This paper presents an estimation of expenditure needs and fiscal capacity of Colombia’s municipalities and departments in 2014. We use standard per capita norms to estimate the spending needs and data envelopment analysis for the local fiscal capacity. The results show that: (i) There are high horizontal fiscal disparities in Colombia, with greater incidence in municipalities than in departments. (ii) These disparities favor more developed territories (iii) There is evidence of a centerperiphery pattern in the horizontal fiscal disparities, causing central regions of the country to have a lower imbalance between expenditure needs and fiscal capacity. An equalization transfers system is an option for public policy to eliminate these disparities.

Impreso en el que Antonio Román Ponce denuncia persecución hacia él por parte de Simón Bolívar y de Vicente Vanegas. En el documento Román defiende el honor de su familia y clama por justicia.

This dissertation aims to make an evaluation of the relationship between development and climate change mitigation policies within developmental states, specifically a comparison between China and Brazil. Developmental states are those countries focused on obtaining economic growth through developmentally driven policies. Traditionally, climate change mitigation and environmental protection have been seen as obstacles to development. However, as climate change is a global issue which requires domestic response, countries are required to act locally in order to mitigate carbon emissions into the atmosphere and reduce their reliance on fossil fuels. Developing countries, such as China and Brazil, are heavily dependent on carbon consumption to promote development and economic growth. For this reason, international pressure has been focused on these countries to reduce CO2 emissions, threatening their future development. Furthermore, it examines Brazil and China’s climate policies in light of developmental state guidance. So far what has been found is that climate policies have been relevant to the same extent as they contribute to economic growth and social development. China has envisioned the clean energy industry as a business opportunity capable of generating new jobs and exporting technology. Interests mainly focused on other issues independent to those of climate variability mitigation. Brazil, on the other hand, has relied on the promotion of biofuels as an alternative industry to the use of oil. By adopting ethanol and biodiesel as substitutes for fossil fuels, the government has been able to promote the country’s economic development and position itself as the world’s main producer. Similar to China, mitigation actions are generally implemented as long as there are other interests involved. Furthermore, when there is conflict of interests with environmental policies in both countries, they have acted as developmental states, prioritising development over policies of climate mitigation.Adrian Leftwich’s developmental state model was published in the early 1990s, to further address Chalmers Johnson’s interpretation of the Japanese economic miracle. Nonetheless, Leftwich’s characterisation of developmental states was thought to define a model exclusive to the Asia-Pacific region. This dissertation will apply Leftwich’s model, by adapting it to contemporary China and Brazil, two countries deliberately excluded from the developmental state model, but who now days represent the political context that Leftwich had in mind. In addition, the developmental state model allows a broader interpretation to the current policies implemented by the above mentioned countries, specifically on climate change related issues.

The Legal Transplant Theory proposed by A. Watson, K. Pistor and D. Berkowitz is defined as movement of a rule or a system of law from one country to another. Under this theory, the mentioned authors conclude that a legal change does not perform in an equal manner in the transplanting country as in the origin country. They argue that the adoption of it in the latter is the result of a comprehensive study of the socio-economic circumstances of the nation, while transplanting countries import the legal entity without having similar circumstances. Furthermore, under this theory, the successfulness of a legal transplant is determined by an adaptation process that the legislator, the governmental institutions and the society of the transplanting country shall undertake to prepare the scenario for the introduction. In consequence, transplanted legal changes are called to fail due to uninformed or erroneous decision made by the law-makers. Pistor and Berkowitz analyzed company regulation in various countries, among them Colombia, to support their theories. Regarding the Colombian case, they referred to the Codes of Commerce of 1853 and 1887, concluding that they were unsuccessful legal transplants from Spain and Chile, respectively.  This paper analyzes the abovementioned theory pretending to determine if the legal transplant theory was correctly applied to the Colombian case. Particular attention deserves the Sociedad por Acciones Simplificadas (S.A.S), which is a new hybrid business form adopted in Colombia as a transplant from the United States’ Limited Liability Company. In the light of this case, the document will determine whether this is called to be an unsuccessful legal transplant (as predicted by the Legal Transplant Theory). If the answer is negative, the document will determine if the S.A.S. is merely an exception of the theory or if it demonstrates the failure of such assumption.

This paper summarises the views of outsiders with respect to indigenous forest management. The information on foreign perspectives was collected between May and December of 2001 through an on-line survey. It is argued that even the most knowledgeable people in the industrialised world have no precise idea of how ‘vulnerable’ rainforest is and few have accurate knowledge about the political conditions facing indigenous peoples or other human inhabitants of the Amazonian rainforest. It is signalled that conservationists, armed groups, governmental officers, churches and NGOs are used to attach themselves to certain narratives, be them hegemonic/managerial or counter-hegemonic/populist, aiming to make alliances and enhance their own power. However, the paper calls the attention on the fact that the responses analysed seem to indicate that a large group of people is unhappy with the assumptions behind either populists or hegemonic discourses with respect to rainforest management and, that they are seeking for new ways of formulating environmental policy. The paper concludes that each group has a way of intervening and exercising a certain amount of power to modify the global political agenda for the governance of Amazonia, in function of their own particular interest. It is suggested that such tendency does not facilitate the development of indigenous peoples’ own strategies for the management of Amazonian environments and, that it makes difficult for them to exercise their right to self-determination.

Abstract: This contribution provides for a main comparison between the new Article X proposed by the OECD under Action 6 Final Draft and the new Article 22 of the 2016 US Model Income Tax Convention. For purposes of the above, this contribution is divided in two main parts. The first part contains a comparative analysis of the main differences resulting from a tax treaty policy perspective. The second part compares both proposals under an itemized approach. This second part addresses the specific wording differences between new Article X proposed by the OECD under Action 6 Final Draft and the new Article 22 of the US Model Income Tax Convention. At the time of drafting, some additional changes to the final version of the Article X proposed by the OECD under Action 6 could be made as consequence of the disclosure of the latest version of the US LOB on 17 February 2016. Resumen: Este artículo hace una comparaciòn entre el artìculo X propuesto por la OCDE bajo la acción 6 del reporte final contra la erosión de la base gravable y la transferencia de utilidades, y el nuevo artículo 22 del Modelo de Convenio del Impuesto sobre la Renta de los estados Unidos (modelo 2016). Para efectos delo anterior, el artículo está dividido en dos partes principales. La primera parte establece un análisis de las principales diferencias en materia de política tributaria en relación con la suscripción de tratados. La segunda parte analiza las diferencias específicas en la redacción de ambos artículos.

Political integration is an underlying challenge of peace accords, particularly in the case of Latin America. The agreements usually provide mechanisms to facilitate the transition of violent groups to the legal political parties; however, their integration, in political terms, requires the implementation of certain instruments that let the members of violent groups become citizens able to take part of the political decisions in different scenarios. The previous peace processes in El Salvador, Guatemala and Colombia left three peace accords that have served as analysis model to draw the conditions for political integration of violent groups. Then, this research analyses the inclusion of those conditions into the recent signed peace accords between the National Government of Colombia and the FARC – EP.

Escrito anónimo que da cuenta de irregularidades civiles y criminales que tienen algunos miembros de la Cámara de Representantes de la Nueva Granada y que exorta a los demás senadores y representantes a tenerlas en cuenta durante las sesiones, con el fin de no desconocer los principios de organización y funcionamiento del recinto. El documento conserva la ortografía de la época.

El documento contiene las impresiones, evaluaciones y comentarios que un grupo de representantes de la sociedad granadina realiza sobre la propuesta de abrir un canal que comunique el Atlántico y el Pacífico haciendo uso del itsmo de Panamá. El documento conserva la ortografía de la época.

El documento es una contestación frente a la demanda de los hermanos Tomás y Antonio Currea contra el señor Luis Pinzón Currea; por concepto de reconvención por arrendamientos y perjuicios resultantes de una venta y escrituración de una casa, realizada el 26 de abril de 1878. Después de cuatro años, los hijos del señor Pinzón publican en esta nota la resolución en la que su padre se ve absuelto de la demanda y adjuntan el denuncio que el señor hizo un año ante, por los malos manejos del caso del gobernador en su momento.