Recent contributions to the literature on public choice have examined the effects of regional fiscal balances and unsuitable decentralization mechanisms on the capability of regional governments to make expenditure decisions. We focus on Spanish regional case. Our results suggest that, given the...

Growth literature has considered the existence of groups of economies which have been termed convergence clubs. Literature confirms their existence for European regional case. This paper has focused on how conditioning factors are influencing European regional GDPpc distribution. The estimation...

This paper estimates the impact of the BMI, obesity and overweight on direct medical costs. We apply panel data econometrics and use a two-part model with a longitudinal dataset of medical and administrative records of patients in primary and secondary healthcare centres in Spain followed up...

Neoclassic economic growth studies should considerate differentiation of economies taking into account structural parameters for different groups of regions. The estimation of Verdoorn law conditioning by means of initial levels of some structural parameters allows confirming the idea to...

By means of a literature review this paper aims at shedding more light on the potentialities of unhealthy food/drink taxation in changing eating patterns and life styles and hence combating the obesity epidemic. One remarkable point that emerges when assessing the set of selected papers is the...

This paper presents a regional analysis of the effects of educational policies implemented in Spain between 1992 and 2003, focusing specifically on school failure rates. We consider the impact of expenditure per pupil, class size, and pupil-teacher ratio on dropout rates at the end of compulsory...

This paper uses a combination of the 2006 Catalan Health and Health & Examination Surveys to compute the size of weight and height self-reporting biases. The underlying determinants of these self-reporting biases are also analysed, placing special emphasis on examining the role played by social...

This paper discloses satisfaction with medical coverage as a key determinant factor of heath care utilization in Catalonia (Spain). We use data from the 2002 Catalan Health Interview Survey for exploring its relevance either for the event of the visit or the number of visits. In the two cases we...

This paper analyses the impact of teacher gender towards students’ test results in a blinded Math test administered to students in Catalonia (Spain). The data for this analysis are drawn from a sample of secondary school students who participated in an international blind-test known as the...

Using Labour Force Survey individual-level data recently released by the Italian Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) where information is for the first time at available at provincial level, this paper looks at the short-term effects of the L’Aquila earthquake on labour market outcomes. Our...