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Road construction in or near natural areas has been identified as a major cause of habitat loss and fragmentation worldwide. In the department of Valle del Cauca, Colombia, two road corridors in different stages of development run from the city of Cali to the Buenaventura seaport. A research project was developed in two phases to evaluate and quantify the impacts these roads have on the wild fauna populations in the area: corridor modeling and field validation. Interactions between wildlife populations and these road corridors were evaluated and quantified by modelling the corridors with information from geographic information systems (GIS) supported by field data on drainage structures, road traffic jams and trapping records. Four priority crossing areas were identified for nine mammal species. After evaluating 738 road structures, 19 species were recorded using these road structures and 38 species were run over on both roads. These roads differ in structures and layouts, however, their problems are shared, such as the lack of pre-existing road structures suitable for the passage of fauna, their use as a refuge and the poorly structured development on their periphery are the causes of the barrier effect that limits connectivity and gene flow of animals in this area., La construcción de carreteras al interior o en proximidad de áreas naturales ha sido identificada como una de las principales causas de perdida y fragmentación del hábitat en todo el mundo. En el departamento del Valle del Cauca, Colombia, dos corredores viales, en distintas etapas de desarrollo, comunican a la ciudad de Cali con el puerto de Buenaventura. Para evaluar y cuantificar los impactos que tienen estas carreteras en las poblaciones silvestres de fauna de la zona se desarrolló un proyecto de investigación en dos fases: modelación de corredores y validación en campo. Las interacciones entre las poblaciones de fauna silvestre y estos corredores viales fueron evaluadas y cuantificadas a partir del modelamiento de corredores con información proveniente de los sistemas de información geográfica (SIG) respaldados por datos tomados en campo sobre estructuras de drenaje, atropellamientos y registros de fototrampeo. Se identificaron cuatro zonas prioritarias de cruce para nueve especies de mamíferos. Tras evaluar 738 estructuras viales, se registraron 19 especies utilizando estas estructuras y 38 especies fueron atropelladas en ambas carreteras. Dichas vías difieren en estructuras y trazados, sin embargo, comparten sus problemáticas como la falta de estructuras viales preexistentes adecuadas para el paso de fauna, su uso como refugio y el desarrollo poco estructurado en su periferia son las causas del efecto de barrera que limita la conectividad y flujo génico de animales en esta zona.

The nature of human relationships (HR) within supply chains has received superficial attention in the drive for continuous improvement (CI). Persistent pressures affecting global engineering companies have limited the potential to address the HR element. Simply transferring mature Western concepts and analytical tools does not capture the dynamics of the global production workforce. This paper proposes a new theoretical perspective, encompassing an evaluative tool, thus moving beyond formulaic implementations of initiatives that erroneously assume maturity of production practices and outcomes. The study helps advance organizations by adding contextualization to the human-centric perspectives of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and discretionary effort (DE). Case-based data from engineering production workers in Thailand was factor-analyzed to test the research hypotheses. This research reports on an alternative operationalization of these core ideas whilst significantly extending the empirical base through validating the propositions. Further, it contributes and responds to extant literature identifying HR as the missing link in enacting CI programs in practice. The paper addresses this gap, and the data collected support the theory that the proposed HR concepts positively impact organizational CI interventions. Findings have important implications for such interventions encompassing practical and theoretical relevance for global engineering managers with a local engineering production workforce.

Under-nutrition and micronutrient deficiency continue to be two of the major health burdens in less developed economies. In this study, we explore the link between urban agriculture, dietary diversity and child health, using weight-for-age and height-for-age Z-scores. The study makes use of two rounds of observational data for urban Tanzania and employs an instrumental variables estimation approach. We show that practising urban agriculture leads to the consumption of a greater variety of food items; the health status of urban children living in households practising urban agriculture significantly improves in the short-, and more importantly, in the long-term.

Can the feminization of public services improve service quality and lower corruption? The underlying logic of such efforts is the belief that women have higher ethical standards than men. To answer this question, we examine the link between gender and policing norms using data from twelve vignette cases assessed by 600 Ugandan police officers. Our empirical strategy is based on a survey experiment that randomly varies the gender of police officers and victims/perpetrators presented in twelve hypothetical cases. Pooling the twelve cases we obtain a sample of 7,200 observations that allows us to control for individual officer characteristics, case and district fixed effects. We find that the gender of the police officer and the gender of the victim depicted in the cases are not related to the judgment of police malpractice, nor to suggested disciplinary measures. We also assess the association between respondent gender and policing norms. Male respondents tend to be stricter when assessing the hypothetical cases. However, male officers are slightly more lenient when there is a male rogue officer depicted in the vignette cases. The findings point to and complement descriptive evidence on power structures within the police, where men in leading positions are aware of the official rules and know whom to turn to for reports of inappropriate behavior. But gender perceptions do not differ between male and female police officers. Overall, the results indicate that simply feminizing the police force is unlikely to enhance service quality.

This paper assesses the empirical representativeness of micro-data by comparing the Malawi 2008 census to two representative household surveys – ‘the Living Standard Measurement Survey’ and the ‘Demographic and Health Survey’ – both implemented in Malawi in 2010. The comparison of descriptive statistics – demographics, asset ownership, and living conditions – shows considerable similarities despite statistically identifiable differences due to the large samples. Differences mainly occur when wording, scope, and pre-defined answer categories diverge across surveys. Multivariate analyses are considerably less representative due to loss of observations with composite indicators yielding higher comparability as individual ones. Household-level fixed-effect specifications produce more similar results, yet are not suited for policy conclusions. Comparability of micro-data should not be assumed but checked on a case-by-case basis. Still, micro-data constitute reliable grounds for factually informed conclusions if design and context are appropriately considered.

In this study we consider the impact of drought and increasing prices shocks on child weight-for-age. The analysis is conducted with a multi-shock approach to account for concomitance of adverse events from the natural, biological, economic and health sphere. We use a unique dataset of children reported leaving in poor rural households in eight regions of Senegal in 2009 and 2011. The analysis relies on pooled-cross sections and accounts for structural changes occurring between survey periods. Results of drought (increasing prices) difference-in-difference econometric analyses show deterioration in child weight-for-age reaching 55% (20%) of the weight-for-age standard deviation in 2011. However, triple difference estimations accounting for drought and increasing prices concomitance show that weight-for-age for children experiencing both shocks is left unaffected. We argue that this last result is driven by the increase in rural household income and food security in the framework of the agricultural household model. http://www.inesad.edu.bo/bcde2014/papers/BCDE2014-91.pdf

As more and more countries are moving towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC), it is important to understand the macro level or aggregate impacts of such a policy. We use synthetic control methods to study the impact of UHC, introduced in Thailand in 2001, on various macroeconomic and health outcomes. Thailand is compared to a weighted average of control countries in terms of aggregate health financing indicators, aggregate health outcomes and economic performance, over the period 1995 to 2012. Our results suggest that UHC helps alleviate the financial consequences of illnesses. The estimated treatment effect of UHC on out-of-pocket payments as a percentage of overall health expenditures is negative 13 percentage points and its effect on annual government per capita health spending is US$ 79. We detect a smaller effect of US$ 60.8 on total health spending per capita which appears with a lag. We document positive health effects as captured by reductions in infant and child mortality. We do not find any effect on GDP and the share of the government budget devoted to health. Overall, our results complement micro evidence based on within country variation. The counterfactual design implemented here may be used to inform other countries on the macro level repercussions of UHC.

Can the feminization of public services improve quality and lower corruption? The underlying logic of such efforts is the belief that women have higher ethical standards than men. To answer this question, we? examine the links between gender and policing practice using data from twelve vignette cases assessed by 600 Ugandan police officers. Our empirical strategy is based on a randomized framing experiment, which is designed to isolate the effect of gender from institutional factors and social norms. We find that the gender of the police officer depicted in the cases and victim gender are not related to the judgment of police malpractice, nor to suggested disciplinary measures. However, respondent gender matters for the reporting of misconduct and the perception of the official institutional policy of the police. Men are stricter when assessing cases along these dimensions. The results indicate that simply feminizing the police force is unlikely to enhance service quality.

We study the impact of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) on various macroeconomic outcomes in Thailand using synthetic control methods. Thailand is compared to a weighted average of control countries in terms of aggregate health and economic performance over the period 1995 to 2012. Our results suggest that financial protection in Thailand has improved relative to its synthetic counterfactual. While out-of-pocket payments as a percentage of overall health expenditures decreased by 16.9 percentage points, annual government per capita health spending increased by $78. However, we detect no impact on total health spending per capita nor the share of the government budget allocated to health. We find positive health impacts as captured by reductions in infant and child mortality. The introduction of UHC has had no discernible impact on GDP per capita. Our results complement micro evidence based on within country variation. The counterfactual design implemented here may be used to inform other countries on the causal repercussions and benefits of UHC at the macroeconomic level.

La experiencia profesional que sustento, en el presente trabajo de suficiencia profesional, es sobre la puesta en práctica de los conceptos y criterios que aprendí en el curso de Econometría II, la cual desarrollé al desempeñar el cargo de analista de pricing en el área de finanzas de OPP Film Perú S.A. La teoría está enfocada en los modelos de series de tiempo tomando en cuenta el método Holt-Winters y el modelo de abandono (Customer Churn), a través de regresión logística. En el primer modelo, se desarrolla el análisis con base en la optimización de proyección de ventas, considerando el nivel, tendencia y estacionalidad de la serie; y en el segundo, con base en la predicción de abandono de clientes mediante los comportamientos y atributos precisos del cliente que señalan el riesgo y el momento del abandono de este. La importancia de ambos análisis radica en generar herramientas de información con datos cuantitativos y cualitativos que permitan visualizar oportunidades para el beneficio de la empresa.

La experiencia profesional que sustento, en el presente trabajo de suficiencia profesional, es sobre la puesta en práctica de los conceptos y criterios que aprendí en el curso de Econometría II, la cual desarrollé al desempeñar el cargo de analista de pricing en el área de finanzas de OPP Film Perú S.A. La teoría está enfocada en los modelos de series de tiempo tomando en cuenta el método Holt-Winters y el modelo de abandono (Customer Churn), a través de regresión logística. En el primer modelo, se desarrolla el análisis con base en la optimización de proyección de ventas, considerando el nivel, tendencia y estacionalidad de la serie; y en el segundo, con base en la predicción de abandono de clientes mediante los comportamientos y atributos precisos del cliente que señalan el riesgo y el momento del abandono de este. La importancia de ambos análisis radica en generar herramientas de información con datos cuantitativos y cualitativos que permitan visualizar oportunidades para el beneficio de la empresa.