Analysis of pseudo-panel data with dependent samples

In this paper, we discuss a model for pseudo-panel data when some but not all of the individuals stay in the sample for more than one period. We use data on the labor market of the Basque Country from 1993 to 1999 treated through FORTRAN 77 programing. We construct economically reasonable age cohorts for active population and use gender, qualification and social status as explanatory variables in our model. Given the class of data we use, we analyze the properties of the random error and estimate the model through maximum likelihood, finding significant results from an applied point of view.     

Manufacturing flexibility and advanced human resource management practices

This article analyses the connection between the use of advanced human resource management (HRM) practices, individually and as a system, with manufacturing flexibility. The results show a positive relationship between the implementation of advanced HRM practices and manufacturing flexibility. While most of the advanced HRM practices analysed show higher levels of implementation in flexible firms, no differences are observed in training efforts. Flexible firms are more prone to implement systems of advanced HRM practices.     

The impact of childbirth on Spanish women’s decisions to leave the labor market

The present paper analyzes the effect of childbirth on Spanish women??s decisions to withdraw from paid work, defined here as the transition from employment to out of the labor force due to the requirements of household production. Decisions regarding fertility and labor market participation are interrelated and depend on individual and household characteristics, as well as external variables such as the availability of childcare services. We postulate that a female??s decision to leave the labor market is taken in a household context, and thus is the outcome which maximizes household welfare after taking into account the employment and earnings characteristics of all household members. We pay special attention to the effect of the male partner??s characteristics upon the female??s decision to withdraw from the labor market. Our empirical results show that in order to better define social and labor market policies on work and family reconciliation, increased attention should be paid to the job characteristics of males given their effect on the optimal assignment of tasks within the household following childbirth.     

Should I stay or should I go? Sibling effects in household formation

This paper analyzes peer effects among siblings in the decision to leave parental home. Estimating peer effects is challenging because of problems of reflection, endogenous group formation, and correlated unobservables. We overcome these issues using the exogenous variation in siblings’ household formation implied by the eligibility rules for a Spanish rental subsidy. Our results show that sibling effects are negative and that these effects can be explained by the presence of old or ill parents. Sibling effects turn positive for close-in-age siblings, when imitation is more likely to prevail. Our findings indicate that policy makers who aim at fostering household formation should target the household rather than the individual and combine policies for young adults with policies for the elderly.     

The socioeconomic gradient in health: how important is material deprivation?

In this paper we use the Spanish Living Conditions Survey (2005–2008) to investigate the existence of a socioeconomic gradient in health when alternative measures of socioeconomic status, apart from income, are considered. In particular we construct a material deprivation index that reflects minimum standards of quality of life and that incorporates comparison effects with societal peers and we estimate health equations with probit adapted least squares, fixed effects and instrumental variables. Our results reveal that the relationship between health and income operates through comparison information with respect to societal peers. In contrast, material deprivation in terms of financial difficulties, basic necessities and housing conditions exerts a direct effect on individual health. Mixed evidence is found with respect to gender.     

Improving the approach to conflict in action research through deliberative policy analysis: a territorial development case in the Basque Country

ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on how theoretical work developed in deliberative policy analysis (DPA) can contribute to action research (AR) through a better understanding of the policy world. It is based on a programme in Gipuzkoa, Basque Country (Spain) where action researchers have been collaborating with policymakers since 2009. Our paper shows how concepts like pluralism, agonism and escalation have helped to reframe the approach to conflict in action research for territorial development (ARTD). The aim of the case is not exclusively to demonstrate how this can be done at a micro level, but also to show the usefulness of further interaction between the fields of DPA and AR, based on this experience.     

Training and job search assistance programmes in Spain: The case of long-term unemployed

Exploiting administrative records of the Spanish Public Employment Services for the period 2010–2012, we analyse the influence of participation in training and job search assistance programmes on the employment probability of the long-term unemployed. Using the coarsened exact matching method, we find that participation in both programmes exerts a positive influence on the employability of jobseekers, but participation in training seems to be more effective, especially as regards the likelihood of getting jobs of a certain quality. The treatment effect is higher for the long-term unemployed, thus suggesting the convenience of their participation in these active measures.     

Compulsory Schooling Laws and Migration Across European Countries

Educational attainment is a key factor for understanding why some individuals migrate and others do not. Compulsory schooling laws, which determine an individual’s minimum level of education, can potentially affect migration. We test whether and how increasing the length of compulsory schooling influences migration of affected cohorts across European countries, a context where labor mobility is essentially free. We construct a novel database that includes information for 31 European countries on compulsory education reforms passed between 1950 and 1990. Combining this data with information on recent migration flows by cohorts, we find that an additional year of compulsory education reduces the number of individuals from affected cohorts who migrate in a given year by 9 %. Our results rely on the exogeneity of compulsory schooling laws. A variety of empirical tests indicate that European legislators did not pass compulsory education reforms as a reaction to changes in emigration rates or educational attainment.