The impact of the term spread in US monetary policy from 1870 to 2013

In this paper, we apply a novel econometric approach joint with an exhaustive revision of the main events in the history of US monetary policy in order to check the effectiveness of monetary policy focused on interest rates. Unlike the traditional cointegration approach, this new methodology allows us to break with the rigidity of traditional approaches in favour of letting the series be cointegrated, and the spread is able to follow a long-memory process; i.e., it does not necessarily need to be I(0) and also rejects the assumption that interest rates could follow the dichotomy I(0)/I(1). To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the first applications of the Fractionally Cointegrated Vector Autoregressive (FCVAR) model (Johansen and Nielsen (2012) and Nielsen and Popiel (2016)). Aiming to achieve this goal, we use two databases, i.e., the Jordà-Schularick-Taylor Macrohistory Database and Shiller’s database. Our results cannot reject the Expectations Hypothesis of Term Structure in this time period, and more importantly, we also find that the long-term rate drives the long-run relationship, contributing to the total proportion to the common trend; the persistence of the spread shows us effective control power over interest rates by the Fed.     

Economic consequences of Nth-degree risk increases and Nth-degree risk attitudes

We study comparative statics of Nth-degree risk increases within a large class of problems that involve bidimensional payoffs and additive or multiplicative risks. We establish necessary and sufficient conditions for unambiguous impact of Nth-degree risk increases on optimal decision making. We develop a simple and intuitive approach to interpret these conditions : novel notions of directional Nth-degree risk aversion that are characterized via preferences over lotteries.     

Un modelo psicosociológico para el estudio de la salud mental

Resumen

Un número elevado de estudios ha demostrado que la mayoría de las personas recuerda con gran vividez las circunstancias en las que tuvieron noticia de sucesos sorprendentes y de gran trascendencia. Algunos autores han asumido que estos recuerdos, llamados «recuerdos-destello» (flashbulb memories), implican la existencia de un mecanismo neural especial. Otros, sin embargo, han cuestionado tal hipótesis y han argumentado que este tipo de recuerdos deben ser considerados como productos de los mecanismos ordinarios de memoria. El objetivo de este estudio fue identificar los hipotéticos mecanismos ordinarios que pudieran explicar la creación de estos recuerdos sin necesidad de apelar a mecanismos especiales. Mediante el uso de un cuestionario, analizamos los recuerdos de las circunstancias, la singularidad, el grado de impresión y la cantidad de repetición de dos sucesos nacionales de gran relevancia: el intento de golpe de estado de 1981 (23-F) y la muerte del general Franco (20-N). Nuestra hipótesis fue que el factor básico para la creación de «recuerdos-destello» es el grado de elaboración y distintividad de codificación de la noticia y su contexto, y que dicho grado es propiciado por la gran cantidad de recursos atencionales que se genera cuando en un suceso concurren con fuerza el factor sorpresa y el factor impacto emocional. Los resultados confirmaron esta hipótesis.     

Validity evidence of the Portuguese adaptation of the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory / Evidencias de validez de la adaptación portuguesa de la Escala de Sexismo Ambivalente

Abstract

Modern forms of sexism have promoted the development of new scales and evaluation tools. The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI) (Glick & Fiske, 1996) aims to assess sexism along two dimensions: hostile sexism and benevolent sexism. The aim of this study is to present evidence of the validity of the factor structure of the Portuguese version of the ASI by analysing its structure and its relationships with neosexism and social dominance. The sample consisted of 446 Portuguese participants (68.6% female) between 17 and 77 years old. Results confirmed the two-factor structure; however, the best fit was registered with a four-factor structure: one hostile factor and three benevolent factors. Both hostile and benevolent sexism were correlated with neosexism and social dominance orientation. Future research should explore the dimensionality of the scale based on a four-dimension structure and its relationship to others sexism issues.     

Measuring warmth and competence at inter-group,interpersonal and individual levels / Medición de la cordialidad y la competencia en los niveles intergrupal,interindividual e individual

Abstract

Warmth and competence are universal dimensions of social perception that articulate the perception of other individuals and social groups. However, there are no scales that have systematically been used in psychosocial research. The purpose of this study is to construct two scales, one on warmth and another on competence, which could be used at the inter-group, interpersonal and individual levels. To accomplish this, we performed two studies. In Study I (N = 578 students and N = 540 general population), we tested the scales at the intergroup level (immigrant groups and Spaniards), the interpersonal level (people close to the participants) and the individual level (the participants themselves). In Study 2 (N = 184 students), the two scales were tested at an interpersonal level by evaluating 16 public figures. The results of both studies show that both the warmth scale (kind, pleasant, friendly, warm) and the competence scale (competent, effective, skilled, intelligent) achieved a high degree of reliability when reflecting the perception of groups, individuals and oneself.     

Transformational leadership and job satisfaction of police officers (carabineros) in Chile: the mediating effects of group identification and work engagement / Liderazgo transformacional y satisfacción laboral en carabineros de Chile: los efectos mediadores de la identificación con el grupo y el work engagement

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between transformational leadership and work satisfaction, as well as to analyse the mediating role of group identification and work engagement in a police training process at a Chilean professional military institution. The sample was made up of 985 candidates representing all the candidates that joined the units of the country in the different locations. Officers and non-commissioned officers acting as instructors were considered ‘leaders’, while their ‘followers’ were the young candidates in the training period. It was found that all the relevant variables were positively and significantly interrelated, and a model of structural equations revealed that both work engagement and group identification played a mediating role in the relationship between transformational leadership and work satisfaction.     

Social work in Spain: a new social and economic reality to develop in practical academic training

This work focuses on understanding how the current Spanish economic crisis is generating changes in the social and economic reality in which social work degree students are developing their practical training and on knowing if this new reality has an impact on their training and on the vision, they can create of the profession. Using a mixed qualitative methodological approach, we aim to visualize and analyze the opinions and insights that both social work professionals and students provide. Online and face-to-face interviews were conducted with social workers working as practice tutors. Likewise, two focus groups were set up and social work degree students at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain) were also interviewed. The main results show that the new scenario creates a debate not only among professionals, but also among the students themselves. They value this stage as an opportunity to rethink their future professional practice. This article may be applicable to the European context, given that the economic crisis is affecting, to a greater or lesser extent, on the different welfare states in Europe.     

Race,ethnicity, gender,and generational factors associated with the coming‐out process among gay,lesbian, and bisexual individuals

Age at coming out among gay/lesbian/bisexual (GLB) persons and sexual debut with same‐gendered partners has typically been investigated in samples that do not reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of these communities. Addressing this limitation, data were collected from a diverse sample of men and women attending large‐scale GLB community events in New York and Los Angeles in 2003 (N = 2,733). Compared to older cohorts, younger cohorts (18–24 year olds) of both men and women reported significantly earlier ages for sexual debut with same‐gendered partners, and earlier ages for coming out to themselves and to others. Also, women began the process at later ages than men, as they reported coming out to themselves and sexual debut with a same‐gender partner approximately two years later than men. There were no racial or ethnic differences in age out to self or others; however, people of color were less likely to be out to their parents. Service providers, sexuality educators, and researchers should attend to the diversity in experience of coming out among GLB populations as they relate to the individuals’ gender, age, and racial and ethnic backgrounds.