Montserrat Vilalta-Bufí

KNOWLEDGE MISALLOCATION AND GROWTH

We develop a growth model where knowledge is embodied in individuals and diffused across sectors through labor mobility. The existence of labor mobility costs constrains mobility and thus generates labor misallocation. Different levels of labor misallocation imply different levels of exploitation of available knowledge and therefore different total factor productivity across countries. We derive a positive relationship between growth and labor mobility, which is consistent with the empirical evidence, by assuming aggregate constant returns to capital. We also analyze the short- and long-run effects of labor mobility costs in the case of decreasing returns to capital. It turns out that changes in mobility costs have larger economic effects when different types of workers have small rather than large complementarities. Finally, we show that different labor income taxes or labor market tightness imply different rates of labor mobility and therefore can explain differences in Gross Domestic Product across countries.

Entrepreneurial skills and wage employment

Promotion of entrepreneurial skills among the population is often considered as an adequate policy to enhance job creation and economic growth. However, neither the definition of entrepreneurial skills, nor the costs and benefits of such a policy are clear. Our aim is to check whether the benefits of entrepreneurial skills extent beyond self-employment. We use a sample of higher education graduates from Spain, from the year 2000 interviewed in 2005 (REFLEX survey). We denote entrepreneurial skills as those competencies that enhance the likelihood of self-employment. Then we analyze whether they are rewarded in wage employment. We find that alertness to new opportunities, ability to mobilize others and knowledge of other fields are the competencies that enhance self-employment in Spain. Yet, these skills are not rewarded in a salaried job. Therefore, benefits of policies fostering entrepreneurial skills do not extend to wage employment in Spain.

Mètodes d'aprenentatge actiu en grups grans d'estudiants repetidors

//Abstract INTRODUCTION. Students who are required to repeat a subject at university are often not only low achieving, but also unmotivated and lacking in self-confidence. METHOD. In this study, we evaluate the effect of implementing a combination of three innovative techniques (flipped classroom, team-based learning and frequent testing) in groups of students who are repeating a subject. We assess the impact of the new teaching strategy on the final course grade through econometric analysis. Our sample consists of more than a thousand students who were repeating a subject in the Bachelor’s degrees in Business Administration or Economics of the University of Barcelona. RESULTS. We find that students benefit from guided autonomous study, continuous feedback and teamwork. The benefits are reflected primarily in higher final grades and an increase in the number of students who sat the final exam. The results hold up even after controlling for age, gender and average overall grade. DISCUSSION. Although the study was carried out with groups of students who were repeating a subject in economic theory, their success suggests that the new teaching approach could be successfully applied to other subject areas and among groups of students who are taking a subject for the first time.

L'aula invertida i l'aprenentatge en equip: dues metodologies per estimular l'alumnat repetidor

Este articulo propone el uso del aula invertida y el aprendizaje en equipo para mejorar las actitudes de aprendizaje del estudiante en los Grupos de Intensificacion de Estudio (GIE). Los GIE estan disenados para aquel estudiante que repite una asignatura en alguno de los grados impartidos en la Facultad de Economia y Empresa de la Universitat de Barcelona. Hemos implementado ambas metodologias en tres GIE impartidos por la seccion de Teoria Economica del Departamento de Economia de la Universitat de Barcelona. Los resultados obtenidos en los anos academicos 2013-2014 y 2014-15 revelan mejoras significativas en el rendimiento de los estudiantes que siguieron estas metodologias.

Retaking a course in economics: Innovative teaching strategies to improve academic performance in groups of low-performing students

Abstract Students who have to retake courses at university are often not only low achieving, but also unmotivated and lacking in self-confidence. In this study, we present the first report of a teaching strategy based on the implementation of the flipped classroom model, team-based learning, and frequent testing strategies in groups of students retaking a subject. A sample of seven groups of an average of 68 students followed the new teaching approach. The groups are distributed across four subjects and three semesters. By comparing the average performance across groups that apply different teaching strategies – traditional versus innovative – we find a significant increase in the academic performance of the students following the new approach.