Static and Dynamic Poverty in Spain, 1993-2000

We focus on the statics and dynamics of poverty in Spain using data from the first eight waves of the European Community Household Panel from 1994 to 2001, a period not sufficiently covered by recent literature. The results confirm the pattern of poverty changes noted by other authors for the early nineteen-nineties. After this period poverty reduces slightly in incidence and intensity, but 2000 is the turning point. In the dynamic perspective, the pattern revealed is one of much mobility, but most of it short-range.ECHP, exit rate, income distribution, poverty dynamics, re-entry rate, Spain, static poverty.

Static and Dynamic Poverty in Spain, 1993-2000

We focus on the statics and dynamics of poverty in Spain using income data from the first eight waves of the European Community Household Panel. These data are for the years 1993-2000, a period not sufficiently covered by recent literature. The results confirm the pattern of poverty changes noted by other authors for the early nineteen-nineties. After this period poverty reduces slightly in incidence and intensity, but 2000 is a turning point. In the dynamic perspective, the pattern revealed is one of much mobility, but most of it short-range.ECHP, income distribution, poverty dynamics, re-entry and exit rate, static poverty.

'Thinking about learning': exploring the use of metacognitive strategies in online collaborative projects for distance professional English learning

This article explores the use of metacognitive strategies in the context of online collaborative language projects, on the basis of the authors’ claim that they can unveil spurious conventional assumptions on the general nature of online language learning, and thereby enable informed, self-regulated, and potentially effective individual learning processes. This research is situated in a recently completed pilot project called The Professional English Workbench, which involved task-based group formation and a rubric-based multi-cyclic (self- and hetero-) evaluation process that aimed at eliciting and enhancing the use of metacognition. As explained in the article, this project was undertaken by volunteer students from a number of subjects related to professional English in three Tourism subjects at UNED (according to a tertiary distance education institution which uses a blended learning methodology focusing on online learning via its virtual platform). Both the mechanics of the project and the analysis of the results are presented, making reference to the initial research questions, which were related to the students’ view on the collaborative tasks undertaken and the potential improvement of metacognitive competence in the context of the whole second language learning process.Este artículo explora el uso de estrategias metacognitivas en un contexto de proyectos lingüísticos colaborativos en línea, partiendo de la premisa de que pueden desvelar ciertas presuposiciones falsas relativas al aprendizaje de lenguas en línea y por tanto propiciar procesos de aprendizaje autónomo documentados, auto-regulados y potencialmente efectivos. Esta investigación parte de un proyecto piloto finalizado recientemente llamado The Professional English Workbench, que incluyó agrupaciones de alumnos basadas en tareas y un proceso de evaluación (tanto propia como externa) multi-cíclico, basado en el uso de rúbricas que tenían como objetivo principal la activación y mejora del uso de la metacognición. Tal y como se explica en el artículo, en este proyecto participaron estudiantes voluntarios de tres asignaturas relacionadas con el inglés profesional del grado de Turismo de la UNED, una institución de educación superior a distancia que hace uso de metodología de aprendizaje mixto centrada en la educación en línea a través de su plataforma virtual. Tras presentar tanto el funcionamiento del proyecto como el análisis de los resultados, se da respuesta a las preguntas de investigación iniciales, relacionadas con la opinión de los alumnos acerca de las tareas de colaboración llevadas a cabo y las posibilidades de mejora de la competencia metacognitiva en el contexto del proceso de aprendizaje de una segunda lengua

Country differences in the gender effect on poverty in Europe

This paper evaluates to what extent differences in population and structural characteristics between countries can explain country differences with respect to the gender effect on poverty. Our study aims to advance research on the structural dimension in the predominantly individually-oriented study field of poverty. To facilitate an approach that integrates individual and structural context dimensions we take advantage of multilevel techniques to test differences among a large number of countries regarding the effect of the gender gap on the risk of being poor, entering into poverty, and exiting from poverty. We use the European Union Survey on Income and Living Conditions for the years 2007-2008. From our analyses, we conclude that structural effects seem to be more relevant than individual effects in explaining country differences with regard to the gender poverty gap.The financial support from Spanish Ministry of Education through grant ECO2009-11117 and Junta de Andalucía though grant P07-SEJ-03261

Códigos impositivos, desigualdad y bienestar

En este artículo, a partir de la descomposición del índice de Gini, se analiza el efecto que tiene la aplicación de un código impositivo sobre los niveles de desigualdad y de bienestar, en una población de la que se considera una partición en subpoblaciones homogéneas respecto a un conjunto de características, distintas de la renta, que tienen incidencia fiscal. Classification-JEL : D63.código impositivo, desigualdad, bienestar.

The Distributional Effects of Devolution in the U.S. Welfare Reform

The passage of the PRWORA in 1996 devolved responsibility for the design of welfare programs from the federal to state governments in the U.S. Some of the strategies implemented to achieve the main goals of the reform –promoting higher levels of labor participation and decreasing levels of welfare dependency– might have had the effects of reducing the protection received by the most vulnerable households and increasing differences in benefit levels across states. We estimate these effects using TANF data covering the two decades after the PRWORA\u27s enactment. We measure the contribution of each state to inequality in adequacy rates. We provide an interpretation of the decomposition of the change in inequality in adequacy rates in terms of progressivity and re-ranking components, and we analyze the convergence in TANF adequacy rates. We also estimate the conditional convergence of adequacy ratios with respect to the change in labor participation, poverty rates, and caseloads. We find that differences in adequacy rates increased and that a downward divergence path took place ensuing devolution of welfare reform in the U.S

Peer-to-peer interaction and linguistic feedback in foreign language MOOCs

Este trabajo estudia las interacciones entre compañeros o interacciones peer-to-peer en el primer Curso Online Masivo y Abierto (COMA o MOOC en inglés) de Inglés Profesional realizado para nativos hispanohablantes en paralelo en las plataformas en línea UNED Abierta y Miríada X, con la finalidad de fomentar la instrucción abierta en el ámbito de la educación superior de lenguas. Dadas las diferencias entre ambas plataformas, en este artículo nos centramos en el curso de la plataforma Miríada X, cuyo planteamiento se basó principalmente en una serie de actividades de lengua interculturales que buscaban la interacción y el feedback entre compañeros, con el objeto de fomentar la comunicación en línea en la lengua de destino y desviar el enorme desequilibrio en la proporción entre estudiantes (cerca de 30.000) y profesores (5: 2 curadores y 3 facilitadores) y el elevado índice de abandono característico de este tipo de cursos. La información sobre el nivel de interacción alcanzado y el feedback proporcionado por los estudiantes se registró mediante la observación del seguimiento del curso y las opiniones de los estudiantes recogidas en un cuestionario final. El análisis realizado revela la necesidad de matizar algunos de los actuales criterios de calidad de estos cursos y de mejorar sustancialmente la percepción de los estudiantes de lenguas sobre la interacción con compañeros.This work presents a study of the interactions between course mates, i.e., peer-to-peer interactions, in the first Professional English MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) for Spanish native speakers, which was started in parallel on Open UNED’s MOOC platform and also on Miriada X. One of the objectives of this course was to foster open interaction in the area of language higher education. Given the differences between both platforms, the present work is centred on the course in Miriada X, which was structured around a series of intercultural activities that required student interaction and mutual feedback in order to foster online communication in the target language, thereby addressing the issue of the communicative imbalance between the students (around 30,000) and the teaching team (5: 2 curators and 3 facilitators) and the large dropout rate which characterises this type of courses. The information about the level of interaction and the type of feedback provided by the students was registered through teacher observation and also by means of a final questionnaire that students were required to undertake. The analysis undertaken revealed the need to adjust some of the quality criteria currently applied to these courses and also the need to substantially improve the perception that Spanish speaking students have of the advantages of peer interaction.Grupo FORCE (HUM-386). Departamento de Didáctica y Organización Escolar de la Universidad de Granada.El proyecto de investigación SO-CALL- ME desarrolla actualmente este trabajo, financiado por el Ministerio Español de Ciencia e Innovación (ref. no. FFI2011-29829)

Assessing regional convergence of the size of middle classes in Euro-Mediterranean countries

Historically, Euro-Mediterranean European countries have presented high levels of intra- and interregional socio-economic inequalities and are regular recipients of financial support under European Union Cohesion Policy. This paper provides evidence of regional convergence in the size of lower- and upper-middle-income classes across regions of France, Greece, Italy and Spain for the period 2004-17. Our results also reveal that changes in class size in neighbouring regions are associated with changes in the same direction in the lower- and upper-middle classes of the region of interest. As regards growth of class size in neighbouring regions, the convergence process is offset in both middle-income groups, but only partially for the upper-middle class. Furthermore, the economic cycle affects the process of regional convergence in the size of the middle class, although the effects are non-homogeneous for both middle-class groups. While increases or decreases in gross domestic product (GDP) do not seem to be closely related to upper-middle-class size, relatively persistent decreases rather than increases in GDP over time tend to be more linked to lower-middle-class size. These findings point to significant differences in the convergence dynamics between lower- and upper-middle classes, with the former being more sensitive to both neighbouring regions and the business cycle.University of MalagaUniversity of GranadaRegional Government of Andalusia [UMA18-FEDERJA-005]Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation [AEI/10.13039/501100011033

‘THINKING ABOUT LEARNING’: EXPLORING THE USE OF METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES IN ONLINE COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS FOR DISTANCE PROFESSIONAL ENGLISH LEARNING

This article explores the use of metacognitive strategies in the context of online collaborative language projects, on the basis of the authors’ claim that they can unveil spurious conventional assumptions on the general nature of online language learning, and thereby enable informed, self-regulated, and potentially effective individual learning processes. This research is situated in a recently completed pilot project called The Professional English Workbench, which involved task-based group formation and a rubric-based multi-cyclic (self- and hetero-) evaluation process that aimed at eliciting and enhancing the use of metacognition. As explained in the article, this project was undertaken by volunteer students from a number of subjects related to professional English in three Tourism subjects at UNED (according to a tertiary distance education institution which uses a blended learning methodology focusing on online learning via its virtual platform). Both the mechanics of the project and the analysis of the results are presented, making reference to the initial research questions, which were related to the students’ view on the collaborative tasks undertaken and the potential improvement of metacognitive competence in the context of the whole second language learning process.Este artículo explora el uso de estrategias metacognitivas en un contexto de proyectos lingüísticos colaborativos en línea, partiendo de la premisa de que pueden desvelar ciertas presuposiciones falsas relativas al aprendizaje de lenguas en línea y por tanto propiciar procesos de aprendizaje autónomo documentados, auto-regulados y potencialmente efectivos. Esta investigación parte de un proyecto piloto finalizado recientemente llamado The Professional English Workbench, que incluyó agrupaciones de alumnos basadas en tareas y un proceso de evaluación (tanto propia como externa) multi-cíclico, basado en el uso de rúbricas que tenían como objetivo principal la activación y mejora del uso de la metacognición. Tal y como se explica en el artículo, en este proyecto participaron estudiantes voluntarios de tres asignaturas relacionadas con el inglés profesional del grado de Turismo de la UNED, una institución de educación superior a distancia que hace uso de metodología de aprendizaje mixto centrada en la educación en línea a través de su plataforma virtual. Tras presentar tanto el funcionamiento del proyecto como el análisis de los resultados, se da respuesta a las preguntas de investigación iniciales, relacionadas con la opinión de los alumnos acerca de las tareas de colaboración llevadas a cabo y las posibilidades de mejora de la competencia metacognitiva en el contexto del proceso de aprendizaje de una segunda lengua

Interindividual deprivation, close and remote individuals

In assessing relative deprivation, the classical approach considers that individuals compare their income with each and every income of the distribution, and assign equal weight to these comparisons. In this paper we propose a more realistic alternative approach to obtain individual deprivation. We assume that the deprivation of the individual depends, to a greater extent, on the situation of those who are part of their social environment (neighbors, colleagues, family, or, in general, the individual’s reference group) rather than on the situation of those in an unattainable situation from the individual’s point of view. In developing their aspirations, individuals focus on the group to which they belong or at least, they feel they are likely to belong to. As a particular case, our proposal includes the classical approach, allowing us to explain some situations that do not fall under the assumptions of that approach.Financial support from the Spanish Institute for Fiscal Studies