Robust Stylized Facts on Comovement for the Spanish Economy

In this article we further develop the suggestion of obtaining stylized facts on comovement on the basis of prewhitened time series proposed in André, Pérez and Martín (2002). Firstly, we show some examples on the robustness of the method. Secondly, we test the relevance of such a proposal by revisiting some of the existing stylized facts on comovement for the Spanish economy in Dolado, Sebastián and Vallés (1993).Stylized Facts, Comovement, Cross Correlation Function, HP-Filter, Prewhitening

PRODUCT MIX OF THE SPANISH BANKING FIRMS: DO COMPETITION CLUBS EXIST?

The expansion and intensification of banking competition, which has occurred inSpain during the last ten years, has allowed banks and savings banks to define theircompetitive strategies with more freedom. This paper analyzes the similarities andthe differences in their product mix along with its time evolution. In particular, itattempts to identify the different kinds of firms and, on this ground, to analyze whethercompetition leads to the homogeneization (convergence) of product mixes betweenfirms or groups of firms (clubs). The empirical success is higher when specializationclubs are considered, finding increased heterogeneity within the banking system as awhole but increased homogeneity within certain clusters of banks and savings banks La expansión e intensificación de la competencia en el sector bancario ocurrida en España durante la última década ha permitido a bancos y cajas de ahorro definir sus estrategias competitivas con mayor libertad. Este artículo analiza las similitudes y diferencias en la especialización de las empresas bancarias y su evolución temporal. En particular, trata de identificar los distintos tipos de empresas y, a partir de ello, analizar si la competencia está condicionada o no por grupos (clubes) de competidores con especializaciones similares. Los resultados son superiores cuando se consideran clubes de especialización, obteniéndose heterogeneidad creciente para el conjunto del sistema bancario pero homogeneidad creciente dentro de ciertos grupos de bancos y cajas de ahorro.sector bancario, convergencia, especialización productiva banking, convergence, product mix

Political and institutional factors in regime change in the ERM: An application of duration analysis

This paper analyses the functioning of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM). To that end, we apply duration models to estimate an augmented target-zone model, explicitly incorporating political and institutional factors into the explanation of European exchange rate policies. The estimations are based on quarterly data of eight currencies participating in the ERM, covering the complete history of the European Monetary System. Our results suggest that both economic and political factors are important determinants of the ERM currency policies. Concerning economic factors, the money supply, the real exchange rate, the interest in Germany and the central parity deviation would have negatively affected the duration of a given central parity, while credibility and the price level in Germany would have positively influenced such duration. Regarding political variables, elections, central bank independence and left-wing administrations would have increased the probability of maintaining the current regime, while unstable governments would have been associated with more frequent regime changes. Moreover, we show how the political augmented model outperforms, both in terms of explanatory power and goodness of fit, the model which just incorporates pure economic determinants.Duration analysis, political variables, exchange rates, European Monetary System

Viability study of sailing propulsion combined with a conventional system

For many years now, sails have been used as a propulsion system. At present, they are restricted to recreational/sport crafts since the appearance of the first steam vessels in the beginning of the 19 th century. But in the last years, due to the increase of fuel price and the pollution of the environment, it is being studied the possibility to introduce again the sail as a propulsive method combined with other conventional systems. In this paper, it is studied the viability of using a sail as a propellant with other conventional systems of propulsion. After considering the concept of apparent wind, the range of use of this complementary propulsion is presented. The calculation methodology, the numerical simulations and the wind inputs from a specific route are also included

Evaluation of a Fall Alerting System based on a Convolutional Deep Neural Network

Artículo sobre detección de caídas con redes neuronales profundasOwing to the effects of falls on quality of life of the elderly, automatic fall detection systems (FDS) have become a key research topic in the ambit of telecare. This works assesses the performance of convolutional neural networks when they are applied to identify fall accidents in a wearable FDS provided with a tri-axial accelerometer. The evaluation of the detection algorithm is carried out by employing a benchmarking repository with a wide set of traces captured from a wide group of volunteers that executed a programmed series of Activities of the Daily Living (ADLs) and emulated falls. Results show that the CNN can properly distinguish both types of movements with a success rate (specificity and sensitivity) around 99%.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Measuring International Economic Integration: Theory and Evidence of Globalization

This article features a set of indicators designed to measure international economic integration and globalization. We analyze the degree of openness and the respective networks of connections---both direct and indirect---for each economy in our sample. Our indicators are based on network analysis techniques and the exchange of flows among world economies. Starting from four basic axioms of international economic integration, we define the Standard of Perfect International Integration, along with the set of indicators for degree of openness and connectedness, both for each specific economy and for the world economy as a whole. We apply our indicators to data on trade flows for 59 countries---accounting for 96.7% of world output---for the 1967--2004 period. According to our results, international economic integration is higher than what traditional degree of openness indicators suggest. The advance of globalization is unequal among countries because of the differing trends in their degree of openness and the differences in the intensity with which economies are connected to each other. Several economies now appear to be internationally integrated; however, the relatively low degree of openness in some of the largest economies jeopardizes the progress of globalization. We also perform some simulations which suggest that, should technological progress lead to an increase in indirect connections, the move towards greater international economic integration would accelerate.International Economic Integration, Globalization, International Trade, Network Analysis

The distance puzzle revisited: a new interpretation based on geographic neutrality

One of the most remarkable features of globalization is the boost undergone by international trade triggered off by advances in technology that have contributed to reduce the cost of trade (e.g., transportation and communication costs). Under these circumstances, the importance of distance should have diminished over time, which would constitute a boon for countries located far from the main centers of economic activity. However, one of the best-established empirical results in international economics is that bilateral trade decreases with distance. This apparent contradiction has been labeled as the “missing globalization puzzle”. We propose yet another explanation to this apparent contradiction based on the concept of geographic neutrality, which we use to construct international trade integration indicators for two different scenarios, namely, when distance matters and when it does not. Our results indicate that the importance of distance varies greatly across countries, as revealed by disparate gaps between distance-corrected and distance-uncorrected trade integration indicators for different countries. Some factors rooted in the literature explain away the discrepancies, but their importance varies according to the trade integration indicator considered —trade openness or trade connection.Geographic Neutrality, Globalization, Gravity Models, Network Analysis, Remoteness