Research

Some recent publications:

Estimation of foreign MNEs spillovers in Spain
Published in Applied Economic Letters 26(5) 2019, 418-423.
Abstract:
Using Spanish firm-level data, we estimate productivity effects of spillovers from foreign multinationals to domestic firms in both manufacturing and service sectors. We find evidence of a positive productivity effect from multinationals on domestic firms operating in the same industry. Analyzing inter-industry linkages, we find evidence consistent with positive productivity spillovers from forward linkages (i.e. from suppliers to buyers) and negative productivity spillovers from backward linkages (i.e. from buyers to suppliers). Our main results hold when analyzing differences between multinational and domestic firms, and for periods of economic growth and recession, although some differences arise. Interestingly, we find evidence supporting a positive role of spillovers during the last recession period.

Regional public support to airlines and airports: an unsolved puzzle
Published in Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review  76, April 2015, 93-107.
Abstract:
This paper proposes a structural model to explain the motivation of regional public authorities to arrange marketing agreements for route and traffic development. Furthermore, using data from Spanish airports, we empirically test this model obtaining the demand function according to the preferences of public authorities. The results show that the public budget, airport’s attributes or intermodal competition affect to the demand for aircraft operations of regional public agencies. Finally, we propose an empirical method to determine the market power of airlines within these marketing agreements in a particular airport or route.

Marginal costs, price elasticities of demand and second-best pricing in a multiproduct industry: an application for spanish port infrastructure
Published in Journal of Transport Economics and Policy 47(3), September 2013, 349-369.
Abstract:
This paper tries to evaluate the price-setting structure for the Spanish port authorities during the period 1986–2005. To do this, we compare the structure of the most important port fees with those results obtained using a second-best mechanism based on Ramsey prices. The results show that port fees do not maximise social surplus due to the existence of heterogeneity among port authorities. In this sense, a new regulation which would allow port authorities to set their own fees may represent an improvement for the present mechanism.

The impact of public reforms on the productivity of Spanish ports: A parametric distance function approach
Published in Transport Policy 24, November 2012, 99-108.
Abstract:
This paper analyses the evolution of total factor productivity and its decomposition between 1986 and 2005 in the Spanish port authorities using a parametric distance function approach. During this period, the Spanish port authorities experienced three important regulatory changes. The results show that technical progress and scale efficiency gains improved the total factor productivity, whereas technical efficiency losses reduced the total factor productivity. The change in the model of port management from a tool port model to a landlord port model, the Spanish economic policy in the early nineties, the adoption of particular technologies and the ports’ overcapacity could explain these results.

Performance of knowledge interactions between public research centres and industrial firms in Spain: a project-level analysis
Published in The Journal of Technology Transfer, 37(3), June 2012, 330-354.
Abstract:
This paper examines cooperation between public research centres (PRCs) and industrial firms. We analyse two types of impact—scientific and techno economic—using objective and subjective measures, and explore the determinants of these impacts by investigating the pre-project context, and the way that relationships are implemented and managed. The main novelty of this paper is that the empirical analysis focuses on project level relationships, based on an original database for the Spanish case; it is the characteristics of these relationships that are the core of our analysis. The results show that the impacts identified are contingent on different characteristics in the relationships between PRCs and industrial firms, and that the influence of these characteristics varies depending on the type of impact considered.

The impact of airport fees on fares for the leisure air travel market: The case of Spain
Published in Journal of Air Transport Management 17(3), May 2011, 158-162.
Abstract:
Panel data is used to determine the incidence of airport fees on fares in the Spanish leisure market airlines. We also study its structure through an empirical specification of a pricing and demand equation system. The results show the existence of market power, strategic behavior and density economics. We also demonstrate that airlines pass all the airport fees onto customers by increasing fares. Furthermore, we find that the behavior of airlines in routes with the presence of low cost carriers do not differ from other routes.

Public regulation and passengers importance in port infrastructure costs
Published in Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice 7, August 2011, 653–666 .
Abstract:
Because ports are conceived and designed mainly to be the transfer point of various types of freight, passengers tend to be forgotten in the analysis of port costs. In this paper first we investigate the importance of passengers in port infrastructure costs by means of a multi-output cost function estimated from 20 annual observations (1986–2005) for 26 Spanish Port Authorities. Results show that, although a passenger weights on average less than one tenth of a ton, he or she represents as much as two tons of solid bulk and about three tons of containerized general cargo in terms of marginal costs. Secondly, we compare the marginal costs of different cargoes with their price caps established by law. Results suggest that some type of second best pricing is induced by present regulation.