Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

Econophysics and thermodynamics have not tackled the measurement of innovation performance as to yet. This paper introduces a thermodynamic approach based on heat pump models, and which is applied to assess the performance of innovation systems. This thermodynamic model can be used to assess innovation performance in such levels as the national, regional, sectoral as well as firm related contexts. This model is applied in the case of the United States of Mexico. In particular we focus on the regional dimension, by measuring innovation performance of Mexican regions between 2010 and 2013. Our results reveal that the conclusions achieved with the application of this approach to measuring innovation performance are robust and stable over time.

Exports are part of the foundation of the economy’s dynamics in Brazil. The objective is to study the behaviour of aggregate Brazilian exports from 2000-2016 for the countries that belong to economic blocks: MERCOSUL, NAFTA and EU. Four econometric models were built (OLS/random effects), in order to estimate the behaviour of Brazilian exports. The economy’s dimension and the existence of a maritime border potentiate Brazilian exports but the common language has no influence on exports.. A non-expected conclusion is the higher attractiveness of EU and NAFTA blocks compared to the MERCOSUL. Distance, post-2008 crisis and isolation of small insular economies dissuade exports.

In the last decades and in the scope of the economic sciences, new interdisciplinary forms have been developed, of which Econophysics stands out. It uses theoretical bases of physics and of statistical physics for the explanation of economic phenomena, particularly financial phenomena. This work shows, through statistical physics, possible forms of chart analysis of a stock exchange index, through the practical application of Elliott’s Wave Theory to the movement of the Portuguese stock index, the PSI20. With the empirical application made to the PSI20, we emphasize the degree of reliability that the Elliott method has demonstrated when applied to large indexes, generating projection scenarios based on patterns of repetitive cyclic behaviour. It is possible, and for several moments, to identify the Elliott wave pattern, namely in the crisis period.

This paper presents, using for the first time the complete detailed data of a tax administration, an analysis of the distribution of net wealth in Spain, incorporating the data of the assets and liabilities of all natural persons including the wealth derived from the possession of shares in listed and unlisted companies, with updated values. The adjustment of income and wealth data to the Pareto distribution and its alternatives is verified. Limitations of the models most frequently used in Econofisica are studied. It is shown how the distribution of wealth can be adjusted according to the Law of Benford anomalous numbers to overcome the traditional distinction between adjusted areas with a lognormal curve and a potential curve. The regularities in the distribution of the different components of wealth (real estate, financial assets, etc.) are analysed and it is explained their different behavior. It is proposed a method to deconstruct the Pareto Law, that would allow realistic modeling in the field of Econophysics.

Following the approach proposed by Gabaix (2011), this paper aims to assess the existence of granularity in the fluctuations of the economic cycle of the following Spanish regions: the Community of Madrid, Catalonia, the Basque Country and the Valencian Community. Granular enterprises are those that represent a marginal proportion of the total number of enterprises in an economy, but nevertheless have a significant impact on fluctuations in the GDP growth rate. We find that the Basque Country and the Valencian Community are granular economies. The Community of Madrid and Catalonia, however, do not show granular behaviour. Therefore, our work provides evidence of granular behaviour at the regional level.

The field of econophysics is still very young and is in constant evolution. One of the great innovations in finance coming from econophysics is the fractal market hypothesis, which contradicts the traditional efficient market hypothesis. From fractal market hypothesis new studies/models have emerged. The aim of this work is to review the bibliography on some of these new models, specifically those based on the Hurst exponent, explaining how they work, outline different forms of calculation and, finally, highlighting some of the empirical applications they have within the study of the financial market.

The definition of public transport service should have to account the mobility necessity and try to adapt it to the transport demand. The transport supply cannot offer a direct service. In this work, we analysed the bus interchange from the users’ subjective perceptions. For doing that, we designed a Stated Preference Experiment that present a choice between a current bus service and hypothetical direct bus service. The willingness to pay was obtained with the estimation results and the willingness to pay for not transfer defined by type of transfer, being lower the willingness to pay for not urban transfer.

The return of institutions to the main research agenda has highlighted the importance of rules in economic analysis. The New Institutional Economics has allowed a better understanding of the case studies that concern different areas of knowledge, also the one concerning the management of natural resources. In this article, the institutional analysis focuses on the maritime domain, where two large civil liability regimes for pollution coexist (OPA 90-IMO), each in a different geographical area (United States - Europe). Therefore, a comparative analysis is made between the two large regimes of civil responsibility assignment applying them to the Prestige catastrophe. In this way, the allocation and distribution of responsibilities in the investigation and subsequent judicial process of the Prestige is compared with an alternative scenario in which the applicable compensation instruments are governed by the provisions of the Oil Polution Act of 1990 (OPA 90), in order to establish a rigorous analysis on the effects that the different norms can have in the same scenario. In the comparative established in the case of the Prestige, where the responsibilities were solved very slowly in a judicial process with high transaction costs, the application of rules governed by the OPA 90 would not count with such a high degree of imperfection. This is so, since by applying the preponderance of the evidence existing in OPA 90 there would be no mitigation for the presumed culprits. On the other hand, the agents involved in the sinking would not be limited only to the owner, but also that operators or shipowners would be responsible as well. In addition, the amount of compensation would increase when counting in the damage count the personal damages, the taxes without perceiving and the ecological damage caused in a broad sense, damages not computable in the IMO.

Small-scale fisheries have specific dynamics in the relationships between resource systems, governance systems and actors. In Galicia, this reality has a central point in the organization of fishermen and shell fishermen in the so-called Cofradías, associative entities with administrative recognition and participation in the fishery resources management. These organisations have a public-private nature, where members share and benefit from the use and exploitation of the marine resources.In this scenario, the paper studies the governance interactions in the small-scale fisheries of Galicia, based on the cofradías perceptions as governance actors. Specifically, the case study analyses the changes in the management of the activities developed by the cofradías, such as production and commercialization, and the influence of the Public Administration and other social entities in the organization. To advance these objectives, the institutional analysis frameworks are applied, specifically the socio-ecological system of E. Ostrom and the governability assessment framework of Jentoft and Chuenpagdee, which allow to study concrete realities without being limited to a specific structure.

The present study analyzes how efforts in innovation contribute to the market value (Tobin’s Q) of firms that generate clean technologies. In an alternative perspective, the results point out that R&D investments contribute in a heterogeneous way in value, where firms located in the higher or nearer technological frontier show a greater return on the use of investments. In this case, an absorptive capacity effect demonstrates that market value is precisely more sensitive to R&D investments for “frontier’s firms”. This suggests that the absorptive capacity effect is sensitive to proximity fluctuations with the frontier.