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Care work encompasses a series of tasks of distinct social and economic importance; however, it has not been a traditional object of study in Economics. The main objective of this article is to analyze the factors that intervene in informal care work in Spain. To approach this, an econometric analysis will be conducted using the National Health Survey (ENS as its Spanish acronym) carried out by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE) of Spain. The results show that, in Spain, dependent adults do not receive the institutional support they need to perform basic daily activities. In fact, practically all of the care they receive is informal. This article will demonstrate that, within the household, women are responsible for informal care work whenever a family member is in need of such services. Our research shows that this is a consistent pattern regardless of the carer’s personal characteristics and level of education as well as the characteristics of the dependent adult living in the household. These findings reveal the necessity of reorienting public policies in order to help reduce gender inequalities caused by this socio-economic reality., El trabajo de cuidados a adultos dependientes comprende una serie de actividades de especial importancia social y económica. Sin embargo, este tema no ha sido tradicionalmente objeto de estudio de la Economía. El objetivo principal de este artículo es analizar los factores que intervienen en el cuidado informal a dependientes en España. Para abordar este problema se ha realizado un análisis econométrico de la Encuesta Nacional de Salud (ENS) realizada por el Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE). Los resultados muestran que en España, las personas dependientes no cuentan con el apoyo institucional que necesitan y el cuidado informal es el principal recurso del que disponen. Asimismo, se constata que, independientemente de las características personales del familiar y de las de la persona dependiente residente en el hogar, incluyendo niveles educativos, son las mujeres de la familia las responsables del cuidado informal en España. Este resultado señala hacia la necesidad de una reorientación de las políticas públicas que ayuden a reducir las desigualdades de género que origina esta situación., Instituto Complutense de Estudios Internacionales, TRUE, pub

Studies covering the social valuation of ecosystem services (ES) are increasingly incorporating people’s attitudes, which allows social heterogeneity to be identified. This is especially relevant in mountain areas, where diverse complex interactions occur among the environment, the socioeconomic system, and a wide variety of farming practices. In this context, we aimed to: (i) identify the attitudinal dimensions that build people views about the agrifood system; and (ii) analyse how these attitudinal dimensions influence the value given to ES delivered by mountain agroecosystems of two European countries. We conducted a survey with a sample of 1008 individuals evenly distributed in the Italian Alps and Spanish Mediterranean mountain areas to collect information on people’s attitudes toward: (i) the economy and the environment; (ii) rural development and agricultural intensification; (iii) food quality, production, and consumption; and (iv) agricultural and environmental policies. The survey included a choice experiment to assess the value that individuals attach to the most relevant ES provided by mountain agroecosystems in these areas (i.e., landscape, biodiversity, quality local products, wildfires prevention and water quality). The results showed four common attitudinal dimensions, namely Economy over environment, Mass-Market distribution reliability, Agricultural productivism, and Environmentalism and rural lifestyle. These attitudinal dimensions resulted in six groups of respondents. Most groups positively valued an increase in the delivery of all the analysed ES, which suggests that agricultural policies which aim to promote ES are likely to receive social support in the study areas. However, the differing attitudinal dimensions underlying people’s preferences may result in disagreements about the steps to be taken to achieve the desired increase in ES delivery

Care work encompasses a series of tasks of distinct social and economic importance; however, it has not been a traditional object of study in Economics. The main objective of this article is to analyze the factors that intervene in informal care work in Spain. To approach this, an econometric analysis will be conducted using the National Health Survey (ENS as its Spanish acronym) carried out by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE) of Spain. The results show that, in Spain, dependent adults do not receive the institutional support they need to perform basic daily activities. In fact, practically all of the care they receive is informal. This article will demonstrate that, within the household, women are responsible for informal care work whenever a family member is in need of such services. Our research shows that this is a consistent pattern regardless of the carer’s personal characteristics and level of education as well as the characteristics of the dependent adult living in the household. These findings reveal the necessity of reorienting public policies in order to help reduce gender inequalities caused by this socio-economic reality., El trabajo de cuidados a adultos dependientes comprende una serie de actividades de especial importancia social y económica. Sin embargo, este tema no ha sido tradicionalmente objeto de estudio de la Economía. El objetivo principal de este artículo es analizar los factores que intervienen en el cuidado informal a dependientes en España. Para abordar este problema se ha realizado un análisis econométrico de la Encuesta Nacional de Salud (ENS) realizada por el Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE). Los resultados muestran que en España, las personas dependientes no cuentan con el apoyo institucional que necesitan y el cuidado informal es el principal recurso del que disponen. Asimismo, se constata que, independientemente de las características personales del familiar y de las de la persona dependiente residente en el hogar, incluyendo niveles educativos, son las mujeres de la familia las responsables del cuidado informal en España. Este resultado señala hacia la necesidad de una reorientación de las políticas públicas que ayuden a reducir las desigualdades de género que origina esta situación.