Schooling Opportunities and Intergenerational Educational Mobility in Turkey: An IV Estimation Using Census Data

We estimate the intergenerational transmission of education in Turkey using micro-data from the 1990 and 2000 censuses and an instrumental variable (IV) approach. We construct a historical series of provincial enrolment rates by gender to isolate the environmental effect on parental education. The results reveal that intergenerational educational mobility increases over time through a stronger decrease in the transmission of paternal education. The improvement is larger for boys, and the transmission is higher for mother-daughter pairs and in the case of poorer educated parents.     

At least democracy was not the issue: Basque parliamentarians during the making of the First Spanish Republic, 1873–74

The history of the European states in the nineteenth century relates to how processes of ‘parliamentarization’ took place that were not always accompanied by processes of ‘democratization’. This leads us to the following question: Was democracy their goal? A good example can be found in the political development of Spain from the 1868 revolution to 1874, a period that has been called the ‘Democratic Sexennium’. This revolution led Spain into a process that involved an attempt at democratization which culminated in the proclamation of the First Republic. The First Spanish Republic was based on a democratic parliament and constitution. In this article a prosopographic study is conducted of a specific group of parliamentarians – those from the Basque Country – who took part in the debates during the First Republic. The results of this study serve as a typical example of the participation of parliamentarians in democratization processes in the nineteenth century and they show the relationship between discourse and parliamentary practice in that period. Prosopographic analysis and the use of thematic prosopography enable us to ascertain the profile of those democratically elected parliamentarians and the issues that most concerned them. Additionally, the debate that emerged on the limits of democracy in wartime is highlighted, owing to the fact that Spain was immersed in a civil war during this period and the Spanish Parliament had to take decisions and act in adverse circumstances.     

Books in review

He is author of over sixty articles for various journals. Among his books are Conservative Millenariansand The Search for Historical Meaning.     

Speaking the Language of Friendship: Partnerships in the Political Construction of the Late Sixteenth-Century South-East Charcas Frontier

The present article discusses the importance of partnerships in the political construction of the south-east frontier of late sixteenth-century Charcas, focused on foundation and destruction of San Miguel de la Laguna. In a challenge to the narrative of ‘constant war zone’, the events are here framed as part of a process described as territorialisation, which transformed geographies into territories of the polycentric Catholic Monarchy, politically equipping the land with relations that were expressed through institutions. San Miguel was the product of the ‘friendship’ between its founder and the Chiriguanaes who inhabited the area. Its fate was not the result of untrustworthy natives.     

Market and institutional determinants in the regulation of conveyancers

Demand for law professionals in the conveyancing of property is decreasing because of market and institutional changes. On the market side, many transactions feature large, well-known parties and standardized transactions, which make professionals less effective or necessary for protecting the parties to private contracts. On the institutional side, public titling makes it possible to dispense with a broadening set of their former functions. Recording of deeds made professionals redundant as depositories of deeds and reduced demand for them to design title guarantees. Effective registration of rights increasingly substitutes professionals for detecting title conflicts with third parties and gathering their consent. Market changes undermine the information asymmetry rationale for regulating conveyancing, while institutional changes facilitate liberalizing not only conduct but also license regulations. These arguments are supported here by disentangling the logic of titling systems and presenting empirical evidence from the European and USA markets. The author thanks John D. Cooke, Fernando Gómez Pomar, Pamela O'Connor, Joyce D. Palomar, Ruth Paserman, Mark C. Schechter, Frank Stephen, Christine C. Wilson and participants at the Ninth EU Competition Law and Policy Workshop, the Eigth ISNIE conference and Université de Paris X for their comments and Ana Estrada for her research assistance. Usual disclaimers apply.     

The Disappeared and the Mesa de Diálogo in Chile 1999–2001: Searching for Those Who Never Grew Old

This paper describes steps taken in order to deal with information regarding human rights abuses in Chile during the Pinochet regime, focusing on the most recent initiative, the Mesa de Diálogo (1999–2001) whose final report was given to president Lagos in January 2001. Two national initiatives, i.e. the establishment and reports of the Comisión de Verdad y Reconciliación (1991) and the following-up of this inquiry by the Corporación Nacional de Reparación y Reconciliación (1996) preceded La Mesa and are discussed in this paper. The paper concludes by suggesting that the Chilean transition to democracy will remain incomplete if the fate of the disappeared is not fully known and legally investigated.     

Campaign spending and office-seeking motivations: an empirical analysis

This paper presents econometric evidence on the relationship between campaign spending and office seeking motivations. Our results, using Spanish data, show that campaign spending per capita increases with the stakes for the winner, measured by the appointment power of the office. Moreover we find that campaign spending per capita increases with the level of self-government of the region. Our results concord with those reported for other countries with very different systems of campaign funding.     

Using Stationarity Tests in Antitrust Market Definition

In this article it is argued that, if two products or geographicareas belong in the same market, their relative price must bestationary. Hence stationarity tests like the Augmented Dickey-Fullerand the KPSS can be helpful in delineating the relevant marketfor antitrust purposes, particularly for abuses of dominantpositions and agreements between competitors. The proposed procedureis strictly related to cointegration analysis but is simplerand has more general validity. An application to the Italianmilk market illustrates the technique.     

The Role of Interest Groups in the European Union Decision-Making Process

Most of the economic models that analyse the behaviour of interest groups in the policy making process uphold the idea that there are many organized groups that compete, with the aim of achieving their individual goals. The adoption of decisions is the result of a complex system of strategic interactions, and since different groups have different resources at their disposal this makes it easier for one or more groups to influence whether or not a policy is adopted. This research demonstrates that an institutional system such as the European Union (EU) should be able to protect us from the potential manipulation, which accompanies these channels of influence.