VALIDATING POLICY INDUCED ECONOMIC CHANGE USING SEQUENTIAL GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM SAMs

This paper explores the capacity of computable general equilibrium (CGE) models to track down policy induced economic changes and their ability to generate contrastable data for an economy. Starting from an empirically built regional Social Accounting Matrix (SAM), a first stage CGE calibrated model is constructed. The model is then perturbed with a set of policy shocks related to European Union Structural Funds 2000-2005 invested into the region of Andalusia in the south of Spain. The counterfactual equilibrium is translated into a virtual SAM, conformal with the initial one, which is in turn reused to calibrate the next stage in the CGE modeling. And so on until the last stage is reached and all European funds yearly invested have been absorbed by the economy. Since at the end of the process another empirical SAM is available, it can be compared with the terminally produced virtual SAM. The comparison shows the sequence of SAMs to provide a very good fit to the actual data in the empirical SAM. Regional GDP and unemployment rates are two examples of the close approximation. With this novel approach we evaluate, from the methodological viewpoint, the projection capabilities of CGE modeling and at the same time we provide an empirical assessment of the said European policies.Social accounting matrices, applied general equilibrium, impact analysis, European regional policy.

Are there key sectors? : an appraisal using applied general equilibrium

An extension of the hypothetical extraction method to a general equilibrium setting is considered. This has the advantage of re-interpreting output changes as efficiency gains or losses, which may be of use in identifying "key" sectors in an interconnected economy. The categorization may be relevant for the evaluation of intersectoral synergies and for improving policy planning and orienting economic strategy. We argue that the standard measures based on gross outputs may not capture all of the relevant impacts and this is so because of some self-imposed modeling and accounting limitations. An economy-wide Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) approach provides a modeling platform that overcomes these limitations since it offers (i) a more comprehensive measure of linkages and (ii) an alternative way of accounting for linkages' relevance that is in closer accordance with the standard statistical magnitudes used in national or regional accounts

Interplay between symmetry and spin-orbit coupling on graphene nanoribbons

We study the electronic structure of chiral and achiral graphene nanoribbons with symmetric edges, including curvature and spin-orbit effects. Curved ribbons show spin-split bands, whereas flat ribbons present spin-degenerate bands. We show that this effect is due to the breaking of spatial inversion symmetry in curved graphene nanoribbons, while flat ribbons with symmetric edges possess an inversion center, regardless of their having chiral or achiral edges. We find an enhanced edge-edge coupling and a substantial gap in narrow chiral nanoribbons, which is not present in zigzag ribbons of similar width. We attribute these size effects to the mixing of the sublattices imposed by the edge geometry, yielding a behavior of chiral ribbons that is distinct from those with pure zigzag edges. © 2013 American Physical Society.This work has been partially supported by the Spanish Ministries of Science and Innovation (MICINN) and Economy and Competitivity (MINECO) DGES under Grants No. MAT2009-14578-C03-03, No. PIB2010BZ-00512, No. FIS2010-21282-C02-02, No. FIS2011-23713, No.MAT2012-38045-C04-04, and No. FIS2012-33521.Peer Reviewe

Comparing university performance by legal status: a Malmquist-type index approach for the case of the Spanish higher education system

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Tertiary Education and Management on 2017, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13583883.2017.1296966New public management and increasing levels of competition driven by global rankings are bringing the managerial practices of public and private higher education institutions closer together. However, these two types of institutions still maintain different objectives and traditions and enjoy different degrees of autonomy that are reflected in their internal organisational structures. We study the relative efficiency and productivity performance of private and public universities in Spain through two adaptations of the Malmquist Index. Results show that, in 2009/2010, the greater flexibility of private universities meant a better adjustment between inputs and outputs in the private sector. However, in 2013/2014, public universities had caught up with private universities. Because of the economic crisis, the inputs of public universities have decreased, but this decrease had not fully impacted their results in 2013/201

Utilización de fijadores externos como tratamiento de urgencias en las fracturas pélvicas del politraumatizado

La importancia de la inestabilidad pélvica en el pronóstico vital del paciente politraumatizado obliga a actuar con rapidez sobre estas lesiones. Presentamos nuestra casuística de 10 pacientes politraumatizados con fracturas inestables de pelvis tratados de urgencia mediante fijación externa. Los buenos resultados obtenidos confirman la utilidad de este sistema como tratamiento inicial en un servicio de urgencias, que en la gran mayoría de los casos será el tratamiento definitivo.The importance of pelvis instability for life prognosis in multiple trauma patients implies a rapid treatment action in these lesions. We report 10 patients with multiple trauma and unstable pelvis fractures treated as emergency by external fixation. The good results obtained confirm the utility of this method as both the initial and definitive treatment of pelvis fractures in cases of emergency

Ortesis para la prevención de la subluxación y luxación de rodilla en alargamientos femorales complejos

Se describe una ortesis para uso en la prevención de la subluxación y luxación de rodilla en los casos de alargamientos femorales en los que se considera posible la presentación de este problemaWe present an orthesis to prevent dislocation of the knee during femoral lengtheing when this problem can presumably occur

Estudio comparativo del tratamiento quirúrgico de las fracturas diafisarias de húmero mediante enclavado endomedular de Hackethal y placa atornillada

Se revisan comparativamente 160 fracturas diafisarias humerales tratadas quirúrgicamente en nuestro servicio mediante 2 técnicas distintas: placa atornillada a comprensión y enclavado endomedular en haz de Hackethal. Siguiendo la clasificación de la AO, se comparan los resultados de ambos métodos en cuanto al tiempo de consolidación según la localización y trazo de fractura, así como las complicaciones de cada método. El tiempo de consolidación fue menor en las fracturas tratadas con haz de Hackethal (3.9 meses) que en las tratadas con placa (4 meses), mientras que en las fracturas complejas (tipo C) tratadas con placa, el tiempo de consolidación disminuyó (4.1 meses) en relación a las tratadas con haz de Hackethal (4.9 meses). Destaca un alto porcentaje de pseudoartrosis (9.7) y la peor recuperación funcional en las fracturas tratadas mediante haz de Hackethal frente al 0% de pseudoartrosis de los casos tratados con placa, así como la ausencia de infecciones en ambas series.A total of 160 humeral shaft fractures surgically treated were retrospectively assessed. Surgical technique was performed by means of two different methods: compression plate and closed intramedullary nailing. Fractures were grouped following AO criteria. Outcome assessment was carried out analyzing complications rate and time period for fracture healing according to type and level of the fracture. No instances of infections were observed. Fractures treated with flexible intramedullary nailing showed an average time period of healing lower than those treated with compression plate (3.9 and 4 months respectively). However this difference was increased and reverse in the more complex fractures (type C fractures) being 4.1 months for plating technique and 4.9 months for intramedullary nailing. Regarding complication rate, 9.7% of pseudoarthrosis and worse functional outcome were found with intramedullary nailing. There were no cases of pseudoarthrosis with plating technique

A multiplier evaluation of primary factors supply-shocks

Demand-side multipliers have ruled within multisectoral models as the main indicators for policy effectiveness and key-sector determination. The causal link between new exogenous final demand and responded endogenous total output is well understood and has been the basis for such a prevalent demand-side analysis both in linear interindustry analysis and in non-linear applied general equilibrium models. In this paper we shift the perspective to supply-side injections and we do so by studying the repercussion effects of marshalling additional primary factors, labor and capital services, which are injected into the economy and give rise to a general resource reallocation. As a result, we obtain estimates of supply multipliers that provide complementary information to standard demand multipliers. We illustrate the methodology using an empirical general equilibrium model built with the most recent data for the region of Andalusia, Spain.REPEC_wphaeiPostprin

Validating policy induced economic change using sequential general equilibrium SAMs

Acknowledgments: First author to JRC/SVQ/2015/J.1/0038/NC European Commission; second author to SEJ-4546 from the Andalusian Regional Government and to MINECO ECO2012/35430; third author to MINECO ECO2014/52506R. All results, interpretations and opinions are the authors' only and should not be attributed to their academic institutions or financial supporters.We present a novel sequential approach that explores the capacity of Computable general equilibrium (CGE) models to track down policy-induced economic changes and their ability to generate contrastable data. We use an empirical Social accounting matrix (SAM) of the region of Andalusia, in the south of Spain, to construct an initial CGE model. This model is then perturbed with a set of policy shocks related to EU Structural Funds invested into Andalusia. These shocks are accompanied by some parameter adjustments that pick up the main external changes not explained by the model. We generate a sequence of model-produced virtual SAMs. We then compare the last virtual SAM in the sequence with a new available empirical SAM. This allows us to check relatedness, for the same year, between the model produced and the empirical SAMs. The results show a good fit to the empirical data, providing further support to the CGE modelling tool