Los efectos no monetarios de la educación sobre el ocio: análisis del uso del tiempo en España

RESUMEN. Resumen: El análisis de los efectos de la educación se ha centrado tradicionalmente en aspectos monetarios, mientras que los efectos no monetarios (tales como aquellos en el uso del tiempo) han recibido menor atención. Este artículo analiza los efectos de la educación sobre el empleo del tiempo de ocio en España, a partir de la Encuesta de Empleo del Tiempo. Los resultados muestran una intensa relación entre el nivel educativo y la dedicación de tiempo a actividades culturales y deportivas y a la lectura de libros y de prensa. Los resultados muestran también, en consonancia con una perspectiva institucionalista, que un mayor nivel educativo no incrementa automáticamente la participación en todas las actividades de ocio beneficiosas, sino que dicho efecto se derivaría del entorno social y los valores de los individuos.ABSTRACT. Abstract: The analysis of the effects of education have traditionally focused on income (the monetary effects), whilst other non-monetary effects of education (such as those on the use of time), have received less attention. This paper analyses the effects of education on individuals? use of their leisure time in Spain, using data from the Spanish Time Use Survey. It fi nds a close relation between education and the dedication of time to cultural activities, sports and reading books and the press. It also fi nds that a higher educational attainment does not automatically increase participation in all the leisure activities considered as benefi cial. The effects, according to an institutionalist perspective, will be derived from social environment and individual's values

Is Market-Oriented Reform Producing a “Two-Track” Europe? Evidence from Electricity and Telecommunications

The European Commission has formally recognised that adequate provision of basic household services, including energy, communications, water and transport, is key to ensuring equity, social cohesion and solidarity. Yet little research has been done on the impact of the reform of these services in this regard. This article offers an innovative way to explore such questions by analysing and contrasting stated and revealed preferences on citizen satisfaction with and expenditure on two services, electricity and telecommunications, in two large countries, Spain and the United Kingdom. In telecommunications, but to a much lesser extent in electricity, we find evidence that reform has led to a “two-track” Europe, where citizens who are elderly, not working or the less-educated behave differently in the market, with the result that they are less satisfied with these services than their younger, working, better-educated, counterparts

Los costes no monetarios del abandono educativo prematuro: una estimación en términos de años de buena salud

El Abandono Educativo Prematuro (AEP) se ha situado en los ultimos anos, en Espana, en cifras cercanas al 30%, muy alejadas del objetivo del 10% estipulado por la UE. El AEP da lugar a importantes costes monetarios y no monetarios, de los cuales son de particular importancia los costes en terminos de salud, observados tanto en habitos y comportamientos con repercusiones sobre la misma (inputs) como en los propios resultados en salud (outputs). Las elevadas cifras de AEP han despertado la preocupacion de la sociedad y de las politicas educativas; sin embargo, la evaluacion de los costes del AEP y, en particular, aquellos de tipo no monetario (tales como los relativos a la salud), no ha sido apenas abordada hasta la fecha. El objetivo de este trabajo es, precisamente, evaluar y cuantificar los costes no monetarios del AEP en terminos de la salud futura de la poblacion espanola

Leisure and education: insights from a time-use analysis

The impact of education on participation in leisure activities is of particular relevance when analysing education and educational policies and for understanding leisure and leisure policy design. Yet, despite advances in the measurement and analysis of education, studies of the effects of education on leisure activities have not been especially exhaustive nor have they been sufficiently integrated with leisure studies. We seek to rectify these shortcomings, by analysing the effects of education on leisure participation in Spain based on the study of individuals’ time-use patterns. Results highlight the impact of education on the time dedicated to activities that have beneficial individual and social outcomes, including cultural and sports activities, and reading books and the press. We demonstrate the potential of integrating analyses of education and leisure for understanding the benefits of participation in a greater diversity of leisure activities and for developing policies that strengthen the repertoire of leisure options

Is Market-Oriented Reform Producing a “Two-Track” Europe? Evidence from Electricity and Telecommunications

The European Commission has formally recognised that adequate provision of basic household services, including energy, communications, water and transport, is key to ensuring equity, social cohesion and solidarity. Yet little research has been done on the impact of the reform of these services in this regard. This article offers an innovative way to explore such questions by analysing and contrasting stated and revealed preferences on citizen satisfaction with and expenditure on two services, electricity and telecommunications, in two large countries, Spain and the United Kingdom. In telecommunications, but to a much lesser extent in electricity, we find evidence that reform has led to a “two-track” Europe, where citizens who are elderly, not working or the less-educated behave differently in the market, with the result that they are less satisfied with these services than their younger, working, better-educated, counterparts.Public Service, Electricity, Telecommunications, Revealed preferences, Consumer Behaviour, Vulnerable Consumers. European Union. Regulation

Improving Regulation of Public Infrastructure Services : from the Consumer Perspective: Insights from Behavioural Economics.

Due to the intense market-oriented reform introduced during the last decades, particularly in the EU context, public infrastructure services have experienced deep recent changes in their modes of organisation and regulation. A key aim of market-oriented reforms was to introduce competition and further opportunities for choice, which was expected to increase citizens’ satisfaction in their role as consumers. Nevertheless, the regulation of these markets after the reforms has proven to be more complex than first thought, whilst significant problems from the perspective of consumers have been detected. In this light, international organizations and regulators and policy makers are paying increasing attention to the new insights on consumer behaviour derived from Behavioural Economics. Regulators and policy makers are considering how a deeper understanding of consumers’ behaviour may be translated into specific regulatory policies from the consumer perspective, as a complement to the more traditional competition policies, aiming to improve consumers’ well-being and satisfaction. In this context, a crucial concern is whether, due to the increasing complexity of the markets, certain groups of consumers (the so-called “vulnerable consumers”) may be at a disadvantaged position for taking satisfactory consumption decisions in the market place. However, further empirical evidence is required on the relation between consumers’ socioeconomic characteristics, behaviour and satisfaction, aiming at establishing which kind of regulatory policies may be applied and, in case, in which markets and socioeconomic dimensions they should focus. The objective of this paper is to analyse the differences in consumers’ decisions and attitudes in the markets of public infrastructure services, focusing on three socio-economic dimensions representative of potential vulnerability: education, age and employment. To this aim, this paper contrasts information on citizens’ revealed preferences (expenditure decisions), obtained from national Household Budget Surveys, and stated preferences (satisfaction with price), obtained from the last Eurobarometer on Services of General Interest. The paper focuses on two essential services (electricity and telecommunications) and on three different large European countries (Italy, Spain and the UK) where comparable information is available. The results obtained show that, for some of the services and socioeconomic dimensions under analysis, potentially vulnerable consumers exhibit particular difficulties for satisfactory decision making, reflected in lower satisfaction associated to different expenditure decisions. However, the characteristics of the service and other contextual factors also demonstrate to play a significant role for explaining the distinctive features observed. Insights from Behavioural economics provide a useful base for interpreting these results. The empirical evidence obtained from this paper, combined with a Behavioural economics approach, permits to obtain some clear recommendations for improving results of regulation from the point of view of consumer satisfaction, by focusing on incorporating citizens’ heterogeneity as consumer

Bringing Citizens Back In: Renewing Public Service Regulation

This essay concerns the ways in which public services – particularly household services such as communications, energy, water and transportation – have been regulated and deregulated, and analyses what consequences this has for users and citizens. Much of the deregulation of public services from the 1980s – liberalization, privatization and New Public Management – was justified by claims that reform would provide users with more choice, whilst they would receive cheaper and better quality services. Little account was taken of the fact that users are highly heterogeneous, that socio-economic differences might be important in determining their consumption of public services, and that this may not lead to socially optimum outcomes. By examining consumption patterns in two large European countries, Spain and the UK, through an analysis of revealed and declared preferences, this paper sheds light on how socio-economic differences among households help determine public service consumption. The main findings are that the supposed benefits of public service deregulation are not evenly spread across populations, and that specifically targeted “bottom-up” regulation from the demand-side could usefully address these issues, thus improving social welfare.Regulation, Privatization, Public Services, Telecommunications, Electricity, Gas and water

Vulnerable consumers and public services: can competition and switching reduce inequalities?

Widespread regulatory reforms across European countries have tried to increase consumer welfare by introducing competition and choice into public service markets. Here, Marcos Fernández-Gutiérrez, Sebastian Jilke and Oliver James present evidence that suggests to reduce inequalities between users, regulation could focus more on the demand-side of the equation

ICT use for learning and students' outcomes: Does the country's development level matter?

The use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) in educational systems has become a policy priority over the last decades. However, empirical evidence is inconclusive on whether there is a positive relationship between ICT use and students' outcomes. The literature has largely ignored the role that the country context, and in particular the country's development level, may play in shaping this relationship. This paper empirically addresses whether the relationship between ICT use for learning at school and students' outcomes differs from developed to developing countries. We employ data for 236,540 students attending 10,193 schools in 44 countries, obtained from the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA 2018). We use two alternative measures to classify the countries by their development level: The Gross National Income (GNI) per capita and the Human Development Index (HDI). The estimations, based on a Hierarchical Linear Model, show a negative relationship between ICT use for learning at school and students' outcomes. This negative relationship is more intense for students from developing countries than for those from developed countries. These findings imply that policymakers should be cautious about replicating interventions and technological applications from developed to developing countries (and vice versa)

Beyond the hype - the actual use of blockchain in government

The adoption of a new technology such as Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) in government is a complex process with numerous potential benefits, but also costs and risks. Early pilots introducing DLT into the public sector show that its potential impact will likely vary depending on the context, including, the type of public service. Even within the same public service, the impact of DLT might be distinct for each of the stakeholders involved (the government, civil servants and citizens, among others). As the public sector is diverse, it is critical to get a proper analysis and understanding of the process of introduction of this technology, which encompasses the different dimensions that play a role in the process. This paper presents an original and multi-dimensional evaluation framework to analyse and compare the benefits, costs and risks of the introduction of DLT in the public sector. It considers a comprehensive set of factors, identified and extracted after conducting a systematic review of the literature, representing potential benefits, costs and risks of DLT in the public sector. These are categorised into four separate dimensions: technological, socio-economic, organisational-cultural, and institutional (legal and political). This evaluation framework has been designed to be used by policy-makers interested in analysing and comparing the benefits and risks of the introduction of DLT in real-world applications of this technology in the public sector