Policy In Spain Research Articles

Seroprevalence of HTLV-1/2 Infection among Native and Immigrant Pregnant Women in Spain

HTLV-1=2 antenatal screening is not mandatory in European countries. The rapid increase in immigrants coming from areas endemic for HTLV-1 infection has compelled a review of this policy in Spain. From February 2006 to December 2007, a cross-sectional study was carried out in all pregnant women attended at 10 different Spanish hospitals. An enzyme immunoassay (EIA) was used to test serum HTLV-1=2 antibodies; reactive samples were further confirmed by Western blot and=or polymerase chain reaction. A total of 20,518 pregnant women were examined, of whom 18,266 (89%) were native Spaniards. Overall, 946 (4.6%) of the immigrants came from HTLV-1 endemic areas (mainly Central and South America and sub-Saharan Africa). Four samples were EIA seroreactive for HTLV-1=2, two of them in women infected with HTLV-1 coming from endemic areas. The other two women were infected with HTLV-2; one was an immigrant from Bolivia and another was a native Spaniard who admitted prior injection drug use and was HIV-1 positive. The overall HTLV-1=2 seroprevalence was 0.19 per 1000 (95% CI: 0.05-0.49=1000). For HTLV-1, the seroprevalence was 2.11 per 1000 (95% CI: 0.26-7.62=1000) in pregnant women from endemic areas. The seroprevalence of HTLV-1=2 infection is below 0.02% among pregnant women in Spain, and therefore universal screening for HTLV-1=2 infection in antenatal clinics is not warranted. However, HTLV-1=2 screening could be considered in pregnant women coming from endemic areas, in whom the rate of infection is nearly 1000-fold higher than in native Spaniards and are the only group infected with the more pathogenic HTLV-1.

La Política de Cohesión Europea en dos regiones españolas: configurando las redes de políticas y el capital social

El artículo analiza la fase de programación de la política europea de cohesión centrándose en el nivel autonómico de gobierno. Sostiene que los Fondos Estructurales han afectado de manera esencial la configuración de las políticas de desarrollo regional. En particular, la europeización de la política regional en España ha implicado un papel creciente de los gobiernos autonómicos, que han ido adoptando un conjunto de prácticas y procedimientos homogéneos en los procesos de programación e implementación de la política de cohesión. No obstante, la evidencia empírica recogida en las comunidades autónomas de Galicia y de Murcia, en relación con la programación del período financiero 2007-2013 (PORs), prueba la existencia de diferentes configuraciones de la red de política regional que lleva a cabo las tareas de programación. Al mismo tiempo, también las características de capital social de los actores implicados en cada red de política regional presentan diferencias significativas. Estos resultados sugieren que, a pesar de que los procedimientos formales de programación son prácticamente idénticos, los procesos políticos son bastante distintos en cada comunidad autónoma, lo que plantea nuevos interrogantes sobre las causas de dichas variaciones.

Comparing the Dynamics of Change in Food Safety and Pharmaceutical Policy in Spain

ABSTRACTComparative analysis shows that while policy windows and policy entrepreneurs are important, they are insufficient to account for policy change. An understanding of the institutional setting is key to explaining the speed and the magnitude of policy dynamics. In both food safety and pharmaceutical policy in Spain, a redefinition of policy image has involved a transformation of the policy subsystem. In the case of food safety such a paradigm shift has represented a dramatic change, in the case of pharmaceuticals it has meant a gradual process that has developed over a decade. Periods of stability in the pharmaceutical sector reflect the ability of a closed policy community to control problem framing. By contrast, rapid changes in food safety policies are the result of crisis situations governed by a relatively loose policy network. The European Union has been a key policy venue that can transform an institutional framework towards one that is more pluralistic and expert oriented.

Strategy for the conservation and sustainable use of Spanish forest genetic resources

In the last decade, forestry policies in Spain have undergone changes needed to comply with the European and world directives on forest conservation. The elaboration of strategic plans has to take into account the State organization (Central and Autonomous Regional Governments share the responsibilities), resulting in agreed documents, effective at a national level and fulfilling the peculiarities and aspirations of each region. The most recent development has been the elaboration of a Strategy for Conservation and Sustainable Use of Forest Genetic Resources, which can be seen as a consequence of, among other factors, the implementation of the Spanish Strategy for Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity along with Spain's participation in the European Forest Genetic Resources Programme. This document arose from the lack of approaches to the conservation of population diversity of forest species in the current policies, and as a means to promote and coordinate activities on conservation and use of genetic resources. The Strategy has been arranged through a participative process involving the ForestAdministration, Research Centres and Universities. The document includes a definition of priorities and proposals of activities, which are mainly focused on optimising the efficiency of existing tools and infrastructures and on increasing synergy among different initiatives. Implementation of the Strategy is expected to occur through the development of National Action Plans. Finally, coordination mechanisms must be enhanced in order to maintain the levels of cooperation achieved during the elaboration process.

A Fresh Look at Spanish Scientific Publishing in the Framework of International Standards

Research has become a key element in the knowledge-based society with its role of producing and disseminating results. In this context, scientific publishing becomes the means by which research activity and knowledge production are circulated to the scientific community and society at large. However, there are factors influencing the system of scientific publications in every national community or country that have to be taken into consideration. The author discusses the effects of the Spanish research system on scholars and publications, with particular reference to the humanities, and the factors affecting this system. Recent research policy in Spain has moved scholars to publish internationally and adopt the linguistic and rhetorical conventions that characterise the discourse of the international English-speaking community. Consequently, all participants in knowledge production and dissemination have joined in a concerted effort to elevate the quality and standards of national scientific publications to obtain international visibility and recognition.

Spain, the Cheap Model. Irregularity and Regularisation as Immigration Management Policies

AbstractThe article examines the development of a migration policy in Spain and the criteria, preferences, interests and pressures that have shaped it, highlighting the role of compassionate feelings, a free-market approach, inexperience and the lack of administrative resources. Faced with the continuous, large-scale, unplanned and unexpected arrival of immigrants since 2000, governments have fluctuated from extraordinary regularisation measures and retreat to control policies. A proactive policy has never been fully implemented and irregularity has been the feature of most immigration. During the years of strong economic growth, immigrants were able to integrate in the labour market while the dominant political culture of permissiveness towards illegality, a relatively positive social attitude towards immigrants and the granting of broad social rights to foreigners irrespective of their legal status, all combined to produce a smooth integration process. However, the model came to an end when the economic crisis, made evident in 2008, caused a substantial increase in unemployment, especially among immigrants, prompting a political and social reaction against new immigration and the hardening of legal and administrative measures.

Avoided global warming emissions with the adoption of biofuel policies in Spain

The objective of this study is to assess the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions in the production and use of biofuels in Spain considering different crop production alternatives, including the possible import of raw materials. Avoided GHG emissions due to the substitution of conventional transport fuels with biofuels are then quantified. The studied biofuels are bioethanol from cereal crops and biodiesel from crude vegetable oil and waste vegetable oil. Several blends of these biofuels with gasoline and diesel are also studied. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of these fuels is carried out. The stakeholders were involved early in the process, setting the scope of the analysis and providing the relevant data. The results shown are GHG emissions in the production and distribution of these fuels. The benefits, in terms of GHG savings, of the adoption of the biofuel introduction objectives at the national and European levels are also quantified.

Ten years of renewable electricity policies in Spain: An analysis of successive feed-in tariff reforms

Spain has been one of the most successful countries in the public promotion of electricity from renewable energy sources (RES-E), particularly wind electricity. This support has been based on a feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme. Although the basic structure of the system was implemented in 1998, it has been modified in 2004 and 2007. This paper provides an overview of the last 10 years of RES-E promotion in Spain, focusing on the FIT system and analysing the main differences and improvements of the three FIT systems. A political economy approach, which considers the interactions between key stakeholders in RES-E promotion, is used to interpret the actual outcomes of successive FIT reforms and their main design elements.

La libertad de elección en el sistema educativo: el caso de España

This paper deals with the evolution of educational policy in Spain in relation to school from the arrival of democracy. The objective is to provide a pedagogical analysis of the legal evolution of this concept and its repercussions in daily school practice. One of the most controversial issues in the parliamentary transactions leading to the new laws on education has been the definition of parental rights, in particular the right to choose a school. This right was always interpreted as being restrictive. The work concludes by making the case that diversity of options is the best route to meet the needs of a pluralistic society.

Industry Effects of Monetary Policy in Spain

Rodríguez-Fuentes C. J. and Padrón-Marrero D. Industry effects of monetary policy in Spain, Regional Studies. The aim of this paper is to analyse the presence of sectoral asymmetries in monetary policy transmission in Spain in the period before the introduction of the single monetary policy in Europe (1988–98). Monetary policy shocks are identified through both a standard vector auto-regression model (VAR-shock) and the specification of a reaction function (RF-shock) for the monetary authority in Spain. The responses of the different industrial branches with regard to the estimated monetary shocks are then analysed at national accounting sector and subsector levels. The results confirm the presence of significant differences in the sectoral responses with respect to national monetary shocks in Spain. In addition, the sectoral asymmetries found in the present study show a strong correlation with regard to the regional asymmetries found in a previous study. Rodríguez-Fuentes C. J. et Padrón-Marrero D. Les effects de la politique monétaire sur le secteur industriel en Espagne, Regional Studies. Cet article cherche à analyser la présence des asymétries sectorielles dans la transmission de la politique monétaire en Espagne pendant la période qui a précédé l'établissement du système monétaire européen (de 1988 à 1998). On identifie les chocs de la politique monétaire à la fois par moyen d'un modèle d'auto-régression vectorielle type (choc-VAR) et de la spécification d'une fonction de réaction (RF-choc) pour les instances monétaires espagnoles. Dans le cadre des comptes de la nation et sur le plan sectoriel, il s'ensuit une analyse des réponses des divers secteurs industriels quant aux chocs monétaires approximatifs. Les résultats confirment d'importantes différences des réponses sectorielles quant aux chocs monétaires nationaux en Espagne. En outre, les asymétries sectorielles qui se présentent, sont en corrélation étroites avec les asymétries régionales qui se présentaient dans une étude antérieure. Politique monétaire Effets industriels Chocs monétaires Espagne Rodríguez-Fuentes C. J. und Padrón-Marrero D. Branchenspezifische Auswirkungen der Währungspolitik in Spanien, Regional Studies. In diesem Beitrag wird die Präsenz sektoraler Asymmetrien in der U¨bertragung der Währungspolitik in Spanien im Zeitraum vor der Einführung der einheitlichen Währungs-politik in Europa (1988–98) untersucht. Die Schocks in der Währungspolitik werden mit Hilfe eines Standardvektor-Autoregressionsmodells (VAR-Schock) sowie durch Spezifizierung einer Reaktionsfunktion (RF-Schock) für die spanische Währungsbehörde identifiziert. Anschließend werden die Reaktionen der verschiedenen Industriebranchen hinsichtlich der geschätzten Währungsschocks auf den Ebenen des nationalen Buchhaltungssektors und der Untersektoren analysiert. Unsere Ergebnisse bestätigen die Präsenz signifikanter Unterschiede hinsichtlich der sektoralen Reaktionen im Zusammenhang mit den nationalen Währungsschocks in Spanien. Darüber hinaus wiesen die in unserer Studie festgestellten sektoralen Asymmetrien eine starke Korrelation mit den in einer früheren Studie festgestellten regionalen Asymmetrien auf. Währungspolitik Branchenspezifische Auswirkungen Währungsschocks Spanien Rodríguez-Fuentes C. J. y Padrón-Marrero D. Los efectos de la política monetaria sobre la industria en España, Regional Studies. El objetivo de este artículo es analizar la presencia de las asimetrías sectoriales en la transmisión de la política monetaria en España durante el periodo antes de la introducción en Europa de la política monetaria única (1988–98). Identificamos los choques de la política monetaria a través de un modelo estándar vector de autorregresión (choque VAR) y la especificación de una función de reacción (choque RF) para la autoridad monetaria en España. Analizamos luego las respuestas de las diferentes ramas industriales con respecto a los choques monetarios estimados en el sector de contabilidad nacional y los niveles de subsectores. Nuestros resultados confirman la presencia de diferencias significativas en las respuestas sectoriales con respecto a los choques monetarios nacionales en España. Asimismo las asimetrías sectoriales de nuestro estudio muestran una fuerte correlación con las asimetrías regionales de un estudio previo. Política monetaria Efectos en la industria Choques monetarios España

El papel de la epidemiología en la definición de políticas. Hacia la salud pública que se necesita. Informe SESPAS 2008

Epidemiology already plays a substantial role in the definition of public and corporate policies in Spain as well as in other developed countries. The World Health Organization reinforced the position of epidemiology by enshrining the notion of social health determinants and, as a result, the connection between health and social constructs has become more visible. However, the use of epidemiology is usually restricted to the development and evaluation of policies originating in health bureaucracies with health improvement as the only public objective; these are called direct health policies. This view is somewhat reductionistic insofar as health gains and losses occur mainly due to policies outside the health sector. To expand the role of epidemiology as a tool to shape policies, we need a view of exposures and effects beyond healthcare and the biological and behavioral risk factors proposed by medical paternalism. Also required are an attitude that is more participative than prescriptive and the development of more health impact assessments. In addition, the health effects of the decisions taken by politically-empowered institutions should be included in the epidemiologist's tool kit. In other words, a political epidemiology should be constructed. For this endeavor, which may be crucial to attain the public health required, public health practitioners should be more visible and credible, have greater independence from political power, provide information directly to the public and other stake holders (greater transparency), and further develop the professionalization of public health (greater competence) by working increasingly in networks of professionals rather than in bureaucratic pyramids.

Workplace Accidents and Early Safety Policies in Spain, 1900-1932

SummaryDuring the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, workplace accidents came to be perceived as a serious public health problem. Preventive safety policies were implemented in industrialising nations. The impact of these policies, however, has received little attention. This article shows that early safety policies in Spain failed and, as a result, workplace safety tended to deteriorate. It confirms that legal regulation of safety standards and factory inspection, the strategy that became predominant in Europe, had little effect on reducing accidents. The International Labour Organization proposed supplementing legislation with further strategies that were well established in the USA, namely the use of workers' compensation programmes as an economic incentive for employers to invest in safety, and cooperation between employers and labour through the so-called Safety First movement. This article, however, argues that these strategies were difficult to adopt in Spain.

Middle-Class Families and School Choice: Freedom versus Equity in the Context of a ‘local Education Market’

This article analyses the impact of social class on the process of school choice in Spain from the viewpoint of middle-class families. This practice must be seen in the framework of the new social context generated by the information society. The article begins by briefly describing changes in school choice policies in Spain. For a wider understanding, these changes are related to the broader process of the marketisation of education, which has been taking place in this country for the last 20 years. In the second part of the article, qualitative data are presented on how middle-class parents understand and experience the process of choosing a particular school for their children. In this study, 24 interviews were carried out in the city of Granada (southern Spain). They were fully transcribed and analysed using the methodology suggested by ‘grounded theory’ and Bourdieu's concept of social class. Aspects related to social and cultural capital are added to the traditional social class indicators, which are usually expressed in economic terms. Attention centres on the creation of reconversion strategies for these different forms of capital used by families to obtain positional advantage for their children. This research thus revisits the principles of social reproduction theories from the viewpoint of the ‘winners’, i.e. middle-class families.

Relationship between health-related fitness and educational and income levels in Spanish women

The aim of this study was to determine whether a relationship exists between health-related fitness, taken as an indicator of regular physical activity, and educational and income levels in adult Spanish women. Descriptive, correlation, cross-sectional study. A stepwise stratification procedure according to population size, age and level of physical activity according to a previous epidemiological survey was used for sampling. Two thousand and thirty-eight women gave their written consent to participate (62.8% of those invited). The final sample consisted of 1709 healthy women (aged 18-88 years). Subjects were categorized into high, medium and low level groups for education and income. All participants were assessed for morphological and physical health-related fitness. Three-way MANCOVA (age as covariate) and Bonferroni's post hoc test were used to determine the differences between groups. No significant relationships were found between age-adjusted educational and income levels. The lowest values for health-related fitness were found in the lowest educational and income groups (P<0.001). The higher the level of education and income, the better the values for all fitness variables (P<0.001), except anterior trunk flexibility. A positive relationship was found between health-related fitness and educational and income levels, which appeared to be most evident in the lowest educational and income groups. This implies that health-related promotion policies in Spain should stress the importance of regular physical activity in social classes with low levels of education and income.

A Composite Indicator for University Quality Assesment: The Case of Spanish Higher Education System

This study presents a synthetic indicator for quality assessment in the Spanish public university system. The indicator is based on a series of components and simple indicators that were obtained from the public universities’ financial planning estimates. The paper takes a quantitative, wide-ranging approach to analyse the quality of university institutions and is intended to be complimentary to other qualitative approaches. Data Envelopment Analysis was used in order to facilitate the aggregation and weighting of the data used to construct the synthetic indicator. This technique allows the analyst to endogenously determine the weighting of the partial indicators while respecting the peculiarities intrinsic to each university. The results reveal that there are significant differences among Spanish public universities. In addition to how relatively well each of the institutions performs, other factors would seem to be influencing the results; essentially these are related to socio-economic factors and to the application of university policy in Spain over recent decades.

Recognizing the importance of injury in other policy forums: the case of motorcycle licensing policy in Spain

Even when injury prevention is not the primary focus of a new policy, it is important to consider the implications for injury risk

Intersecting Gender and Sexual Orientation: An Analysis of Sexuality and Citizenship in Gender Equality Policies in Spain

Equality policies in Spain have increasingly developed since the creation of the National Women’s Agency (1983). Over a ten‐year period Spain has achieved European standards in equality policies in terms of institutions, budget and legitimization. In a short time Spain moved from a dictatorship to European Union membership, which has brought about enormous changes regarding women’s roles and rights. Other relevant changes concern the political organization of the state: the 1978 Constitution sets a model of regional administrative autonomy, neither centralized nor federal, in which each region has developed gender institutions. Gender‐equality policies constituted the framework for the development of gay and lesbian policies. Both gender equality and gay and lesbian policies have evolved differently at the national and regional levels, with a trend of inclusiveness, more creative policies and institutions at the regional and local levels. In the meantime, the national debate has concentrated on same‐sex marriage, while sexuality is not a topic within gender equality policies. This paper argues that the progressive inclusiveness of lesbians within the equality agenda and the new intersectional perspectives, alongside gay marriage shows an evolution of Spanish citizenship models, largely influenced by the European Union context.

The Drift of Public Spending Towards the Elderly: A Generational Analysis of the Trend of Public Policies in Spain

The tendency for public welfare spending to be increasingly aimed at the elderly has been pointed out for the US and other developed countries. While population ageing is a common trend, it is not obvious why the shift in spending exceeds the trend in ageing, or why per capita spending on the elderly increases. We show that this is the case in Spain, identify the losers from this development, discuss the policies that underlie this trend, and propose adjustments based on Musgrave's fixed proportions rule as an inter-generationally fair distribution.

The economic effects of fiscal policy: The case of Spain

This paper estimates the effects of exogenous fiscal policy shocks in Spain in a VAR framework. Government expenditure expansionary shocks are found to have positive effects on output in the short-term at the cost of higher inflation and public deficits and lower output in the medium and long term. Tax increases are found to drag economic activity in the medium term while entailing an only temporary improvement of the public budget balance. The application of these results to the analysis of fiscal policy in Spain since the mid-90s points to the conclusion that the consolidation process does not seem to have involved costs in terms of output growth. Moreover, the stance of fiscal policy has become more counter-cyclical in that period.

Con el pensamiento vivo de Cajal cien años después

This article analyzes the foundation of the Junta para Ampliacion de Estudios e Investigaciones Cientificas (JAE) as the first modern attempt to draw and develop a scientific policy in Spain. Tha JAE had some continuity with the creation of the Spanish National Research Council after de civil war and more recently, through the present science policy.