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Quality of life is a person's perception of life in the context they belong in. It compresses multiple dimensions that need to be assessed. The EUROHIS-QOL-8 scale is an instrument that measures the subjective well-being of individuals and the impact of different health issues. It is a brief tool to measure the quality of life that includes eight items. The higher the results shown in this scale, the better the quality of life of individuals. The EUROHIS-QOL-8 has been proven to have good internal consistency and an excellent index for measuring the quality of life. It has been validated and reliable in many different contexts of application. This paper uses EUROHIS-QOL-8 to evaluate thermalists' perception of quality of life before and after attending a thermal spa. It intends to identify if there are differences between the state of quality of life before and after using thermal spa services. For this purpose, a self-administrated questionnaire was applied to the Termas de Chaves' users during the 2021 thermal season, i.e., between 09 August and 20 December. A convenience method of non-probability sampling allowed to obtain a sample of 213 thermal users. The data were analysed through statistical techniques of exploratory descriptive and inferential analysis. The results showed statistically significant differences in customers' perception of quality of life before and after 14 days of treatment. In addition, the study of five sociodemographic variables showed that the categories: female, up to 35 years old, single, without academic qualifications, and housekeeper were the most benefited from the thermal treatments. Regarding the analysis of pathologies, the participants guided by their family doctor to attend the Chaves thermal springs for respiratory problems showed the most significant improvement. The paper's results dissemination becomes an added value for verifying the benefits of thermal spas on the individuals' quality of life. It also allows for better development of thermal spa products to improve the quality of life perceived by individuals.

The thermal tradition plays an important role for society by naturally promoting and improving individuals' well-being. Thermal treatments help cure diseases and prevent pathologies, including mental and social ones, providing users with a better quality of life. At the same time, such a wellness activity introduces leisure components resulting from a more holistic perspective on health and well-being. Given the importance of this topic, which just recently started to be the object of empirical studies in Portugal, the present study aims to identify the profile of those who attend a thermal spa. For this purpose, a self-administrated questionnaire was applied to the Termas de Chaves' users during the 2021 thermal season, i.e., between August and November. A convenience method of non-probability sampling allowed to obtain a sample of 220 thermal users. This establishment, located in the sub-region of Alto Tâmega, North of Portugal, has 300 years of history and vast experience in providing thermal services for different audiences. To better understand and identify the features of the thermal spa user, sociodemographic data were analysed and identified the characteristics, motivations, behaviours, preferences, and perceptions of the thermal spa users under study. The data collected was submitted to treatment through an exploratory quantitative analysis. The distribution data analysis was elaborated using frequencies, centrality and variability descriptive measures complemented by TwoStep cluster analysis. The results showed that most of the participants in Chaves thermal spa are women, with an average age of 69 years (SD=12.556), married, retired, and living in the northern region of Portugal. They seek these services in the season between summer and autumn, for medical advice, mainly for therapeutic reasons, and stay in the thermal spa, on average, for 14 days (SD=2.667). Moreover, the cluster analysis identifies three different groups of users to which thermal stakeholders should consider different policy approaches. By defining the users' profile, this empirical research presents a practical contribution since it provides a strategic orientation for the thermal establishments' stakeholders aiming, essentially, at the (re)qualification of supply and the increase of demand, thus contributing to the sectoral and regional competitiveness. FCT Portugal for financial support by national funds FCT/MCTES to UNIAG, under Project no. UIDB/04752/2020 info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Mobile technologies are evident in all sectors, and this is also a reality in tourism. Tourists are increasingly using their smartphones for different functions and purposes, from planning trips to browsing destinations. Mobile technology is also an ally in outdoor activities. Thus, this study sought to understand, through a systematic review, how mobile technologies are being approached in outdoor tourism literature. The analysis was conducted with twenty-four articles indexed in the Web of Science and published in the last five years (2018–2022). The first finding is the small number of specific articles on outdoor tourism, even when adding the terms nature-based or adventure tourism. The main reasons why outdoor tourists use mobile technology during their activities are communication, navigation, feeling safe, boredom relief, and taking photos Thus, there is a need for more research to better understand the benefits and risks of the use of mobile technology in outdoor activities and most of the analysed articles presented a quantitative approach. This project is being carried out within the scope of the TURNOUT Project Development of Outdoor Tourism of Northern Portugal, POCI-01-0145-ERDF-032289, financed by the European Investment Fund Regional Development (FEDER) through the Operational Program of Competitiveness and Innovation (POCI) and the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P. (OE). UNIAG, R&D unit funded by the FCT—Portuguese Foundation for the Development of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education; “Project Code Reference: UIDB/04752/2020”. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The definition of tourism has undergone significant changes, and what was previously meant by tourism has been seen from a different perspective in recent decades. For example, new definitions of tourism have emerged, including the development of types of tourism associated with nature-motivated outdoor practices that constitute alternative escape strategies for everyday life. Indeed, the demand for such activities promotes healthier lifestyles and personal well-being and is a way of getting around stress and a sedentary lifestyle. Literature refers to the contact with the natural environment offers numerous benefits, including reducing and preventing hypertension, developing a more remarkable ability to concentrate, satisfying emotional needs, and reducing stress. For women, in particular. Therefore, all the present research is designed to identify the outdoor activities practised in the North of Portugal, the reasons for their practice, and the possible benefits of these outdoor activities to self-perceived health by gender. To this end, a questionnaire survey has been elaborated and applied to the resident population and those visiting the region to practice outdoor activities. The results reinforce previously published results and consolidate the existing theory regarding the type of activities practised and the inherent health benefits. The outdoor activity that respondents mostly practice is walking, and they believe it reduces stress and improves physical and psychological states. However, no statistical differences among gender were found, even if the sample descriptive statistics seemed to follow the direction of the literature results. This project is being carried out within the scope of the TURNOUT Project-Development of Outdoor Tourism of Northern Portugal, POCI-01-0145-ERDF-032289, financed by the European Investment Fund Regional Development (ERDF) through the Operational Program of Competitiveness and Innovation (POCI) and the Foundation for Science and Technology, IP (OE). The authors are also grateful to the UNIAG, R&D unit funded by the FCT—Portuguese Foundation for the Development of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education. “Project Code Reference: UIDB/04752/2020”. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Portuguese municipalities—local public authorities—face several challenges in supporting outdoor tourism. This type of tourism, associated with nature, adventure, religion, culture, health and wellness, represents an alternative to the traditional tourism supply that, together with a high potential to promote the regional economic development overcome seasonality or overtourism phenomena. The northern region of Portugal includes a vast set of municipalities rich in the supply of outdoor tourism activities, which contribute from the financial contribution to private touristic firms to the promotion of local events and traditions and the preservation of the local heritage. This research intends to understand how the northern Portugal municipalities support and manage outdoor tourism, assuming local authorities’ key role. In particular, it aims to understand the importance of this type of tourism on regional governance, how the local heritage contributes to and benefits from the development of outdoor activities, and how are promoted local public policies on this topic. A survey has been prepared and sent to all municipalities in the North of Portugal. The results allow an understanding that not all municipalities are fully aware of the importance of outdoor tourism to local development. However, local authorities have started to find that suitable outdoor tourism governance may positively impact the local economy by promoting the notoriety of the municipality, creating new jobs, fixing the population, and preserving local traditions and heritage. This project is being carried out within the scope of the TURNOUT Project-Development of Outdoor Tourism of Northern Portugal, POCI-01-0145-ERDF-032289, financed by the European Investment Fund Regional Development (ERDF) through the Operational Program of Competitiveness and Innovation (POCI) and the Foundation for Science and Technology, IP (OE). The authors are also grateful to the UNIAG, R&D unit funded by the FCT – Portuguese Foundation for the Development of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education. "Project Code Reference: UIDB/04752/2020". info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Firms working in the outdoor recreational activities supply are influenced by internal and external economic, financial and social aspects, and other external factors, like climate change that affect their financial performance. Although recognising the importance of this emergent tourism type, there is not much research on the factors that affect financial performance in turnout tourism companies, namely, the ones related to corporate governance. Therefore, this study aims to analyse the impact of ownership and management of outdoor tourism companies on their performance, using a set of control variables as the size of firms, their location and their financial leverage. The study focuses on Portuguese firms from which was collect data from 2010 to 2019. The application of an OLS regression shows an inverted-U shaped relationship between the size of a firm’s board and the firm performance and that firms with the largest ownership percentage have higher performance. This situation seems to better control agency problems. This project is being carried out within the scope of the TURNOUT Project- Development ofOutdoor Tourism ofNorthern Portugal, POCI-01-0145-ERDF-032289, financed by the European Investment Fund Regional Development (ERDF) through the Operational Program of Competitiveness and Innovation (POCI) and the Foundation for Science and Technology, IP (OE). The authors are also grateful to the UNIAG, R&Dunit funded by the FCT—Portuguese Foundation for the Development of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education. “Project Code Reference: UIDB/04752/2020”. The SABI database was made available by the Applied Management Research Unit (UNIAG), according to the protocol between UNIAG and COFACE. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Contemporary society has an increasingly broad and holistic perspective on health and wellness. It is scientifically proven that thermalism perfectly combines these two aspects. It provides a better quality of life and a complete state of well-being, physically and psychologically. Several studies have been carried out over the years, reflecting a paradigm shift in the conception of thermalism establishments. For this reason, the sector's stakeholders need to be prepared and have the necessary knowledge to respond to the different needs, characteristics, and motivations of both usual and new thermal users to define better action strategies. In this context, the research's main objective is to present a literature review and content analysis on the thermalism topic, through the most recognised databases, exploring the offer, identifying its users’ profiles and pointing out some trends for the market. As a result of the analyses, the growing interest and relevance of thermalism in scientific production stand out, particularly in tourism, as a social science. There are several studies that present a direct link between thermalism and tourism activity. It is notorious that thermal activity has both a recreational and medicinal dimension, all over the world. Literature analysis has also revealed the power of thermal waters for the treatment of a wide range of diseases and health issues, related to different medical specialities. Although the more traditional thermalism is still very present, the most recent studies portray some gradual changes on the demand and supply side, with a constant adjustment of both. Particularly in the user profile, there is evidence of a rejuvenated, healthier and heterogeneous demand, with different motivations to frequent the thermal spas. On the supply side, it can be seen that these establishments are seeking to reinvent themselves in order to complement their basic offer related to medical dimension, also focusing on the leisure, to enrich the experience of their regular users and attract others. Regarding the expected trends, they are mainly related to 1) Increased demand for prevention, leisure and well-being dimension; 2) Changes in the user profile; and 3) High potential for tourism activity. European Regional Development Fund through the Regional Operational Program North 2020, within the scope of Project GreenHealth-Digital strategies in biological assets to improve well-being and promote green health, Norte-01-0145-FEDER-000042. FCT Portugal for financial support by national funds FCT/MCTES to UNIAG, under Project no. UIDB/04752/2020. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The health and well-being market has suffered many evolutions in recent years, the differences occurring mainly in your holistic vision, demand profile and supply structuring. This article aims to present theoretical reflections on the scientific advances in this area over the last years. The study presents a literature review, published in the last years, on two intrinsically related themes: “Health and Well-being” and “Thermalism.” It then analyses the profile of consumers/practitioners. The methodology incorporates a mixed approach: a bibliometric and content analysis of the existing literature. It is also intended to identify the main trends and transformations that have occurred in the health and well-being market. Additionally, it intends to contribute to the advancement of scientific knowledge in this field of research. The main conclusions are related to the increase in publications in this area with different subjects, highlighting its growing interest and relevance in society. It is observed an increasingly holistic understanding of health and well-being and its impacts on people's quality of life and a change in the consumer profile, which is increasingly young and healthy with different motivations. This article is a result of the project “GreenHealth - Digital strategies in biological assets to improve well-being and promote green health” (Norte-01-0145-FEDER- 000042), supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The authors are grateful to the FCT Portugal for financial support by national funds FCT/MCTES to UNIAG, under Project no. UIDB/04752/2020. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Adventure tourism is a rising segment of the tourism industry where tourists undertake an activity outside of their comfort zone and where some risk is an essential feature. Some consider it as a broad spectrum of outdoor tourist activities. Therefore, understanding it and how it could be influenced by economic, social, political, health, and natural factors is vital for businesses and local governments. This research identifies and analyses how a set of external factors may affect the index that measures adventure tourism development worldwide—the so-called Adventure Tourism Development Index (ATDI). The objective is to provide helpful information to stakeholders, particularly the policy-makers, on elements that should be addressed to develop this tourism segment. Considering data for 191 economies over the last decade, an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) estimation has been performed. The results show that adventure tourism is dependent on innovation, and economies with more ability and success in innovation will have a competitive advantage in the industry. Aside from that, a higher health expenditure per capita and cultural diversity influence how appealing a destination are to adventure travelers. This project is being carried out within the scope of the TURNOUT Project- Development of Outdoor Tourism of Northern Portugal, POCI-01-0145-ERDF-032289, financed by the European Investment Fund Regional Development (ERDF) through the Operational Program of Competitiveness and Innovation (POCI) and the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P. (OE). The authors are also grateful to the UNIAG, R&D unit funded by the FCT—Portuguese Founda- tion for the Development of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education. “Project Code Reference: UIDB/04752/2020”. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

O envelhecimento da população, o aumento das patologias crónicas e as mudanças de perfil da rede familiar obrigaram a repensar os cuidados de saúde. Criou-se, assim, a Rede Nacional de Cuidados Continuados Integrados, sendo a Unidade de Média Duração e Reabilitação (UMDR) uma das tipologias de cuidados e foco de análise do presente estudo. Pretende-se avaliar os ganhos em saúde obtidos com o internamento em UMDR ao nível do estado cognitivo, do risco de queda e da independência funcional; relacionar o estado cognitivo no momento da admissão com a independência funcional no momento da alta; analisar os ganhos a nível do estado cognitivo, do risco de queda e da independência funcional em função do género. Realizou-se um estudo observacional, analítico e retrospectivo, segundo a metodologia STROBE. Partiu-se da análise documental inerente à base de dados da UMDR, dos doentes internados no período de 1/01/2017 a 31/12/2020, perfazendo 342 indivíduos, dos quais 33 foram excluídos. Recolheram-se dados relativos à caraterização sociodemográfica, ao momento de admissão e ao momento da alta do estado cognitivo, do risco de queda e da independência funcional, avaliados respetivamente através dos seguintes instrumentos, Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire, Berg Balance Scale e Índice de Barthel. Definiu-se o nível de significância de 5%. A amostra foi constituída por 309 indivíduos, maioritariamente do sexo masculino, 56% (n=173), com média ± Desvio Padrão de idade 73,9±12,2 anos, casados 39,8% (n=123), reformados 83,8% (n=259) e com um diagnóstico principal de acidente vascular cerebral 45,6% (n=141). O estudo evidenciou ganhos em saúde estatisticamente significativos ao nível do estado cognitivo, do risco de queda e da independência funcional (p≤0,001). Verificaram-se diferenças estatisticamente significativas no nível da independência funcional no momento da alta, atendendo ao estado cognitivo inicial (p≤0,001) e, entre géneros, ao nível dos ganhos em saúde de estado cognitivo (p=0,016), risco de queda (p≤0,001) e independência funcional (p≤0,001).

Tourists’ demand for outdoor sport-related activities has been growing in the last decade, leading to the recognition of the outdoor tourism potential of the development of rural and urban areas where the activities could take place. While the literature has recognized this potential, its features and the existing conditions for its practice are often not fully comprehended, mainly due to the lack of measurement systems and performance indicators. This study addresses this gap by proposing a wide-ranging assessment matrix of nine outdoor-related activities, employing northern Portugal as a study area. Based on an exploratory qualitative analysis employing semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders (public, private and third sector), the main contribution of this study lies in the development of the outdoor tourism assessment matrix (OTAM) to collect data. The OTAM matrix aims to identify and assess the conditions, namely the infrastructure and resources, for the practice of outdoor and sport tourism-related activities within the sustainable development pillars. The nine matrices comprising the OTAM allow the identification of the places where the outdoor activities can be practiced, and the conditions under which they can contribute to the definition of the development strategies of outdoor tourism. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

This study aims to investigate, through the visitor's perception, the degree of adoption of the QR Code technology and how much it can contribute to keeping the local memory and culture alive. A quantitative research methodology has been adopted using an exploratory descriptive and inferential analysis of the data. Data has been collected using a non-probabilistic sample to which has been applied a questionnaire survey, in October and November 2019, under an intercultural study between the cities of Bragança (Portugal) and Salvador (Brazil). Out of the 503 respondents, 84.5% know the QR Code and 85.3% have already used this technology. Visitors demonstrate receptivity to the adoption of the QR Code ap-plied to culture by positively agreeing to use it for this purpose, even though the sample less frequently used it in tourist visits. It was found that the use of this technology can collaborate with the promotion of local tourism and social inclu-sion. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Sport tourism events are important to promote the host region and its tourism facilities, enhancing direct and indirect economic benefits to the community, through spending at local businesses. The aim of this paper is twofold. First, it aims at understanding the behavior and satisfaction of visitors to the 2018 World Bodyboard Championship, hosted in Viana do Castelo, Northern Portugal. Secondly, the paper aims at understanding the local economic impact of the event, having in consideration the money spent by visitors, along with the perceptions of residents of that impact. To achieve the abovementioned objectives a logistic regression analysis is implemented. Data was collected through survey questionnaires applied in September, during the event, using a nonprobabilistic and convenience sampling process. A total of 180 questionnaires were considered valid for the analysis. The study results revealed that the Body Board event brought worldwide visitors to the host city, some of which for the first time, and who would not visit the city otherwise. International visitors spend a significant number of days, with considerable average consumption levels. In general, visitors are very satisfied with all aspects of the event, and they are likely to return and recommend to others. Also, the study shows that residents’ perception about the event is that it enhances tourism by bringing visitors to the city. This is highly beneficial to the positioning of the region as a destination, and these insights can be of use to sport events tourism planners. Suggestions for further research will be also provided. This project is carried out within the scope of the TURNOUT Project - Development of Outdoor Tourism of the Northern Portugal, POCI-01–0145-ERDF-032289 financed by the European Investment Fund Regional Development (ERDF) through the Oper- ational Program Competitiveness and Innovation (POCI) and the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P. (OE). This work is also funded by National Funds through the Foundation for Science and Technology under the Project no. UIDB/04752/2020. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Measures that address the seasonality, one of the identified overtourism direct causes, allow making a critical reflection on the application of control policies and monitoring regional measures crucial on a sector with such importance at the regional development analysis. The measures should stimulate or reduce tourism demand during low or peak seasons, respectively, generating a better distribution of tourism flows and eliminating potential overtourism situations. Therefore, this chapter focuses on the development of a Gini Index to analyse the distribution of the seasonality in northern Portugal and through it control current public measures in practice and suggest the implementation of different and more effective policy measures. For instance, the ones that make a clear bet on outdoor tourism activities. It will be used in the Gini Index, by the tourists’ market of origin measured by the overnight stays in hotel establishments. The results showed the high seasonal concentration of tourist flows. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Rural tourism increases income sources for rural residents, reduces rural population outflow, and preserves cultural traditions. This chapter considers development of agrotourism in a rural region like the Omsk region, and agrotourism potential of each Omsk district is assessed. To assess the agrotourism potential, integral and rating indicators were calculated using secondary data and the assessment of 40 experts. The analysis allowed a rating of Omsk's municipal districts. Based on the results, the Southern forest-steppe zone has the highest potential for the development of agrotourism. Several other districts present good conditions to increase the potential of agrotourism development. Some districts are distinct, but conditions for the development of agrotourism exist in all areas of the Omsk region.

The northern region of Portugal, in the last years, has experienced the enhancement of tourism demand, which may induce the emergence of an over tourism phenomenon in some particular subregions of the North of Portugal. This phenomenon may cause significant destruction of the living conditions of residents, landscapes, seascapes, air and water quality, causing economic inequalities and social exclusion. The aim of this research paper is to understand if the phenomena of over tourism is present in the North of Portugal and if it changed overtime. The concentration of tourism activity in different municipality subregions can be measured with the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index a well know economic concentration measure. Using as variables the number guest and their expenditure in accommodation, to measure the demand, and the number of establishments, bedrooms and lodging capacity to measure the supply was possible to follow the concentration of tourism demand and supply in the 8 NUTIII regions located in the North of Portugal. The results showed that a specific subregion–Area Metropolitan do Porto–concentrates both the tourism demand and supply in the years 2014 and 2017, despite the increasing values found for all the variables in the 8 subregions. When it is observed a decrease in the levels of concentration are the subregions near by the most concentrate one that increase the share of tourism demand and supply. More rural and less populated areas need more targeted and specific policies measures to attract even more visitors Project “TURNOUT: Desenvolvimento do Turismo Outdoor da Região Norte de Portugal”, with the reference POCI-01-0145-FEDER-032289, and funded by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) (through the Operational Programme ‘Innovation and competitiveness’) and by the Portuguese Foundation for the Development of Science and Technology (FCT), of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education. This work is, also, funded by National Funds through the Foundation for Science and Technology under the project UID/GES/04752/2019. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The concept of business closure is one of the main events in business demography which importance for the business cycle is well recognized in the specialised literature. Traditionally, firms’ closure has been associated with regional factors. Still, a region can have different from the nation aggregate rate of activity because it has a different mix of industries and/or because it enjoys comparatively more favourable local conditions for that activity (Fotopoulos & Spence, 2001). Thus, business closure may be driven by the business cycle, industrial composition as well as a regional advantage (Cheng, 2011). Regarding the previous framework, the research work is dedicated to analyse each of these three factors that may drove business closure in European Union countries between 2010 and 2014, and to find out which of them has/have been the most important one(s). For this purpose, a shift-share decomposition analysis of business closure will be applied. The results proved that the regional component had the highest impact on firms’ deaths during the investigated period of time for almost all countries included in the analysis. Only for a few countries and in specific industries the most influential factor was the industrial composition, and even for less the national macroeconomic path. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Este estudo fornece uma análise comparativa sobre a evolução do grau de concentração de diferentes sectores económicos, através do cálculo de índices Herfindahl-Hirschman, obtidos a partir de duas das principais fontes de informação sobre as empresas em Portugal, os Quadros de Pessoal do Ministério do Trabalho e da Solidariedade Social (1995-2006) e o Sistema de Contas Integrado das Empresas do Instituto Nacional de Estatística (2004-2006), aos quais foi aplicada a metodologia do “Manual da Demografia de Empresas” do Eurostat e da OCDE. A análise por secção da Classificação das Atividades Económicas (CAE Rev. 2.1.) é posteriormente desagregada a dois dígitos. Entre 2004 e 2006, os sectores de mais elevada concentração são a “Fabricação de coque, produtos petrolíferos refinados e tratamento de combustível nuclear”, a “Produção, distribuição de eletricidade” e os “Transportes Aéreos”, em linha com a literatura internacional. This study provides a comparative analysis of the evolution of the degree of concentration of different economic sectors, through the Herfindahl-Hirschman-Index, obtained from the two main sources of enterprise information in Portugal, the Quadros de Pessoal database from the Ministry of Labour and Social Solidarity (1995-2006) and the Integrated System of Accounts from Statistics Portugal (2004-2006), to which the methodology of the "Manual of Business Demography Statistics" from the Eurostat and the OECD was applied to. The classification of economic activities (CAE Rev. 2.1) is further broken down to two digits in the analysis provided. Between 2004 and 2006, the sectors of highest concentration are "Manufacture of coke, refined petroleum products and nuclear fuel", "Production and distribution of electricity" and "Air Transport", in line with the results of the international related literature.

An important strategy for data classification consists in organising data points in clusters. The k-means is a traditional optimisation method applied to cluster data points. Using a labour market database, aiming the segmentation of this market taking into account the heterogeneity resulting from different unemployment characteristics observed along the Portuguese geographical space, we suggest the application of an alternative method based on the computation of the dominant eigenvalue of a matrix related with the distance among data points. This approach presents results consistent with the results obtained by the k-means. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Using a cross-section database that observes the Portuguese labour market in two different phases of the business cycle, the present paper aims to address the issue of the segmentation of the Portuguese labour market taking into account the heterogeneity resulting from different unemployment characteristics observed along the Portuguese geographical space and applying two optimization clustering methods: the k-means and the spectral methods. The k-means is a traditional optimisation clustering method applied to cluster data observations. Spectral clustering is an alternative method based on the computation of the dominant eigenvectors of a matrix related with the distance among data points. The results obtained by the two methods are not identical but are very close and show that, apart the economic phase of the cycle, Portugal presents two very different profiles of registered unemployment. One of them can be considered problematic because it presents a higher percentage of unemployed women, long duration unemployed and unemployed with low levels of formal education—these are the groups that present more difficulties in the labour market and for which is more difficult to find a job after losing one. The segmentation of the labour market is a reality and the labour market is not adjusting to the business cycle. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Economies that thrive most on their ambitions, innovative and productive firms are due to grow and develop. Our motivation is thus to uncover who are these fast-growing firms and where they operate. These interrogations provide the foundation for an exploration into what are the different choices for policy, and an opportunity to engage afresh with why and if they ought to receive support in the first place, infusing the discussion as to when and how it could be provided and what could the intended results be. We use the dataset Quadros de Pessoal to provide a stronger twofold measurement, according to the employment and turnover growth criteria. We find among Portugal’s distinctive characteristics its high share of SMEs in the population of fast-growing firms, the narrowing down of the difference between measurements according to the employment and turnover criteria and the disproportionate amount of employment generated by the largest segment of fast-growing firms. We find that gazelles are outstanding job creators, having a disproportionately larger impact in job creation than high-growth firms. Accordingly, it is the rapid growth of a few large firms, combined with the entry of a higher number of firms of a higher average size that generates positive net job creation in Portugal. A more thorough understanding of fast-growing firms ought to lead to adjustments in government policies to heighten their exceptional contribution to economic growth. We provide a conceptual framework for tapping into how to design policies for firms which are growing at a faster pace and a roadmap for tackling some of its most controversial issues. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Portugal has some of the highest business entry rates when compared to other countries, according to Eurostat, Statistics Portugal and the OECD Entrepreneurship Indicators Programme. We look at business creation in Portugal, from 2000 to 2007, by approaching two other complementary data sources, the World Bank Group Entrepreneurship Survey, based on official Portuguese business register's and the universe of active employer enterprises, obtained by applying to the dataset Quadros de Pessoal, the methodology and definitions of the Eurostat/OECD's "Manual on Business Demography Statistics". This allows us to address entrepreneurship indicators comparability issues and exploit complementarities to support entrepreneurship patterns and trends previously identified by other national and international sources. We highlight the importance of considering information other than business registries, in particular when calculating business entry rates. Datasets where economically active units can be identified provide a better proxy for the true level of business creation and activity in Portugal. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The Portuguese economy underwent a process of growth and structural transformation during the twentieth century, while the last two decades conveyed a period of considerable creative destruction of firms. Indeed, following a period of rapid economic expansion in the second half of the 1990s, the deterioration of the economic situation felt since 2001 contributed to the deceleration of economic growth, which has also had an impact on firm turbulence. Using Quadros de Pessoal and the Eurostat and OECD methodology (Manual on Business Demography Statistics), this article describes employer enterprise dynamics in Portugal over 1985-2007, and discusses the main stylized facts related to firm creation, performance, and firm size distribution by region and sector.

It is sometimes argued that nations differ in their underlying en-trepreneurial spirit. So, in recent years, more researchers started being interested in the analysis of entrepreneurship across countries and re-gions. Some of the international literature on the subject recognises that regional variation in entrepreneurship is significant and persistent, and often even exceeds national differences. Associated with entrepreneurship comes the concept of innovation. Indeed the seminal work of Schumpeter establishes conceptually the entrepreneur as an innovator. Nowadays the belief that innovation has an important role in the international entrepre-neurial activity rate has been theoretical and empirically analysed/tested. Innovation allows the creation of new firms and/or ensures the survival of the existing ones. In both cases, it generates growth. Applying the statistic-al technique of cluster analysis to a dataset gathered by the Global Entre-preneurship Monitor (GEM) and that includes, in 2010, 59 countries; this paper intends to group countries into clusters regarding their entrepre-neurial activity and the aspirations of national entrepreneurs concerning innovation, business growth and international orientation of their activi-ties. It aims to identify and characterise different international entrepre-neurial aspiration profiles. Note, however, that cluster analysis should be considered an exploratory data-analysis technique that is intended largely for generating rather than testing hypothesis. So this paper aims to divide the set of analysed countries in groups that share similar aspirations re-garding the previous mentioned entrepreneurial aspirations. This is partic-ularly important not only because the achievement of a relevant national entrepreneurship rate depends on the social and economic business environment but also because, despite the international attention given to entrepreneurship, it is not known if it is a global phenomenon or if there are particular regions where the entrepreneurial activity is characterised by special patterns of entrepreneurship aspirations. The use of an interna-tional comparable entrepreneurship unique dataset allows cross-country comparisons and therefore to reach the proposal goal.

Nowadays it is believed that entrepreneurship could be a driving force in growth and develop-ment. For the achievement of a relevant national entrepreneurship rate the social and economic business environment can be crucial. However, despite the international attention given to entrepreneurship, it is not known if it is a global phenomenon or if there are particular regions where the entrepreneurial activity is specially recognized by society. Applying cluster analysis statistical techniques to a dataset gathered by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and that includes, in 2010, 59 countries this paper intends to identify groups of countries with the same population attitude and perception regarding entrepreneurship.

Do Inquérito ao Empreendedorismo do Banco Mundial (WBGES 2008) resultou uma extensa base de dados de cerca de uma centena de países. Com base nesta fonte de informação, exploram-se as trajectórias de evolução da criação de empresas entre 2000 e 2007, em Portugal e Espanha. A informação disponível para as duas economias é ainda comparada com fontes adicionais de informação nacional e internacional. A análise dos dados do WBGES valida estudos anteriores, que apontam para taxas de criação de empresas em Portugal relativamente mais elevadas. Portugal evidencia ainda uma volatilidade superior no que se refere ao registo de empresas, enquanto Espanha detém uma densidade empresarial considerável. Finalmente, observa-se que Portugal e Espanha apresentam densidades empresariais superiores à média da União Europeia e da OCDE, mas possuem taxas de registo de novas empresas relativamente mais baixas, o que leva a concluir por uma relativa menor dinâmica empresarial a nível ibérico. The World Bank Group Entrepreneurship Survey (WBGES 2008) comprehends an extensive firm registry database of around one hundred countries. Based on this data source, we explore the trajectories of business creation from 2000 to 2007, among two both geographically and economically linked countries, Portugal and Spain, and of these as compared to the European Union and the OECD, as well as other countries and information sources. The WBGES evidence is supportive of conclusions of previous studies, which pointed to relatively higher business creation rates in Portugal. Moreover, the data shows that Portugal has a higher volatility in overall firm registers and that Spain has a considerable business density. Finally, we observe that Portugal and Spain show higher business densities than the European Union and the OCDE´s average, but have lower creation rates ofnew business, pointing to a lower business dynamics in these two Iberian countries.

Firm size distribution has always drawn a great deal of attention in Portugal, often related to the so- called lack of performance and competitiveness of Portuguese enterprises, in comparison to bigger sized international fi rms, which is thought to be due to the overall small dimension of the internal market (especially for nontradeables) and to the country’s type of specialization model.

The relationship between a country's level of activity in the construction industry and its stage of economic development is a complex one. Several studies over the last forty years, based mainly on cross sectional data, found a positive association between national income and several measures of the construction industry activity. early studies were concerned with the role of the construction sector, as part of physical capital, in the promotion of economic growth and development. a dominant paradigm that later emerged is the ‘Bon curve’ or the inverted U-shaped pattern of development. More recent research, based on longitudinal analysis, has also pointed to the non-linear relationship between the share of construction in GDP and the level of income per capita. Using time-series data drawn from the United nations, this study applies an econometric methodology to assess the validity of the underlying propositions in a low-middle income economy-Cape Verde—over the long period of 38 years. The findings are in line with the assumptions that in the upward growth trend in developing countries, the pattern of the construction industry tends to follow that of the general economy. Santrauka Ryšys tarp šalies aktyvumo statybos pramonėje lygio ir jos ekonominės plėtros stadijos yra kompleksinis. Keliais per pastaruosius keturiasdešimt metų atliktais tyrimais, paremtais daugiausia tarpsektoriniais duomenimis, nustatyti teigiami ryšiai tarp nacionalinių pajamų ir kelių statybos pramonės aktyvumo priemonių. Ankstyvieji tyrimai buvo susiję su statybos sektoriaus, kaip fizinio kapitalo dalies, vaidmeniu skatinant ekonominį augimą ir plėtrą. Vėlesnis pavyzdys yra „Bon kreivė” arba apverstos U raidės formos plėtros modelis. Naujausi tyrimai, paremti longitudine analize, taip pat buvo orientuoti į nelinijinius ryšius tarp statybosdalies BVP ir pajamų, tenkančių vienam gyventojui, lygio. Naudojantis Jungtinių Tautų duomenimis, šiame tyrime taikoma ekonometrinė metodika, kuria siekiama įvertinti pagrindinius projektus mažas ir vidutines pajamas gaunančioje valstybėje—Žaliajame Kyšulyje—per 38 metų laikotarpį. Išvados atitinka prielaidas, kad besivystančių šalių augimo tendencija, statybos pramonės modelis yra linkę sekti bendros ekonomikos tendenciją.

Over the past decades, European labour market policies, like the Portuguese, offer not only a set of simultaneous active programmes, to the universe of unemployed registered individuals, but also the possibility of successive participation in different active programmes. Such dynamic participation patterns have as a consequence different average causal effects to participants. Aware of this reality, the present paper discusses how to overcome the limitations of the traditional labour market microeconometric evaluation literature, eminently static, and empirically estimate the impact of dynamic selection. In recent years it is possible to report several developments concerning the introduction of dynamic elements in the traditional evaluation econometric models. For instance, is important to report that the causal effects of dynamic sequences make use of potential results and allow the introduction of intermediate results which determine subsequent sequences. The application presented in this research study uses an administrative dataset containing extensive individual information concerning the active public intervention on the Portuguese labour market. Based on this dataset, it will be shown that it is possible to make a quantitative analysis on the impact participation of an unemployed individual on a sequence of active measures offered by the unemployment office services. The present empirical study analyses the power of the dynamic nonparametric model as a fundamental tool for an active labour market policy evaluation, and allows, even if in an exploratory way, the evaluation of the consequences of sequential participation. Indeed, based on propensity score matching microeconometric evaluation techniques – computed through a probit model - is possible to compute the causal effect of the decision to postpone participation in an active labour programme vis-à-vis the decision of consecutive labour programme participation, on the one hand, and continuous non-participation, on the other. The evaluation results of a consecutive participation decision in comparison with the alternative of non- participation or postponed participation suggest a low degree of effectiveness by the Portuguese public intervention in the labour market. Moreover, the empirical application of a dynamic propensity score methodology seems to be a quite useful tool for the estimation of dynamic causal effects when the effectiveness of a sequence of participation decisions is tested compared to a distinct sequence of decisions.

Este estudo aborda a capacidade de sobrevivência de empresas na região Norte de Portugal, de 1985 a 2007, fornecendo comparações regionais e nacionais, com recurso a funções de risco e sobrevivência e a métodos não paramétricos e semi-paramétricos. A análise assenta na criação de uma base de dados de empreendedorismo baseada na informação dos Quadros de Pessoal, ao qual foi aplicada a metodologia da OCDE e do Eurostat patente no “Manual Estatístico da Demografia das Empresas”. Os resultados apontam para um encerramento precoce da actividade empresarial no Norte, sendo a duração mediana da vida das empresas inferior à das restantes regiões nacionais. A elevada taxa de turbulência de entrada e saída de empresas no mercado é apontada como a variável com o efeito mais significativo nas probabilidades de sobrevivência.

This study approaches the survival ability of firms in the North region of Portugal from 1985 to 2007, allowing regional and national comparisons through the application of non-parametric and semi-parametric methods. This analysis is based on the creation of a specific entrepreneurship database, based on Quadros de Pessoal, where the methodology of Eurostat/OECD´s “Manual of Business Demography Statistics” was applied to. In the North, firms close earlier on during their infancy as their median duration is below the median duration of firms located in the rest of the country. The high turbulence of firm turnover is pointed out as a fundamental determinant of the survival probabilities of firms in this region.

We address the post-entry performance of new Portuguese firms by investigating the structural characteristics of the hazard and survival functions, using semi-parametric survival analysis for the total economy and its broad sectors. In order to approach the prevalence of some stylized facts and determinants of new firm survival, a new entrepreneurship database was produced, using the administrative data of Quadros de Pessoal, following the Eurostat/OECD´s internationally comparable business demography methodology. In line with the literature, we find that firms that start small and experience faster post-entry growth, face a higher probability of survival. Firm’s current size dimension matters particularly for the Services sector probability of survival. In industries characterized by high entry rates, post-entry survival is more difficult. This happens mostly in Agriculture and the Construction sectors in Portugal. We find a different result from the literature, for the effect of industry growth in survival rates. Firms operating in industries which are growing faster, seem to suffer from a higher probability of failure. The combined effect of turbulence and entry and growth variables help explaining this unexpected effect of industry growth on survival probabilities. By correcting heterogeneity, we obtain stronger magnitudes of the hazard ratios found previously