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There are several reasons for my interest in recent works of the European Commission as well as national authorities on a legal framework of antitrust damages actions. Over the years, there has been a systematic shift in how the European Commission addresses private antitrust enforcement. However, different views remain across Europe on the benefits and dangers of this American-style development. This article describes how Poland moves to "ease" private antitrust enforcement. The other question to be investigated in this paper concerns the conditions to be met by Poland to enable to open the doors to private antitrust enforcement. Will we be forced to rethink the balance between public enforcement by competition authority and private sanctions enforced by common courts? Will we have to develop effective group proceedings? The requirements for effective private antitrust enforcement do not differ greatly from those for most EU Member States, thus I hope the article to be interesting also for international audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper's main ambition is to analyze agrarian sector development in individual new EU member countries with the emphasis on investments coming to agriculture. The idea is to analyze the relationship between the agricultural sector and its performance on one side, and level and structure of investments coming to agriculture on the other. The main objective is to identify the relationship between capital stock value development and agrarian sector performance in individual analysed countries. The paper is focused on an analysis of agrarian sector performance and structure on one side and gross capital stock value and structure on the other side. The paper analyses the time period before the global economy crisis appeared. The results coming from the analysis are the following. The agricultural sector changed its structure and position within the national economy of individual new EU member states significantly during the last two decades. In the period before the global economy crisis appeared, the individual analyzed countries reduced the size of their agricultural sector and they also reduced the value of agricultural sector performance. Despite the significant reduction of the agricultural sector in many analyzed countries it can be said that individual countries became more efficient in relation to agricultural sector performance. Individual country's agrarian sectors became more effective and their competitiveness increased. Individual country's agricultural sector size and performance development are closely related to investments coming to agriculture. Both the agricultural sector structure and also agricultural sector production performance are closely related to available investments (gross capital stock value). Taking into consideration the main objective of this paper it can be said that the most sensitive segments of agricultural sector in relation to investments are livestock production and land development. Regarding sensitivity of agricultural production performance in relation to changes in investment value it can be said that the most sensitive are livestock production and non-food agricultural production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is descriptive in nature and it is an attempt to recall the most probable scenarios of transport development in Poland against the background of other countries of the European Union. Having in mind the implementation of the EU assumptions associated with rationalization of energy consumption management and an increase in energy efficiency in motor transport in the time perspective, the premises have been the assumptions of the concept of sustainable development. There are two parts of the paper. In part 2 of the paper there was investigated as a scenario for European Union logistics development, associated by the effects assessment of the transport growth in future, particularly the impact on freight transport achievements. Moreover the reference scenario and modernization scenario for Polish transport were analyzed. Pro-environmental aspects of motor transport considered as the most burdensome for the natural environment, mainly referring to energy consumption management, were presented in the recalled transport development scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European identity has been the topic of a significant volume of research. Scientists focus on different identity aspects in an attempt to measure the establishment or viability of an EU identity. This paper, however, is going to take a different stance on the issue. It will take one of the basic theories on the components of national identities (ascribed vs. voluntarist components, Jones and Smith) and use it as a magnifying glass to examine those components. The theoretical framework will be enhanced by the findings on the role of symbols in generating national identities. The coupling of these two theoretical propositions would provide the apparatus needed for the examination of the degree to which the specific components are established and developed. The main thesis of the paper is that there is no single European identity to be studied. On the contrary -- there are numerous variations. There are, however, two lines which signify that division. On the one hand, there is a clear-cut division line between old and new member states. Therefore, I claim that the European identities in old and new member states clearly vary. The validity of this statement will be studied through the examination of identity components in Belgium, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) and Bulgaria. On the other hand, there are significant variations among old member states themselves. The EU identity in Belgium is most probably different from the one in the UK. The comparison between data on the components of identities shall verify the truthfulness of the supposition. After ascertaining the variations between components in the three countries, the paper will briefly elaborate on possible causes for those variations. The conclusion will summarize the findings of the research and make proposals for possible further approaches to strengthen the EU identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to provide practical guidance to ensure compliance of the SHiELD project with the General Data Protection Regulation (EU), 2016/679 also known as "GDPR". The SHiELD project is a H2020 project whose objective is to support the lawful exchange of clinical information across Europe and is built upon the epSOS project. GDPR remains in the path defined in 1995 and does not change the main elements of the model provided by the Directive. Notice and consent remain an important legal ground for the processing of sensitive data, this is why a two-steps-consent by the data subject to the transfer and processing of health data should be envisaged by the project. However, compared to the Directive 95/46/EC, the GDPR imposes stricter security obligations on data processors and controllers. This new Regulation simultaneously broadens the relevance of the risk - as it is explicitly based on the notion of risk/based approach - and a detailed Data Protection Impact Assessment must be undertaken and documented prior the project is implemented. In line with the new accountability principle, processors and controllers should also be able to demonstrate compliance with the GDPR. This paper, in the conclusions, also underlines that SHiELD project full compliance to the Regulation could be assessed only when all Member States have revised or adapted their legislation in order to comply with the GDPR end to exploit their discretional power, delegated to them by the EU legislator on specific subjects, like processing of genetic, biometric or health data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The real exchange rate is one of the crucial macroeconomic variables for all open economies. Therefore, analysis of its evolution as well as volatility and behavior of its components (nominal exchange rate and relative prices) is of critical importance for both the economic theory and economic policy. In this paper, we focus on the interaction among the component variables of the real exchange rate. The main objective of this paper is evaluate how the relative prices affect the exchange rate. We calculate volatility measure and apply the Granger causality test, variance decomposition and impulse-response function in the Vector Auto Regression model for six selected non-euro EU member states (Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Denmark, Sweden and the United Kingdom). The calculations are conducted for two periods distinguished as the pre-crisis period and the post-crisis period. The results differ substantially between the periods and provide evidence that the relative prices play more important role in explaining the exchange rate behavior in the post-crisis period than before its origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seasonality is identified as one of the most visible characteristics of modern tourism. Although the seasonality of tourism demand is studied from many aspects, this paper tries to contribute to the recognition of two basic causes of seasonality: natural and institutional. The aim of the paper is to analyze the seasonality by excluding as far as possible the impact of the institutional causes of seasonality, which decision makers can only partially influence. In an effort to separate the effect of institutional causes of seasonality during seasonality measurement, a corrected coefficient of seasonal variation has been constructed. The analysis is carried out on a sample of the member states of the European Union and the results show that the five Mediterranean countries which tourism faces the most evident seasonality have the strongest seasonality, regardless of the cause of seasonality. On the other hand, Spain and Portugal have a relatively small impact on the institutional causes of seasonal variations in tourism demand, while Malta and Cyprus have for the European tourism an atypical seasonal pattern, so the difference in the value of their coefficients is negative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complexity of innovation processes implies the necessity of undertaking collaboration between innovation active enterprises, scientific and research units, clients, suppliers, consulting units, and the regional authorities. The benefits obtained through this interorganisational collaboration should contribute to an increased effectiveness of innovation activity. The paper aims at empirical evaluation of the relation between collaboration on innovation activity and the effectiveness of this activity in the EU regions. The data for the analysis were extracted from the EU Regional Innovation Scoreboard. The research sample covered 234 European regions from 23 countries over the period 2007-2016. In order to achieve the aim of the paper, the cross-sectional analyses of parametric and non-parametric correlations between the normalised variables representing the share of collaborating innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and diverse measures of innovation output, including: EPO patent applications, share of SMEs introducing innovations (product, process, marketing or organizational) and the sales of new-to-market and new-to-firm innovations as a percentage of total turnover. Given the likely multi-dimensional interdependencies and feedbacks between the enablers of innovative processes, intensity of innovative activities in the business sector, and their final outcomes, the investigated associations were additionally tested using the partial correlation analysis for the impact of selected control variables regarding the human capital and R&D activities. The results of the investigation indicate that, in general, regions characterised with more intense collaboration between innovative enterprises tend to exhibit higher effectiveness of innovative activities, as indicated by the positive and statistically significant correlations between the share of collaborating innovative SMEs and the key innovation output indicators of the EU regions. These results confirm a crucial role of collaboration in a successfully accomplished innovation process and imply the necessity of creating favourable conditions for the interactions between innovation-active entities. A key part in this field should be assigned to the regional authorities, which should facilitate the emergence of the networks of collaboration by using the appropriate mechanisms and instruments of regional and innovation policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contributions of forests to the well-being of humankind are extraordinarily vast and far-reaching. They are an important element in mitigating climate change. The aim of the paper is to determine the influence of particular factors on the diversity of the European Union countries in terms of the amount of wood forest resources compared with the country size. Two factors affecting the variable have been analysed in the paper: 1) the growing stock per 1 hectare of forest area and 2) the quotient of the forest area and the land area without inland water. Those two independent variables are directly proportional to the dependent variable, thus the higher the growing stock density and the higher the forest cover, the bigger the amount of wood forest resources of the analysed country. The causal analysis allowed to answer the question how the two factors affect the variable considered in the twenty eight countries, namely, what the direction and the strength of their influence are. The logarithmic method was used to carry out the causal analysis. The average results obtained for the entire European Union were compared with those received for each country separately and, on this basis, final conclusions were drawn. Data for 2005, 2010 and 2015 have been used for all needed calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to examine the challenges of the establishment of the Single European Banking Supervision. The financial crisis has powerfully demonstrated the need for a new approach to banking regulation and supervision. In fact, the Eurozone debt crisis has shown that there are weaknesses in the design of the EMU and a new architecture is needed. One of the strategic directions is to establish a regulatory and institutional framework at the European level with the aim of protecting and ensuring financial stability through the effective and consistent application of a single and uniform rulebook. The single supervisory mechanism is designed for those countries within the Eurozone, but is also open to other EU countries. Closer coordination would ensure that responses to EU-wide economic problems are coordinated and therefore much more effective. The Single European Banking Supervision will have a statutory objective to promote the safety and soundness of the EU banking system. It is one of the measures to overcome the debt crisis in the Eurozone and a decision with far-reaching implications. In this paper we will elaborate the positive and the negative consequences from the single supervisory mechanism. Critics of this idea of the Single European Banking Supervision point out the existence of a reputational risk and a conflict of interests. Also, according to critics of the current approach to making and dealing with the crisis marked as "too little, too late" creates the perception that decision is more a sign of weakness rather than of having a clear vision and plan for the future of the European (Monetary) Union and to exit from the current crisis. Vision for the future of the EMU in the long run, undoubtedly lies in a deeper financial, fiscal, economic and political integration of the Eurozone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU aims to achieve a high level of consumer protection for its products and services. The sphere of consumer rights has an impact on the identity of internal market, which with almost 500 million consumers, is one of the largest in the world. The EU legislation sets up general safety regulation for services, foodstuff and non food products. The Treaty on the functioning of the European Union promotes a high level of consumer protection and underlines the importance of activities and measures in the field of consumer rights. According to the Treaty, consumer protection shall be taken into account in defining and implementing other EU policies and activities. This papers aim to elaborate on the situation in the sphere of consumer protection and to give some recommendations for further activities. Also, the paper aims to initiate a wide process of debate about the consumer policy and legislation. The importance of the subject justifies it. Beside high level of protection, the European Commission annually receives more than 1500 notifications of unsafe products. With the intention to create better protection, The Commission proposed a new Directive on consumer rights, that shall merge four existing directives. The Republic of Macedonia as a candidate state has been making efforts to improve its legislation and activities in the field of consumer protection. The last European Commission progress reports comments on the present situation in the field on consumer protection. In the future, Macedonia has to continue with the activities in the area of consumer protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the fact that multiple ideologies and different social models exist in the world today, with different consequences, it appears crucial for the EU to develop and sustain its model of economic and social regulation. This paper focuses on the way the European Union develops its social model in the forthcoming decades. Different models in EU member states mean that it is not possible to have a unique model so the paper will look at what the general approach should be. This work is divided into the following sections; the first section contains the theoretical approach to the social model and defines it; the second part is devoted to the European current social politics and the way the EU has been working in the field of social politics; and the third part looks more closely at the changes going on in the EU, focusing on the problem of globalization and new trends, especially into the way families and intimate relations are changing. This is important because individuals, lifestyle and the changing nature of the family are crucial for social politics. The fourth part is devoted to the new trends and expectations, especially after the Lisbon Agenda and economic crises, and to finding out the possible consequences they can have for the social model of the EU. A theoretical approach is combined with the available data so the full notion of the problem can be presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In March 2010, the European Commission (2010, preface) introduced Europe 2020 as marking "a new beginning" and having "new tools and [...] new ambition". The research questions guiding my paper are the following: Does Europe 2020 constitute a new beginning? Does Europe 2020 address the shortcomings of the Lisbon Strategy? Is Europe 2020 likely to succeed? The recent crisis illustrates that the EU needs to decide on how to address multiple and pressing challenges. As the member states are faced by similar challenges, adopting a common economic strategy appears to be sensible. However, in 2000 the Lisbon Strategy was also launched as an ambitious common strategy. Despite the substantial effort and resources which were invested, the Lisbon Strategy was a failure. The success of Europe 2020 will in large part depend on whether the lessons have been learned. I conducted a comparative analysis of two strategies. The analysis of key-documents and publications showed that policy content and implementation mechanism of Europe 2020 closely resemble those of the Lisbon Strategy. Further, I identified the main shortcomings of the Lisbon Strategy and analyzed whether Europe 2020 constitutes an adequate remedy. Here, I particularly focused on the open method of coordination (OMC) and found that many shortcomings of the Lisbon Strategy are likely to persist. Based on my findings, I argue that Europe 2020 is unlikely to succeed, unless significant amendments are made. The paper is of relevance for everyone who is interested in engaging in a critical and informed dialogue regarding European economic strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The main purpose of this article is to determine competitive position of the Republic of Croatia on the European Union tourism market by analyzing Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index 2017 (TTCI). Also, this paper aims to compare TTCI of the Republic of Croatia and leading EU countries by international tourism receipts in order to define the weakest point of its competitiveness. Methodology -- To achieve the purpose cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling have been used. By cluster analysis, different clusters have been identified, and distance between clusters according their mutual vicinity has been measured by multidimensional scaling. Findings -- The K-means cluster analysis split the sample into the two distinct clusters. The first cluster consists of 13 countries and the second one of 15 countries. By comparing the TTCI of Republic of Croatia with leading EU countries by international tourism receipts it has been concluded that Republic of Croatia has the worst results in Air Transport Infrastructure, Ground and Port Infrastructure, Cultural Resources and Business Travel, Human Resources and Labor Market, and ICT Readiness. Contribution --The results point out the main weaknesses of Croatian tourism and also highlight areas where concrete and urgent actions are required in order to reach the best competitive position. The findings of this article are valuable for state authorities as a base for definition and classification of tourism policy goals and for tourism strategy development as well as for general decision making. The results are also beneficial as guideline for increasing tourism revenues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adoption of Euro in Slovakia since January 2009 and current world economic crises revived a debate on timing of the Euro adoption in the Czech Republic and other Central and Eastern European countries. The purpose of the article is to contribute to a discussion on the process of joining the Eurozone by the Czech Republic and other candidate countries. The paper provides an analysis of few business cycle similarity and convergence measures using different indicators and detrending techniques. Measures of business cycles similarity are ordinarily used to evaluate preparedness of candidate countries to join the Eurozone. The results indicate continuing convergence of the business cycles similarity between the candidate and Eurozone member countries. The paper also sheds some light on possible influence of selected detrending techniques upon the resultant correlations. It gives a recommendation to interpret the results of business cycles correlation measuring in the close context with used methodology. A short note on a regional approach to analyse the GDP cycles is also included in a text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using pooled panel OLS estimations and dynamic Arellano-Bond GMM estimations with quarterly data for 26 EU countries for the period from Q1 1999 to Q3 2006 this paper confirms the high degree of integration between the EU financial systems, as well as the importance of bank performance conditions to the credit-lending channel of monetary policy in the EU. Furthermore, it demonstrates not only the quite high degree of openness of the financial markets but also their indebtedness and the dependence of the EU banking institutions on the financial resources of other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Basel framework is blamed for exacerbating the sub-prime crisis and suggestions range from revising Basel II to the establishment of Bretton Woods II. BIS responded the blames by accusing the "Balkanization of the regulations" and started revising Basel II. The aim of the paper is to investigate the source of fragmentation in Basel II implementations. To this end, the paper investigates the decisions of the EU members and Turkey in the implementation of Basel II Standardized Approach for credit risk that are left to national discretion. The findings of the paper suggest that "Balkanization" in the EU and in Turkey is the outcome of discretions left to national jurisdiction by the BCBS of BIS. The fragmentations in the implementations of the EU members are apt to create regulatory arbitrage. Turkey's assigning 0% risk weight i.e. to government borrowing in local currency; despite the fact that heavy government bond leverage was the main reason behind the 2001 crises, depicts the weaknesses of Basel II in protecting countries from possible crisis. The paper suggest that the BRSAs should be the responsible authority to take precautions against the idiosyncratic characteristics of the country, the banks, and the long-debated drawbacks of Basel II, while the Central Banks should be responsible from the macro prudential regulation and supervision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of the following paper is to present the Environmental Goods and Services Sector (EGSS) in European Union countries. The Environmental Goods and Services Sector is one of the modules of environmental economic accounts, as satellite accounts in relation to national accounts. The first part of the paper gives an overiew of EGSS definitions and classifications. In second part, the comparison between the EGSS variables in certain EU countries was made. The output, export and employment of the Environmental Goods and Services System were analyzed. The data is presented by environmental protection domains and natural resources managements domains, as well as by economic activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the relation of creative industry and its position in current European Union Industry policy, where in the long-term run it plays determining role within the industry structure of European Communities countries. The meaning of creative industry within the European Union Industry policy structure is more and more actual because it contributes to the European prosperity and European economy is depended on the vitality of its industry. EU Industry policy includes the set of activities what is the means of how the EU tries to affect the efficiency of processing and services sectors, it is an area on what depends the development and competitiveness of EU member states in addition to as a whole is focused on structural adaptation process which goal is to gain comparative advantages of EU economy in the world economy environment. The goal of this study is by means of the EU industrial policy analysis to figure out the utilization rate of its current efficiency regarding the creative industry issue, in the way of further possible increasing of the EU industrial policy influence in international economics, as well as their significant role relating to the overall socio-economic development of the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wage is a financial remuneration of an employee for the work performed. The wage is a big motivating factor for carrying out the work, whether psychologically or economically. The main aim of this paper is to examine and compare the wages in selected EU countries (United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Malta, Greece, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia) and in the regions of the Slovak Republic (8 regions). We will examine the evolution of the minimum wage and the average wage in selected countries. The average wage will also be investigated in individual regions of Slovakia. Then a comparative analysis of tax and social security burden on wages will be performed through the wage calculators of selected countries. The wage level and the possibility of applying for a different job markets are (from the perspective of economic theory) the most significant - although not the only - factors of international migration. Some countries face a greater influx of workers to their labour markets; other countries need to deal with the outflow of workers. Slovak Republic belongs to the second group. In the paper will be examined also the impact of the wage level on the work-migration of citizens to the countries with higher wages. The paper will be processed and prepared on the basis of relevant regulations, of book publications, of scientific papers and of secondary data available in statistical sources. Within the analysis of secondary data appropriate mathematical and statistical methods will be selected. Based on the evaluation of the results of research, conclusions will be to drawn and suggestions will be presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. The insurance market is an important component of the financial market. The insurance sector has great importance for modern society; it is closely linked to the economic performance of the state. The insurance market can be characterized by several indicators: number of insurance companies, gross written premium, claims incurred, insurance penetration, insurance density and others. The aim of the paper is to identify main tendencies in the development of the insurance market in the Slovak and Czech Republic. We chose these countries, because the Slovak and Czech Republic have a long common history. Since May 2004, Slovak and Czech insurance market became part of the single European insurance market. Methods. We used the method of time series analysis, comparison and synthesis in this paper. The method of time series analysis was used to examine the development of selected indicators of the insurance market of the Slovak and Czech Republic. The method of comparison was used to compare the selected indicators of Slovak and Czech insurance market. The method of synthesis was used to draw conclusions. Results. The gross written premiums in the Czech Republic are higher than in Slovakia as a result of the size of the country and its population. In the Slovak Republic the share of life insurance on gross written premiums is higher than in the Czech Republic. The insurance penetration and density are significantly higher in Czech insurance market, but both countries are below the average of the European Union. Conclusions. The Slovak and Czech insurance markets had a common starting base, but the current situation on the insurance markets in Slovakia and the Czech Republic is significantly different. In the Slovak Republic, the life insurance is preferred by the insured ones, while in the Czech Republic the property protection prevails. In both countries the underinsurance of the economy still remains, so in these countries there is a substantial potential for growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union's media communication system has been changing rapidly during the latest years due both to new trends in media industry and also due the euro-scepticism wave expressed by some EU member states. The paper first provides a background on the main perspectives of media industry and public communication. Further, the paper refers to EU's communication strategies, with a focus on the recent digital initiatives. As for the case study, the authors will conduct an analysis on the Audiovisual Services of the European Union (the video, photo and audio services), in terms of identifying the updated approach imposed by professional media industry and by the consumption preferences of the new segments of audiences in the digital era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regions which are producing technological and knowledge-intensive goods and services are able to increase their share on the growing and demanding markets and achieve higher pensions in the relation to each factor of production through higher prices of production. In this paper, we investigate the spatial layout of employment changes in knowledge-intensive services in areas which production is based on high-technologies in countries of EU at NUTS 2 level in years of 2005 - 2011. Spatial autocorrelation measures the correlation of a variable with itself through space. For comparison of the share of employment in knowledge and technology intensive sectors was used the known degree of spatial autocorrelation - Moran's coefficient which significance is determined by using Monte Carlo methods. In the article we identify areas within the EU with a high share of employment in activities which production is based on high, respectively knowledge-intensive services. Detection of technology and knowledge intensity of economy in comparison with the states on the basis of employment in technologically intensive sector provides an objective view on given economy, because the results are not affected by price differences nor exchange differentiates because all states do not use Euro. Employment in technologically intensive sector of economy presents only certain assumption in order to achieve a higher effect. Important is, whether it is successful to produce a higher share of added value in technologically intensive sectors. In this paper we therefore examine the spatial layout of added value at NUTS 2 level. In conclusion, using fuzzy c - cluster analysis, we create clusters of similar regions from two basic aspects of the index for 2011 - the share of employment in activities producing with high-tech, respectively knowledge-intensive services (2005 = 100) and base index for 2011 of the added value of the region in PPS (2005 = 100). We describe possible reasons of participation of individual areas in formed clusters. For calculations we used data from the Eurostat database, the ILO and GeoDa program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to evaluate the change in the energy efficiency of crop production in the EU during the period 2002-2012. The energy efficiency is an important indicator of sustainability of agricultural processes. The energy-saving agriculture is a priority of the new Rural Development Programme in 2014-2020. Even though the analysis counts with main direct energy inputs into the crop production (fertilizers, fuels and pesticides), the methodology of the energy efficiency for commodities and farms uses all indirect nonrenewable energy inputs spent on production of buildings and machinery. The analysis covered 24 EU countries. The change in the energy efficiency in time was calculated through the Malmquist index. Clustering using medoids revealed groups of countries with similar energy efficiency. The Malmquist index identified the United Kingdom, Portugal and Sweden as countries with the most dynamic positive change in energy efficiency of the crop production in time. On the contrary, Baltic States and Poland experienced the most dynamic decline of energy efficiency. However, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland significantly increased the Malmquist index in recent years, partly as a consequence of effective investments from the Rural Development Programme (RDP). The energy efficiency indicator that includes direct and indirect energy inputs is supposed as suitable indicator for RDP's ex-post evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a globalized, knowledge-based economy, education and training is of great importance for increasing economic and social progress: an adequately trained workforce can face competition in terms of productivity, quality and innovation. According to Eurostat, Romania allocates less money to education than most European Union countries. These allocations reflect the low level of attention paid to the education and training system. This paper analyses the situation and trends that have been registered in the Romanian education system in the EU's post-accession period. The set of indicators has been selected to cover both education levels and the types of predominantly rural, intermediate and predominantly urban regions. The following dimensions were considered: participation in education, the human and material resources involved and, where possible, the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation is a subject of great importance for economic growth in developed countries. Researchers throughout the world are studying innovation in great detail, trying to determine the different parameters that influence its levels. Institutions, industry, academia, and governments, along with factors such as R&D, funding, infrastructure, markets, and businesses, have all been identified as crucial to innovation. However, it is human capital that is the most important source of innovation. Not only is human capital the carrier of knowledge but, what is more, it promotes the creation of new knowledge, as well as the adoption of new knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to examine relationships between human capital, the stock of knowledge, and the level of innovation in the EU countries. Research into this kind of dependencies is extremely difficult since the phenomena involved in them are intangible and requires advanced methods from the field of multidimensional analysis. The first part of the paper presents theoretical assumptions about human capital, knowledge and innovative processes. Then, empirical studies are conducted into the construction and estimation of a model describing the relationships between human capital, knowledge, and the level of innovation. The research uses the method of soft modelling developed by Herman Wold. Soft modelling allows users to examine links between variables which are not directly observable (latent variables). The conducted research has demonstrated that human capital and knowledge were important factors of innovation of the EU countries. The obtained results also made it possible to create rankings of the examined countries according to the stock of human capital, the stock of knowledge, and the level of innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper "Application Of Regression Analysis In Testing The Impact Of Investments In The Construction Of Highways On GDP Height In European Countries," explores the relationship between investments in the construction of highways, as measured by the number of kilometers of highways per hundred square kilometers of certain European countries, and the level of GDP per capita of the country. The hypothesis that this paper attempts to confirm or refute is that increased investments in the construction of highways results in better standards of living for citizens of certain European countries. The paper "Application Of Regression Analysis In Testing The Impact Of Investments In The Construction Of Highways On GDP Height In European Countries," confirms the causality which is based on the assumption that new investments in new kilometers of highways affects the economic position of certain European countries, and its inhabitants. The regression analysis showed a positive and approximately linear relationship between the moderate level of investments in new miles of highways and GDP per capita in PPS in selected countries of the European Union based on values from 2013th year. However, to further confirm proven results and statements in this paper and the importance given to them it is neccessary to make further analysis on a larger sample, or in the time series of at least 10 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper addresses actual problems of data protection in emerging innovations of banking products and services. In the age of globalization and multinational corporations (MNCs) trans-border data flow (TBDF) has become a problem for business transactions in the countries with strict data privacy lows (DPL). Data controllers are required to observe several principles. Not only do these principles aim at protecting the data subject, they are also a statement of good business practices that contribute to reliable and efficient processing. Data protection in E-banking transactions will be analysed from various points of view. In the first section authors conduct research customer's privacy of E-banking transaction in general. The second field of interests addressed problems of security of E-banking system as obstacle to the further development of this emerging sector. Thirdly, the paper aims to analyse actual EU legislative regarding data protection and compliance of this legislative in practice. Fourthly, the paper conducts research into the financial sector's exploitation of information in EU as a form of surveillance in comparison with US financial sector's exploitation of information. The Gramm-Leach-Billey Act (GLBA) was enacted in 1999 to improve the level of security for financial institutions and e-commerce. Under the GLBA, business executives are held personally liable for any misuse of «personally identifiable» and «non-public» information which includes credit card numbers, customers list and any personal information identifying a consumer. The GLBA requires the encryption of all stored non-public data and audit of the system that collects and analyses the data. Authors point to the importance of regulators and their role in the problem of data protection in the financial sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global financial crisis has influenced economic performance of the world economy and economic theory as well. The crisis has underlined the fiscal position as a fundamentally fragile element of the Euro Area members' economies and it has also proposed the question whether the growth has not been systematically fed and accelerated by increasing public indebtedness. The paper focuses on the quantification of relation between economic performance and public debt. There is an analysis of 27 EU countries and other 13 OECD economies data (1971-2010) divided into two groups - developed economies and less developed emerging markets and categorized into four blocks. Main findings of the paper are following: increasing public indebtedness as a percentage of GDP has led to lower economic performance in analysing group of 40 countries. The difference between the highest and lowest category of public debt level is almost 2 percent. It is supposed that unsufficient GDP growth might even deepen the ongoing debt crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the paper is to evaluate the impact of support or subsidies under Rural Development Programme (RDP) 2007-2013 on wood biomass or fuelwood production and rural development. The tasks of the study presented in this paper are: (1) to evaluate resources and development of fuelwood in Latvia, comparing with other Baltic States and the EU countries in the Baltic Sea Region; (2) to investigate the measures encouraging fuelwood production under RDP 2007-2013; (3) to analyze the impact of Latvia's support (subsidies) on state and regional level. Taking into account that unpublished data of Rural Support Service were analyzed, the original results of subsidies' impact on rural development on region level were obtained. Latvia is among the EU countries with the largest share of forest area and with growing increment in forests available for wood supply each year. The subsidies for encouraging entrepreneurship and diversification into non-agricultural activities have been granted for existing microenterprises, agricultural farms and for founding and development of new microenterprises. The highest number of the supported fuelwood projects has been implemented in the least developed region of Latvia - Latgale region. Despite the support to the bioenergy projects, particularly fuelwood, having stimulated the creation of new jobs and helping to retain the existing ones in Latvian rural area, the cost of a created job is higher than predicted by rules for projects oriented on job creation in Latvia. When it comes to the public costs per working place created or retained, employment opportunities have been costly. The rapid growth of fuelwood export is a result of faster growing supply compared to the domestic use, which could be developed in Latvia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The corporate M&A activity is affected by many factors where - based on the prior research - capital gains tax is one of them. The aim of this paper is to examine an existence of a negative relationship between corporate M&As and the lock-in effect in EU-countries. Our assumption will be verified by using a panel regression analysis with the number of M&As as a dependent variable and the capital gains taxes and other selected determinants as independent variables. Our research result could confirm that the negative relationship between dependent variable and capital gains taxes implies a negative impact on flexible corporate reorganization in the time of the crisis. The contribution of our research will be an assessment of influence of capital gains policy, the lock-in effect and selected determinants on the corporate M&As activity in EUcountries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Working conditions are permanently changing across all European countries, and this is mainly due to the development of technology. It is well-known that nowadays workplaces and work practices go through constant changes under the influence of new technology and of shifting economic and social conditions. Given the great variations that are registered from year to year in the very same member state, the harmonisation of the working conditions at the level of the European Union seems to be an objective almost impossible to be reached. The protection of health and safety at work has always been a fundamental preoccupation of the EU labour law-related legislation. Alongside other psychosocial risks, such as stress and violence at work, moral harassment has become one of the main concerns in the field of health and safety at work. The manner in which this phenomenon and the effects such might have on working conditions can be prevented remains however an unanswered key question. This paper aims to outline the levels to which protection could be granted and the measures to be taken to that effect. Specifically, the paper shall first reveal the incidence of moral harassment at work, based on the relevant data collected at the European Union level, following to discuss the necessity of proper, complex and thorough legislative protection against various types of acts of moral harassment at work, both at European and national level. A brief analysis of the existing relevant legislation enacted at the level of the European states outlines that there are countries which had considered upfront this phenomenon and, as a result thereof, conceived a thorough and complex legislative protection against various types of acts of moral harassment at work, while other countries have no dedicated piece of legislation dealing with this matter. Furthermore, the effectiveness of developing an organisational culture with standards and values against this phenomenon shall be assessed. A special attention shall be attributed on the specific means by which such effectiveness could be achieved (awareness trainings for the personnel, implementation of a company policy with clear guidelines for social interaction etc.). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education, competences and learning outcomes are the key topics of curriculum policy in most countries of the European Union, striving to become the most competitive and dynamic economy in the world in terms of knowledge. One of the main components of this approach is the promotion of key competences and the new culture of learning, supported by integrative processes. In this context, many educational, but also employment theorists and analysts, alongside professional competences, emphasize the importance of generic competences, their flexibility, multi-functionality and transferability in developing cultural, social, human and intellectual capital. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to examine students' assessments of fostering the development of generic competences. The research was conducted in two European cities, at the universities of Pécs (N=74) and Osijek (N=60). Also, at a theoretical level, this paper explores the new culture of learning and graphically illustrates ten different ways/models for integrating curriculums. The results from a quantitative and qualitative analysis show that out of 30 examined generic competences, 12 (40%) of them were mostly positively assessed by the students, and they were indecisive about the remaining 18 (60%) generic competences. Systemic competences achieved the lowest result (M=3.38), which is understandable because systemic competences, along with well-developed instrumental and interpersonal competences, include the ability to plan changes that aim towards system enhancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2007 Eurozone countries have been in economic crisis. Some countries have had negative growth and massive unemployment, especially youth unemployment, all countries have experienced low growth rates, and some have had financial crises with unsustainable private and public debts and sky-high borrowing rates. All of this has caused huge political and social upheavals. The paper describes theory of real business cycle also describes arise and the course of global financial and economic crisis. The Global Financial Crisis was a clear demonstration of the role of bank lending in the propagation of financial crises and business cycles. The paper describes the topic of the role of the banking system in generating financial crises and business cycles in the context of the currently financial crisis of 2007. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the contribution is to examine the impact of employment policy instruments on the development of unemployment and employment in Slovakia and in selected EU countries, as well as the definition of employment policy instruments, suitable for application in SR. We are focused on explaining various interpretations and opinions on the origins, consequences and possibilities of eliminating the negative phenomena associated with unemployment. Attention is also paid to the mapping of the most important historical and political concepts of the perception of the labor market, employment and unemployment. In the paper, we are focusing on defining the object of our research and defining the methods we use. In addition to basic methods used in scientific works, such as economic analysis, the logical-historical approach also uses basic statistical methods. To assess the effectiveness of the employment policy instruments, a key is to exame the impact of employment policy instruments on employment and unemployment indicators. We first deal with the impacts of tools on selected indicators from a logical-historical approach, a theoretical analysis, as well as an analysis of the fulfillment of the set goals. Later, based on the use of statistical methods, we describe the impact of selected employment policy instruments on employment and unemployment indicators in selected countries. In the final part of the paper, we summarize the the results and facts. The results of the analysis about the impact of the employment policy instruments lead to the conclusion that the amount of funds allocated to active labor market measures successfully affects employment and unemployment indicators, but not all countries are also meeting the goals of the Europe 2020 economic strategy. At the same time, not all employment policy instruments are effective in the conditions of the Slovak Republic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyse the influence of the European Union accession and financial crisis to convergence and integration of the bond yields and bond markets. The results show the deepening of bond market convergence after the European Union accession and the integration has continued until the end of the observed period. The chosen indicators are monthly mid-term bond yields (10-year bond yields). The period of 1/2000 to 12/2016 was chosen in order to show the impacts of the changes. The time period was divided into periods 1/2000 - 4/2004 (before the European Union accession), 5/2004 - 7/2007 (after the accession and before financial crisis), 8/2007 - 3/2009 (period of the deepest financial crisis), 4/2009 - 12/2016 (period after the financial crisis). Used methods are 1) spread between the 10-year bond yields of countries of Visegrad group (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary) and German 10-year bond yield, 2) analysis of alignment, 3) β-convergence. These findings can be beneficial for the financial market observers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Agricultural Cooperative is an autonomous association of natural and / or legal persons, as the case may be, a private legal person established on the basis of the expressed consent of the parties in order to promote the interests of cooperative members in accordance with the principles of cooperation. In the course of the paper we will present the laws of agricultural co-operation, professional associations and the role of cooperatives in the development of agriculture. Also, the types and forms of agricultural cooperation in the European Union will be presented. To create agricultural producers in associative forms new opportunities for economic development are opened by attracting regional, zonal or local advantages and using collective power in order to increase the prosperity of members, their families and the communities they are part of. The cooperative can carry out several types of activities that have various benefits for members and help them achieve these goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper does a qualitative assessment of the current European Union policies for dealing with climate change. In the EU mitigation policies are derived from the international agreements for reducing and limiting greenhouse gases emissions. Mitigation policies have a strict compliance regime using both positive and negative reinforcement. On the other side, adaptation measures, meant to increase nature's and society's resilience to climate change negative impact, are designed more as recommendations complementing sectoral policies. Agriculture has a relatively low potential of curbing GHG emissions but are some of the most vulnerable sectors to climate change. By examining the relative projected efficiency of EU's mitigation efforts compared to the overall goal of stopping global warming, the paper finds that there is clear imbalance between mitigation policies and adaptation policies. It concludes that in the absence of matching binding commitments from other large emitters of GHG, the climate objective will not be met. This requires at European level a medium and long-term strategy for the societal and economic adaptation to the new climate conditions and, on short-term, more focus on adaptation policies in vulnerable sectors such as agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The human capital concept is one of the most important in modern economic theory and it forms one of the fundamental sources of economic growth. The paper attempts at a comparative analysis of the development of human capital on rural areas and in cities in the EU countries in the 2005-2011 period. According to the results there has been a significant progress in the development of human capital, especially on rural areas, in the studied period. For the purpose of the study the Zero Unitarisation Method is used. The callculations were based on the Eurostat data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporarily, innovations play a crucial role in strengthening competitive advantage of emerging economies. Effective innovation activity provides opportunities for diminishing the innovative gap between these economies and innovation leaders. In case of Poland a relatively less severe economic downturn in comparison to other European Union countries may prove a significant accelerator of this process. On the other hand the increase of risk aversion caused by the global economic crisis of recent years leads to constraining innovative projects, especially by private investors, and this could in turn affect adversely the long-run competitive position of Polish enterprises. The paper aims at investigating the impact of the global economic downturn on the innovative performance in Poland. The analysis was conducted for the period 2006-2011, on the base of statistical data provided by Central Statistical Office of Poland and Eurostat. The impact of economic downturn on general macroeconomic characteristics and on the demand- and supply-side determinants of innovativeness in Polish economy were examined. In order to achieve the aim of the paper the analysis of the share of innovative enterprises, level of innovation expenditures and the effects of innovation activity measured by the share of revenues from sales of new or significantly improved products was conducted. Additionally, the impact of the size of enterprises on their resistance to unfavourable economic conditions during the latest global crisis was examined. The results of the analysis indicate that the uncertainty caused by the global economic crisis affected adversely the overall innovative performance of Polish enterprises. The analysis revealed simultaneous increase of R&D expenditures intensity and patent activity. As R&D expenditures in Poland are financed mainly by public funds these results imply that the innovative activity during the economic downturn may be focused increasingly on basic instead of applied research. This indicates the potential weakening of connection between the sectors of science and business. Moreover, the analysis revealed, that the larger enterprises proved relatively more resistant to economic turbulences. Furthermore, economic crisis turned out to be a factor that contributed to increase of the level of divergence between large and small or medium enterprises. The results imply therefore the necessity of creating favourable conditions for development of networks of collaboration on innovation activity. In this light the innovation policy aiming at strengthening the collaboration between science and business sectors as well as between enterprises, during the current economic downturn becomes of crucial importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European universities have been immersed during the last decades in important transformation processes aiming to make them more autonomous, economically efficient and competitive. They have to demonstrate fine resource management and accountability in support of clearly defined and feasible goals, even more important during periods of financial crisis and budget cuts. From a managerial perspective, Intellectual Capital (IC) management and reporting can contribute to making the best use of available resources (Elena et al., 2011). In the realm of practice, an increasing number of universities and research centres in Europe have developed IC management and reporting models. However, their application has been, so far, based on voluntary basis. An important effort to provide a homogenous and comprehensive framework for managing and reporting IC in universities was developed by the Observatory of European Universities (Sánchez et al., 2009 and OEU, 2006). The Austrian case is a remarkable example since it has established a law that includes the compulsory delivery of an Intellectual Capital Report ("Wissensbilanz") (Altenburger and Schaffhauser-Linzatti 2006) by its publically funded universities since 2006. Currently, a project is being carried out in Romania, with the ultimate goal of preparing a guideline for applying IC reporting in Higher Education institutions. A series of Mutual Learning Workshops (MLW) are being organised (started in October 2012) by the Rumanian Agency for Education, Research and Innovation together with international experts. Learning from the Austrian case and from other initiatives, the MLWs are meant to discuss between researchers, practitioners, managers and policy-makers, how to design a guideline for IC reporting for Romanian Universities considering the national context and current reforms of the university system. The guideline should be also applicable for universities in other countries undergoing a reformation process of the university system. The paper will give an overview of international experiences with IC reporting of universities. As a practical case, the paper will present the first results of this on-going project and reflect on which methods are appropriate to report on IC in different types of European universities and to what extent is it possible and advisable to standardise IC models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Election systems in modern democracies are continuously remodeled and adjusted to meet the needs of societal changes. One of the recent issues regarding elections, attracting the attention of comparative politics 'concerns' the mechanisms countries adopt in order to allow the nationals of countries' who have moved out of the country to be able to vote. The topic raises various, often opposed opinions on the manner in which this right ought to be accomplished, the type of elections on which ex-patriots would be able to vote (such as national elections, presidential elections and referendums), the number of seats reserved for the representation of ex-patriots' compared to the national seats, the election model selection and adjustments, and other issues. According to international documents and conventions, expert recommendations as well as the Macedonian Constitution, one of the election principles that by all means ought to be respected while creating the election model of the country is to consider the principle of the voting equality. This indispensable and essential democratic rule is built on the equality of citizens and ought to be respected for all types of elected political representation, including the seats assigned for the ex-patriot voters. This paper intends to analyze whether in legal and practical terms the principle of the equality of voting is respected in the case of domestically elected members of Parliament in Macedonia, compared to the elected ex-patriot MPs, considering comparison with the experiences of other countries. Included are the OSCE/ODIHR recommendations on the Macedonian Electoral Codex, the Venice Commission recommendations, as well as studies and comparative papers from IDEA, IFES and other organizations and authors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European transition economies have been experiencing steady inflows of foreign capital over the last decade. In some cases these investments were located only in few industries changing significantly the economies of the countries. The aim of this paper is to analyse whether and how these massive FDI inflows together with industry preference affected the countries' environmental conditions. The paper will focus on the evolution of GDP, inflows of foreign capital and evolution of CO2 emissions for selected new EU member states - V4 countries. It will analyse the possible existence of long-run relationship between selected time series for each of the chosen countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union (EU) nowadays is facing the most severe debt crisis. While Germany is rebounding very successfully from the economic recession Ireland, Greece and Portugal are faced with significant difficulties. The prospect of the single currency is drowning as a result of the debt and default fears that put a question mark over the whole EU. This paper critically assesses the widely used projections of the EU and appropriateness of different budgetary strategies in order to sustain the fiscal balances and stability of the Euro. This paper suggests that there are three possible solutions for "rescuing" the Euro. First, for the EU to continue with the strong enforcement of the rescue scheme. This is a serious step, having in mind that the burden of adjustment of the budget deficit will be inherited in future generations. Countries need to achieve higher rates of growth and stability in the medium term in order to cover today's losses. Second, elimination of the countries which are not in compliance with the Maastricht rules. If the countries stay, they won't have control over their monetary policies. If they leave the Euro zone, that will lead to an increase of the interest rates on a higher level than today. Either their citizens will face large declines in their living standards as their currency falls against the Euro or they will be demanding larger increases in wage that will lead to high inflation. There are two sides of the solution, and neither of them is easy. Third, exit of Germany from the Euro zone or the division of the Euro zone into two sub-regions (one with a strong currency and the other one with an adjustable exchange rate). All the solutions are in favor of further sustainability of the Euro. But in modern market economies, market powers make the final decision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to examine the factors influencing worker's job satisfaction aside the conventional factors, in the vein of the basic cultural values and beliefs, and then to put this into a comparative perspective for the South-Eastern European countries (SEE) and for Macedonia, in particular. Cultural values are grouped into traditional vs. secular-rational values and survival vs. self-expression values. The main result from the study is that cultural heritage exerts considerable impact on job satisfaction in SEE with some determinants -- like the importance of work, religion and family -- exerting stronger influence in South- Eastern Europe than in Central-Eastern Europe (CEE) and in western Europe. However, cultural values are found to affect job satisfaction in Macedonia with less pronounced significance. Mainly traditional cultural values are found important in the Macedonian case, while from the survival group only trust is found to likely affect job satisfaction, and with the effect being likely stronger than in the case of SEE, CEE and western Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates how would sector composition and the magnitude of R&D investments in the EU differ in year 2020 compared to the past, if a selection of top R&D-investing SMEs were assumed to be on a fast growth track while the top R&D-investing large scale companies continued to grow as before. Background of this research objective is the emerging focus on SMEs - and in particular the fast growing among them - with regard to the "Europe 2020" policy strategy. The study relies on the sample of top R&D-investing firms as given by the last available "EU Industrial R&D Investment Score-board" editions, building from it an unbalanced panel. Scenarios were developed by distinguishing SMEs vs. large scale companies assumed growth paths. A linear prediction model has been used to compute the simulation. In the overall, the study indicates that if one expects the R&D-intensive small firms to be an engine for a substantial structural change of the EU economy from being driven by rather medium-tech sectors towards a high-tech based economy, it requires either a significant longer time horizon of the assumed fast growth track than the simulated 10 years or small firms' growth figures which are even exceeding the assumed 30% annually (as in the most optimistic scenario). Both cases do not appear to be very realistic. Hence, facilitating not only SMEs but also large firms' growth seems to be a promising policy option (i.e. stimulating firm' growth and R&D and innovation-intensity regardless of firm size with appropriate / differentiated policy instruments). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can the work of parliaments improve and become what it is meant to be: a place of genuine representation of citizens in the modern democracies? It is of vital importance that political scientists address this question, since many indicators point to the democratic deficit in the European countries. The decline in electoral turnouts, lack of participation in public deliberation and party membership all the more pronouncedly challenge the future legitimacy of the democratic institutions of the political system. However, if one carefully follows the current trends in democratic research, namely, quality of democracies and democratic deliberation; Switzerland remains a prime example of a small European consensual democratic state, where states with similar configuration of the political system could look for ideas. In this paper I look at the growing relevance of the Swiss Parliament apparent in its increased quality of deliberation, due to greater research activities and professionalized knowledge backing of the Swiss Parliament's activities on one hand, and the direct democratic practices on the other as the backbone of its political system. The paper presents a comparative study of particular findings in the work of the Swiss and the Macedonian Parliament regarding their increased importance as democratic institutions, calling attention to the lessons that Macedonia can draw from the Swiss practices for improvement of its institutional capacities. The tentative conclusion is that Macedonia has to invest more in research activity concerning the parliamentary deliberation and legislative procedures in order to increase its relevance as a representative institution, reinforced by revitalizing the direct democratic practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Value-added taxes (VAT) as assessed in European Union (EU) member countries are governed by a series of directives that function as tax enforcement laws. This paper discusses the governing directive that governs VAT collections on international sales of digital products to customers inside the EU. The paper also contrasts the EU position with that of U.S. states on sales taxes, which are similar to VATs as consumption tax levies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need for adequate integration of financial markets is increasingly emphasized in the eurozone countries. The aim of this paper is to describe how to measure credit market integration. The financial and credit market integration are defined in second chapter. Three methods of measuring credit market integration are described in third chapter. Price indicators are based on law of one price. Moreover, they enable us to measure the speed of integration (with beta convergence measure) and the degree of financial convergence (with sigma convergence measure). Quantity indicators involve measures of market penetration of foreign banks and measures of home bias. News-based indicators try to separate local and common effects on the change of interest rates. For all methods, data availability and quality are crucial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to analyze the determinants of the European portfolio investment outflows with emphasis on the impacts of the European Monetary Union (EMU) and exchange rate uncertainty. The asymmetric information hypothesis argues that reduced transactions costs due to the EMU should increase the share of European portfolio investment within the currency area. We tested these assumptions based on an extended gravity model where the dependent variable is the portfolio investment held by residents of the main European countries in 14 countries, including EU, Eastern European and OECD countries and the main emerging markets. Among the explanatory variables are interest rate differentials, the expected exchange rate uncertainty -- estimated by an ARCH model -- a dummy variable for the EMU and gravity variables (e.g. distance and GDP differentials). The model was estimated based on a panel data set over the period 2001-2005 Our results find support for the argument that most European portfolio investment is dominated by the transaction cost hypothesis since the EMU variable, the exchange rate uncertainty measure and geographic and institutional distances are statistically significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]