An introduction to financial and economic modeling for utility regulators

The most effective regulators in developing countriesare following remarkably similar approaches. The main common element across"best practice"countries is the use of relatively simple quantitative models of operators'behavior and constraints to measure the impact of regulatory decisions on some key financial and economic indicators of concern to the operators, the users, and the government. The authors provide an introduction to the design and use of these models. They draw on lessons from international experience in industrial and developing countries in ordinary or extraordinary revisions and in the context of contract renegotiations. Simplifying somewhat, these models force regulators to recognize that, in the long run, private operators need to at least cover their opportunity cost of capital, including the various types of risks specific to the country, the sector, or the projects with which they are involved. Because these variables change over time, scheduled revisions are needed to allow for adjustments in the key determinants of the rate of return of the operator. These revisions are a recognition of the fact that all these determinants-tariffs, subsidies, quality, investments, and other service obligations-are interrelated and jointly determine the rate of return. At every revision, the rules of the game for the regulator are exactly the same: to figure out the changes in the cost of capital and to adjust the variables driving the rate of return to ensure that it continues to be consistent with the cost of capital. If they can draw on reasonable data, these models do everything any financial model would do for the day-to-day management of a company but take a longer term view and include an explicit identification of the key regulatory instruments. They can monitor the consistency between cash flow generated by the business on the one hand and debt service and operational expense needs on the other to address the main concerns of the operators. They can also account for a large number of key policy factors including access and affordability concerns for various types of consumers. They generally account for the sensitivity of operators and users to various regulatory design options.Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Economic Theory&Research,Decentralization,Environmental Economics&Policies,Enterprise Development&Reform,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform,Municipal Financial Management

Principales resultados del Proyecto I+G+i“Investigación social de las necesidades, barreras e innovaciones en la oferta deportiva a las mujeres adultas en España”

Martínez del Castillo et al. (1992) advertían que los cambios demográficos, económicos y sociales pueden modificar los hábitos y, por ende, el mercado de servicios deportivos en España. El incremento de la población adulta -1 de cada 3 personas en España- unido a algunos de los efectos de la actual crisis económica -incremento del desempleo, especialmente entre los hombres, y el empleo precario, reducción de ingresos y consumo (Laparra et al., 2012)-, sugieren la conveniencia de realizar investigaciones que, como el presente estudio, tengan como objetivo profundizar en el conocimiento de las repercusiones que estos cambios pudieran haber tenido en los hábitos deportivos de los diferentes grupos poblacionales. Estas investigaciones proporcionarían el conocimiento necesario para que las organizaciones deportivas públicas y privadas puedan adaptar adecuadamente su oferta de servicios de actividad física

Deporte, Salud y Calidad de Vida

En la década de los sesenta, en el contexto social y político del llamado Estado del Bienestar, irrumpe con fuerza el concepto “calidad de vida”. Este concepto abierto, evolutivo, relativo y subjetivo (Martínez del Castillo,1998) hace referencia a una cuestión tan antigua como la preocupación humana de querer mejorar sus condiciones de vida y surge como un intento desde la investigación social de ampliar la visión economicista del “welfare” y el “well - being”

Multidimensional poverty in the EU: rethinking AROPE through a multi-criteria analysis

At risk of poverty or social exclusion rate (AROPE) constitutes the pivotal indicator of living conditions and poverty in the European Union. Nevertheless, as a multidimensional poverty measure, it has some drawbacks that significantly reduce its utility. In this paper, we propose an alternative multi-criteria approach that provides some innovations for the computation of multidimensional poverty in the European countries. We first propose a normalization formula for each dimension by using a double point of reference. We then put forward alternative aggregation functions that permit diverse degrees of substitutability across dimensions. This new formulation allows us to go beyond focusing merely on the rate of people classified as AROPE, making it possible to evaluate aspects such as the intensity of multidimensional poverty and how changes over time are distributed across population in terms of shared prosperity, as showed in an illustration for the EU28 countries.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

The Dynamic of Poverty in Germany 1985-1995: Which Factors Influence the Duration of a Spell of Poverty?

Since the seventies most of the research which quantifies poverty and inequality of income has been carried out in the short-term using an annual household budget survey. Recently, the availability of Panel data has facilitated the appearance of longitudinal studies. The objective of our research is to carry out a dynamic analysis of poverty and to know which factors influence the duration of a spell of poverty. The data we will use is from the Paco Panel Comparability Project. This data was collected and elaborated by the Human Capital and Mobility Programme

Juventud y paradojas de la modernidad: de los estilos de vida saludables al sedentarismo activo

El presente trabajo recoge los resultados de una investigación sobre las tendencias culturales en el abandono de la actividad física y el deporte entre la juventud española

Older adults and sport and physical activity professionals in Spain

Presence of monitors in physical activities and sports practiced by adults older than 64 years of age in Spain is analyzed in this research. The objective of this study is to determine the existence of monitors in relation to the sociodemographic features of older adults, the size of municipalities, the activities practiced, and the organizations where they are performed. The methodology used included a cross-sectional survey applied to a sample of older adults in Spain. The most relevant conclusions are that the presence of monitors in physical activities and sports practiced by older adults is dominant (63.8%), hence, their importance, and that the presence of monitors is higher for women (81.3%) than for men (37.5%). In addition, it is concluded that the bigger the municipality the higher the tendency to have more instructors. Regarding the type of activity, wide diversification is obtained; finally, there is a larger presence of monitors in sports entities (87.5%) and nursing homes (79.5%)

A review of educational material used im the subjects of Woman and Sport, Body Expressions and Sports Organizations in bachelor Degree- Physical Activity and Sports Sciences according to the gender equality Competence to the European Higher Education Area

The aim of this work is to improve an equality culture reviewing the educational materials used in the subjects of Woman and Sport, Body Expression and Sports Organization of the new EHEA Bachelor Degree of the Faculty of Physical Activity and Sport Science of the Polytechnic University of Madrid. We have used the criteria set in the General objective 8.6. Education of the Strategic Plan Equal Opportunities 2008-2011 and the methodology suggested by 2010 PAFIC Guide Strategy. The review designed include four criteria: Non-sexist language, no use of roles and gender-stereotyped models / equality treatment of women and men, participation of women in history, culture and physical activity and sport science and visibility of women and me

Demanda de actividad física y deportiva de las personas adultas españolas con discapacidad: diferencias de género

La comunicación presenta parte de los resultados del estudio DEP2010-19801 del Plan Nacional I+D+i El objetivo de esta comunicación es describir, en las personas adultas con discapacidad, el tipo de demanda de actividad física y deportiva en función del género

Proposal for a rubric for “equal physical activities” for assessing the gender equality competence to the European higher education area in bachelor degreephysical activity and sport sciences

The aim of this work is to design a rubric to evaluate the use of the basic skill “Equal physical activities” in the cross-section competence of Gender Equality within subjects of Sports Organization, Woman and Sport and Body Expression in the new EHEA Bachelor Degree of the Faculty of Physical Activity and Sport Science of the Polytechnic University of Madrid. In order to design the rubric Mertler’s patterns, Strategic Plan Equal Opportunities 2008-2011 and the 2010 PAFIC Guide have been used. The rubric designed includes three criteria with four descriptors for each level: “professional”, “acceptable”, “needs improvement”, “insufficient” or “inadequate”. The three criteria proposed are the following: Physical activities of interest to women, Equal competition, achievement, cooperation and Equal models and leadershi