Socio-economic determinants of efficiency in reducing child mortality in developing countries

Efficiency issues in health investments have received increasing attention, mainly as a result of the growing amount of resources invested in developing countries and their mixed impacts on outcomes. The empirical literature has suggested that, although government spending on health care improves the health status of the population, society can potentially gain more through the more efficient assignment of health resources. In this context, this paper aims to: firstly, to analyse whether developing countries can further reduce child mortality by using the available resources more parsimoniously; and secondly, to identify the (non-discretionary) socio-economic factors that could be affecting this process. More specifically, this paper aims to explain why some countries are more efficient than others in converting inputs (physician density and relative total health expenditure) into a health outcome: the under-five mortality rate (U5MR). The database used in the estimations comprised 47 developing countries with data for the periods 2000- 2004, 2005-2009, and 2010-2012. The findings suggest that greater efficiency in the provision of immunization, better quality government, and lower income inequality are directly related to efficiency in the use of inputs to reduce the U5MR.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

A measure of the economic dependence of countries on tourism

El principal objetivo de este estudio fue construir un índice de dependencia económica del turismo para una muestra de 144 países y el período comprendido entre 1995 y 2019. A continuación, analizamos la convergencia en los niveles del índice. El índice calculado muestra una leve tendencia hacia mayores niveles de dependencia del turismo de las economías desde el final de la crisis financiera mundial. Sin embargo, no observamos una clara reducción de la dispersión entre países en sus niveles. Además, los resultados de la estimación sugieren que se puede rechazar la hipótesis de convergencia absoluta y que hay cuatro clubes de convergencia final. Análisis adicionales indican que los factores geográficos desempeñan un papel importante en la determinación de la correspondiente probabilidad de pertenencia a un club. Además, las economías grandes y las más dependientes de los recursos tienen una menor probabilidad de pertenecer al club de países más dinámicos y con mayor nivel de dependencia económica del turismo.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Do Illicit Financial Flows Hurt Basic Healthcare Provision? The Case of Infant Vaccination Coverage in Low-and Middle-Income Countries

Since 1980, developing countries have lost US$16.3 trillion dollars through broad leakages in the balance of payments, trade misinvoicing, and unrecorded financial transfers. Moreover, according to the Global Financial Integrity (GFI), illicit flows from the developing world increased steadily to reach US$1.1 trillion in 2013. The amounts of resource losses due to illicit outflows entail severe social costs and show that the extent of illicit capital flows from developing countries is serious cause for concern. Indeed, illicit capital flow from developing countries exceeds the combined total of official development assistance (ODA) and foreign direct investment (FDI) flowing into those economies and is considered a major hindrance to development. Capital flight, and in particular illicit financial flows, drains the scarce public resources available to finance the provision of public services (e.g., basic health interventions such as immunisation programs) in the poorest countries. Thus, this article analysed the impact of illicit financial flows on the infant immunisation coverage rate as a first step in analysing the impact of illicit capital flows on life conditions in developing countries. With this aim, we employed data for 56 low- and middle-income countries for the period 2002-2013. The main result of the empirical analysis is that, as expected, the relative level of illicit financial flows negatively impacts vaccination coverage in the sample of countries considered. Specifically, the total effect of a year increase of 1 p.p. in the ratio of IFF to total trade is to reduce the level of vaccination coverage rate over the coming years by 0.1 p.p. Taking into account that the average number of infants in the countries analysed over the sample period was approximately 65.3 million, this result suggests that at least 65,300 children may not receive this basic health care intervention in the future as a consequence of the increase in the ratio of IFF to total trade in a particular year.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

An empirical analysis of the efficiency in reducing child mortality (Millennium Development Goal 4)

The main aim of this article is to analyse, at the macro-level, why some countries are more efficient in converting inputs (physicians density and relative total health expenditure) into both a specific health-output (immunization against measles) and a health-outcome (under-five mortality rate). With this aim, a two-step Data Envelopment Analysis / Tobit analysis is applied on cross-section data for 43 developing countries in 2000, 2005 and 2010. Research findings suggest that countries with lower income inequality have achieved better efficiency levels in attaining health targets. Some other control variables are also shown to matter, including government effectiveness and the poverty gap ratio. Thus, enhancing the quality of institutions and reducing poverty are key factors which could promote efficiency in the use of resources employed in the production of basic health outputs, like children immunization programs. These two factors may explain, for example, why some developing countries are achieving higher rates of immunization against measles using the same health-input level in the period 2006-2010.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Impact of illicit financial flows on infant vaccination coverage in developing countries.

Objectives This paper analysed the impact of illicit financial flows (IFFs) on the infant immunisation coverage rate as a first step in analysing the social costs of IFFs in developing countries. Background The liberalization of capital flows is generally associated with prospects of higher growth. However, in developing countries, opening the capital account may also facilitate the flow of capital out of the country through illicit financial flows (IFFs). Since 1980, developing countries have lost US$16.3 trillion dollars through broad leakages in the balance of payments, trade misinvoicing, and unrecorded financial transfers. Moreover, according to the Global Financial Integrity (GFI), illicit flows from the developing world increased steadily to reach US$1.1 trillion in 2013. Given that IFFs drain the scarce public resources available to finance the provision of public goods and services, the extent of illicit capital flows from developing countries is serious cause for concern. Data/Methods Data for 56 low- and middle-income countries for the period 2002-2013 have been employed. All data are open access (from GFI, World Health Organization and World Bank). Also, in order to analyse the impact of the relative size of IFFs on child vaccination coverage, as a baseline specification, a dynamic panel data model has been employed. Results/Expected Results The main result of the empirical analysis is that, as expected, the relative level of illicit financial flows negatively impacts vaccination coverage in the sample of countries considered. Specifically, the total effect of a year increase of 1 p.p. in the ratio of IFF to total trade is to reduce the level of vaccination coverage rate over the coming years by 0.1 p.p. Taking into account that the average annual number of infants in the countries analysed, over the sample period, was approximately 65.3 million, this result suggests that at least 65,300 children may not receive this basic health care intervention in the future as a consequence of the increase in the ratio of IFF to total trade in a particular year. Policy Implications The findings of this study offered evidence showing that, in developing countries, the existence of both sufficiently strong and stable financial institutions and an efficient legal system might be crucial in order to prevent the long-run negative effects of capital flows on the health conditions of populations.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

The miniJPAS survey : white dwarf science with 56 optical filters

Aims. We analyze the white dwarf population in miniJPAS, the first square degree observed with 56 medium-band, 145 Å in width optical filters by the Javalambre Physics of the accelerating Universe Astrophysical Survey (J-PAS), to provide a data-based forecast for the white dwarf science with low-resolution (R ∼ 50) photo-spectra. Methods. We define the sample of the bluest point-like sources in miniJPAS with r 7000 K can be segregated from the bluest extragalactic QSOs, providing a clean sample based on optical photometry alone. Conclusions. The J-PAS low-resolution photo-spectra would produce precise effective temperatures and atmospheric compositions for white dwarfs, complementing the data from Gaia. J-PAS will also detect and characterize new white dwarfs beyond the Gaia magnitude limit, providing faint candidates for spectroscopic follow-up

Illicit financial flows in low- and middle-income countries: A hindrance to human development.

Illicit financial flows (IFFs) are cross-border transfers of funds that are illegally earned, transferred, or utilized. Although it is widely recognised that these flows drain the scarce public resources available to finance the provision of public services and investments, there are few contributions on the effects of IFFs on human development. In this context, the main aim of this paper is to analyse empirically the relationship between IFFs and human development. This study used annual data for 56 low- and middle-income countries for the period 2002-2013 (provided by the UN’s Human Development Index (HDI), the World Bank, Transparency International, and Global Financial Integrity) and employed econometric methods to quantify the impact of the relative size of IFFs on the HDI. The main result was that the total effect of an annual 10 percentage point increase in the ratio of IFFs to total trade would imply a 20.2 point decrease in HDI level as a long run effect. Thus, research findings suggest the urgent need to reduce IFFs as part of development policy in these countries.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

The Dominant Role of Mergers in the Size Evolution of Massive Galaxies since z∼1

We estimate the merger rate, both major (stellar mass ratio μ = M★,_2/M★,_1 ≥ 1/4) and minor (1/10 ≤ μ < 1/4), of massive (M★ ≥ 10^(11) M☉) early-type galaxies (ETGs) in the COSMOS field by close pairs statistics. The merger rate of massive ETGs evolves as a power-law (1+z)^n, showing the minor merger little evolution with redshift, n_(mm) ∼ 0, in contrast with the increase of major mergers, n_(MM) = 1.8. Our results shows that massive ETGs have undergone 0.89 mergers (0.43 major and 0.46 minor) since z ∼ 1, leading to a mass growth of ∼ 30%. In addition, μ ≥ 1/10 mergers can explain ∼ 55% of the observed size evolution of these galaxies since z ∼ 1. Another ∼ 20% is due to the progenitor bias (younger galaxies are more extended) and we estimate that very minor mergers (μ < 1/10) could contribute with an extra ∼ 20%. The remaining ∼ 5% should come from other processes (e.g., adiabatic expansion or observational effects). These results suggest that mergers are the main contributor to the size evolution of massive ETGs, accounting for ∼ 55%–75% of that evolution in the last 8 Gyr. Nearly half of this merging evolution is related with minor (μ < 1/4) events

El control judicial integral de los actos politícos o de gobierno dentro del estado social y democrático de derecho colombiano

Un tema ya clásico del derecho consiste en la necesidad y la forma en que el poder puede ser limitado, en que se le puede controlar y, además, al que se le pueda hacer resistencia, oposición, confrontación. Desde la antigüedad, en la Grecia Clásica con Sófocles y su obra Antígona, o Esquilo y su mito de Prometeo encadenado, la humanidad ha debatido acerca del límite de la obediencia a la ley, al gobernante, al poder, y de cuándo, bajo ciertas circunstancias, la desobediencia o resistencia es justificada o se encuentra “amparada por los dioses”1. Es así como las sociedades, y el derecho como constructo de éstas, han ido de manera paulatina estableciendo y estructurando controles al ejercicio del poder de los gobernantes, de la cosa pública: como bien lo afirma Ferrajoli (2010, p. 208) “[t]oda la historia del derecho puede ser entendida como la progresiva minimización del poder por medio de la regulación jurídica”. Teniendo en cuenta la realidad anotada, así como la necesidad que a ella subyace, la cuestión fundamental radica en la forma en que se debe diseñar ese control: en cabeza de quién podría estar, la forma de llevarlo a cabo y, sobre todo, las materias o temas que deberían estar sometidos a él, y por principio de exclusión, qué asuntos entonces no podrían estar bajo dicho control o límite.Universidad Libre -- Facultad de derecho -- Maestría en Derecho AdministrativoAn already classic subject of law consists in the necessity and the way in which power can be limited, in which it can be controlled and, in addition, to which resistance, opposition, confrontation can be made. Since ancient times, in Classical Greece with Sophocles and his work Antigone, or Aeschylus and his myth of Prometheus in chains, mankind has debated the limit of obedience to the law, to the ruler, to power, and when, under certain circumstances, disobedience or resistance is justified or is "protected by the gods"1. This is how societies, and law as a construct of them, have gradually established and structuring controls on the exercise of power by the rulers, of public affairs: as Ferrajoli (2010, p. 208) states: "[t]ode the history of law can be understood as the progressive minimization of power through legal regulation". Taking into account the reality noted, as well as the need underlying it, the fundamental question lies in the way in which this control should be designed: in whose head it could be, how to carry it out and, above all, the subjects or subjects that should be subject to it, and by principle of exclusion, what subjects then could not be under such control or limit