Educational System, Altruism and Inequality in the Distribution of Income

This paper studies the impact of public provision of education on the distribution of income in a framework where parents are altruistic toward children. Any child receives two transfers, one as a non-human transfer and the other as a human capital transfer. Under different education regimes, non-human transfers offset the low realization of innate ability, which despite the human capital transfer implies a low level of earnings. Then the questions that will arise are, first, to what extent skill-compensating investments are important as ex-ante income inequality reduction mechanisms in the private provision system, and secondly, how public education can affect this reduction mechanism. I show that tax policy may have unexpected effects on the compensatory effect, that is, on the income gap. The result is that the distribution of income induced by the public provision system is not more equally distributed. Moreover, the fraction of population that does not improve is just at the bottom of the income distribution. I also explore some possibilities to avoid this negative effect and preserve public education as an essential public service.Altruism, human capital and non-human capital transfers, systems of education, inequality

Changes in quantity and quality of time for children: United States, 1981-1997

This paper tries to analyze changes in the allocation of time decided by mothers and how different characteristics of them, such us marital status, employment status, etc., influences that allocation across the period 1981-1997 in the United States. Data reveals that there exists an increase on the quantity and quality of time devoted to children by some types of mothers and children. It is shown that the behavioral component of this change is larger than the structural component. Then, the determinants of direct and indirect time, quality versus quantity, are analyzed in a simultaneous equation framework. Estimations suggest that if a mother works, children's time is reduced. However working time is a substitutes of quantity of time with children, but not quality. Being single reduces not only time but its quality. Mother's earnings and level of education have changed their influence on the allocation of time across time.Time-use, quantity and quality of time with children, family ecomics, simultaneous equation system, three-stage least squares

An Analysis of Student Satisfaction: Full-Time versus Part-Time Students.

This paper examines how students’ characteristics affect their level of satisfaction with their academic degree. For this analysis we draw data from a survey answered by graduate students. This survey was conducted at a public university in Spain from 2001 to 2004. The fact that students simultaneously work and study emerges as one of the most important determinants of student satisfaction. In particular, our results show that alumni who had a part-time job while they were studying are more likely to report being less satisfied with their college experience.Student Satisfaction, College Graduates, Higher Education, Part-time Student, Employment Status

Do Endowments Matter for Vertical Intra-Industry Trade with Emergent Countries? Empirical Evidence for Spain.

In this paper, we study the nature of Spanish intra-industry trade and find that intra-industry trade with CEEC, Asian and Mediterranean countries has increased considerably since the middle of the Nineties. The second aim of the paper is to study if the comparative advantage argument also explains the vertical intra-industry trade between countries with different income levels. To this end we build physical, technological and human capital stocks for a large sample of countries. Results obtained with the panel techniques support the idea of a neo Ricardian explanation of VIIT rather than the neo-Hecksher-Ohlin explanation for intra-industry trade with emergent countries. Furthermore, our results suggest that the variables considered, mostly country-specific better explain vertical intra-industry trade than horizontal intra-industry trade. Results obtained with the Heckman method support the idea that IIT is more likely to occur with emergent countries with higher i ncome per capita and with OECD countries that have a more similar level of income to that of Spain. Differences in endowments play an important role to determine the volume of IIT rather than the probability of IIT to occur. An aditional contribution of this paper is to demonstrate that panel approach allows for more robust conclusions than OLS estimations when explaining intra-industry trade. The Heckman procedure to account for the zero flows also represents a major improvement respect to the standard approach.Intra-industry trade; Comparative Advantage, Spain, Vertical Differentiation, Panel data, Truncated models.

Do Endowments Matter for Vertical Intra-Industry Trade with Emergent Countries? Empirical Evidence for Spain

In this paper, we study the nature of Spanish intra-industry trade and find that intra-industry trade with CEEC, Asian and Mediterranean countries has increased considerably since the middle of the Nineties. The second aim of the paper is to study if the comparative advantage argument also explains the vertical intra-industry trade between countries with different income levels. To this end we build physical, technological and human capital stocks for a large sample of countries. Results obtained with the panel techniques support the idea of a neo Ricardian explanation of vertical intra-industry trade rather than the neo-Hecksher-Ohlin explanation for intra-industry trade with emergent countries. Furthermore, our results suggest that the variables considered, mostly country-specific better explain vertical intra-industry trade than horizontal intra-industry trade. Results obtained with the Heckman method support the idea that intra-industry trade is more likely to occur with emergent countries with higher income per capita and with OECD countries that have a more similar level of income to that of Spain. Differences in endowments play an important role to determine the volume of intra-industry trade rather than the probability of intra-industry trade to occur. An additional contribution of this paper is to demonstrate that panel approach allows for more robust conclusions than OLS estimations when explaining intra-industry trade. The Heckman procedure to account for the zero flows also represents a major improvement respect to the standard approachIntra-industry trade; Comparative Advantage, Spain, Vertical Differentiation, Panel data, Truncated models.

Trade types with developed and developing countries what can we learn from Spanish data?

In this paper, we investigate the nature of Spanish intra-industry trade and find that intraindustry trade with CEEC, Asian and Mediterranean countries has increased considerably since the middle of the Nineties. The second aim of the paper is to study if the comparative advantage argument also explains vertical intra-.industry trade between different income countries. According to OLS estimations, technological differences do increase DVIIT while physical capital differences decreases it. Results obtained applying Heckman method support the idea that differences in physical capital reduce the probability of IIT to occur but the level of vertical and horizontal IIT is better explained by the proximity of partners, the similarity in development level and size of market than by differences in physical capital endowments. The variables considered, mostly country-specific do have the same impact on vertical and horizontal IIT with emergent countries.

Social Interactions and Subjective Well-Being: Evidence from Latin America

In this paper, we seek to examine the effect of comparisons and social capital on subjective well-being. Furthermore, we test if, through social influence and exposure, social capital is either an enhancer or appeaser of the comparison effect. Using the Latinobarómetro Survey (2007) we find that in contrast to most previous studies, the comparison effect on well-being is positive; that is, the better others perform, the happier the individual is. We also find that social capital is among the strongest correlates of individuals’ subjective well-being in Latin American countries. Furthermore, our findings suggest that social contacts may enhance the comparison effect on individual’s happiness, which is more intense for those who perform worse in their reference group.comparison effect, social capital, subjective well-being, social interactions

Reflexiones en torno a la evaluación de la calidad educativa

Resulta notoria la importancia que en estos momentos han adquirido las evaluaciones de la calidad en el ámbito de la educación. Sin embargo, incluso en el plano conceptual existe un alto grado de desacuerdo acerca de lo que es la calidad educativa, cómo medirla y cómo mejorarla. Este artículo presenta unas breves reflexiones sobre la subjetividad del concepto de calidad educativa, así como un repaso del origen y la evolución de la preocupación por la evaluación de la calidad. Se intenta, además, poner de manifiesto algunos de los posibles riesgos que dichas evaluaciones conllevan, así como las aportaciones que pueden suponer para la educación. Tras estas reflexiones se concluye tanto la necesidad de seguir trabajando en la búsqueda de definiciones amplias de la calidad como la cautela con la que deben tomarse los resultados de las evaluaciones realizadas en la actualidad

Do sunk exporting costs differ among markets? Evidence from Spanish manufacturing firms.

In this paper, we test the hypothesis of sunk exporting costs differing among markets. We use a sample of Spanish firms from Encuesta sobre Estrategias Empresariales (ESEE) for period 1991-2002. Our results confirm the importance of those sunk costs and demonstrate that they differ depending on the market they export to. Although most of the firms exports to developed markets, the costs to enter (and "to re-enter") are greater in those markets.Sunk costs, heterogeneity of firms, Regionalism.

Fission half-lives of super-heavy nuclei in a microscopic approach

A systematic study of 160 heavy and super-heavy nuclei is performed in the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov approach with the finite range and density dependent Gogny force with the D1S parameter set. We show calculations in several approximations: with axially symmetric and reflexion symmetric wave functions, with axially symmetric and non-reflexion symmetric wave functions and finally some representative examples with triaxial wave functions are also discussed. Relevant properties of the ground state and along the fission path are thoroughly analyzed. Fission barriers, Q$_\alpha$-factors and lifetimes with respect to fission and $\alpha$-decay as well as other observables are discussed. Larger configuration spaces and more general HFB wave functions as compared to previous studies provide a very good agreement with the experimental data.Comment: 26 pages, 15 figure