The objective of this work is to analyse the factors motivating firms to follow a conservative (or low-leverage) financial policy over several years. We carry out a study on a sample of 1,396 Spanish firms in the period 1993-2001. Using logit regression and various difference of means analyses,...

This paper analyzes the dynamics of cost efficiency scores in the Spanish banking industry during the period 1985-1995 and asks how such dynamics are influenced by specialization. Efficiency has been estimated through a nonparametric approach, and a model of distributions dynamics has been...

The objective of this paper is to estimate technical efficiency in retailing; and the influence of inventory investment, wage levels, and firm age on this efficiency. We use the output supermarket chains¿ sales volume, calculated isolating the retailer price effect on its sales revenue. This...

With reference to the Baumol/de Long controversy over the importance of the sample selection when verifying the convergence hypothesis, the paper concludes that the convergence results are conditioned by the joint consideration of the United States and Japan in the same country sample. The...

The analysis of the determinants of the individual wage income can be transfered to the total domestic income from the point of view of the human capital. This paper analyzes the effects that a group of variables, relative to sociodemographic and labour attributes, exerts on the total income...

This paper analyses the relationship between tax structure and unemployment in thelabour market of OECD countries for the period 1960-1996. In this work, the sample ofcountries is divided in three groups based on institutional aspects that determine thewage bargaining in the labour market. In...

This paper analyses the degree of competition among banks and savings banks during the 1992-99 period using two industrial organisation tools: the Panzar and Rosse contrast (1987) and Lerner¿s estimation of indices. Panzar and Rosse¿s contrast does not allow to reject the monopolistic...

This study examines the portrayal of men and women in a sample of Spanish television commercials, attempting to extend past investigations developed in other countries (i.e. USA, United Kingdom and Canada). Traditionally, television commercials have served to reinforce conventional sex role...

In this paper we present a study into the Spanish unemployment problem. To do so we examine unemployment flows, the relationship between unemployment and vacancies, and the outflow rate from unemployment. We propose a way of correcting the administrative, official, vacancy data. The unemployment...

We test whether corporate governance mechanisms promoted by best practice codes are effective in constraining earnings manipulation in Spain, as previously documented in the US and the UK. We show that to a certain extent an Anglo-Saxon model of corporate governance may turn out to be a failure...