Knowledge and Technology Transfer Relationship between a Research Center and the Production Sector: CIMAT Case Study

This article presents a study of the adoption of a knowledge and technology transfer model at the Center for Research in Mathematics in Guanajuato state, Mexico, in order to define the model that would produce the best outcomes for establishing a transfer relationship with industry, the government, and academia. The transfer of organizational models and practices is a phenomenon that occurs frequently in dynamic globalized organizational contexts that underpin ongoing quests for greater and faster development, while also adapting and exchanging innovative products and services. This article presents theoretical input from specialized entities and authors focused on knowledge and technology transfers at universities and research centers. The methodological strategy used in these research projects adopts a qualitative approach, with the study of an explanatory case study being the methodological tool, together with document analyses and semi-structured interviews. After the results have been obtained, the mechanisms used by the Center were identified for relating to the production sector, noting that this relationship involves high-level direct transfers. Positive outcomes were found that benefitted the Center and the company studied, underscoring the importance of government research centers having a knowledge and technology transfer model allowing identification of the contextual, technical and structural conditions that shape underlying transfer relationship at this Center, as well as the surrounding regions.     

Convergence in car prices among European countries

This article contributes to the literature on price convergence in Europe by investigating the existence of stochastic and deterministic convergence of car prices in the EU15 countries. We apply recently developed econometric techniques that allow for multiple structural breaks to an up-to-date dataset. We find considerable evidence of both types of convergence in our sample of countries and car models, therefore suggesting a tendency for relative prices to equalize over time. In addition, we find evidence regarding the importance in this convergence process of both legislative changes taking place in the years 1996 and 2002, and the implementation of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).     

The Financial Stability of Notional Account Pensions

A number of European countries are reforming their pension benefit formulas by adopting 'notional' accounts. These accounts are used to determine individual benefits, but pay-as-you-go financing is retained. This paper addresses the belief that by choosing adjustment rules cleverly, notional accounts can provide automatic financial equilibrium in the short run. If this were true, it would be a valuable advantage in terms of insulating the government budget from demographic pressures, while insulating the pension budget from fiscal pressures. It is shown that notional account benefit formulas cannot provide automatic financial equilibrium in the short run. The paper also suggests that if indexing rules are chosen in a particular way, and shocks revert rapidly to a mean, the pension institution may achieve financial stability in the long run. However, long-run stability is unlikely to be valuable because political interference occurs in the short run.     

康普腾斯大学——人民币升值：经济与政治的碰撞

当两股强大的力量在政治和经济交叉的领域出现正面冲突时，这种碰撞便带有巨响。而且令人不安。来看看目前美国和中国就中国货币元的分歧吧。布什政府为了避免参议院保护主义者的立法提案。公开对中国施加压力。要求中国提高人民币对美元的汇率。一些立法者为了回应生产企业和工会组织的担忧。声称廉价的中国出口产品——他们说。由于人民币对美元的汇率过低。令这些产品价格更低——使得中国企业和美国公司竞争时，取得了不公平的优势。这也是美国贸易赤字和经常项目赤字的主要原因。因此。美国在这一问题上公开高调地表达自己的立场。试图强制中国提高汇率。     

Contribution to the study of PPP arrangements in airport development,management and operation

Following the liberalization wave in the airline sector, airports have been gradually taken out of the public sphere and open to the private initiative. This phenomenon is generally referred to as privatization, but not all the cases consist of, in fact, a full divestiture of assets. Although infrastructure management is undertaken by the private sector during a pre-defined period, usually 30 years or more, the property remains public or is transferred to the public domain after that period. This is a form of Public–Private Partnership (PPP) where two different models can be found: institutionalized PPP or a typical contractual regime, such as the concession arrangements. PPP options have been a “hot” topic over the last decade, but few studies can be found in the literature on the PPP projects development in airport systems, for example, as far as risk sharing is concerned. This paper looks at recent developments in airport “privatization”, distinguishing privatizations from PPP arrangements, through a case study approach, and establishing a comparative analysis of different PPP models used for airport management. Some comments are made about the Portuguese model and the announcement of future privatization.     

A less-than-truckload carrier collaboration planning problem under dynamic capacities

This paper addresses the deterministic dynamic single carrier collaboration problem for the small- to medium-sized less-than-truckload (LTL) industry. It is formulated as a binary (0–1) multi-commodity minimum cost flow problem and solved using a branch-and-cut algorithm. Its inherent network structure is exploited to generate the lower bounds to the branch-and-cut algorithm using the network simplex method and by relaxing the integrality constraints. Results from numerical experiments indicate inherent trade-offs at the higher degrees of collaboration between waiting for more affordable collaborative capacity and incurring higher holding costs. They also suggest that collaborating LTL carriers experience increased capacity utilization.     

Spillovers through backward linkages from multinationals: Measurement matters!

We argue that the measures of backward linkages used in recent papers on spillovers from multinational companies are potentially problematic, as they depend on a number of restrictive assumptions, namely that (i) multinationals use domestically produced inputs in the same proportion as imported inputs, (ii) multinationals have the same input sourcing behaviour as domestic firms, irrespective of their country of origin, and (iii) the demand for locally produced inputs by multinationals is proportional to their share of locally produced output. We discuss why these assumptions are likely to be violated in practice, and provide alternative measures that overcome these drawbacks. Our results, using plant level data for Ireland, clearly show that the choice of backward linkage measure and thus, the assumptions behind it, matters greatly in order to draw possible conclusions regarding the existence of foreign direct investment (FDI)-related spillovers. Using the standard measure employed in the literature we fail to find robust evidence for spillovers through backward linkages. However, when we use alternative measures of backward linkages that relax assumptions (i)–(iii), we find robust evidence for positive FDI backward spillover effects.     

Financial development and poverty in developing countries: a causal analysis

This article empirically examines the possible causal links between financial development and poverty in developing countries. To this end, we apply a modified form of traditional Granger causality tests to suit the short times series that are available. We conclude that the evidence supports the hypothesis that in the period of the 1970s–1980s financial development, measured by liquid assets of the financial system as a share of GDP or by money and quasi money as a percentage of GDP, leads to the reduction of moderate poverty. These results do not appear for the period of the 1980s–1990s or when financial development is measured by the ratio of the value of credits granted by financial intermediaries to the private sector to GDP, whereas they seem to be strengthened by using summary measures of financial development. Likewise, our analysis does not show any evidence of Granger causality from poverty to financial development.