Fernando Lera-Lopez

Universidad Pública de Navarra | UPNA · Department of Economy

The study of the physical activity engagement (PA) has given rise to a relevant research agenda in a wide range of fields, such as its close relationship with subjective well-being, self-perceived health and social capital. Previous evidence has identified interrelationships among these variables, but without considering different levels of physica...

Involvement in sports is considered a powerful way to generate social capital. However, the role of sport engagement in the development of social relationships of older adults has not received much attention. Remarkably, there is a lack of empirical evidence on the quality and diversity of social relations built through active sport participation a...

This research evaluates the effect of the SARS-CoV2 pandemic on sport Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and consumer expenditure in the leisure sector in the United Kingdom (UK). The leisure sector is divided into leisure at home and away from home, examining in this way the different patterns that emerged because of the national lockdown in 2020. The e...

The sport legacy among ethnic minorities has been neglected despite the positive outcomes of active lifestyle and social inclusion. The current research, applying time series analysis, evaluates evidence of sport legacy among four English ethnic minorities regarding the hosting of Olympic Games (London 2012). A short-term association was found betw...

In the context of stagnating global levels of physical activity (PA), this study examines the geographical segmentation of PA at the regional level (196 regions) in Europe. Cluster analysis and multinomial logistic regression are applied. Cluster analysis provides a taxonomy of four differentiated groups according to the health-related PA levels of...

Workplace digitalisation is a pervasive phenomenon associated to an increase in wage differentials between occupations. This paper analyses the relationship between computer use and pay for performance, whose incidence has also followed a positive growth pattern. More concretely, we examined three pay‐for‐performance schemes: productivity/piece rat...

Road transportation constitutes a key sector in developed countries, as an essential catalyst for economic and social activities. Nevertheless, it is relevant to emphasize the negative impacts of this activity identified in Economics as negative externalities. At the European Union, road transportation is the main cause of the air pollution impact...

This study investigates whether the existence of educational inequalities at the country level affects Internet use. Additionally, we explore the extent to which these impacts depend on countries’ economic development levels. We use a logit model and data set of 69 high- and middle-income countries for the period 2005–2015. We find a negative relat...

Mountain ecosystems face many challenges related to global change. Most high-altitude grasslands in the Pyre-nees, despite representing valuable assets recognised in the European conservation heritage, are at risk due to the decline of traditional extensive ranging. This research intends to quantify economically the loss of the provision-ing servic...

Background: Previous empirical evidence has shown the positive relationship between happiness or subjective well-being (SWB) and sport participation. Nevertheless, passive sport participation has traditionally been ignored as a correlate with happiness. Methods: Based on a sample of 1,632 Spanish people, one ordered probit model and three extend...

A substantial amount of attention has been devoted towards the potential sport legacy of the Olympic Games. In spite of the increasing academic interest in this topic, there is a knowledge gap as far as sport legacy is concerned by types of different sports. The authors bridge this gap by analysing the evolution of 43 different Olympic/Paralympic s...

In a context of a rise in physical inactivity, this paper aims to provide new insights about the relationship between different forms of sport engagements and their correlates, analysing, for the first time, both active and passive sport involvement for a large sample of individuals. Applying the cluster technique, we identify four different segmen...

This empirical paper studies the relationship between individual decisions regarding active and passive sport activities, using a survey conducted in the Spanish region of Navarra in 2007. Firstly, we estimate a bivariate Probit model and a multinomial Logit to analyze sports practice and sporting event attendance. Secondly, we apply a bivariate To...

Professional Training (PT) needs to know first-hand the real needs of the labor market in order to adapt student learning to those needs. Therefore, this paper aims to bring together criteria between educational institutions and companies in order to better evaluate students for their professional skills. For such purpose, the most important profes...

In the context of age-related declines in physical activity (PA) and the dramatic increase in ageing populations in many countries, this paper sheds further light on the link between PA and self-perceived health (SPH) by examining whether the magnitude of this relationship is age specific. With a sample of 14,456 Spanish individuals aged 18–69, we...

There is a controversy on sport performance literature about what type of inputs might explain more deeply the performance of sports clubs (inputs specification controversy). By one side, several papers have analysed sports teams’ performance using the match-related statistics or wages as inputs, well-known as ex-post inputs. By other side, some au...

Purpose The aim of this paper is to analyze efficiency and its evolution in teams that played in the UEFA Champions League (UCL) during nine seasons. The aim is to present a research procedure for determining the most accurate DEA methodology to estimate and compare the efficiency. Design/methodology/approach First, we analyzed the existence of...

The fans are the biggest part of the success of sports contests. The competitive equilibrium reflects uncertainty about the outcomes of professional sporting, which attracts the fans’ interest. Thus, the competitive balance (CB) is one of the main issues in sports economics. The objective of this paper is to analyse and compare the CB of male (Liga...

Nowadays game-related statistics in the sports industry are demanded by coaches, players, managers, journalists, supporters, fans, video games developers, betting markets and academics. However, the employment of game-related statistics to analyse performance in football (soccer) has inherent problems given it is a multifaceted and complex phenomen...

Despite the increasing academic interest in the analysis of the Olympic legacy, there is a relative knowledge gap as far as sports participation legacy is concerned. The authors bridge this gap by analysing the short-term sports participation legacy of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games on the adult population in England. By using data fr...

Objectives The objective of this article is to analyze the different roles played by key factors in individual subjective well‐being (SWB). Making a distinction between females and males, we consider the correlations of different characteristics of a healthy lifestyle, work environment, and social support with happiness in Spain. Methods Based on...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the existence of patterns that combine innovation and information and communication technologies (ICT) use, and the factors explaining them in the European Union. Design/methodology/approach The authors use data for firms and households at the regional level in the EU-27. Factorial and cluster an...

In a context of stagnation of the level of health-enhancing physical activity in Europe, this study examines the geographical stratification of sports participation and physical activity (PA) at the regional level in 28 European countries. While previous research has focused on the national approach, this study considers the regional level across 2...

The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is the most important competition at club level. Nevertheless, the sports technical efficiency of this competition has been scarcely analysed. The present paper seeks to fill this gap by analysing from a longitudinal and data panel perspective all the teams that played in the UCL during nine seasons (2004/05 to 2012/...

The increased standard of living in our society has raised the level of concern regarding ecosystemic degradation of natural resources due to a greater demand for goods and services. In fact, noise, air pollution and traffic congestion are the main environmental concerns when we consider transportation externalities. Thus, in the European Union, 30...

Innovation and the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) are key areas for the European Cohesion Policy. Studies available at the regional level explore innovation and ICT use incorporating different variables, while those investigating ICT use mainly focus on that of households. This paper investigates the existence of common fac...

ABSTRACTThe football club market is changing fast in the social media era. In this global market, clubs must maintain or improve fans' attendance at the stadium; simultaneously, they need, more than ever, to take care of social media. The aim of this article is to test and discuss a comprehensive approach to analysing the performance of football cl...

This study examines the role of regional government quality in health-related participation in sport and physical activity among adults (18–64 years) in 28 European countries. The importance of the analysis rests in the relative autonomy that regional and local governments have over policy decisions connected with sport and physical activity. While...

The purpose of the study was to analyse possible related effects between exercise and self-perceived health among people over 50 years old. A survey was conducted in 2012 to 765 community-living subjects from Spain aged between 50 and 70 years. The survey includes the long version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) to estim...

This paper examines the impact of Internet use on economic growth and the extent to which educational inequality modulates this impact for a panel data set of 94 countries between 1995 and 2010. We obtain a positive and significant impact of Internet use on economic growth and a negative influence of educational inequality on the Internet’s impact...

This paper examines the influence of educational inequality on the impacts of Internet use on economic growth. We use panel data estimations on a sample of 90 countries from 1995 to 2010. We find that Internet use has a positive impact on growth in both developing and developed countries. Furthermore, we also find that educational inequality negati...

This article aims to evaluate the sports performance of teams that have participated in the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League (UCL) during the last 10 seasons (2004-2005 to 2013-2014). Technical efficiency is estimated using well-known data envelopment analysis (DEA) approaches and a bootstrapped DEA model. To solve th...

The aim of the article is to provide a regional approach to analyse sports participation in two different contexts: organised/formal versus non-organised/informal participation, using Sport England’s Active People Survey national data set. We have estimated two models: first, a general model to explain differences in regional informal and formal pa...

This article investigates the existence of combined patterns of regional innovation and the information and communication technologies (ICT) use, and the factors explaining them at a regional level in the EU. The use of canonical correlation analysis (CCA) allows us to identify two differentiated patterns of regional innovation and ICT use. The ma...

Abstract. Background: Physical activity is of particular interest due to its potential for improving quality of life and reducing health care costs. The contribution of this paper is to analyse the correlates of physical activity (PA) among individuals aged 50-70 years old. We differentiate between physical activity during leisure time (LTPA) and t...

Background: Physical activity is of particular interest due to its potential for improving quality of life and reducing health care costs. The contribution of this paper is to analyse the correlates of physical activity (PA) among individuals aged 50-70 years old. We differentiate between physical activity during leisure time (LTPA) and total physi...

The progress toward a digital economy in Europe involves boosting ICT use in various environments, such as households and firms. Studies available at the regional level in Europe focus on ICT use by households. This paper sheds light on the digital divide by exploring the differences in ICT use across European regions, investigating simultaneously...

Based on a sample of Spanish adults between the ages of 50 and 70 years, the aim of this paper is to establish to what extent physical activity is positively related to individual subjective well-being either directly or indirectly through its link with perceived health. In other words, we attempt to identify the role played by perceived health as...

The goal of this paper is to analyze the association between Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Advanced Manufacturing Technologies (AMT) and the adoption of a number of new work practices, such as job autonomy, teamwork, job breadth, suggestion systems and involvement groups. Special attention is paid to examining whether the str...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the specific relationship between information and communication technologies (ICT) and high performance work practices (HPWP) at employee level, both generally and per job category. Design/methodology/approach – Generalized ordered logit and logit models are estimated in relation to data from 31 Eu...

Over the last 30 years, Spain has witnessed great economic growth. Nevertheless, in spite of an increasing degree of environmental concern, environmentally friendly attitudes and behaviours are still clearly below the European average. In this context, this paper analyses the impact of personal control and attitudes, and of certain socio-demographi...

The aim of this study was to examine if government spending is associated with an individual's decision to participate in physical activity and sport which is regarded as healthy behavior given the positive health effects documented in previous research. Individual-level data (n = 25 243) containing socio-demographic information are combined with n...

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This study proposes a multidimensional approach to promoting pro-environmental behaviors. Specifically, the model proposed examines the impact of: (a) environmental attitudes and beliefs, (b) certain socio-demographic factors, (c) economic characteristics and d) environmental sensitivity variables in the development of three environmentally respons...

All logistic activities generate environment costs such as noise and air pollution (externalities). One well-known method to study those externalities is the use of surveys in which people are asked about their willingness to pay (WTP) to compensate the caused damage. In this paper, we use both Double-Hurdle and Moulton's models in order to estimat...

This article presents, based on a survey of experts, a set of lessons learned and best practices related to integrating environmental outcomes in transport public–private partnerships (PPP). They are used to provide recommendations for best practices aimed at providing an understanding of the environmental processes and relationships with respect t...

In spite of the strategic national and regional development importance of transportation infrastructures, road transportation is one of the major sources of externalities worldwide. Using data collected from 900 residents living in 14 rural towns near the roads crossing the Spanish Pyrenees, we model citizens’ willingness-to-pay (WTP) to reduce noi...

This paper investigates the determinants of sports participation at regional level in England by applying beta models to Sport England's Active People Survey. We analyze the differences in the regional characteristics among 325 English Local Authorities (LAs). The results show the importance of some socio-demographic variables such as educational l...

Abstract Based on the Eurobarometer data from 2009 (N = 26,788), this paper investigates the correlates of sports participation. In addition to examining standard socio-demographic, economic and lifestyle factors, the paper also focuses on the impact of motivational factors, the availability of sports infrastructure and government support, for the...

During the last 20 years, sport participation has increased significantly in Spain. This evolution has been closely associated to the significant increase of the number of sport facilities. In a similar way, during the last decades the economic importance of sport in Spain has also seen a significant increase and now accounts for 2.4 % of gross dom...

In this paper we discuss our use of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to perform an environmental assessment analysis of the main transportation roads that cross the Pyrenees between Spain and France. We use AHP to select the most sustainable distribution routes to mitigate the pollution impact of transportation activities. Two companies in Nava...

La realización de eventos deportivos se ha generalizado a nivel mundial. Junto a los efectos sobre la práctica deportiva y la imagen de países y equipos, ha ido adquiriendo cada vez mayor importancia la valoración económica de los mismos. No obstante, numerosos artículos en la literatura especializada alertan sobre resultados alejados de la realida...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether information and communication technologies (ICT) resources, including investment and use of specific types of ICT as well as innovative work practices, have a positive impact on several dimensions of firm performance, taking into account both direct and indirect effects and both short and...

The object of logistic management is to optimise the whole value chain of the distribution of goods and merchandise. One of the main aspects of such an analysis is the optimisation of vehicle routes to deliver final products to customers. There are many algorithms to optimise the related vehicle routing problem. The objective function of that probl...

This article investigates the role of sociodemographic characteristics, educational and economic variables on sports participation in a comparative way in two European countries: Spain and England. Adopting a broad concept of sport, as in the common European approach, we analyse the determinants of sports participation in 40 different professional...

Using ordered probit and Heckit models, this paper analyses the determinants of sports attendance, differentiating between professional and amateur sporting events and consumption in Spain. The results suggest that there are two main reasons for developing different strategies to attract more spectators and increase revenues. Firstly, the determina...

This paper examines the willingness-to-pay of people living in a number of villages in Navarre, in the Spanish Pyrenees to reduce noise and air pollution. Several models are used for estimation based on contingent valuation, noting that those living near roads are willing to pay more to reduce air and noise pollution. In addition, younger people, t...

This chapter introduces the interrelated concepts of e-Research and e-Mentoring, reviews some recent works related to them, and discusses their importance in a global, Internet-based world. In this chapter, a conceptual framework is proposed to distinguish among the concepts of e-Research, e-Science, and Cyberinfrastructure, which are frequently us...

In this chapter the authors first explain the recently created European Higher Education Area and its implications over instructors’ and students’ roles. They also analyze how e-learning management systems are contributing to modify higher education around the world, and which are the benefits and the challenges associated to their use. In this new...

One of the most important objectives in company logistics is the optimization of goods distribution considering the whole value chain. There are many algorithms to optimise the capacitated vehicle routing problems (CVRP) associated to problems of road transportation. The objective function of those problems usually involves distance, cost, number o...

This paper investigates the determinants of the frequency and the probability of sports participation in Spain by applying the Zero-Inflated Ordered Probit (ZIOP) model. The ZIOP model allows to account for excessive zero observations and differentiate between genuine ‘non-participants’ and individuals who did not participate at a time but would do...

The aim of this article is to extend the standard neoclassical consumer theory to explain the allocation of individual time to physical activity and sports. The authors assume a Constant Elasticity of Substitution (CES) utility function and they estimate the model using the Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) method and the Heckman two-step proced...

The object of logistic management is to optimise the whole value chain of the distribution of goods and merchandise. One of the main aspects of such an analysis is the optimisation of vehicle routes to deliver final products to customers. There are many algorithms to optimise the related vehicle routing problem. The objective function of that probl...

This paper analyzes the impact of a variety of socio-economic, demographic and regional factors to explain Internet use and the frequency of use by individuals in Spain. We have employed binomial and ordered probit models with a Heckman's two-stage estimation procedure. This allows us to distinguish between different variables and explain both use...

This paper aims to contribute to the knowledge regarding individual consumption on sports attendance—a subject that has been rarely analyzed in the economic literature due to the lack of appropriate databases. Specifically, we analyze the determinants of sports attendance consumption using Spanish survey data, assuming that the consumption decision...

This paper analyses the determinants of sports participation and attendance in 40 sports and recreational activities in Spain. Ordered probit models are used to identify determinants in each case and to test for possible relationships. The results show that the two types of involvement, participation and attendance, are very different, the former c...

This paper first discusses the importance of online education and highlights its main benefits and challenges. In this context, on the one hand, we argue the significance of monitoring students’ and groups’ activity in an online learning environment. On the other hand, we analyze the informational needs that should be covered by any monitoring info...

This papers aims to identify and explain the differences in information and communications technologies (ICT) adoption for a sample of 142 developed and developing countries. In addition, we examine the relationships between specific combinations of technologies and the factors explaining them. Although income is a key factor for all country groups...

In this chapter the authors first explain the recently created European Higher Education Area and its implications over instructors’ and students’ roles. They also analyze how e-learning management systems are contributing to modify higher education around the world, and which are the benefits and the challenges associated to their use. In this new...

This paper presents a cross-country study on the determinants of information and communication technology (ICT) diffusion using multivariate analysis techniques to capture the relative and multidimensional character of digital divide. Using canonical correlation analysis, the differences detected between groups of countries both in terms of ICT pat...

El presente estudio analiza el impacto de variables sociodemográficas y regionales en la probabilidad de uso de Internet en España a nivel individual para el año 2007. A través de modelos probit se obtiene que variables sociodemográficas tales como la educación, la edad y la ocupación explican el uso de Internet. Además, se detecta que variables re...

This paper analyzes the impact of a variety of socioeconomic and regional factors to explain Internet use by individuals in Spain. Using probit models we obtain that socio-demographic variables explain Internet use in Spain. The influence of education, age and occupation seem to be particularly strong. We also find that regional variables (percenta...

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The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence on the neighboring effects of Internet adoption as measured by the percentage of firms with their own website in the European regions. This is the first study that explicitly analyzes the role played by spatial effects to explain website adoption for the European case. A set of instruments...

Public-private partnerships (PPP) are a mechanism for financing large infrastructure development such as transportation projects, hospitals, schools, and public works facilities. In addition, the benefits of PPP stretch well into the realm of engineering management. Most notably, PPPs provide the opportunity for more efficient project management, p...

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to provide empirical evidence on the relationships among new technologies, innovative work practices and upskilling in the Spanish case. Design/methodology/approach – Using detailed plant-level data from a survey of Spanish manufacturing firms, we apply estimation methods, such as tobit and ordered probit m...

This paper examines the spatial distribution of the Internet in the European regions. To achieve this aim, our analysis combines a set of non-parametric techniques proposed in the context of the economic growth literature, with various spatial econometric instruments. The results reveal that regional disparities in Internet adoption are greater tha...

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the role played by five groups of factors in ICT adoption: environment, firm structural characteristics, human capital, competitive strategy, and internal organization. In order to achieve this goal, the data collected in a survey with a sample of 337 Spanish workplaces are used. The paper overcomes some of t...

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This paper offers a review and an analysis of the available empirical evidence regarding the relationship between ICT and productivity at the firm level. Our aim is to answer the question to what extent and under what sort of conditions, the paradox at the firm level has been refuted. From the theoretical framework of the production function, the l...

The purpose of this article is to analyze the sociodemographic and economic determinants underlying sport participation and consumer expenditure on sport. The methodological approach is based on ordered probit models. Empirical results from data obtained by means of a questionnaire survey in Spain indicate the need for different sport management st...

This paper describes the outlook and development of renewable energy in Navarre (Spain), which has become one of the leading regions in renewables over the last 10 years. This paper focuses its attention on the key features of the energy policy in Navarre, where there has emerged a dynamic enterprise sector. This sector has enormously increased its...