In Spain as in other European countries, policies on school choice have been implemented in tandem with the channelling of public resources into private education. Given the application of public money to private schooling, the primary objective of this paper is to analyse the extent to which Spanish families enjoy equality in their ability to exercise school choice. To do so, the analysis focuses on the factors that affect school choice in Spain using data from the 2003 and 2006 PISA evaluations. Specifically, the influence of personal, family, geographic, motivational and educational policy factors are all considered in the context of deciding whether to attend a public or private school. The results reveal a broad similarity across the factors driving the selection of private schools which either receive some public funding (known as 'concerted') or independent, showing a greater proportion of families from better socioeconomic, educational and cultural backgrounds in these types of schools. In addition, the geographic distribution of schools has an effect on school selection. Given that concerted schools form part of the public educational offering (because of the state funding they receive), the state has the ability to take a wide range of actions to promote greater equality of choice in the case of public and concerted schools. In this respect, a series of measures are set out regarding student selection, the distribution of information and the geographic distribution of schools.

We analyze the determinants of job satisfaction of PhD holders in Spain. Specifically, we consider overall job satisfaction as well as basic and motivational satisfaction, following Herzberg's typology (based on Maslow's hierarchy of needs). Using representative data for Spain's PhD population, drawn from the Spanish Survey on Human Resources in Science and Technology (2009), we report an analysis by gender and the institutional sector (university and non-university) in which employees work. We employ OLS regressions to identify the determinants of basic and motivational satisfaction in the workplace and an ordered logit model for overall job satisfaction. Results do not allow us to confirm Herzberg's factor differentiation for Spanish PhD holders, since the factors of basic motivation (including salary or working conditions-needs of 'safety') have a bearing on all types of job satisfaction (and not solely on the basic satisfaction of PhD holders). Our results do not show any significant differences by gender. However, it seems that meeting these 'basic' needs is less important for the job satisfaction of PhD holders working in universities. The results seem reasonable in a Southern European country where the monetary conditions of the labor market are worse than those in other developed countries.

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It is well documented that parental behavior is a strong determinant of a child's educational achievement and general well-being. Thus, it seems relevant to analyze the determinants of parental involvement in the education of their children. While most studies analyze the effect of family characteristics (such as parents' education, ethnicity, or family structure) on parental involvement, we focus on the effect of home environment. Specifically, we consider parental assistance in homework during adolescence, which is defined from the children's perspective. Data come from a unique sample of more than 2,300 students in the last 2 years of compulsory education in 70 schools in Catalonia (Spain). Results show that a good home environment increases the relative probability that parents get involved in their children's homework. The effect is slightly higher for girls than for boys. The inclusion of home environment leaves no relevance to family structure. Results are robust to different estimation procedures.

El artículo se plantea como objetivo analizar los determinantes de la diferencia de resultados existente entre el alumnado nativo y el alumnado de origen inmigrante en España, utilizando datos de PISA-2012 y regresiones multinivel. Se presta especial atención a distinguir la aportación de los factores relacionados con el individuo de los relacionados con el centro educativo y, entre estos últimos, a los efectos de la concentración de inmigrantes en los centros. Los resultados muestran diferencias significativas en función de la condición de inmigrante de primera o segunda generación. Encontramos, también, una especial sensibilidad del alumnado inmigrante ante la variación  en los años medios de escolarización de los padres del centro y una incidencia negativa de la presencia de alumnos inmigrantes en el centro, aunque tal incidencia únicamente afecta, a partir de un elevado nivel de concentración (30%), al alumnado nativo.

Labor market dynamics and the expectations of finding a job are believed to be strong determinants of individuals' educational decisions (see Belzil and Leonardi, 2007; Raaum and Røed, 2006). Indeed, labor market conditions can exercise two separate effects on schooling decisions. On the one hand, unemployment can increase the risk of school dropout and undermine academic performance via a first channel that we will refer to as the "family" effect of unemployment. Parental unemployment can lead to a deterioration in household conditions and in educational resources. In extreme cases, it may even compel young adults to complement the household income (Montmarquette et al., 2007). On the other hand, unemployment may have a positive influence on the individual demand for education via a "local labor market" effect. As labor opportunities worsen, the opportunity cost of education falls, and individuals are encouraged to stay in school (Albert, 2000). Additionally, both types of unemployment effect ("family" and "local labor market") may be heterogeneous. For example, students from lower socioeconomic groups might be more sensitive to labor market conditions (Ehrenberg and Brewer, 1994). At the same time, male students may be more responsive to changes in the labor market, particularly in societies where differences in gender stereotypes are accentuated. The aim of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the links between labor market conditions and academic performance by disentangling the aforementioned effects of unemployment. The contribution of this study is, therefore, threefold: first, it provides new evidence on the link between labor market conditions and educational decisions; second, it quantifies separately the two possible effects of unemployment on academic performance at age 15: i) an increase in the risk of school dropout (family effect) and ii) an incentive for students to remain in school (local labor market effect); third, it analyses heterogeneous effects of the "family" and "local labor market"-proxied through the unemployment rate of the school community-effects. We address these research questions by focusing on the case of Spain, which constitutes a particularly interesting case study. Spain has recently experienced a period of intense economic growth and development (1996-2007), during which the construction and service sectors boosted labor opportunities for young adults and low-skilled workers (Arranz and García-Serrano, 2012)-between 2000 and 2007, the general rate of unemployment fell from 10.6 to 8.3%. This was followed by an economic downturn, so that by 2008 the adult unemployment rate had climbed back up to 11.3%. Thereafter, the situation deteriorated rapidly and the general unemployment rate reached 24.8% in 2012.

It was analysed whether investment in the education of both women and men serves to empower wives resulting in more balanced household decisions being taken on matters related to consumption and financial management. They considered that household decision-making could be made by mainly the wife, mainly the husband or the couple acting jointly. They then applied multinomial probit models to the Spanish Living Conditions Survey of 2010. Results show that, when controlling for demographic, family and labour market characteristics, the level of education of both the husband and wife has a positive effect in terms of a more egalitarian decision-making process in relation to three areas of expenditure: daily shopping, expensive purchases of consumer durables and significant expenditure on children. However, only women's education has a positive effect on borrowing money and no effect of education is observed with regard to the use of savings. Results are less conclusive for households where decisions are taken primarily by the wife or husband, since men's education increases the role of husbands in the household making-decision process whereas no effect of wives' education is observed.

This study analyzes the effects of several factors related to high school, such as the kind of school (public or private), the type of education (general or vocational), school location and peers on undergraduate performance from students of the University of Barcelona (Spain). Particular attention is given to the functional form and to the collection of ''unobservables''. Empirical results show that variables related to high school, such as having attended in a private religious school or peer effects of their school contemporaries, are determinant in university final grades. In addition, students' ability, some household's characteristics and the 1990 Education Act are also important.