The private and fiscal returns to schooling and the effect of public policies on private incentives to invest in education: a general framework and some results for the EU

This paper develops a comprehensive framework for the quantitative analysis of the private and fiscal returns to schooling and of the effect of public policies on private incentives to invest in education. This framework is applied to 14 member states of the European Union. For each of these countries, we construct estimates of the private return to an additional year of schooling for an individual of average attainment, taking into account the effects of education on wages and employment probabilities after allowing for academic failure rates, the direct and opportunity costs of schooling, and the impact of personal taxes, social security contributions and unemployment and pension benefits on net incomes. We also construct a set of effective tax and subsidy rates that measure the effects of different public policies on the private returns to education, and measures of the fiscal returns to schooling that capture the long-term effects of a marginal increase in attainment on public finances under c

Labour market frictions, social policies, and barriers to technology adoption

Barriers to technological changes have recently been shown to be a key element in explaining differences in output per worker across countries. This study examines the role that labour market features and institutions have in explaining barriers to technology adoption. I build a model that includes labour market frictions, capital market imperfections and heterogeneity in workers' skills. I found that the unemployment rate together with the welfare losses that workers experiment after displacement are key factors in explaining the existence of barriers to technology adoption. Moreover, I found that none of these factors alone is sufficient to build these barriers. The theory also suggests that welfare policies like the unemployment insurance system may enhance these kinds of barriers while policies like a severance payment system financed by an income tax seem to be more effective in eliminating them.

Current Account imbalances, thriftiness and the real exchange rate in a growing economy

This paper analyses the theoretical relevance of the dynamical aspects of growth on the discussion about the observed positive correlation between per capita real income and real exchange rates. With this purpose, we develop a simple exogenous growth model where the internal, external and intertemporal equilibrium conditions of a typical macroeconomic model are imposed; this last one through the inclusion of a balanced growth path for the foreign assets accumulation. The main result under this consideration is that the relationship defended by the Balassa-Samuelson hypothesis is no more so straightforward. In our particular approach, the mentioned bilateral relationship depends on a parameter measuring thriftiness in the economy. Therefore, the probability of ending up with a positive relationship between growth and real exchange rates -as the classical economic theory predicts- will be higher when the economy is able to maintain a minimum saving ratio. Moreover, given that our model considers a simple Keynesian consumption function, some explosive paths can also be possible.

Catalan Policies and Experiences on Cooperative Repositories

The Centre de Supercomputació de Catalunya (CESCA) together with the Consorci de Biblioteques Universitàries de Catalunya (CBUC) started in 1999 a cooperative repository, named TDR, to file in digital format the full-text of the read thesis at the universities of our country to spread them worldwide in open access preserving the intellectual copyright of the authors. This became operational in 2001 and today it is a service fully consolidated not only among the Catalan universities, but also used by other Spanish universities. Since then, there are four additional cooperative repositories which have been created: RECERCAT, for research papers; RACO, for scientific, cultural and erudite Catalan magazines; PADICAT, for archiving Catalan web sites; and MDC, for Catalan digital collections of pictures, maps, posters, old magazines... These five repositories have some common characteristics: they are open access, that is, they are accessible on the internet for free; they mostly comply with the Open Archive Initiative interoperability protocol for facilitating the efficient dissemination of content; and they have been built in a cooperative manner so that it is easy to adopt common procedures and to share the repository developing and managing costs, it permits more visibility of the indexed documents throughout the search engines, and a better provision for long-term preservation can be made. In this paper we present the common policy established for the Catalan cooperative repositories, we describe the five of them briefly, and we comment on the results obtained of our 6-year experience since the first one became operational.

Olimpismo, comunicación y cultura

Documento publicado como parte de la colección Working Papers con el propòsito de descubrir las exigencias de las nuevas políticas culturales para el deporte moderno y analizar el papel del Olimpismo en la actual sociedad de la información. Para ello se hace referencia a varias ediciones de los Juegos Olímpicos, pero especialmente, en los de Sydney 2000.

Clean Development Mechanism and Sustainable Development: a discussion on the link between the CDM and Sustainable Development, an analysis of the current status of the CDM portfolio, and an multicriteria evaluation of the effects of additional incentives in order to foster broad local Sustainable Development dividends from the CDM projects

vegeu resum en el fitxer adjunt a l'inici del treball de recerca

Assessment of current anglo-saxon proposals about criminal justice and the justification of legal punishment: Moore, Duff and Finnis on retribution, and the challenging compatibility with the up-and-coming Restorative Justice

Pendent

Biological materials in colorectal surgery: current applications and potential for the future.

Biological materials are increasingly used in abdominal surgery for ventral, pelvic and perineal reconstructions, especially in contaminated fields. Future applications are multi-fold and include prevention and one-step closure of infected areas. This includes prevention of abdominal, parastomal and pelvic hernia, but could also include prevention of separation of multiple anastomoses, suture- or staple-lines. Further indications could be a containment of infected and/or inflammatory areas and protection of vital implants such as vascular grafts. Reinforcement patches of high-risk anastomoses or unresectable perforation sites are possibilities at least. Current applications are based mostly on case series and better data is urgently needed. Clinical benefits need to be assessed in prospective studies to provide reliable proof of efficacy with a sufficient follow-up. Only superior results compared with standard treatment will justify the higher costs of these materials. To date, the use of biological materials is not standard and applications should be limited to case-by-case decision.

The Private and fiscal returns to schooling and the effect of public policies on private incentives to invest in education: a general framework and some results for the EU

This paper develops a comprehensive framework for the quantitative analysis of the private and fiscal returns to schooling and of the effect of public policies on private incentives to invest in education. This framework is applied to 14 member states of the European Union. For each of these countries, we construct estimates of the private return to an additional year of schooling for an individual of average attainment, taking into account the effects of education on wages and employment probabilities after allowing for academic failure rates, the direct and opportunity costs of schooling, and the impact of personal taxes, social security contributions and unemployment and pension benefits on net incomes. We also construct a set of effective tax and subsidy rates that measure the effects of different public policies on the private returns to education, and measures of the fiscal returns to schooling that capture the long-term effects of a marginal increase in attainment on public finances under conditions that approximate general equilibrium.

Development and current use of parenteral nutrition in critical care - an opinion paper.

Critically ill patients depend on artificial nutrition for the maintenance of their metabolic functions and lean body mass, as well as for limiting underfeeding-related complications. Current guidelines recommend enteral nutrition (EN), possibly within the first 48 hours, as the best way to provide the nutrients and prevent infections. EN may be difficult to realize or may be contraindicated in some patients, such as those presenting anatomic intestinal continuity problems or splanchnic ischemia. A series of contradictory trials regarding the best route and timing for feeding have left the medical community with great uncertainty regarding the place of parenteral nutrition (PN) in critically ill patients. Many of the deleterious effects attributed to PN result from inadequate indications, or from overfeeding. The latter is due firstly to the easier delivery of nutrients by PN compared with EN increasing the risk of overfeeding, and secondly to the use of approximate energy targets, generally based on predictive equations: these equations are static and inaccurate in about 70% of patients. Such high uncertainty about requirements compromises attempts at conducting nutrition trials without indirect calorimetry support because the results cannot be trusted; indeed, both underfeeding and overfeeding are equally deleterious. An individualized therapy is required. A pragmatic approach to feeding is proposed: at first to attempt EN whenever and as early as possible, then to use indirect calorimetry if available, and to monitor delivery and response to feeding, and finally to consider the option of combining EN with PN in case of insufficient EN from day 4 onwards.

Cerebral perfusion CT: Current state of the art : P44

Purpose: The aim of this educational poster is to introduce the technical principles of cerebral perfusion CT and to provide examples of its clinical applications and potential limitations in the everyday emergency practice. Methods and materials: Cerebral perfusion CT is a well established investigatory tool for many vascular and parenchymal brain dysfunctions. CT perfusion maps allow a semiquantitative assessment of cerebral perfusion. Results: Currently, cerebral perfusion CT has a pivotal role in differentiating reversible from irreversible ischemic parenchymal insult besides its integral role in grading vasospasm after subarachnoid hemorrhage. Furthermore, cerebral perfusion CT can be coupled to acetazolamide administration in order to assess the cerebrovascular reserve capacity before performing extra-/intra-cranial bypass surgery in patients with cerebral vascular insufficiency. Cerebral perfusion CT can also identify diffuse abnormalities of cerebral perfusion in children with traumatic brain injury showing a low initial GCS in order to predict the final outcome regarding the late occurrence of irreversible parenchymal damage. Cerebral Perfusion CT is also able to detect focal parenchymal perfusion abnormalities in acute epileptic seizures. Conclusion: Cerebral perfusion CT can be integrated in the management of many vascular, traumatic and functional disorders of the brain.