Regional development policies: an assessment of their evolution and effects on the Spanish tourist model

This paper assesses the incidence of regional development policy on the evolution of the Spanish tourist model. Spain's tourist boom took place within the framework of an authoritarian, centralist regime in which no true regional policy existed. Macroeconomic interests prevailed and planning was relaxed in front of the limited economic resources available and the urgent need to earn foreign currency and give coastal areas economic dynamism, all within a favourable context of international demand growth. The country's democratisation process entailed a politico-administrative decentralisation that was more suitable for the development of an effective regional policy.Spain's entry into the European Community increased the economic resources available and largely improved regional policy principles and instruments. While the centralist policy is associated with the sun-and-beach tourist model concentrated on the coast, the new regional policy represents an essential, though sometimes unnoticed, element in the current process of diversification and spatial spread of the Spanish tourist supply.     

Pricing executive stock options under employment shocks

We obtain explicit expressions for the subjective, objective and market value of perpetual executive stock options (ESOs) under exogenous employment shocks driven by an independent Poisson process. Previously, we obtain the executive's optimal exercise policy from the subjective valuation that is necessary for the objective one, or fair value. The perpetual ESO is compared with the true finite maturity ESO finding that the approximation is reasonably good. To illustrate the usefulness of the objective valuation for accounting purposes, we analyze the statistical distribution of the fair value when there is uncertainty about the employment shock intensity. Finally, the role of ESOs in the design of executives’ incentives is also discussed.     

A finite mixture analysis of beauty-contest data using generalized beta distributions

This paper introduces a mixture model based on the beta distribution, without pre-established means and variances, to analyze a large set of Beauty-Contest data obtained from diverse groups of experiments (Bosch-Domènech et al. 2002). This model gives a better fit of the experimental data, and more precision to the hypothesis that a large proportion of individuals follow a common pattern of reasoning, described as Iterated Best Reply (degenerate), than mixture models based on the normal distribution. The analysis shows that the means of the distributions across the groups of experiments are pretty stable, while the proportions of choices at different levels of reasoning vary across groups.     

Integrating agroecology and sustainable tourism: applying geodesign to farm management in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

In Aotearoa New Zealand, Māori land is frequently owned by local communities and managed by trusts. For such arrangements on rural holdings, land managers often wish both to provide for their communities and implement agricultural management practices in a culturally responsive manner. Agroecology offers an alternative model of land management and provides opportunities for the development of visitor programmes to learn about and observe traditional practices. This paper reports on the integration of agroecology and tourism on a working farm in Te Wai Pounamu South Island, Aotearoa New Zealand. The programme successfully applied spatial analysis in a geographical information system (GIS) within an iterative geodesign framework to plan a route for visitor access across the farm, with suitable areas identified for information platforms located strategically along the way. These agritourism related features were visually communicated through maps generated by the GIS. Such visualisation makes the possible consequences of change more accessible and understandable to decision makers. As well as satisfying the need to verify the approach empirically, there are plans underway to apply GIS in this way to other similarly managed farms in Aotearoa New Zealand.

• Highlights:

• Iterative geodesign approach used to evolve sites for access paths and information platforms

• Approach is of public interest, hence the need for planning farm access facilities for tourists

• Agroecology-based plan for managing a traditionally run farm in Aotearoa New Zealand

• Local cultural values addressed by GIS for positive environmental and economic impact

     

The role of frames,numbers and risk in the frequency of cooperation

We report on a simple experiment that addresses three factors in the frequency of cooperation: (1) framing, (2) the number of players and (3) the perceived risk of cooperating. We work with a (two-player) Prisoner’s Dilemma and with a three-player, two-strategy Public Good Game. We also consider a payoff schedule isomorphic with the latter but in a nonsocial setup. These themes have been separately studied by a large number of experimental papers, using diverse methodologies. Our experiment targets them in a common, clear-cut framework that minimizes confusion. We find three strong effects (a) framing; (b) the number of players (there is less cooperation in the three-person games than in the two-person ones); (c) the neutralization of risk (about 50% of participants cooperate when risk is neutralized). Both (a) and (c) go in the expected direction, but, in all three cases, the strength of the effect is surprising. Cooperators appear to be more motivated by efficiency or by Kantian reasoning than by altruism.     

Upskilling y cambios distributivos en la cadena global de valor de la industria electrónica

La cadena global de valor de la industria electrónica es una de las más complejas de la economía internacional. Utilizando las tablas input‐output internacionales de 2000‐2014, se infieren las contribuciones individuales a dicha cadena para observar cómo la crisis de 2007–2008 afectó a su evolución y cartografiar las interacciones internacionales. Se observa un aumento de la deslocalización hasta el estallido de la crisis y después China y otras economías de Asia oriental se convierten en un epicentro de creación de valor. También se observa una profunda transformación de las tecnologías de producción, acompañada de un proceso de mejora del perfil de la cualificación (upskilling).     

Estimating the aggregate value of forest recreation in a regional context

Public goods and services supplied by nature require active government intervention to ensure their provision. Nevertheless, prior to the implementation of any policy, planners should compare the costs and benefits caused by their decisions, a difficult task when policies and regulations are developed at a regional or national level (i.e. fire and pest control policies included in forests national plans), and their impacts spread out across a large number of people and ecosystems. In this context, although environmental economics has provided the necessary information for decision-making guidance related to site-specific interventions, little attention has been given to the information requirements of policies affecting large geographical areas, that is, to the estimation of an aggregate value for a specific region. The purpose of this paper is to improve current applications, inferring the recreational value of forests through the implementation of a discrete-count linked model including all the forest areas in the region of Mallorca (Spain).     

The auctioneerless economics of Axel Leijonhufvud: the 'dark forces of time and ignorance' and the coordination of economic activity

Leijonhufvud focuses his analysis on the coordination of economicactivities. In a world tossed and torn by ever new episodesof instability, macroeconomic theory must finally admit andproperly analyse the limits of collective and individual rationality.Starting from the system's coordination, Leijonhufvud underlinesthe crucial role of information, learning and institutions.Coming to individual choice, he unremittingly rejects unboundedrationality. Methodologically, however, his use of general equilibriumas a benchmark seems to have conditioned his analysis. In bringingto light the ‘dark forces of time and ignorance’,Leijonhufvud himself seems to have fallen under the influenceof the siren represented by general equilibrium theory.     

Information barriers, export promotion institutions, and the extensive margin of trade

This paper assesses the role played by export promotion institutions in shaping the extensive margin of Latin American and Caribbean countries’ exports over the period 1995–2004. We find that the presence of offices of export promotion agencies abroad favors an increase in the number of differentiated goods that are exported, whereas a larger number of diplomatic representations in the importer countries seem to be associated with exports of a larger number of homogeneous goods.