Javier Ramos | Universidad Camilo José Cela (original) (raw)

Books by Javier Ramos

ISRIC 2018 Conference, 5-7 September 2018 Heidelberg, 2018

In this article we analyze the concept of Social Innovation (SI) as an integral response to the n... more In this article we analyze the concept of Social Innovation (SI) as an integral response to the new social vulnerabilities associated with globalization, demographic changes, the digital revolution and the financial crisis. I put forward a definition of SI based on the apparent complementarity between economic efficiency and democratic participation (Efficiencracy) and from a collaborative rather than competitive logic. Yet, this definition is highly conditioned by how “the social” is interpreted in market or State-based logics. From this perspective I identify at least three types of SI: pro-market, anti-market and post-market. We analyze in depth the latter, because it is the least studied and the one that seems most suitable to face these challenges and vulnerabilities.

Crowdfunding is a tangible alternative source of financing that helps advocacy movements to cope ... more Crowdfunding is a tangible alternative source of financing that helps advocacy movements to cope with the dilemmas and bottlenecks currently affecting social movements, namely obtaining “money or obtaining time”, and get resources from “many or few donors”.
Crowdfunding is also a political instrument in the hands of advocacy movements that efficiently disseminates ideas, concepts and information in ways never explored before through “traditional” information channels. Besides the crowdfunding allows people to participate in the design, the improvement, the dissemination and the financing of the launched campaign, increasing hence the social capital of advocacy movements.
The significant higher rate of success of those projects launched by advocacy movements, as compared to the total success rate of crowdfunding campaigns, suggests that engagement and involvement are crucial to understanding success in Crowdfunding practices in general, and especially among social movements

This is the first attempt to measure the jobs created by projects funded through crowdfunding (cr... more This is the first attempt to measure the jobs created by projects funded through crowdfunding (crowd-jobs). This new economic way of financing is already a tangible economic reality made up of 452 active crowdfunding platforms worldwide, which have raised almost $5.1 billion and funded more than 1 million campaigns in 2013. In Spain, a prototype of an economy in recession, crowdfunding platforms attracted 400 million euros and 2,825 crowdfunding projects in 2012. The funds raised by the successful projects (5,137,648 €) have created around 3,000 direct jobs (crowd-jobs), which represent just 1.61 % of the total target budget (success rate). One year later, the total target budget has decreased (332,145,063 €), however the funds raised by the successful projects have increased (8,526,094 €), especially in the Social and Cultural Sector, creating more crowd-jobs (5,635) and improving the success rate (2.57 %) in 2013. Since the analysed period only spans 2 years (2012–2013), any conclusion is tentative. All in all, the results seem to suggest that the Spanish crowdfunding market is becoming more efficient, specialised and increasing solidarity, although, again, it is still too soon to consider these tendencies as consolidated patterns and any extrapolation of trends is premature. The economic crisis and the structure of the Spanish economy seem to be responsible for these tendencies, although the expansion of the crowdfunding market should also be considered as a tentative explanatory variable of the observed tendencies in Spain.

Defending the EU in its current form is a bitter task. The course of globalisation, with the cent... more Defending the EU in its current form is a bitter task. The course of globalisation, with the centre of economic gravity moving from Western to emerging economies from the East and South, the weak international role played by the EU in international conflicts from the Balkan War (1990) to the Syrian refugee crisis (2015), plus the socio-economic consequences of the credit crunch in 2008, are seriously challenging the European Integration Process (EIP)

Papers by Javier Ramos

La Triple Cuenta de Resultados busca incorporar los impactos ambientales y sociales que genera un... more La Triple Cuenta de Resultados busca incorporar los impactos ambientales y sociales que genera una organización a su información financiera. Esta incorporación se da mediante diversos reportes, entre ellos los reportes de sostenibilidad permiten comunicar el impacto económico, social y medioambiental que una organización ejerce sobre su entorno y comunidad, pudiendo medir a través de variables o indicadores la incidencia positiva o negativa en estas áreas. Los Estados, y todas sus empresas públicas y administraciones deberían ser pioneros y jugar un papel decisivo a la hora de desarrollar, legitimar y consolidar modelos de Triple Balance a través de diferentes reportes. Sin embargo, No se tiene evidencia sobre cómo los estados están incorporando la TCR en sus reportes, en cuántas de sus empresas y con qué propósitos. El objetivo de este estudio es precisamente ser capaz de describir qué tipo de reportes elaboran las empresas públicas uruguayas y cuál es su contenido. Se determina cu...

Proceedings of the Internationsl Conference on Electronic Governance and Open Society Challenges in Eurasia - eGose '17, 2017

The question guiding this paper is how the deployment of innovative ICT tools and applications pr... more The question guiding this paper is how the deployment of innovative ICT tools and applications produce real effects on the transformation of some aspects of the political process that are responsible of the so-called democratic deficit in the EU. More specifically, this paper explores how Voting Advice Applications (VAAs) are improving the transparency, involvement, awareness and participation in European Elections, which are the four key elements for resolving the EU "deficit". Moreover, VAAs help to improve the absence of a fully developed transnational European party system by matching the voter and parties preferences at the domestic level with the party position of other non-domestic brother parties in the EU. In order to check out the positive effects of VAAs on transparency, involvement, awareness and participation, as well as on reinforcing the European Party System in the EU, we have analyzed the VAA launched in the 2014 European Parliament elections in Spain, called "EU-Vox España". Empirical evidences suggest that EU-Vox 2014 had an impact on the Spanish users by enhancing transparency, offering a possibility to match the user preferences with the political parties' positions. Moreover, VAA increased the direct involvement and participation of those users not previously interested in politics. Finally, VAA contributed to strengthening a European party mentality on Spanish users.

Cuadernos de Relaciones Laborales, 2016

La Economía Verde ofrece posibilidades reales de innovación productiva, crecimiento económico y c... more La Economía Verde ofrece posibilidades reales de innovación productiva, crecimiento económico y creación de empleo de calidad en España. Estos tres factores son fundamentales para facilitar el cambio de modelo productivo desde el que encarar la salida de la crisis. Sin embargo las medidas tomadas por el gobierno conservador actual van en la dirección contraria, recortando significativamente los incentivos a las renovables, cargando impositivamente la producción de energía para autoconsumo y privatizando los espacios públicos protegidos. Esto dificulta el cumplimiento de los objetivos ambientales de la Estrategia Europa-2020. Una estrategia que no es la panacea ambiental, sino que nace ya limitada, poco ambiciosa, subordinada a los intereses de los grandes oligopolios financieros y energéticos, a los imperativos del Pacto de Estabilidad y Crecimiento (Maastricht) y al cumplimiento de las políticas de austeridad y mercantilización impuestas a raíz de la crisis financiera de 2008. Por ...

Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance, 2016

Crowdfunding is a new financial system with its own particularities. It is a low-cost way of acce... more Crowdfunding is a new financial system with its own particularities. It is a low-cost way of accessing capital, which increases the potential audience for ideas and ventures, reduces the risk of investment, and provides tailored financing methods for a wide variety of projects. It also provides finance in sectors of activity where finance is difficult to obtain and allows entrepreneurs to test the acceptance of their products in a short period of time.But crowdfunding is also about attracting the emotional interest of users, setting up channels of identification with a platform’s core values and purposes and exploiting the capabilities of social networks, community and proximity. This brings about new interactions between economic efficiency and democratic practices which are distinctive of the crowdfunding market. A particular way of managing the highly idiosyncratic crowdfunding practices seems to have emerged, which underlines the advantages of reinforcing the “economic efficienc...

Proyecciones

This is the first attempt to measure the jobs created by projects funded through crowdfunding (Cr... more This is the first attempt to measure the jobs created by projects funded through crowdfunding (Crowd-jobs). This new economic way of financing is already a tangible economic reality made up of 452 active crowdfunding (CF) platforms worldwide, which have raised almost $5.1 billion and funded more than one million campaigns in 2013. In Spain, a prototype of an economy in recession, CF platforms attracted €400 million and 2,825 CF projects in 2012. The funds raised by the successful projects (€5,137,648) have created around 3,000 direct jobs (crowd-jobs), which represent just 1.61% of the total target budget (success rate). One year later, the total target budget has decreased (€332,145,063), however the funds raised by the successful projects have increased (€8,526,094), especially in the Social and Cultural Sector, creating more crowd-jobs (5,635) and improving the success rate (2.57%) in 2013. Since the analysed period only spans two years (2012-2013), any conclusion is tentative. A...

SUMARIO: I. I ntroducción. II. Reinventando lo social en el nuevo orden global. II I. Tipos de in... more SUMARIO: I. I ntroducción. II. Reinventando lo social en el nuevo orden global. II I. Tipos de innovación social. IV. I nnovación social en la UE. V. Consideración final. VI. Bibliografía. RESUMEN: Aunque la innovación social se plantea como una alternativa a los modelos de protección social y productivismo social imperantes desde los años 50s a nuestros días, no está del todo claro qué es la innovación social, cuáles son sus principales potencialidades y cuales sus limitaciones más aparentes. Tampoco está claro si hay una única definición de innovación social, o varias en función de cómo esta se posiciona respecto a elementos clave de la relación Estado-Mercado. En este artículo nos proponemos aportar luz a este debate ofreciendo una definición más integral de innovación social basada en el concepto de eficiencracia. ABSTRACT: Although social innovation is considered to be an alternative to the models of social protection and social productivism prevailing from the 50s to our days, it is not entirely clear what social innovation is, neither what its most apparent potentialities and limitations are. I t is also not clear whether there is a single definition of social innovation or not, depending on how social innovation is seen with respect to key elements of the State-Market relationship. I n this article we propose to shed light to this debate by offering a more comprehensive definition based on the concept of efficiencracy.

Although it is certainly arduous to synthesize the essence of an epoch, it is widely held that th... more Although it is certainly arduous to synthesize the essence of an epoch, it is widely held that the last thirty years constitute the apogee of neo-liberalism on a global scale. Its core proposals are the true reflections of a vision that recover the centrality of the market to the detriment of the economic role of the state, while putting forward new social values (individualism, self-regulation, security) that challenge previous conceptions highly embedded in the public sphere. The integration of economies that up until now were not involved in international trade is great news. Yet the economic consequences of this integration are not so positive. In reality the benefits of the economic growth associated with globalization are being enjoyed by just a small percentage of the people, but the burdens of growth, principally inequality, deterioration of working conditions, informal economy and human trafficking, are spread out among an increasing part of the population.

Las potencialidades de las TICs para aumentar la eficiencia general de la economía a través de fó... more Las potencialidades de las TICs para aumentar la eficiencia general de la economía a través de fórmulas más flexibles y eficientes de producción, distribución, consumo y coordinación en red se están utilizando para favorecer un modelo de globalización cada vez más desregulado y desigual. Esto no quiere decir que las TICs sean en sí mismas fuente de desregulación y desigualdad. Es el marco económico e institucional el que produce estas disfunciones.

El fuerte crecimiento del desempleo, aunque muy desigual en el conjunto de la UE, que comienza a ... more El fuerte crecimiento del desempleo, aunque muy desigual en el conjunto de la UE, que comienza a aflorar a partir de 2008 como consecuencia de la transferencia a la economía productiva del crash bursátil, está dando lugar a una intensa agenda reformista, especialmente en los países periféricos. El desempleo de los menores de 25 años, que alcanza el 50% en algunas regionales europeas, entre ellas la gran mayoría de las españolas, ha concentrado, metonímicamente, los esfuerzos de las autoridades comunitarias.

Globalización y mercantilización son partes integrales de la nueva realidad mundial y el marco d... more Globalización y mercantilización son partes integrales de la nueva realidad mundial y el marco desde el que entender los crecientes flujos migratorios. No es que la migración sea un fenómeno propio de la globalización, es simplemente que la globalización sitúa la migración en la lógica de un mercado cada vez más interdependiente, desregulado y global. La globalización impone serios retos a las economías nacionales. El comercio, las finanzas, el mercado de trabajo, el cambio climático y las migraciones son ya retos globales que no pueden ser enfrentados desde legislaciones nacionales. La emigración es un buen ejemplo. Calais, Lesbos, Ceuta y Melilla ponen de manifiesto el fracaso en la coordinación de la emigración debido a esta tensión entre lo global y lo nacional. El encaje ideológico del neoliberalismo en este proceso de globalización –sintetizado en el llamado “Consenso de Washington”– es también crucial para entender las migraciones en tanto que ha propiciado una creciente mercantilización del factor trabajo.

Resumen Los niveles de crecimiento de la economía boliviana están en torno al 5% en la última déc... more Resumen Los niveles de crecimiento de la economía boliviana están en torno al 5% en la última década y se ha producido una fuerte reducción de la pobreza, la desigualdad y el desempleo. Estas mejoras socio-económicas se sustentan en una fuerte dependencia de la exportación de energías fósiles (petróleo/gas) y un aumento de la demanda interna. En estas circunstancias cabe preguntarse si este modelo de crecimiento inclusivo puede ser sostenible en el tiempo.

ISRIC 2018 Conference, 5-7 September 2018 Heidelberg, 2018

Proceedings of the Internationsl Conference on Electronic Governance and Open Society Challenges in Eurasia - eGose '17, 2017

Cuadernos de Relaciones Laborales, 2016

Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance, 2016

Proyecciones

Esto dificulta el cumplimiento de los objetivos ambientales de la Estrategia Europa-2020. Una estrategia que no es la panacea ambiental, sino que nace ya de por si limitada, poco ambiciosa, subordinada a los a los intereses de los grandes oligopolios energéticos, a los imperativos del Pacto de Estabilidad y Crecimiento (Maastricht) y al cumplimiento de las politicas de austeridad y mercantilizacion que lleva implícito el Pacto

Crowdfunding is a new financial system with its own particularities. It is a low-cost way of acce... more Crowdfunding is a new financial system with its own particularities. It is a low-cost way of accessing capital, which increases the potential audience for ideas and ventures, reduces the risk of investment, and provides tailored financing methods for a wide variety of projects. It also provides finance in sectors of activity where finance is difficult to obtain and allows entrepreneurs to test the acceptance of their products in a short period of time. But crowdfunding is also about attracting the emotional interest of users, setting up channels of identification with a platform’s core values and purposes and exploiting the capabilities of social networks, community and proximity. This brings about new interactions between economic efficiency and democratic practices which are distinctive of the crowdfunding market.
A particular way of managing the highly idiosyncratic crowdfunding practices seems to have emerged, which underlines the advantages of reinforcing the “economic efficiency-democracy practices” mix (Efficiencracy). Managers interviewed in the study on which this report is based have reported that transparency, participation, learning communities and open-information benefit economic efficiency, and success reinforces democratic practices.

This paper is an attempt to understand the reward crowdfunding sector from the point of view of b... more This paper is an attempt to understand the reward crowdfunding sector from the point of view of backers. From our qualitative and quantitative analyses we can conclude that two main attitudes are predominant among backers who use crowdfunding: “Change-Marker” and “Financial tool”.

These attitudes are not equally distributed when criteria of interest/ motivation are incorporated in the analysis, suggesting hence the existence of three different groups of backers (Enthusiasts, Moderates and Cold (Sceptical). A majority of enthusiasts and half of moderates are more prompted to identify themselves with “Change-maker” attitudes, while sceptical and half of moderates see themselves as backer who identify crowdfunding as a “Financial Tool”.

El año 2016 supone un punto de inflexión en la Financiación Participativa en España por razones t... more El año 2016 supone un punto de inflexión en la Financiación Participativa en España por razones tanto cuantitativas como cualitativas. En los dos últimos años la recaudación ha pasado de €52,268,920 en 2015 a €113,571,990 en 2016 lo que supone un crecimiento del 117,28%, un incremento significativo que sitúa a España entre los seis países con mayor recaudación. Desde una perspectiva temporal más amplia, el crecimiento es aún más significativo, pues sólo cuatro años antes, en el año 2013, la recaudación total ascendió a €17.100.000 lo que representa un crecimiento del 664,7% en el periodo 2013-2016.