vol. 16 núm. 24 (2014)

The strengthening of economic integration processes stimulates the development of Latin American markets, thus contributing to the construction of economic policy that strengthens industrialization. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the criteria considered for the industrialization of Latin American countries and the role of Latin American integration in order to identify the actual effects on their development. The methodology used in this document consists of a literature review that highlights the role and the context of integration processes and their expected effects in recent decades. To do this, the following aspects are reviewed: traditional policy arguments to promote development, economic integration as a mechanism of trade policy in favor of progress, unexpected changes in the global oil sector, import substitution industrialization, review of the regions´ internal market, deindustrialization related to implemented neoliberal ideas and increased free trade agreements that deepen economic openness and globalization, in order to expand markets, but that strangle integration processes and predict the death of the Andean Community. Among the most important findings of this reflection is the secondary and irrelevant role that has taken the process of integration of the Andean Community, given that bilateral negotiations (with the United States and the European Union) and other treaties led to increased vulnerability of the sub-regions. The Latin American countries were unprotected before countries considered to be threats to their industrialization and development. This led to an increase in industrial good imports while processes of deindustrialization have taken place.

This research evaluates the performance of Colombia’s Higher Education Institutions (HEI), by estimating a Production Possibility Frontier (PPF) which allows the evaluation of the relative efficiency and its determinants, external factors that can influence the quality of the education in Colombia are also measured. For this purpose, the methodology employed is the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and the Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA). Results suggest that variables such as the socio-economic status of students determines the quality of education. Additionally, it is found that the efficiency of HEI through DEA is, in average, 0.72, while done through SFA is 0.87

This document is a study of the Colombian Pension System (CPS) regulated by Law 100 of 1993. Using an agent-based model (ABM), it analyzes the characteristics of agents in the CPS regarding their articulation to the labour market and population dynamics; they whom assume one of the roles in the pension system in order to achieve their pension. The odds for agents to adopt a regime are conditioned by the characteristics of the pension system and economical, social and political system variables which can change along with the evolution of the pension system, due to collective actions of agents and public policy decisions.

This document determines the existence of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for tobacco industry in Colombia and its impact on lobbyists-stakeholders. The paper explored the different developments of CSR in the tobacco companies Coltabaco S.A., British American Tobacco Colombia S.A. and Protabaco S.A. There was found that their level of CSR is classified as a mid-range and that there are weaknesses, shortcomings and negative impacts, which deteriorate the social component of the lobbyists. There were two indicators for measuring CSR (IRSEPI, and IRSEC), with which there was reaffirmed weaknesses in the sector accountability policy.

The financial sector has been one of the top performers in recent years, especially supported by higher private indebtedness and higher net interest margins, which enabled it to obtain profit above the economy´s average. While this dynamic appears to be a result of good management of economic policy and the dynamism of our economy, the oligopolistic nature of the sector (which allows the imposition of prices) and the redistribution of income generated between debtors and creditors, suggest that a problem of financial instability may be generating due to the reduction of resources available for investment and consumption after deducting payments of debt obligations. If this hypothesis is true, the rate of current spending and growth of the Colombian economy is unsustainable, and we would be approaching a crisis of effective demand and high unemployment.

The purpose of this research is to analyze the “workplace effect” in the labor income inequalities for workers, parting from the decomposition of the differences in labor income for the formal and informal sectors sectors with the Oaxaca-Blinder technique in Colombian economy from 2001 to 2006. Alternatively, the corrected estimate of selectivity bias through the multinomial model of Bourguignon, Fournier and Gurgand (2004) is used. The unexplaines component analysis- of the decomposition- yielded evidence in favor of the existence of differences in income in the Colombian labour market.