Search

The objective of this study was to develop a benchmark method to identify best practices in higher education across the country, in relation with management practices of academic productivity gender gaps and their impact on family responsibilities. This paper uses a qualitative approach to collect relevant information from official web pages from sixteen international universities previously selected. All information related to best practices policies implemented in each university was charted and assigned to one of the following categories for further analysis: ranking, gender policies, gender gaps, academic productivity, and childcare responsibilities. Results from this study revealed that the main best practices implemented in the included universities were practices related to harassment prevention, gender equality at college admission, development of protocols, leadership training, scholarships for study and research programs, adequate infrastructure, childcare financial support, flexible work schedules, family leave policies, improvement of the work environment and the development of departments in charge of follow-up and regular assessment of the proposed strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the final decades of the 20th century, territorial political economy was influenced by both urban and regional economy. The first called attention to the "triumph of the cities" and the second to the importance of consolidating "a new regionalism." Over the course of the 21st century, on the other hand, urban and regional economies have been conceptually articulated as a result of the "metropolitan revolution." The central objective of this article is to reflect on the characteristics of this process, the possible impacts and the great challenges. To conclude, this paper suggests that regional cohesion is determined by a functional polycentric territorial structure, a productive and sustainable economy and a multilevel and multi-scale governance model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neoclassical economics has established itself as the discipline of rational choice. Consequently, under methodological individualism and in the context of consumption, an agent's choice is based on the ordering of preferences determined exogenously, disregarding any emotional, biological influences, or factors from socio-economic dynamics. Therefore, this paper aims to present an alternative framework for the decision-making of economic individuals at a theoretical and formal-mathematical level, grounded in the principles of evolutionary economics and complex adaptive systems. It is argued that the process of making choices in consumption is inherent to social dynamics. From an individual-holistic perspective, the mechanism motivating action can be characterized as an evolutionary algorithm that integrates biological, historical, cultural, social class, and market competition influences as endogenous elements in determining choice and consumption behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper identifies the links between transnational municipal networks and international agreements in the environmental arena. It is taken for granted that transnational municipal networks support global environmental action and the process of sustainable development, in particular giving access to resources, with technical support and knowledge, but to what extent international agreements such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Paris Agreement, or the Convention on Biological Diversity guide the action of these networks? The research resorts to content analysis to examine the goals, mission, and published documents of two networks in particular, ICLEI and Mercosur, in the search for clear connections with the intergovernmental level. The paper contributes to the understanding of the role of transnational municipal networks in environmental governance, identifying through abductive reasoning the diffusion of norm from the international to the local level and underlining the importance of the role of international, national and local actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The administration of the domiciliary public utility companies must ensure compliance with their demand, ensuring the available financial resources cover the costs and achieve dividends for owners. This paper proposes a methodology for measure the efficiency of domestic utility companies in Colombia through a stochastic frontier, considering information from 2014 to 2018 from 44 companies, showing an efficiency ranking of firms, the result shows company's resource efficiency rate is 39%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we develop the idea of the Sraffian Supermultiplier, presenting it as an alternative to traditional neoclassical thought about economic growth and economic policy. Thus, a brief introduction is made about the importance of economic growth for classical economists, followed by the development of Harrod's model and the different solutions that have raised for sorting the problem of instability. Finally, we present the supermultiplier model of Serrano together with international empirical evidence that supports it and some proposals of economic policy are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows that economic theory can be analyzed by means of system dynamics, an intuitive approach that makes it possible to represent graphically the feedback loops between the variables involved in the models. It models Adam Smith's view of growth, according to Robert Heilbroner's highly simplified interpretation, (developed in a more comprehensive and exhaustive way by his teacher, the German sociologist and economist Adolph Lowe) by proposing a computational system for the study of complex models. The paper does not intend to make an original contribution to economic modeling, but to show a tool that allows simulations based on the principles of system dynamics, using specialized software. This tool can be used in teaching to show alternative modeling options to the conventional ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper concerns the study of Colombian foreign policy. Specifically, it applies foreign policy analysis (fpa) methods to the study of Colombian international politics and international relations. Embarking from the analytical framework of International Regimes, the work describes a specific approach to their study, and thereafter traces the process that preceded Colombia's accession to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (oecd). It analyzes how the decision to join the oecd is best understood as a foreign policy strategy on the part of the national government. The paper also offers a preliminary evaluation of the process of institutional adaptation accompanying oecd membership and its impact on Colombian society. The article is based on the analysis of primary sources related to the decision-making process carried out by both the national government and the oecd. Additionally, it uses a variety of other sources to illuminate a foreign policy strategy implemented in a complicated international context, one only made more difficult by the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. In this manner, the paper discusses the challenges and importance of oecd membership, including the delay of its formalization to the point of coinciding with the Covid-19 pandemic. Such unfortunate timing has likely contributed to the perception among many Colombians, of the fruitlessness of membership. While indeed complex and challenging, the paper seeks to present the situation of Colombian membership in more nuanced light. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper makes an economic assessment of Jair Bolsonaro's presidency. It analyzes the triangle of incompatibilities: high income inequality-reprimarization of the economy-high economic growth; and if one adds the environment, one could say the impossible squaring of the circle. The result of this impossibility is economic stagnation, persistent high inequality, deterioration of the standard of living, especially of the poorest, and serious damage to the environment through deforestation. The pandemic and the war in Ukraine have shaken an already "sick" economy and reveal the structural crisis in Brazil, as well as the turning points in the functioning of the labor market. The present ruptures suggest the political exhaustion of the current presidency and that the country is at a crossroads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the main features of the restructuring of the Spanish banking system after the 2008 crisis. The Bank of Spain -the enforcement arm of the European Central Bank's policy- and successive governments accentuated the oligopolistic nature of Spanish banking, as their measures contributed to limit internal competition (eliminating savings banks) and to socialize the costs of the bank bailout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper criticizes the supply-side economic policy promoted by the UK government under Prime Minister Liz Truss. According to the conventional interpretation, the stagnation and productivity crisis in the UK economy is due to the excessive tax burden on large corporations and the tax burden on the richest 1%. If these tax liabilities were reduced, it would increase the profitability of investment, demand and the rate of growth. This would translate into better incomes and higher levels of employment. This story is based on the Laffer curve and associated with the "trickle down" hypothesis, falsified by empirical evidence. Tax reductions for the richest people worsen the distribution of income, and do not raise income or employment. The cause and effect is from profits to investment and growth; not from spending to profits and growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a theoretical and historical analysis of inflation in monetary production economies since World War II. It shows that the "Keynesian" interpretations of the Phillips curve trade-off and the monetarist interpretations of "inflationary expectations" and the natural rate of unemployment did not establish the proper causal relationship between credit and unemployment, and between costs and inflation. It was Hyman Minsky, an American economist, who - following Keynes' ideas and the bank endogenous currency approach - showed that it is the increase (or reduction) in credit that explains the reduction (increase) in unemployment. The resurgence of inflation today can be explained by a Kaleckian approach in which the reduction of productivity is the efficient cause of an inflation that can become persistent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that this year's "Nobel" prize in economics celebrates one of the weakest aspects of modern macroeconomic thinking: its limited ability to understand the macro-financial instability of modern capitalism. Instead of challenging the stubborn refusal to take seriously thinkers who confront the essential importance of finance and its dangers for the modern world, such as Hyman Minsky or Hyun Song Shin, it flaunts the tendency to ignore them. And it argues that if the Prize Committee had wanted to reward those who seek to understand the dynamics of the modern global financial system and its interconnections with the real economy, it should have given it to the BIS team, which dates back to the time of William White, and to academic economists associated with the BIS such as Hyun Song Shin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sheds light on an overlooked issue in economics, namely the social responsibility of central banks in a democracy. We consider central banks as institutions of power, and, as such, neither are they nor their policies neutral, in the sense that there are inevitable winners and losers. We explain why and how their power should be regulated and controlled by society. Specifically, we focus on the income distributive nature of monetary policy to demonstrate this assertion. From this, we explain that the time is ripe to build a new framework for central banking aiming at improving central banks' social responsibility consistent with the spirit of a democratic system, and resting on new rules, new types of inner organization and, more broadly, an ethics of responsibility of a new kind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper presents a method for the analysis of codes of ethics driven by the strategic interests of the organization. For the review of codes of ethics it is important understand your value structure. The first step consists in a statistical analysis of terms that denote values. The second step consists in a semantical network analysis of the code. This method is presented on the example of the code of ethics of the Fiscalía General de la Nación, Colombia (2008). The proposed method is able to detect, in a detailed manner, emphasis as well as biases in the values' structure of codes of ethics. Thus, it is possible to propose revisions of codes of ethics that are guided by the organization's strategic values. The proposed method fills a void in the literature in relation to general methods for the analysis of codes of ethics with strategic goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, the design of public policies has gathered diverse disciplines to propose new ways to build knowledge destined to heed society's needs and opportunities. In Latin America, the multicultural and pluriethnic character of the societies has supposed special interest to their design. The case studies allow to locate experiences and to build comparisons and detailed and complex readings of the phenomena present within the territories. Through the compared analysis of four experiences led by the National University of Colombia, with a social innovation approach, this paper describes the contrasts and nuances found in the interaction of local ecosystems of collaboration. Morin's complex thinking, and the social innovation approach are proposed to analyze the contributions of the academy in the scenario of peacebuilding, through the role of mediation in the interaction of local knowledge. This is fundamental for the consolidation of territorial communal processes, and to establishing potential recommendations for the multi-stakeholder design of public policies in the pos-accords scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates the Laffer curve through a comparative statical analysis and an econometric exercise. Starting from a microeconomic specification, it first analyzes the distortion caused by an indirect tax and the welfare implications of maximizing tax collection. Then, using data on real per capita tax revenue and the tax rate, an estimate of an econometric model to calculate the optimal tax rate in Colombia is made. The results show that Laffer's postulates are proven with an optimal rate of 32% and suggest that the government has a margin of almost 12 percentage points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the beginning of the 21st century, an unprecedented theoretical change in perspective took place, and non-Western theoretical approaches began to be developed as an alternative to traditional theories of International Relations. In this way, some specialists began to debate about the emergence and consolidation of a "Chinese School of International Relations", based mostly on the Asian culture. The aim of this paper is to present the main streams of international studies in China, among which the reverse, obverse and interactive approaches stand out. Likewise, it is particularly intended to understand the conception of international cooperation of each of these approaches. In addition, it is intended to highlight the evolution of international studies in China and departs from the assumption that the production and changes of the axis of international studies follow the rise and geographical position of the great powers. In the Chinese case, they have been growing in parallel with its international prominence and the attainment of great power status. The theoretical framework proposed for this research takes as a starting point the so-called non-western theories, that is, all those theories that are not part of the mainstream of the Western International Relations Theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper by David Quammen, author of the recommended book Spillover. Animal infections and the next human pandemic, makes a brief synthesis of the latest research on epizootic diseases, caused by viruses that jump from other animal species to the human species, and is a sort of addendum to the epilogue of the Spanish version, entitled "We were the ones who created the coronavirus epidemic". In this paper Quammen argues that U.S. has fared worse than other countries not because it lacked information or funding but because it failed to learn the lessons of the last outbreaks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ten years after the creation of the National System of Response to Climate Change (snrcc for its acronym in Spanish) in Uruguay, this paper examines the perceptions among local actors about the impacts of climate change on the Northeast region of the country (Departments of Rivera, Tacuarembó and Cerro Largo). It also analyzes their visions about policies and mechanisms of climate governance defined at the national level, focusing some aspects such as articulation and participation. This way the paper aims to generate relevant inputs for the discussion about the design of policies for mitigation and adaptation to this phenomenon in the specific territory considered here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates the effect of labor informality on homicides in Cali through an econometric analysis using instrumental variables. The results show a positive effect of labor informality (not being affiliated to the health system and not paying pension contributions) on homicides: on average, a one percentage point increase in the labor informality rate increases homicides by 4,2%, significant at the 1% level. These results are relevant for the study of the economics of crime in developing regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the credibility of monetary policy in Colombia and its evolution after the adoption of the inflation targeting system. To do so, a non-linear Phillips curve is estimated based on unemployment for an open economy, which incorporates the direct effect of past inflation rate on price formation and a prospective component. It shows a deeper trade-off between inflation and unemployment and lower inflationary persistence. Consequently, the country could emphasize the greater responsibility of the central bank in economic growth and employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the relationship of the perception of corruption and lack of transparency with voting preferences and protests. It examines the case of Colombia using data from the 2015 Latinobarómetro Survey and a multinomial logistic model that assumes a simultaneous choice of participation type (or a combination of types), which allows us to establish whether the preference for protest substitutes or complements the preference for voting. A positive relationship was found between the perception of corruption and lack of transparency with the preference to protest in addition to voting. If citizens perceive greater corruption or doubt government transparency, they are more willing to participate in demonstrations, without reducing their support for electoral participation. This suggests that there is a general acceptance of formal democratic participation despite the shortcomings of the political regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sraffa rescues the classical analysis and puts it in discussion with mainstream theory. The thesis of this paper is that his ontological analysis, specified in the market snapshot, allows us to understand Sraffa's theoretical position and, in turn, is a method to assess his traditional interpretations as well as the new perspectives arising from the reading of his drafts. Its position is not entirely precise, so it is necessary to include conventions, which open the way to institutional analysis. Finally, starting from the contrast with other interpretations, it proposes to defend the coherence between the vision of the world and the ideas developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between the French Revolution (1789) and the outbreak of the Springtime of the Peoples (1848), European economic thought debated between the defense of protected markets and the proper opening of capitalist markets. In this paper, we address this process specifically in the framework of the German intellectual scene, from the bibliographic debates of the time, as a historical marker for a more complete understanding of the Hegelian conceptualization of political economy, its scope, limitations, and projections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mainstream economic theory is replete with assumptions that feed into structural or systemic racism. It supports an economic system that severely disadvantages people at the lower end of the socio-economic spectrum, which in the U.S. includes a disproportionate number of Hispanics, indigenous people, and descendants of slaves ((would Afro-Americans be more appropriate?)). The paper discusses 15 such assumptions that are generally trivialized, including the crucial role information costs play in decision making. In turn, costly information implies that its acquisition by poor people requires a greater share of their income, making it more difficult for them to make well-informed decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economics is a policy discipline that deals with the problems of social organization and the general good. It co-evolves with circumstances, and it is historically contingent. The world to which economic policies are ultimately addressed is a complex system. Yet economists seeking to develop appropriate policies are necessarily guided by simplifications and heuristics. The question before the discipline is to decide what sort of simplification is best suited to the task. In the spirit of modern science, this paper argues that appropriate generalizations, simplifications, heuristics, and principles are to be derived from a study of the actual world. While these may deploy mathematical tools and draw on insights from the behavior of mathematical systems, the latter by themselves are inadequate, especially where they start from the dead dogmas of the neoclassical mainstream: ex nihilo nihil fit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze the evolution of the approach to the colonial question at the United Nations, and its impact on African independence and the abolition of minority regimes on that continent, from the Organization's foundation in 1945 until the adoption of the Special Committee on Decolonization in 1961. The issue we intend to address is the role of the United Nations in the transformation of the post-war world, and especially in challenging colonialism. The problem we will focus on is how that body, founded by the victorious powers of World War II, became by the 1960s, a forum for discussion, coordination and implementation of policies that promoted the elimination of colonial empires and settler regimes in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing dispute between the United States of America and China finds a main area of competition around 5G, which will enable a substantial improvement in the capacity for vehicle auto-guidance, remote operations, robotics, artificial intelligence and other dual-use applications. While 5G is still emerging, the global shaping of the network infrastructure, regulations, patents and standards involves the Global South. It is an eminently global dispute for markets, but also for national security, which has gained a central place on the foreign policy agenda of most of the countries around the globe. In this context, the objective of this text is to analyze the emergent conditions of 5G in two of the main countries of the Global South, India and Brazil, within the dispute between the US and China. Through the contextualization of this dispute and its implications in India and Brazil, we seek to extract a series of preliminary reflections for other countries of the Global South. Thus, this paper contributes to a key area understanding the emergent conditions of a new phase of the mobile telecommunications paradigm developing two main cases still unexplored systematically by the literature in Spanish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of the State in Argentina in the last three decades, based on oil policies, in order to understand its different transformations. The 90s were characterized by an abrupt referential change in the role of the state but especially in the productive and regulatory capacity on hydrocarbons. Despite of the neoliberal paradigm crisis on the beginning of the new millennium, energy policies on hydrocarbons still maintained the previous referential sector strategies. From the analysis of documentary sources and quantitative data, this paper aims to demonstrate how oil policy remains managed by market forces despite the fact that 51 % of Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales (YPF) shares were purchased by the State. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite more than twenty years of implementation of Conditional Cash Transfers (ccts) inequality and poverty remain being one of the main problems of Latin America. These programs seek to stimulate consumption and reduce poverty and have become the axis of articulation of social protection in most of the countries of the region, incorporating logics of resource management and financing, and new actors and discourses on poverty. This paper critically presents the recent literature on ccts and analyzes the trajectories and approaches of the programs. The paper also analyses changes and continuities in the perspectives on poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that Peru offers an empirical richness with which to understand its foreign policy pragmatism and the way the discourses by foreign policy elites are structured and reshaped, trying to prioritize actions and practical results consistently, rather than ideological postures. Despite the political instability of the eighties and nineties, and corruption scandals during the 21st century in which the highest decision makers have been involved, Torre Tagle has attempted to act consistently in accordance with its foreign policy precepts, enhancing a resultoriented approach. This paper uses six analytic variables: presidential discourses, the profile of foreign policy elites, presidential corruption, international insertion mechanisms, economic growth and international performance. The time period analyzed covers the years 1990-2015, with some references regarding events between 1985-1990 and 2015-2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the impact of the decentralization policy on the education sector of the Department of Huila. It uses panel data on fiscal, administrative and political decentralization, as well as educational coverage and educational quality of all its municipalities in the period 2005-2015. The results show that educational coverage has a positive relationship with administrative decentralization, and that fiscal, administrative and political decentralization contribute to improving the quality of municipal education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Macarena Suanes and Oriol Roca studied the main determinants of inequality and economic growth in Latin America between 1980 and 2009 and found that one of the main determinants was foreign direct investment. This paper extends that study to 2015 and shows that such investment is no longer significant. In contrast, increasing human capital significantly reduces inequality and improves economic growth. It is recommended, then, that economic policies are oriented towards raising educational attainment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the concept of probability in Keynes' work and proposes a method for formalizing the notion of uncertainty in the General Theory using Bayes' theorem and the principle of maximum entropy. One of the main conclusions is that, despite sharing his rejection of the frequentist approach to statistics, it is unreasonable to think that numerical probabilities cannot be determined, even if some criterion of objectivity is met. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there are analysises of human rights' guarantees in Colombia, there are few studies focused on the historical reconstruction of policies in this area. This paper is based on the recognition that public action is dynamic because it is the product of communication between institutions and condenses dissent in the understanding of human rights' concepts. Thus, intervention priorities and their scope are the result of institutional choices that may vary or last over time. In this context, based on the analysis of the dialogue between entities involved in human rights policies, the article documents the way in which the concept of human rights has been consolidated and supports action on the matter, specifically, in Barco's government, which announces solutions and, above all, current problems in the public agenda and in current social revindications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to identify the public innovation generated through the "Full Time Schools Program" in Mexico, particularly for the 2018-2019 school year in the schools of the State of Puebla, evaluating the generation of public value through a survey perception answered by 612 principals of schools benefited from this program in the state. The research shows that although the program's operating rules point out the criteria for generating public value, there are sections of political control in the operation that could be improved in the state public management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes "Concejo a la casa", the initiative developed by DemoLab, the Open Council Laboratory of Bogota, as the first case of political innovation in Colombia that uses lottery as a selection mechanism for a process of citizen participation. It builds upon both the conceptual framework based on political innovation and lottery, and the descriptive analysis of the data collected by "Concejo a la casa" to explore the relationship between the descriptive representation of randomness and the conditions that enhance the reduction of some barriers and bias related to participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses different theoretical perspectives on emotions and their implications for political communication, campaigns and the vote. It reflects on the use of both positive and negative emotions in political ads, and on the different types of appeals aimed to the electorate in order to influence their electoral behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governance reflects the transformation of relations between government and society, starting with the emergence of a more active role for civil society in public action by detaching it from traditional dependency from government. However, although governance as a concept has been used vigorously in the discursive strategies of the doctrines of New Public Management (NPM) in conjunction with discourses of innovation as a justifying purpose; it is also possible to trace discourses that can be grouped in a framework called Post-New Public Management (P-NGP) which proposes new conceptions about governance and innovation; Conceptions that articulate a shift in the ways of conceiving and understanding organizational forms, public management and the State itself in its interaction with society. This paper analyzes the changes in the concept of governance brought by the P-NGP, which implies taking as a starting point the governance descriptions of NPM discursive areas, and then contrasting these descriptions with references to the P-NGP. This implies a reflection on the reconstruction of the dynamics of public action that, from the approach of governance based on P-NGP discussion referents, propose new logics for the implementation of policies from public innovation, such as the emerging case of public and private organizational forms like crowdsourcing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the process employed to implement an innovation culture, within the Banca de Desarrollo Territorial, Findeter, through the use of a development management model that also accounts for service and product improvement; since innovation is a key aspect for value generation and competitive differentiation in organizations. Initially, a literature review is conducted to identify the development bank's actions that configure innovation practices. Later, the methodology and management model is described; this incorporates the practices and activities that allow the adoption of a new innovation culture. Finally, a summary is given for the development and validation process of four (4) solution prototypes, formulated to previously identified requirements, which are characterized by its innovation focus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper identifies the relationship between the health management of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic outcomes. It shows economic and mortality indicators as well as other social and cultural variables affecting the results. It takes into account the effect of oil prices upon the exporting countries leeway. It also shows how the disruption in international trade affected global value chains. Countries with better health results during the pandemic showed better results in economic growth in the second quarter of 2020. The best predictor of economic success was the health system strengh measured by number of beds prior to the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the context of the spread of the new coronavirus, the correlation with the instability of world financial markets and the fall in oil prices, and concerns about the future of neorealist capitalism. The first part addresses several questions: was the pandemic caused by nature or by man? Can scientific research help to separate the truth from the conspiracy theses? The second part suggests that the coronavirus has imposed a de facto trickle-down economy on Reagan's trickledown economy, and shows the economic disruptions it has caused in developed and developing countries. It is concluded that a tiny virus is forcing the dominant neoliberal system to review reality by force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces an unpublished 1970 work written by the distinguished development economist Lauchlin Currie (1902-93) on Paul Rosenstein Rodan's famous 1944 essay on the "Big Push" which led to the debate on balanced and unbalanced growth in which Albert Hirschman (1915-2012) was an important contributor. Both Currie and Hirschman had been key economic advisers to the Colombian government and here their respective views on development planning are contrasted. In particular, it is shown how Currie's 1970 paper clarifies the theory that serves as the basis for Colombia's 1971-74 National Plan, which he designed and helped execute, and whose institutional innovations have had a lasting impact on Colombia's recent economic history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses orthodox and heterodox development streams, by bringing about and comparing their core conceptual building blocks. The paper builds mainly on an economic disciplinary approach, but briefly discusses other views. Therefore, the paper will be divided into three parts. First of all, a brief introduction about the notion of development; Secondly, a theoretical view of the characteristics of the interpretation orthodoxy; Thirdly, the theory of heterodoxy development. Finally, an analysis beyond economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the size of the State in an international context and analyzes the behavior of public spending in Colombia during the last two decades. It takes a theoretical and empirical review of optimal public spending, and presents international comparisons of the size of the State which support the Wagner Law: the size of the State grows at the same rate or at a higher rate than income. It also describes the evolution of central national government spending based on the traditional economic classification, and reviews the evolution of government spending according to purpose, emphasizing social spending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we analyze the determinants of attendance and the frequency of attendance of performing arts events in Medellin, specifically theater, dance, and music. Using data from the Quality of Life Survey of Medellin 2014, we estimate regularized discrete choice models that allow us to efficiently select the relevant variables that explain the cultural consumption decisions, while at the same time, solving the statistical problems that appear when the number of explanatory variables is high. Results show that the level of education and time restrictions are the principal determinants of performing arts attendance in the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a discussion of the creation of agent-based models from the exclusive perspective of monetary phenomena. These correspond to Schumpeter's monetary analysis in its ideal version. A set of general principles formalizes a population of agents interacting in a decentralized way on the sole basis of monetary phenomena. We make use of these principles, and the subsequent agent-based model is a dynamic, non-deterministic system, whose numerical simulations are able to mimic stylized facts in macroeconomics. Further extensions of the model make possible the expansion its descriptive power, and its use in economic research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the heir of political philosophy, the English post-commercialist economy and the French physiocracy, since its origin, political economy has integrated production, circulation and the theory of value into the theories of the modern state and capitalist society. In this paper it is argued that, in political economy, the conceptions of the State and of society are related to the theory of surplus. It criticizes the marginilist notion of society, emphasizes the centrality of the theory of surplus, explained in the conflict between State and society, and identifies the limits of the principle of effective demand of Keynes and Kalecki. The main conclusion is that economic policy recommendations based on inflation, wage deflation and containment of public spending goals seek to increase the surplus in the crisis and recession phases of the economic cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robert Proctor and Ian Bolin coined the term agnotology to designate the study of ignorance. This paper proposes to overcome the vision of ignorance as a void that can be filled by knowledge and invites us to think about the ways in which it is produced today, in a premeditated and structural way: through negligence, myopia, secrecy or suppression. The author shows that the deliberate creation of ignorance is a strategy to compromise and sow doubts about the observed facts and about scientific knowledge, taking as examples the role of trade secrets, the activity of tobacco companies to deny the causal relationship between the cigarette smoking and cancer and the role of military secret. Finally, some cases in ignorance is an expression of moral values, such as the prohibition, in some universities, of research whose sole purpose is the profit motive and, in some scientific journals, of publishing works financed by certain sources, as well as the rejection of certain technologies for well-founded intellectual and moral reasons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]