http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/13170 www.pcb.ub.edu/xreap/web/home.php Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:39:51 GMT 2012-02-11T11:39:51Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/bitstream/id/34040/ http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/13170 http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/97352 Why do educated mothers matter? A model of parental help Canova, Luciano; Vaglio, Alessandro The paper investigates the role of mothers in affecting childrens' performance at school. It develops a theoretical model in which household is treated as an individual, whose utility depends on the performance at school of the student and on consumption. The model focuses on the possibilities through which mother’s help may affect pupil's performance in terms of time devoted to supervision and spillover effects. Empirical evidence, using Italian PISA 2006, shows that highly educated mothers have a positive impact on students' score only when they are highly qualified in the job market. Wed, 01 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/97352 2010-12-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/97351 What are the causes of educational inequalities and of their evolution over time in Europe? Evidence from PISA Oppedisano, Veruska; Turati, Gilberto This paper provides evidence on the sources of differences in inequalities in educational scores in European Union member states, by decomposing them into their determining factors. Using PISA data from the 2000 and 2006 waves, the paper shows that inequalities emerge in all countries and in both period, but decreased in Germany, whilst they increased in France and Italy. Decomposition shows that educational inequalities do not only reflect background related inequality, but especially schools’ characteristics. The findings allow policy makers to target areas that may make a contribution in reducing educational inequalities. Wed, 01 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/97351 2010-12-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/97350 Is it redistribution or centralization? On the determinants of government investment in infrastructure Albalate del Sol, Daniel; Bel i Queralt, Germà; Fageda, Xavier, 1975- The dilemma efficiency versus equity, together with political partisan interests, has received increasing attention to explain the territorial allocation of investments. However, centralization intended to introduce or reinforce hierarchization in the political system has not been object as of now of empirical analysis. Our main contribution to the literature is providing evidence that meta-political objectives related to the ordering of political power and administration influence regional investment. In this way, we find evidence that network mode’s (roads and railways) investment programs are influenced by the centralization strategy of investing near to the political capital, while investment effort in no-network modes (airports and ports) appears to be positively related to distance. Since investment in surface transportation infrastructures is much higher than that in airports and ports, and taken into account that regions surrounding the political capital are poorer than the average, we suggest that centralization rather than redistribution has been the driver for the concentration of public investment on these regions. Wed, 01 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/97350 2010-12-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/97334 Technology, business models and network structure in the airline industry Fageda, Xavier, 1975-; Flores-Fillol, Ricard Network airlines have been increasingly focusing their operations on hub airports through the exploitation of connecting traffic, allowing them to take advantage of economies of traffic density, which are unequivocal in the airline industry. Less attention has been devoted to airlines? decisions on point-to-point thin routes, which could be served using different aircraft technologies and different business models. This paper examines, both theoretically and empirically, the impact on airlines ?networks of the two major innovations in the airline industry in the last two decades: the regional jet technology and the low-cost business model. We show that, under certain circumstances, direct services on point-to-point thin routes can be viable and thus airlines may be interested in deviating passengers out of the hub. Wed, 01 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/97334 2010-12-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/97333 School composition effects in Spain Di Paolo, Antonio Drawing on PISA data of 2006, this study examines the impact of socio-economic school composition on science test score achievement for Spanish students in compulsory secondary schools. We define school composition in terms of the average parental human capital of students in the same school. These contextual peer effects are estimated using a semi-parametric methodology, which enables the spillovers to affect all the parameters of the educational production function. We also deal with the potential problem of self-selection of student into schools, using an artificial sorting that we argue to be independent from unobserved student’s abilities. The results indicate that the association between socio-economic school composition and test score results is clearly positive and significantly higher when computed with the semi-parametric approach. However, we find that the endogenous sorting of students into schools plays a fundamental role, given that the spillovers are significantly reduced when this selection process is ruled out from our measure of school composition effects. Specifically, the estimations suggest that the contextual peer effects are moderately positive only in those schools where the socio-economic composition is considerably elevated. In addition, we find some evidence of asymmetry of how the external effects and the sorting process actually operate, which seem affect in a different way males and females as well as high and low performance students. Wed, 01 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/97333 2010-12-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/97332 Clustering or scattering: the underlying reason for regulating distance among retail outlets Borrell, Joan-Ramon; Fernández Villadangos, Laura Concerns on the clustering of retail industries and professional services in main streets had traditionally been the public interest rationale for supporting distance regulations. Although many geographic restrictions have been suppressed, deregulation has hinged mostly upon the theory results on the natural tendency of outlets to differentiate spatially. Empirical evidence has so far offered mixed results. Using the case of deregulation of pharmacy establishment in a region of Spain, we empirically show how pharmacy locations scatter, and that there is not rationale for distance regulation apart from the underlying private interest of very few incumbents. Wed, 01 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/97332 2010-12-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/92040 Exploring educational mobility in Europe Di Paolo, Antonio; Raymond Bara, José Luis; Calero, Jorge This paper is concerned with the investigation of the intergenerational mobility of education in several European countries and its changes across birth cohorts (1940-1980) using a new mobility index that considers the total degree of mobility as the weighted sum of mobility with respect to both parents. Moreover, this mobility index enables the analysis of the role of family characteristics as mediating factors in the statistical association between individual and parental education. We find that Nordic countries display lower levels of educational persistence but that the degree of mobility increases over time only in those countries with low initial levels. Moreover, the results suggest that the degree of mobility with respect to fathers and mothers converges to the same level and that family characteristics account for an important part of the statistical association between parental education and children’s schooling; a particular finding is that the most important elements of family characteristics are the family’s socio-economic status and educational assortative mating of the parents. Fri, 01 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/92040 2010-10-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/84651 Like milk or wine: Does firm performance improve with age? Coad, Alex; Segarra Blasco, Agustí; Teruel, Mercedes Our empirical literature review shows that little is known about how firm performance changes with age, presumably because of the paucity of data on firm age. For Spanish manufacturing firms, we analyse the firm performance related to firm age between 1998 and 2006. We find evidence that firms improve with age, because ageing firms are observed to have steadily increasing levels of productivity, higher profits, larger size, lower debt ratios, and higher equity ratios. Furthermore, older firms are better able to convert sales growth into subsequent growth of profits and productivity. On the other hand, we also found evidence that firm performance deteriorates with age. Older firms have lower expected growth rates of sales, profits and productivity, they have lower profitability levels (when other variables such as size are controlled for), and also that they appear to be less capable to convert employment growth into growth of sales, profits and productivity. http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/84651 http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/83815 Prediction of the economic cost of individual long-term care in the Spanish population Bolancé Losilla, Catalina; Alemany Leira, Ramon; Guillén Estany, Montserrat Pensions together with savings and investments during active life are key elements of retirement planning. Motivation for personal choices about the standard of living, bequest and the replacement ratio of pension with respect to last salary income must be considered. This research contributes to the financial planning by helping to quantify long-term care economic needs. We estimate life expectancy from retirement age onwards. The economic cost of care per unit of service is linked to the expected time of needed care and the intensity of required services. The expected individual cost of long-term care from an onset of dependence is estimated separately for men and women. Assumptions on the mortality of the dependent people compared to the general population are introduced. Parameters defining eligibility for various forms of coverage by the universal public social care of the welfare system are addressed. The impact of the intensity of social services on individual predictions is assessed, and a partial coverage by standard private insurance products is also explored. Data were collected by the Spanish Institute of Statistics in two surveys conducted on the general Spanish population in 1999 and in 2008. Official mortality records and life table trends were used to create realistic scenarios for longevity. We find empirical evidence that the public long-term care system in Spain effectively mitigates the risk of incurring huge lifetime costs. We also find that the most vulnerable categories are citizens with moderate disabilities that do not qualify to obtain public social care support. In the Spanish case, the trends between 1999 and 2008 need to be further explored. http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/83815 http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/83497 Knowledge of Catalan, public/private sector choice and earnings: Evidence from a double sample selection model Di Paolo, Antonio This paper explores the earnings return to Catalan knowledge for public and private workers in Catalonia. In doing so, we allow for a double simultaneous selection process. We consider, on the one hand, the non-random allocation of workers into one sector or another, and on the other, the potential self-selection into Catalan proficiency. In addition, when correcting the earnings equations, we take into account the correlation between the two selectivity rules. Our findings suggest that the apparent higher language return for public sector workers is entirely accounted for by selection effects, whereas knowledge of Catalan has a significant positive return in the private sector, which is somewhat higher when the selection processes are taken into account. http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/83497 http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/67554 Language knowledge and earnings in Catalonia Di Paolo, Antonio; Raymond Bara, Josep Lluís This paper investigates the economic value of Catalan knowledge for national and foreign first- and second-generation immigrants in Catalonia. Specifically, drawing on data from the “Survey on Living Conditions and Habits of the Catalan Population (2006)”, we want to quantify the expected earnings differential between individuals who are proficient in Catalan and those who are not, taking into account the potential endogeneity between knowledge of Catalan and earnings. The results indicate the existence of a positive return to knowledge of Catalan, with a 7.5% increase in earnings estimated by OLS; however, when we account for the presence of endogeneity, monthly earnings are around 18% higher for individuals who are able to speak and write Catalan. However, we also find that language and education are complementary inputs for generating earnings in Catalonia, given that knowledge of Catalan increases monthly earnings only for more educated individuals. http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/67554 http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/66973 Movilidad ocupacional de los inmigrantes en una economía de bajas cualificaciones. El caso de España Simón, Hipólito; Ramos Lobo, Raúl; Sanromà, Esteve Esta investigación analiza la movilidad ocupacional de los inmigrantes entre sus países de origen y España, así como sus principales determinantes. La misma se basa en los microdatos de la Encuesta Nacional de Inmigrantes y el uso de una escala de estatus ocupacional de carácter internacional (ISEI). La evidencia muestra que, por lo general, los inmigrantes sufren una fuerte degradación ocupacional en España con respecto a sus países de origen. Ésta se explica en buena medida por la intensa degradación que suelen experimentar al incorporarse al mercado de trabajo español, puesto que la mejora ocupacional asociada a su estancia en nuestro país es limitada. La degradación ocupacional al llegar es mayor para las mujeres, los inmigrantes de mayor nivel educativo y los procedentes de países en desarrollo. La recuperación posterior confirma la hipótesis de una movilidad ocupacional en forma de U profunda para los dos últimos colectivos, mientras que las mujeres padecen mayores dificultades para progresar ocupacionalmente. Residir en España, convalidar estudios extranjeros, aprender castellano y regularizar la situación documental mejoran el estatus ocupacional, pero, excepto en el último caso, de forma lenta. Acceder al primer empleo en España a través de redes informales tiene un efecto negativo sobre el logro ocupacional. Por último, mayor tiempo buscando empleo y una búsqueda de trabajo que incluya la movilidad geográfica se traducen en una mejora ocupacional mayor, mientras que el desempleo tiene un efecto negativo. http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/66973 http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/58589 Parental education and family characteristics: educational opportunities across cohorts in Italy and Spain Di Paolo, Antonio Drawing on data contained in the 2005 EU-SILC, this paper investigates the disparities in educational opportunities in Italy and Spain. Its main objective is to analyse the predicted probabilities of successfully completing upper-secondary and tertiary education for individuals with different parental backgrounds, and the changes in these probabilities across birth cohorts extending from 1940 to 1980. The results suggest that the disparities in tertiary education opportunities in Italy tend to increase over time. By contrast, the gap in educational opportunity in Spain shows a marked decrease across the cohorts. Moreover, by using an intuitive decomposition strategy, the paper shows that a large part of the educational gap between individuals of different backgrounds is “composed” of the difference in the endowment of family characteristics. Specifically, it seems that more highly educated parents are more able to endow their children with a better composition of family characteristics, which accounts for a significant proportion of the disparities in educational opportunity. http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/58589 http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/47992 Modelling dependence in a ratemaking procedure with multivariate Poisson regression models Bermúdez, Lluís; Karlis, Dimitris When actuaries face with the problem of pricing an insurance contract that contains different types of coverage, such as a motor insurance or homeowner's insurance policy, they usually assume that types of claim are independent. However, this assumption may not be realistic: several studies have shown that there is a positive correlation between types of claim. Here we introduce different regression models in order to relax the independence assumption, including zero-inflated models to account for excess of zeros and overdispersion. These models have been largely ignored to multivariate Poisson date, mainly because of their computational di±culties. Bayesian inference based on MCMC helps to solve this problem (and also lets us derive, for several quantities of interest, posterior summaries to account for uncertainty). Finally, these models are applied to an automobile insurance claims database with three different types of claims. We analyse the consequences for pure and loaded premiums when the independence assumption is relaxed by using different multivariate Poisson regression models and their zero-inflated versions. http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/47992 http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/46739 An Introduction to parametric and non-parametric models for bivariate positive insurance claim severity distributions Pitt, David; Guillén Estany, Montserrat We present a real data set of claims amounts where costs related to damage are recorded separately from those related to medical expenses. Only claims with positive costs are considered here. Two approaches to density estimation are presented: a classical parametric and a semi-parametric method, based on transformation kernel density estimation. We explore the data set with standard univariate methods. We also propose ways to select the bandwidth and transformation parameters in the univariate case based on Bayesian methods. We indicate how to compare the results of alternative methods both looking at the shape of the overall density domain and exploring the density estimates in the right tail. http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/46739 http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/46736 Which firms want PhDs? The effect of the university-industry relationship on the PhD labour market García Quevedo, José, 1963-; Mas Verdú, Francisco; Polo Otero, José PhD graduates hold the highest education degree, are trained to conduct research and can be considered a key element in the creation, commercialization and diffusion of innovations. The impact of PhDs on innovation and economic development takes place through several channels such as the accumulation of scientific capital stock, the enhancement of technology transfers and the promotion of cooperation relationships in innovation processes. Although the placement of PhDs in industry provides a very important mechanism for transmitting knowledge from universities to firms, information about the characteristics of the firms that employ PhDs is very scarce. The goal of this paper is to improve understanding of the determinants of the demand for PhDs in the private sector. Three main potential determinants of the demand for PhDs are considered: cooperation between firms and universities, R&D activities of firms and several characteristics of firms, size, sector, productivity and age. The results from the econometric analysis show that cooperation between firms and universities encourages firms to recruit PhDs and point to the existence of accumulative effects in the hiring of PhD graduates. http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/46736 http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/43872 The Accessibility City. When Transport Infrastructure Matters in Urban Spatial Structure García López, Miquel-Àngel Suburbanization is changing the urban spatial structure and less monocentric metropolitan regions are becoming the new urban reality. Focused only on centers, most works have studied these spatial changes neglecting the role of transport infrastructure and its related location model, the “accessibility city”, in which employment and population concentrate in low-density settlements and close to transport infrastructure. For the case of Barcelona, we consider this location model and study the population spatial structure between 1991 and 2006. The results reveal a mix between polycentricity and the accessibility city, with movements away from the main centers, but close to the transport infrastructure. http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/43872 http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/43034 The Commons and anti-commons problems in the tourism economy Álvarez Albelo, Carmen; Hernández Martín, Raúl Countries specialised in tourism tend to face two problems with contradictory effects: the commons and the anti-commons, which lead to tourism over- and under-production, respectively. This paper develops a two-period model to analyse the joint effects of both problems on a small and remote tourism economy. Congestion and the complementariness between foreign transport and local tourism services are key features in this type of markets. As a result, direct selling and the presence of foreign tour-operators emerge as possible market arrangements with different implications in terms of welfare and public intervention. Four main results are obtained. First, in the direct selling situation the optimal policy depends on the relative importance of the problems. Second, the existence of tour-operators always leads to tourism over-production. Third, the presence of a single tour-operator does not solve the congestion problem. Lastly, the switch from several tour-operators to a single one is welfare reducing. Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/43034 2009-12-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/42703 Human capital spillovers, productivity and regional convergence in Spain Ramos Lobo, Raúl; Suriñach Caralt, Jordi; Artís Ortuño, Manuel This paper analyses the differential impact of human capital, in terms of different levels of schooling, on regional productivity and convergence. The potential existence of geographical spillovers of human capital is also considered by applying spatial panel data techniques. The empirical analysis of Spanish provinces between 1980 and 2007 confirms the positive impact of human capital on regional productivity and convergence, but reveals no evidence of any positive geographical spillovers of human capital. In fact, in some specifications the spatial lag presented by tertiary studies has a negative effect on the variables under consideration. Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/42703 2009-11-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/42144 The determinants of university patenting: Do incentives matter? Barrio Castro, Tomás del; García, José, 1963- In recent years various studies have examined the factors that may explain academic patents. Existing analyses have also underlined the substantial differences to be found in European countries in the institutional framework that defines property rights for academic patents. The objective of this study is to contribute to the empirical literature on the factors explaining academic patents and to determine whether the incentives that universities offer researchers contribute towards explaining the differences in academic patenting activity. The results of the econometric analysis for the Spanish universities point towards the conclusion that the principal factor determining the patents is funding of R&D while royalty incentives to researchers do not appear to be significant. Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/42144 2009-11-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/42109 Inter-regional redistribution through infrastructure investment: tactical or programmatic? Solé Ollé, Albert In this paper we analyze the effects of both tactical and programmatic politics on the inter-regional allocation of infrastructure investment. We use a panel of data for the Spanish electoral districts during the period 1964-2004 to estimate an equation where investment depends both on economic and political variables. The results show that tactical politics do matter since, after controlling for economic traits, the districts with more ‘Political power’ still receive more investment. These districts are those where the incumbents’ Vote margin of victory/ defeat in the past election is low, where the Marginal seat price is low, where there is Partisan alignment between the executives at the central and regional layers of government, and where there are Pivotal regional parties which are influential in the formation of the central executive. However, the results also show that programmatic politics matter, since inter-regional redistribution (measured as the elasticity of investment to per capita income) is shown to increase with the arrival of the Democracy and EU Funds, with Left governments, and to decrease the higher is the correlation between a measure of ‘Political power’ and per capita income. Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/42109 2009-11-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/42106 Health care utilization among immigrants and native-born populations in 11 European countries. Results from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe Solé-Auró, Aïda; Guillén, Montserrat; Crimmins, Eileen M. Objective: This study examines health care utilization of immigrants relative to the native-born populations aged 50 years and older in eleven European countries. Methods. We analyzed data from the Survey of Health Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) from 2004 for a sample of 27,444 individuals in 11 European countries. Negative Binomial regression was conducted to examine the difference in number of doctor visits, visits to General Practitioners (GPs), and hospital stays between immigrants and the native-born individuals. Results: We find evidence those immigrants above age 50 use health services on average more than the native-born populations with the same characteristics. Our models show immigrants have between 6% and 27% more expected visits to the doctor, GP or hospital stays when compared to native-born populations in a number of European countries. Discussion: Elderly immigrant populations might be using health services more intensively due to cultural reasons. Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/42106 2009-10-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/42003 Traffic forecasts under uncertainty and capacity constraints Matas i Prat, Anna; Raymond Bara, José Luis; Ruiz, Adriana Traffic forecasts provide essential input for the appraisal of transport investment projects. However, according to recent empirical evidence, long-term predictions are subject to high levels of uncertainty. This paper quantifies uncertainty in traffic forecasts for the tolled motorway network in Spain. Uncertainty is quantified in the form of a confidence interval for the traffic forecast that includes both model uncertainty and input uncertainty. We apply a stochastic simulation process based on bootstrapping techniques. Furthermore, the paper proposes a new methodology to account for capacity constraints in long-term traffic forecasts. Specifically, we suggest a dynamic model in which the speed of adjustment is related to the ratio between the actual traffic flow and the maximum capacity of the motorway. This methodology is applied to a specific public policy that consists of suppressing the toll on a certain motorway section before the concession expires. Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/42003 2009-11-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/41821 Small firms, growth and financial constraints Segarra Blasco, Agustí; Teruel, Mercedes This paper analyses the impact of different sources of finance on the growth of firms. Using panel data from Spanish manufacturing firms for the period 2000-2006, we investigate the effects of internal and external finances on firm growth. In particular, we examine three dimensions of these financial sources: a) the performance of the firms’ capital structure in accordance with firm size; b) the effects of internal and external financial sources on growth performance; c) the combined effect of equity, external debt and cash flow on firm growth. We find that low-growth firms are sensitive to cash flow and short-term bank debt, while high-growth firms are more sensitive to long-term debt. Furthermore, equity capital seems to reduce barriers to external finance. Our main conclusion is that during the start-up phase, firms are unable to increase their financial leverage and so their capital structure fails to promote correct investment strategies. However, as their equity capital increases, alternative financial mechanisms, in particular long-term debt, become available, which have a positive impact on firm growth. Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/41821 2009-10-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/41549 Competition between TV platforms Domènech Campmajó, Laïa The aim of this paper is to identify the factors that affect the market penetration of pay television by studying the competition that exists between three types of technology (satellite, cable and ADSL). We distinguish three groups of factors: the level of market competition, the level of competition in the industry and the quality of the product being offered. Our results seem to indicate that as market concentration increases, the television service can achieve greater penetration. This relationship is specifically captured by the level of intra- and inter-platform competition. We also examine the relationship between free television channels and pay television and find that as the amount of time dedicated to the broadcasting of advertising by the former increases, the number of subscribers to pay TV rises. Finally, we examine product quality by introducing the effect of holding the rights to broadcast Professional Football League matches and an HBO or Showtime produced series. Our results suggest that these variables are critical for the penetration of pay television. Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/41549 2009-10-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/41470 The antecedents and innovation consequences of organizational search: empirical evidence for Spain Lucena, Abel E. This paper examines the antecedents and innovation consequences of the methods firms adopt in organizing their search strategies. From a theoretical perspective, organizational search is described using a typology that shows how firms implement exploration and exploitation search activities that span their organizational boundaries. This typology includes three models of implementation: ambidextrous, specialized, and diversified implementation. From an empirical perspective, the paper examines the performance consequences when applying these models, and compares their capacity to produce complementarities. Additionally, since firms' choices in matters of organizational search are viewed as endogenous variables, the paper examines the drivers affecting them and identifies the importance of firms' absorptive capacity and diversified technological opportunities in determining these choices. The empirical design of the paper draws on new data for manufacturing firms in Spain, surveyed between 2003 and 2006. Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/41470 2009-10-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/41350 The Black Box of Business Dynamics Callejón, María; Ortún Rubio, Vicente Research in business dynamics has been advancing rapidly in the last years but the translation of the new knowledge to industrial policy design is slow. One striking aspect in the policy area is that although research and analysis do not identify the existence of an specific optimal rate of business creation and business exit, governments everywhere have adopted business start-up support programs with the implicit principle that the more the better. The purpose of this article is to contribute to understand the implications of the available research for policy design. Economic analysis has identified firm heterogeneity as being the most salient characteristic of industrial dynamics, and so a better knowledge of the different types of entrepreneur, their behavior and their specific contribution to innovation and growth would enable us to see into the ‘black box’ of business dynamics and improve the design of appropriate public policies. The empirical analysis performed here shows that not all new business have the same impact on relevant economic variables, and that self-employment is of quite a different economic nature to that of firms with employees. It is argued that public programs should not promote indiscriminate entry but rather give priority to able entrants with survival capacities. Survival of entrants is positively related to their size at birth. Innovation and investment improve the likelihood of survival of new manufacturing start-ups. Investment in R&D increases the risk of failure in new firms, although it improves the competitiveness of incumbents. http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/41350 http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/16098 The international trade as the sole engine of growth for an economy Álvarez Albelo, Carmen; Manresa, Antonio; Pigem-Vigo, Mònica Can international trade act as the sole engine of growth for an economy? If yes, what are the mechanisms through which trade operates in transmitting permanent growth? This paper answers these questions with two simple two-country models, in which only one country enjoys sustained growth in autarky. The models differ in the assumptions on technical change, which is either labour- or capital-augmenting. In both cases, the stagnant economy imports growth by trading. In the first model, growth is transmitted because of permanent increases in the trade volume. In the alternative framework, the stagnant economy imports sustained growth because its terms of trade permanently improve. Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/16098 2009-06-01T00:00:00Z http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/15808 (No)competition in the Spanish retailing gasoline market: a variance filter approach Jiménez, Juan Luís; Perdiguero, Jordi Various methodologies in economic literature have been used to analyse the international hydrocarbon retail sector. Nevertheless at a Spanish level these studies are much more recent and most conclude that generally there is no effective competition present in this market, regardless of the approach used. In this paper, in order to analyse the price levels in the Spanish petrol market, our starting hypothesis is that in uncompetitive markets the prices are higher and the standard deviation is lower. We use weekly retail petrol price data from the ten biggest Spanish cities, and apply Markov chains to fill the missing values for petrol 95 and diesel, and we also employ a variance filter. We conclude that this market demonstrates reduced price dispersion, regardless of brand or city. http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/15808 http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/15215 Los salarios de los inmigrantes en el mercado de trabajo español. ¿Importa el origen del capital humano? Sanromà, Esteve; Ramos Lobo, Raúl; Simón, Hipólito El objetivo del trabajo es analizar el papel de los diferentes componentes del capital humano como determinantes de los ingresos de los inmigrantes recientes en el mercado de trabajo español. A partir de los microdatos de la Encuesta Nacional de Inmigrantes 2007, se examina la rentabilidad del capital humano de este colectivo, distinguiendo el adquirido en origen del acumulado en destino, así como el impacto salarial de la situación documental. La evidencia obtenida muestra que el capital humano adquirido en España tiene una mayor rentabilidad marginal que el acumulado en origen, lo que refleja la limitada transferibilidad de este último. La única excepción se da en el caso de los inmigrantes procedentes de países desarrollados o que han estudiado en España, independientemente de su procedencia, los cuales obtienen una rentabilidad de sus estudios –incluso de aquéllos cursados en origen– comparativamente elevada. Una situación legal en España está asociada, por su parte, con una sustancial prima salarial positiva (15%). Por último, el conjunto de la evidencia confirma la presencia de una fuerte heterogeneidad, tanto en la rentabilidad de las diferentes formas de capital humano como en la magnitud de la prima por trabajar legalmente, en función de la zona de origen de los inmigrantes. http://www.recercat.cat:80/handle/2072/15215