How did the Sovereign debt crisis affect the Euro financial integration? A fractional cointegration approach.

This paper examines financial integration among stock markets in the Eurozone using the prices from each stock index. Monthly time series are constructed for four major stock indices for the period between 1998 and 2016. A fractional cointegrated vector autoregressive model is estimated at an international level. Our results show that there is a perfect and complete Euro financial integration. Considering the possible existence of structural breaks, this paper also examines the fractional cointegration within each regime, showing that Euro financial integration is very robust. However, in the financial and sovereign debt crisis regime, IBEX 35 appears to be the weak link in Euro financial integration, unless Euro financial integration recovers when this period ends

Energy consumption in the US reconsidered. Evidence across sources and economic sectors

This study analyzes the impact of GDP shocks in USA on primary energy consumption and the reverse impact in a comprehensive and novel framework, distinguishing by economic sectors (commercial, industrial, residential and transportation) and energy source, i.e., total fossil (coal, natural gas and petroleum), nuclear, and renewable (hydroelectric, geothermal and biomass) for the period 1973:1 to 2015:2. To this end, we apply Granger causality analysis through the Hatemi-J [1] and Toda and Yamamoto [2] approaches from a time series perspective to evaluate the existence of asymmetries on this bidirectional relationship. The empirical results suggest that the impact of GDP on primary energy consumption is heterogeneous and energy source-specific, and an asymmetric behavior appears among cycles. Moreover, it seems clear that the US economy is highly dependent on petroleum energy consumption. The renewable energy sources do not seem to show any relationshipsources seem to show no relationship with economic growth, and finally, our results suggest that energy consumption in the industrial sector is key to economic growth and is also very sensitive to negative economic shocks

Autoempleo : nueva evidencia empírica sobre capital humano y ciclos económicos

En esta tesis se contemplan aspectos hasta ahora no estudiados sobre el autoempleo aportando nueva evidencia empírica desde una perspectiva microeconómica y macroeconómica. En los capítulos presentados en la tesis, se dan respuesta a cuestiones como, en una óptica microeconómetrica, la rentabilidad de la educación del capital humano, cómo afecta el fenómeno de la sobrecualificación en el mercado de trabajo y cuáles son sus dinámicas y rutas para solventarse o, desde un enfoque macreoconométrico, el efecto que tienen los ciclos económicos sobre las relaciones entre el autoempleo, el crecimiento y el desempleo.This thesis presents new empirical evidence on self-employment are provided from a microeconomic and macroeconomic perspective. The chapters presented in the thesis, are given to answer questions such as, in a micro-econometric perspective, the returns to education of human capital, how it affects the phenomenon of over-education in the labor market and what their dynamics and routes out are to be solved it or, from a macreoconometric approach, the effect of economic cycles on the relationship between self-employment, growth and unemployment itself

Energy consumption in the US reconsidered. Evidence across sources and economic sectors

This study analyzes the impact of GDP shocks in USA on primary energy consumption and the reverse impact in a comprehensive and novel framework, distinguishing by economic sectors (commercial, industrial, residential and transportation) and energy source, i.e., total fossil (coal, natural gas and petroleum), nuclear, and renewable (hydroelectric, geothermal and biomass) for the period 1973:1 to 2015:2. To this end, we apply Granger causality analysis through the Hatemi-J [1] and Toda and Yamamoto [2] approaches from a time series perspective to evaluate the existence of asymmetries on this bidirectional relationship. The empirical results suggest that the impact of GDP on primary energy consumption is heterogeneous and energy source-specific, and an asymmetric behavior appears among cycles. Moreover, it seems clear that the US economy is highly dependent on petroleum energy consumption. The renewable energy sources do not seem to show any relationshipsources seem to show no relationship with economic growth, and finally, our results suggest that energy consumption in the industrial sector is key to economic growth and is also very sensitive to negative economic shocks

Análisis pre y post-fusiones del sector compuesto por las cajas de ahorros españolas: el tamaño importa

La fase expansiva de la economía española hasta 2007 ha generado desequilibrios importantes en el sistema financiero español y, de forma más concreta, en el conjunto de Cajas de Ahorros. Ante esta situación, el gobierno español ha puesto en marcha un plan de reestructuración que ha desencadenado un proceso de fusiones entre cajas sin precedentes; el mercado ha pasado de 45 entidades en 2009 a 17 en 2010. En este escenario, el Banco de España ha propuesto principalmente el ajuste de la red comercial así como el redimensionamiento del activo de las Cajas de Ahorros resultantes tras el proceso de fusiones. El objetivo de este trabajo es contribuir al análisis empírico de las medidas propuestas por el Banco de España utilizando para ello dos postulados de gran utilidad en el estudio del comportamiento de un mercado, las leyes Zipf (1949) y Gibrat (1931).Summary: Until now, the Spanish financial system had been characterized by a dualism in its composition, on the one hand, the commercial banking, and, on the other hand, the spanish savings banks. However, in less than five years, the existence of the latter has become residual. In the present work, focusing on the last decade, we analyze the reasons for this apparent initial success and which of them have been the causes of this final decomposition. To do this, using the Zipf and Gibrat laws, we demonstrate how the growth of the commercial network and the credits was independent to the size of the financial institutions, which resulted in an oversize of the greater part of the Spanish savings banks that has meant his subsequent disappearance.Academia Andaluza de Ciencia RegionalInstituto de Desarrollo Regional-UG

Taller de prensa económica como instrumento de innovación educativa

This paper describes a project of Educational Innovation that presents a workshop on economic press as part of the subjects of Economics taught in the degree in Business (DCE) and the degree in Labour Studies (CCTT) at the University of Huelva, Spain. The main objective of this workshop is to promote both self-regulated, collaborative learning, and motivation in the classroom. The methodology used in this workshop consists of guided study of economic news to help consolidate knowledge taught in the theory classes and to foster the application of theory to concrete problems, as well as to encourage reasoning and analysis of different articles in focus groups. The workshop was assessed by means of a questionnaire that allows identification of the impact of theoretical concepts on understanding and on student assessment and satisfaction. The results reveal that the workshop stimulates understanding of the theoretical concepts presented in economic theory.Este trabajo describe un proyecto de Innovación Docente que propone un taller de prensa económica enmarcado dentro de las asignaturas de economía de la Diplomatura en Ciencias Empresariales (DCE) y del grado en Ciencias del Trabajo (CCTT) de la Universidad de Huelva. El objetivo del mismo se concreta en el fomento tanto del aprendizaje autorregulado y colaborativo, como de la motivación dentro del aula. La metodología desarrollada en el taller consiste en el estudio guiado de noticias económicas que ayuden a asentar los conocimientos de las clases teóricas y su aplicación a problemas concretos, así como a fomentar la capacidad de razonamiento y análisis en un foro de discusión sobre cada artículo. El taller se ha evaluado a través de un cuestionario que permite identificar el impacto en la comprensión de los conceptos teóricos y en la evaluación y satisfacción del alumnado. Los resultados revelan que el taller permite al alumno comprender los conceptos teóricos propuestos en la teoría económica

La Curva de Kuznets y la emisión de CO2 en España, 1850-2008

Este trabajo analiza la existencia de la curva medioambiental de Kuznets utilizando la metodología propuesta por Kejriwal-Perron (2010) con datos que abarcan el último siglo y medio (1850-2008). Nuestros resultados no avalan la existencia de dicha curva para el caso español. Sin embargo, sí podemos señalar cómo la relación entre el crecimiento económico y las emisiones de CO2 ha sido muy distinta a lo largo periodo estudiado. Finalmente, en los últimos 25 años se aprecia un cambio importante en dicha relación, poniendo de manifiesto que la economía española está aproximándose a niveles de emisión de CO2 que en un futuro le permitiría cumplir con la hipótesis señalada por Kuznets.In the present work, we analyze the existence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve using the methodology proposed by Kejriwal-Perron (2010) with Spanish data from 1950 to 2008. Our results show the non existence of the EKC in Spain. However, we demonstrate that the EKC are unstable across the time, especially during the last 25 years. Finally, the last period confirm that the Spanish economy is in the way to reach the EKC

How sensitive is the business ownership rate to unemployment fluctuations? Evidence of asymmetries in a panel of 23 OECD countries

In this article, we try to test whether the relationship running from unemployment to entrepreneurship/self-employment – the so-called ‘recession-push’ hypothesis – is affected asymmetrically by dynamic labour market conditions. To this end, we employ a panel threshold regression model into which nonlinearities are introduced by allowing an exogenous variable – unemployment – to have a different impact on the endogenous variable – business ownership – in different regimes. Our estimates provide support for the existence of different responses of cyclical self-employment to cyclical unemployment, depending on the value of the deviation between the observed and natural rates of unemployment with a one-period lag – i.e., depending on the intensity of the unemployment problem – that is the threshold variable.   JEL classification: L26; J21; J23; J24; E32; C23

A new seipin-associated neurodegenerative syndrome

Background: Seipin/BSCL2 mutations can cause type 2 congenital generalised lipodystrophy (BSCL) or dominant motor neurone diseases. Type 2 BSCL is frequently associated with some degree of intellectual impairment, but not to fatal neurodegeneration. In order to unveil the aetiology and pathogenetic mechanisms of a new neurodegenerative syndrome associated with a novel BSCL2 mutation, six children, four of them showing the BSCL features, were studied. Methods: Mutational and splicing analyses of BSCL2 were performed. The brain of two of these children was examined postmortem. Relative expression of BSCL2 transcripts was analysed by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in different tissues of the index case and controls. Overexpressed mutated seipin in HeLa cells was analysed by immunofluorescence and western blotting. Results: Two patients carried a novel homozygous c.985C>T mutation, which appeared in the other four patients in compound heterozygosity. Splicing analysis showed that the c.985C>T mutation causes an aberrant splicing site leading to skipping of exon 7. Expression of exon 7-skipping transcripts was very high with respect to that of the non-skipped transcripts in all the analysed tissues of the index case. Neuropathological studies showed severe neurone loss, astrogliosis and intranuclear ubiquitin(+) aggregates in neurones from multiple cortical regions and in the caudate nucleus. Conclusions: Our results suggest that exon 7 skipping in the BSCL2 gene due to the c.985C>T mutation is responsible for a novel early onset, fatal neurodegenerative syndrome involving cerebral cortex and basal ganglia.Instituto de Salud Carlos III (grant number PI 10/02873) and European Regional Development Fund, FEDER (grant number 10PXIB208013PR) and Consellería de Industria, Xunta de Galicia.S