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Early energy analyses of agriculture revealed that behind higher labor and land productivity of industrial farming, there was a decrease in energy returns on energy (EROI) invested, in comparison to more traditional organic agricultural systems. Studies on recent trends show that efficiency gains in production and use of inputs have again somewhat improved energy returns. However, most of these agricultural energy studies have focused only on external inputs at the crop level, concealing the important role of internal biomass flows that livestock and forestry recirculate within agroecosystems. Here, we synthesize the results of 82 farm systems in North America and Europe from 1830 to 2012 that for the first time show the changing energy profiles of agroecosystems, including livestock and forestry, with a multi-EROI approach that accounts for the energy returns on external inputs, on internal biomass reuses, and on all inputs invested. With this historical circular bioeconomic approach, we found a general trend towards much lower external returns, little or no increases in internal returns, and almost no improvement in total returns. This "energy trap" was driven by shifts towards a growing dependence of crop production on fossil-fueled external inputs, much more intensive livestock production based on feed grains, less forestry, and a structural disintegration of agroecosystem components by increasingly linear industrial farm managements. We conclude that overcoming the energy trap requires nature-based solutions to reduce current dependence on fossil-fueled external industrial inputs and increase the circularity and complexity of agroecosystems to provide healthier diets with less animal products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We focus on the extent to which polycentric urban regions can substitute for the agglomeration economies provided by large cities. Building on an open‐source software tool that helps identifying polycentric developments in urban regions, we analyse the spatial structure (in terms of size, dispersion and polycentricity) of 94 regions across 34 European countries and link this to their level of total factor productivity. We find that both more polycentric regions and more dispersed regions are associated with lower productivity levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examines how policy makers should consider the quality of institutional framework to reduce the productivity gap and increase a country's ability to absorb superior technologies developed elsewhere. This paper analyzes the impact of components of economic freedom, such as the size of government, regulation, and freedom to trade internationally, and world government indicators, such as political stability and absence of violence/terrorism, regulatory quality, and control of corruption on the productivity gap between the "Old" and "New" Europe countries. This is among the first studies to investigate, in a sample of former socialistic countries, the impact of institutions on a country's ability to adopt superior technology developed elsewhere. A static panel analysis was applied on cross-sectional data from the eleven EU countries. The results strongly support the productivity convergence between the "Old" and "New" Europe countries, with a positive impact of the institutions on the productivity growth. However, the impact of the institutions fades the further the country is from the frontier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the role of sectoral reallocations in the divergence of productivity in Europe, based on a database for 33 sectors and 14 countries between 1995 and 2015. Using the contribution of sectoral productivity growth to Total Factor Productivity (TFP) dynamics at the country level, we highlight that variations in the relative size of sectors—less productive sectors growing relatively to more productive ones—have been at the origin of variable productivity losses in main European countries. Parallel to this divergence, European countries experienced heterogeneous real estate price dynamics, which took the form, in some economies, of massive boom-bust cycles. We investigate real estate shocks as a potential source of sectoral reallocations through a collateral mechanism. These shocks turn out to be a strong driver of productivity divergence between European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important channel through which less developed European countries have grown over the past twenty years is through the industrial transformation of their economies from low to higher value-added activities. The aim of the paper is to address the role of industrial transformation on regional imbalances, by analysing the different components of industrial productivity dynamics, namely the industrial composition, competition and reallocation effects. Based on both a shift-share analysis and a simulation analysis, the paper shows that the reallocation towards higher value-added sectors in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries could in fact lead to higher regional inequalities. Our empirical results lead us to claim that short-term normative interventions should go in the direction of supporting "modern and technologically advanced traditional sectors" rather than necessarily pushing CEE countries towards a high value-added industry specialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this research is to determine patterns and evolution of relative technical efficiency, as well as its role in changes of total factor productivity of the public spending on sports in EU member countries. An input-oriented, variable returns to scale model of data envelopment analysis and Malmquist productivity index are applied. They involve two outputs (mass participation in sport and elite sport successes), and two inputs (public and households' spending on sports). The technical efficiency across EU countries shows a clear heterogeneity and volatility. Aside from six to seven efficient countries in each time period, other countries register a continuum of inefficiency scores, down to 0.08–0.20, which is indicative of important potential savings in public spending. From a time perspective, five patterns of efficiency and productivity evolution are identified. The common phenomenon is a deterioration of production possibilities which is not offset by rising managerial efficiency. The study contributes to the comparative research of sport systems in Europe. Its results may enable peer learning and inform future initiatives, both at the national level and in the framework of the emerging European sport policy. In particular, the study indicates benchmark countries for each inefficient country, which is an interesting start for further qualitative exploration for both researchers and policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Are there any factors driving firms' internationalization process other than productivity? By means of a firm-level data set on manufacturing and production services sectors collected by MET, this article investigates the export performance of enterprises in Italy in the aftermath of the recent economic crisis. Our results suggest that productivity is not the only (and most important) determinant in this matter. Innovation activity and learning processes are indeed pivotal in boosting enterprises to sell their products abroad and, to a certain extent, in backing their success on foreign markets. In particular, by estimating dynamic probability models, as well as Tobit II-Heckman and two-part models, we provide evidence that firm's ability to learn from its past export experiences lowers international trade informal barriers, while its ability to learn, thanks to local spillovers, is important in terms of both extensive and intensive performances on foreign markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Total Factor Productivity (TFP) is the portion of the country's output not explained by the amount of inputs used in production. The main goal of the present paper is to estimate the Total Factor Productivity levels and then determine the long-term impact of Economic freedom on the TFP in ten former socialistic countries, which are full EU members since 2000. To estimate the TFP we have applied the fixed effect panel on standard Cobb-Douglas production function in per capita terms. In the second iteration we have used PMG ARDL model to estimate the long-term impact of economic freedom on the TFP. This research has proven that higher level of economic freedom, which is used as a proxy of the quality of the institutions and institutional framework, caused higher level of total factor productivity in the period 2000-2018 in the case of ten former socialistic countries which are full EU members since 2000. The obtained results enable us an insight in policies which are important for efficiency increase and economic performance. Our finding could be very useful for policymakers, stressing which policies are contributing to efficiency, and which are not. So that policymakers could intervene in the way to increase the quality of institutional framework and economic institutions. Many other studies investigate the TFP and growth, or growth and institutional framework for the countries of Central and East Europe. Our survey is among the first to investigate the long-term impact of the institutional framework and economic institutions on the countries efficiency for this countries. Our survey enables us an insight into the mechanism through which the institutions can positively impact the TFP through increasing the predictability and reducing the uncertainty for CE countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research quantifies the bias caused in hospital productivity measurements when cost heterogeneity is not considered. A multi-output stochastic cost frontier under a normalised translog specification is used to approximate the structure of technology of a sample of public general hospitals in Spain during the period 2002–2009. To control for observable heterogeneity in costs, a set of variables related to hospital characteristics are included in the cost frontier specification (i.e., hospital complexity, degree of specialisation, availability of outpatient clinics, variety of high-technology equipment available, teaching activity and quality of care), whereas unobservable heterogeneity is accounted for by means of individual dummy variables. A measure of hospitals’ cost efficiency is first obtained, and the analysis is then completed by measuring and decomposing the total factor productivity index (TFP-I) change. Findings reveal that controlling for heterogeneity decreases total productivity from an annual average rate of 0.028% to 1.330%, mainly driven by the negative contribution of the cost efficiency change component. Hence, a bias of 1.303 percentage points in the overall TFP-I is found as consequence of not controlling for heterogeneity. In addition to this, if heterogeneity factors are not accounted for, the mean cost efficiency index during the period analysed is 0.730, figure that increases up to 0.974 if heterogeneity is considered. Hence, the omission of heterogeneity leads to a bias of 24.4 percentage points in the mean cost efficiency. Therefore, not adjusting for heterogeneity in costs gives rise to distorted measurements of hospital productivity, as well as distortions in the contribution of each of its components, which may lead to the adoption of inadequate policies and decisions on resource allocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of human capital (HC), intellectual property rights (IPRs) and research and development (R&D) expenditures on total factor productivity (TFP), which leads to economic growth. Design/methodology/approach: The panel data technique is used on a sample of 16 countries categorized into two groups, namely Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) and Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries and, in order to make a comparison for the time period of 2007–2015, the researchers used a fixed effect model as an estimation method for regression. Findings: The results indicate that HC, IPRs and R&D expenditures appear to be statistically significant and are strong factors in determining changes in TFP and exhibit positive results in all sample sets. Moreover, IPRs alone do not accelerate growth in an economy, especially taking the case of emerging nations. Originality/value: Considering the importance of CEE and BRIC countries, and inadequate research on these regions with respect to current study's variables and techniques, the present research provides valuable insights about the importance of HC, IPR and R&D activities and their impact on TFP, which leads to economic growth. IPRs create a fertile environment for R&D activities, knowledge creation and economic development. Distinct nations can attain better economic status via HC, R&D activities, innovation, trade and FDI, although the relative significance of these channels is likely to differ across countries depending on their developmental levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the effects of urbanization and localisation economies on manufacturing firms' productivity across urban landscapes in post-transition South-East European (SEE) countries. Fixed-effects panel data estimations on a large sample of firms show that the factors accounting for productivity advantages of manufacturing firms in urban post-transition SEE are related to the firms and to the environment in which these firms operate. Firms located in diversified cities benefit from a productivity premium generated in this type of agglomeration, while no evidence was found that the relative specialization across industries has any effect on firm productivity levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To assess the impact of diabetes and diabetes-related complications on two measures of productivity for people in the labour force and out of it, namely "being afraid health limits ability to work before retirement" and "volunteering".Methods and Data: Logistic regressions were run to test the impact of diabetes and its complications on the probability of being afraid health limits work and being a formal volunteer. The longitudinal sample for the former outcome includes 53,631 observations, clustered in 34,393 individuals, aged 50-65 years old whereas the latter consists of 45,384 observations, grouped in 29,104 individuals aged 65 and above across twelve European countries taken from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, from 2006 to 2013.Results: Diabetes increased the probability of being afraid health limited work by nearly 11% points, adjusted by clinical complications, and reduced the likelihood of being a formal volunteer by 2.7% points, additionally adjusted by mobility problems. We also found that both the probability of being afraid health limits work and the probability of being a formal volunteer increased during and after the crisis. Moreover, having diabetes had a larger effect on being afraid health limits work during the year 2010, possibly related to the financial crisis.Conclusions: Our findings show that diabetes significantly affects the perception of people regarding the effects of their condition on work, increasing the fear that health limits their ability to work, especially during the crisis year 2010, as well as the participation in volunteering work among retired people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyses the Europe's productivity trend and annual performance since the financial crisis from multiple perspectives. Topics discussed include impact of global economic and financial crisis on the European economy between 2008 and 2016; growth in labor productivity in 2017; and business spending on innovation and automation for raising productivity.

The paper studies salient features of systemic risk in a sample of 22 European (EU and non-EU) countries during January 2010–March 2016. Building on a novel dataset and conducting an empirical horse race, we determine pivotal systemic risk measures for the sample countries. SRISK and volatility indicator tend to lead other metrics, followed by leverage. In contrast to the conventional wisdom, composite systemic risk measures aggregated with the aid of principal and independent component analysis perform worse. The leading systemic risk measures exhibit a high degree of connectedness. The VIX index, TED spread, the Composite Index of Systemic Stress (CISS) and long-term interest rates underlie their dynamics. Two clusters within the sample are identified, with CISS and long-term interest rates being crucial to distinguish between them. There is only scarce evidence for causal linkages between systemic risk and industrial production in the sample countries, based on the concurring results of standard and nonparametric Granger causality tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the effects of the intensity of regulations in the product and labour markets on the growth of total factor productivity (TFP) for 121 European regions. A technological catch-up model is estimated for the period 1995–2007. We use the spatial lag of X (SLX) model to capture possible spatial interactions across spatial units. Our empirical findings show that lower levels of regulation are associated with higher TFP growth. Lower barriers to entrepreneurship and lower bureaucratic costs have a positive effect on productivity growth. Corruption raises operational costs, distorts the allocation of resources and negatively affects innovation activities, thereby reducing TFP growth. Further liberalization in the labour market (in terms of hiring and firing regulation, working hours regulation and employment protection legislation) has a significant positive effect on the growth of TFP. In addition, both regional technological and regional human capital have a positive impact on the TFP growth in European regional economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The automotive industry has long had a reputation for organising its production networks on a macro-regional scale. However, over the 2000-2012 time span, extended vertical disintegration of both carmakers and mega-suppliers, and the 2008-2009 trade collapse suggest that this geographical organisation pattern could have weakened, giving way to a genuine globalisation of auto-parts trade. This paper first reviews arguments likely to explain why automotive production networks are multi-scalar, ranging from local to global. Empirical analysis of international auto-parts trade data from Germany, France, UK, and Spain suggests that there has been little progression in globalisation of production networks. General data features can be best explained as follows: 1) the auto-parts import level of a given country is mainly driven by its automobile production level, and by the degree of presence of foreign headquartered carmakers; and 2) the breakdown of imports into procurement flows from near-distant and far-distant countries is mainly driven by the degree of presence of carmakers headquartered in far-distant countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the effects of capital account liberalization on firm capital allocation and aggregate productivity in 10 Eastern European countries. Using a large firm-level data set, we show that capital account liberalization decreases the dispersion in the return to capital across firms, particularly in sectors more dependent on external finance. We provide evidence that capital account liberalization improves capital allocation by allowing financially constrained firms to demand more capital and produce at a more efficient level. Finally, using a model of misallocation we document that capital account liberalization increases aggregate productivity through more efficient capital allocation by 10% to 16%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the effects of employee share ownership (ESO) on three alternative measures of firm performance in a panel of 1,115 companies from the five largest European economies. The results show that firms with ESO enjoy significantly higher levels of capital market performance and of accounting performance than firms without ESO; however, the marginal effects of ESO are declining with increasing ESO levels. ESO does not have a clear effect on productivity. These findings hold for all countries except Spain. Variations in ESO levels within firms over time exert few performance effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shift of employment from lower to higher productive firms is an important driver for structural change and industry dynamics. We investigate this reallocation in terms of employment gains and losses from innovation. New employment created by product innovation may be offset by employment losses in related products, known as ‘cannibalisation’ or ‘business stealing’ effects in the literature, by employment losses from process and organisational innovation and by general productivity increases. The paper investigates this effect empirically with a large data set from the European Community Innovation Survey. We find that employment gains and losses increase with technology intensity of the sector. High-technology manufacturing shows the strongest employment gains and losses from innovation, followed by knowledge-intensive services, low-technology manufacturing and less knowledge-intensive services. The net contribution of innovation to employment growth is mostly positive, an exception being manufacturing industries in recession periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article was to present the possibilities and examples of using Tecnomatix Plant Simulation (by Siemens) to simulate the production process (increase production, eliminate idle time, etc.) and by applying simulated output in real manufactoring processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-R&D innovation activities account for a significant portion of innovation efforts carried out across very heterogeneous economies in Europe. However, to incorporate them into economic models is not always straightforward. Moreover, relying only on R&D data does not capture well innovation in the services sector. To counter these problems, this paper builds an augmented macro-theoretical growth model where, besides R&D, non-R&D innovation activities play a key role as main drivers of TFP. The model is estimated for a sample of EU-26 countries over the period 2004–2008, showing that the distinction between R&D and non-R&D innovation activities is significant for a number of different issues. First, we find both R&D and non-R&D to be statistically significant and economic important in technological catch-up. Second, there is a differential sizable impact of R&D and non-R&D; the impact of R&D on TFP growth is found to be twice as big as that of non-R&D. And third, the two types of innovation cannot strictly been seen as complementary, at least for the case of countries with high R&D intensities or high non-R&D intensities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is there such a thing as 'the crisis' in the European public discourse? We investigate the Great Recession as it appears in the public discourse of seven European countries (Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland). We do so through a political claim analysis conducted on the most important newspapers of each country between 2005 and 2014. We show that the economic crisis, as a shared experience able to produce consequences on political processes, does matter, but not as one monolithic factor that generates homogeneous outcomes. Different countries are characterized by specific features, which need to be taken into account to understand the relationship between economic crisis and political change. We identify four different 'crises' (the global financial crisis, the public debt and austerity crisis, the industrial productive crisis, and the political legitimacy crisis) and propose interpretations on the relationship between their relative visibility, structural factors, and political change. Related Articles in this Special Issue [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is common in efficiency studies which analyse the environment for pollution to form part of the production technology. Pollution therefore affects efficiency and the TFP growth decomposition. As an alternative approach we draw on theoretical studies from the environmental economics literature, which demonstrate that TFP affects environmental quality. Along these lines we adopt a two-stage empirical methodology. Firstly, we obtain two estimates of productive performance (efficiency and TFP growth) using a stochastic production frontier framework in Stage 1 for European countries (1995-2008), from which we omit emissions. Secondly, in Stage 2 these measures of productive performance are used as regressors in spatial models of per capita nitrogen and sulphur emissions for European countries. From our preferred Stage 2 spatial models we find that a country's TFP growth must fall to reduce its per capita nitrogen and sulphur emissions. This is likely to be because nitrogen and sulphur emissions in the EU have been tightly regulated for a long period of time via air quality standards and consequently, substantial reductions in emissions from cleaner and more productive technology were achieved some time ago. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we show that the recent financial crisis has significantly affected the potential total factor productivity (TFP) of the four largest euro area economies, as well as that of the rest of the euro area. We used a reduced-form equation of TFP, based on an approach recently developed by Cahn and Saint-Guilhem (2010). Our empirical findings show that the permanent impact on potential TFP varies across countries from –3.9 points to –1.3 points in Q2 2012. When these losses are incorporated, TFP gaps develop closely in line with capacity utilization rates (CUR). Moreover, in the case of France, including CUR in our TFP model improves the quasi-real-time reliability of TFP gap estimates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the current research is to study bank mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and to see whether they have implications on the productivity of the target banks, and also for the bidder bank. The aim of this paper is to see if, during 2002-2008 period, three banks from the European banking system, Banca Comerciala Romana from Romania, Slovenská sporitel'ňa from Slovakia and Erste Bank Group from Austria improved their productivity due to the fact that all of them were involved in a process of cross-border merger or acquisitions, even if the bank is the purchaser or the target. To reach our goal, we used DEA method, by estimating the productivity achieved by these three banks during the period pre-M&A, post M&A, but we also estimated the productivity for entire period of seven years. Using Malquist DEA method, we show that, on average, the merger or acquisition in which a bank was involved improved the Total Factor Productivity of all analyzed banks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the growing concern about the labour market situation of young people in Europe, this paper analysis the effective role played by real output growth in stimulating job creation. To reach this goal, one strand of this analysis empirically investigates the real output growth effects on the youth unemployment rate (15-24) by testing the difference version of the Okun's law. The most interesting result relates to the case of the Romanian economy whose Okun's law does not fit so well. We additionally test the Okun's law on a set of Decent Work Indicators in order to verify whether a Decent Work deficit exists among young workers within the European labour market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper conducts data envelopment analysis (DEA) for the purpose of calculating inefficiencies in the European countries' growth using as main inputs the variables typically used in the growth-energy literature nexus such as energy consumption, carbon emissions, employment and capital but also with a particular focus on renewable energy sources (RES) consumption. Since we have a panel data set, we also apply the Malmquist method to calculate total factor productivity and an analysis of peers. Mean overall efficiency has been calculated to be equal to 0.892, while mean pure technical efficiency is 0.569 and scale efficiency 1.798. Countries with remarkable renewable energy performance have medium to low efficiency, while renewable energy laggards are among the most technically efficient countries in Europe. Results from this paper are useful for monitoring and benchmarking purposes with respect to their 2020 renewable energy obligations stemming from 2009/28/ED Directive. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In the last few decades, innovation has been widely recognized to be the engine of wealth and prosperity as it intensifies competition and increases productivity, which both in turn lead to significant economic benefits such as higher income per capita and increased employment. However, empirical evidence in this article illustrates that innovation seems not to have paid-off for some of the most innovative regions in Europe, as these regions, despite being highly innovative, grow at a slower pace than their national counterparts, as well as presenting poor economic outcomes such as low income per capita and high unemployment rates. The aim of this article is to communicate this intriguing observation to both innovation scholars and to policy-makers, since its very existence seems to cast doubt not only on one of the most principal assumptions in the field of innovation studies (i.e. innovation as the engine of growth) but also on one of the most fundamental pillars currently underpinning several regional, national and supranational economic policies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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This article investigates the sources of economic growth and relative backwardness in 10 Central Eastern European (CEE) post-socialist countries between 1995 and 2007. It executes both growth accounting and development accounting for the CEE countries. The results show the primary source of economic growth was the accumulation of physical capital in the period investigated, followed by the growth of multifactor productivity. The contribution of labour was marginal in most cases. These growth accounting results are consistent with those of development accounting, which show that substantial backwardness (compared with Germany) prevailed only in capital intensity and multifactor productivity in the 10 CEE countries. Beyond the empirics of the growth path of the CEE countries, this study also contributes from a methodological standpoint by providing a thorough overview of the possible techniques of initial capital stock estimation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Closing the technology gap to reduce labour productivity disparities across Europe is crucial for the European cohesion policy. This article explores the sources of labour productivity growth in Europe over the period 1993-2007 in light of the enlargement process. Labour productivity growth has been mostly driven by capital accumulation. New Member States have significantly reduced their inefficiency and their technology gap. Disparities in the levels of labour productivity are still substantial and, to a considerable extent, they can be attributed to technology gap differences. This raises concerns about the process of convergence in labour productivity in Europe and suggests further policies aimed at reducing the technology gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the outcomes of regression analyses and non-parametric tests which examine the industrial productivity gap and performance of BRIC countries' emerging multinationals (EMNEs) in Europe as of 2013. Findings reveal that EMNEs are not that productive compared to their competitors and local multinational enterprises (MNEs). It also shows a significant productivity disparity in the manufacturing industry, particularly those involved in high technologies.

This article takes a future focus on the direction in which social forces develop the market for animal-friendly products in Europe. On the basis of qualitative data gathered in the context of the European EconWelfare project, the differences across eight European countries are studied. The findings suggest that, given international trade barriers that prevent an improvement of animal welfare through legislation, many stakeholders believe that the market is the most viable direction to improve farm animal welfare. Economic productivity of the chain remains, however, an issue that on a fundamental level conflicts with the objective to improve animal welfare. With the help of a deeper conceptual understanding of willingness to pay for animal welfare, the paper finds that the European market for animal-friendly products is still largely fragmented and that the differences between European countries are considerable. A more animal-friendly future that is achieved through the market will therefore need substantial policy attention from stakeholders in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European mobile telecommunications industry has seen increased competition and market saturation in recent years, so improving productivity will become crucially important for mobile operators in the near future. This study adopts a bootstrap Malmquist index approach to estimate productivity change among a sample of 23 of Europe's leading mobile operators over the 2008 to 2009 period. Using a second-stage regression, this article also analyses the determinants of productivity changes in terms of regulation, competition and ownership structure. The results show that mobile companies operating in countries that have recently joined the EU have a positive association with productivity change, in contrast to their counterparts in South-East Europe. Concerning market competition, the leading mobile operators that experience higher productivity changes operate in more concentrated markets. The results also indicate that international mobile operators perform better in terms of productivity change than their national equivalents. Finally, some of the implications of the findings for mobile operators’ management and policymakers are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper estimates and decomposes productivity growth for a sample of European insurance companies using Standard and Poor’s Eurothesys panel data set of company accounts. We focus on a period (1995–2008) where substantial deregulation took place, as well as significant shocks to global capital markets and unforeseen climatic and terrorism-related events. We estimate parametric stochastic production frontiers for life and non-life insurance from which we decompose productivity growth using a derivative-based approach. In order to capture the inherent variability of productivity in the insurance sector, we explore the consequences of adopting three different proxy measures for insurance output. In each case, we observe temporal variations in overall productivity growth for both life and non-life insurance, corresponding to systematic shocks to the market. The decomposition of these fluctuations provides important lessons for the measurement of long-term productivity growth in insurance markets and more generally in sectors which are exposed to stochastic and market-wide systematic shocks to performance. Our findings cast doubt on many previous studies of productivity growth in the financial service sector where outputs are inevitably difficult to measure due to their contingent nature. The choice of output proxies appears to be critical, particularly when exploring long-term productivity trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Many factors like CEO ("the chief executive officer") decision can influence efficiency and productivity in insurance firms. This paper seeks to address this issue. Design/methodology/approach – To test the effect of CEO power on the efficiency and the productivity of the European insurance industries, the authors use the flexible Fourier cost function and they decompose the total factor productivity growth. Findings – The result shows that after the integration of the CEO power score, not only efficiency scores in each country have changed, but also the order of non-life insurance systems. Also, the CEO power influences the growth of productivity and an optimal power of the CEO can allow the insurance firm to be more productive and more efficient. Originality/value – In this paper the authors model a new cost function in which they include the CEO power score; they also decompose the total factor of productivity in which they include the effect of the growth in the CEO power score. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finding proper policy instruments to promote productivity growth features prominently in the Europe 2020 strategy and is central in many national as well as European policy debates. In view of the increased mobility of high-skilled workers in Europe, ongoing globalization and increased interregional and international co-operation, location patterns of innovative activity may be subject to drastic changes. A proper understanding of location patterns of innovative outputs can enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of national and European placed-based innovation policies. Building on the literature on the knowledge production function, the aim of this article is to explain the observed differences in the production of innovative outputs across European regions. Our main research question is whether geographical proximity and social capital are important vehicles of knowledge transmission in Europe. Several other variables are used to control for structural differences across European regions. We find support for the hypothesis that both social capital and geographical proximity are important factors in explaining the observed differences in the production of innovative output across European regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates how the ownership and the selection procedure of firms operating in the Local Public Transport (LPT) sector affect their productivity. In order to compare different institutional regimes, we carry out a comparative analysis of 77 companies operating in large European cities over the period 1997 to 2006. This allows us to consider firms selected either through competitive tendering or negotiated procedures. Retrieving the residuals we obtain a measure of Total Factor Productivity (TFP), which we regress on firm and city characteristics. We find that totally or partially public firms display lower productivity than privately owned firms. Moreover, firms selected through competitive tendering display higher TFP. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper aims at assessing the extent to which M&As in European banking sector over the period 1996-2003 result in two simultaneous catching up and convergence processes of consolidating groups. First, do the M&As significantly contribute to the consolidating banks to catch-up with the productivity benchmark? Second, in terms of synergies or complementarities among business lines, is there a convergence process of output mixes among the individual banks of the M&A operations? Our sample is made up of 42 M&A transactions and 587 non-merging banks in Europe. The main conclusion is that M&A operations in the European banking industry appear to be essentially motivated by an objective of improving complementarities among lines of work from each component of M&As rather than increasing productivity at the merged banks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To identify and target lagging regions policy makers require statistics to be produced at regional level. In many instances it is not possible simply to compare regional-level statistics produced by Member State national statistical offices as there is variation in the methods and assumptions used to produce them. Capital stock statistics at the national level have been available for most countries of the EU27 for some time, but statistics at the regional level are absent for almost all countries. Where they do exist the methods used to produce them are not consistent across countries. This article assesses the feasibility of producing comparable estimates of the capital stock at NUTS2 regional level for the EU27 and makes some initial estimates. The article outlines the method and data employed, and the techniques used to fill missing values. The approach is a Perpetual Inventory Method (PIM) based on that outlined in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Manual on capital estimation, and the data employed were taken from Eurostat or other publicly available sources wherever possible. The article analyses the robustness of the capital stock estimates produced, as well as their impact on productivity analysis, and suggests how they can be improved in future updates. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The growth in offshoring and its economic effects have been subject to extensive empirical analysis. Yet, many studies have not distinguished accurately between offshoring, domestic outsourcing, and supplier changes. The present study provides stylized facts on offshoring in Europe between 1995 and 2008 taking into account this distinction. This study shows that service activities have been systematically offshored and outsourced domestically during this period, whereas manufacturing activities have been systematically offshored or moved from domestic to foreign suppliers. Overall the share of internal production has gone down by 4.5 percentage points, which raises the question whether firms have achieved productivity gains through this specialisation effort. Combining industry-level data on offshoring and domestic outsourcing with a firm panel, this study finds that service offshoring and offshoring of non-core manufacturing activities have contributed to an increase in productivity, whereas no statistically significant link is found for offshoring of core manufacturing activities and domestic outsourcing. The estimated productivity gains are found to be driven in particular by the gains of multinational firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic growth literature suggests that knowledge spillovers are subject to distance decay effects. In this paper the main aim is to provide a theoretical framework and empirical evidence on the role played by other kinds of proximities, namely relational, social and technological proximity, in explaining productivity growth. Using a sample of 249 EU 27 NUTS 2 regions in the period 1990-2004, semiparametric spatial autoregressive models are estimated. Results provide evidence of a positive role of social and relational proximities as important channels of knowledge spillovers, and on the fact that, when simultaneously present, different kinds of proximities generate synergic effects on growth. Resumen La literatura sobre el crecimiento económico sugiere que los spillovers de conocimiento están sujetos a efectos de deterioro por distancia. El objetivo principal de este artículo es proporcionar un marco teórico y pruebas empíricas sobre el papel desempeñado por otros tipos de proximidades (relacional, social y tecnológica), a la hora de explicar el crecimiento de la productividad. Utilizando una muestra de 249 regiones NUTS 2 de la UE 27 para el período 1990-2004, se estiman modelos autorregresivos espaciales semiparamétricos. Los resultados aportan pruebas del papel positivo de las proximidades sociales y relacionales como canales importantes de spillovers de conocimientos, y del hecho de que, cuando se presentan simultáneamente, los diferentes tipos de proximidades generan efectos sinérgicos sobre el crecimiento. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we use a Markov Switching model with two lags to identify and to compare the business cycle in Romania, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland using data on industrial production for the 1991-2011 period. We use a model with two regimes that reflect the economic expansions and contractions. The Markov Switching models have been widely used in order to detect and to date the business cycle turning points. However, it should be pointed out that the industrial production may have a little bit different dynamics than the quarterly gross domestic product which is the main measure of economic activity. Based on the smoothed regime probabilities the model track three recessionary periods of the Romanian economy in 1991, 1997 and 2009 and two recessionary periods for the other countries in 1991 and 2009. Mean yoy growth of IPI is 5.01% during expansion periods, while it switches to -18.6% during contraction periods for the Romanian economy. In comparison, mean yoy growth of IPI is 7.25% during expansion periods, while it switches to -13.4% during contraction periods for the Poland economy. Furthermore, in Romania, the duration of the three recessions in months was 25, 25 and 9 months. In Poland, the duration of the two recessions was 16 and 10 months. The results of the study may be used in order to compare the business cycle in Central and Eastern European countries with the Euro Area business cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dettori B., Marrocu E. and Paci R. Total factor productivity, intangible assets and spatial dependence in the European regions, Regional Studies. The aim of this paper is to analyse the determinants of the efficiency levels across the European regions. Firstly, a regression-based measure of regional total factor productivity is derived by estimating a spatial Cobb–Douglas production function. Secondly, the role played by intangible factors (human capital, social capital and technological capital) on total factor productivity levels is investigated by applying the spatial two-stage least-squares (2SLS) method and the spatial heteroskedasticy and correlation consistent (SHAC) estimator to account for both heteroskedasticity and spatial autocorrelation. It turns out that a large part of total factor productivity differences across the European regions is explained by disparities in the endowments of these intangible assets. Dettori B., Marrocu E. and Paci R. 欧洲地区总要素生产力、无形资产以及空间依赖，区域研究。本文旨在分析欧洲区域决定其效率等级的不同要素。首先，通过估测空间生产职能本研究对区域总要素生产力进行了基于回归的测量。其次，通过应用空间两阶段最小二乘算法 （2SLS）以及考虑了异方差以及空间自相关的SHAC估算，研究考察了无形要素（人力资本、社会资本以及技术资本）对于总要素生产力水平的影响。 总要素生产力 人力资本 社会资本 技术 欧洲 Dettori B., Marrocu E. et Paci R. La productivité des facteurs de production globaux, les immobilisations incorporelles et la dépendance géographique dans les régions européennes, Regional Studies. Cet article cherche à analyser les déterminants des niveaux d'efficacité à travers les régions européennes. Primo, on établit une mesure de la productivité des facteurs de production globaux basée sur la régression en estimant une fonction de production géographique du type Cobb–Douglas. Secundo, on examine le rôle joué par les immobilisations incorporelles (à savoir, le capital humain, le capital social et le capital technologique) sur les niveaux de la productivité des facteurs de production globaux en appliquant la méthode géographique des moindres carrés à deux degrés (appelée 2SLS) et l'estimation SHAC pour tenir compte à la fois de l'hétéroscédasticité et de l'autocorrélation géographique. Il s'avère qu'une part non-négligeable des écarts de la productivité des facteurs de production globaux à travers les régions européennes s'explique par des disparités de la dotation de ces immobilisations incorporelles. Productivité des facteurs de production globaux Capital humain Capital social Technologie Europe Dettori B., Marrocu E. und Paci R. Gesamtfaktorproduktivität, immaterielle Vermögenswerte und räumliche Abhängigkeit in den europäischen Regionen, Regional Studies. In diesem Beitrag werden die Determinanten des Effizienzniveaus in verschiedenen europäischen Regionen analysiert. Zu Beginn wird ein regressionsbasierter Maßstab der regionalen Gesamtfaktorproduktivität durch Schätzung einer räumlichen Cobb–Douglas-Produktionsfunktion abgeleitet. Anschließend wird die Rolle von immateriellen Faktoren (Humankapital, Sozialkapital und technologisches Kapital) für das Niveau der Gesamtfaktorproduktivität untersucht, indem die Methoden der räumlichen zweistufigen Kleinstquadrat-Schätzung (2SLS) und des SHAC-Schätzers angewandt werden, um sowohl die Heteroskedastizität als auch die räumliche Autokorrelation zu berücksichtigen. Es stellt sich heraus, dass sich ein Großteil der Unterschiede bei der Gesamtfaktorproduktivität in den verschiedenen europäischen Regionen auf Disparitäten hinsichtlich der Ausstattung mit diesen immateriellen Vermögenswerten zurückführen lässt. Gesamtfaktorproduktivität Humankapital Sozialkapital Technologie Europa Dettori B., Marrocu E. y Paci R. Productividad total de factores, activos intangibles y dependencia espacial en las regiones europeas, Regional Studies. El objetivo de este artículo es analizar los determinantes de los niveles de eficacia en las regiones europeas. En primer lugar, derivamos una medición basada en la regresión de la productividad total de los factores regionales al calcular una función espacial de producción Cobb–Douglas. En segundo lugar, analizamos el papel desempeñado por los factores intangibles (capital humano, capital social y capital tecnológico) sobre los niveles de productividad total de los factores aplicando el método espacial de mínimos cuadrados en dos etapas (2SLS) y el estimador SHAC para tener en cuenta la heteroscedasticidad y la autocorrelación espacial. Parece ser que una gran parte de las diferencias en la productividad total de los factores en la regiones europeas se explica por las desigualdades en las dotaciones de estos activos intangibles. Productividad total de los factores Capital humano Capital social Tecnología Europa [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Not much is known so far about the amounts of engineered nanomaterials (ENM) that are produced but this information is crucial for environmental exposure assessment. This paper provides worldwide and Europe-wide estimates for the production and use of ten different ENM (TiO, ZnO, FeO, AlO, SiO, CeO, Ag, quantum dots, CNT, and fullerenes) based on a survey sent to companies producing and using ENM. The companies were asked about their estimate of the worldwide or regional market and not about their company-specific production, information that they would be less likely to communicate. The study focused on the actual production quantities and not the production capacities. The survey also addressed information on distribution of the produced ENM to different product categories. The results reveal that some ENM are produced in Europe in small amounts (less than 10 t/year for Ag, QDs and fullerenes). The most produced ENM is TiO with up to 10,000 t of worldwide production. CeO, FeO, AlO, ZnO, and CNT are produced between 100 and 1000 t/year. The data for SiO cover the whole range from less than 10 to more than 10,000 t/year, which is indicative of problems related to the definition of this material (is pyrogenic silica considered an ENM or not?). For seven ENM we have obtained the first estimates for their distribution to different product categories, information that also forms the base for life-cycle based exposure analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European automotive industry has developed a demand-driven production method called build to order (BTO) to build cars to customer demand, but its strategic vision has yet to be widely diffused. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the performance measurement and evaluation practices of cultural organizations and inquires how "performance" is understood, measured, and communicated to various stakeholders. We analyze the practice of performance measurement in two in-depth case studies of European museums of contemporary art. The performance of museums consists of financial performance and qualitative issues, two sets of performance that are targeted by radically different measurement and evaluation practices. The former is more company-like and includes the measurement of organizational efficiency. The latter comprises professional judgments. As in any other organization, both sets of performance are the basis for operative and strategic decisions concerning strategies and budgets. In addition, they provide the basis for various reports to external constituencies. As the consequences stemming from these decisions are severe, an accurate information-generation process and adequate performance measurement systems are essential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study measures and compares the efficiency and productivity of European and U.S. airlines, over the period from 2001 to 2008. We measure efficiency by estimating a Bayesian distance frontier model subject to regularity constraints. Productivity estimates are also derived parametrically, based on the estimates of the distance frontier model. We estimate both a constrained (i.e. subject to regularity conditions) and an unconstrained model and we show the importance of imposing the monotonicity and curvature conditions on the distance function. The efficiency and productivity results based on the constrained model indicate that European airlines have slightly higher efficiency and productivity growth than U.S. airlines. A comparison based on the type of airlines indicates that low-cost airlines are on average more productive and efficient than full-service airlines. The decomposition of productivity growth and related market discussions are also provided. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The authors develop an empirical approach to examine static and dynamic knowledge externalities in the context of a regional total factor productivity (TFP) relationship. Static externalities refer to current period scale or industry-size effects that have been labeled localization externalities or region-size effects known as agglomeration externalities. Dynamic externalities refer to the relationship between accumulated or prior period knowledge and current levels of innovation, where past learning-by-doing makes innovation positively related to cumulative production over time. The empirical specification allows for the presence of both static and dynamic externalities and provides a way to assess the relative magnitude of spillovers associated with spillovers from these two types of knowledge externalities. The magnitude of own-region impacts and other-region (spillovers) can be assessed using scalar summary measures of the own- and cross-partial derivatives from the model. The authors find evidence supporting the presence of dynamic externalities as well as static, and the estimates suggest that dynamic externalities may have a larger magnitude of impact than static externalities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The shifting locus of international wine production reflects the impact of ‘New World’ wines from the Southern hemisphere and the United States. A region which, oenologically, had an historic and traditional advantage over these new sources—the Central and Eastern European countries—has lagged behind these young competitors. This paper examines some recent history of the international wine market and this region's status in it. It suggests an unconventional interpretation of the nature of wine in the marketplace—as a cultural good—and discusses how this understanding of wine might define a market niche not yet served by current producers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]