This paper analyses the main determinants of the regional allocation of infrastructure investment. The estimated investment equation is derived from a general specification of the government's objective function (Berhman and Craig, Am. Econom. Rev. 77 (1987) 315), which accounts both for the equity-efficiency trade-off and for deviations from this rule that arise because of political factors. The reaction of investment to changes in the regional output provides information about the strength of the equity-efficiency trade-off. The main political factor considered is a measurement of the electoral productivity of funds invested in each region.
El trabajo constata, en primer lugar, que en la década de los noventa las disparidades regíonales se han reducido en la Unión Europea, pero en cambio se han amplíado en el interior de los principales países. En segundo lugar, se examinan los instrumentos de política regional aplicados en la UE y su efecto redistributivo. Las estímaciones realizadas demuestran que estas ayudas tienen un impacto signficativo en la reducción de las desigualdades regionales. En tercer lugar, el trabajo estudia la eventual existencia de un efecto sustitución de los fondos estructurales sobre la fínanciación de la inversión pública realizada con recursos nacionales. El artículo finaliza con unas reflexiones sobreel papel de las políticas de cohesión en la Unión Europea ante la ampliación a los paises del centro y Este de Europa.
Este trabajo presenta el cálculo de un índice de necesidades de gasto en inversión en infraestructuras de transporte y carreteras para las CCAA. A partir de modelos teóricos se definen y estiman econométricamente los determinantes de la inversión en infraestructuras realizada por los distintos niveles de gobierno (CCAA, Estado y conjunto de AAPP) con datos para el período 1987-1996. Los parámetros estimados para los determinantes de la inversión permiten calcular un índice de necesidades de inversión en infraestructuras, el cual pone de manifiesto (y cuantifica): primero, el «trade-off» existente entre eficiencia y equidad para los distintos niveles de gobierno, y segundo, la importancia de la inclusión de variables de necesidades adicionales al PIB o la población en la regla de distribución territorial de las inversiones en infraestructuras.
By means of a dynamic panel data analysis, and using a database from municipalities of the province of Barcelona (1993-99), we describe their process of fiscal adjustment to a shock in tax capacity. About 25% of the shock is internalized through an increase in tax effort, 35% through a reduction in public expenditure (mainly investment), while the rest is covered by an increase in the level of debt (i.e., the adjustment is delayed). However, this process of adjustment is very much influenced by the political situation of the municipality. Coalition and minority governments ("weak" governments) tend to delay the (unavoidable) adjustment, and 70% of their shock is covered by an increase in the level of debt, while the rest of municipalities ("strong" governments) adjust immediately. Leftist governments mostly react through increases in tax effort, while rightist governments reduce public expenditure to a greater extent. Finally, we find that municipalities are relatively reluctant to decrease taxes, that is, they react differently to a negative (28%) and a positive (26%) shock with regard to the level of tax effort.
We analyse the redistributive power of the Spanish central government budget to diminish regional disparities in per capita income in the 1991-1996 period. It firstly makes a brief overview of the most relevant empirical studies carried out on this subject, analysing their methodologies and results. Secondly, it estimates the redistributive power of the budgetary policies of the Spanish central government. Its principal interest lies in the fact that the data base used allows the redistributive effect of the main items of revenue and expenditure to be analysed, whereas the majority of studies carried out limit the categories of expenditure to the case of transfers. The results obtained are in line with those from other studies. The redistributive power of the central budget is around 40%, expenditure being much more redistributive than revenue, with the exception of individual income tax.
Background: Several studies have suggested that Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is a risk factor for colorectal cancer (CRC), while others have not confirmed this hypothesis. This work aimed to assess the relation of CRC with H. pylori seropositivity and with seropositivity to 16 H. pylori proteins, in the MultiCase-Control study, MCC-Spain. Methods: MCC-Spain is a multicase-control study carried out in Spain from 2008 to 2013. In total, 2,140 histologically-confirmed incident CRC cases and 4,098 population-based controls were recruited. Controls were frequency-matched by sex, age, and province. Epidemiological data were collected through a questionnaire fulfilled by face-to-face interviews and a self-administered food-frequency questionnaire. Seroreactivities against 16 H. pylori proteins were determined in 1,488 cases and 2,495 controls using H. pylori multiplex serology. H. pylori seropositivity was defined as positivity to =4 proteins. Multivariable logistic regression mixed models were used to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: H. pylori seropositivity was not associated with increased CRC risk (OR = 0.91; 95% CI: 0.71-1.16). Among H. pylori seropositive subjects, seropositivity to Cagd showed a lower CRC risk, and risk decreased with increasing number of proteins seropositive. Seropositivity to the most recognized virulence factors, CagA and VacA, was not associated with a higher CRC risk. No statistically significant heterogeneity was identified among tumor sites, although inverse relations were stronger for left colon cancer. An interaction with age and sex was found: H. pylori seropositivity was associated with a lower CRC risk in men younger than 65 and with a higher risk in older women. Conclusions: Our results suggest that neither H. pylori seropositivity, nor seropositivity to the virulence factor CagA are associated with a higher CRC risk. A possible effect modification by age and sex was identified ; The study was supported by the "Acción Transversal del Cáncer," approved on the Spanish Ministry Council on the 11th October 2007, by the Consortium for Biomedical Research in Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III grants, co-funded by FEDER funds—a way to build Europe—(grants PI08/1770, PI09/0773, PI09/1286, PI09/1903, PI09/2078, PI09/1662, PI11/01403, PI14/00613, PI14/01219, and PI15/00069), by the Fundación Marqués de Valdecilla (grant API 10/09), by Catalan Government DURSI (grants 2014SGR647 and 2014SGR756), by the Junta de Castilla y León (grant LE22A10-2), by the Consejería de Salud of the Junta de Andalucía (grant 2009-S0143), by the Regional Government of the Basque Country, and by the Conselleria de Sanitat of the Generalitat Valenciana (grant AP061/10).
