Unobserved heterogeneity and censoring in the demand for health care

This paper analyses the demand for private health care by Spanish households using a micro budget survey. The methodology used takes care of the three part decision process involved in this type of behaviour, namely the decision to use private health care, how often to do so and how much to spend each time and also the effects of unobserved heterogeneity. Since the theoretical framework corresponds to the Grossman model of health investment, the results also provide a test of the theory when these issues are considered. Finally, the obtained evidence also suggest that the current system of tax deductions for private health care expenditures is regressive.Health, microeconometrics

How important are tobacco prices in the propensity to start and quit smoking? An analysis of smoking histories from the Spanish National Health Survey

This paper analyses the effect of tobacco prices on the propensity to start and quit smoking using a pool of the 1993, 1995 and 1997 editions of the Spanish National Health Surveys. The estimates for several parametric models of the hazard rate for starting and quitting suggest that i) The public health measures applied as of 1992 have had a significative effect on both reducing the hazard of starting and increasing the hazard of quitting, ii) Prices have a very weak effect on the hazard of starting in the male population and no significant effect in the female population, iii) The price floor of cigarrettes, proxied by the average price of a pack of black cigarrettes, has a significant effect on the quitting hazard which is robust across specifications and applies to both men and women. The implied price elasticity of the time up to quitting is situated around -1.4.Smoking, taxes, health, care

The origin principle and the welfare gains from indirect tax harmonization

The purpose of this paper is to establish a parallelism between the analyses in Keen (1987,1989.a) referred to indirect tax harmonization when taxes are levied according to the destination principle and its counterpart when taxes are imposed on an origin basis. Using a simple two-country model of international trade it is argued that indirect tax harmonization under the origin principle, considered as a movement of domestic taxes towards an appropriately designed "average" tax structure, is potentially Pareto improving, in the sense that the welfare of a given country can be increased provided that the other country's welfare is kept unchanged with the aid of an international transfer. In the same vein, it is shown that if the initial position is a Nash equilibrium, there are situations under which the above-mentioned reform may generate an actual Pareto improvement, so that both countries improve their welfare without any need for a compensating international transfer. As stated above, the definitive system will be a mixed one, so that the pure origin case is not the most realistic framework from a policy point of view. However, it may be useful in yielding indications that, coupled with the results that have been obtained under the destination principle, provide insights on the effects of the definitive system

An unknown Christian poet of Abbasid period, and a Mozarabic poetess who did not exist

El cristianismo árabe de todas las épocas es un tema que ha sido poco tratado por los investigadores occidentales. En este artículo se aborda el estudio de una figura literaria que hasta ahora era prácticamente desconocida en el panorama de la literatura árabe en general, e incluso en las monografías dedicadas a los autores cristianos. Se trata del poeta sirio iraquí Zabīnā Ibn Isḥāq al-Naṣrānī, que vivió en la época de mayor esplendor del Califato Abasí. Para ello se recopilan todas las noticias que nos han llegado sobre su persona, deshaciéndose de camino una grave confusión que arranca ya en los autores árabes y que lo presenta como una poetisa cristiana de al-Ándalus. Después se edita, traduce y comenta el breve Diván poético que se ha conservado de su obra literaria, la cual no está exenta de valor, pues según argumenta un crítico literario del siglo XI, algunos de sus versos pudieron servir de inspiración al gran poeta neoclásico al-Mutanabbī.Arab Christianity of all eras is a field of study that has not been treated in depth by Western scholars. This article embraces the study of a literary figure that has until now been almost unknown within the Arabic literary panorama in general, or even within the monographs dedicated to Christian authors. This is the case of the Iraqi-Syrian poet Zabīnā ibn Isḥāq al-Naṣrānī, who lived in the period of greatest splendor of the Abbasid Caliphate. For this purpose, the news that has reached us about the author has been compiled, consequently clarifying a serious misunderstanding, which already originates amongst Arabic writers, and portrays him as a Christian poetess of al-Andalus. Following this review, the small poetic Divan that has been preserved of his work is edited, translated and analyzed. A work which is not deprived from a great value, since, as one literary critic of the 11th Century argues, some of his verses could have inspired the great Neoclassical poet al-Mutanabbī

Reflexiones en torno a la relación profesor-alumno en la tutoría online

The rise to the new communication technologies applied to education is causing an increase in the use of the online tutorial within university teaching. The implementation of the European credits system is also going to encourage the development of these virtual tutorials. This article reflects how the use of this tool affects teacher-pupil relations and shows the pros and the cons of its utilization. It is recommended to make use of the online tutorial as a complement to face-to-face relationship and to put always technology at the service of teaching and not the other way round.El auge de las nuevas tecnologías de la comunicación aplicadas a la educación está determinando un incremento del empleo de la tutoría online dentro de la docencia universitaria. Las innovaciones a las que va obligar la implantación de los créditos europeos van a impulsar el desarrollo de estas tutorías virtuales. El presente artículo reflexiona acerca de cómo el uso de este instrumento afecta a la relación entre profesor y alumno, señalando tanto sus pros como sus contras. Se recomienda recurrir a la tutoría online como complemento de la relación presencial, y siempre poniendo la tecnología al servicio de la docencia, y no a la inversa

Simplicial similarity and its application to hierarchical clustering

In the present document, an extension of the statistical depth notion is introduced with the aim to allow for measuring proximities between pairs of points. In particular, we will extend the simplicial depth function, which measures how central is a point by using random simplices (triangles in the two-dimensional space). The paper is structured as follows: In first place, there is a brief introduction to statistical depth functions. Next, the simplicial similarity function will be defined and its properties studied. Finally, we will present a few graphical examples in order to show its behavior with symmetric and asymmetric distributions, and apply the function to hierarchical clustering.Statistical depth, Similarity measures, Hierarchical clustering

«Hic sunt leones». The new legal dimension in the age of globalization (a reflection from uncertainty)

La llamada globalización tiene su origen en el predominio del capitalismo financiero, que provoca, en apariencia, el escape al Estado de los flujos económicos, y a la consecuente predisposición normativa. Las causas del escape son la revolución tecnológica y el predominio de concepciones políticas y económicas de cuño ultra liberal-conservador: ideología neocon y escuela económica monetarista que abonan la idea de la inevitabilidad de las decisiones de los mercados. Sin embargo no hay: mercado sin reglas jurídicas salvo por el rehúse del Estado. Así nace el Derecho de la globalización como fruto exclusivo de las instancias del poder privado Los resultados: crisis institucional por vacío del poder político jurídico del Estado; aparición de modos de producción del Derecho sin legitimación política; de ello son vehículos la nueva lex mercatoria, el contrato y el arbitraje. Se debe notar que el Derecho global no es Derecho solo transfronterizo, sino que sus soluciones se trasladan al ámbito estatal. Vienen así a la existencia de dos dimensiones jurídicas, una desregulada, otra subalterna de la desregulación, alumbrando un mundo de grandes incertidumbres.The so-called globalization stems from the predominance of financial capitalism, which causes an apparent escape for the state of economic flows and your consequent regulation. The causes of the escape are the technological revolution and the prevalence of political and economic conceptions of ultra-liberal-conservative stamp: neocon ideology and monetarist school of economics. This analysis supports the idea of the inevitability of the decisions of the markets. However, there is not market without legal rules; there is the refusal of the state power. Thus, borns the globalization law as the exclusive product of instances of private power. It is results an institutional vacuum of legal political power of the state; and the emergence of modes of production of law without political legitimacy; vehicles of this are the new lex mercatoria, the contract and arbitration. It should be noted that the so called law of globalization is not only transboundary but their solutions are transferred to the state leve!. So, comes to the existence of two legal dimensions, one unregulated, another subordinate to deregulation, arising a world of great uncertainty