Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2008-05"
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- Future entrepreneur’s profilePublication . Silva, Francisco; Couto, Gualter; Coelho, HugoGiven that entrepreneurship plays a key role in the development of a country’s economy, governments should stimulate entrepreneurial orientation, particularly among youngsters in their formative years; schools must play a pertinent role in the promotion and support of these capacities. Indeed, the European Commission advises that schools foster such skills. In this context, we apply a frame to screen school populations in the Azores Islands, Portugal, for prospects of entrepreneurship and to study the profiles of those who noticeably show entrepreneurial orientations. Knowing the ideal combination of personality traits that foretell young entrepreneurs, schools can develop the syllabuses that are best aimed at promoting entrepreneurship and increasing the capacities of those who prove to be entrepreneurially oriented. This work leads to the following main findings: first, that one quarter of all senior students in high school in the Azores Islands bears prospects for entrepreneurship and, second, this same group shows a well-defined psychological profile that may vary depending on one’s willingness to expend effort.
- Labor market regulations and trade patterns : the panel data analysis within a modified ricardian settingPublication . Uzagalieva, AinuraThe paper focuses on the question of how labor market regulations can affect a country’s competitive position in international trade and international trade patterns. The analysis shows that differences in labor market flexibility between countries affect their competitive positions in international markets and can serve as an independent cause of international trade. It is argued that an increase in labor market flexibility may change the relative price of goods within the country making it more competitive in international markets for commodities with uncertain demand. Changes in relative prices can alter countries’ comparative advantage and thus international trade patterns. Furthermore, it is shown that due to the differences in relative prices resulting from different labor market regulations, international trade between countries can be observed even if they are identical in all respects (e.g., labor productivity and production technology). Data reveal that a country with a more flexible labor market has comparative advantage in, and tends to export, goods with more variable demand (e.g., fashionable clothes, seasonal toys), while a country with a more rigid labor market has a comparative advantage in, and tends to export, commodities with more stable demand.
- Monopoly behavior with learning effects and capacity constraintsPublication . Cabral, RicardoUsing a model motivated by the adoption of new process technology in the semiconductor industry, this paper analyzes dynamic monopoly behavior with endogenous learning-by-doing and capacity constraints. The analysis shows that the monopoly invests in learning early-on by producing at higher rates than the static optimum. In addition, it invests in more manufacturing capacity than the static optimum in order to be able to learn faster. Furthermore, in order to prevent prices from falling too rapidly it leaves some capacity idle as the technology matures and learning externalities becomes negligible. Finally, the monopoly may set price below marginal cost when demand is large or growing rapidly.
- UV Index estimation from global radiation and total column ozone.Publication . Fialho, Paulo; Henriques, Diamantino; Carvalho, Fernanda
- Making environmental meaningPublication . Arroz, Ana Margarida Moura; Neilson, Alison; Rodrigues, Luzia; Gabriel, RosalinaThis presentation is about creating rich and complex meanings for the concept of "environment" in order to increase the life supporting function of a biologically and culturally diverse environment. It focuses on educators and learners in research about the meaning of environment and ecological identity. This presentation discusses two educational studies which take ecological approaches to research. These approaches acknowledge complexity and ambiguity within the continuing processes of knowledge construction and use qualitative methods including free expression, photographs, drawings, semi-structured and narrative interviews, and meditative visualizations. One of the studies worked with a "naïve" group, children from the ultra-peripheral region of the Azores archipelago. The other involved "experts", environmental educators from around the world who had much formal studies about the environment in higher education. Researchers in these studies followed phenomenographic and narrative arts-based approaches and through reflexive partnerships with research participants, they highlight diverse perspectives of the environment not regularly seen in the literature, as well as uncover the ways in which researchers can inadvertently analysis away much of this diversity. Like research, teaching deals directly with processes of knowledge construction. The lessons learned through these two research studies are explored for how teaching can be done in a way that also supports diverse perspectives on environment.