La presencia femenina en el campo científico y tecnológico: reflexiones para el debate

[RESUMEN] Aunque en los últimos años se ha avanzado notablemente en medidas para la igualdad, en el campo científico y tecnológico aún se manifiestan diferencias importantes entre hombres y mujeres. El objetivo del trabajo es identificar estas divergencias y presentar medidas que permitan su eliminació

Recomendaciones internacionales para la mejora de competencias en educación obligatoria en España

Seventeen years ago, in 2000, Spain participated in the first PISA assessment. Four education reforms, which have undoubtedly affected the results of the assessment of our 15-year-old students in reading, mathematics and science, have been approved during this period in Spain. The objective of this article is to review the Spanish situation in the PISA programme, in order to find out if the indicators obtained could have been improved, as well as to provide a set of recommendations for the coming years, to try to correct the detected deficiencies in our assessments. From the analysis carried out we can point out that, in spite of significant improvements in the results, we can still observe relevant differences depending on the type of Centre that has been evaluated, on the existence or non-existence of itineraries, on the incidence of failure in school and on the regions.Se han cumplido diecisiete años desde que España, en 2000, participó en su primera evaluación PISA. Durante este período en España se han aprobado cuatro reformas educativas que, sin duda, pueden haber afectado a los resultados de las evaluaciones a nuestros estudiantes de 15 años en las competencias lectora, matemática y científica. El objetivo de este artículo es realizar un repaso a la situación española en el programa PISA, con el objetivo de señalar si se han podido mejorar los indicadores obtenidos, así como establecer una serie de recomendaciones para los próximos años, para intentar corregir aquellas deficiencias aún detectadas en nuestras evaluaciones en las competencias evaluadas. Del análisis efectuado se puede señalar como si bien en nuestro país se han producido significativas mejoras en los resultados, todavía se manifiestan importantes diferencias en función del tipo de centro evaluado, la existencia o no de itinerarios, la incidencia del fracaso escolar y por CCAA

Facing the challenge of a borderless world. Are you ready to go?

[Intro] "The Jack Welch of the future cannot be like me. I spent my entire career in the U.S. The next head of General Electric will be somebody who spent time in Bombay, in Hong Kong, in Buenos Aires. We have to send our best and brightest overseas and make sure they have the training that will allow them to be the global leaders who will make GE flourish in the future." Jack Welch (1999), Global Explorers. This quotation epitomizes invaluable lessons. First, globalization is one of the most salient features of the current world economy and will not fade. Most companies are currently impelled to act in a world without borders to remain competitive. For many of them, internationalization has become a way to survive, instead of a strategy for expansion and growth. In this context, both scholars and practitioners face the challenge of identifying the factors that promote international expansion and organizational survival. (...

On the Political Determinants of Intergovernmental Grants in Decentralized Countries: The Case of Spain

This paper studies the effect of political variables on the gains obtained by Spanish regions in periodical bargaining of the intergovernmental financing agreements and on the regional distribution of discretional earmarked grants over the period 1987-2008. First, we find that the relationship between gains in transferred revenues and on regional public debt stocks depends on the period and the specific issues discussed in the corresponding negotiation, aside from political affinity. Second, we show that the most discretional program of earmarked grants is strongly driven by electoral strategy. National incumbents tend to allocate intergovernmental transfers where there are competitive regional elections. We also show that earmarked grants are allocated in those regions where the incumbent performs better in national elections and, especially, in those where there are more seats to be won. Hence we prove that both strategies are complementary rather than exclusive.España. Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación ECO2010-1555

Social economy, sustainable entrepreneurship and regional policy drivers

The social economy (SE) has raised strong interest in recent years. Due its intrinsic characteristics, which prioritize collective benefit and influence local development, SE has been viewed as specially rooted in a territory. Thus, it can be expected that the more proximity on policies, the more positive effect of these efforts. In this paper we explore these relationships by analysing Galician’s case, one autonomous region in Spain. In this region, government promotion has been decisive in enhancing SE, establishing a favourable ecosystem that has made this region the seminal reference for the regional development of SE, with significant repercussions on its territory. Building on this analysis, this study undertakes a subnational approach regarding the public policies aimed to promote SE, so the results might be useful to enhance the effectiveness of these policies, focusing on proximity and adjustment to the territory.Xunta de Galicia | Ref. TR811A-15-009-

Do political factors affect fiscal consolidation? Evidence from spanish regional governments

This paper empirically examines the political factors behind the different fiscal consolidation paths across Spanish regions over the period 2004 to 2017. Spanish regions provide an interesting case study due to both the strong fiscal decentralization and the deep impact of the so-called “Great Recession” on subcentral budget constraints in Spain. The estimates confirm that governments react to fiscal imbalances by reducing expenditure growth, but this reaction depends on the electoral budget cycle and the results of elections. Fiscal consolidation tends to stop in election years and is boosted by changes in the incumbent. By contrast, neither ideology nor fragmentation of government systematically affects the dynamics of fiscal adjustment.Agencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. CSO2017-85024-C2-2-

Social economy, sustainable entrepreneurship and regional policy drivers

The social economy (SE) has raised strong interest in recent years. Due its intrinsic characteristics, which prioritize collective benefit and influence local development, SE has been viewed as specially rooted in a territory. Thus, it can be expected that the more proximity on policies, the more positive effect of these efforts. In this paper we explore these relationships by analysing Galician’s case, one autonomous region in Spain. In this region, government promotion has been decisive in enhancing SE, establishing a favourable ecosystem that has made this region the seminal reference for the regional development of SE, with significant repercussions on its territory. Building on this analysis, this study undertakes a subnational approach regarding the public policies aimed to promote SE, so the results might be useful to enhance the effectiveness of these policies, focusing on proximity and adjustment to the territoryThis work was supported by the Xunta de Galicia [grant number TR811A-15-009-19].S

A New Life for Forest Resources: The Commons as a Driver for Economic Sustainable Development—A Case Study from Galicia

Communal forests are a unique land tenure system and comprise a singular legal category in Galicia. Their persistence over time demonstrates that this community-owned resource has overcome the “tragedy of the commons”, showing their capability to successfully develop self-governing institutions. However, communal forests have rarely been studied through the lens of economics. This minimizes the opportunity to explore to what extent communities of communal forests might be a driving force of general well-being, citizen empowerment, equity, employment, and local development. In this paper, we focus on this gap and address the opportunities. We detail this special ownership structure that allows residents of rural areas to exploit the forest as if they were a single owner. Moreover, we highlight the potential of communal forests to exploit local resources far beyond extractive processes, enabling the generation of greater added value to the economy while favoring a responsible treatment of resources. This enables productive activity integrated with the rest of the primary sector, while allowing for the maintenance of the population and supporting the local economy. Our results reveal a set of inefficiencies that can jeopardize common forest opportunities to become a sustainable economic activity, such as underqualified management, a low level of interest and commitment among community members, and excessive focus on logging. Thus, we propose several actions to improve collective engagement and active membership to better manage Galicia’s forestsS

No es momento de derroches: la recuperación de talentos dispersos como driver de competitividad

In recent years, we have seen a steady outflow of young people from our country, mostly with tertiary education, in search of better job opportunities in other territories. Traditionally, this phenomenon has been analyzed from a perspective of pessimistic resignation, trying to estimate the damage that this flight of qualified human capital has for our economy and our society. However, it has been ignored that a significant part of these young people acquire during their stay abroad a series of knowledge and experiences that allow them to return with greater skills and abilities. In fact, international experience is generally considered a valuable resource by both the labour market and the workers themselves. This paper addresses this outstanding task, the analysis of the potential for improving the personal and professional training of individuals through an international experience. Through a study carried out among more than 300 Spanish people who emigrated to other countries, the perception of acquiring a series of skills and abilities that can be determining for the improvement of the competitive potential of our companies is confirmed. The results obtained indicate the existence of an important source of dispersed and unappreciated competitive advantage, of transcendent importance not only for individuals themselves, but also for companies and public administrations, for the recovery of this important human capital.Este trabajo ha obtenido el accésit del Premio Estudios Financieros 2021 en la modalidad de Recursos Humanos. En los últimos años, hemos asistido a una salida constante de jóvenes de nuestro país, en su mayor parte con estudios terciarios, en búsqueda de mejores oportunidades laborales en otros territorios. Tradicionalmente, este fenómeno se ha analizado desde una óptica de resignación pesimista, intentando estimar los daños que esta fuga de capital humano cualificado tiene para nuestra economía y nuestra sociedad. Sin embargo, se ha obviado que una parte significativa de esas personas jóvenes adquiere en su estancia en el extranjero una serie de conocimientos y experiencias que les permiten retornar con mayores competencias y habilidades. De hecho, la experiencia internacional es generalmente considerada un recurso valioso tanto por el mercado laboral como por quien la posee. Este trabajo aborda esa tarea pendiente, el análisis del potencial de mejora de capacitación personal y profesional de las personas a través de una experiencia internacional. A través de un estudio realizado entre más de 300 españoles y españolas que emigraron a otros países, se constata la percepción de adquisición de una serie de competencias y habilidades que pueden ser determinantes para la mejora del potencial competitivo de nuestras empresas. Los resultados obtenidos permiten señalar la existencia de una importante fuente de ventaja competitiva dispersa y no valorada, de importancia trascendente no solo individualmente, sino para las empresas y las Administraciones públicas, para la recuperación de este importante capital humano

On the econometric estimates of regional spending needs: are they robust enough?

El objetivo de este artículo es identificar y cuantificar econométricamente el impacto de los determinantes de las necesidades de gasto de las Comunidades Autónomas. La combinación de efectos fijos individuales que capturen diferencias interterritoriales no observables en preferencias o eficiencia de gasto, por un lado, con factores determinantes del gasto de escasa variabilidad, por otro, plantea problemas para los estimadores tradicionales. Para solventar esta limitación, se exploran especificaciones econométricas y estimadores alternativos. Los resultados muestran que los coeficientes estimados y su significatividad cambian sustancialmente, por lo que no está claro que puedan garantizar la robustez necesaria para sustentar una discusión política adecuada. Es necesario apostar por otras estrategias para el trabajo empírico que permitan estudiar las preferencias de gasto de las Comunidades Autónomas.The aim of this paper is to identify and quantify econometrically the determinants of the spending needs of the Autonomous Communities. The combination of individual fixed effects that capture unobservable inter-territorial differences in spending preferences or efficiency, on the one hand, with expenditure determinants of low variability, on the other poses problems for traditional estimators. To overcome this limitation, alternative econometric specifications and estimators are explored. The results show that the estimated coefficients and their significance change substantially, not being able to guarantee the necessary robustness to sustain an adequate political discussion. Therefore, it is necessary to bet on other strategies for empirical work that allow us to the spending preferences of the Autonomous Communities