Employment generation by small firms in Spain

Despite the relevance in terms of policy, we still know little in Spain about where and by whom jobs are created, and how that is affecting the size distribution of firms. The main innovation of this paper is to use a rich database that overcomes the problems encountered by other firm-level studies to shed some light on the employment generation of small firms in Spain. We find that small firms contribute to employment disproportionately across all sectors of the economy although the difference between their employment and job creation share is largest in the manufacturing sector. The job creators in that sector are both new and established firms whereas only new small firms outperform their larger counterparts in the service sector. The large annual job creation of the small firm size class is shifting the firm size distribution towards the very small production units, although not uniformly across industries of different technology intensit

Wage inequality, segregation by skill and the price of capital in an assignment model

Some pieces of empirical evidence suggest that in the U.S., over the last few decades, (i) wage inequality between-plants has risen much more than wage inequality within-plants and (ii) there has been an increase in the segregation of workers by skill into separate plants. This paper presents a frictionless assignment model in which these two features can be explained simultaneously as the result of the decline in the relative price of capital. Additional implications of the model regarding the skill premium and the dispersion in labor productivity across plants are also consistent with the empirical evidence. [resumen de autor

A New Color in the Picture: The Impact of Educational Fields on Fertility in Western Germany

The extensive research on the impact of educational attainment on fertility behavior has been expanded by a new dimension. According to these recent findings, not only the level but also the field of education has to be taken into account. The field of education determines a great deal about labor market options and influences opportunities to combine employment and family life. The question this paper aims to answer is: How does the educational field influence the transition to parenthood of women and men in Western Germany? The German Socio Economic Panel (1984-2010) provides the data. Discrete time event history models are applied to examine the impact of the field of education on the transition to parenthood, looking at the time after graduation until a first child is born. Educational fields are grouped according to their most salient characteristic with regard to the share of women, the occupational specificity, the share of public-sector employment, and the share of part-time employment among people educated in the field. The models take the educational level into account and control for marital status, episodes of educational enrollment, and migration background. The results show that educational fields matter for the transition to a first birth only for women. For men, the results do not show a significant impact of educational fields on the transition rates to parenthood. However, they point at the importance of the educational level for the probability of men to become fathers. High transition rates are found among women educated in both female-dominated and male-dominated fields. The finding of low transition rates among women educated in public-sector fields come as a surprise, since, given the high workplace security in the public sector, they were expected to be among the women with high transition rates

Geographical variation in therapy for bloodstream infections due to multidrug-resistant enterobacteriaceae: a post hoc analysis of the INCREMENT study

We aimed to describe regional differences in therapy for bloodstream infection (BSI) caused by extended-spectrum ?-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL-E) or carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE). 1,482 patients in 12 countries were included from an observational study of BSI caused by ESBL-E or CPE. Multivariate logistic regression was used to calculate adjusted odds ratios (aORs) for the influence of country of recruitment on empirical use of ?-lactam/?-lactamase inhibitors (BLBLI) or carbapenems, targeted use of BLBLI for ESBL-E and use of targeted combination therapy for CPE. The use of BLBLI for empirical therapy was least likely in sites from Israel (aOR 0.34, 95% CI 0.14-0.81), Greece (aOR 0.49, 95% CI 0.26-0.94) and Canada (aOR 0.31, 95% CI 0.11-0.88) but more likely in Italy (aOR 1.58, 95% CI 1.11-2.2) and Turkey (aOR 2.09, 95% CI 1.14-3.81), compared to Spain as a reference. Empirical carbapenems were more likely to be used in sites from Taiwan (aOR 1.73, 95% CI 1.03-2.92) and USA (aOR 1.89; 95% CI 1.05-3.39), and less likely in Italy (aOR 0.44, 95% CI 0.28-0.69) and Canada (aOR 0.10, 95% CI 0.01-0.74). Targeted BLBLI for ESBL-E was more likely in sites from Italy. Treatment at sites within Israel, Taiwan, Turkey and Brazil was associated with less combination therapy for CPE. Although this study does not provide precise data on the relative prevalence of ESBL-E or CPE, significant variation in therapy exists across countries even after adjustment for patient factors. A better understanding of what influences therapeutic choices for these infections will aid antimicrobial stewardship efforts.PH is supported by an Australian Postgraduate Award from the University of Queensland. The study was funded by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Instituto de Salud Carlos III - co-financed by European Development Regional Fund "A way to achieve Europe" ERDF, Spanish Network for the Research in Infectious Diseases (REIPI RD12/0015). BGG, JRB, APH and YC also received funds from the COMBACTE-CARE project (grant agreement 115620), Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) and in-kind contributions from EFPIA companies