Education and the empowerment of women in household decision‐making in Spain

It was analysed whether investment in the education of both women and men serves to empower wives resulting in more balanced household decisions being taken on matters related to consumption and financial management. They considered that household decision‐making could be made by mainly the wife, mainly the husband or the couple acting jointly. They then applied multinomial probit models to the Spanish Living Conditions Survey of 2010. Results show that, when controlling for demographic, family and labour market characteristics, the level of education of both the husband and wife has a positive effect in terms of a more egalitarian decision‐making process in relation to three areas of expenditure: daily shopping, expensive purchases of consumer durables and significant expenditure on children. However, only women's education has a positive effect on borrowing money and no effect of education is observed with regard to the use of savings. Results are less conclusive for households where decisions are taken primarily by the wife or husband, since men's education increases the role of husbands in the household making‐decision process whereas no effect of wives' education is observed.     

Towards a measure of financial fragility

The paper proposes a measure of financial fragility that is based on economic welfare in a general equilibrium model calibrated against UK data. The model comprises a household sector, three active heterogeneous banks, a central bank/regulator, incomplete markets, and endogenous default. We address the impact of monetary and regulatory policy, credit and capital shocks in the real and financial sectors and how the response of the economy to shocks relates to our measure of financial fragility. Finally we use panel VAR techniques to investigate the relationships between the factors that characterise financial fragility in our model, i.e. banks’ probabilities of default and banks’ profits – to a proxy of welfare.      

Who buys newspapers in Spain? An analysis of the determinants of the probability to buy newspapers and of the amount spent

In this paper, we examine the determinants of household consumption of newspapers and the amount spent on their purchase by considering several explanatory variables related to household characteristics and the main household wage earner. Results show that the variables have quite similar effects on both the relative probability of buying newspapers and the amount spent. The key variables are the age and occupational status of the main wage earner, the number of household members, income and having to pay for the house, as well as a number of geographical variables. However, certain differences are also observed. The most important is the education of the main wage earner: while its effect on buying newspapers is very small (only those who did not complete primary education are less likely to buy), its effect on the amount spent increases with the level of education. As other studies of cultural goods and services consumption have suggested, education and occupational status are more relevant determinants than income.     

The ethics of creative accounting some Spanish evidence

Creative accounting involves accountants in making accounting policy choices or manipulating transactions in such a way as to convey a preferred and deliberately chosen impression in the accounts. Although it is regarded as unethical by most observers, a defense of creative accounting can be based on the assumption that users of accounts can identify bias in accounting policy choices and make appropriate adjustments. In this paper we take the example of the Barcelona Football Club where the club management made three key accounting policy choices that resulted in the presentation of a favourable position, and a supporters club presented an alternative report choosing three alternative accounting policies that presented an unfavourable position. We presented each of these financial reports to one of two groups of Spanish bank loan officers: we found that the more favourable set of accounts was significantly more likely to attract a positive response to a loan request. This result undermines the validity of defending creative accounting based on the argument that accounts users can identify manipulation.     

Essential equilibria in normal-form games

A Nash equilibrium x of a normal-form game G is essential if any perturbation of G has an equilibrium close to x. Using payoff perturbations, we show that for games that are generic in the set of compact, quasiconcave, and generalized payoff secure games with upper semicontinuous sum of payoffs, all equilibria are essential. Some variants of this result are also established.     

叶尔羌河平原绿洲土地生态安全预警演变与时空格局分析

[目的]探索叶尔羌河平原绿洲土地生态安全预警问题及其时空格局变化,旨在为叶尔羌河平原绿洲土地生态安全及可持续利用提供科学的参考依据。[方法]文章运用PSR模型构建预警指标体系,采用熵值法测算各指标权重,对2000—2016年叶尔羌河平原绿洲土地生态安全警情格局进行综合分析,并利用GIS技术分析其2000年、2005年、2010年和2016年土地生态安全空间格局变化,最后运用障碍度模型探索其障碍因子。[结果](1)2000—2016年叶尔羌河平原绿洲土地生态安全综合预警指数总体呈上升态势,生态预警状态由"较不安全"转为"临界安全",警度亦由"重警"变为"中警"。(2)从空间格局来看,空间上各县域土地生态安全水平差异明显,研究初期西部地区土地生态安全状态优于东部地区, 2016年呈现出中部高、东北—西南部低的态势。(3)近17年叶尔羌河平原绿洲各县域土地生态环境状况有所改善,安全状态经历了"极不安全—临界安全—较安全"的发展历程。(4)影响土地生态安全的主要障碍因子包括单位面积耕地农药负荷、人口密度、单位面积耕地化肥负荷、土地垦殖率、人口自然增长率和单位面积耕地地膜负荷等。[结论]研究期间叶尔羌河平原绿洲土地生态安全得到明显的提升与改善,并在良好的方向发展。     

叶尔羌河平原绿洲耕地利用转型与粮食产量耦合关系研究

［目的］为了解叶尔羌河平原绿洲耕地利用变化与粮食产量的耦合关系,以此优化粮食生产系统的指导方式,提高叶尔羌河平原绿洲粮食产量,协调叶尔羌河平原绿洲耕地利用转型与粮食产量的耦合关系,并为叶尔羌河平原绿洲的粮食安全保护提供一定的政策启示。［方法］文章运用熵值法,以粮食生产相关的“投入”指标为评价依据,耕地利用强度由地均化肥使用强度、有效灌溉比例、复种指数及地均农业机械化水平等4个指标构成,以及利用1990—2016年叶尔羌河平原绿洲粮食产量,分析其耕地利用转型和粮食产量耦合关系时空变化。［结果］(1)1990—2016年叶尔羌河平原绿洲各县耕地利用强度不断增大,并且区域时空格局差异明显,研究初期东北部地区的耕地利用程度强于西部地区,而2016年呈现出西南—中东部强,东北部弱的态势; 从粮食产量方面来看,叶尔羌河平原绿洲粮食产量整体有所增长,空间分异特征较不明显;(2)耕地利用强度—粮食产量耦合类型时空演化特征明显,高耦合值区增加,低耦合区值逐年减少; 从空间上看,叶尔羌河平原绿洲西部地区耕地利用转型与粮食产量耦合度越来越高。(3)耕地利用转型推动粮食生产格局不断演化,叶尔羌河平原绿洲耕地利用转型与粮食产量耦合度在1990—2016年呈现耦合度逐渐增加的趋势,耕地利用转型对保障区域粮食安全具有重要作用。［结论］叶尔羌河平原绿洲粮食产量随着耕地利用转型的不断深入而不断提高,耕地利用转型对粮食安全具有有利影响。     

Using emojis in mobile web surveys for Millennials? A study in Spain and Mexico

Quality & Quantity - To involve Millennials in survey participation, and obtain high-quality answers from them, survey designers may require new tools that better catch Millennials'...     

An alternative to natural monopoly

Journal of Regulatory Economics - We consider a shared ownership arrangement among consumers/owners as a means to organize production with an underlying decreasing average cost function typical of...