Andres Faina

• Professor of Economics.
• Emeritus Professor and Jean Monnet Chair on European Industrial Economics at Universidade da Coruña

Neophobia has become an increasingly researched phenomenon given its importance on the evaluation and acceptance of new products such as seaweeds, especially in a country where these products are not a part of the culinary tradition, for example, Spain. Seaweed is a form of algae, a nutritional and healthy product. Studies have investigated not onl...

The purpose of this study is to investigate the mediating role of structural empowerment in the positive relationship between transformational leadership and work engagement. Based on self-reported questionnaires from 240 employees working in the tourism sector in Galicia (northwest of Spain), the findings reveal that the linkage between transforma...

Total factor productivity (TFP) in Spain over the period 1989–2010 has followed a decreasing trend. This paper explores to what degree the transport infrastructure investments financed with European Union Structural Funds (ERDF) and Cohesion Funds (CF) including the compulsory national cofunding (EUINFP) prevented TFP over this period from falling...

There is an increasing interest for Millennials; however, to date Millennials’ segmentations regarding their technology usage and behavior are scarce. This study addresses the following questions: “Are there segments within this generation group regarding their digital technology behavior?”. And if so: “What are the main differences among Millennia...

Este trabajo se centra en la aportación de las inversiones en infraestructuras terrestres de transporte al crecimiento de las regiones periféricas españolas, considerando especialmente los casos de Andalucía y Galicia. En el capítulo 2, se hace una pequeña introducción al concepto y a los tipos de infraestructuras existentes, para seguir con un ace...

Spanish objective 1 regions are mainly peripheral regions which traditionally have suffered from low accessibility to the main markets and low levels of education and entrepreneurial and management capacities. Once Spain became member of the EU the combined effects of competition in the so called “single” European market and the investments in tran...

Despite the growth and commercial potential of digital technologies, little is known about what factors create users’ satisfaction with a particular digital outlet. In this context, the major contributions of the present study are the examination of the sources and the consequences of users’ satisfaction with digital technologies; as well as the pr...

This paper reinterprets the new economic geography (NEG) ‘wage’ equation by distinguishing two different types of spatial dependences: a global spatial trend and local spatial autocorrelation. A measure of the variable Market Potential in this equation can capture both a global core-periphery pattern and spillovers, while the standard weights matri...

This chapter discusses infrastructural investment policy in the European Union (EU), both under the rubric of Cohesion policy and under that of EU transportation policy and, in particular, of investment in Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) infrastructure. Investment projects in transportation and public infrastructure (telecommunications, en...

One third of food destined for human consumption is wasted globally, and much of the food waste that comes from high-income or developed countries is caused by poor marketing practices, consumer behavior and consumption patterns. The present study focuses on developed countries to propose some marketing actions which could help in reducing food was...

The role of infrastructures as a driver for regional growth has been analyzed in the literature with mixed results. As omitted variables are a source of distorted results, the analysis must be based on an augmented Solow model including human capital and R&D expenditures. In the line of the study conducted for the Italian regions by Bronzini and Pi...

Based on the existing marketing concept on relational and functional benefits, and the retailing management of customer value, the present research empirically test the influence of these customer benefits by providing a comparative analysis for different retailing formats, such as supermarkets and hypermarkets. Using questionnaire data of a sample...

Our teaching proposal lies in explaining some of the core concepts of non-cooperative game theory by means of real cases of strategic decision within the computer engineering education. The innovative features of our methodology are based on the use of PC simulations to analyze the strategic decisions faced by Kodak and Polaroid under several circu...

This paper defines and evaluates a new tax method based on the combination of a flat rate scheme and increasing personal allowances on the tax base which we refer to as the Discretionary Income Tax Method (DITM), and compares this to the traditional personal income tax based on progressive tax schedules. The results show that, from a theoretical pe...

This paper focuses on the effects of the euro on foreign accounts, economic development and welfare levels (measured by GDP per capita) in the euro area countries. Persistent competitiveness and productivity problems combined with large current account imbalances in the euro area have resulted in serious instability issues and a dramatic financial...

This paper examines the evidence on the impact of the euro and EMU rules on foreign trade and growth in the peripheral countries the Eurozone. The case of the Spanish economy is analyzed to show how the euro fueled the boom of the 2000s and contributed to huge foreign trade deficits in a context of productivity stagnation. This increased the vulner...

This paper is aimed at presenting the theoretical foundations of the rules for a credible monetary policy and to analyse the institutional setting of the EMU. The origin and vicissitudes of the euro are considered to give a broad idea about and the problems of asymmetric shocks and countries' different responses to single policy measures are highli...

The funds committed to cohesion policy are the second highest category of expenditure in the European Union budget and this policy is among the most evaluated. There are different tools and methodologies to carry out the evaluation each of them with their own merits and also their flaws and biases. This special issue explores the three main types o...

The role of market access in determining the spatial distribution of per capita income, wages and educational attainment levels among regions in the European Union has been widely analyzed. The persistence of such differences is surprising in light of the successive steps taken by the EU towards higher levels of integration and the number of polici...

‘Jobs created’ is a core indicator used across all ERDF Spanish programmes. ‘Jobs created for women’ is also used in each programme. The definition of the job creation indicator and the methodology to be used are documented in the Spanish handbook describing the indicator system (IHB) for the ERDF Operational Programmes (OPs), which has been drafte...

The regional development policy pursued in Spain, in line with the EU Cohesion policy and the Lisbon Strategy, is targeted at reducing regional disparities and coping with the main structural problems and bottlenecks of Spanish regions. Important reprogramming initiatives were undertaken in 2011 and 2012 to tackle the problems caused by the worseni...

This article compares a tax method featuring flat rates and fixed allowances equal for all taxpayers (Surplus Income Tax Method (SITM) procedure) with a tax method featuring also flat rates and increasing personal allowances (IPAs) to meet the amounts of necessary consumption required by the different living standards (Discretionary Income Tax Meth...

This report presents the case study for Galicia (Spain) as part of the study ‘Evaluation of the Main Achievements of Cohesion Policy Programmes over the Longer Term in 15 Selected Regions (from 1989-1993 Programming Period to the Present)’ which is being managed by the European Policies Research Centre and the London School of Economics. The resear...

This report presents the case study for Andalucía (Spain) as part of the study ‘Evaluation of the Main Achievements of Cohesion Policy Programmes over the Longer Term in 15 Selected Regions (from 1989-1993 Programming Period to the Present)’ which is being managed by the European Policies Research Centre and the London School of Economics. The rese...

We give an objective meaning to the concept of taxable capacity and establish a theoretical link between Optimal Taxation Theory (OTT) and the proposals of the Carter and Meade Reports, solving at the same time Kay’s (2008) criticism to both approaches.

This chapter analyzes the impact economic geography, as opposed to physical geography, has on income disparities by resorting to the results derived from the empirical literature on new economic geography. The chapter starts with the presentation of a standard core-periphery new economic geography model to derive the so called nominal wage equation...

The use of Financial Engineering Instruments (FEIs) is not very extensive in the current programming period. Nonetheless, some important initiatives have been adopted. In the policy area of business development and innovation three JEREMIE funds have been endowed with EUR 330.7 million1. They have been launched in the framework of national and regi...

A new contraction in Spanish GDP has been announced for the current year, 2012, (-1.7% according to official government data). The entire Spanish economy is losing ground to Europe. This is especially serious in Convergence regions, which are quickly falling behind. The imbalances of the Spanish economy (mainly low productivity and the real estate...

This paper deals with market power and information issues in the ongoing process of the European Electricity Market. We present a regulatory game played among the key group of utilities, the customers and the regulatory authority. The development of the game allows us to state for a clear commitment to entry freedom reducing the informational strat...

The outbreak of the current crisis caused a dramatic down-turn in the Spanish economy. The economy entered recession in 2009 (-3.7% GDP growth, -1.4% in the 1st quarter of 2010 and 0.6% in the 2nd quarter of 2011) while unemployment rates were over 20% (more than 40% of young people were and are unemployed). Initially, the government tried to addre...

Spain has succeeded in deploying renewable energies (RES). Overall, RES contributed 12.2% of gross energy consumed in Spain in 2009, while electricity from renewable sources accounted for around 25% of total generation. Electricity production from renewable sources is mainly supported by the electricity market. Producers of electricity from renewab...

This paper looks at the link between wage disparities and market access for the Romanian regions. First, we derive an econometric specification which relates the income levels of a particular location with a weighted sum of the volume of economic activities of the surrounding locations (market access). Then, empirically, we estimate this econometri...

In this paper a New Economic Geography model is used to analyse the distribution of educational attainment levels in the European Union. The results show that educational attainment levels decrease with distance to large consumer markets, proving that the theoretical predictions of the model are verified empirically.

This paper evaluates the role that geography plays in determining the distribution of educational attainment levels among Romanian counties. We provide evidence that, in Romania, educational levels are higher in those counties with greater market access. This finding corroborates the theoretical predictions of the Redding and Schott´s (2003) model...

This paper looks at the link between human capital and geographical location for the Romanian regions based on the theoretical model developed in Redding and Schott ´s (2003) paper. Using 2006 data on the different educational attainment levels for the 42 Romanian regions, it identifies that the percentage of individuals with medium and high educat...

The positive effects of the high growth and the real-estate boom of the 2000-2007 period were spread across all Spanish regions. More recently, the international economic and financial crisis caused a dramatic downturn in the Spanish economy as shown by the main macroeconomic indicators. In the current programming period (2007-2013) the main priori...

Spanish innovation policy involves cooperation between national and regional governments. The National Strategy of Science and Technology provides the main guidelines for central and regional governments for the coordinated formulation of National and Regional RDI (research, development and innovation) plans. Moreover central and regional governmen...

This paper focuses on international organizations, especially those regulating trade and exchange. It draws on the Theory of Clubs (Buchanan, 1965) and builds a model that aims to explain governments' optimal choices when joining international organizations. The results of the model show that governmental willingness to enlarge international organi...

This paper focuses on the analysis of the Basque country regional innovation system and its capacity to boost the Basque structural change and improve its competitiveness in a si-tuation of growing globalization and enlargement of the European Union. After commenting on the main lines of the setting up and development of the Basque regional innovat...

This paper focuses on the analysis of the Basque country regional innovation system and its capacity to boost the Basque structural change and improve its competitiveness in a situation of growing globalization and enlargement of the European Union. After commenting on the main lines of the setting up and development of the Basque regional innovati...

This paper focuses on international organizations, especially those regulating trade and exchange. It draws on the Theory of Clubs (Buchanan, 1965) and builds a model that aims to explain governments' optimal choices when joining international organizations. The results of the model show that governmental willingness to enlarge international organi...

Este trabajo se centra en el análisis de los impactos del sistema regional de innovación en el País Vasco, y especialmente en su capacidad para impulsar la transformación estructural de la economía vasca y potenciar su competitividad en el contexto de la creciente globalización y ampliación de la UE. Después de describir las grandes líneas de la fo...

We present a stylized, supply-side model to estimate the permanent effects of the Community Support Framework (CSF) programmes on a regional economy and use it to estimate the impact of the 1994–1999 and 2000–2006 CSF programmes on the Spanish region of Galicia. The evolution of the economy is simulated under two scenarios, with and without CSF fun...

Garantizar la existencia de una competencia efectiva y protegerla frente a todo ataque contrario al interés público constituyen el objetivo de la política de la competencia, una política que, en todo caso, va más allá de la lucha contra el poder de mercado o el aumento del número de empresas que compiten en un sector. En el marco de la necesaria pl...

In this paper we analyze the empirical developments concerning the estimation of the nominal wage equation proposed in the context of the New Economic Geography models. Results from the empirical works carried out for a sample of countries and for the European Union confirm the theoretical predictions of the models, showing that economic geography...

In this paper, the nominal wage equation of a Core-Periphery model of New Economic Geography is derived. In order to show empirical evidence of the resulting hypothesis, the nominal wage equation is estimated for the Spanish provinces in the year 2003. Our results illustrate that the market access variable is statistically significant and quantitat...

In this paper we analyze the empirical developments concerning the estimation of the nominal wage equation proposed in the context of the New Economic Geography models. Results from the empirical works carried out for a sample of countries and for the European Union confirm the theoretical predictions of the models, showing that economic geography...

El sector minorista de la distribución alimentaria ha mostrado en la última parte del siglo XX un gran dinamismo con la aparición de nuevos estilos y formatos que han llevado superar la tradicional fragmentación del sector y generar no sólo establecimientos de gran capacidad, sino también un alto grado de consolidación de las principales cadenas di...

In this paper we use the Gini index to analyze the spatial concentration of income and population across European Union regions over the period 1984-1999. The results of our analysis show an slow but increasing pattern of geographic concentration of population and income. The critical threshold where the effects of the geographic concentration beco...

This paper uses a New Economic Geography model to test for wagedisparities in the European Union. We derive and estimate an econometric specificationrelating wages to a distance weighted sum of regional GDP’s. The empirical estimationsof the model were carried out for a sample of 160 NUTS2 regions in theEU15 for the year 2000 showing that geography...

López-Rodríguez J., Faíña J. A. and López-Rodríguez J. (2007) Human capital accumulation and geography: empirical evidence from the European Union. Regional Studies 41, 217–234. This paper evaluates the role that geography plays in determining the spatial distribution of educational attainment levels among European Union regions, based on an extens...

This paper applies the concept of population potential to study the spatialstructure of the European Economic Space-EU15 and its main changes with theenlargement to Central and Eastern European Countries. The analysis shows a reinforcementof the central areas and a widening and displacement to the East of themiddle areas in the European spatial pat...

The evolution of regional income disparities between two blocks of regions, objective 1 regions and non-objective 1 regions is analysed for the period 1982 to 1997, by using a Generalized entropy index such as the Theil index. The results show that between 1982 and 1987 the income disparities between objective 1 regions and non-objective 1 regions...

This paper focuses on the relationship between market potential and income for the European Union (EU) regions over the period 1982-1999. It is proved that closeness to large consumer markets or in other words, market potential, is an important explanatory variable for regional income in the early 1980s, but it has decreased its significance in det...

This study evaluates the role that market access plays in determining the spatial distribution of educational attainment levels among EU regions. Evidence is provided showing that in the EU educational attainment levels are higher in those regions with greater market access. This finding proves that remoteness is a penalty for the economic developm...

In this paper we present an adaptation of Buchanan and Tullock’s model in order to apply it to the constitutional choices regarding the assigning of powers to a supranational authority. The outcome of the economic-political model developed in this paper demonstrates that there are constraints in the supply of integration, suggesting that the enlarg...

This paper evaluates the role that geography plays in determining the spatial distribution of educational attainment levels among EU regions, based on an extension of the standard two sector (agriculture and manufacturing) Fujita et al. (1999) economic geography model. We provide evidence that, in the EU, educational attainment levels are higher in...

The successive enlargement processes of the European Union have implied reforms in Regional Policy. Since the Single European Act (1987), Europe has got a structural policy mainly focused on regions whose development is lagging behind. The accession of CEECs will mean an extraordinary increase in regional development disparities. However, the curre...

In this paper we use a generalized entropy index such as the Theil index to analyze regional inequalities in Europe. We proved that there is a synchronization between the convergence and catching-up process of objective 1 regions towards the EU15 average with the reform of the EU regional policy. During the period 1982-1988 the Theil index shows th...

This paper analyses the influence of economic remoteness in the explanation of per capita GDP disparities across Spanish provinces. In order to do so, we regress provincial per capita GDP on market access and a set of control variables using OLS and IV estimates. The results of our estimations show that market access is statistically significant an...

This paper evaluates the role that geography plays in determining the spatial distribution of EU income. We argue that geography matters for income disparities among EU regions, providing evidence that the geography of access to markets is statistically significant and quantitatively important in explaining cross-regions variation in EU per capita...

In this paper we deal with the issue of the spatial structure of Europe. In order to carry out our study, we use the technique of gravity models to compute population potentials, and then plot potential maps, which allow us to represent the main lines of force in terms of the geographical distribution of the population and consequently the main eco...

In this paper we analyze the profitability of information sharing among Cournot oligopolists receiving private information about random demand. We model the random demand as a linear demand having, 1) an unknown intercept, and 2) an unknown slope. In each of these two scenarios, firms observe private signals about the unknown parameter. We show tha...

El sector energético, y en particular el mercado del gas, está inmerso actualmente en un profundo proceso de revisión basado fundamentalmente en la introducción de mayor competencia en las actividades susceptibles de ello y en una mayor transparencia en las actividades reguladas mediante la creación de entes reguladores independientes. En este trab...

The classical “integration process” has reached a critical point and constitutional limits, which make a qualitative change of importance in the system of community government indispensable. Our paper is based on an analysis of the constitutional choices of citizens and governments using a political-economic model, whose main conclusion centres on...

Este trabajo desarrolla, a partir de la teoría del valor de Carl Menger: a) el concepto de metaorden de necesidades, similar al expuesto por A. Sen (1977) en Rational Fools b) Se defiende, frente al extendido concepto de jerarquía absoluta, la existencia de prioridad en la teoría del valor mengeriana. El supuesto de jerarquía ha permitido a los eco...

The objective of this work is the application of the concept of population potentials in order to describe the spatial structure of the European Union. The concept of population potentials allows us the construction of a "macroscopic cartography" and gives us a gradual representation of the influence of the population on the territory and it also,...

Este trabajo explica el contenido del Marco de Apoyo Comunitario de las Regiones Objetivo nº 1 de España 2000-2006 en el que se integra Galicia, así como la Estrategia de Desarrollo Económico, concretada en el Plan Estratéxico de Desenvolvemento Económico de Galicia (PEDEGA) que la Xunta de Galicia desarrollará en el período 2000-2006 y que será co...

Este traballo explica o contido do Marco de Apoio Comunitario das Rexións Obxectivo nº 1 de España 2000-2006 no que se integra Galicia, así como a Estratexia de Desenvolvemento Económico, concretada no Plan Estratéxico de Desenvolvemento Económico de Galicia (PEDEGA) que a Xunta de Galicia desenvolverá no período 2000-2006 e que será cofinanciada c...

In this paper, we modify the finitely repeated prisoners' dilemma by adding an initial round in which the players have the option of simultaneously, unilaterally and publicly committing themselves, in an enforceable way, to a subset of their strategies. We show that when a large enough number of repetitions of the prisoners' dilemma follow this ini...

Este trabajo se ocupa principalmente de las cuestiones sobre el poder de mercado y la información en el proceso de creación del Mercado Europeo de la Electricidad. Los principales indicadores concernientes a aspectos críticos como las cuotas de mercado, las restricciones de interconexión y el poder de mercado se analizan en un contexto de amenaza d...

This paper looks at the link between wage disparities and market access for the Romanian counties. In first place, we derive an econometric specification which relates the income levels of a particular location with a weighted sum of the volume of economic activities of the surrounding locations (market access). Then, empirically, we estimate this...

The concept of market potential developed by Harris (1954) has several shortcomings but it is very useful in practical work even in the context of the NEG's wage equation. We stress the theoretical and empirical reasons to be careful about interpreting the results when using market potential as an explanatory variable, but we also underline its uti...

RESUMEN: La microeconomía proporciona una serie de herramientas conceptuales para analizar las decisiones, los acuerdos y las mejores formas de organizar la convivencia de seres humanos libres. Una de esas herramientas microeconómicas, el razonamiento marginal puede emplearse como técnica de jurisprudencia para ponderar adecuadamente los comportami...

En este trabajo se utilizan los conceptos de distancia y proximidad para analizar la estructura espacial de la Península Ibérica y España. Los cálculos de los potenciales de mercado señalan una clara división entre las fachadas atlántica y mediterránea, mostrándonos que el área trapezoidal constituida por los ejes País Vasco-Cantabria-Barcelona; Ba...