Securing Aquaculture‐Related Resources through Social Interaction in the Pampanga River Delta,Philippines: An Ethnogeographic Perspective on the Strengths and Pitfalls of Social Capital

Social relationships play a pivotal role in agricultural systems because they influence the economic behavior of stakeholders, but sociological studies aimed at understanding these links have until now not focused much on aquaculture. Here we examine how social capital among communities of the Pampanga River delta in the Philippines plays out in the conduct of aquatic livestock breeding, harvesting, and trading, and how it either facilitates or restrains the transformation of individual livelihoods. Relying on a mixed method of field surveys, participant observation, and questionnaires, we construct an ethnographic portrayal of how the main categories of stakeholder involved in aquaculture (from livestock producers to traders via landless gleaners) elaborate strategies to access or control aquaculture‐related resources. We show that the bonding and bridging efforts to construct social capital are strongly embedded in the cultural matrix, and that they are limited by environmental constraints (ecosystem carrying capacity, exposure to natural hazards) and shaped by historical legacies. The resulting pattern of social interactions is overall successful at buffering the negative impact of external forcing factors such as environmental hazards and global market crashes, but we also show how the different outcomes of social exchange are nonetheless unevenly distributed across the spectrum of stakeholders.     

Non-response to the recycling promotion technique of blockleader and commitment

The use of the recycling promotion technique which consists of commitment through a blockleader incentive has demonstrated that those individuals who are reluctant to increase their collaboration in response to the technique do not differ substantially from those who respond positively to the promotion, in terms of the processing information style. This similarity is clear, not only from the longitudinal perspective, which considers the evolution of these cognitive and evaluative variables from before the promotion application, but also from a transversal perspective, in other words, how the relationships between these variables are structured in both types of response model. However, the implications for management are based on the differences in the details of the two response patterns and a line of research based on the phenomenon of reluctance is justifiably proposed.     

Knowledge management for sustainability in operations

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of Knowledge Management (KM) as a platform to enable sustainability in firms’ operations and to provide recommendations for managers to integrate sustainable operations into their business strategies. The urgency to create and implement sustainable operations is also argued. The conceptual framework is based on the hypothesis that KM contributes to the achievement of more suitable operations. To test this hypothesis, a model of structural equations was developed with data collected from 345 SMEs. Empirical evidence supported the hypothesis, indicating that KM represents an important alternative to implementing sustainability. The results suggest that managers need to implent KM, as they will enable a better understanding and awareness regarding the global dangerous impacts from unsustainable operations mainly focused on sales and cost reduction. For this reason, this research provides evidence that KM offers an alternative impulse on the quest for more sustainable operations.     

Returns to Schooling in Spain: How Reliable are Instrumental Variable Estimates?

This paper studies the ordinary least–squares (OLS) and instrumental variable (IV) estimates of the returns to schooling for male workers in Spain. OLS estimates are often biased due to the endogeneity of schooling, measurement errors or omitted variables. Proper IV estimates correct this bias. The reliability of family background, natural experiments (based on changes in the education system and season of birth) and the availability of a college in the province is checked using Spanish data. The results suggest that background and college availability are valid instruments and that the IV estimates of the returns to schooling are higher than OLS estimates. These results are in line with the majority of previous results in the literature.     

A Fractional Dickey–Fuller Test for Unit Roots

This paper presents a new test for fractionally integrated (FI) processes. In particular, we propose a testing procedure in the time domain that extends the well–known Dickey–Fuller approach, originally designed for the I(1) versus I(0) case, to the more general setup of FI(d₀) versus FI(d₁), with d₁<d₀. When d₀=1, the proposed test statistics are based on the OLS estimator, or its t–ratio, of the coefficient on Δ^d1y_t−1 in a regression of Δy_t on Δ^d1y_t−1 and, possibly, some lags of Δy_t. When d₁ is not taken to be known a priori, a pre–estimation of d₁ is needed to implement the test. We show that the choice of any T^1/2–consistent estimator of d₁∈[0 ,1) suffices to make the test feasible, while achieving asymptotic normality. Monte–Carlo simulations support the analytical results derived in the paper and show that proposed tests fare very well, both in terms of power and size, when compared with others available in the literature. The paper ends with two empirical applications.     

Work histories and workers’ failure to satisfy pension contribution requirements: A comparison of Mexico and Uruguay

Comparing Mexico and Uruguay, this article examines the work history of workers and the challenges they face to satisfy the minimum contribution period for eligibility to receive a contributory old-age pension. Administrative data on work histories is used to formulate a survival model aimed at estimating hazard rates of entering and transitioning out of a given contribution status. This model is then used to perform a Monte Carlo simulation to forecast contribution histories. Results suggest that the hazard rate is negatively associated with the length of a worker’s spell in his or her current status and warn that, both in Mexico and Uruguay, a significant group of workers will find it difficult to gain entitlement to a contributory pension in old age. The manner in which each of these national systems has addressed the challenges associated with low contribution densities may explain the two countries’ very different coverage results.     

Ethnic solidarity and the vote: Mapuche candidates and voters in Chile

In this article, we evaluate ethnic solidarity and the vote in Chile with reference to the Mapuche, the largest and most traditional ethnic group in the country. We use electoral data from the mayoral elections of 2012, drawn from all the municipalities of the Araucanía, the region with the largest percentage of Mapuche population. Using a multi-level linear regression model and controlling for poverty and rurality, we found that Mapuche candidates, regardless of their political orientation, were indeed more successful than non-Mapuche candidates in areas with the greatest concentration of Mapuche voters. Additionally, we used results from an unpublished opinion survey conducted in three municipalities of the Araucanía. We concluded that after controlling for other variables ethnic solidarity prevails as a robust predictor of electoral behaviour, albeit more strongly in rural areas than urban ones. The Chilean case, moreover, is useful for studying the strategies used by the traditional parties that promote this solidarity – that is, by presenting candidates with Mapuche surnames in their lists.