Identifying Systemically Important Banks: A temporal approach for macroprudential policies

Contrary to the general belief, systemic risk does not only regard the risk posed by balance sheet relationships and interdependencies among institutions. It also features a temporal dimension related to the inappropriate responses of financial market participants to changes in risk over time. This paper proposes a method to simultaneously address the cross-sectional and the time dimension in which systemic risk materializes. The method is based on the TOPHITS algorithm. It provides three scores, namely borrowing, lending and time scores: the first two represent the systemic importance of the borrowing and the lending activity associated with each financial institution,while the third represents an empirical Early Warning Signal of the financial crisis. Our findings reveal that the identification of the time score as an indicator for an incoming market distress could be relevant to design macro prudential policies.     

An experimental analysis of discriminability and bias in eye-gaze judgment

Following signal detection theory, the gazing of a videotaped confederate was judged by 12 subjects under four combinations of distance from the monitor and picture brightness. Separate measures of discriminability and judgment criterion, or bias, were derived. Eye gaze discriminability declined with both distance and brightness. Overestimation of the amount of eye gaze increased with distance and declining brightness, supporting Stephenson and Rutter's hypothesis that increased difficulty in discrimination will produce such a guessing bias.Thanks to Maureen Mc Carry for serving as the gazer. This project was partially supported by the Boystown Center for the Study of Youth Development at Catholic University.     

Smoking Risks in Spain: Part II—Perceptions of Environmental Tobacco Smoke Externalities

Previous studies of smoking risk beliefs have focused almost exclusively on risks to the smoker. Using an original set of survey data from Spain, we examine the public's perceived risks from exposures to environmental tobacco smoke. The risk categories considered included lung cancer, heart disease, life expectancy loss, and low birth weight for children of smoking mothers. Risk beliefs were quite high, often dwarfing scientific estimates of the risk. The results are consistent with overestimation of risks from highly publicized, low probability events.     

Gender,family negotiations and academic success of young Moroccan women in Spain

This article examines the lives of pioneering young women from Morocco, the first to enjoy educational and social success in Catalonia, by analyzing the family negotiations entered into during this process. The study is based on the life stories of these young Moroccan women and on ideas that emerge from discussion groups involving the women themselves and experts in education and other fields. We report that the young women perceive a certain degree of flexibility on the part of their families in their intra-family relations and the model of woman they are prepared to accept. However, our study also provides evidence of the fact that their success is associated with a constant process of negotiation, the women having to exercise their agency above and beyond their parental expectations and control, leaving them in a position of solitude.     

Smoking Risks in Spain: Part III—Determinants of Smoking Behavior

Using original survey data from Spain, this paper assesses the determinants of smoking behavior. This study examines the effect on smoking of the most diverse set of risk measures ever considered: lung cancer, relative lung cancer risks, lung disease, heart disease, relative heart disease risks, lost life expectancy to smokers, and various risk measures for passive smoking. Smoking measures include cigarette smoking, the number of cigarettes smoked, and pipe and cigar smoking. Primary smoking risks have a more consistent negative effect on smoking than perceived passive smoking risks.     

Patron de Conducta Tipo a,Representacion Social y Cognicion Social. Estudio Experimental

Resumen

En el presente estudio se analizó la relación entre las representaciones de los sujetos tipo A versus tipo B del éxito y del fracaso, así como su relación con los procesos atribucionales. Utilizando el paradigma experimental de la Indefensión Adquirida se observó que los sujetos tipo A realizaban atribuciones de capacidad en mayor medida tanto ante la situación de éxito como en la de fracaso. Los sujetos tipo A comunicaron mayores niveles de implicación y ansiedad, así como una percepción más desafiante de la tarea. Se observó también una calidad de ejecución más pobre en la tarea subsiguiente en los sujetos tipo A, así como un fenómeno de indefensión en los sujetos previamente sometidos a una tarea experimental irresoluble. Por último, se propone un modelo Psicosociológico de Salud que integre niveles macro, microsociales y psicológicos.     

Smoking Risks in Spain: Part I—Perception of Risks to the Smoker

Survey evidence for the Spanish population indicates that perceptions of lung cancer risk and life expectancy loss due to smoking are similar to estimates found in the United States. This paper also presents new evidence on the relative lung cancer risk for smokers, the perceived risk of lung disease for smokers, the heart disease risk for smokers, and the relative heart disease risk for smokers, all of which indicate substantial risk perceptions. Risk beliefs are particularly high for younger respondents, but are lower for better educated respondents.