Does tenure in office affect regional growth? The role of?public capital productivity

We study the impact of tenure in office on economic performance. We evaluate the relationships between tenure in office and GDP growth, public capital growth, and public capital productivity using data for Spanish regions during the period 1980?C1998. We find that tenure decreases the impact of public capital growth on GDP growth. Our results suggest that tenure affects GDP growth negatively through a decrease in public capital productivity.     

Analysis of cognitive inhibition and flexibility in juvenile delinquents

Executive functions are still developing during adolescence. It is important to analyse if juvenile delinquency is related to a delay in the development of these functions. The objective of this study was to analyse cognitive inhibition and flexibility, two components of executive functions, in juvenile delinquents. Participants were 81 males, 17.46 ± 1.60 years old. Three groups were compared: a juvenile delinquent inmate group (IG), an age-paired group (APG), and an age- and education-paired group (AEPG). A modified Stroop task was used to assess cognitive inhibition and flexibility. The IG and the AEPG (low-education adolescents) had significantly more difficulties than the APG on inhibition; the IG and the AEPG had no significant differences. No group differences were found on flexibility. Since all low-education adolescents have difficulties on inhibition, these difficulties are not an exclusive characteristic of juvenile delinquents. Analysis of cognitive processes in juvenile delinquents must control for education to determine how specific are the difficulties found in these adolescents.     

The strategic use of dismissal legislation: an empirical analysis using Spanish data

In this paper, we analyse empirically how the legal framework affects the relationship between labour market conditions and dismissals. We use a pseudo-panel of Spanish data from 1987 to 2001. We find that Labour Law reforms have effects on the use of individual and collective dismissals although such effects are much lower than those related to the business cycle. The results also show a strategic use of the different types of dismissals, distorting the work of those institutions involved in dismissals.      

Reforming campaign finance in the nineties: a case study of Spain

This paper analyzes the reforms of the Spanish electoral finance regulatory system during the nineties. We present a number of indexes to measure the impact of the reforms on parties and campaign spending. We also suggest a game theoretical model to explain why the two main parties agreed to support the legal changes in the nineties. A principal outcome of the reforms was to establish an effective limit to campaign expenses. In our view this would have not been feasible in the late seventies or eighties. Then the parties were trapped in a prisoner’s dilemma in which each party had to spend more in order to prevent other parties from gaining electoral advantage. But in the nineties the main parties, ridden with problems of soaring electoral debts and disgruntled voters, used the reform of political finance as a coordination device to achieve a Pareto efficient equilibrium.     

Evaluating the effectiveness of the Spanish police force through data envelopment analysis

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the level of effectiveness of the National Police Force in Spain, attempting to show the possibilities that the Data Envelopment Analysis technique offers in this field. Furthermore, we have implemented a two-stage procedure which uses econometric methods to estimate the set of variables which will explain the performance of effective units. The results of our analysis show that there is a high level of investigative effectiveness, which decreases regarding coercive and overall effectiveness. This indicates that although there is logic in the cases solved and the culprits arrested, this cannot be extended, given the level of offences, to the number of cases solved, and to a lesser degree to those arrested for them. The units which are most effective overall are characterized by the solving of crimes against the right to sexual freedom and indemnity and by the arrest of a high percentage of those guilty of other offences.      

How time influences franchise contracts: the Spanish case

This article builds a simple theoretical model for the optimal expected length of a franchise contract. The main outcome is that fixed specific investment positively impacts contract duration confirming previous theoretical conjectures. Additionally, other variables such us the price–cost margin of the franchise, the brand name or the discount factor also play a relevant role. The empirical analysis using a large sample of franchises operating in Spain confirms the main conclusions of the model. However, the connection found between investment and duration, although statistically robust, is weak from an economic point of view. This result suggests the possibility that, in general, most franchisees are not in equilibrium because of the high standardization of this contract term across franchises. In these cases, the expectation of renewal is likely to be a crucial element of adjustment.     

La economía cubana: entre voluntarismo e intentos de planifcación (1959-2012)

Throughout more than fifty years, the Cuban Revolution has been unable to implement an Economic Management System (ems) to face and overcome the traditional problems of centrally planned economies. When Cuban leaders tried to back away from the planning methods adopted in socialist countries, the economic management suffered from “voluntarism”, with invariably negative consequences. This article proposes a categorization of the economic cycle into upward phases –in which rational economic planning and organization predominate– and downward phases with a highly centralized direction of the economy. A historic-economic analysis of each phase of the cycle is presented, revealing that upward phases were characterized by good or acceptable economic outcomes, while these were poor during downward phases with a prevalence of voluntarism, unless external factors appeared.     

Effectiveness of Single‐Nucleotide Polymorphisms to Investigate Cattle Rustling

Short tandem repeats (STR)s have been the eligible markers for forensic animal genetics, despite single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP)s became acceptable. The technology, the type, and amount of markers could limit the investigation in degraded forensic samples. The performance of a 32‐SNP panel genotyped through OpenArrays^TM (real‐time PCR based) was evaluated to resolve cattle‐specific forensic cases. DNA from different biological sources was used, including samples from an alleged instance of cattle rustling. SNPs and STRs performance and repeatability were compared. SNP call rate was variable among sample type (average = 80.18%), while forensic samples showed the lowest value (70.94%). The repeatability obtained (98.7%) supports the used technology. SNPs had better call rates than STRs in 12 of 20 casework samples, while forensic index values were similar for both panels. In conclusion, the 32‐SNPs used are as informative as the standard bovine STR battery and hence are suitable to resolve cattle rustling investigations.