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In this paper we revisit the results that appeared originally in Coloma (2017) about the possible existence of negative correlation between linguistic measures, using a new database of 80 languages for which we have the same text (which is the fable known as "The North Wind and the Sun"). Most conclusions of the original paper become reinforced, especially the ones related to the existence of language complexity trade-offs. This is particularly clear when we look at partial correlation coefficients between three linguistic ratios (phonemes per syllable, syllables per word, and words per clause), especially when we use simultaneous-equation regression methods and instrumental variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the phonology of Spanish as it is spoken in Argentina. After considering the inventory of phonemes (both consonants and vowels) and their main allophones and phonological rules (including phoneme neutralizations and the use of stress as a distinctive element), there is a description of the most important variations of pronunciation in the different geographic regions of the country. The paper also includes a section about syllable structure, which deals with the admissible combinations of the different phonemes, and with some issues concerning resyllabification (when words are pronounced in the context of connected speech). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the basic characteristics of antitrust law in Argentina, and the way in which it has been enforced in several important cases. We begin with a section that introduces the evolution of the law, followed by another section about the basic economic and legal principles underlying that law. The rest of the paper describes the enforcement of the Argentine competition statutes, in a number of cases that involve collusive practices, exclusionary practices, vertical restraints, abuses of dominance, and mergers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we revisit the results that originally appeared in Coloma (2015) and Coloma (2017), using a newly-assembled database of 50 languages for which we have the same text (which is the fable known as "The North Wind and the Sun"). Most conclusions of the original papers remain the same, especially the ones that signal the existence of language complexity trade-offs. This is particularly clear when we look at partial correlation coefficients between three linguistic ratios (phonemes per syllable, syllables per word, and words per clause), when we use simultaneous-equation regression methods, and when we estimate different versions of Menzerath law that relate phonemes per word and words per clause. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the behavior of the Argentine hamburger market during the period 2013-2018, to see if an important merger that occurred by the end of 2015 (the BRF/MRP merger) had any discernable market-power or efficiency effects. To do this, we run an econometric demand-and-supply model, and we find that there is an appreciable cost reduction that more than counterbalances the price increases induced by the merger. This implies that total consumers' surplus may have grown as a consequence of the merger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Este trabajo aplica una metodología de estimación de demanda para mercados con productos diferenciados basada en un modelo logit anidado, en el cual los diferentes productos pertenecen a distintos "nidos", cuyas características pueden ser más o menos similares. En base a los parámetros estimados para la demanda en cuestión, resulta posible simular los efectos competitivos de cualquier operación de concentración económica que involucre a dos o más productos (que pertenezcan al mismo o a distintos nidos) y obtener una predicción acerca de los posibles cambios en los precios y en las cantidades comerciadas de dichos productos a consecuencia de la concentración. El método de estimación y simulación expuesto es aplicado en este trabajo para evaluar una operación de concentración que tuvo lugar recientemente en el mercado argentino de jugos listos para beber (RTD). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Este trabajo sintetiza una serie de conceptos que han sido propuestos por la literatura lingüística para medir la complejidad de los distintos aspectos de los idiomas naturales (fonología, morfología, sintaxis, semántica). Se adentra también en el estudio de las relaciones que pueden establecerse entre dichas medidas de complejidad, y analiza la posible existencia de "efectos de compensación" entre tales medidas (es decir, situaciones en las cuales una característica más compleja de un idioma se ve contrarrestada por otra más simple). Para ello se van introduciendo distintos criterios estadísticos y empíricos, que van desde las correlaciones simples hasta correlaciones parciales, coeficientes de regresión y parámetros surgidos de sistemas de ecuaciones. La mayoría de los conceptos se ilustran apelando a dos bases de datos interlingüísticas que ya han sido utilizadas por el autor en trabajos anteriores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following an idea proposed by Deterding (2006) for the English version of "The North Wind and the Sun", this paper compares the standard Spanish version of that fable with an alternative text which corresponds to another fable, "The Boy who Cried Wolf". The comparison is based on the phonetic features that appear in both texts, on their phonetic balance, and on the goodness of fit that they display when we compute their phoneme frequencies (and compare those frequencies with an average distribution for Spanish written texts). The conclusion is that "The Boy who Cried Wolf" seems to perform better than "The North Wind and the Sun" in all those dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we develop a statistical model of language complexity trade-offs using four typological measures (related to phonology, morphology, syntax and lexicon). The data come from the 100-language sample that appears in the World Atlas of Language Structures (WALS), and the trade-offs are calculated using different types of correlation coefficients. All those coefficients are statistically insignificant when they are computed using a standard (product-moment) methodology, but they become significant when we use simultaneous-equation regression methods, especially the ones based on seemingly unrelated regressions (SUR) and three-stage least squares (3SLS). These results are related to ideas suggested in the theoretical literature, especially in the one about language as a complex adaptive system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

En este trabajo utilizamos datos del Atlas Mundial de Estructuras Lingüísticas para una muestra de 100 idiomas y 60 características. Los valores de tales características son interpretados como variables binarias de complejidad, que luego se agrupan en cinco categorías (fonología, morfología, sintaxis, sistema verbal y vocabulario) para las cuales se calculan índices de complejidad. Tanto las variables como los índices son sometidos a un análisis de correlación estadística, buscando detectar posibles efectos de compensación. Para ello utilizamos coeficientes de correlación estándar y de correlación parcial, y controlamos por otros factores lingüísticos y extralingüísticos (ubicación geográfica, filiación, tamaño de la población). Detectamos así varios efectos de compensación importantes, que suelen quedar ocultos por otros elementos. Sus señales más evidentes son que las correlaciones entre variables de complejidad se incrementan cuando controlamos por otros factores, y que cualquier idioma es más complejo que cualquier otro de los incluidos en la muestra, al menos para una característica lingüística. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Este trabajo intenta comparar dos formulaciones alternativas de la ley de Menzerath para la relación entre dos indicadores lingüísticos (palabras por enunciado y fonemas por palabra) en una muestra de 50 idiomas. Las formulaciones alternativas son la función potencial (que es la especificación más tradicional de la ley de Menzerath), y una forma recientemente propuesta de tipo hiperbólico. Las estimaciones han sido modificadas para controlar por factores filogenéticos y geográficos, y por la presencia de posible endogeneidad entre las variables. Nada de eso, sin embargo, altera significativamente los resultados básicos, que muestran una leve preferencia por la función potencial por sobre la función hiperbólica. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Este trabajo propone un procedimiento para evaluar la posible existencia de correlación negativa entre complejidad fonológica, morfológica y sintáctica de diferentes idiomas. El procedimiento se basa en el uso de coeficientes de correlación parcial, variables instrumentales y sistemas de ecuaciones simultáneas, y se lleva a cabo sobre datos tomados de la fábula "El viento norte y el sol", traducida a 40 idiomas distintos. La complejidad fonológica se mide por el número de fonemas por sílaba, la complejidad morfológica por el número de sílabas por palabra, y la complejidad sintáctica por el número de palabras por frase. Luego de controlar por fenómenos relacionados con factores geográficos y endogeneidad estadística, se llega a la conclusión de que la complejidad fonológica está negativamente correlacionada con la complejidad morfológica, y que esta, a su vez, está negativamente correlacionada con la complejidad sintáctica. Estos resultados pueden relacionarse con la llamada "ley de Menzerath". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Este trabajo propone un método para analizar bases de datos lingüísticas utilizando regresiones con sistemas de ecuaciones simultáneas, y aplica dicho método a una base de datos de 100 idiomas y cuatro variables fonológicas (número de consonantes, número de vocales, distinción por acento y distinción por tono). El método resulta adecuado para replicar los coeficientes de correlación más significativos de la base de datos, y para resolver una contradicción acerca del signo de algunos de esos coeficientes. Con la ayuda de este método también encontramos cierta evidencia de un "fenómeno compensatorio" entre variables fonológicas, y también terminamos proponiendo dos modelos estadísticos generales de estructura fonológica de las lenguas. Según el primero de ellos, las consonantes, las vocales y el tono están negativamente correlacionados con la existencia de distinciones por acento. De acuerdo con el segundo modelo, el tono está negativamente correlacionado con el acento, que a su vez está negativamente correlacionado con el número de consonantes, que a su vez está negativamente correlacionado con el número de vocales, que a su vez está negativamente correlacionado con la existencia de distinción entre tonos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a model of the penalty-kick game between a soccer goalkeeper and a kicker, in which there is uncertainty about the kicker's type (and there are two possible types of kicker). To find a solution for this game we use the concept of Bayesian equilibrium, and we find that, typically, one of the kicker's types will play a mixed strategy while the other type will choose a pure strategy (or, sometimes, a "restricted mixed strategy"). The model has a simpler version in which the players can only choose between two strategies (right and left), and a more complex version in which they can also choose a third strategy (the center of the goal). Comparing the incomplete-information Bayesian equilibria with the corresponding complete-information Nash equilibria, we find that in all cases the expected scoring probability increases (so that, on average, the goalkeeper is worse off under incomplete information). The three-strategy model is also useful to explain why it could be optimal for a goalkeeper never to choose the center of the goal (although at the same time there were some kickers who always chose to shoot to the center). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a simplified prospective method to estimate expected price increases and reductions, associated with antitrust cases of collusion and abuse of dominance, in which it is not possible to compare real data under alternative competitive and anticompetitive situations. The calculated price increases and reductions are useful to estimate damages (and, eventually, fines and compensations) related to the cases under analysis. The method is illustrated with data from the Argentine market of a certain petrochemical input. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a least-square regression method that relates per-capita income to four phonetic characteristics (r-dropping, and the so-called“father-bother”, “cotcaught” and “pin-pen” mergers), to study the socio- economic significance of those characteristics in North American English. As a result we find a positive and statistically significant relationship between per-capita income and r-dropping, and between per-capita income and the presence of the “cot-caught” merger, and a negative and statistically significant relationship between per-capita income and the “pin-pen” merger. No statistically significant relationship is found, however, between per-capita income and the presence of a “father-bother” merger or split. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which examines the economic relevance of phonetic characteristics including seseo, yeismo, and rehilamiento among Spanish regional varieties through statistical regression analysis.

This paper tries to quantify economically the importance of five phonetic characteristics (seseo, yeismo, /s/-aspiration, rehilamiento, and /x/-aspiration) whose presence or absence allows to distinguish among ten regional varieties of Spanish. To do that we perform an analysis of the extension of those characteristics and we estimate which of them correspond to the "average speaker" of Spanish, which end up being identical to the ones of the so-called "Mexican-Central American Spanish". Through estimations of per capita income, however, we find that the characteristic associated with a higher income level is the absence of seseo, typical of the Northern Peninsular Spanish. Finally, through a statistical regression analysis, we find that such characteristic is associated with an average annual per capita income which is US$ 20,000 higher than the one of Spanish speakers that possess seseo. We also find that the only additional characteristic that is statistically significant as a signal of a higher income is the absence of /x/-aspiration, which is associated with an average annual per capita income that is US$ 3,100 higher than the one of speakers that possess that characteristic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is about a model of Bertrand competition in a homogeneous-good market with free entry of identical firms and variable returns to scale. If the optimum number of active firms in the market is two or more, Bertrand equilibrium always exists for that optimum number, and it does not exist if the number of active firms is less than the optimum. The model, however, does not rule out the existence of Bertrand equilibria with more active firms than the optimum number. Finally, when the optimum number of active firms in the market is one, Bertrand equilibrium does not exist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a methodology for estimating demand systems, useful to calculate critical elasticities to be used in market delineation, and to simulate the unilateral effects of horizontal mergers. The whole method is based on the use of estimated long-run price elasticities, and it is essentially the same when defining the relevant markets and when simulating the mergers. The paper also includes an empirical illustration of the method, which relies on data from the Argentine beer and biscuit markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we show that a homogeneous-product market with multiple Bertrand equilibria becomes a market with a single Bertrand equilibrium when we introduce a small degree of product differentiation. When differentiation tends to zero, that Bertrand equilibrium converges to the unique price-taking equilibrium of the homogeneous-product market, which is in turn one of the multiple Bertrand equilibria for that market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a game-theoretic model of a contract between a creditor and a debtor where equilibrium depends on the damage rule chosen for breach-of-contract situations, the use of impossibility-of-performance excuses and the level of legal contract enforceability. We find that, under perfect legal enforceability, the different alternative damage rules (based on expectation or reliance damages, with or without performance excuses) are able to induce an efficient performance by the contracting parties. But we also find that, if legal enforceability is imperfect, then a rule based on expectation damages with an excuse for impossibility of performance is able to work more efficiently than the other alternative damage rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the basic characteristics of the Argentine competition law and the way in which it has been enforced in several important antitrust cases. We begin with a section that introduces the evolution of the law, followed by another section about the basic economic and legal principles underlying that law. The rest of the article describes the enforcement of the law, in a number of cases that involve collusive practices, exclusionary practices, vertical restraints, abuses of dominant position, and mergers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]