Obesity and the Incidence of Chronic Diseases: a Seemingly Unrelated Probit Approach

Western societies can reduce avoidable mortality and morbidity by better understanding the relationship between obesity and chronic disease. This paper examines the joint determinants of obesity and of heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, and elevated cholesterol. It analyzes a broadly representative Spanish dataset, the 1999 Survey on Disabilities, Impairments and Health Status, using a health production theoretical framework together with a seemingly unrelated probit model approach that controls for unobserved heterogeneity and endogeneity. Its findings provide suggestive evidence of a positive and significant, although specification-dependent, association between obesity and the prevalence of chronic illness.hypertension, cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, chronic illness, health production, body mass index, obesity, diabetes

Generational Effects on Adult Height in Contemporary Spain: Exploring Gender and Individual Heterogeneity

As adult height is a well-established retrospective measure of health and standard of living, it is important to understand the factors that determine it. Among them, the influence of socio-environmental factors has been subjected to empirical scrutiny. This paper explores the influence of generational (or environmental) effects and individual and gender-specific heterogeneity on adult height. Our data set is from contemporary Spain, a country governed by an authoritarian regime between 1939 and 1977. First, we use normal position and quantile regression analysis to identify the determinants of self-reported adult height and to measure the influence of individual heterogeneity. Second, we use a Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition approach to explain the gender height gap and its distribution, so as to measure the influence on this gap of individual heterogeneity. Our findings suggest a significant increase in adult height in the generations that benefited from the countrys economic liberalization in the 1950s, and especially those brought up after the transition to democracy in the 1970s. In contrast, distributional effects on height suggest that only in recent generations has height increased more among the tallest. Although the mean gender height gap is 11 cm, generational effects and other controls such as individual capabilities explain on average roughly 5% of this difference, a figure that rises to 10% in the lowest 10% quantile.blinder-oaxaca decomposition, quantile regression, generational effects, adult height, gender gap, individual heterogeneity

Socio-Economic Inequalities in Reported Depression in Spain : A Decomposition Approach

Recent evidence questions some conventional view on the existence of income-related inequalities in depression suggesting in turn that other determinants might be in place, such as activity status and educational attainment. Evidence of socio-economic inequalities is especially relevant in countries such as Spain that have a limited coverage of mental health care and are regionally heterogeneous. This paper aims at measuring and explaining the degree of socio-economic inequality in reported depression in Spain. We employ linear probability models to estimate the concentration index and its decomposition drawing from 2003 edition of the Spanish National Health Survey, the most recent representative health survey in Spain. Our findings point towards the existence of avoidable inequalities in the prevalence of reported depression. However, besides pure income effects explaining 37% of inequality, economic activity status (28%), education (15%) and demographics (15%) play also a key encompassing role. Although high income implies higher resources to invest and cure (mental) illness, environmental factors influencing in peoples perceived social status act as indirect path as explaining the prevalence of depression. Finally, we find evidence of a gender effect, gender social-economic inequality in income is mainly avoidable.occupational status, education, socio-economic inequities in health, depression

Decomposing Cross-Country Gaps in Obesity and Overweight: Does the Social Environment Matter?

[cat] Una qüestió clau sobre la producció de salut relativament poc explorada es refereix a la influència dels factors socioeconòmics i mediambientals sobre el pes i l’obesitat. Aquesta problemàtica adquireix particular rellevància quan es comparen dos països Mediterranis com Itàlia i Espanya. És interessant adonar-se que l’obesitat a Espanya és 5 punts percentual més elevada al 2003 mentre que a l’any 1990 era aproximadament la mateixa en ambdós països. Aquesta article presenta una descomposició no lineal dels gaps o diferencials en taxes de sobrepès (índex de massa corporal – IMC- entre 25 i 29.9 9 kg/m2), obesitat classe 1 (IMC≥30 kg/m2) i classe 2 (IMC≥35 kg/m2) entre Espanya i Itàlia per gènere i grups d’edat. En explicar aquests gaps entre països aïllem les influències dels estils de vida, els efectes socioeconòmics i els mediambientals. Els nostres resultats indiquen que quan no es controla pels efectes mediambientals (efectes de grup o ‘peer effects’) els hàbits alimentaris i el nivell educatiu són els principals predictors del gaps totals entre països (36-52%), si bé aquests dos factors exerceixen un impacte diferenciat segons gènere i edat. Un tant paradoxalment, quan controlem pels efectes de grup aquests predictors perden la seva capacitat explicativa i els efectes de grup passen a explicar entre el 46-76% dels gaps en sobrepès i obesitat i mostren un patró creixent amb l’edat.[eng] A key question underpinning health production, and one that remains relatively unexplored, is the influence of socio-economic and environmental factors on weight gain and obesity. Such issues acquire particular relevance when data from two Mediterranean countries (Italy and Spain) are compared. Interestingly, the obesity rate was 5 percentage points higher in Spain in 2003 while in 1990 it had been roughly the same in the two countries. This paper reports a non-linear decomposition of gaps in overweight (body mass index – BMI - between 25 and 29.9 kg/m2), class 1 (BMI≥30 kg/m2) and class 2 obesity (BMI≥35 kg/m2) between Spain and Italy by both gender and age. We isolate the influence of lifestyles, socioeconomic and environmental effects in explaining cross-country gaps in the prevalence of obesity. Our findings suggest that when the social environment (peer effects) is not controlled for, eating habits and education are the main predictors of total cross-country gaps (36-52%), albeit that these two factors have a different impact depending on gender and age. Somewhat paradoxically, however, when we controlled for the social environment, these previous predictors lost their explanatory power and peer effects were found to explain between 46 and 76% of gaps and to exhibit an increasing age pattern

Life-time redistribution effects of the Spanish public pension system

The paper analyses the inter and intragenerational redistribution effects of the public pensions system in Spain. This is achieved by first comparing the expected present value of life-time income transfers (PVT) and internal rates of return (IRR) of different population cohorts. Secondly, we study the intragenerational aspects of the Spanish public pensions by calculating PVTs the IRRs for workers of different categories, grouped by earnings, gender and marital status. The results obtained show the nature of the important intergenerational effects of the Social Security System in Spain. The oldest 1935 cohort clearly benefits in relation to the youngest 1965 cohort. This is basically due to the gap between current wages and the contribution bases established in the 60s and 70s in Spain during the early stages of the Social Security System, and to the worsening shortfall in Social Security funding, combined with the longer of life expectancy. In addition, intragenerational effects exist by income levels. For contributors who pay between the minimum and the maximum allowable contribution bases, net transfers and rates of return are higher in actuarial terms for high income contributors. The social security `dealï is again more profitable for high income individuals since they contribute at the maximum basis, with respect to low income contributors at the minimum basis. This is due to the late entry and a higher survival rate for high income contributors. The system tends to favour women, given that they generally live longer than men and this factor is only partially offset by their lower wages. Married males, given the fact that they have longer life expectancy and leave a pension to their spouse, obtain higher present net transfers too than do single contributors. We close the paper with some comments on the slight impact and moderate effects of proposals for Social Security reform and on how these may change the previously observed redistribution effects.Social Security in Spain, Life-time contributions and retirement

Transitional effects of a pension system change in spain

This paper studies the output effects, transition costs and the change in pension benefits derived from the substitution of the current unfunded pension system by a fully funded pension system financed through mandatory savings. These effects are estimated by using reduced versions of the neoclassical and endogenous growth frameworks. Because of the greater capital accumulation during the transition phase, final output increases by 23,6% (neoclassical framework); and a 24,5-31,5% (endogenous growth framework). The initial revenue loss for the government would represent a 4,8% of the GDP, raising very slowly during the transition period. Given the new growth rates, rates of return of physical capital, and financial intermediation costs, we have that the capitalization pension benefits obtained by all 30-contribution-year worker would be more than twice than those that guarantee the financial sustainability of the public pension system.capitalization pensions, capital and output effects, transition costs

Tres elementos de broche de cinturón de época visigoda en el Museo Arqueológico Provincial de Badajoz

El presente texto aborda el análisis de tres bronces de indumentaria conservados en el Museo Arqueológico Provincial de Badajoz, correspondientes a adquisiciones anteriores a la década de 1940 e inéditos hasta la fecha. Las piezas datan de los siglos VI-VII y muestran interesantes conexiones con producciones de distintos territorios de la cuenca mediterránea.The present text analyzes three bronze clothing accessories, which are conserved in the Archaeological Museum of Badajoz. All of them entered the collections of the museum before the 1940es and had not been published to this day. The objects date from 6th-7th centuries, and they show interesting connections with metalwork productions from diverse Mediterranean territories