This study (i) compares the competence levels of the adult population in a set of OECD countries; (ii) assesses the comparative efficiency with which the education system in each country transforms schooling into competences, distinguishing by educational level, and (iii) tracks the evolution of this efficiency by birth cohorts. Using PIAAC data, the paper applies standard parametric frontier techniques under two alternative specifications. The results obtained under both specifications are similar and identify Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Japan as being the most efficient and Spain, the United Kingdom, Italy, Ireland and Poland as the least efficient. The evolution of the efficiency levels by age cohorts shows that higher education is more efficient for younger cohorts, while lower and upper secondary education present a stable trend over cohorts.

Huertas, I. P.; Raymond, J. L. (GEAP, XREAP); Calero, J. (IEB, XREAP)

XREAP2017-11.pdf

In this paper, survey data are used to document the presence of gender gaps in selfemployment, employership, and labor force participation in seven Balkan countries and Turkey. The paper examines the quantitative effects of the gender gaps on aggregate productivity and income per capita in these countries. In the model used to carry out this calculation, agents choose between being workers, self-employed, or employers, and women face several restrictions in the labor market. The data display very large gaps in labor force participation and in the percentage of employers and self-employed in the labor force. In almost all cases, these gaps reveal a clear underrepresentation of women. The calculations show that, on average, the loss associated with these gaps is about 17 percent of income per capita. One-third of this loss is due to distortions in the choice of occupations between men andwomen. The remaining two-thirds corresponds to the costs associated with gaps in labor force participation. The dimensions of these gender gaps and their associated costs vary considerably across ages groups, with the age bracket 36–50 years being responsible for most of the losses.

Cuberes, D., Teignier, M. (CREB, XREAP)

XREAP2017-10.pdf

Previous results show that gender diversity increases the probability firms’ innovation. This paper explores the relationship between gender diversity of R&D departments and their capacity to patent. Based on the Spanish Community Innovation Survey between 2004 and 2014, we have applied a two-step procedure control for endogeneity. Our results show that gender diversity affects a firm’s capacity to patent in different manners depending on the coverage of the patents. On the one hand, gender diversity affects OEPM patents negatively, while the impact becomes positive for patents with an international coverage (EPO, USPTO, or PCT). This analysis is relevant in order reveal the dual effect of gender diversity within R&D teams on their capacity to process and register patents.

Teruel, M. (GRIT, XREAP); Segarra-Blasco, A. (GRIT, XREAP)

XREAP2017-09.pdf

Public Private Partnerships (PPP) have become common in providing high-quality infrastructure in many countries worldwide. One of the main reasons for PPP agreements is to improve efficiency and quality in the delivery of public services, as well as to boost investments for expensive projects. Despite PPPs having been particularly widespread in the case of the construction and rehabilitation of high-capacity road infrastructure, their impact in terms of road safety outcomes is still unexplored. This paper studies the effects of PPPs on road safety outcomes by taking advantage of the variety of management models provided in the Spanish highway network. Results based on a panel-data fixed-effects method show that the most relevant aspect influencing road safety outcomes is the quality of design of the road. However, we find strong evidence suggesting that privately operated highways perform better in terms of road safety outcomes than publicly operated highways, for roads with a similar quality of design.

Albalate, D. (GiM-IREA, XREAP), Bel, P. (GiM-IREA, XREAP)

XREAP2017-08.pdf

Starting from the question: “What is the accident risk of an insured?”, this paper considers a multivariate approach by taking into account three types of accident risks and the possible dependence between them. Driven by a real data set, we propose three trivariate Sarmanov distributions with generalized linear models (GLMs) for marginals and incorporate various individual characteristics of the policyholders by means of explanatory variables. Since the data set was collected over a longer time period (10 years), we also added each individual’s exposure to risk. To estimate the parameters of the three Sarmanov distributions, we analyze a pseudo-maximumlikelihood method. Finally, the three models are compared numerically with the simpler trivariate Negative Binomial GLM.

Bolancé, C. (RISKCENTER, XREAP); Vernic, R.

XREAP2017-07.pdf

The taxation of high-income earners is of importance to every country and is the subject of a considerable amount of recent academic research. Such high-income earners contribute substantial amounts of tax and generate significant positive spillovers, but are also highly mobile: a 1% increase in the top marginal income tax rate increases outmigrations by around 1.5 to 3%. We review research into taxation of high-income earners to provide a synthesis of existing theoretical and empirical understanding. We offer various avenues for potential future theoretical and empirical research.

Esteller-Moré, A. (IEB, XREAP); Piolatto, A. (IEB, XREAP); Rablen, M. D.

XREAP2017-06.pdf

We study whether incumbents facing uncontested elections channel public spending towards co‐partisan officials more than is the case of incumbents that are worried about their chances of re‐election. To do so, we draw on data detailing capital transfers allocated by Spanish regions to local governments during the period 1995‐2007. Using a regression discontinuity design, we document strong and robust effects. We find that, on average, a mayor belonging to the same party as that of the regional president obtains nearly twice the amount in grants as is received by a mayor belonging to an opposition party. This effect is much greater for regional incumbents that won the previous election by a large margin, but it disappears in the case of highly competitive elections. The effects estimated by difference‐in‐differences are not so great but they point in the same direction. Overall, the results are consistent with predictions that regional incumbents focus on obtaining the most votes possible when elections are strongly contested, while they seek to increase the number of aligned mayors when their position at the ballot box is not vulnerable.

Curto-Grau, M. (IEB, XREAP); Solé-Ollé, A. (IEB, XREAP); Sorribas-Navarro, P. (IEB-XREAP)

XREAP2017-05.pdf