Tourism expenditure of EU-27 regions under the global economic crisis

This study focuses on the underpinnings of the households’ tourism expenditure decisions during the global economic crisis in 2009. In particular, this study tests if during an economic crisis, decisions on tourism expenditure depend on climate conditions of the place of origin, GDP and GDP growth, among other well-known determinants. It should be noted that cutback decisions on tourism expenditure are not independent of destination choice, and for that reason the model requires the estimation of both decisions simultaneously. The methodology proposed in this paper represents a new way of analyzing the impacts of an economic crisis on tourism expenditure. Two levels of analysis can be considered. On the one hand, macroeconomic data of tourism expenditure is usually explored. On the other hand, the microeconomic analysis of the household and regional variables of their environment that may enrich the analysis. If the econometric model takes into account all these variables simultaneously, then the linkage between GDP changes and tourists´ behavior is enriched and it may be estimated more accurately. As far as we know, this paper is the first study that models the cutback decision on tourism expenditure. Modeling such decision is a challenge because it is not independent of the destination choice. For instance, households that travel domestically may not be as sensitive to the crisis as those who travel abroad. For this purpose, the econometric model employed is a simultaneous system of cutback decision and destination choice. More precisely, Simultaneous Semi-Ordered Bivariate Probit has proved to be the most useful econometric model for the estimation because it deals with the simultaneity of the cutback and destination choice decisions as well as the endogeneity. This research has proved that during an economic crisis, households react cutting back their tourism expenditure depending on GDP, GDP growth, and climate in their place of origin. In that sense, there are marked differences between North-European and Mediterranean regions. It is interesting to note that regions with bad climate are less likely to cut back than those households located in regions with good climate.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Análisis del Programa de Educación, Salud y Alimentación (Progresa) en el municipio de San Felipe del Progreso, estado de México, 1998-2000

Desde su instrumentación, el Programa de Educación, Salud y Alimentación (Progresa), como el principal programa de combate a la pobreza extrema del gobierno federal, ha sido sujeto a una serie de evaluaciones institucionales y de organismos académicos, las cuales se han orientado principalmente a analizar los tres componentes que maneja el Progresa; el CIESAS, una de las instituciones de evaluación, ha determinado efectos negativos del programa en cuanto a la cohesión de los grupos sociales; sin embargo, existen otros efectos potencialmente negativos que afectan al gobierno municipal y que en determinado momento pueden llevar a que la población cuestione la legitimidad de la autoridad local. El presente artículo tiene como objetivo demostrar, con un caso de estudio, este problema de pérdida de presencia del gobierno local ante la población

A multi-layered Bayesian network model for structured document retrieval

New standards in document representation, like for example SGML, XML, and MPEG-7, compel Information Retrieval to design and implement models and tools to index, retrieve and present documents according to the given document structure. The paper presents the design of an Information Retrieval system for multimedia structured documents, like for example journal articles, e-books, and MPEG-7 videos. The system is based on Bayesian Networks, since this class of mathematical models enable to represent and quantify the relations between the structural components of the document. Some preliminary results on the system implementation are also presented

Internal and external effects of quality on competitiveness: Applications for the hotel sector in Spain

The aim of this paper is to analyze — from a global perspective — the main relationships existing between service quality and businesses competitiveness. To this end, a simultaneous equations model is presented. This model enables distinguishing between the external and internal effects of quality on competitiveness, and empirically verifies a set of hypotheses of great significance for the hotel industry. The data used to empirically verify this model were gathered from hotels owned by a national hotel company in Spain. The client survey carried out by the hotel — in the form of questionnaires — was the basis for creating the service quality indicators and establishing their most relevant dimensions. The quality indicator was created for each hotel based using Structural Equation Modelling (S.E.M.). On the other hand, the economic and financial data pertaining to the hotels served to create competitiveness indicators for each of them. The sign and value of the coefficients estimated by the model presented lead to a series of conclusions regarding the complex sequence of direct and indirect causal relationships between quality and competitiveness. The estimation obtained was used to empirically verify a set of key hypotheses regarding the competitiveness of these hotels and to propose measures designed to improve it.

Les càmeres digitals, la xarxa... i el darrer Nobel de física

El darrer Nobel de física ha premiat els treball de tres científics que han obert el camí a les càmeres digitals i a la transmissió eficient de senyals digitals, la base de la xarxa