Abstract The discipline of economics has struggled to find a clear or well-established causal relationship between labor productivity and the real wage, despite the close statistical relationship and comovements that several studies report. The policy implications vary drastically depending on what causal link may exist between the two variables. Using conventional Granger causality tests and causality tests in a cointegration environment, with both annual and quarterly data for Venezuela, this article presents evidence showing that statistical causality runs from real wages to labor productivity, a finding which contrasts the orthodox thinking on the subject.

Resumen Para la disciplina económica no ha sido fácil encontrar una relación de causalidad clara o bien establecida entre la productividad laboral y el salario real, pese a la estrecha relación estadística y los comovimientos que varios estudios reportan. Las implicaciones de política pueden ser muy diferentes dependiendo del nexo causal que exista entre ambas variables. Usando pruebas de causalidad de Granger convencionales y pruebas de causalidad en ambiente de cointegración, tanto con datos anuales, como con datos trimestrales para Venezuela, este trabajo presenta evidencia que muestra, en contraste con el enfoque ortodoxo, que la causalidad estadística va de los salarios reales hacia la productividad laboral.

ABSTRACT: In order to contribute to the sociological study of museums, this article takes up six important points from Georg Simmel’s theory, particularly from his essay “On Art Exhibitions” (1890). In it, he describes his vision of how art was produced and consumed in Germany in the late nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. In this article, the author analyzes Simmel’s contributions using the ethnographic findings of research carried out in Mexico City’s National Anthropology Museum, which looked into the opinion of 2018 and 2019 museum visitors about the indigenous.

RESUMEN: Con el objetivo de contribuir al estudio de los museos desde una perspectiva sociológica, el presente trabajo recupera seis puntos relevantes de la revisión teórica de Georg Simmel, en especial de su ensayo “Über Kunstausstellungen”, o traducido al español, “Sobre exposiciones de arte” (1890) donde explica su visión de las formas de producción y consumo del arte en Alemania hacia finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX. Estas aportaciones simmelianas son analizadas junto con los hallazgos etnográficos de una investigación que se llevó a cabo en el Museo Nacional de Antropología de la Ciudad de México, en donde se hizo una aproximación a la opinión en torno a lo indígena por parte del público visitante entre 2018 y 2019.

Abstract: The notion of cultural landscape was deployed to analyze transformation processes of rural landscapes. As a case study, environmental degradation processes in La Araucania (Chile) region were analyzed. The goals of actions over the territory and their driving forces were determined. These actions were related to economic motives external to local inhabitants and produced deep transformations of the landscape and impacted the way of life of its inhabitants, breaking down the structural coupling between population and landscape, resulting in an environmentally degraded cultural landscape.

Resumen: El artículo propone el concepto de paisaje cultural como una perspectiva holística de análisis de procesos de transformación del paisaje. Para ello se utilizó como caso de estudio el proceso de degradación ambiental de la región de La Araucanía (Chile). Se esclarecieron las motivaciones de las actuaciones en el territorio y sus fuerzas conductoras. Estas fuerzas se relacionan a objetivos económicos externos a la población local y generaron una transformación del paisaje impactando la forma de vida de sus habitantes, quebrando el acoplamiento estructural entre población y paisaje, resultando en un paisaje cultural degradado ambientalmente.

RESUMO O presente artigo versa sobre a atuação da cobrança como instrumento de gestão na Bacia Hidrográfica do rio São Francisco no período entre 2010 e 2015, de acordo com os objetivos definidos na Lei 9.433/97. Os objetivos deste trabalho contemplaram: avaliação da participação dos usuários nos valores cobrados e por tipo de uso; comparação entre os valores cobrados e arrecadados para observar a aceitação do usuário em relação ao pagamento; aplicação dos recursos financeiros obtidos com arrecadação em relação às ações previstas no plano de investimento da bacia, avaliação da evolução dos usos: captação, consumo, lançamento de carga orgânica visando aferir a influência da cobrança no uso racional dos recursos hídricos e comparação entre os mecanismos de cobrança das bacias dos rios Paraíba do Sul, Piracicaba-Capivari-Jundiaí, Doce e São Francisco para os principais usos. Observou-se que a aceitabilidade dos usuários em relação à cobrança vem aumentando gradativamente. Apesar da adimplência dos usuários superior a 91% em 2013, os recursos financeiros arrecadados e a gestão da aplicação destes estão aquém da real necessidade de investimentos em ações de conservação da bacia. Em relação ao uso de captação de água não se observa o efeito da cobrança. Para os usos de consumo de água e lançamento de carga orgânica foram observados resultados discretos mas positivos. Recomenda-se uma revisão quanto aos critérios das vazões de referência e parâmetros da cobrança pelos usos dos recursos hídricos, bem como sugere-se estudar os mecanismos do modelo de cobrança das bacias dos rios Piracicaba-Capivari-Jundiaí e Paraíba do Sul, que utilizam a vazão de outorga e a vazão aferida para ajustes no modelo de cobrança vigente na Bacia Hidrográfica do rio São Francisco. De uma forma geral, a implantação da cobrança pelo uso da água na bacia do rio São Francisco apesar de ser recente, é um processo que aos poucos vem se consolidando e contribuindo para a sustentabilidade ambiental da bacia.

ABSTRACT The present work consists in a study on the performance of usage charge as a management tool in the São Francisco River Basin in the period between 2010 and 2013, according to the objectives defined by the law 9.433/97. The objectives of this study considers: assessment of user participation in the amounts billed and type of use; comparative analysis of charged and collected amounts in the basin to observe user compliance to payments; analysis of the application of financial resources obtained from the revenue particularly the actions set forth by the basin investment plan, review of the evolution of uses: withdrawal, consumption, organic load discharge to assess the influence of usage charge on the rational use of water resources and comparison of pricing mechanisms of the Paraíba do Sul river, Piracicaba-Capivari-Jundiaí rivers, Doce river and São Francisco river basins for major uses. It is noted that the compliance by users to the usage charge is increasing gradually. Even though over 91% of the payments were on time by users in 2013, the financial resources obtained and the management to employ them do not meet the actual needs for investments in the basin conservation actions. With regards to the use of water withdrawal it is not observed the effect of the usage charge. For the uses of consumption and organic load discharge, the results were minor but positive. It is recommended a review of the reference flow and parameters of charging for water resources uses, and also it is suggested a study of the mechanisms of usage charge models implemented in the Paraíba do Sul river, Piracicaba-Capivari-Jundiaí river and Doce river basins, which uses the granted and measured flows for adjustments in the usage charge model, in the São Francisco river basin. All in all, the implementation of water usage charge in the São Francisco River basin despite it being recent, it is a process that will gradually be consolidating and contributing to environmental sustainability of the basin.

L. Vera, R. Montalba, L. Vieli, E. Jorquera, and I González. 2015. Methodology for determining the suitability of land for the cultivation of highbush blueberry: a case study on a farm in southern Chile. Cien. Inv. Agr. 42(3): 353-364. The selection of good planting sites is critical for the success of blueberry plantations. The objective of the present study was to identify farm territorial units suitable for the establishment and management of highbush blueberry crops on a farm in southern Chile. A farm-level characterization was developed, and districts and sites were classified according to their receptive capacity. Numerical suitability valúes were subsequently obtained for each land unit identified on the farm. Four suitability categories were identified on the farm: high, moderate, low, and unsuitable, and they corresponded to 12, 60, 20, and 7% of the total surface area, respectively. The main limitations for blueberry cultivation were steep slopes, shallow soil, hydromorphism, and a soil pH that greatly exceeded the low pH values required for blueberry crops. The methodology revealed that blueberry cultivation is possible on 72% of the total surface area of the farm (high and moderate suitability areas) provided that soil management measures corresponding to the specific limitations of each area are used.

L. Vera, R. Montalba, L. Vieli, E. Jorquera, e I González. 2015. Metodología para la determinación de la aptitud territorial para el cultivo de arándano alto del norte: caso de estudio en un predio en el sur de Chile. Cien. Inv. Agr. 42(3): 353-364. La selección de sitios adecuados para el cultivo es una estrategia clave en las plantaciones de arándanos. El objetivo de este estudio fue identificar zonas prediales con diferente aptitud para el establecimiento y manejo del cultivo de arándano en un predio en el sur de Chile. Para ello, se desarrolló una caracterización predial y posteriormente se aplicó una metodología de valoración de distritos y sitios según su aptitud. Esto permitió obtener valores numéricos de aptitud para cada unidad territorial identificada en el predio. Se identificaron cuatro categorías de aptitud en el predio en estudio: alta (12% de la superficie), media (60% de la superficie), baja (20% de la superficie) y sin aptitud (7,4% de la superficie). Las principales limitantes encontradas para el cultivo del arándano fueron las altas pendientes, la poca profundidad del suelo, la presencia de hidromorfismo y un pH muy elevado del suelo, considerando los requerimientos de bajo pH del cultivo del arándano. El método permitió determinar que el cultivo del arándano es posible en un 72% de la superficie del predio estudiado (zonas con alta y media aptitud), aplicando distintos manejos de suelo de acuerdo a las limitantes específicas de cada área.

In contrast with the inflationary finance story, inflation acceleration in Latin America has been explained as the result of the interaction of inflation dynamics and the frequency of wage adjustments. Accordingly, small inflation disturbances are connected with a shift from moderate to high inflation (or beyond to hyperinflation) though a mechanism that makes adjustment intervals in wage contracts endogenous. Rudiger Dornbusch (1986) labeled this process the "Pazos-Simonsen mechanism". In this note we summarize the basic contribution of both Felipe Pazos (1978) and Mario Henrique Simonsen (1983) and find crucial differences between their views on wage dynamics, specifically regarding the endogeneity of the time interval between wage readjustments. A remarkable affinity with Pazos's view on wage dynamics and inflation is found in an early and almost unknown essay written by Nicholas Kaldor in 1957 (inspired in his brief experience in Latin America).

Este estudio presenta evidencia empírica para la economía venezolana (entre los años 1970 y 2009) de la posible relación que existe entre el acceso y uso de los servicios financieros por parte de la población y el grado de desarrollo humano. Usando varias proxis de bancarización, el estudio encuentra resultados robustos que indican que una mayor red de servicios y cobertura de depositantes explica las mejoras reportadas en el índice de desarrollo humano (IDH). El IDH también es impactado positivamente por la evolución que ha tomado el precio real de los hidrocarburos petroleros y el gasto público por habitante. De esta manera, el análisis se aleja de la muy conocida, pero controvertida relación entre desarrollo financiero y crecimiento económico, cuyo cuño explicativo se centra en las ganancias de eficiencia, para concentrarse más bien en la importancia que tiene la masificación de los servicios financieros en el bienestar de la población.

This study presents empirical evidence for Venezuelan economy (between 1970 and 2009) regarding a possible relation between how people access and use financing services and human development level. Using several proxies for access to banking services, the study finds robust results that indicate that a larger net of services and coverage of depositors explains reported improvements in Human Development Index (HDI). Evolutions of the real price of petroleum hydrocarbon and of the government expenditure per capita have had a positive impact on HDI. Thus, the analysis drifts apart from the well known, but controversial, connection between financial development and economic growth which is based on efficiency profits and it rather concentrates on the importance that financing services massification has on people's welfare.

Este estudo apresenta evidência empírica para a economia venezuelana (entre 1970 e 2009) da possível relação que existe entre o acesso e o uso dos serviços financeiros por parte da população e o grau de desenvolvimento humano. Ao usar várias proxies de bancarização, o estudo encontra resultados fortes que indicam que uma maior rede de serviços e cobertura de depositantes explica as melhorias relatadas no Índice de Desenvolvimento Humano (IDH). O IDH também é impactado positivamente pela evolução que o preço real dos hidrocarbonetos petroleiros e o gasto público por habitante vêm tomando. Dessa maneira, a análise se afasta da muito conhecida, mas controvertida, relação entre desenvolvimento financeiro e crescimento econômico, cujo cunho explicativo se centraliza nos lucros de eficiência para se concentrar mais na importância que tem a massificação dos serviços financeiros no bem-estar da população.

The main challenges confronting contemporary agronomy are being addressed according to the emerging and complex problems of our era. Agronomy corresponds to the science and profession of solving the problems ofagriculture. The emergence of agronomy in sociocultural processes and their coevolution is described, as agronomy represents the determinant for the artificialization of nature, the management of natural resources and the transformation and management of land. The integration of nature, culture and human well-being inform the tendencies that are expressed in the cultural landscape. Ecology, ecosystem, territory and cultural landscape are the resultant aspects that provide the basis for the study and development of natural resource and ecosystem management. These subjects also allow us to understand the transition from nature to natural resources. All of these issues are associated with the transition of agronomy from a Cartesian analytical science to an integrative, systemic science, leading to a holistic and transdisciplinary paradigm that must be applied to the agronomic profession and to rural engineering. To be applicable to the problems of our era, the modern agronomic paradigm must be holistic and transdisciplinary and must cross the four hierarchical levels of the sciences: valoric, normative, pragmatic and empirical. This paradigm must also adapt to the unique conditions of various regions and to the evolution of the processes that are characteristic of complex systems associated with the construction of a rurality that is propitious for sustainability and quality of life.

Se abordan los desafíos centrales de la agronomía contemporánea, en función de las emergentes y complejas problemáticas de nuestra época. La agronomía corresponde a la ciencia y profesión focalizada en resolver los problemas de la agricultura. Se muestra el surgimiento de la agronomía inserta en procesos socioculturales y su coevolución con ellos, resultando aquello determinante para la artificialización de la naturaleza, el manejo de los recursos naturales y la transformación del territorio. Desde la integración de naturaleza, cultura y bienestar emergen las tendencias que se expresan en el paisaje cultural. La ecología, el ecosistema, el territorio y el paisaje cultural como resultante emergente, otorgan las bases para abordar integralmente el estudio y desarrollo del manejo de los recursos naturales y de los ecosistemas, lo que permite además comprender la transición desde naturaleza a recurso natural. Todo esto se asocia a la transición de la agronomía desde una ciencia analítica de naturaleza cartesiana a una sistémica de naturaleza integradora, conducente a un paradigma holístico y transdisciplinario, lo cual debe ser aplicado a la profesión agronómica y a la ingeniería rural. El paradigma moderno de la agronomía para su operatividad ante las problemáticas constituyentes de nuestra época, ha de ser holístico, transdisciplinario y transversal a los cuatro niveles jerárquicos de las ciencias, además de adaptativo a las particularidades de los diferentes lugares y al devenir de los procesos propios de los sistemas complejos asociados a la construcción de una ruralidad sustentable y propicia para la calidad de vida.

The ability to estimate soil temperature (Ts) from satellite information is highly useful, since this is one of the main input variables in various models designed for estimating biophysical parameters. A comparative analysis is made of various Split-Window algorithms used to estimate soil temperature from data provided by the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) sensor on board of satellites of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The algorithms compared are those proposed by: Prata and Platt (1991); Uliveri et al. (1992); Sobrino et al. (1993); Caselles et al. (1997); Sobrino and Raissouni (2000). The temperature estimates were validated with data of the soil temperature in situ recorded in a data logger installed in a meteorological station belonging to La Araucania Region, Chile. The results showed that the algorithm proposed by Sobrino and Raissouni (2000) come the closest to the in situ data. However, there are no statistically significant differences between the different algorithms evaluated.

Evidencia empírica muestra que la economía venezolana viene transitando a lo largo de las últimas décadas por un acelerado proceso de cambio estructural con un marcado sesgo desindustrializador. La desindustrialización venezolana es de naturaleza «temprana» o «prematura», pues parece haber comenzado a finales de los años ochenta cuando los niveles del PIB per capita eran muy bajos. Este proceso ha continuado sostenidamente durante la última década. La pérdida de dinamismo de las exportaciones de manufactura, la recomposición intrasectorial en detrimento de las manufacturas de mayor complejidad, y la reasignación de recursos (laborales) hacia sectores donde la productividad cae con más intensidad, son síntomas que revelan cuán comprometidas son las posibilidades de desarrollo del país en el largo plazo

Empirical evidence shows that during the last decades, the Venezuelan economy has experienced an accelerated process of structural change with a remarkable de-industrialization bias. The process of de-industrialization seemingly started during the late eighties when the GDP per capita levels were very low. In that sense, it seems to be a «premature» transition. The process has continued during the last decade. Several of its features, such as the low dynamics of manufacturing exports, the intra-sectoral redistribution of output against manufacturing, and the reallocation of resources (labor) towards sectors in which labor productivity is decreasing with the highest intensity, indicate that the long-run development prospects of the country are severely undermined

This work is the product of a long process that tried to approximate the principia involved in sustainable agriculture in an attempt to analyze it. We believe that these principia are crucial for the systematic, rigorous, and consistent development of sustainable agriculture. The unifying concepts of agriculture sustainability are classified into seven fundamental principies: (i) there is a hierarchy in decision-making with respect to human actions on the landscape and environment; (ii) human impact on the land should be analyzed from different perspectives (local, global, anthropocentric, and ecocentric); (iii) the carrying capacity in an agrarian context is crucial to ecosystem management and design; (iv) humans arrange nature with little consideration of its own natural organization; (v) land-use planning and design are subordínate to the order determinants that occur in a particular situation; (vi) cultural landscape is a result of humans' actions on the land; and, (vii) the concepts of agriculture and rurality lack a territorial connotation, unlike farm and comarca (a region connected through a common local market). Finally, agriculture sustainability should be addressed from various focal points, with a focus on nature and culture as its main determinants.

Este trabajo es el producto de un largo proceso para reunir y analizar los principia involucrados en la sustentablidad de la agricultura. Consideramos que estos principia son cruciales para el desarrollo sistemático, riguroso y consistente de la agricultura sustentable. Los conceptos uniflcadores de la agricultura sustentable se clasifican en siete principios fundamentales: (i) existe una relacion jerárquica en las tomas de decisiones con respecto a las acciones del hombre sobre el paisaje y en ambiente; (ii) el impacto del hombre sobre la tierra se debe analizar desde diferentes perspectivas (local, global, antropocentrica y ecocentrica); (iii) la carga poblacional, en un contexto agrario, es fundamental en el diseño y manejo del ecosistema; (iv) el hombre arregla la naturaleza con escasa consideracion de su propia organizacion natural; (v) la planificacion y diseño del uso de la tierra están subordinados al orden de determinantes que ocurren en situaciones particulares; (vi) el paisajismo cultural es el resultado de la accion humana; y (vii) los conceptos de agricultura y ruralidad carecen de una connotacion territorial; a diferencia de la granja y de la comarca (region conectada a través de un mercado local común). Finalmente, agricultura sustentable debe ser abordada desde varios aspectos, con enfasis en la naturaleza y la cultura como factores determinantes.

This work examines the difficulties and formidable challenges faced by monetary authorities to control the behavior of monetary aggregates in an open economy dependent of an exportable natural resource such as Venezuela. The work not only introduces analytical arguments but also provides some empirical evidence that shows the several sources of endogeneity in the monetary base, the multiplier and other wider monetary aggregates in Venezuela. Though the Central Bank currently does not announce a clear strategy and target for the practice of monetary policy, we argue that the monetary authority has recently moved towards a strategy of targeting short-term interest rates. Presumably, the use of the repo rate as a monetary policy instrument is tied to a final target of economic activity.

Este trabajo intenta exponer las dificultades que confronta la autoridad monetaria para ejercer algún grado de control sobre los agregados monetarios, y para ello evalúa la experiencia reciente de una economía abierta y dependiente de un recurso mineral exportable como Venezuela. El trabajo no sólo expone argumentos analíticos, sino además provee evidencia muy sencilla en demostración de que existen numerosas fuentes de endogeneidad de la base monetaria, del multiplicador y de otros agregados más amplios en la economía venezolana. Aunque el Banco Central en Venezuela no viene anunciando ni explicando públicamente la estrategia y el alcance de la política monetaria, el trabajo muestra que la autoridad monetaria se ha movido sigilosamente, en los últimos tiempos, hacia una estrategia de uso de las tasas marcadores de las operaciones de mercado abierto como variable operativa buscando un objetivo final de actividad económica.

Abstract: For more than a decade, the credit market in Venezuela has been witnessing a progressive process of contraction without there being any rigorous explanation for this behaviour. This paper suggests that it is possible to identify the causes in the determinants operating in the demand for credit, and to illustrate this presents an estimation using monthly macro-economic series relating to the period 1986-2000. The estimation is made on the basis of a theoretical model that starts with the restriction of company financing. Assuming, in the post-Keynesian tradition, that the banks are the price fixers in the credit market, it is possible to identify market demand. The methodology and proof of co-integration indicate unambiguously that there is a long-term equilibrium relationship between real credit stock, the index of economic activity, the (nominal) interest rate, the price-cost margin and the real exchange rate, in addition to other signs consistent with the theory. The short-term dynamic derived from a Model of Error Correction Vectors, corroborates the results obtained in the long-term relationship. By the same token, there is no evidence of endogeneity, either in the interest rate or in the index of economic activity, and this indicates that it is possible to suppose that the market is dominated by the demand side. Credit in real terms supplied to the private sector, responds positively to the rhythm of economic activity, to the cash flow of the companies, and to the effective real exchange rate, but maintains an inverse relationship to the interest rate.

Resumen: El mercado de crédito en Venezuela ha venido acusando un proceso progresivo de contracción durante más de una década sin que exista aún una explicación rigurosa de ese comportamiento. Este trabajo sugiere que es posible ubicar las causas en los determinantes de la demanda de crédito y para tal fin presenta una estimación utilizando series macroeconómicas mensuales en el lapso comprendido entre 1986 y 2000. La estimación se hace con base a un modelo teórico que tiene como punto de partida la restricción de financiamiento de las firmas. Asumiendo, en la tradición post-keynesiana, que los bancos son fijadores de precios en el mercado de crédito, es posible identificar la demanda del mercado. La metodología y las pruebas de cointegración indican, sin ambigüedad, que existe una relación de equilibrio de largo plazo entre el stock de crédito real, el índice de actividad económica, la tasa de interés (nominal), el margen precio-costo, y el tipo de cambio real con signos además acordes a la teoría. La dinámica de corto plazo derivada de un modelo de vectores de corrección de error corrobora los resultados obtenidos en la relación de largo plazo. Así mismo, no hay evidencias de endogenidad, ni en la tasa de interés, como tampoco en el índice de actividad económica, indicando que es posible suponer que el mercado es dominado por el lado de la demanda. El crédito en términos reales al sector privado responde positivamente al ritmo de actividad económica, al flujo de caja de las empresas, y al tipo de cambio real efectivo, pero mantiene una relación inversa con la tasa de interés.