A Note on Weak Exogeneity in VAR Cointegrated Models.

In this note an extension of the traditional definition of weak exogeneity when the variables are I(1) and cointegrated is presented. In particular, the concept of long-run weak exogeneity is introduced when the parameters of interest are the elements of the cointegrating vectors. This definition extends some previously available definitions in this framework.

On the properties of the Dickey-Pantula test against fractional alternatives

The limit properties of the testing sequence underlying the Dickey-Pantula test for a double unit root in a time series are derived when the true data generating process is assumed to be nonstationary fractionally integrated.Publicad

Occupational mismatch and moonlighting of Spanish physicians: Do couples matter?

There are important gender differences in the labour-market status of health sciences graduates in Spain: (i) female physicians have lower participation rates than male physicians and, when they work, they are subject to higher occupational mismatch, and (ii) moonlighting is more frequent among male physicians. In this paper we investigate whether such differences are related to the monopsonistic features of the labour market of health-care professionals. Spanish physicians also exhibit another characteristic reducing their geographical mobility in search of a better occupational adjustment: among all university graduates, they are the ones most often coupled to partners with the same educational level and/or same type of studies. Consequently, optimal occupational adjustment of both partners can be a complex process. This stylised fact allows us to provide empirical evidence on a new type of gender discrimination labelled as ?within-couple discrimination?, which arises when geographical mobility of couples is favourable to men, so that they achieve better occupational adjustment than women despite having the same human capital. Finally, we analyse if moonlighting can be interpreted as a way of avoiding monopsonistic effects by increasing the labour supply elasticity.Fundación BBVA / Banco de Santander / La Caix

Asymptotic inference results for multivariate long-memory processes

In this paper, we extend the well-known Sims, Stock and Watson (SSW)(Sims et al. 1990; Econometrica 56, 113?44), analysis on estimation and testing in vector autoregressive process (VARs) with integer unit roots and deterministic components to a more general set-up where non-stationary fractionally integrated (NFI) processes are considered. In particular, we focus on partial VAR models where the conditioning variables are NFI since this is the only finite-lag VAR model compatible with such processes. We show how SSW?s conclusions remain valid. This means that whenever a block of coefficients in the partial VAR can be written as coefficients on zero-mean I(0) regressors in models including a constant term, they will have a joint asymptotic normal distribution. Monte Carlo simulations and an empirical application of our theoretical results are also provided.Publicad

Which Factors Determine Academic Performance of Undergraduate Students in Economics?: Some Spanish Evidence

This paper analyses the determinants of academic performance of first-year undergraduate students in Economics at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, over the period 2001-2005. We focus on a few core subjects which differ in their degree of mathematical complexity. Type of school, specialization track at high school, and the grades obtained at the university entry-exam are among the key factors we examine. Our main finding is that those students who completed a technical track at high school tend to do much better in subjects involving mathematics than those who followed a social sciences track (tailor-made for future economics students) and that the latter do not perform significantly better than the former in subjects with less degree of formalism. Moreover, students from public schools are predominant in the lower and upper parts of the grade distribution while females tend to perform better than males.Banco de Santande

Where do Women Work? : Analysing Patterns in Occupational Segregation by Gender

Our goal in this paper is twofold. First, to examine the role of education and other socio-economic factors in explaining differences between the EU and the US in occupational segregation by gender. And, secondly, to analyse its relationship with job characteristics, remuneration and promotion opportunities of female employees.Publicad

Do Temporary Contracts Affect TFP? Evidence from Spanish Manufacturing Firms

This paper evaluates the impact of the widespread use of fixed-term contracts in Spain on firms' TFP, via its effect on workers' effort. We propose a simple analytical framework showing that, under plausible conditions, workers' effort depends positively on their perception (for given level of effort) about firms' willingness to convert fixed-term contracts into permanent ones. We test this implication using manufacturing firm level data from 1991 to 2005 by means of nonparametric tests of stochastic dominance and parametric multivariate regression approaches. Our main findings are that high conversion rates increase firm's productivity while high shares of temporary contracts decrease it. Both effects are quantitatively relevant.temporary workers, workers' effort, firms' TFP

Los nuevos fenómenos migratorios: retos y políticas

En este artículo se presenta una panorámica sobre los recientes movimientos migratorios en el mundo a la luz de la experiencia histórica. Se pone especial énfasis en los efectos de la inmigración sobre los mercados laborales de los países receptores, así como en el papel de la inmigración como solución al problema de la sostenibilidad de los sistemas de pensiones en los países occidentales. Además se ofrecen diferentes cálculos sobre el efecto de la inmigración en el bienestar económico de los países receptores y se discute una amplia gama de políticas de la inmigración conducentes a minimizar los costes y maximizar los beneficios en los países de destinos y de origen