pellerano, Roberto Gerardo. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Naturales y Agrimensura. Departamento de Química; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Consumo alimentar e comunicação identitária na convivência intercultural entre jovens: o caso da Escola Sesc de Ensino Médio

O objetivo do trabalho proposto aqui é discutir como se dá a relação entre o consumo alimentar e a comunicação identitária na convivência entre os 450 estudantes da Escola Sesc de Ensino Médio (Esem), que são oriundos das 27 unidades federativas do Brasil e moram e estudam no campus localizado no Rio de Janeiro. A pesquisa foi realizada em abril e maio de 2017, e contou com observação participante durante as refeições realizadas pelos estudantes e dois grupos de discussão com oito desses jovens vindos das regiões Norte, Sudeste e Sul (especificamente dos estados de Minas Gerais, Paraíba, Rio Grande do Norte, Rio Grande do Sul, Roraima e Santa Catarina). Essas experiências mostraram um pouco de como esses jovens entendem melhor a si mesmos e à alteridade também por meio do que comem e do que deixam de comer. Como vêm de todas as partes do país, os estudantes da Esem trazem para esse convívio diferentes visões e gostos culturais, inclusive aqueles relacionados à alimentação. A sociabilidade desses jovens passa também pela comensalidade: todos se alimentam na escola, em um refeitório que oferece seis refeições diárias gratuitas (café da manhã, almoço, dois lanches, jantar e ceia) e em uma lanchonete onde podem adquirir alguns produtos alimentícios. Como não é permitido levar alimentos para os quartos, a maior parte das refeições é feita em grupo, e os estudantes aprendem a conviver também por meio do ato de compartilhar comida, ou consumi-la juntos em um mesmo espaço. Das diferenças – por exemplo, a nomenclatura de pratos como o cuscuz, que dependendo da região pode ser uma preparação salgada, de flocos ou farinha grossa de milho, ou doce, de tapioca e coco – às semelhanças – os jovens reconhecem arroz, feijão e brigadeiro como comidas presentes no Brasil todo –, passando pelos estereótipos que são desconstruídos no encontro com a alteridade, inúmeras manifestações culturais relacionadas à alimentação aparecem em situações de convivência entre sujeitos e grupos sociais com origens diversas, ajudando no entendimento, na formação e na comunicação da identidade. As relações interculturais impactam a formação de processos identitários dos sujeitos migrantes, que passam a ver suas identidades de forma múltipla e fluida, combinando aspectos da cultura dentro da qual nasceram e das demais com as quais vão conviver em seus destinos. A alimentação, como um elemento cultural presente no cotidiano, pode funcionar como importante ferramenta de reconhecimento, diferenciação e adaptação a essas novas realidades. Assim, é possível perceber que os estudantes da Esem também se relacionam por meio da comida dentro de um ambiente novo e intercultural, e se enxergam como sujeitos também a partir desse consumo

Income Elasticity of Child Labor: Do Cash Transfers have an Impact on the Poorest Children?

AbstractThe possible nonlinearity of the income elasticity of child labor has been at the center of the debate regarding both its causes and the policy instruments to address it. We contribute to this debate providing theoretical and empirical novel results. From a theoretical point of view, for any given transfer size, there is a critical level of household income below which an increase in income has no impact on child labor and education. We estimate the causal impact of an increase in income on child labor and education exploiting the random allocation of the Child Grant Programme, an unconditional cash transfer (CT), in Lesotho. We show that the poorest households do not increase investment in children's human capital, while relatively less poor households reduce child labor and increase education. In policy terms, the results indicate that CTs might not be always effective to support the investment in children's human capital of the poorest households. Beside the integration with other measures, making the amount of transfer depends of the level of deprivation of the household, might improve CT effectiveness