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Copyright of Industrial Relations / Relations Industrielles is the property of Universite Laval, Department of Industrial Relations and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Spain underwent two major labour reforms in 2010 and 2012 under the assumption that deregulating the labour market and decentralizing collective bargaining would automatically reduce unemployment (deregulation hypothesis). This article highlights the impact of demand and the sectoral structure of the economy to explain the behaviour of this variable (structural hypothesis). Analysing subnational panel data, the authors assess the capacity of these two hypotheses to explain unemployment trends. Their results cast doubt on the deregulation hypothesis and indicate the importance of cyclical and structural factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community pharmacies represent unusual enterprises as their main function is intrinsically related to the provision of healthcare services. Hence, market competition in this sector needs to be regulated, in order to ensure equitable accessibility, efficiency and quality of services. However, recently a general deregulation trend may be observed in Europe. In this paper, we focus on location restrictions, i.e. on demographic and geographic constraints to open new pharmacies, and we evaluate the impact of their relaxation. In particular, we analyze the case of the city of Pamplona (ES), where a striking increase in the number of pharmacies occurred, after the introduction of a new regulatory system in 2000. We evaluate, thanks to an in-depth spatial analysis, the evolution of the system to date and the effects produced on the consumers, in terms of accessibility, and on the competitors, in terms of market shares distribution. By comparing the obtained results with the ones related to the case of a second Spanish city, characterized by more strict restrictions, it emerges that the deregulation risks to produce a limited improvement in terms of accessibility and to exacerbate differences among consumers. Moreover, an increasing number of competitors does not necessarily imply a more equitable distribution of market shares, thus putting at risk the desired effects in terms of cost reduction and service quality improvement., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This paper provides new information on the effects of deregulation and consolidation in financial services markets by analyzing the Spanish insurance industry. The sample period 1989-98 spans the introduction of the European Union's (EU) Third Generation Insurance Directives, which deregulated the EU insurance market. Deregulation has led to dramatic changes in the Spanish insurance market; the number of firms declined by 35%, average firm size increased by 275%, and unit prices declined significantly in both life and non-life insurance. We analyze the causes and effects of consolidation using modern frontier efficiency analysis to estimate cost, technical, and allocative efficiency, as well as using Malmquist analysis to measure total factor productivity (TFP) change. The results show that many small, inefficient, and financially underperforming firms were eliminated from the market due to insolvency or liquidation. As a result, the market experienced significant growth in TFP over the sample period. Consolidation not only reduced the number of firms operating with increasing returns to scale but also increased the number operating with decreasing returns to scale. Hence, many large firms should focus on improving efficiency by adopting best practices rather than on further growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines the transformation of television serial fiction in Spain from deregulation and the early stages of private television to the dawn of the digital era (1990–2010). The adaptation of Latin-American telenovelas and English-speaking soap operas to the local context brought traditional Spanish costumbrismo in television fiction up to date. Using this as a starting point, the study identifies four stages of the long-running serial format in Spain that demonstrate its capacity to adapt to a double logic of transnationalization maintaining proximity to regional markets alongside a process of gradual adjustment to the changing social, cultural and economic context. The consolidation of democracy in Spain and successive Socialist administrations (1982–1990) favoured the renewal of themes from classical melodrama with the inclusion of issues until then barely addressed, including women's liberation, sexuality and the recovery of historical memory: topics that have become the mainstay of Spanish television serial fiction in the twenty-first century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of regulatory reform on the performance of Spanish savings banks. To this end it uses panel data for the period 1986-1995 and a flexible variable profit function that incorporates time-varying technical efficiency. The focus is whether increased competition brought on by deregulation affected performance of banks over time. Bank performance, measured by the percentage change in profitability, ceteris paribus, is decomposed into technical change and change in technical efficiency both of which are defined in terms of the profit function. We also examine output technical efficiency, which is defined in terms of the production possibility frontier. Several alternative models with different specifications of technical efficiency are used to cheek robustness of the results. Empirical results show declining levels of output technical efficiency along with a significantly high rate of technical progress. In spite of declining technical efficiency during this period, we find evidence of an increasing trend in productivity growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to find empirical evidence of the connection between industrial deregulation and the appearance of anticompetitive practices. We test our hypothesis using data on antitrust proceedings in Spain from 1990 to 2003, when the Spanish government undertook intense reforms in several industries.We construct a database of proceedings brought by the Court (Tribunal de Defensa de la Competencia) during that period. Our results show an increase in collusion and trust practices in deregulated industries during that period, which required the government to dedicate additional resources to antitrust policy. We also find that certain regulatory elements and industrial deregulation have positive effects on the number of antitrust proceedings. We also observe that sanctions may induce a learning effect in industries that causes industry participants to modify their behavior. Finally, we find that the existence of a regulatory agency in an industry has no significant effect on antitrust proceedings in that industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with measuring total factor productivity (TFP) growth of financial institutions incorporating different types of deregulatory measures. TFP growth is decomposed into external, scale, and markup components. The external component is further dissected into deregulation and technical change components. The TFP growth relationship is included as an additional equation in estimating the cost system. The empirical model uses panel data on Spanish banks (savings and commercial banks). We find that deregulations contributed positively to TFP growth for both savings and commercial banks. Furthermore, domestic (European) deregulations had a greater effect on TFP growth of savings (commercial) banks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After advocating flexibilisation of non-standard work contracts for many years, some European and international institutions and several policy makers now indicate the standard employment relationship and its regulation as a cause of segmentation between the labour market of ‘protected’ insiders, employed under permanent contracts with effective protection against unfair dismissal, and the market of the ‘non-protected’ outsiders, working with non-standard contracts. Reforms of employment legislation are therefore being promoted and approved in different countries, supposedly aiming to balance the legal protection afforded to standard and non-standard workers. This article firstly argues that this approach is flawed as it oversimplifies reasons for segmentation and concentrates on an ‘insider–outsider’ discourse that cannot easily be transplanted into continental Europe. After reviewing current legislative changes in Italy, Spain and Portugal, I argue that lawmakers have focused on ‘deregulation’ rather than ‘balancing protection’ when approving recent reforms. I question the mainstream approach to segmentation and some of its derivative proposals, such as calls to introduce a ‘single permanent contract’, on the grounds that they neglect the essential role of job protection in underpinning the effectiveness of fundamental and constitutional rights at the workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modelling and testing whether competitive pressures driven by deregulatory changes make markets more competitive are examined. Departures from competitive markets are modelled via mark-up prices. Empirically, a panel data is used on Spanish savings banking industry that is undergoing unprecedented changes caused by the deregulation of financial services, the establishment of the economic and monetary union and developments in information technology. Evidence of mark-ups in output markets is found, and such mark-ups are found to decline slowly over time. This finding suggests that the presence of deregulatory pressures improved the competitive strength of the Spanish savings banks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic deregulation of industry and transport is one of the economic policies exerted in recent years in Spain, with the aim of increasing efficiency in the economic system. This paper focus on the economic effects of transport deregulation. To this end, we have applied the theoretical apparatus pertaining to the estimation of the consumer’s surplus, using a series of previous empirical studies on the different modes of transport in Spain, their regulations and the effects of such deregulation as they have undergone. Empirical evidence provide predictions which indicate that deregulation of transport services may produce substantial benefits to Spanish consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the effects of the interplay between deregulation and governance on risk-taking in the financial industry. We consider the removal of regulatory geographic constraints for savings banks in Spain, the cajas, which led to a nationwide expansion of these banks during the past two decades. Based on a unique dataset that combines information on the geographic distribution of bank lending, matched lender-borrower financial statements, and borrower defaults, we find that the governance of the savings banks significantly affects the way in which they expand their lending activities. Savings banks that are subject to political influence by regional governments exhibit higher ex ante risk-taking and higher ex post loan defaults. Our study highlights the broader implications of the impact of global deregulation and consolidation and their interaction with governance issues. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article focuses on changes in collective bargaining in Spain during the current phase of austerity. We evaluate how the decentralization and transformation of collective bargaining have affected industrial relations and forms of work and suggest that the policy reforms have led to a deterioration in working conditions and a weakening in collective regulation and trade unions. However, we emphasize the contradictory outcomes, which appear to be drawing the state into new more direct roles, bringing new actors (such as legal firms) into the deregulation of employment. This situation also raises a range of concerns among managers and employers at the repoliticization of industrial relations and generates further challenges to the ability of management and unions to sustain consensual forms of social dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deregulation through temporary employment has generated important inequalities in the Spanish labour market. The article presents a theoretical model as well as empirical evidence to explain this process. The main thrust of the model is seeing labour market structures as always being the result of micro-level strategies of employers and employees over employment tents. The employment-rent approach focuses on the impact of deregulation through temporary employment on the employment- rent optimization strategies of both employers and employees at the micro-level. Drawing on recent developments in labour economics, two main micro-level effects of deregulation are identified, the so-called `incentive' and `buffer' mechanisms. These two mechanisms are expected to reinforce each other until an equilibrium state in the segmentation process is reached. The employment-rent model is tested using data from the Spanish Labour Force Survey for the period 1987-1997, as well as data on wages drawn from the Survey on Class Structure, Class Consciousness and Class Biography (1991). The evidence proves consistent with the predictions of the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the factors that influence entry and geographic diversification decisions, a topic of special strategic interest in a context of growing globalization. The empirical model we propose is tested in a framework— the Spanish savings-bank market—where recent deregulation has eliminated the legal barriers to entry. Our results show two important conclusions for the evolution of the effects of branching deregulation in Europe and the US. First, it seems that entry in new geographical markets has been impeded by the strategic interactions between entrants and incumbents. Second, savings banks exhibit a preference for closer locations at the time of expanding, which may have undermined the effects of deregulation and its potential benefits for consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frontier cost efficiency and technical change are examined for separate panels of Spanish commercial and savings banks over 1985 - 91, a period in which interest rates were totally deregulated and geographical restrictions were removed. Deregulation was supposed to provide an opportunity for the Spanish banking industry to become more efficient prior to the removal of competitive barriers between countries within the EEC. Two previous studies have estimated production frontiers for the operating cost component of Spanish savings banks using a non-parametric (DEA) approach, finding a decrease in relative efficiency plus the equivalent of higher frontier costs. Operating cost accounts for only 40% of total cost. By including all costs, financial as well as operating, we determine the total cost efficiency of Spanish commercial and savings banks and their total response to deregulation. Cost efficiency is determined using a thick frontier approach while shifts in the cost frontier are determined using a time trend analysis. Our results suggest that deregulation was associated with a decrease in relative cost efficiency for commercial banks but no change for savings banks. The cost frontier shifted up for both types of institutions over 1985 - 91. Overall, our efficiency results paint a more positive picture regarding the effects of deregulation on the Spanish banking industry than obtained previously, although we still find similar negative effects for technical change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expansion and intensification of banking competition, undergone by the Spanish banking industry during the last 15 years, has allowed commercial banks and savings banks to more freely define their competitive strategies. This paper reports empirical evidence on the similarities and differences in banks' product mixes along with their time evolution. In particular, it attempts to identify the different kinds of firms according to their output mixes and, on this basis, to analyse if the deregulation and increased competition have resulted into the homogenization (convergence) of specializations between firms or groups of firms (clubs). The empirical success is higher when product mix clubs are considered, achieving higher heterogeneity within the banking system as a whole but increased homogeneity within certain clusters of commercial banks and savings banks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature has shown that, much the same as other employers in southern Europe, the Spanish employers' peak association, the Spanish Confederation of Employers' Organisations (CEOE), did not take advantage of the radical legislative deregulation of 2010–2012 and, to the contrary, helped perpetuate the traditional institutions that order the industrial relations system. This article contributes to a better understanding of the underlying reasons that guided the CEOE's behaviour, and also incorporates the Spanish case into the literature on the adaptation of employers' organisations – and how the institutions and path dependence have an influence – in the face of the widespread trends of economic deregulation. Finally, this article provides up-to-date, solid and reliable data on membership of employers' associations in Spain, the lack of which is one of the shortcomings of the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a panel data analysis of Spanish privatised firms, we study how different factors influence the operating performance of divested companies. The results show that it is not privatisation per se but other factors that matter. After controlling for possible sample selection bias related to government timing of divestments, we find that the greater the relinquishment of State control and the smaller the percentage of ownership held by managers and/or employees, the better the firms' post-privatisation performance. Moreover, privatisations that are accompanied by liberalisation programmes and occur during buoyant economic cycles turn out to be more successful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the evolution of the Spanish gasoline market from the abolition of the state oil monopoly (January 1993) to "complete" liberalisation (October 1998). With the restructuring of the Spanish oil sector during the 1980s and early 1990s, a highly concentrated oligopoly emerged in the automotive fuels market. A system of price ceilings replaced the state administered prices in July 1990. Since then, new domestic and foreign operators have entered the market, particularly along the coast, near import terminals. Prices went up and then declined. These developments can be explained by an interplay of factors such as: the gradual decline in co-operation among the Spanish firms; the loss of market share of the largest of these, Repsol; the entry of independent operators and supermarkets; and the impact of the ceiling price system. By mid-1998 this system was abolished as the government considered it an "impediment" to further market liberalisation. However, some crucial barriers to the entry of new suppliers remain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine price by season and by year in 14 deregulated markets, by looking at diurnal price patterns and price volatility. Power price volatility is measured by price velocity, the daily average of the absolute value of price change per hour, which is broken into a component expected from the average diurnal pattern, and an unexpected component. Deregulated markets can be categorized into three groups: stable markets, markets that experienced one bad period or season of high price excursion, and chaotic markets. Britain, Spain and Scandinavia show consistent price patterns and low unexpected price velocity; a thoughtful consumer could reasonably implement demand side management (DSM) by shaping consumption patterns to reflect price. California, New Zealand and Alberta are examples of markets that had a period of very high price excursion; we discuss factors affecting public reaction to this. Australian power markets have inconsistent price patterns from season to season and year to year, and very high unexpected price velocity. Planned DSM in these markets would be very difficult. We offer four policy considerations for markets considering deregulation in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is a complex autoimmune disease whose hallmark is a deregulation of cellular and humoral immunity leading to increased destruction and reduced production of platelets. The heterogeneity of presentation and clinical course hampers personalized approaches for diagnosis and management. In 2021, the Spanish ITP Group (GEPTI) of the Spanish Society of Hematology and Hemotherapy (SEHH) updated a consensus document that had been launched in 2011. The updated guidelines have been the reference for the diagnosis and management of primary ITP in Spain ever since. Nevertheless, the emergence of new tools and strategies makes it advisable to review them again. For this reason, we have updated the main recommendations appropriately. Our aim is to provide a practical tool to facilitate the integral management of all aspects of primary ITP management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzes the privatization process and regulation of the telecommunications sector in Spain. Steps towards liberalization; Aspects of telecommunications sectors; Future prospects for the sector; Status of the sector before privatization.

Simple Summary: Hepsin is a serine protease whose deregulation leads to tumor invasion and metastasis in many tumor types. In colorectal cancer, the role of hepsin is unknown, so we aimed to study the correlations between its expression and clinical-histopathological variables of patients with this cancer. We recruited 169 patients with localized disease and 118 with metastatic cancer at diagnosis, and then, we measured hepsin staining from primary biopsy in order to correlate it with time-to-event variables, laboratory data, genetic alterations, histologic features, etc. Our results demonstrated hepsin was an independent prognosis factor for metastasis and thrombosis in patients with localized disease, whereas among metastatic subjects, lower levels of hepsin were associated with highest tumor dedifferentiation and spread to distant organs. These results point to hepsin as a potential biomarker for considerable complications in patients with colorectal cancer. In addition, this article brings to light new information about the implication of hepsin in colorectal cancer. Hepsin is a type II transmembrane serine protease whose deregulation promotes tumor invasion by proteolysis of the pericellular components. In colorectal cancer, the implication of hepsin is unknown. Consequently, we aimed to study the correlations between hepsin expression and different clinical-histopathological variables in 169 patients with localized colorectal cancer and 118 with metastases. Tissue microarrays were produced from samples at diagnosis of primary tumors and stained with an anti-hepsin antibody. Hepsin expression was correlated with clinical-histopathological variables by using the chi-square and Kruskal–Wallis tests, Kaplan–Meier and Aalen–Johansen estimators, and Cox and Fine and Gray multivariate models. In localized cancer patients, high-intensity hepsin staining was associated with reduced 5-year disease-free survival (p-value = 0.16). Medium and high intensity of hepsin expression versus low expression was associated with an increased risk of metastatic relapse (hazard ratio 2.83, p-value = 0.035 and hazard ratio 3.30, p-value = 0.012, respectively), being a better prognostic factor than classic histological variables. Additionally, in patients with localized tumor, 5-year thrombosis cumulative incidence increased with the increment of hepsin expression (p-value = 0.038). Medium and high intensities of hepsin with respect to low intensity were associated with an increase in thrombotic risk (hazard ratio 7.71, p-value = 0.043 and hazard ratio 9.02, p-value = 0.028, respectively). This relationship was independent of previous tumor relapse (p-value = 0.036). Among metastatic patients, low hepsin expression was associated with a low degree of tumor differentiation (p-value < 0.001) and with major metastatic dissemination (p-value = 0.023). Hepsin is a potential thrombotic and metastatic biomarker in patients with localized colorectal cancer. In metastatic patients, hepsin behaves in a paradoxical way with respect to differentiation and invasion processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expansion of the platform economy has altered the spatial organization of work and employment relations, leading to deregulation and eroding workers' social power. However, despite the radical individualization and precarization of platform work, workers demonstrate agency. This article explores the political strategies employed by place-based platform workers, with a particular focus on the spatiality of their collective action. Using an ethnographic methodology, the article analyses the case studies of drivers' trade associations in Chile and the couriers' organization in Spain. The results show significant similarities between the two groups: (a) non-conventional forms of labour activism; (b) using social media to share experiences, foster solidarity and organize collectively; (c) organizing in large cities; (d) starting locally and progressing to higher scales, and (e) building national and international alliances. The article concludes that workers respond to the spatial organization of work by platforms in a multi-scalar way that is strongly influenced by both their imaginaries and the political and regulatory context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional wisdom has it that the food economy has transitioned from organized to disorganized capitalism. An era of extensive state intervention between around 1930 and 1980 would have been followed by an era of deregulation and increasing coordination through markets after around 1980. This article uses the case of Spain's dairy chain to propose an alternative view. In the case under study, there certainly were elements of state‐coordinated capitalism between 1952 and 1986, as well as elements of deregulation and liberalization from 1986 onwards. However, the structure of economic coordination involved some combination of market and nonmarket mechanisms all the way through. The organized capitalism of the first period was not really so tightly organized, whereas much of its later "disorganization" was in fact a transition towards a different mode of "organization": one in which the control of nonmarket coordination shifted from political to corporate hierarchies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to analyse the institutional changes in the Spanish labour market in the light of the measures introduced to support workers during the COVID-19 crisis. Applying the theoretical framework the authors' hypothesis is that the labour policy response to the crisis provoked by COVID-19 in Spain has ranged from strategy of preservation of the social democratic coalition to the anti-bourgeois bloc coalition with a greater presence of social pacts and the support of the social partners. Design/methodology/approach: Combining the institutional theory of liberalisation trajectories, the four ideal-typical reform strategies and the social pacts literature, the authors analyse the change in the labour market policy orientation during the COVID-19 economic crisis in Spain. Findings: In comparison to the Great Recession labour policy response, short-time work schemes and new benefits have characterised the 2020 labour policy strategy. Then, the labour policy response has oscillated between, on the one hand, a strategy of preservation of the social democratic coalition, which is characterised by measures to protect workers on the margins of the labour market without affecting the discretionary power of employers. On the other hand, a strategy of the anti-bourgeois bloc coalition, reflected in the employment safeguard clause that attempts to limit both external numerical flexibility and the increase in unemployment. Finally, the authors have analysed whether the labour policies after the COVID-19 crisis constitute a new round of social pacts in Spain and how this took place. They conclude that the main measures approved in the area of employment protection have been supported by social pacts and the social partners (trade unions and employers), as reflected in the signing of the Social Agreement in Defence of Employment (ASDE). Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is a significant contribution as it is the first article to point out that the labour policy represents a change in the trajectory of liberalisation, limiting the discretionary power of employers and re-regulating the labour market. The main measure of (re)regulation has been to safeguard employment and to avoid objective or unfair dismissals, which is the traditional form of adjustment. In other words, internal numerical flexibility has been promoted over external flexibility, thus significantly modifying the orientation of labour policy. Finally, the authors have found that social pacts have allowed for greater institutional coherence between legal changes and the behaviour of employers and workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 2008 economic recession, state intervention in the real estate sector has strengthened. This article explains how housing financialization was reignited in Spain following key policy reforms in 2013. We argue that Spanish authorities managed to strategically recreate a finance-friendly environment to attract global investors. They combined financial policies, other deregulatory reforms and neoliberal measures in a coordinated manner we call a policy package. Our analysis provides evidence of the legal and political arrangements at various state levels that effectively facilitated the reanimation of a new cycle of housing financialization which caused rising inflation in prices and distress in tenants' rights. This approach contributes to the understanding of how state-led actions foster a spatial fix to overcome financial crises by granting global speculative funds extraordinary benefits. In addition, we show how this process occurred with poor democratic accountability and was also confronted by various forms of social contestation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The place of labor in market reform coalitions, ranging from democratic inclusion to labor repression, triggers a trade-off between the degree of deregulation in the formal sector and the amount of compensations targeted to the unemployed and poor workers in the informal sector. Comparative analysis of Chile (1973-1989), Argentina (1989-99), and Spain (1982-96) reveals that, the more organized labor is included in the policymaking process, the less extensive reform of the system of industrial relations will be. Conversely, the more organized labor is repressed or excluded, the more labor law will be deregulated. In addition, when labor is excluded or repressed, the relative importance of compensatory policies in the form of subsidies to unemployed and unorganized workers in the informal sector is greater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dual character of the Spanish labor market, with permanent workers on the one hand and less favored peripheral workers on the other, became more pronounced following the deregulation of temporary employment. This paper uses the Spanish Labor Force Survey to assess whether, as predicted by labor market segmentation theories, temporary employment is non-transitional (permanent) and involuntary. An analysis of the rates and dynamics of transitions into and out of temporary employment across different groups of working-age respondents shows that much of Spanish temporary employment is involuntary, with temporary workers having limited opportunities for advancement. The evidence points to the need for public policy to address problems posed by the trap that temporary employment has apparently become for growing numbers of workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: In this study, our primary aim was to evaluate LMO2 mRNA expression in tissue, an area with limited research. Studies assessing LMO2 mRNA expression overlook tissue morphology since they have relied on microarray platforms or PCR methods. Our results show a reliable method to identify LMO2 mRNA expression in tissues, capturing the reported biologic features of LMO2, that may be useful to study LMO2 mRNA expression in hematological neoplasms and solid tumors. Background: LMO2 is a relevant gene involved in B-cell ontogeny and a survival predictor of aggressive large B-cell lymphomas (aLBCL). Most studies assessing LMO2 mRNA expression have relied on microarray platforms or qRT-PCR methods, overlooking tissue morphology. In this study, we evaluate LMO2 RNA expression by chromogenic in situ hybridization (CISH) in normal tissue and in a series of 82 aLBCL. Methods: LMO2 CISH was performed in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues, scored by three different methods, and correlated with a transcriptome panel. Results: We obtained statistically significant results correlating the methods of evaluation with LMO2 protein expression and gene expression results. Normal tonsil tissue showed high levels of LMO2, particularly within the light zone of the germinal center. Conversely, in aLBCL, a notable reduction in LMO2 expression was noted, remarkably in cases carrying MYC rearrangements. Furthermore, significant results were obtained through overall survival and Cox regression survival analysis, incorporating International Prognostic Index data alongside LMO2 expression levels. Conclusions: We show a reliable method to identify LMO2 mRNA expression by CISH, effectively capturing many of the reported biologic features of LMO2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1970s, neoliberalism has evolved from ideology to political agenda, from political program to public policy, and from public policy to a system that replaces democratic control over economic policy with a system of elite economic management. This process of change has been possible due to the endorsement of a meta‐political theory that destroys democracy and legitimizes technocratic despotism, financial deregulation, the debasement of labor into a new proletariat, and the purging of constitutional politics. In this article, we analyze this profound transformation of social and legal relations in the "euro system" and, specifically, in the regressive policies that have emerged from the "crisis" in Spain, a peripheral country of the European Union. The problems in contemporary Europe are a direct consequence of the neoliberal version of European economic unity. Their solution will depend on the capacity of the member states to create a social Europe that strengthens institutional democracy and develops universal systems of social protection. This, in turn, will depend on the ability of citizens to remodel state institutions in accordance with new social goals that place life at the center. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The insider-outsider politics approach conjectures that moderate unions and centre-left parties safeguard the interests of insiders and neglect outsiders in labour market reforms. This article challenges this hypothesis. By comparing the positions taken by centre-left parties and moderate union confederations during labour market reforms in Portugal and Spain (1975–2019), it shows that while they may indeed protect insiders, they sometimes do the opposite. To explain this, the article argues that more attention must be paid to the configuration of left parties and confederations. In Portugal, where communist and radical left parties were strong, the centre-left was afraid of losing outsiders' electoral support, and thus it did not follow a pro-insider strategy. This was reinforced by the fact that the centre-left had to face the opposition of a strong class-oriented confederation that was not willing to commit to two-tier reforms. This was not what happened in Spain. The centre-left, supported by a union confederation, undertook a two-tier reform in 1984 because there was a different configuration of left parties and confederations. Notwithstanding, this was not a stable equilibrium because this confederation changed its position over time when it realized the negative consequences of these reforms. Henceforth, their strategy became more pro-outsider. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]