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The detrimental effects of tax havens on civil society first came to light in 2000 when the British organization OXFAM published a report suggesting that these jurisdictions cost developing countries at least fifty billion dollars a year in lost revenue. The aim of this study is to investigate, analyze and provide evidence for the link between tax havens and international tax evasion, corruption and money laundering, and their implications for ‘tax justice’. The methodology used is empirical and theoretical, based on case studies and analysis of documents presented and published by various sources. The conclusions highlight the effectiveness of reports and leaks that have occurred between 2007 and 2021, which have exposed the functioning of international tax corruption schemes of large fortunes or companies related to tax havens and have made it possible to open files and institute precise investigations by national public administrations. The 2016 Panama Papers and the 2021 Pandora Papers stand out as the most relevant leaks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze the behavior of a group of industrial multinational subsidiaries located in Brazil in the period 2003-2019. In this context, their surplus increased substantially because of the rise in commodity prices. For this reason, we intend to analyze the destination of the surplus towards non-productive uses. The methodology used incorporated accounting data that were processed to construct useful variables within the disciplinary framework of political economy and economics for economic development. Through this, it was possible to measure the capital flight and financial investments of the selected companies. This paper ties in with the debate on financialization, global productive changes and the forms these phenomena take in developing countries. Despite the surplus increase, the selected firms lost productive density because they promoted non-productive uses, in a general context of the Brazilian economy characterized by financialization and deindustrialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are multiple barriers for firms to effectively carry out innovation processes. According to the Oslo Manual, these barriers can be financial, knowledge-, and marketrelated. However, recent literature has shown that, in addition, there are other barriers that also prevent companies from achieving successful innovations. This paper presents a systematic literature review of publications on this topic indexed in Scopus and published between 2019 and 2022. Its main objective was to describe the trends in the literature on barriers to innovation published in recent years, especially in English. Our results show that the traditional definition of barriers to innovation is evolving—from the logic of the Oslo Manual towards another more comprehensive notion of said barriers that considers that they affect not only technological innovation but also environmental and social innovations. Additionally, we found that small and young companies, as well as those operating in developing countries, have a greater perception of facing barriers to innovation. This paper contributes especially to decision makers and researchers who seek to propose solutions for companies to overcome barriers to innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a decolonial feminist geopolitics of Venezuelan migration to Colombia, with Venezuelans fleeing the socialist Bolivarian Revolution and then facing discrimination and violence upon settling in capitalist Colombia amid its failing peace process context. Conflicts over migration and nationality permeate our global order of sovereign nation-states, both in north-south migrations and across the global south, while the feminisation and racialisation of migrants divides the subaltern class and facilitates capitalist exploitation. However, this paper elucidates migrants’ inter-national solidarities and grassroots peace struggles. Community organisers along the Colombia-Venezuela border – the women’s empowerment organisation Tejedores de Paz and youth leadership foundation Horizonte de Juventud – unite impoverished internally-displaced Colombians and Venezuelan immigrants to create resistance territories against xenophobia, patriarchy, and poverty. Illustrating the utility of the methodology of decolonial feminist geopolitics, I trace the reconfiguration of the spirit of sociopolitical revolution in South America through migrants’ emergent form of feminist non-state socialism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professional culture is a complex and important concept in Cuba as result of the special attention the State and Government give to the integral education as essential complement of academic quality in Higher Educational programs. The aim of this paper is to make an up-to-date reflection about the concept of professional culture and its operationalization in the higher medical education in the country. Key programmatic and normative documents as well as the main papers and authors treating the concept were reviewed. The paper invite to discuss about the concept. Theorical and conceptual breaches were identified and discussed in order to contribute to entrenche professional and behavioural values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process described in this paper aims to improve the urban mobility analysis and planning, such as revealing levels of equity and inclusion of a part of the city and identifying deficiencies in the accessibility to urban facilities related to settings systems of land use and transport. Therefore, a Social Sustainability of Urban Mobility (ssum) approach and Open Source Geographical Information System are applied. The methodology sets two urban facilities' analyses of levels of services to different scales. First, using the Central Places theory, the Metropolitan San Salvador Area is the first scale to analyze. Secondly, it studied the accessibility condition to urban facilities in San Salvador Municipality (Capital city of El Salvador) from Optimal Location Models (olm). Those models allow spatial equity and efficiency indicators. Results are implementing the ssum approach, applying technics of multiscalar analysis, and setting a metropolitan organizational structure which categorizes municipalities by urban facilities' levels of services. In addition, the characterization of municipal accessibility with proxy indicators to vulnerable groups and identifying areas to take action to improve daily mobility have been developed. Finally, a discussion is opened to identify the following steps to improve this research and strength future planning processes in the scarcity context of the global south. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on an in-depth reflection on the role of utopias in political projects that intervene in international relations, this article aims to analyse the change of direction of Brazil's foreign policy in the period 2003-2022. This involves observing the transformation of the country's international action, from a position of defender of the Global South to one of champion of the West. To this end, this proposal will make use of the information offered by primary sources --official documents and speeches of the presidency and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs-- and secondary sources --analysis of academic publications--. With this in mind, it will provide an extensive theoretical introduction, through which it will genealogically address utopian thinking in the discipline of International Relations and the field of Foreign Policy Analysis. Subsequently, it will define two discursive strategies that allude to antagonistic projects of international insertion based on opposing utopian imaginaries, and which have guided the Brazilian worldview of international reality in the first two decades of the twenty-first century: the Brazil of the Global South and the Brazil of the West. By way of conclusion, the paper will offer some final reflections, highlighting the role played by both representations in Brazil's domestic and international projection for the government's term of office that started in 2023. It is understood that both worldviews have their origins in Brazil's tradition of international thought, but also incorporate variables that refer to transnational utopian projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employment in the industrial sector has decreased in all advanced countries, even though the sector's share in the gross domestic product (gdp) has not changed or has decreased only slightly in many cases, mostly because of improvements in labour productivity. Simultaneously, services have not stopped growing, reaching a share in developed economies of around 75%, sometimes higher, both in employment and contribution to nominal gdp. These processes have been the subject of extensive literature developed on the concepts of "deindustrialization" and "tertiarization", and on their possible explanations. Though delayed, these two far-reaching trends have taken, or are taking place, also in countries classified as middle-income or developing countries, giving rise to the concept of "premature deindustrialization". Various explanations have emerged around these issues, all of which have qualified the two major trends as worrisome. A common explanation suggests an industry-services contrast, where the trade-off between them appears as "the villain of the story"--borrowing an expression from the traditional theatre. This paper aims to show that this view is oversimplifying and wrong. What is observed in almost all economies is a process of growing integration between the two sectors, instead of a confrontation between them, and everything indicates that they will only integrate further in the coming years. The characteristics of such integration will be analyzed in the paper as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of SARSCoV2 have been geographically differentiated. In general terms, the highest rates of infections, deaths and lethality take place in the West as opposed to what is observed in the East. In this paper, an approach to the pandemic is made from the point of view of the civic-political culture, by taking into account the predominance that the individual has in Western nations compared to the relevance that the collectivity/community has in Eastern nations, and through the use of a model based on a triple analysis: geographical-civilizational considerations, political philosophy and political regime. Eleven countries are analyzed according to Samuel Huntington's civilizing typology: four western, five non-western countries and two split or hybrid countries. Our conclusions suggests that countries where civic-political freedoms around the community predominate have had a lower incidence of infections / deaths during the current pandemic. The analysis reveals the importance of civic-political culture in dealing with emergencies such as the SARSCoV2 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses the epistemic functions of images in the geographic and sociological discourses on poverty habitat in the megacities of the global south by focusing on Mexico city. Based on a conceptual and methodological review of art history from Bildwissenschaft perspective (visual studies), this paper aims to examine the poverty habitat by describing its typologies, patterns, encodings and possible effects of its visual constructions. This contribution outlines the utility of this type of research, the function of inter and transdisciplinary studies in this field and its fundamental ethic dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper makes a comparative study of the socio-state capacities developed during the processes of institutionalising protected natural areas (PNA) in Latin America. It sets them within a framework of their interdependence with global governance processes and in relation to the role human rights have played for these purposes. Taking an approach that combines analysis of multilevel collective action with process monitoring, this work traces the trajectories of national and multilateral institutions; analyses the main dynamics that arise in the delimitation of the protection of natural areas in the countries with the greatest biodiversity in the region; and explores the possibilities for new agreements on the global agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the historical trajectories of South-South and triangular cooperation and its dimensions in Latin America. Based on this information, the paper intends to assess the framework’s role as an instrument of public diplomacy in developing countries, which enables participating countries to strengthen their international presence and establish strategic alliances with other countries. Building on the theoretical perspective of the framework, the study analyzes specific Cuban cases of South-South cooperation, linking them with the characteristic elements of public diplomacy, and assesses their impact on international development cooperation. In conclusion, the paper contends that Cuba and South Korea should explore the possible concrete links between the elements of international development cooperation and those of public diplomacy, and seek opportunities to foster South-South cooperation as part of public diplomacy. This will help developing countries to discover and establish new forms of exchanges between them and strengthen their cooperative relations with partner countries. [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]

Objective: this article proposes two central questions: on the one hand, the thread woven by the gambles on the construction of critical epistemologies is picked up and a course provided to renew the epistemic-political critique of colonial modernity in and from the bodies-territories of the global south; on the other, researchers throw themselves into new challenges to co-construct alternative research methodologies in order to look and speak to collective selves in the present and its socio-historical and socio-territorial context. Methodology: the place of enunciation and discussion is political philosophy in and from Latin America, which implies putting those topics on the agenda that are addressed and focused on the dialogue with other social and human sciences as the principle of construction of this proposal. Thus, this paper addresses the notions of body-territory, living theory understood as the close relationship between narration, testimony and experience -- and political intersubjectivity[/i ] to define a situated thought with theoretical-methodological tools that distance themselves from modern logics in pursuit of decolonizing, feminist and community research. Conclusions: the intention is to continue gambling on the construction of critical epistemes and methodologies in context for situated thinking. The researchers believe that for this one must resort to collective and intersubjective political action that is transformative in and with the struggle. Here a response to the question about what happens to bodies-territories is rehearsed, and with it, a response to the questions about what is done, said, and thought as urgent militant investigations. The researchers strengthen the proposal of a contextualized thought, at a distance from an individual colonial and patriarchal rationality, to approach a thought as a place of enunciation and as a place of being, a thought as a territory, as a habitat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to analyze irregularities and responses deployed by women workers recruited at origin in Morocco and workers from other African countries during the soft fruit season. The growth of an intensive, globalized, and delocalized food production model is giving rise to a growing population inhabiting a fourth world. The southern border of Europe and Africa make up one of the largest soft fruit producing and exporting regions. This region is the province of Huelva, where in 2020, the soft fruit season coincided with the first wave of COVID-19. A qualitative methodology based on ethnographic interviews, observation, and specialized literature allowed us to analyze the shortcomings of those who managed to safeguard production and how their essential status, granted to them for the first time, does not guarantee them their fundamental rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes expedients of daily mobility that -though fundamental for the sustainability of life, have been marginalized in territorial planning: the pedestrian trajectories of migrant women. The research explores urban walking practices in the La Chimba neighborhood, Santiago of Chile, using a qualitative perspective trough focus groups and directed interviews combined with shadowing techniques of women from the global south. From the observation of the rhythms, affects and wisdoms of the participants in the study, the paper concludes that personal pedestrian experiences depend principally on the (re)productive roles that they assume; the contingent otherness of their bodies; and the social and communitarian networks that they establish with their territory of arrival, sharing a common epistemic privilege to know the place they inhabit. [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 analyzes debt securitization in underdeveloped countries, using the case of Argentina, Mexico, and Brazil. We argue that the three countries have had a significant increase in the issuance of debt securities. However, the nature of the securities issued is different in each nation. In the case of Argentina, the increase in international debt securities in circulation has to do with the issuance of government securities. In Mexico, the increase is more related to the new financing needs of Mexican non-financial corporations. While in Brazil, the increase in the issuance of debt securities is due to a combination of both factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of development cooperation is said to lie outside the core of the international relations (IR) discipline. However, academic production on this subject is abundant. This paper carries out a systematic ordering of the most relevant literature by analysing the evolution of its debates (differences, coexistence, separation and combination of different theoretical perspectives). This journey allows us to observe how the transformations in the international order and the theoretical evolution of the discipline established four axes of debate: a) the nature of foreign aid; b) the methods of studying aid policies; c) the deep forces behind aid policies; and d) the ways of understanding aid and development. Given the current divide in the subfield between rationalists and reflectivists, the need is postulated for theoretical dialogue, methodological robustness and a greater emphasis on research on the Global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to identify the main factors that favor growth in developing countries by analyzing the most influential variables selected by scientific literature specifically on developing countries. We also studied the impact of ICT on growth and whether such impact is conditioned by the interaction of ICT variables with other local factors. Thus, a factor analysis was performed on a sample of 90 countries and a cluster analysis was carried out to identify the groups of countries that had a specific pattern, according to the factors. Finally, a regression analysis was performed to estimate the impact of each of the factors on the countries' GDP per capita. The results were the validity of the selection of the variables and factors through empirical study, the influence of the ICT factor is maximized when it interacts with other factors, and Globalization contributes less to growth because these countries are mostly in the export phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose one of the elements that in our opinion explain the growing and widespread manifestations of social unrest among the most diverse peoples of the Earth. The accumulation of capital, as a foundation for the growth of global production, implies limitations for efficient and effective use of scarce resources on the planet. These limitations impose forms of distribution of wealth among peoples resulting in inadequate social production for general needs, creating general social unrest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A logical and historical analysis about the evolution of the accommodation industry and the interrelation between its forms of property and managementis carried out in this paper, based on the dialectical and materialistic approach and using as foundation a bibliographic research which identifies the modes of entrance of the international hotel industry, in its expansion as development strategic options for the hotel industry of the recipient countries. We got to the conclusion that the technology of the hotel chains in its international expansion through management modes remains protected, despite the barriers which slow down its spreading in the recipient countries. All this damages the development of the national hotel groups. Finally, some alternatives allowing to revert this situation in favor of endogenous development of the national hotel industries, are presented in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there is consensus that the IMF succeeded in extending globalization and the domination of finance to developing countries, the relationship between the IMF and developing countries is not a link in which invariably the former imposes and the latter complies, nor one in which the organism necessarily disagrees with countries' non-fulfilments. Understanding the historical sense of the relationship and the changing balance of power between actors requires analysing the negotiations through which conflicts between these actors emerge and are resolved. The aim of this paper is to present a contribution on the theoretical status of the relationship between the IMF and the developing countries, considering their role as main borrowers, based on the contributions of the International Political Economy (IPE) concerning the importance of interests as well as those of Sociology concerning the criticism of rational action. We propose a famework of analysis that considers the relationship between the IMF and a developing country as a complex and dynamic link whose result is not determined in advance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper draws macroeconomic policy lessons by contrasting the developing countries experience in the 2000s -including their performance in the recent global crisis- with the previous three decades of financial globalization. The main lesson is the crucial role of macroeconomic policies in fostering growth, preserving financial stability and generating a robust performance vis-à-vis real and financial external shocks. In addition, the analysis suggests a set of policy orientations that contribute to the simultaneous achievement of the three mentioned objectives. The paper is presented in two parts. The first part presents the analysis that provides the foundations of the main lesson and the mentioned macroeconomic policy orientations. The second presents a synthetic formulation of the macroeconomic policies and discusses different aspects of their instrumentation, focusing particularly on the exchange rate and monetary policies. Concluding remarks are presented in the last section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After years of effective functioning, the intermediate exchange rate systems ended up becoming prone to suffering speculative attacks, as the process of financial integration advanced. The empirical evidence collected in this paper endorses the fact that the less strict pegged exchange rate systems, that is soft pegs, were the epicentre of the most of exchange rate crises during '90's in Europe, Latin America and Eastern Asia. Consequently, intermediate systems and, especially soft pegs, have lost credit to the benefit of more extreme systems of exchange rate spectrum. This paper contributes new evidence on the tendency toward the bipolarization of the exchange rate systems and studies their evolution between 1990 and 2004, both in the advanced economies and in the emerging economies most integrated in the international capital markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a new measure of financial development to show that many benefits in terms of growth and stability can still be reaped from further financial development in most emerging markets. First, it defines financial development as a combination of depth, access and efficiency. Second, it highlights that the economic growth weakens at higher levels of financial development. Third, it indicates that the pace of financial development matters. Forth, it provides a new angle related to the tradeoffs of financial regulation. Finally, it finds that there is no "one-size-fits-all" in the sequencing of developing financial institutions versus markets, though as economies evolve the relative benefits from institutions decline and those from markets increase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial policy and economic development: a review of the contemporary debate. This paper discusses the importance of the industrial policy for the Brazilian economic development. It presents the theoretical foundations and the main international experiences about this theme. Besides it examines the main industrial policies adopted in Brazil, especially in recent years. Based on this discussion, it is possible to note that despite the criticisms against this policy, they were widely used by many developed countries in the past and also played an important role, contributing to increase the industrial growth in Brazil. However, the recent Brazilian industrial policies were not so efficient, especially when compared with those adopted during most of the 20th century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The World Bank is an important external funder of health aid to developing countries. However, many accounts of health sector change and reform do not account for the role that international financial institutions may play in these policy changes. In this paper, I review the World Bank's health policies since 1975, discussing its changing role and policies for developing countries' health policies. I then summarize the existing empirical evidence for the effect of the World Bank in developing countries' health sectors, focusing on Latin American countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a lack of extended knowledge on internationalization theories applied to developing countries firms (DCF) within the international business field. This paper explains the drivers of the international investment behavior of world leader baking company Bimbo and the relevance that the main internationalization theories have in the foreign direct investment (FDI) decisions. Ownership, Locational and Internalization (OLI) advantages, as well as the Uppsala model, will be explained and compared to the Bimbo's internationalization path. Furthermore, Bimbo's international operations are summarized and presented chronologically. Finally, a comparison between the above mentioned theories and the company's behavior is provided, and the conclusion that Dunning's (2000) eclectic paradigm explains the firm's internationalization is suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The basic premise of this paper is that the problem in the agency-social structure or subject-social structure relationship is crucial for understanding the present stage of take-off in the new phase of development or capitalism of knowledge following the recent global crisis of 2007-2009. This expresses the contradiction between neoliberalism, as a political-ideological projection, and a new technological-productive base, as well as the question of differentiation between developed "successful" countries and those that are "backward". Institutionalism and Gramsci's Marxism have offered solutions to the agency-structure dichotomy through very different theoretical approaches, the first seeking to explain the issue of differentiation between countries. Aspects of an alternative explanation are provided here through the Gramscian solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact on total factor productivity (TFP) in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and in other developing countries of trade-related technology diffusion from the North (denoted by NRD), education, and governance. The NRD of developing countries is defined as a weighted sum of R&D stocks in the North, with weights related to openness with the North's trading partners. Industryspecific NRD is based on the North's industry-specific R&D stocks, North-South trade patterns, and input-output relations in the South. The main findings are that: i) the impact of education and governance on TFP is significantly larger in LAC than in other developing countries, while the opposite holds for NRD; ii) education, governance and NRD have additional effects on TFP in LAC's R&D-intensive industries through their interaction with the other two variables; and iii) since NRD increases with openness to the North and with the North's R&D stocks, both variables raise the South's TFP directly as well as through interaction with education and governance. These interaction effects imply that increasing the level of any of the three policy variables — education, governance or openness — results in virtuous growth cycles. These are smallest for an increase in one of these variables, stronger for an increase in two of them, and strongest for an increase in all three variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few studies have addressed the university-industry technology transfer (UITT) process in developing countries (Póvoa & Rapini, 2010); especially, in Brazilian private universities (Closs & Ferreira, 2010). This paper seeks to identify and analyze elements in processes involving academic patents through a case study investigating researchers and the TTO manager of PUCRS. Many results were similar to those identified by other national and international studies. Among the drivers that stand out are scientific challenges and competition to produce patents. An innovative environment was favored by institutional policies. Access to information structures, laboratories, skilled staff and multidisciplinary research groups favored invention. The existence of the technology park in the university also facilitated the dissemination of tacit knowledge between universities and companies. Reconciling research, teaching, and patenting with each other is an issue that requires special attention, because researchers were essential to successful commercialization of academic technology. We suggest the creation of policies which allow researchers more time for UITT and developing their interpersonal and commercial skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is the development of an accessibility estimation method as a transport policy assessment tool based on the state of the art of the accessibility concept and measurement techniques, and available information directly related to socioeconomic data, transport demand and supply characteristics for specific areas of Bogotá. Study areas and indicators are defined in order to determine relevant relationships between transport and access to opportunities for individuals with specific socioeconomic characteristics and present mobility conditions. In addition, evaluation of restricted travel budgets scenarios defined both by the standard transport theory and individuals is performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Cuban concept of the responsibility of the State in the performing of tasks related to the agricultural mechanization, on the basis of a structure of support for this activity as a part of a social service, did not exist in Venezuela. This paper presents the results of the active participation of Cuban specialists in the introduction of their experience in the creation and set in function of Territorial Stations for Services of Mechanization, being inaugurated in only two years 16 Stations located in 13 states, with definitively or provisional installations. Having Venezuela different modes of property over the land in regard to Cuba, it is necessary that the Stations were organized not as in our country with machinery of the existing Productive Entities, but with the creation of an independent national enterprise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil Channel experimentation, applying the theory of models and the similarity and the dimensions for the evaluation of soil preparation bodies, requires the use of sensors of the forces that arise during the tests related to the rest of the parameters involved in the experimental design previously developed. This paper presents the preparation of the arms of an implement for soil preparation, so that they can be used as dynamometers gauges during tests run of the organs of an attachment for that purpose in agriculture conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to offer considerations about agroenergy production from biomass in integrated agroforestry systems. At present, worldwide, marked by a group of hazards that threaten human existence, there is a challenge mainly in the rural context: how can the coexistence of agroenergy, food security and environmental protection be achieved?, in the presence of climate changes, environmental degradation, food crises and the growing biofuels vs food contradiction, generated by a senseless policy for obtaining first-generation agrofuels from large extensions of food monocrops, which is morally rejectable. Biofuels are also considered an ecological alternative to fossil fuels, because of their reduction capacity in the emission of greenhouse gasses and because they promote the development of rural communities in southern countries; this is enhanced in integrated agroforestry systems, in which biofuels, of first as well as second generation, can be produced, especially with the application of the concept of biorefinery which allows converting biomass into many products, which total added value can be higher than the one generated by fossil fuels. International projects, which promote integrated and sustainable food and energy production in the context of agroforestry integrated systems, at local scale, contribute to this purpose. The authors consider that the execution of projects and experiences about agroenergy has the main objective of achieving energetic sustainability and food security at local scale, in rural areas, taking into account environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few ideas and activities have received as hyperbolic praise as that presented by Hernando de Soto on informality. Nobel laureates in economics, presidents of various countries, important magazines, and multilateral organizations have endorsed this author's impulse towards the official registration of the property or the poor, particularly, their homes, as the key to launching a worldwide economic revolution from below. In this paper we present the institutional backing of those ideas, the analytic substance behind the main arguments involved, the descriptive accuracy of the institutions operating in the Third World, and the results of their application. In this way, we evaluate the relationship between the spread and power of an idea and its formal content, and its effectiveness in changing the world of the poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chile has pioneered the implementation of emission offseting programs pursuing simultaneously economic growth and environmental protection. In this paper, emission trading programs implemented in Santiago of Chile are analyzed and its relevance for developing countries is evaluated. It is argued that emission trading programs can be the best tool to deal with air pollution problems even in cases in which the institutional capacities are not well developed. Moreover, the inclusion of the transport system into the emission trading programs and the possibility of moving towards a system of interpollutant exchange are both nouvelle and relevant elements in the context of air pollution control policies. However, these innovations involve rather more complex elements in the design of emission trading programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of trade with Japan, North America and the EU on technology diffusion and TFP growth in Jordan, Korea and Mexico. The measures of foreign R&D are constructed on the basis of industry-specific R&D in the North, North-South trade patterns, and input-output relations in the South. We show that technology diffusion and productivity gains tend to be regional: Jordan (Korea) (Mexico) benefits mainly from trade with the EU (Japan) (North America). In other words, the dynamic version of the "natural trading partners" hypothesis seems to hold for these countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper advocates that although an absolute notion of poverty should remain an essential ingredient in the evaluation of the standard of living in developing and transition economies, it is time that relative poverty begins to be systematically estimated for those same economies. This prescription is applied to Mexico for the 1992-2004 period, where the Fox administration had officially determined for the first time an absolute poverty line for 2000. As in the Second European Poverty Programme at the end of the 1980s, the relative poverty line is fixed at 50% of mean equivalent expenditures. Absolute and relative poverty behave in opposite ways during the 1992-2000 business cycle, but both decline significantly during the 2000-2004 stagnation period. Relative poverty is above absolute poverty from 1992 to 1994, below it during 1996-1998, and above it again in 2000-2004. In any case, relative poverty in Mexico is well above relative poverty in developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses some considerations about the free software, their opportunities but also its challenges, while sets out the legal framework for this figure since its implementation in Venezuela. It has used a methodology narrative - explanatory, based on the review and bibliographic in conjunction with national legislation on the subject. It was also consult FUNDACITE ZULIA, through the Mission Science. Concluded that free software is an opportunity to develop programs that address particular needs, and there are those who believe it is a particularly useful tool to democratize access to information in developing countries, however, raised the realities of a digital divide between in developing countries and developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper underlines the returning interest to the importance of regional studies after a period of stagnation during the last decades of the XXth century. Moreover, there are the questions related to the new geopolitical condition brought about by the globalization process and the creation of spatial webs and a-geographic links. At present, we have again the regionalization issue as part of our agenda in the land management processes, and thus, it is very alive among politicians, especially in the Less Developed countries. There is trust that the territorial changes should lead to the bettering of the political, economic, and social system of each country. However, this regional interest is not always backed by a deep knowledge of the basic theory of the «conceptual framework» to practice it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meanwhile too much attention is focused in economic voting, a previous question has been hardly addressed: how the economy affects turnout rates. Does economic adversity raise the level of turnout? Or contrary: Do macroeconomic drops demobilize voters? In this paper I analyse the relationship between some macroeconomic variables and levels of turnout in Latina America between 1980 and 2000. I do it through the study of aggregated variables. Results challenge the main findings of the literature for developing countries: hard times are not related with higher turnout, though unemployment seems to have a particular relationship. In addition, the data shows political demobilization as a by product of voters disaffection. Such findings involve critical implications for accountability issues, democratic representation, and the electoral strategies of political parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Labor markets are important, because most people, especially the poor, derive all or the great bulk of their income from the work they do. This paper approaches labor markets through multisector modeling. The first main substantive section presents the essence of multisector modeling, in particular, the role of labor market dualism. Given that labor markets often consist of quite distinct segments, a useful and insightful analytical approach is to start with just two interrelated segments, formal and informal. Accordingly, the next sections present models of wages and employment in the formal economy, the informal economy, and intersectoral linkages respectively. The final substantive section shows the contributions that these models make to understanding and to policy analysis in labor markets. It would not be expected that the same model would fit East Africa and East Asia or South Africa and South Korea. Surely, the "correct" model is context-specific. Blending empirical observation and analytical modeling has yielded great advances. Sound labor market policies require sound labor market models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarises the policy implications of a growing debate about the connections between taxation and the quality of governance in developing countries. Taxation --or the absence of tax-- impacts on the quality of governance through two main channels. The first relates is the degree of dependence of governments on general taxation for their financial resources. Many governments do not need to make much tax effort because they have large non-tax incomes from oil, gas and mineral exports or from foreign aid. State elites are then financially independent of citizen-taxpayers. This changes the political incentives that they face, and the ways in which they seek to obtain, use and retain power. The long term consequences for governance are malign: state elites are less responsive and accountable to citizens; and, depending on the sources of non-tax revenue, may have less incentive to build up the political and organisational capacities of the state. States are likely to be simultaneously arbitrary and weak. All else being equal, the dependence of governments on general taxation has positive effects on the quality of governance. But that relations hip is not automatic. How governments tax also matters. We cannot assume that, because they are fully dependent on taxation for revenues, governments will be capable, accountable, or responsive. They may levy taxes coercively, and thereby damage state-society relations and reinforce poor governance. Public authorities in contemporary poor countries face some incentives to tax coercively. Establishing more consensual taxation practices is an important practical route to improving governance. Aid donors could play a more constructive role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Third millennium begins in a globalized world: 6.3 thousand million people, 850 millions hungry, 1,200 without drinkable water, 2,400 without proper healthcare, 850 millions illiterate, 10 million children die annually. Meanwhile, 10% of the population enjoys 70% of wealth. Social explosions, wars, hurricanes, earthquakes, environmental contamination, floods, global heating, AIDS, proliferate. Rural communities have economic and socially collapsed, unemployment increases for technologies of low labor force, migration to the cities persists. The "Green Revolution", of specialized and industrialized agriculture of developed countries has generated environmental conflicts and has not been any solution. The geophagy and power thirst of countries and political leaders, generate more unbalanced distribution of wealth. In our planet, positive results with agroecological systems of production are plentiful, demonstrating its possibility to solve great number of problems. In Latin America and Cuba, large number of experiences based on knowledge of rural and indigenous traditions, research and commercial production exist, with feasible solutions for this called third world", where the neediest countries are. There are possible roads to reach the desired agricultural development. This paper summarizes some examples of these advances. The future challenge is to integrate agroecosystems components to achieve synergies, consolidating holistic agroecological systems, with biological, productive, economic, energetics and environmental efficiency. It is hopefull to think in an agroecological future together to political will for the economic and social development, can contribute in a high degree to liberate our third world countries of the critical current situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mortality is a key demographic force that requires studies on morbidity and burden of disease in order to outline the overall epidemiologic profile of a nation. The results of this paper show the variations in mortality that have taken place in Colombia during the past hundred years. Thus, the mortality processes could be easily connected to the rest of the demographic set of the country. Some of the findings follow the patterns of the traditional epidemiologic transition model, others differ from that archetype but are common to most developing countries, and some of them are distinctive of Colombia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The exploitation of common pool resources is the only source of income that can be reached in many of developing countries households. The main purpose of this paper is to show the empirical evidence that supports the hypothesis where the excessive use of a particular scarce natural resource due to a demographic growth is unsustainable. This hypothesis is applied to the case of Piangua (Anadara Tuberculosa) at the "Ensenada de Tumaco", Colombia. For this study, two different specifications there were considered: partial equilibrium and general equilibrium. The first model was estimated by OLS methods, whereas the second one simulated population tendencies over 60 years. Finding verified the initial hypothesis with each one of the method used. Finally it was concluded that when the household mean size reaches 4 people, the scarce resource may be depleted in less than 12 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estimating the macroeconomic implications of tax policy can be extremely cumbersome, especially in developing countries, which exhibit complex and frequently reformed tax systems. Nonetheless, the theoretical importance of taxation is well recognized: by distorting economic decisions, tax policy can affect the allocation of resources, and thereby welfare and growth. In this paper, we follow the method outlined in Mendoza, Razin and Sadka (1994) in order to compute aggregate tax rates on factor incomes and consumption for the Colombian economy in the period 1970-1999. Besides from providing an aggregate description of the evolution of tax policy, these average effective tax rates are used to estimate the growth and welfare costs of taxation in a simple, perfect foresight, dynamic general equilibrium model. Results indicate that tax policy has imposed increasing and significant efficiency loses in Colombia, especially during the late nineties. Although growth costs have also increased throughout the whole period, the impact of changing tax policy on growth is quantitatively insignificant for most specifications. Indeed, only in the late nineties, and when economic growth is driven by a learning by doing externality stemming from investment activities, do the growth costs of tax policy become significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]