Trade Shoks and Aggregate Fluctuations in an Oil-Exporting Economy

In this paper we analyze the role of trade shocks in shaping aggregate fluctuations in Venezuela from 1950 to 1995. To this end a stochastic general equilibrium model of a small open economy whose main productive activity rests in the exports of a single basic product is specified. Shocks to the terms of trade which are directly associated to oil price changes are modelled as a foreign transfer. We find that this approach gives predictions that are consistent with the time series properties of Venezuela when i) the income efect of consumption more than compensates the substitution effect that generates the oil transfer and, ii) there is imperfect capital mobility. In particular, our model specification captures the observed patterns of the main aggregates after the oil resource boom of 1974.Trade shocks, Aggregate fuctuations, Emerging economies.

DOES SERVICE QUALITY MATTER IN MEASURING PERFORMANCE OF WATER UTILITIES?

Quality is a dimension of water services that has been repeatedly omitted in the study of performance of water utilities. In this paper, we make use of Data Envelopment Analysis techniques (DEA) to compute both conventional quantity-based and quality-adjusted indicators of technical efficiency for a sample of Spanish water utilities. The key assumptions are that a lack of quality (bad quality) can be regarded as a bad output, and the existence of a trade-off between quantity and quality. Our main results indicate that quality matters in measuring technical performance, the difference between conventional and quality-adjusted evaluations representing the opportunity cost of maintaining quality. Averages and distribution functions significantly differ between both assessments of performance, although water utilities do not seem to rank differently.water utilities; quality; Data Envelopment Analysis.

Creencias estereotípicas sobre la mujer: reflexiones en torno a algunos datos de la situación en España

[Abstract] Gender...stereotyping of a representative sample (n=1254) of the Spanish popu... lation is analyzed. The existence of the traditional stereotype is confirtued, both in traits and roles. Women are perceived as more communal and expressive and are supposed to perform domestic activities and tasds. Men, on the other hand, are per... ceived as more agentic and instrumental, and it is believed that their main activity is outside...home employed work. At the sa111e ti111e, and with a different salnple of senior High School students (N=189), the existence of social discritnination toward W0111en who try to follow Technical Studies at college level is confinned. This fin... ding is interpreted as a proof of the itnpact and persiveness of gender stereotypes.[Resumen] Se estudia la estereotipia de género tuostrada por una muestra representativa de la población española (N=1254). Se encuentra que subsiste la estereotipia tradicio... nal tanto en rasgos como en roles. Las mujeres se perciben como más cOlllunales y expresivas y se considera que su actividad fundamental gira en torno al hogar, mien... tras que los hombres se perciben COtuO más agénticos e instrutuentales y se cree que su actividad fundatuental es el trabajo asalariado fuera del hogar. Se comprueba la existencia de discriminación social hacia tuujeres que estudian carreras técnicas en una llluestra de estudiantes de 3º de BUP (N=189), y se interpreta este hecho cotuo una delll0stración del impacto y penetración de los estereotipos de género

Why European Entrepreneurs in the Water and Waste Management Sector Are Willing to Go beyond Environmental Legislation

Sustainability in the water sector in Europe is a major concern, and compliance with the current legislation alone does not seem to be enough to face major challenges like climate change or population growth and concentration. The greatest potential for improvement appears when companies decide to take a step forward and go beyond environmental legislation. This study focuses on the environmental responsibility (ER) of European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the water and waste management sector and analyzes the drivers that lead these firms to the adoption of more sustainable practices. Our results show that up to 40% of European SMEs within this industry display environmental responsibility. Market pull has a low incidence in encouraging ER, while values and the strategic decisions of entrepreneurs seem decisive. Policy makers should prioritize subsidies over fiscal incentives because they show greater potential to promote the adoption of environmental responsibility among these firms

Análisis de la resolución de problemas como estrategia de enseñanza de la biología

Solving-problems as a biology teaching strategy could make the process of comprehension easier and lead to the student's acquisition of knowledge. This paper analyses problem-solving as a basic element of the above strategy (method). For this reason it first proposes the definition of the terms «problem» and «problem-solving» inside practical teaching and secondly discusses the nature of solving as a method within the particular case of biology teaching-learning

Does service quality matter in measuring performance of water utilities?

Quality is a dimension of water services that has been repeatedly omitted in the study of performance of water utilities. In this paper, we make use of Data Envelopment Analysis techniques (DEA) to compute both conventional quantity-based and quality-adjusted indicators of technical efficiency for a sample of Spanish water utilities. The key assumptions are that a lack of quality (bad quality) can be regarded as a bad output, and the existence of a trade-off between quantity and quality. Our main results indicate that quality matters in measuring technical performance, the difference between conventional and quality-adjusted evaluations representing the opportunity cost of maintaining quality. Averages and distribution functions significantly differ between both assessments of performance, although water utilities do not seem to rank differently

Evolution of gender stereotypes in Spain: traits and roles

En este estudio se persigue un doble objetivo: comprobar la evolución de los estereotipos de género en dos aplicaciones, efectuadas en 1993 (N = 1255) y 2001 (N = 1255), ambas con muestras representativas de la población española, y analizar la relación que existe entre rasgos y roles, examinando si se han producido cambios en esa relación con el paso del tiempo. Asimismo, se analizan las propiedades psicométricas de las medidas de rasgo y de rol empleadas. Los resultados muestran que el contenido de los estereotipos de rasgo no se ha modificado, confirmándose la clásica tipología en la que se asignan más rasgos expresivo-comunales a las mujeres que a los hombres y, por el contrario, más rasgos instrumental-agentes a los hombres. La estructura del cuestionario de roles, permite diferenciar entre estereotipia de rol familiar y estereotipia de rol laboral. Al comparar la evolución de los estereotipos en este periodo, se observa un descenso en la estereotipia de la población española, más acusada en el componente de rol que en el de rasgo. La correlación entre ambos componentes es muy baja o no significativa, sin que se observen cambios importantes en la evolución de esa relación. Estos resultados parecen corroborar la independencia entre los componentes de rasgo y de rol.The aim of this study is twofold: to determine whether (and how) gender stereotypes have changed over time through a comparison of two different sets of data collected in 1993 (N = 1255) and 2001 (N = 1255) from a representative sample of the Spanish population, and to examine the relation between gender traits and roles and its stability over time. In addition, special attention is paid to the psychometric properties of the measures of gender traits and roles used in the study. The content of gender stereotypes was found to remain stable over the target period of time, confirming the classical typology (a higher assignment of expressive-communal traits to women and of instrumental-agentic traits to men). The structure of the gender-role questionnaire allows us to distinguish between family-role and work-role stereotyping. Gender-role stereotyping shows a marked decline between 1993 and 2001, a result that contrasts with the stability of trait-role stereotyping. The fact that a very low correlation is observed at the two time points between these two components of gender stereotyping strongly suggests their independence

Factors Promoting Environmental Responsibility in European SMEs: The Effect on Performance

There is increasing social and political awareness of the importance of developing environmental responsibility at a corporate level. When focusing on issues of responsibility, large companies are frequently perceived to be more responsible for driving climate change and resource depletion. However, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) contribute significantly to the use of resources such as material and energy and produce approximately 64% of the pollution in Europe. Drawing on evidence from “The Eurobarometer 381 Survey on SMEs, Resource Efficiency and Green Markets”, we analyze the environmental responsibility of European SMEs, studying their compliance with environmental legislation and how several factors drive environmental orientation among SMEs. Our sample consists of 3647 SMEs operating in 38 countries. Only around a fifth of the firms go beyond environmental regulations, showing the highest levels of environmental responsibility. We conduct OLS regressions to analyze the factors that affect a positive environmental attitude among European SMEs (internal drivers being more significant than external ones) and then, to observe the positive effect of environmental responsibility and firm’s experience in offering green services/products on performance, although a conjoint effect was not found. Implications for practitioners, academics, and policy-makers are outlined