Does grade retention affect students’ achievement? Some evidence from Spain

Grade retention practices are at the forefront of the educational debate. In this article, we measure the effect of grade retention on Spanish students’ achievement by using data from Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). We find that grade retention has a negative impact on educational outcomes, but we confirm the importance of endogenous selection which makes observed differences between repeaters and nonrepeaters appear about 14% lower than they actually are. The effect on scores of repeating is much smaller (–10% of nonrepeaters’ average) than the counterfactual reduction that nonrepeaters would suffer had they been retained as repeaters (–24% of their average). Furthermore, those who repeated a grade during primary education suffered more than those who repeated a grade in secondary school, although the effect of repeating at both times is, as expected, larger.     

Total work time in Spain: evidence from time diary data

Using detailed time-use data from 2002–03 and 2009–10 for Spain, we analyse changes in the time-allocation decisions of the Spanish population, with a focus on the time devoted to total work. Consistent with prior literature, we document that the concept of ‘iso-work’ (e.g. the time devoted to total work by gender is equal) does not hold in societies with stringent gender roles, such as Spain. Women devote more time to total work than men, and this difference has increased throughout the period studied by 2 hours per week. The relative increase in total work for women compared to men can be explained by a relative increase in market work of 8 hours per week, coupled with a relative decrease in nonmarket work of 6 hours per week, which have led Spanish women to devote, relatively, 2 fewer hours to leisure per week in 2009–10, compared to 2002–03. We propose social norms as a potential explanation of these empirical findings. By uncovering how individuals allocate their time inside and outside the market over a period of time, our results may improve our understanding of the dynamics of economic change and welfare.     

DOES THE ECONOMY MATTER? AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CAUSAL CHAIN CONNECTING THE ECONOMY AND THE VOTE IN GALICIA

In this paper the causal chain connecting the economy and the vote in 2001 Galician regional elections is analyzed. Our findings demonstrate that economic voting is not just a matter of reactions to economic perceptions. It also depends to a great extent on two intermediate mechanisms: whether or not the incumbent is held responsible for economic outcomes and performance and voters' views of the relative economic management capabilities of opposition parties.     

Do Personal Taxes Destroy Tax Shields? A Critique to Miller’s (1977) Proposal

We discuss the relevance of personal taxes on tax shields. Interest and taxes are the basis for defining an optimal capital structure. When personal taxes are greater than or equal to TS, an optimal capital structure does not exist.

We suggest that the approach proposed by Miller (1977) might understate the effect of personal taxes in the net TS and/or its associated net value. We consider the irrelevance of personal taxes on interest received by debtholders on the value of TS earned by the firm on interest paid. We conclude that Miller’s approach might be wrong and has some inconsistencies.     

RETROSPECTIVE VOTING AND PARTY POLARIZATION

We provide a new and favorable perspective on voter naiveté and party polarization. We contrast sophisticated (Nash) versus retrospective voting in a model where two parties commit to policies. Retrospective voters do not understand the mapping between states and outcomes induced by a policy; instead, they simply vote for the party that delivers the highest observed performance, as determined in equilibrium. We show that parties have an incentive to polarize under retrospective, compared to Nash, voting. Moreover, this polarization often results in higher welfare due to a better match between policies and fundamentals.     

An exploratory study of the determinants of switching and loyalty in prepaid cell phone users. An application of concept mapping

This study uses empirical data to identify the reasons that lead customers to discontinue their association with a cell phone company, along with aspects that foster customer loyalty with a view to strengthening business strategy, so that factors valued by customers are reinforced and those that can lead to switching can be avoided. Pricing strategy, network quality, innovation and development of products and services, and customer care are the major determinants of loyalty: while costly rates, problems related to technological capability, a lack of innovative promotions and deficiencies in the quality of customer care are the main reasons for switching.     

An exploration of the effects of past experience and tourist involvement on destination loyalty formation

Gaining the loyalty of visitors is one of the main challenges of destinations. Previous studies generally agree that satisfaction is the key driver of tourist loyalty. However, it is necessary to conduct a more thorough study of destination loyalty formation by exploring the role of other variables as direct antecedents of loyalty and as moderators of the satisfaction–loyalty relationship. With this in mind, this study examines the influences of two variables that are especially relevant in the study of consumer behaviour in tourism: past experience and involvement. The results obtained from a sample of 807 tourists visiting a destination in Spain suggest that (1) satisfaction and past experience have a significant influence on loyalty; (2) it is necessary to separately consider the two dimensions of loyalty (i.e. the intention to return to a destination and the intention to recommend it) to understand loyalty formation; and (3) past experience is a quasi-moderator variable as it directly influences tourist loyalty and moderates the satisfaction–loyalty relationship. The findings of this research may help managers make decisions about market segmentation and guide the marketing efforts to gain loyal tourists.     

Modelling multivariate moments in European Stock Markets

This research extends the results of Mauleón and Perote, and derives analytically a general framework for the multivariate Edgeworth Sargan (ES) density. Its capability to account for multivariate moments beyond correlation is shown–mainly, co-skewness, co-kurtosis and co-volatility. The multivariate ES is then fitted to the residuals of a VAR model applied to three European stock market series of daily data (FTSE, DAX, CAC40), accounting for univariate as well as multivariate departures from normality. The complete model – with nearly 60 parameters – is set up and estimated jointly by maximum likelihood. Two alternative multivariate probability density functions, student's t and the normal skewed, are also estimated and compared to the ES. The empirical results show: (1) in spite of the high nonlinearity and complexity of the model, it is feasible to fit it to empirical data; (2) statistically significant multivariate effects, other than correlations, are found, and (3) the tail fit of the ES is significantly better.     

Research technology organisations as leaders of R&D collaboration with SMEs: role,barriers and facilitators

Research technology organisations or RTOs have attracted academic interest in the last decade due to their role as technology transfer agents and R&D collaborative leaders for firms and especially for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Although their role within the diversity of specialised structures in generating R&D for industry in National Innovation Systems is recognised, there are scarce publications in relation to their strategies, performance or characteristic, as leaders of R&D collaboration with SMEs. The aim of this work is to identify the role, barriers and facilitators for RTOs performance as well as to develop a contingency relationship between industry environment, strategy, organisational structure and other factors for successful technology transfer from technology organisations to SMEs. This research is based on a field study conducted on 14 technology organisations based in the Valencia region, working with various industry sectors.