Vacant Shops in a Crisis Period – A Morphological Analysis in Portuguese Medium-Sized Cities

Vacant shops are an important problem affecting urban areas today, particularly in the wake of the economic crisis. Most strategies to analyse and deal with this issue are related to economic and financial variables. However, the amount of research associating store geography and performance with urban morphology has increased over the past decade. Thus, this research tests the hypothesis that specific morphological features characterize vacant retail sites. Using four Portuguese cities as test-beds and Kernel density analysis to plot spatial patterns, vacant shops were for example positively correlated with low segment betweenness and negatively correlated with block area.     

Association of low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels with the frailty syndrome in Mexican community-dwelling elderly

Objective: Since vitamin D is an important regulator of muscle function, the effect of vitamin D deficiency on frailty syndrome has been recently studied. This cross-sectional study aimed to determine the association between 25(OH)-vitamin D levels and frailty status in Mexican community-dwelling elderly.

Methods: Sample of 331 community-dwelling elderly aged 70 or older, a subset of those included in the “Coyoacán cohort” were included. 25(OH)-vitamin D assay and frailty status were measured.

Results: Mean age was 79.3 years and 54.1% were women. Those classified as frail were more likely to have lower Mini-Mental State Examination score (p?=?0.015), more disability for instrumental activities of daily living (p?p?p?Conclusion: These results suggest that older adults with low 25(OH)-vitamin D levels are associated with the probability to being frail compared with those with sufficient vitamin D levels.     

The Persistence of the slave market in seventeenth-century Central Mexico

This study, based on an extensive notarial database, demonstrates the significance of slavery in Central Mexico during the seventeenth century. Thousands of bills of sale from Mexico City and Puebla – the largest and most lucrative slave markets in the region – show that the slave trade did not collapse with the end of the Portuguese asiento in 1640. A growing population of American-born creoles sustained the market during the subsequent decades, along with a modest number of new African arrivals. In 1700, slavery remained integral to Central Mexico's economy.     

Cognition and Behavior in Normal‐Form Games: An Experimental Study

This paper reports experiments designed to study strategic sophistication, the extent to which behavior in games reflects attempts to predict others’ decisions, taking their incentives into account. We study subjects’ initial responses to normal‐form games with various patterns of iterated dominance and unique pure‐strategy equilibria without dominance, using a computer interface that allowed them to search for hidden payoff information, while recording their searches. Monitoring subjects’ information searches along with their decisions allows us to better understand how their decisions are determined, and subjects’ deviations from the search patterns suggested by equilibrium analysis help to predict their deviations from equilibrium decisions.     

A Comparison of Alternative Models of Individual Quality of Life for Social Service Recipients

There is considerable debate in the area of individual quality of life research regarding the factor structure of the QOL construct that is focused on the number and composition of QOL factors and domains, and its hierarchical nature. The main goal of this study involve testing by means of confirmatory factor analyses five models that have been pointed out by recent scientific literature: firstly, an unidimensional model; secondly, a QOL model that consisted of eight inter-correlated domains proposed by Schalock and Verdugo (2002); thirdly, a model composed of these eight 1st-order factors and one 2nd- order factor; the forth and five are model with the eight 1st-order factors and three 2nd-order factor that has been denominated in other studies ‘Salamanca model’ and ‘Schalock model’. Data were collected from 3.029 social service recipients from Catalonia (Spain) who completed the GENCAT Scale, an objective QOL questionnaire. The best fit of the eight inter-correlated and 1st order domains was empirically demonstrated. Implications for future research are also discussed.     

Does Country Matter for Subjective Well-Being?

It is known that characteristics of individuals explain only a part of the variations in Subjective Well-Being (SWB) between people. The country of origin of an individual accounts for a significant part of these differences. We study what drives the variations in SWB between countries after taking individual characteristics into account. We base our analysis on data from the four waves of the World Values Survey. 64% of the variations between the countries in the sample (64 countries) are explained by the natality rate, life expectancy, the level of corruption and a Muslim culture. This adds to the discussion on the link between economic conditions and SWB. The economic situation is not an explanatory variable in a direct way but indirectly affects SWB through some of the significant variables. Corruption has detrimental effects on SWB beyond its economic consequences.     

A Simple Model of Severance Pay Determination: The Case of Individual Dismissals in Spain

In this article we model the determinants of severance pay for individual dismissals in Spain, following an idea proposed by Jimeno and Toharia (Economistas 55: 243–255, 1993). We point out the importance of severance pay settled before judgment, since the legal framework creates a bargaining space to determine the amount paid by firms in cases of individual dismissal. The model is a simple pre‐trial bargaining game between the firm and the worker. It predicts a higher settled severance pay for dismissals on economic grounds than on disciplinary ones, which could explain the perceptions held about the wide use of disciplinary dismissals in Spain. In addition, this approach could be useful in designing labour market reforms aimed at changing dismissal costs, because it allows us to determine the key variables affecting settled severance pay. Our simple model predicts that the key variables for Spain are the severance pay for unfair dismissal and the probability of unfair dismissal.     

THE SWINGS OF U.S. INFLATION AND THE GIBSON PARADOX

In recent business cycles, U.S. inflation has experienced a reduction of volatility and a severe weakening in the correlation to the nominal interest rate (Gibson paradox). We examine these facts in an estimated dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with money. Our findings point at a flatter New Keynesian Phillips Curve (higher price stickiness) and a lower persistence of markup shocks as the main explanatory factors. In addition, a higher interest‐rate elasticity of money demand, an increasing role of demand‐side shocks, and a less systematic behavior of Fed's monetary policy also account for the recent patterns of U.S. inflation dynamics. (JEL E32, E47)     

Feral pigeon (Columba livia var. domestica) management in low-density urban areas: prevention is better than cure

Urban Ecosystems - Currently, there are naturalized populations of feral pigeon (Columba livia var. domestica) worldwide with an estimated global population between 165 and 330 million individuals....     

Sociodemographic Profiles and the Causes of Regular Venezuelan Emigration

The following study examines the characteristics of the Venezuelan emigrant population which crossed the border between Táchira state (Venezuela) and La Parada, Villa del Rosario Municipality, North Santander (Colombia) between April 9th and May 6th of 2018. The data were collected through a structured survey with 14,578 respondents. Using multiple correspondence factor analysis and positioning maps, we identified three different emigrant profiles that have a single fundamental cause of emigration: the current economic situation. These three groups differ in age, education level, and marital status. Profile 3 stands out as it is formed by single, young professionals who feel uncertainty because they do not think they can have a prosperous future in Venezuela. We conclude with an acknowledgement of the current humanitarian crisis (around both food and health) in Venezuela and the need to generate inclusive migratory policies in host countries.