Subjective well-being and basic needs: Evidence from rural Guatemala

This paper deals with basic needs fulfillment interpreted in a subjective way. We develop a framework in which the basic needs of households in developing areas are valued from a subjective point of view. We estimate how certain indicators and assets influence basic needs perception. We compare income and perceived basic needs poverty measures, finding that they mismatch. We conclude that income-based approaches should be complemented with other indicators such as subjective satisfaction measures to understand development and measure poverty.Subjective well-being, basic needs, poverty, Guatemala, Highlands.

Econometric modelling of spanish very long distance intenational calling.

En este trabajo se estima un modelo para la demanda del tráfico telefónico que sale de España hacia un grupo de países de África y Oriente. Al tráfico hacia este grupo de países le llamamos tráfico de muy larga distancia por las altas tarifas que se les aplican, a pesar de que algunos de dichos países no están geográficamente muy distantes. En este estudio se usa un marco teórico que tiene en cuenta las características específicas del tráfico internacional y las relaciones socioeconómicas entre España y los países de la muestra

Architecture for the public sector

Tras diversos y profundos cambios normativos producidos a lo largo de los últimos 50 años, la fórmula para la adjudicación de gran parte de los contratos de redacción de proyecto y dirección de obra de edificación en el sector público español es el concurso. En este periodo de tiempo y de forma progresiva hemos pasado de la “adjudicación directa” al concurso abierto, en consonancia con disposiciones europeas. Desde la entrada en vigor de la Ley 13/1995, de 18 de mayo, de Contratos de las Administraciones Públicas, hito relevante en la aplicación masiva de la fórmula de concurso, hasta el inicio de la actual crisis económica en 2008, se ha producido en España mucha obra pública, y mucha de ella de gran calidad. Ha sido determinante la participación de numerosos profesionales que han visto en el concurso, además de un estímulo, una vía de acceso a encargos profesionales. En este proceso han sido, y aún lo son, varias las cuestiones en debate: la exigibilidad de solvencia técnica o profesional tasada en los procedimientos abiertos y la relevancia de la oferta económica en la adjudicación. Esta última se ha acentuado de forma progresiva, especialmente en el momento en que se reduce de manera drástica la actividad inmobiliaria, tanto en el ámbito público como en el privado. Con todo, desde el punto de vista de la calidad de la arquitectura promovida por las administraciones públicas, la fórmula de concurso ha demostrado su eficacia. El resultado es la suma del esfuerzo sostenido de todos los intervinientes: las administraciones, los profesionales y las empresas. No obstante, es requisito necesario que todos ellos participen de una misma sensibilidad hacia la arquitectura de calidad, especialmente las administraciones públicas contratantes.After diverse and profound regulatory changes, produced throughout the last 50 years, the method for awarding many of the contracts for drafting projects and construction work management in the Spanish public sector is by competition. During this time we have progressively passed from the “direct award” to the open competition, in line with European rules. From the coming into force of Law 13/1995, dated 18 May, on Public Administration Contracts, an important landmark in the massive application of competitions, to the start of the present economic crisis in 2008, many public works took place in Spain, and many of them of high quality. A deciding factor has been the participation of numerous professionals who have viewed the competition not only as a stimulus, but as a road to professional commissions. In this process there have been, and still are, several questions under debate: the enforceability of the technical or professional competence assessed in the open procedures, and the importance of the economic proposal in the award. The latter has been progressively accentuated, especially in the currently stagnant property market, in both the public and private sectors. Yet, from the point of view of the quality of the architecture promoted by the public administrations, the competition has demonstrated its effectiveness. The result is the sum of the sustained effort from all the participants: the administrations, the professionals and the companies. However, it is essential that they all participate with the same sensitivity towards quality architecture, especially the contracting public administrations

The Big Carrot:High-Stakes Incentives Revisited

Using an international dataset of about 35,000 subjects, this paper provides an empirical example of high-stakes incentives in relation to religious practice. First, we show that incentives (based on absolute belief) play a salient role in religious performance. Second, we find that, when both positive (heaven) and negative (hell) incentives are available, the former are more effective than the latter. Specifically, it is shown that beliefs in heaven are much more relevant than beliefs in hell when estimating the production of religious commodities (church-attendance and praying equations).carrot/stick, high-stakes incentives, rewards, punishment, Economics of Religion

The Big Carrot: High Stake Incentives Revisited

This paper provides an empirical demonstration of high stakes incentives in relation to religious practice. It shows that, when both positive (carrot) and negative (stick) incentives are available, the former are more effective than the latter. Specifically, it is shown that beliefs in heaven are much more relevant than beliefs in hell when estimating the production of religious commodities (church-attendance and praying equations).punishment, rewards, high stakes, carrot/stick, economics of religion

The link between water access and subjective well-being: some methods and proposals.

The study of happiness or subjective well-being has traditionally been studied within the disciplines of psychology or sociology. Although economics has contemplated happiness in research terms, it has only recently been studied in any depth. In this paper we offer several proposals in order to investigate the relationship between water access and happiness, suggesting some situations that would merit further research. Moreover, we have included some methodological notes in order to achieve this objective. This relationship can be useful in two ways. Firstly, it can favour the contemplation of water access as a human right. Secondly, it can serve as a framework for the decision-making process carried out by Governments and NGOs in developing countries.

The Big Carrot: High Stake Incentives Revisited

This paper provides an empirical demonstration of high stakes incentives in relation to religious practice. It shows that, when both positive (carrot) and negative (stick) incentives are available, the former are more effective than the latter. Specifically, it is shown that beliefs in heaven are much more relevant than beliefs in hell when estimating the production of religious commodities (church-attendance and praying equations).carrot/stick, high stakes, rewards, punishment, Economics of Religion

Unravelling Secularization: an International Study

The current study examines individuals who were raised in a certain religion and at some stage of their life left it. Currently, they define their religious affiliation as ‘no religion’. A battery of explanatory variables (countryspecific ones, personal attributes and marriage variables) was employed to test for the determinants of this decision. It was found that the tendency of individuals to leave their religion is strongly correlated with the degree of strictness of their country and with their spouse's religious characteristics. Moreover, personal socio-demographic features seem to be less relevant.religion, convert-out, church attendance, prayer, parental religiosity,Europe.

Dynamic panel data: A useful technique in experiments

Numerous experimental studies use a panel approach to analyze repeated experiments involving a large number of periods. They use “static” panel techniques and do not incorporate any temporal dependency (lags) of the dependent variable. This paper introduces dynamic panel data techniques to experimental economists. This is a standard tool in many other fields of economics and might also be useful in our discipline. It uses the lags of the dependent variable as explanatory variables. Although the coefficients on lagged dependent variables might be far from our interest, the introduction of these lags becomes crucial to control for the dynamics of the process. To show the advantages of this technique, we have compared two datasets using static and dynamic panel data. We conclude that the use of dynamic panel data models in the context of experiments allows to unravel new relationships between experimental variables and highlighting new paths in behaviors

Incentives in religious performance: a stochastic dominance approach

Using a stochastic dominance approach in an international dataset of about 10,000 Catholic subjects, we show that incentives (based on absolute belief) play a crucial role in religious practice (church attendance and prayer). Furthermore, we find that when both positive (heaven) and negative (hell) incentives are available, the former have a much stronger effect than the latter. The results are confirmed using Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests.Financial support from the MCI (SEJ2007-62081/ECON), Junta de Andalucía-Excelencia (P07.SEJ.02547) and Instituto de la Mujer (2007 I+D+I/031)