Ana Cárcaba

• Associate Professor
• University of Oviedo

This paper examines the evolution of individual subjective well-being (SWB) in Spain from 2013 to 2022, with special focus on its relationship with income. Of the many driving forces of SWB identified in the literature, income is one of the most controversial. We use a large sample of individuals to analyze how income and SWB interacted during the...

The objective of this paper is to explore the effects of the composition and orientation of governance bodies in municipalities on individual subjective well-being. We connect the data from a large Spanish welfare survey to municipal data covering the aforementioned dimensions of political configuration. Unlike previous country-level studies, we fi...

The goal of this research is to examine the effects of good management of local governments on individual subjective well-being (SWB). We define three dimensions of good governance at the municipal level: accountability, government efficiency and control of corruption. We use a large survey of individual welfare carried out in Spain in 2013 and 201...

This paper explores the evolution of the driving forces that shape individual subjective well-being (SWB) in Spain from 2013 to 2018. Several socio-demographic, material conditions and quality of life (QoL) variables are considered as potential drivers of SWB. The data come from a large survey carried in two different time periods. The first one (2...

This paper explores the main drivers of subjective well-being(SWB) in Spain. Following current descriptions of SWB, the influence of a set of sociodemographic, material conditions and quality of life variables is empirically tested. The data come from a survey covering around 13,000 households and 35,000 individuals. The results show a very strong...

This paper measures quality of life (QoL) in the 393 largest Spanish municipalities in 2011. We follow recent descriptions of QoL dimensions to propose an integrated framework composed of eight dimensions: material living conditions, health, education, environment, economic and physical safety, governance and political voice, social interaction, an...

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a technique to assess the efficiency of decision-making units with multiple inputs and multiple outputs. Most real life problems contain more than one stage unit which needs multiple-stage DEA models to be solved. Moreover, the inputs and outputs of the units are rarely measured accurately in the real-world proble...

This paper explores the relationship between the practices of good governance and the quality of life at the municipal level in Spain. A composite indicator of the quality of life of 393 Spanish municipalities in 2011 is estimated using varied statistical information. For this purpose, we follow a benefit of the doubt approach based on Data Envelop...

This paper investigates how product innovation and competition dynamics have driven the evolution of product efficiency in the Spanish auto market. We have collected data on more than 75 technical product features and discounted prices for a representative sample of car models commercialized within a 5-year period (2010–2015). Product efficiency is...

This paper proposes a methodology for the assessment of social progress in the biggest Spanish municipalities between years 2001 and 2011. We follow recent descriptions of QoL to elaborate a measurement framework composed of eight dimensions, for which 16 subindicators are elaborated from information collected using different data sources. Weight c...

This paper investigates the relationship between the dynamics of price discounts at the dealership level and product efficiency in the Spanish auto market. Using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), product efficiency scores are estimated for 2,092 different vehicles commercialized during 2010, using an innovative database that accounts for more than 7...

This paper evaluates product efficiency in the Spanish automobile market. We use non parametric frontier techniques in order to estimate product efficiency scores for each model. These scores reflect the minimum price for which each car could be sold, given the bundle of tangible features it offers in comparison to the best-buy models. Unlike previ...

Measuring quality of life in municipalities entails two empirical challen- ges. First, collecting a set of relevant indicators that can be compared across the municipalities. Second, using an appropriate aggregating tool in order to construct a synthetic index. This paper measures quality of life for the largest 643 Spanish municipalities using Val...

There is a growing literature on the assessment of quality of life conditions in geographically and/or politically divided regions. Sometimes these territories are countries within a specified supranational structure, such as the European Union, for instance, and sometimes they are regions within countries. There is also some research that focuses...

Measuring quality of life in municipalities entails two empirical challenges. First, collecting a set of relevant indicators that can be compared across the municipalities in the sample. Secondly, using an appropriate aggregating tool in order to construct a synthetic index. This paper measures quality of life for the largest 237 Spanish municipali...

This paper examines the features of Spanish local governments that influence the degree of their voluntary reporting of financial information on the Internet. Following an agency theory approach, we propose five hypotheses regarding the relationship between voluntary financial disclosure and the size, leverage, capital investment, political competi...

Aims/Background This study measures the performance of the health system in 165 countries and its relationship with public financing. Methods We use value efficiency analysis (VEA), a refinement of data envelopment analysis (DEA), to measure the efficiency of the health systems using data on healthy life expectancy and disability adjusted life year...

Durant els ultims anys els autors han publicat diversos estudis relatius a e-government i al grau de divulgacio a la Xarxa d'informacio publica de les entitats locals. En el present treball s'ofereix una visio critica del paper que tenen els estandards oberts i tancats en l'administracio electronica. Partint de l'experiencia previa dels autors es p...

Durante los últimos años, los autores han publicado diferentes estudios relativos a e-government y al grado de divulgación en la Red de información pública de las entidades locales. En el presente trabajo se ofrece una visión crítica del papel que juegan los estándares abiertos y cerrados en la administración electrónica. Sobre la base de la experi...

Durant els últims anys els autors han publicat diversos estudis relatius a e-government i al grau de divulgació a la Xarxa d'informació pública de les entitats locals. En el present treball s'ofereix una visió crítica del paper que tenen els estàndards oberts i tancats en l'administració electrònica. Partint de l'experiència prèvia dels autors es p...

RESUMEN El presente estudio tiene como objetivo identificar los factores que explican el mayor o menor grado con que las entidades públicas locales recurren a la divulgación de información financiera a través de Internet. Para ello se enuncian cinco hipótesis, mediante las cuales se establece una relación estadísticamente significativa entre la dif...

This paper examines the characteristics of local government that influence the voluntary spread of financial information on the Internet. Following an agency theory approach, we propose five hypotheses that state the relationship between voluntary financial disclosure and size, leverage, capital investment, political competition, and press visibili...

This paper analyses the evolution of productivity in Spanish public hospitals during the period characterised by the use of program-contracts. The results demonstrate that a significant improvement has occurred. The decomposition of the Malmquist productivity index shows that efficiency change has been the main contributor to productivity improveme...

During the last decade, the measurement of technical efficiency indexes has become a very popular field of research. Recent refinements in estimation tools and techniques have contributed to increase the interest on efficiency analyses. The empirical success of the efficiency literature has been obscured by the lack of a rigorous theory explaining...

RESUMENEl objetivo de este trabajo es caracterizar la situacion financiera de los ayuntamientos asturianos, atendiendo a su clasificacion por grupos de tamano y nivel de renta. De este modo se pretende poner de manifiesto la utilidad del analisis de la informacion contable en el ambito publico mediante el uso de indicadores financieros. El trabajo...

The proper development of an information system requires a previous analysis of the information needs of the persons and institutions that will use it. This paper follows an agency approach to analyse the main users of local government accounting reporting. Positive agency theory interprets the accounting information system as a monitoring and bond...

The proper development of an information system requires a previous analysis of the information needs of the persons and institutions that will use it. This paper follows an agency approach to analyse the main users of local government accounting reporting. Positive agency theory interprets the accounting information system as a monitoring and bond...

On almost a daily basis, the media report news of the “deficient management” of our municipalities and, as a consequence, their delicate financial situation. The pages of local newspapers comment on the quality and quantity of services provided, the excess indebtedness ratios, the shortage of liquid resources or the heavy dependence on current gran...

El interés por el análisis de la información contable pública ha experimentado un notable crecimiento durante los últimos años. Las importantes reformas introducidas en el ámbito contable público han contribuido al desarrollo de modelos de decisión en las entidades públicas basados en el análisis de la información resultante de su sistema contable....

During the last two decades, the measurement of technical efficiency indexes has become a very popular field of research. Recent refinements in estimation tools and techniques have contributed to increase the interest on efficiency analyses. The empirical success of the efficiency literature has been obscured by the lack of a rigorous theory explai...

El adecuado desarrollo de un sistema de información requiere el estudio previo de las personas a quienes va dirigido, sus necesidades y el uso que hacen de la información que se les proporciona. A través de este artículo se identifican los principales grupos de usuarios de la información contable pública elaborada en el ámbito local, utilizando com...

Measuring the performance of health systems is necessary to orient policy decisions. Lacking a theoretical health production function, benchmarking is the best feasible strategy to establish a relationship between health resources and outcomes. This paper uses Value Efficiency Analysis (VEA) to measure the efficiency of the health systems of 166 co...