María Hierro

Health care expenditure disparities in the European Union and underlying factors: a distribution dynamics approach

This paper examines health care expenditure (HCE) disparities between the European Union countries over the period 1995–2010. By means of using a continuous version of the distribution dynamics approach, the key conclusions are that the reduction in disparities is very weak and, therefore, persistence is the main characteristic of the HCE distribution. In view of these findings, a preliminary attempt is made to add some insights into potentially main factors behind the HCE distribution. The results indicate that whereas per capita income is by far the main determinant, the dependency ratio and female labour participation do not play any role in explaining the HCE distribution; as for the rest of the factors studied (life expectancy, infant mortality, R&D expenditure and public HCE expenditure share), we find that their role falls somewhat in between.

A spatial approach to the impact of immigration on wages: evidence from Spain

ABSTRACT On the basis of a spatial wage-curve equation, this paper analyses the effect of immigration on average wages across Spanish provinces (NUTS-3) over the period 2004–15. To do so, a spatial panel Durbin model is estimated. The results reveal that there exists a small negative effect, which is mainly determined by the presence of spillovers. Moreover, they reveal that the average wage of a particular province depends positively on its productivity level and the share of the manufacturing industry, and negatively on its rate of unemployment and the share of the service sector.

Disparidades regionales en la UE-15: un enfoque de convergencia

Este trabajo trata de contribuir a la literatura existente sobre disparidades regionales en Europa a partir del analisis, durante el periodo 1995-2008, de distintos conceptos de convergencia. Para ello, y tras una sucinta revision de la literatura empirica existente, se utilizan dos metodologias alternativas aunque complementarias: el enfoque clasico de convergencia y el enfoque de la dinamica distribucional. Los resultados obtenidos apuntan a la existencia de un proceso de convergencia regional en el PIB per capita en Europa, asi como a la presencia de una cierta, aunque no muy elevada, movilidad dentro de la distribucion.