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The purpose of this paper is to understand the determinants of quality in obstetric care and particularly why caesarean sections (CS) are experiencing unprecedented increases in developed societies.

The paper exploits a population‐based database containing records on the determinants of CS to study the effects of hospital complexity and private financing and controlling for clinical and social determinants. The data refer to the entire population deliveries data from year 2003 as collected by the Catalan Health Service (Conjunt Mínim de Base de Dades). This paper employs multivariate statistical analysis and it distinguishes between total, programmed and non‐programmed deliveries.

Privately financed hospitals and hospital complexity are significant determinants of the probability of a CS. Overall, the paper finds significant clinical variability between public and private hospitals. The significance of mother's age suggests that the delay in the motherhood is more likely to increase the probability of a CS in public hospital deliveries while it is not the case of private hospitals. It finds that demand for leisure and capacity explains CS in public hospitals but not in private hospitals.

Quality of care is influenced by reimbursement mechanism along with provider complexity, which suggests that there is scope for improvement in providers pay per intervention.

The nature of the data and methods.

Much of the theoretical literature on inequality assumes that the equalisand is a cardinal variable like income or wealth. However, health status is generally measured as a categorical variable expressing a qualitative order. Traditional solutions involve reclassifying the variable by means of qualitative models and relying on inequality measures that are mean independent. We argue that the way status is conceptualised has important theoretical implications for measurement as well as for policy analysis. We also bring to the data a recently proposed approach to measuring self-reported health inequality that meets both rigorous and practical considerations. We draw upon the World Health Survey data to examine alternative pragmatic methods for making health-inequality comparisons. Findings suggest significant differences in health-inequality measurement and that regional and country patterns of inequality orderings do not coincide with any reasonable categorisation of countries by health system organisation.

This chapter deals with the development of banking in the Crown of Aragon from the end of the thirteenth century through the establishment of money changers, which followed similar patterns as in other Western European territories. It starts with a review of existing literature and follows with an explanation on the different banking services provided by money changers and the specific legal framework that supported such activities. It then examines the geographical distribution of private banks in cities and towns within the domains of the kings of Aragon, as well as their evolution throughout the fourteenth century. After that, it offers an analysis of the most common professional profiles among these bankers and financers. Finally, drawing on a heterogeneous pool of unpublished data, it seeks to shed light on the diversity of investors and clients of these establishments, a crucial proof of their role in integrated financial markets.

To examine the determinants of smoking cessation and tobacco consumption in the European Union (EU) countries. Specifically, the paper seeks to examine the role of smoking risk perceptions and anti‐smoking regulation.

The paper utilizes multivariate analysis of an EU representative survey.

From all anti‐smoking policies examined, regulatory and information policies seem to show some influence on the cessation decision. Furthermore, once individuals decide to quit smoking they tend to perceive smoking risks differently.

The main policies influencing smoking cessation in the EU are informational campaigns and regulation policies. However, tobacco price does not seem to influence smoking cessation such as advertising.

Regulation is largely associated with smoking cessation due to the role of social interactions of smoking and thus we might expect risk regulation policies to continue to impose constraints on the capacity of smokers to freely smoke.

The use of a common questionnaire for a sample representative of EU countries. The specific consideration of regulatory variables and risk perceptions.

Given the great tourist attractiveness of Spain at international level, tourism has become one of the main sources of income and employment, as well as a basic pillar of the Spanish economy. With these ideas in mind, this paper aims to study how the different promotion strategies implemented in the industry have influenced the evolution of tourism in Spain since the early 20th century.

The research is a general review, providing a historical examination of the diverse promotion strategies deployed in the tourism industry in Spain over the past decades. It focuses on the descriptive approach of these strategies and their implications throughout the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century.

The findings reveal a shift in recent years from strategies focused on Marketing 1.0 to strategies that, apart from being centered on consumer values (therefore, Marketing 3.0), are beginning to rely to a greater extent on information and communication technologies (ICT) and sustainability, more in line with the more recent Marketing 4.0 and even Marketing 5.0.

This work has many implications for the management of public and private operators in the industry, including the need to incorporate the latest marketing trends – most notably the advances in ICT and sustainability.

The study offers an in-depth understanding of how marketing strategies have been used in the tourism sector in Spain from the end of the 19th century to the present day, which is highly original compared to previous studies.