Issue 36, February 2025

The academic outcomes of students are crucial both for successfully completing their studies and for securing a job that aligns with their education. The innovation presented here focuses on analysing whether there are gender differences in academic performance when taking multiple-choice tests to pass a mandatory third-year course in the Economics degree, "Public Economics" (both in Spanish and in English). To mitigate randomness, a penalty has been established so that incorrect answers score negatively. This approach allows for the examination of gender differences in the tendency to leave questions unanswered. To conduct the analysis, we took advantage of the fact that this mandatory course began in English at the University of Cantabria in the academic year 2021/2022. In the current academic year 2023/2024, it has completed its third year of delivery during the first semester (September-January). The idea is to compare the results of multiple-choice exams taken on the day of the regular examination and see if there are differences between male and female students (over the last two academic years). It is worth mentioning that the final exam, both in the regular and extraordinary sessions, consists of two differentiated parts. On one hand, a section with theoretical knowledge based on a series of multiple-choice test questions. On the other hand, a section with practical cases and/or open-ended questions. The results show that there are no major differences in the behaviour or average performance of women and men. In any case, the importance of continuous evaluation is evident, a system that most students opt for, and it is the one analysed here.

Experts agree that the best way to correct the deficit of tax conscience in our society is necessarily through pedagogy aimed at citizens, and in particular at young people. Guided visits are programmed for students from the Faculty of Economics of the University of Valencia to the Valencian Tax Headquarters Agency, in the hope of achieving improvements in their level of knowledge, culture and tax conscience, as well as their sensitivity and preferences in tax matters. To analyze and evaluate the changes experienced, a survey is prepared -to be completed before and after the visits- and three groups of indicators are constructed: tax perception and culture, knowledge of regional taxation and effort of the Tax Administration. All of them show an improvement after the visits. The Wilcoxon and Marginal Homogeneity tests show as statistically significant the indicators of perception of effort to control tax fraud, to explain the destination of taxes and to help tax compliance.

This paper reviews "Money and Government: a challenge to mainstream Economics", by Robert Skidelsky (2018). In it, Skidelsky, author of the most imposing biography of John Maynard Keynes, carries out a rigorous and well-founded defense of his legacy. In his view, the most important economic problems of our time stem from erroneous views of money and government. Illustrating and refuting such views is the essential purpose of the work under review. The realization of this task is based on an exposition of the theoretical foundations, seasoned with an analysis of the historical evolution of economic thought, as well as of the praxis of economic policy. Special attention is paid to the influence of Keynesian doctrine and the policies applied in the context of the great international financial crisis of 2007-2008 and the subsequent recession. In addition, the author sets out the ingredients he considers necessary to configure a new Macroeconomics.

The challenges facing the Spanish education system require in-depth analysis. The book “Economía de la Educación” offers a comprehensive view of these challenges, combining descriptive articles and empirical work with a solid theoretical basis. Through five thematic blocks, it deals with key indicators of the system, equity, financing, and determinants of educational performance such as class size, the impact of the family, classmates and the role of teachers. The book is a valuable reference for understanding and addressing current problems in education from an evidence-based perspective, positioning it as the reference work in the discipline in Spanish.