New Estimates of Regional GDP in Spain, 1860-1930

This paper presents a new regional database on GDP in Spain for the years 1860, 1900, 1914 and 1930. Following Geary and Stark (2002), country level GDP estimates are allocated across Spanish provinces. The results are then compared with previous estimates. Further, this new evidence is used to analyze the evolution of regional inequality and convergence in the long run. According to the distribution dynamics approach suggested by Quah (1993, 1996) persistence appears as a main feature in the regional distribution of output. Therefore, in the long run no evidence of regional convergence in the Spanish economy is found.convergence, economic growth, regional gdp, distribution dynamics, economic history

Climate Change and Its Socioeconomic Importance

Climate change has played an increasingly key role in recent years and is now one of the leading political priorities worldwide. This article illustrates the scope of the problem, its causes and its impacts, along with the possible solutions that are being considered on the international stage. The existing information regarding these topics is summarised, together with the associated costs and the scale of the effort required to tackle climate change. The article explains why climate change can be seen as a market failure, the importance of public policies to correct this problem and its impact on international trade. The last section considers the international debate taking place in the United Nations Conferences and the Kyoto Protocol as well as what is expected with respect to the future post-Kyoto negotiations.Climate change, policy

Economic techniques to estimate the demand for sustainable products: a case study for fair trade and organic coffee in the United Kingdom

The hedonic approach is used in this paper to estimate how much is paid for the fair trade/organic characteristic of the coffee in the British market. This information is later combined with the Quantity Based Demand System (QBDS) model -developed by the authors- and the Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) (Deaton and Muellbauer, 1980) to completely determine the demand function for different coffees. The QBDS model is easier to handle and less data demanding than the AIDS model in this study. Resumen El presente artículo se basa en la utilización del método hedónico para la estimación de la cantidad que se paga por la característica de "Orgánico/Comercio Justo" del café en el mercado británico. La información obtenida se combina después con el modelo Sistema de Demanda Basado en Cantidades (QBDS) - desarrollado por los autores- y el Sistema de Demanda Casi Ideal (AIDS) (Deaton and Muellbauer, 1980) para determinar por completo la función de demanda de los diferentes tipos de café. El modelo QBDS es más sencillo en su utilización y necesita de menos datos que el modelo AIDS. Palabras clave: sistemas de demanda, método hedónico, demanda de café, etiquetadodemand systems, hedonic method, coffee demand, labelling, C13, C21, D12,

The Role of Regions in Climate Change Policy

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing human kind. Urgent policy action is needed. Climate change policies are mainly being discussed at international level by means of the United Nations Conventions and the Kyoto Protocol. However, the bulk of the impact will be felt at regional and local level. And these levels of governance hold many of the competences for implementing policy actions. Regional governments are important agents and should, therefore, be incorporated into the negotiation rounds so that their voices can be heard. This paper illustrates the important role of regions in climate policies and considers many of the policy instruments being designed and implemented. More than 20 major regions are showcased here. Finally, the case of Basque climate policy is described to shed some light as to what regions could do.Climate change, regional policy

Llengües minoritàries i divulgació científica. 'Elhuyar': periodisme i ciència en eusquera.

La revista Elhuyar va nàixer el 1974 amb l’objectiu d’adequar l’eusquera a l’àmbit científi c i tècnic. Des de llavors, la revista s’ha consolidat com una publicació de divulgació de la ciència que concedeix especial rellevància a la investigació realitzada al País Basc, però el principal objectiu de la qual és capacitar el lector en la cultura científica i, alhora, entretenir-lo

Carbon leakage and the future of Old Industrial Regions after Copenhagen

CO2 prices will continue to differ from one country to another for a long time, even if a global post-Kyoto agreement is achieved in the near future. The non-homogeneous nature of climate policies may decrease the competitiveness of some industries with the risk of relocation of activities due to carbon leakage. One of most exposed industries in Europe is iron and steel, as it is highly CO2-intensive and relatively open to international trade. Most studies estimate a leakage of up to 20% as a consequence of all the industrial production activities that are expected to be relocated, and a level of relocation ranging from 1.5% to 35% specifically for the iron and steel sector. This might seem a relatively small macroeconomic impact if measured at country or EU level. However, the picture may be quite different if the analysis is conducted at sub-national level. Therefore, one could argue that there is an important gap in the literature as the relevant studies are applied to a large geographical scale when the fact is that in Europe this industry is highly concentrated in certain specific regions, i.e. the so-called Old Industrial Regions (OIR). This paper seeks to analyse the impact that different levels of relocation of the iron and steel industry in the OIRs will have as a consequence of climate policy. This is done using an AGE (Applied General Equilibrium) model. The results show that although these effects may be diluted from a national perspective, the impact for incumbent regions may be very large, and may in fact significantly reduce their GDPs. Another important outcome emerges when the costs of CO2 reduction derived from industry relocation and from cost-effective policies are compared. Although relocation of industrial activity (i.e. forced output change) can reduce CO2, the cost is very high compared with other options (e.g. induced input substitution). These results can help national and regional policy makers understand the necessary linkages between their environmental and industrial policies.Climate Policy, Regional Economics 

Health insurance for HIV prevention & treatment: predictors of health insurance enrollment among HIV+ women in Kenya

Background: The global push to achieve the 90-90-90 targets designed to end the HIV epidemic has called for the removing of policy barriers to prevention and treatment, and ensuring financial sustainability of HIV programs. Universal health insurance is one tool that can be used to this end. In sub-Saharan Africa, where HIV prevalence and incidence remain high, the use of health insurance to provide comprehensive HIV care is limited. This study looked at the factors that best predict social health insurance enrollment among HIV positive pregnant women using data from the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH) in western Kenya. Methods: Cross-sectional clinical encounter data were extracted from the electronic medical records (EMR) at AMPATH. We used univariate and multivariate logistic regressions to estimate the predictors of health insurance enrollment among HIV positive pregnant women. The analysis was further stratified by HIV disease severity (based on CD4 cell count ) to test the possibility of differential enrollment given HIV disease state. Results: Approximately 7% of HIV infected women delivering at a healthcare facility had health insurance. HIV positive pregnant women who deliver at a health facility had twice the odds of enrolling in insurance [2.46 Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR), Confidence Interval (CI) 1.24-4.87]. They were 10 times more likely to have insurance if they were lost to follow-up to HIV care during pregnancy [9.90 AOR; CI 3.42-28.67], and three times more likely to enroll if they sought care at an urban clinic [2.50 AOR; 95% CI 1.53-4.12]. Being on HIV treatment was negatively associated with health insurance enrollment [0.22 AOR; CI 0.10-0.49]. Stratifying the analysis by HIV disease severity while statistically significant did not change these results. Conclusions: The findings indicated that health insurance enrollment among HIV positive pregnant women was low mirroring national levels. Additionally, structural factors, such as access to institutional delivery and location of healthcare facilities, increased the likelihood of health insurance enrollment within this population. However, behavioral aspects, such as being lost to follow-up to HIV care during pregnancy and being on HIV treatment, had an ambiguous effect on insurance enrollment. This may potentially be because of adverse selection and information asymmetries. Further understanding of the relationship between insurance and HIV is needed if health insurance is to be utilized for HIV treatment and prevention in limited resource settings.Othe

La política de los contornos vitales : Una aproximación a la apropiación en el Nunca Más

La presente ponencia se formula desde una serie de inquietudes atinentes a la conformación de los procesos de apropiación en el Nunca más (CONADEP, 2012). El interés por realizar un análisis de la cuestión se encuentra atravesado por un conjunto de reflexiones variadas que tratan de abarcar un tratamiento teórico pertinente a los alcances del discurso. Dentro de este postulado, lo primero que cabe decir es que el estudio forma parte de un capítulo de la tesis Vidas políticas. Análisis de apropiación y restitución de niños en el Nunca más, elaborada en el marco de presentación del Trabajo Final de Licenciatura en Letras Modernas (Universidad Nacional de Córdoba). En dicha instancia, el abordaje se adentra en un desarrollo que fundamenta la elección del corpus de análisis, sólo mediante la perspectiva que fija como interés primordial la relación entre vida y política.Mesa 12: La dictadura. Memoria, derechos humanos y justiciaFacultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació