The international growing concern for the human exposure to magnetic fields generated by electric power lines has unavoidably led to imposing legal limits. Respecting these limits, implies being able to calculate easily and accurately the generated magnetic field also in complex configurations. Twisting of phase conductors is such a case. The consolidated exact and approximated theory regarding a single-circuit twisted three-phase power cable line has been reported along with the proposal of an innovative simplified formula obtained by means of an heuristic procedure. This formula, although being dramatically simpler, is proven to be a good approximation of the analytical formula and at the same time much more accurate than the approximated formula found in literature. The double-circuit twisted three-phase power cable line case has been studied following different approaches of increasing complexity and accuracy. In this framework, the effectiveness of the above-mentioned innovative formula is also examined. The experimental verification of the correctness of the twisted double-circuit theoretical analysis has permitted its extension to multiple-circuit twisted three-phase power cable lines. In addition, appropriate 2D and, in particularly, 3D numerical codes for simulating real existing overhead power lines for the calculation of the magnetic field in their vicinity have been created. Finally, an innovative ‘smart’ measurement and evaluation system of the magnetic field is being proposed, described and validated, which deals with the experimentally-based evaluation of the total magnetic field B generated by multiple sources in complex three-dimensional arrangements, carried out on the basis of the measurement of the three Cartesian field components and their correlation with the field currents via multilinear regression techniques. The ultimate goal is verifying that magnetic induction intensity is within the prescribed limits.

El crecimiento del número de personas mayores, así como su mayor longevidad, plantea serios interrogantes acerca de los cuidados que serán demandados y la forma en que éstos serán prestados y financiados. España es uno de los países donde el proceso de envejecimiento se está desarrollando con mayor intensidad. En la actualidad, en este país, los cuidados de larga duración (CLD) están fundamentalmente a cargo de las propias familias. Sin embargo, los cambios sociales y demográficos que se están produciendo podrían llevar a una reducción de la capacidad de las familias para seguir "ofertando" estos servicios. Resulta pues fundamental, anticipar las demandas de servicios de cuidados, para lo cual es necesario estimar el número de personas con discapacidades, así como los años que se espera que las mismas vivan con distintos niveles de dependencia.La Tesis cubre un espacio poco desarrollado en la materia como es el análisis de la dependencia desde un punto de vista de su duración y su vinculación con los costes de los principales servicios de CLD. Se utiliza principalmente la información que brinda la Encuesta sobre Discapacidades, Deficiencias y Estado de Salud (INE, 1999), así como los costes de los servicios de CLD que brinda el IMSERSO (2000, 2004). Entre los objetivos alcanzados en la misma, se destacan: La propuesta de una metodología para el cálculo de probabilidades de transición en un modelo de múltiples estados (salud, discapacidad y muerte), bajo situaciones en las que no se cuenta con información completa. La estimación de la duración de la dependencia de la población española de 64 años y más, a partir del cálculo de esperanzas de vida condicionadas (al estado de salud) y de esperanzas de vida marginales, distinguiendo entre hombres y mujeres. El análisis de la dependencia desde una perspectiva microeconómica, combinando los costes unitarios de servicios de CLD con las estimaciones de duración en discapacidad. Un análisis prospectivo por edad y por generación de las prevalencias de las discapacidades. De los resultados obtenidos se observa que: Para las mujeres de 64 años y más, parte de la mayor esperanza de vida (respecto a la de los hombres) se espera sea en situación de dependencia. La tendencia parece indicar que en España se está produciendo una compresión relativa de la morbilidad, es decir, una menor proporción de años vividos con discapacidades respecto al total de años que se espera que vivan las personas. Sin embargo, las duraciones con discapacidad estarían incrementándose en términos absolutos como consecuencia de la mayor esperanza de vida global de la población. Del análisis de los costes esperados a nivel individual, se observa un mayor coste para las mujeres que para los hombres asociado con el mayor número de años que se espera que ellas vivan con discapacidades. A futuro, se espera un impacto positivo sobre los costes como consecuencia del incremento de la longevidad de las personas mayores, aún cuando las prevalencias de las discapacidades se reduzcan según la tendencia registrada en el pasado.En todos los casos analizados, y exceptuando situaciones en que se produjese un shock no predecible, se producirían incrementos sustanciales en los requerimientos de atención. Las perspectivas de una menor capacidad de las familias para atender las necesidades de dependencia y el ínfimo grado de cobertura actual, alertan sobre la necesidad de un planteamiento a corto plazo de políticas de atención a los mayores discapacitados más intensas. / DOCTORAL THESIS SUMMARY: "Disabilities of the Elderly People in Spain: Prevalence, Durations and Effect on Long Term Care Costs"One of the central problems facing societies experiencing rapid aging is the estimation of resources required to satisfy the demand for long-term care (LTC) of elderly individuals. This problem can be broken down into two components. The first is the distribution of years of life to be lived by individuals in various states. The second relates to the costs entailed by the occupancy of each of those states. The main objective of the thesis was to develop a methodology to:Calculate estimates of expected number of years to be lived in various states of disability for elderly people in Spain, with the available information (cross sectional information).Calculate alternative costs of LTC services associated with each disability state.Project short-term LTC costs, implied by projected expected durations in each disability state and by projected costs.Estimation of expected years of life to be lived in disability was carried out using two distinct methodologies. The first is the so-called Sullivan method that requires the least amount of information. Using this method we obtained the "Marginal Life Expectancies" in each health state. The second procedure also utilizes cross sectional information but additionally invokes assumptions about recovery rates and about differentials in mortality among individuals. We start with a simple three-state: Healthy, Disabled and Dead. This procedure leads to estimation of transition rates that can then be used to estimate the "Conditional Life Expectancies" in each health state. The results show that life expectancy in disability for women is larger than for men older than 64 years. In Spain a relative morbidity compression process is taking place. This means that a lower proportion of years are lived with disabilities with to respect the total life expectancy. Nevertheless, the durations with disability are increasing in absolute values. Expected LTC costs for women are larger than for men. In the short term, the expected costs of LTC will increase because of the larger longevity and in spite of the decreasing prevalence of disabilities.

Tesi llegida a la Facultad de Ciencias Políticas, Económicas y Comerciales / Fitxers digitals cedits per la Fundació Ernest Lluch

La presente tesis tiene como objetivo analizar la evolución y los determinantes de los spreads de bonos soberanos, comprobando que son un buen instrumento para evaluar las situaciones de crisis, dado que estas se reflejan en su evolución. Para ello, consideramos la actual crisis financiera como período crítico de análisis. Así mismo, observamos la evolución de los spreads para dos zonas geográficas concretas e identificamos los principales factores que afectan los niveles de spreads. En particular se analizan mercados de bonos soberanos de la Unión Europea y América Latina. Para cada grupo de mercados estudiados, aplicamos tres metodologías: correlaciones de Pearson, mapas auto-organizativos de Kohonen y datos de panel. Los resultados obtenidos en cada aplicación son consistentes y significativos, lo cual nos permite obtener interesantes conclusiones respecto a los mercados financieros analizados. / This thesis aims to analyze the evolution and determinants of sovereign bond spreads, in order to probe that they are a good instrument to assess crisis, since bond spreads reflect the economic situation. We consider the current financial crisis as a critical period of analysis. The evolutions of spreads are observed for two specific geographical areas and we identify their main drivers. In particular, we analyze sovereign bond markets from European Union and Latin America. For each group of markets, we apply three methodologies: Pearson correlations, self-organizing Kohonen maps and panel data. Results of each methodology are consistent and significant, which allows us to obtain interesting conclusions regarding financial markets analyzed.

La desigualtat internacional en el volum de recursos naturals consumits per part dels diferents països és un aspecte clau en un context internacional on l’escassetat d’aquests recursos es fa cada cop més palesa. En conseqüència, es generen tensions geopolítiques que posen traves a l’objectiu últim d’un desenvolupament sostenible, tant des del punt de vista ecològic com social. La tesi analitza empíricament l’evolució i les causes d’aquesta desigualtat i proposa mesures de política ambiental emmarcades en la governabilitat internacional per la sostenibilitat. Concretament, la tesi té com a principal objectiu l’anàlisi de la distribució internacional de la Petjada Ecològica (PE), com a indicador de consum de recursos naturals. L’anàlisi proposat contribueix a la tradició literària de l’Economia Ecològica que tracta qüestions distributives des de l’enfocament de l’Economia de la Desigualtat. L’anàlisi es justifica des de quatre racons d’aquesta literatura: en primer lloc, considera que l'escenari d'escassetat de recursos exigeix un seguiment minuciós de la distribució d’aquests. En segon lloc, des d’un plantejament normatiu, es defensa la necessitat de perseguir una distribució equitativa dels recursos naturals. En tercer lloc, la governabilitat global per temes ambientals pot millorar considerablement la seva eficàcia si té en compte els patrons de la distribució internacional. Finalment, les teories d'intercanvi ecològic desigual serveixen de paraigües teòric des de l’economia política. La metodologia utilitzada per a l’anàlisi distributiu de la PE és la de l’Economia de la Desigualtat. Aquesta metodologia, àmpliament acceptada en l’anàlisi de la distribució de la renda, s’ha utilitzat de manera més aviat escassa per avaluar qüestions de l’economia ambiental i ecològica. En aquest sentit, la tesi aporta discussions que permeten adaptar aquestes eines empíriques a l’anàlisi de la desigualtat ecològica (en lloc de la merament econòmica). Per tant, a més de les contribucions purament empíriques, la tesi aporta contribucions metodològiques. Addicionalment, la tesi també analitza la distribució internacional de la PE des de l’enfocament de la polarització. / Ecological distribution refers to the social, spatial and temporal asymmetries in the human use of environmental resources and services. This doctoral thesis focusses on empirical analyses of such ecological distribution from an Inequality economics perspective and also makes its primary contribution in this area. We analyse the international distribution of natural resource consumption as measured by the Ecological Footprint (henceforth, EF). Our main contributions represent an assessment of the international distribution of EF by analysing its change over time, as well as its underlying drivers. In the process, some methodological aspects are discussed in order to properly repurpose them from the income inequality viewpoint to that of environmental inequality. Additionally, the inequality approach has been complemented by the polarization approach. The thesis has been orientated towards contributing to the discussion of the range of topics found in the ecological economics literature, which usually have been tackled with different methodologies: firstly, the current scenario of resource scarcity unavoidably demands the monitoring of the distribution issues; secondly, fair consumption natural resources is also driven by the ethical motivation of environmental justice; thirdly, global environmental governance may improve its effectiveness if it considers distributional issues; and finally, the political economy of ecologically unequal exchange may underlie the distribution of natural resources itself. The conclusions drawn from the analyses point towards using the information derived from distributional analyses as an additional tool in order to build a more sustainable and equitable world. On the other hand, the conclusions are framed under a political economy umbrella and so contribute to the discussion of unequal exchange theories and world-system analyses.

El propósito de la investigación es avanzar en la teoría sobre Indicadores de Gestión Difusos sobre experiencia del cliente, proponiendo un modelo de proceso de análisis de datos que plantea evaluar y validar continuamente los distintos indicadores. Las técnicas de análisis utilizadas fueron: Análisis Factorial Exploratorio (AFE), Análisis Factorial Concluyente (AFC) y Modelo de Ecuaciones Estructurales (SEM); y finalmente la identificación de los indicadores difusos mediante el modelo de inferencia difusa Mamdani. Softwares utilizados Matlab y AMOS. El estudio contribuye con evidencia empírica, que permite señalar que es posible definir un modelo teórico explicativo sobre indicadores de desempeño clave para la gestión de la experiencia interactiva del cliente, mediante datos clásicos y difusos. Con la investigación, además, se ha profundizado en la naturaleza del constructo valor de la experiencia, analizando cómo influyen las fuentes de valor de experiencia general en su construcción. Dejando evidencia de cómo el valor de la experiencia se forma con los puntos de contacto clave de la relación cliente-empresa. Tras la comparación de distintas metodologías para el análisis de datos inciertos, se pudo observar que es posible definir indicadores difusos clave de gestión sobre la experiencia del cliente, formados mediante la información lingüística entregada por los clientes. Finalmente, nuestro trabajo contribuye e incrementa la literatura sobre el valor de la experiencia y los análisis basados en la lógica difusa. Así, se aporta con metodologías para la gestión de la incertidumbre en el área marketing de las organizaciones. Su relevancia se encuentra en la entrega de una propuesta de análisis de datos lingüísticos trasformados en indicadores de gestión. / The purpose of the research is to advance the theory of Fuzzy Indicators on customer experience management, proposing a process model data analysis posed continually assess and validate the different indicators. The analysis techniques used were: Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Factor Analysis Conclusively (AFC) and Structural Equation Model (SEM); and finally the identification of fuzzy indicators by Mamdani fuzzy inference model. Softwares used Matlab and AMOS. The research contributes literature and increases the value of the experience and analysis based on fuzzy logic. Thus, it provides methodologies for uncertainty management in the marketing area organizations. Its importance lies in delivering a proposed analysis of linguistic data transformed into management indicators.

The guiding theme of this thesis is the empirical analysis of recent food price behavior. It is composed of three applied studies that address the impacts of energy prices on both food price levels and volatility, as well as the impact of public information release on futures markets of major agricultural commodities. Non-structural time series econometric techniques are applied for such purpose. In the first chapter, the impact of the Spanish biodiesel industry on agricultural feedstock prices is investigated. Both price level and volatility interactions are evaluated. Three relevant prices are considered: the international crude oil price, the Spanish biodiesel blend price and the Spanish sunflower oil price. Weekly Prices are observed from November 2006 to October 2010, yielding a total of 205 observations. Blended biodiesel, sunflower and crude oil prices are found to be interrelated in the long-run. This parity is preserved by the biodiesel industry in order to be in equilibrium. The impact of biodiesel on sunflower oil price levels is found to be very modest, which is reasonable given the small size of the Spanish biodiesel industry. Volatility spillovers between sunflower and biodiesel markets are found to be significant. Evidence of asymmetries in price volatility patterns is also found, with price declines causing more price instability than price increases. Asymmetries can be triggered by the availability of alternative feedstocks in the market, as well as by the unwillingness of biodiesel producers to increase food prices when feedstocks become more expensive. In the second chapter, the impact of the EU biodiesel market on agricultural feedstock prices is analyzed. The study comprises the period between 06/11/2008 to 14/06/2012, and is based on 189 weekly prices. Cointegration analysis suggests that the three prices have a long-run equilibrium relationship that is preserved by the pure biodiesel price. Biodiesel prices are not found to have an effect on rapeseed oil prices. Volatility of pure biodiesel price is affected by its own past volatility and past pure biodiesel and rapeseed market shocks. Also, evidence is found of asymmetries in price volatility, with negative market shocks having a greater impact than positive ones. While pure biodiesel prices cannot affect rapeseed oil price-levels, they can bring instability to these prices. Inventory building and the euro-dollar exchange rate are found to be relevant risk management instruments that can be used to mitigate the biodiesel and rapeseed oil price volatilities. In the third chapter, the impact of public information in the form of USDA-NASS crop production reports on daily corn and soybeans futures prices is evaluated. The study period is between 1970 to 2004, with a total of 700 observations. Results show that USDA-NASS crop production reports significantly affect futures price levels. Report releases at the beginning and at the end of the harvest season are usually the ones exerting a stronger impact. Report releases are not however found to have an effect on price volatility, which suggests gradual price-level changes as a response to published information. Cross-market effects of news are also found to be significant.

Tax administration is central to the working of any tax system. This thesis focuses on the Spanish case and proves the existence of two kind of externalities that might arise in tax administration policies when decentralized. These are: inter-jurisdictional externalities due to the federal institutional design (competition vs. cooperation), and tax authority's endogenous reaction to external shocks (in terms of changes in tax enforcement) as a result of tax autonomy. The focus for the whole research line developed in this thesis is Spain, which provides a interesting federal framework for investigation. Indeed the regional governments of fifteen of the seventeen “common” regime autonomous communities have had the power to administer several wealth taxes since the mid-eighties and subsequent reforms, in 1997 and 2002, have conferred on them the normative power to make changes to certain statutory tax parameters (see Esteller, 2008, for further details on these reforms). The other two regions, the so-called “foral” autonomous communities (the Basque Country and Navarre), for historical reasons, administer almost all the taxes falling due within their territory – including VAT, personal income tax and corporate income tax – and they have the normative power to regulate most of them . This setting provides me with the opportunity to explore different types of externalities that might impact tax administration policies. In Chapter 2 the presence of horizontal competition in tax enforcement is examined in the context of the common regime autonomous communities. Chapter 3 presents an analysis of the potential room for cooperation derived from misreported tax returns in this federal context. Chapter 4 estimates the externality effect on tax enforcement caused by the costs of terrorism in the foral autonomous communities. The three central chapters of this thesis represent something of a novelty in the literature as they are the first empirical studies on externalities in tax administration policies. The whole research line shows that in a federal framework these policies are employed by tax authorities as strategic instruments, demonstrating that decentralizing tax administration gives regional governments additional degrees of tax autonomy. In particular, Chapters 2 and 4 show that tax enforcement policies can be used by tax authorities in order to counter the loss of revenues due to the potential mobility of tax bases. In both studies, tax administrations are found to lower the tax burden by cutting the tax audit rate in order to retain mobile tax bases, where the taxpayers’ incentive to move is based solely on classic horizontal tax competition or, alternatively, on an external shock such as terrorism. In the context of horizontal tax competition presented in Chapter 2, the mutual strategic reaction of tax authorities generates inefficiency in the setting of enforcement policies. Although this problem is partially reduced by the subsequent decentralization of normative power, the further inefficiencies that arise open the door for future research in this field so as to identify means, other than harmonization, that might circumvent this issue. Chapter 4 allows us to conclude that part of the shock due to terrorism is internalized by the tax administration and, thus, further research is needed in order to disentangle the actual impact of terrorism in terms of economic costs for the region. Chapter 3 shows that potential cooperation in tax management is possible when tax administration is decentralized at a sub-central level although it is partially undermined by short-sighted incentives caused by administrative, transaction and financial costs.

This thesis examines the question of environmental dilemmas from both a local and a global perspective. It explores the open question of cooperation in the climate commons and provides evidence in favor of a key role of trust in spurring cooperation in global dilemmas. Given the potential for cooperation in both local and global environmental dilemmas, this thesis explores the rationales for the limited diffusion of environmental taxes. It encompasses the issues of effectiveness and public acceptability in local and global situations and concludes that what most likely hampers the implementation of environmental taxes is the general public’s perception of ineffectiveness rather than any empirical ineffectiveness. Finally, it provides new insights on how to overcome this barrier to effective policymaking tackling local and global externalities. Overall, this thesis sheds new light on the question of environmental dilemmas. It examines from different perspectives the issues related with the application of market-based instruments to environmental externalities and provides original evidence-based insights to the political economy of commons. While different in terms of methodology, all chapters share the same behavioral implications. Individuals may be willing to play cooperatively in environmental dilemmas if they trust others to do so. That is, people's reticence to environmental taxes most likely stems from a general suspicion with respect to the taxes themselves rather than from a pure unwillingness to cooperate. This thesis provides the literature with a better understanding of cooperation and policy formation in the environmental arena, bringing to the issue both a touch of optimism, by underlying the importance of social norms, and a touch of pessimism, by recalling the endogeneity of environmental policy and emphasizing the obstacles to its acceptability. With no spirit of cooperation, the future would not look very bright for environmental taxation. There is no surprise though, it always takes two to tango.

In this dissertation a critical review of talent and the talent management (TM) literature is provided. Three key questions for TM research are covered within three chapters, defined as three different papers, with the aim to help fill the gap in solid theoretical foundations for TM research. Hence, it can be defined as mainly a conceptual dissertation. In chapter one, we deal with the question that marks the starting point for our research: What is meant by talent in the world of work? We questioned the meaning of talent, since it is critical in order to know how to manage it. By doing so, we offer an in-depth review of the talent concept within the specific context of the world of work, and we propose a framework for its conceptualization. We group different theoretical approaches to talent into ‘object’ (i.e., talent as natural ability; talent as mastery; talent as commitment; talent as fit) and ‘subject’ approaches (i.e., talent as all people; talent as some people) and identify dynamics existing within and between them, as well as implications for TM theory and practice. Finally, we discuss different avenues for further research aimed at developing the talent—and consequently, the talent management—construct further. Chapter two goes on to deal with the next challenging question: How is talent identified? Despite all the talk about talent and its importance for achieving new sources of competitive advantages, most companies report great difficulty in operationalizing and measuring talent accurately, reflecting the lack of theoretical foundations for talent identification. Building on from insights from different literature streams (giftedness, vocational psychology, and positive psychology literature), this chapter contributes to the establishment of a stronger theoretical basis for TM by discussing two components of talent (an ability and an affective component) that are complementary. Moreover, we identify three central characteristics of talent (manifestation in excellent performance, developed innate abilities and passion) that will help us to distinguish between talent, competence and potential; terms that are usually misused as interchangeable within the TM field. In addition, we argue how this distinction will help in talent identification. We also provide a summary with different discussed measures and methods to identify talent. By discussing managerial implications in terms of measures and methods, we provide practical guidelines for designing talent identification practices grounded in sound theory. Finally, in chapter three, we concentrate our efforts on the talent management construct through a proxy research question: How much do we know about talent management? Hence, we used a bibliometric method to both analyze the structure of the TM research and to define its boundaries and trends. Based on 703 peer-reviewed publications in English that appeared between 1990 and 2013, the analysis covers the following issues: productivity (e.g., number of papers published by author, country of origin, and author’s affiliation), visibility and impact (e.g., ranking of authors and documents according to citations, documents published in indexed journals), and collaboration (i.e., co-authorship). Our study shows underlying patterns in scientific outputs and academic collaborations and serves as an alternative and innovative way of revealing global research trends in TM. It should be noted that this bibliometric analysis is the first to address a complete and in-depth analysis of the structure of the field of TM as an academic discipline. It will allow new researchers in the field to be fully aware of seminal authors and must-read articles, as well as identifying those journals and institutions most closely related to this subject.