Transport consumption inequalities and redistributive effects of taxes: A repeated cross-sectional evaluation on French household data

This paper evaluates transport consumption inequalities among French households, investigates their temporal dynamics, and estimates the redistributive effects of taxes on different commodity categories. A decomposition by expenditure component of the Gini coefficient is applied, using household-level data from five expenditure surveys conducted between the end of the 1970’s and the early 2000’s. The results highlight the effect of car social diffusion. Indeed, the relative contribution to global inequality of car use items, especially fuels, decreased regularly over time, reflecting the more and more widespread use of the car. Moreover, fuel taxes become regressive (i.e. they affect the poor more than the rich), while the progressive character of taxes on the remaining car use commodities weakens over time. Therefore, the design of policy measures to reduce car use and thus attenuate its nuisances for the environment should also account for the imperative of equity. The case of local public transport underlines the necessity of accounting for disparities in terms of availability of alternatives to the car. Taxes on these services appear to be neutral (i.e. neither progressive nor regressive) at national level, but this result conceals a diversity of local conditions in terms of supply of these transport means according to the degree of urbanization and population density. Effectively, these taxes prove to be regressive when focusing on the Greater Paris region, a large urban area very well endowed with public transport infrastructure. Hence, a distinction by degree of urbanization is to be considered.Inequality, transport consumption, household expenditure surveys, Gini index, decomposition by component, redistributive effects of taxes

Race and the evaluation of signal callers in the national football league

Until recently, the position of quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) was not an option for black athletes. Today many teams employ black quarterbacks, a development that might suggest race is no longer relevant when it comes to the evaluation of signal callers in the NFL. To examine this contention, this paper explores the relationship between player salary, performance, and race at the quarterback position over the period 1995 to 2006. We find that blacks and whites play this position differently. Specifically, black quarterbacks are more likely to run with the football. This skill, though, is not compensated in the market. Consequently, there is evidence that blacks face an uncompensated entry barrier in this particular occupation

Race and the evaluation of signal callers in the national football league

Until recently, the position of quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) was not an option for black athletes. Today many teams employ black quarterbacks, a development that might suggest race is no longer relevant when it comes to the evaluation of signal callers in the NFL. To examine this contention, this paper explores the relationship between player salary, performance, and race at the quarterback position over the period 1995 to 2006. We find that blacks and whites play this position differently. Specifically, black quarterbacks are more likely to run with the football. This skill, though, is not compensated in the market. Consequently, there is evidence that blacks face an uncompensated entry barrier in this particular occupation.

Does it pay to specialize? The story from the Gridiron

In the field of personnel economics, there are few opportunities to convincingly test for salary returns to specialization as against versatility or multi-tasking. This paper performs such a test by modeling returns to performance measures associated with two different skills practiced by running backs in the National Football League. We find pronounced gains to specialization with substantial predicted differences in returns for alternative skills. Moreover, these differences vary across the salary distribution. In the top half of the salary distribution, especially, model simulations show that specialists in either particular skill generate higher marginal returns than versatile players.

Multi-­‐dimensional Protein Identification Technology

Before the rise of the Multidimentional Protein Identification Technology (MudPIT), protein and peptide mixtures were resolved using traditional proteomic technologies like the gel-­‐ based 2D chromatography that separates proteins by isoelectric point and molecular weight. This technique was tedious and limited, since the characterization of single proteins required isolation of protein gel spots, their subsequent proteolyzation and analysis using Matrix-­‐ assisted laser desorption/ionization-­‐time of flight (MALDI-­‐TOF) mass spectrometry

Mixing the princes and the paupers: Pay and performance in the National Basketball Association

We investigate how team and individual performances of players in the National Basketball Association respond to variations in intra-team pay inequality. By breaking down team dispersion into conditional and expected components, we find that expected pay dispersion has a positive effect on team and individual performance. We find that team and individual performances are essentially orthogonal to conditional pay inequality, counter to the hypotheses of fairness and cohesion proposed in the literature both for sports and general occupations. A change in collective bargaining regime in 1996 had little impact on either team or player productivity.

Generación y desambiguación de sentidos en el ámbito nominal: aportes al Léxico Generativo

La relación entre la perspectiva de la generación de los significados léxicos, por un lado, y la de la interpretación semántica, por otro, ha sido poco explorada en los modelos contemporáneos sobre la polisemia. En el marco del Léxico Generativo (Pustejovsky 1995, 2006, 2011), se considera que existen elementos léxico-gramaticales que operan distintos mecanismos sobre la estructura semántica del ítem léxico para generar uno de sus posibles sentidos en contexto. Se utiliza aquí el término indicador de generación de sentido (IGS) para hacer referencia a estos elementos que operan los mecanismos generativos, pero que a la vez constituyen indicios textuales para la interpretación del léxico en contexto. El trabajo se propone identificar y analizar tipos de IGS y caracterizar su interacción, a partir del estudio del funcionamiento en un corpus textual de nombres que presentan polisemia regular entre un sentido locativo y un sentido no locativo. Las hipótesis que se comprueban son las siguientes: (i) las piezas que operan los mecanismos para la generación de significados son de dos tipos: específicos de determinados sentidos, por un lado, y por otro, comunes a toda la clase nominal, cada uno de los cuales puede presentar diferente “fuerza” para la desambiguación; (ii) la interacción entre IGS con diferentes fuerzas es un factor decisivo para la percepción de los nombres como ambiguos, lo que confirma el carácter dinámico del significado léxico; (iii) en cuanto a los IGS generales del ámbito nominal, desde el punto de vista de la generación, lo importante es la expresión de una determinada relación léxica, mientras que desde la perspectiva metodológica de la desambiguación es la pieza léxica particular empleada en el contexto lingüístico la que habilita una lectura (i.e., determinado merónimo, hiperónimo o cohipónimo).The relation between the generative and interpretative views of lexical meaning hasn’t been fully explored in current theoretical models about polysemy. The Generative Lexicon (Pustejovsky 1995, 2006, 2011) proposes that lexical-grammatical items operate mechanisms on the word semantic structure in order to generate one particular sense in context. Here, we use the term sense generation indicator (SGI) to refer to these elements that operate the generative mechanisms and, at the same time, are textual evidence that allow to interpret the word in context. This work aims to identify and analyze SGI types and to describe them. We study them in a textual corpus of nouns that presents regular polysemy between a locative sense and a non-locative sense. The following hypotheses are tested: i) the items that operate the generative mechanisms are of two kinds: specific for certain senses, and general to the whole nominal category, each having a different “strength” for disambiguation; (ii) the interaction between SGI with different strengths is a decisive factor for the perception of the nouns as ambiguous and this supports the dynamic quality of the lexical meaning; (iii) regarding the general SGI, from the viewpoint of the generation of lexical meaning, the expression in context of a certain lexical relation is relevant, while from the methodological perspective of disambiguation it is the particular lexical item used in a particular linguistic context the one that enables a particular reading (i.e., certain hypernym, co-hyponym, or meronym).Fil: Adelstein, Andreina. Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento. Instituto del Desarrollo Humano; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Berri, Marina. Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento. Instituto del Desarrollo Humano; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

What does it mean to find the Face of the Franchise? Physical Attractiveness and the Evaluation of Athletic Performance

Previous research has shown how more attractive people reap more rewards in a variety of settings. We show that attractiveness as measured by facial symmetry leads to greater rewards in professional sports. National Football League quarterbacks who are more attractive are paid greater salaries and this premium persists after controlling for player performance.

O plan de la Ribera (1965) como ponto de convergência dos processos de regeneraçâo urbana na frente marítima.

Màster Oficial en Disseny Urbà: Art, Ciutat, Societat. Facultat de Belles Arts de la UB, curs: 2017-2018, Tutor:[por] O presente trabalho final de mestrado objetiva a apresentação de investigação sobre o conjunto de processos e projetos para a formação industrial na frente marítima de Barcelona e sua posterior desindustrialização, tomando como ponto de convergência o projeto denominado “Plan Parcial de la Ribera” (1965), através do qual passaram-se as posteriores intervenções para a celebração dos Jogos Olímpicos de 1992 e o Fórum das Culturas em 2004. Para esta tarefa, foram realizadas revisões bibliográficas que tematizam cidade, urbanismo, espaço público e regeneração urbana. Em seguida, foram elaboradas consultas de cartografias, planos e projetos pertinentes para traçar um contexto histórico no âmbito projetual e planificador de Barcelona, bem como a articulação do denominado “Plan de la Ribera” (1965) com as intervenções propostas nos Jogos Olímpicos (1992) e Fórum das Culturas (2004) para a regeneração da frente marítima de Barcelona. Com base nos estudos elaborados se deduz que certas concepções para a frente marítima de Barcelona presentes no “Plan de la Ribera” permanecem na atualidade.[eng] The following Final Master's Work aims to present the research on the set of processes and projects for the industrial formation on the sea front of Barcelona and its subsequent deindustrialization, taking as a point of convergence the project called "Partial Plan of the Ribera" (1965) ,through which the subsequent interventions took place for the celebration of the Olympic Games of 1992 and the Forum of the Cultures in 2004. For this task, bibliographical revisions were made around important subjects like: city, urbanism, public space and urban regeneration. Next, consultations were carried out on cartographies, plans and relevant projects to draw a historical context on the design and planning area of Barcelona, as well as the articulation of the so-called Plan de la Ribera (1965) with the interventions proposed at the 1992 Olympic Games ) and Forum of Cultures (2004) for the regeneration of the Barcelona seafront. On the basis of the studies drawn, it can be deduced that certain conceptions for the maritime front of Barcelona present in the "Plan de la Ribera" remain today