Obesity and the Incidence of Chronic Diseases: a Seemingly Unrelated Probit Approach

Western societies can reduce avoidable mortality and morbidity by better understanding the relationship between obesity and chronic disease. This paper examines the joint determinants of obesity and of heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, and elevated cholesterol. It analyzes a broadly representative Spanish dataset, the 1999 Survey on Disabilities, Impairments and Health Status, using a health production theoretical framework together with a seemingly unrelated probit model approach that controls for unobserved heterogeneity and endogeneity. Its findings provide suggestive evidence of a positive and significant, although specification-dependent, association between obesity and the prevalence of chronic illness.hypertension, cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, chronic illness, health production, body mass index, obesity, diabetes

Generational Effects on Adult Height in Contemporary Spain: Exploring Gender and Individual Heterogeneity

As adult height is a well-established retrospective measure of health and standard of living, it is important to understand the factors that determine it. Among them, the influence of socio-environmental factors has been subjected to empirical scrutiny. This paper explores the influence of generational (or environmental) effects and individual and gender-specific heterogeneity on adult height. Our data set is from contemporary Spain, a country governed by an authoritarian regime between 1939 and 1977. First, we use normal position and quantile regression analysis to identify the determinants of self-reported adult height and to measure the influence of individual heterogeneity. Second, we use a Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition approach to explain the gender height gap and its distribution, so as to measure the influence on this gap of individual heterogeneity. Our findings suggest a significant increase in adult height in the generations that benefited from the countrys economic liberalization in the 1950s, and especially those brought up after the transition to democracy in the 1970s. In contrast, distributional effects on height suggest that only in recent generations has height increased more among the tallest. Although the mean gender height gap is 11 cm, generational effects and other controls such as individual capabilities explain on average roughly 5% of this difference, a figure that rises to 10% in the lowest 10% quantile.blinder-oaxaca decomposition, quantile regression, generational effects, adult height, gender gap, individual heterogeneity

Socio-Economic Inequalities in Reported Depression in Spain : A Decomposition Approach

Recent evidence questions some conventional view on the existence of income-related inequalities in depression suggesting in turn that other determinants might be in place, such as activity status and educational attainment. Evidence of socio-economic inequalities is especially relevant in countries such as Spain that have a limited coverage of mental health care and are regionally heterogeneous. This paper aims at measuring and explaining the degree of socio-economic inequality in reported depression in Spain. We employ linear probability models to estimate the concentration index and its decomposition drawing from 2003 edition of the Spanish National Health Survey, the most recent representative health survey in Spain. Our findings point towards the existence of avoidable inequalities in the prevalence of reported depression. However, besides pure income effects explaining 37% of inequality, economic activity status (28%), education (15%) and demographics (15%) play also a key encompassing role. Although high income implies higher resources to invest and cure (mental) illness, environmental factors influencing in peoples perceived social status act as indirect path as explaining the prevalence of depression. Finally, we find evidence of a gender effect, gender social-economic inequality in income is mainly avoidable.occupational status, education, socio-economic inequities in health, depression

Transitional effects of a pension system change in spain

This paper studies the output effects, transition costs and the change in pension benefits derived from the substitution of the current unfunded pension system by a fully funded pension system financed through mandatory savings. These effects are estimated by using reduced versions of the neoclassical and endogenous growth frameworks. Because of the greater capital accumulation during the transition phase, final output increases by 23,6% (neoclassical framework); and a 24,5-31,5% (endogenous growth framework). The initial revenue loss for the government would represent a 4,8% of the GDP, raising very slowly during the transition period. Given the new growth rates, rates of return of physical capital, and financial intermediation costs, we have that the capitalization pension benefits obtained by all 30-contribution-year worker would be more than twice than those that guarantee the financial sustainability of the public pension system.capitalization pensions, capital and output effects, transition costs

Viabilidad del sistema de pensiones y reformas por el lado de los ingresos: una aproximacion intergeneracional

This paper examines, using the Generational Accounting method, the long run viability and the intergenerational income redistribution effects of the Spanish public pension system. Given the huge intertemporal debt accumulated by the current pension system, which is allocated entirely to generations not yet born, we explore the impact of alternative revenue policy reforms as a way to mitigate the strong demographic dependency of Social Security financing resources. Our findings indicate that, due to a rapid demographic ageing, these type of reform measures are not clearly enough to restore the intergenerational balance.long-run pension viability, spanish pensions reform, generational accounting

El sistema de pensions a Catalunya: trets diferencials amb Espanya

Este artículo pretende presentar en primer lugar cuales son las principales magnitudes que caracterizan el sistema público de pensiones en Cataluña. La primera conclusión que se deriva es la existencia de un superávit en el conjunto de las prestaciones contributivas en Cataluña en 2004 del orden del 1% del PIB, magnitud comparable a la registrada en el conjunto del Estado español. En segundo lugar, en este trabajo se analiza la geografía de la distribución de los gastos en pensiones en España, a condición de entender los principales rasgos diferenciales entre Cataluña y el resto de CCAA. La principal conclusión que emerge es la constatación de una fuerte divergencia o disparidad regional en el reparto del gasto en pensiones contributivas en España, característica que tiene más relación con la desigual distribución de la actividad económica en el territorio y con su composición sectorial (diferente peso de los regimenes de la Seguridad Social), que con el hecho de que cada CCAA tenga un volumen de población o grado de envejecimiento diferente. Paralelamente, un resultado que se obtiene de este análisis es que el sistema de pensiones en España dista de ser territorialmente proporcional (como rezaría uno de sus principios rectores) sino que tiende a producir un cierto efecto redistributivo de la renta en favor de CCAA más pobres

Reformas de la financiación del sistema de pensiones

Mediante el empleo del método de Contabilidad Generacional, este artículo examina la viabilidad a largo plazo y los efectos sobre la redistribución intergeneracional de la renta del sistema de pensiones español. Dada la enorme deuda acumulada, que se traslada a las generaciones futuras, se explora la posibilidad de introducir políticas de reforma por el lado de los ingresos, que pretender mitigar la fuerte dependecia demográfica de las finanzas de la seguridad social. El principal resultado obtenido es que la gravedad de la crisis demográfica hace que este tipo de medidas analizadas sean claramente insuficientes para restaurar el equilibrio intergeneracional