Survey vs Scraped Data: Comparing Time Series Properties of Web and Survey Vacancy Data

This paper studies the relationship between a vacancy population obtained from web crawling and vacancies in the economy inferred by a National Statistics Office (NSO) using a traditional method. We compare the time series properties of samples obtained between 2007 and 2014 by Statistics Netherlands and by a web scraping company. We find that the web and NSO vacancy data present similar time series properties, suggesting that both time series are generated by the same underlying phenomenon: the real number of new vacancies in the economy. We conclude that, in our case study, web-sourced data are able to capture aggregate economic activity in the labor market

ERDF 156 - Developing a national environmental monitoring infrastructure and capacity : shifting the state of access

Chapter 1Malta, through an initiative spanning 9 years, has completed an exercise aimed at obtaining a complete set of data that will serve as a basis for cross-thematic research. This is made achievable through the creation of essential datasets that will give the public, terrestrial and bathymetric baseline information for free. Such was made possible through an initiative as part of a project, entitled “Developing a National Environmental Monitoring Infrastructure and Capacity”. The Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) was the lead partner of this project together with the University of Malta (UoM), the Malta Resources Authority (MRA), the Environmental Health Directorate (EHD) and the National Statistics Office (NSO) as external partner organisations. Th e project had a total budget of €4.9M, of which €4.8M was co-funded by ERDF (85%) and National Funds (15%) under the Operational Programme 1 – Investing in Competitiveness for a Better Quality of Life. MEPA’s funding contribution to this project was €180K. Of these, €4.26M were utilised due to savings pertaining to the tendering process. The aim of this chapter is to describe the project aims, process and outcomes.peer-reviewe

The current situation for the water sources in the Maltese Islands

This commentary addresses issues related to the scarcity of water in the Maltese Islands and its main causes. Some basic metrics related to the abstraction of freshwater, contamination of groundwater by nitrate and the limitations and challenges of the water sources in the Maltese Islands are highlighted. Hereafter, the relation between water scarcity, rainfall and population density, as well as the resultant effects on the sustainability of the freshwater sources of the Maltese Islands are presented. The current focus is on the production of good quality water based on a number of Reverse Osmosis (RO) plants that are found around the Maltese Islands. The significant energy requirements of this technology are compared with those for groundwater and wastewater treatment production. Current practices in the Maltese Islands regarding the treatment and use of sewage effluent by Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) are described. The use of treated sewage effluent as an alternative source of water to RO water and of groundwater for second class uses is discussed. This paper concludes that the technology needed to employ treated effluents for unrestricted agricultural use and also for aquifer recharge is now in existence.peer-reviewe

Transforming aquatic agricultural systems towards gender equality: a five country review

Aquatic agricultural systems (AAS) are systems in which the annual production dynamics of freshwater and/or coastal ecosystems contribute significantly to total household income. Improving the livelihood security and wellbeing of the estimated 250 million poor people dependent on AAS in Bangladesh, Cambodia, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands and Zambia is the goal of the Worldfish Center-led Consortium Research Program (CRP), “Harnessing the development potential of aquatic agricultural systems for development.” One component expected to contribute to sustainably achieving this goal is enhancing the gender and wider social equity of the social, economic and political systems within which the AAS function. The CRP’s focus on social equity, and particularly gender equity, responds to the limited progress to date in enhancing the inclusiveness of development outcomes through interventions that offer improved availability of resources and technologies without addressing the wider social constraints that marginalized populations face in making use of them. The CRP aims to both offer improved availability and address the wider social constraints in order to determine whether a multi-level approach that engages with individuals, households and communities, as well as the wider social, economic and political contexts in which they function, is more successful in extending development’s benefits to women and other excluded groups. Designing the research in development initiatives to test this hypothesis requires a solid understanding of each CRP country’s social, cultural and economic contexts and of the variations across them. This paper provides an initial input into developing this knowledge, based on a review of literature on agriculture, aquaculture and gender relations within the five focal countries. Before delving into the findings of the literature review, the paper first justifies the expectation that successfully achieving lasting wellbeing improvements for poor women and men dependent on AAS rests in part on advances in gender equity, and in light of this justification, presents the AAS CRP’s conceptual frame

Education for older adults in Malta : current trends and future visions

The purpose of this article was to evaluate the policies guiding late-life education in Malta, as well as the local plethora of learning opportunities for, and participation in, older adult education. The government in Malta is committed to supporting the inclusion of older persons in lifelong education policies and programmes, to the extent that local studies uncovered a rise in the overall participation of older adults in formal, non-formal, and informal areas of learning. Whilst the present and future prospects for late-life education in Malta seem promising, as implied by the increasing opportunities and rising participation rates, a critical scrutiny of present ideologies and trends finds the field as being no more than seductive rhetoric. The coordination of late-life education in Malta results in various social benefits to older learners and Maltese society in general, but it also occurs within five intersecting lines of inequality - namely an economist rationale, elitism, gender, the urban-rural divide, and third ageism. This article ends by proposing policy recommendations for the future of late-life education.peer-reviewe

Adult education in Malta : challenges and prospects

Lifelong learning has long been a topic of discussion in Malta but, as this article shows, barriers to participation continue to exist. This article outlines the historical and economic changes that have led Malta to its present situation where adult education largely focuses on employment skills. Although available through a variety of channels, challenges still need to be met to ensure the participation of groups such as women, older people and immigrants. This article advocates a national strategy for adult education within which a balance is struck between learning for employment and learning as a public good.peer-reviewe

Socio-economic implications of population ageing in Malta : risks and opportunities

Preliminary figures based on the 2011 Malta Census of Population and Housing indicated that, at end of 2012, 24 per cent of the total population, or 102,026 persons, were aged 60-plus. It is widely recognised that such demographic projections will have profound implications on the different sectors of the economy and society ranging from labour and capital markets, the demand and supply for social and health care services, as well as community housing and institutional care. On one hand, it is not uncommon to come across popular discourse that pronounces the ageing of population as an ‘agequake’ on a global scale. On the other hand, there is an alternative, optimistic, view of ageing, that sees the coming of population ageing as a positive development. This article explores the interface between the economy and ageing, by outlining the major risks and opportunities associated with an ageing population. The final part of the article recommends areas for further research and policy analysis.N/

Decoupling economic growth and environmental degradation : reviewing progress to date in the small island state of Malta

This paper considers the challenge of decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation; in contrast to several large-scale cross-country analyses that focus on limited indicators of environmental degradation, we analyze in some depth the experience of a single small-scale island state setting (Malta). We use available statistical data to derive decoupling factors, in order to consider the extent to which decoupling has been achieved in four sectors: (i) energy intensity, climate change, and air quality; (ii) water; (iii) waste; and (iv) land. Results indicate relative decoupling between economic growth and several indicators considered, and to a lesser extent, relative decoupling between population growth and the same indicators of environmental pressure. Absolute decoupling has been achieved in at least one instance but there has been no decoupling of land development from either economic or population growth. Land use and population thus appear to be notable sources of pressure. The results suggest that decoupling analyses that present environmental degradation in terms of single variables (e.g., carbon emissions) may misrepresent somewhat the state of the environment at local level. Furthermore, the study highlights the need for methodologies that factor in the "embedding" of small-scale settings within much larger trade networks, for a more accurate estimation of environmental impact, and points to some limitations of solely quantitative analyses of environment-ecology relationships.peer-reviewe

Transformation of the rural economy in the Philippines, 1988-2006

This research explores the changing structure of the rural economy in the Philippines from 1988 to 2006. We found that the expansion and upgrade of infrastructure such as electricity and roads and investment in secondary and tertiary education are important factors that induced the economic transformation of the rural economy. The importance of higher education as an entry requirement to the nonfarm labor market has declined over time, indicating that the rural nonfarm sector has been increasingly providing employment opportunities to the unskilled and the uneducated, which form the bulk of the rural poor.Embargo Period 18 monthshttp://www.grips.ac.jp/list/jp/facultyinfo/estudillo_jonna/http://www.grips.ac.jp/list/jp/facultyinfo/otsuka_keijiro