Impact of Duration of Primary Education on School Enrollment, Graduation and Drop-outs: A Cross- Country Analysis

Using a panel data for non-OECD countries covering the period 1970-2012, this chapter analyzes the impact of the duration of primary education on school enrollment, drop-out and completion rates. The empirical results show that for children in elementary school one ad- ditional grade of primary education have a negative impact on the enrollment rate, while the e ect on drop-outs is positive. Analogously, it is obtained that an additional grade in primary education reduces the enrollment rate in secondary education. These results are in line with the fertility model approach, that is, in developing and underdeveloped countries parents do not have incentive to send children to school given the high perceived economic value of children.

Redefining dropping out in online higher education: a case study from the UOC

In recent years, studies into the reasons for dropping out of higher education (including online education) have been undertaken with greater regularity, parallel to the rise in the relative weight of this type of education, compared with brick-and-mortar education. However, the work invested in characterising the students who drop out of education, compared with those who do not, appears not to have had the same relevance as that invested in the analysis of the causes. The definition of dropping out is very sensitive to the context. In this article, we reach a purely empirical definition of student dropping out, based on the probability of not continuing a specific academic programme following several consecutive semesters of "theoretical break". Dropping out should be properly defined before analysing its causes, as well as comparing the drop-out rates between the different online programmes, or between online and on-campus ones. Our results show that there are significant differences among programmes, depending on their theoretical extension, but not their domain of knowledge.

Influència dels desitjos, les necessitats i les xarxes familiars i d’amistat dels estudiants universitaris de la UAB en els seus itineraris formatius en els estudis superiors

L’objectiu del treball és ajudar a la descripció del fenomen del canvi en els itineraris formatius superiors dels estudiants. L’anàlisi es realitza a partir de dades empíriques generades a la UAB durant l’any 2012 i en base als factors contextuals – socio-demogràfics, de perfil i context de l’estudiant – i motivacionals – de vocació acadèmica, vocació laboral, resultats acadèmics, condicions facilitadores, condicions d’empleabilitat, condicions econòmiques, influència de les amistats, estratègies adaptatives o d’oportunitat – que influeixen en les decisions de canvi dels estudiants. En les conclusions es reflexiona sobre les polítiques orientades a mantenir l’equitat en l’accés i en la permanència dels estudiants.

Bidding at sequential first-price auctions with(out) supply uncertainty: a laboratory analysis

We report on a series of experiments that test the effects of an uncertain supply on the formation of bids and prices in sequential first-price auctions with private-independent values and unit-demands. Supply is assumed uncertain when buyers do not know the exact number of units to be sold (i.e., the length of the sequence). Although we observe a non-monotone behavior when supply is certain and an important overbidding, the data qualitatively support our price trend predictions and the risk neutral Nash equilibrium model of bidding for the last stage of a sequence, whether supply is certain or not. Our study shows that behavior in these markets changes significantly with the presence of an uncertain supply, and that it can be explained by assuming that bidders formulate pessimistic beliefs about the occurrence of another stage.

Mujer y trabajo: el opting-out (abandono de la carrera profesional)

L’objectiu d’aquest treball és definir el nou fenomen de l’opting out i la situació de la dona davant el mateix; així com, descriure la relació que hi ha entre la societat, la dona, la família i el mercat laboral. En primer lloc, es desenvolupa el context de la dona dins la nostra societat i el mercat laboral. Seguidament, es defineix l’opting out o abandonament professional i es revela el que està succeint entorn d’aquest tema, mitjançant l’ús d’alguns estudis que s’han dut a terme. En tercer lloc, s’assenyalen les causes més rellevants d’aquest abandonament professional de les dones i, per últim, es descriuen les repercussions més significatives que pateixen degut a aquest fenomen.

Singling out individual inventors from patent data

An increasing number of studies have sprung up in recent years seeking to identify individual inventors from patent data. Different heuristics have been suggested to use their names and other information disclosed in patent documents in order to find out “who is who” in patents. This paper contributes to this literature by setting forth a methodology to identify them using patents applied to the European Patent Office (EPO hereafter). As in the large part of this literature, we basically follow a three-steps procedure: (1) the parsing stage, aimed at reducing the noise in the inventor’s name and other fields of the patent; (2) the matching stage, where name matching algorithms are used to group possible similar names; (3) the filtering stage, where additional information and different scoring schemes are used to filter out these potential same inventors. The paper includes some figures resulting of applying the algorithms to the set of European inventors applying to the EPO for a large period of time.

Straightening out the concept of direct and indirect input requirements

Gim & Kim (1998) proposed a generalization of Jeong (1982, 1984) reinterpretation of the Hawkins-Simon condition for macroeconomic stability to off-diagonal matrix elements. This generalization is conceptually relevant for it offers a complementary view of interindustry linkages beyond final or net output influence. The extension is completely similar to the 'total flow' idea introduced by Szyrmer (1992) or the 'output-to-output' multiplier of Miller & Blair (2009). However the practical implementation of Gim & Kim is actually faulty since it confuses the appropriate order of output normalization. We provide a new and elementary solution for the correct formalization using standard interindustry accounting concepts.

Estudio sobre las causas del abandono de los estudiantes de economía de la Universidad Oberta de Catalunya entre los años 1998 y 2008

Estudio de minería de datos sobre las causas del abandono de los estudiantes de una carrera de la UOC

Attenuation of nicotine-induced antinociception, rewarding effects, and dependence in mu-opioid receptor knock-out mice

The involvement of μ-opioid receptors in different behavioral responses elicited by nicotine was explored by using μ-opioid receptor knock-out mice. The acute antinociceptive responses induced by nicotine in the tail-immersion and hot-plate tests were reduced in the mutant mice, whereas no difference between genotypes was observed in the locomotor responses. The rewarding effects induced by nicotine were then investigated using the conditioning place-preference paradigm. Nicotine produced rewarding responses in wild-type mice but failed to produce place preference in knock-out mice, indicating the inability of this drug to induce rewarding effects in the absence of μ-opioid receptors. Finally, the somatic expression of the nicotine withdrawal syndrome, precipitated in dependent mice by the injection of mecamylamine, was evaluated. Nicotine withdrawal was significantly attenuated in knock-out mutants when compared with wild-type mice. In summary, the present results show that μ-opioid receptors are involved in the rewarding responses induced by nicotine and participate in its antinociceptive responses and the expression of nicotine physical dependence.

Cannabinoid withdrawal syndrome is reduced in pre-proenkephalin knock-out mice

The functional interactions between the endogenous cannabinoid and opioid systems were evaluated in pre-proenkephalin-deficient mice. Antinociception induced in the tail-immersion test by acute Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol was reduced in mutant mice, whereas no difference between genotypes was observed in the effects induced on body temperature, locomotion, or ring catalepsy. During a chronic treatment with Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol, the development of tolerance to the analgesic responses induced by this compound was slower in mice lacking enkephalin. In addition, cannabinoid withdrawal syndrome, precipitated in Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol-dependent mice by the injection of SR141716A, was significantly attenuated in mutant mice. These results indicate that the endogenous enkephalinergic system is involved in the antinociceptive responses of Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol and participates in the expression of cannabinoid abstinence.

Credit rationing and crowding out during the Industrial Revolution: Evidence from Hoare's Bank, 1702-1862

Crowding-out during the British Industrial Revolution has long been one of the leadingexplanations for slow growth during the Industrial Revolution, but little empirical evidence exists to support it. We argue that examinations of interest rates are fundamentally misguided, and that the eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century private loan market balanced through quantity rationing. Using a unique set of observations on lending volume at a London goldsmith bank, Hoare s, we document the impact of wartime financing on private credit markets. We conclude that there is considerable evidence that government borrowing, especially during wartime, crowded out private credit.

Does foreign direct investment crowd out domestic entrepreneurship?

In analyzing firm entry and exit across Belgian manufacturing industries,this paper presents evidence that import competition and foreign directinvestment discourage entry and stimulate exit of domestic entrepreneurs.These results are in line with theoretical occupational choice modelsthat predict foreign direct investment would crowd out domesticentrepreneurs through their selections in product and labor markets.However, the empirical results also suggest that this crowding out effectmay be moderated or even reversed in the long-run due to the long termpositive effects of FDI on domestic entrpreneurship as a result oflearning, demonstration, networking and linkage effects between foreignand domestic firms.

Multiple prisoner's dilemma games with (out) an outside option: An experimental study

Experiments in which subjects play simultaneously several finite prisoner's dilemma supergames with and without an outside optionreveal that: (i) subjects use probabilistic start and endeffect behaviour, (ii) the freedom to choose whether to play the prisoner's dilemma game enhances cooperation, (iii) if the payoff for simultaneous defection is negative, subjects' tendency to avoid losses leads them to cooperate; while this tendency makes them stick to mutual defection if its payoff is positive.

Optimal bail out policy, conditionality and constructive ambiguity

This paper addresses the issue of the optimal behaviour of the Lender of Last Resort (LOLR) in its microeconomic role regarding individual financial institutions in distress. It has been argued that the LOLR should not intervene at the microeconomic level and let any defaulting institution face the market discipline, as it will be confronted with the consequences of the risks it has taken. By considering a simple costbenefit analysis we show that this position may lack a sufficient foundation. We establish that, instead, uder reasonable assumptions, the optimal policy has to be conditional on the amount of uninsured debt issued by the defaulting bank. Yet in equilibrium, because the rescue policy is costly, the LOLR will not rescue all the banks that fulfill the uninsured debt requirement condition, but will follow a mixed strategy. This we interpret as the confirmation of the "creative ambiguity" principle, perfectly in line with the central bankers claim that it is efficient for them to have discretion in lending to individual institutions. Alternatively, in other cases, when the social cost of a bank's bankruptcy is too high, it is optimal for the LOLR to bail out the insititution, and this gives support to the "too big to fail" policy.