The asymptotic unbiasedness of S2 in the linear regression model with AR(1)-disturbances

The OLS-estimator of the disturbance variance in the Linear Regression Model is shown to be asymptotically unbiased in the context of AR(1)-disturbances, although for any given design, E(s²/σ²) tends to zero as correlation increases.     

Income and Happiness in Time of Post-Communist Modernization

This paper discusses the relations between economic development, family income, and happiness in post-communist Poland from the point of view of Inglehart’s theory of modernization. The happiness is understood as satisfaction with income and life, and as psychological well-being. The analysis of survey data yields the conclusion that economic development reduces the strength of the relations between income and satisfaction as well as between income and psychological well-being. These findings may be explained by changes in the value system from collectivist/materialist to individualist/post-materialist, even when these values are not directly measured. The analyzed data are from a series of representative surveys conducted in Poland during a period of political and economic transformation (i.e., between 1989 and 2008). Official statistical data on Polish economic development during the same period are used as a background for survey results. The relations between income and happiness change in Poland in a way consistent with Inglehart’s modernization theory.     

Inequality and growth in advanced economies: an empirical investigation

This paper empirically investigates the effect of income and human capital inequality on economic growth in different regions of the world. In the estimation of a dynamic panel data model that controls for country-specific effects and takes into account the persistency of the inequality indicators, the results show a different effect of inequality on growth depending on the level of development of the region. Specifically, we find a negative effect of income and human capital inequality on economic growth, both in the sample as a whole and in the low and middle-income economies, an effect that vanishes or becomes positive in the higher-income countries.     

Krisenkommunikation in Virtuellen Realitäten – Evaluation eines Serious Games zum Training von Soft Skills in Krisenstäben

The training of soft skills in crisis management teams is a central precondition for efficient and successful communication which is urgently needed in a disaster situation. However, previous trainings and simulations are costly in terms of time and money. By means of serious games in virtual environments, these disadvantages can be reduced insofar as users can participate in the multi-user game by using their workstation computer. The DREAD ED project provides a serious game in a virtual environment which simulates the work of crisis management teams during a disaster situation. The virtual training platform was tested by students and experts on crisis management in two trials. It appears that the virtual environment presented is suitable for an effective training of group dynamic and cooperation in a disaster situation.     

Reliability of reasons for early termination of breastfeeding: application of a bivariate probability model with sample selection to data from surveys in Malaysia in 1976-77 and 1988-89

Although extensively collected, data on people's reasons for their behaviour provided retrospectively have been met with some scepticism on the grounds that they may be subject to biases and errors that jeopardize their usefulness. This study investigates, for a sample of 1,327 births, the reliability with which women in Peninsular Malaysia recalled, at intervals 12 years apart, reasons for not initiating or for stopping breastfeeding less than 3 months after a birth. Overall, we find low to moderate reliability of recall. Levels of reliability are relatively high for some reasons (the child died and no or insufficient milk) but low for some others (child ill, breastfeeding inconvenient). Results from selection models show that reliability does not vary with the length of time since the child's birth but is inversely related to socio-economic status (proxied by education and employment). Social status, social norms, and health-related factors appear to be significant influences on women's consistency of reporting.     

Predicting Public Corruption with Neural Networks: An Analysis of Spanish Provinces

We contend that corruption must be detected as soon as possible so that corrective and preventive measures may be taken. Thus, we develop an early warning system based on a neural network approach, specifically self-organizing maps, to predict public corruption based on economic and political factors. Unlike previous research, which is based on the perception of corruption, we use data on actual cases of corruption. We apply the model to Spanish provinces in which actual cases of corruption were reported by the media or went to court between 2000 and 2012. We find that the taxation of real estate, economic growth, the increase in real estate prices, the growing number of deposit institutions and non-financial firms, and the same political party remaining in power for long periods seem to induce public corruption. Our model provides different profiles of corruption risk depending on the economic conditions of a region conditional on the timing of the prediction. Our model also provides different time frameworks to predict corruption up to 3 years before cases are detected.     

Analysing the Effect of Legal System on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at the Country Level,from a Multivariate Perspective

In this paper, we analyse the effect of coercive isomorphism (legal system) on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at the country level by using the multivariate statistical techniques X-STATIS and HJ-biplot, which allow us to capture the role that these institutional forces play in the evolution and patterns of behaviour regarding the commitment to sustainability. The results evidence that coercive forces have an important influence on the social and environmental commitment of companies. Analysis of the legal system shows that firms located in civil law countries have a greater interest in their CSR practices and in disclosing information than companies in common law countries; the most likely companies to act in a responsible way are those operating in institutional environments with a large and developed legal system oriented towards stakeholder protection. Consequently, our results show that companies operating in countries with similar legal systems adopt homogeneous patterns of behaviour regarding the commitment to sustainability, but their degrees of development are strongly determined by the coercive institutional characteristics.     

Deprived of human rights

Abstract

In June 2018 the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities published a report on the educational system in Spain, in response to some complaints submitted by SOLCOM (Association for Community solidarity and social inclusion of people with functional diversity). The report has had a substantial impact. A few months earlier, in February 2018, people from all over Spain had taken part in a workshop held at the Universidad de Málaga, as part of a research project entitled ‘Emerging Narratives about Inclusive Schools Based on the Social Model of Disability: Resistance, Resilience and Social Change’. The project aims to gather accounts of activist experiences from families and professionals who determinedly struggle to make schools places where all children are recognised through presence, participation, learning and success in the pre-compulsory and post-compulsory education stages. Both the Committee’s report and the statements made by relatives and activists at the workshop illustrated and bore witness to a systematic violation of many children’s right to education solely due to their disability.