Holistic competence approach in tourism higher education: an exploratory study in Spain

The present study aims to propose and empirically contrast a structural model of relationships between academic–professional competences in tourism higher education. Currently, much attention is being paid to the concept of competence. However, in the literature review, we did not find any proposal for a holistic approach that tends to understand the relationships between the generic and specific competences in higher education. This study is focused on a subject of the tourism degree in the University of Seville (Spain). It is based on a sample of 154 students. The results confirm that there are relationships between the generic and specific competences.     

Modelling demand and supply influences on utilization: A flow demand model to predict hospital utilization at the small area level

This study outlines a model to predict hospital utilization at the small area level within a National Health Service (NHS) institutional context. The proposed approach departs from alternative analyses based on utilization flows of hospital care between a local population and a hospital. A flow demand model is outlined that relates flow demand to utilization flows; models the interaction between hospital supply and utilization of alternative hospitals; captures the process of demand for hospital care, with special attention given to the role of other health care sectors, to the organizational and institutional context of the hospital system and to geographic variations. The flow approach partly overcomes the problem of dealing with simultaneity of determination between supply and demand. A two-part econometric model suitable to estimate the flow demand model for prediction purposes is tested and applied to the Portuguese health care system. The results show the model to be robust and to provide key information for defining future hospital policies at the central level.     

Financial constraints and cash–cash flow sensitivity

This article explores the cash–cash flow relationship by comparing financially constrained and financially unconstrained companies. Unlike previous research, we test the sensitivity of cash to cash flow by considering unlisted firms as constrained and listed firms as unconstrained. Our empirical evidence is based on findings from Spanish firms and is consistent with the core rationale that unlisted firms face more difficulties than their listed counterparts when looking for funding from external markets. As a result, unlisted firms tend to hoard significant amounts of cash out of the generated cash flow, while listed firms do not. Our findings are robust to a number of additional empirical tests.     

Can ice cream be money?: Perishable medium of exchange

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that a perishable good may be used as commodity money, even in economies in which perfectly durable commodities are available. This is shown in the general context of a search-theoretical model of a decentralized economy.     

An exchange algorithm for computing the least quartile difference estimator

We propose an exchange algorithm (EA) for computing the least quartile difference estimate in a multiple linear regression model. Empirical results suggest that the EA is faster and more accurate than the usual p-subset algorithm.     

Growth and the current account: Malaysia and Singapore

A foreign trade model is estimated for two South East Asian countries, selected because they represent two extremes as far as the current account balance is concerned—Malaysia, deficit, Singapore, surplus. The specification highlights, (a) the simultaneous interdependence of exports and import flows—a result of what Krugman [1995] denotes as the slicing up of the production process—and, (b) the impact of investment on imports as a result of productivity shocks on the current account. The estimation results point to the instability of the market for foreign exchange. Using an intertemporal framework, a methodology to derive the external long run equilibrium is applied to the estimated model. The implied constraint on domestic growth turns out to be mild. This research has been financed by the Dgicyt under grant PB94-1502, and the Junta de C. y L. under grant SA 35/97. The comments and suggestions of the editor of the journal and an anonymous referee are gratefully acknowledged. The paper has also benefited from the comments of the participants at the Fifty-First International Atlantic Economic Conference, March 13–20, 2001, Athens, Greece, and at the AEA conference on New Financial Instruments and Emerging Markets, Paris, 1998. Any possible remaining errors are the authors.     

Environmental factors affecting European and Central Asian health-systems’ bias-corrected efficiency

Health expenditures comprise a large part of national incomes, which explains the growing interest of government agencies in establishing efficient control and management policies in the current context of economic difficulties. One of the main problems in efficiency analysis is to determine the environmental variables that have an impact on the production process. In particular, employing data on the European and Central Asian health systems, the article demonstrates that bias corrected Data Envelopment Analysis is most appropriate measuring efficiency than traditional Data Envelopment Analysis. Bias correction, implies a higher potential resources reduction, affects the ranking of health systems and allows variables influencing efficiency which would be undiscovered with non-corrected estimation. The second stage determines that lifestyle factors, policy organization and location of countries affect the efficiency results and cause differences among the countries. The contribution of these results is particularly useful facing the decision making by governments. Their strategies should be oriented to implementing active policies to struggle against smoking and promoting health policies aimed at increasing the level of immunization in order to be more effective improving management efficiency.     

Econometric estimation of a variable rate of depreciation of the capital stock

Measuring the capital stock is crucial in some fields of economic research. Capital stock is not observable, though, and its estimation requires the knowledge of its rate of depreciation. In most cases, econometric regressions are not used for this task. However, this methodology could be used to estimate capital stock values which are consistent with the technology of the economy. If we assume that the depreciation rate is not constant, its estimation poses some additional technical difficulties. In this paper we suggest a method to estimate a variable rate of depreciation which is shown to have wide empirical applicability and some computational advantages. Also, this method is easily implementable in standard packages by means of NLS or ML. The formalization of this method, and empirical evidence and simulation exercises based on its implementation are presented.First version received: October 2002/Final version received: May 2004All correspondence to José A. Hernandez. We would like to thank to the University of Las Palmas project uni2002/14 for financial support and two anonymous referees for helpful comments.