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Water scarcity is a growing concern across the globe due to climate change and demands for increased economic development. This paper analyses the relationship between economic development and freshwater abstraction in order to investigate its European impact. The analysis focuses on a total of 19 European countries, including 18 EU member states and one candidate, from 2007 to 2018. Using a panel dataset, the impact of a diverse selection of indicators of economic development (per capita GDP, the Human Development Index - HDI, water productivity and volume of international trade) on freshwater abstraction, our analysis finds that all explanatory variables are significant for cross-country variations except for international trade. To maintain scope, the analysis is limited to economic-development indicators themselves, excluding the effects of climate change and the availability of water resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What determines the differences in economic performance across European regions? In addressing this question, this paper takes inspiration from two different approaches. One approach highlights the role of capability-building, of a technological or social nature, while another perspective emphasizes the potential advantages of proximity and, hence, a relatively diversified economic structure, for regional economic performance. The paper argues that the impacts of capability-building and diversification on regional economic development need to be assessed jointly. Using information for 261 regions at NUTS2 level in 27 European countries in the 2000s, novel data sources are exploited to construct measures of technological and social capabilities, which are combined with indicators of related and unrelated variety in the analysis of regional economic dynamics. The results suggest that capability-building play a key role in regional economic development while the results for diversification are more mixed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the debt clearing problem in a debt network with complicated debt relations among various debtors. Each pair of debt relations is modeled with both forward debt chain and backward debt chain to simplify the whole debt network with a developed algorithm. A debt clearing strategy is derived and its benefits and managerial implications are shown in risk management. This paper further demonstrates the validation of the approach for sovereign debt analysis and risk analytics using real debt data from ten developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the relationship between economic inequality and the distribution of votes among political parties, namely political polarization and fracturalization. Economic inequality is captured by the Gini index, whereas new measures of political polarization and fracturalization are offered. This is the first paper to calculate political polarization and fracturalization indices by a methodology previously used for ethnic, religious and linguistic polarization and fracturalization. Empirical analysis uses data for 17 European countries and for three decades, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. It is shown that increased income inequality increases political party polarization and reduces fracturalization and that political party polarization decreases with increased GDP per capita. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an overview of this issue in relation to the periodical's twentieth anniversary. The author discusses the organization of a anniversary panel in London, England to mark the occasion, and to review articles from the history of the periodical focusing on economic-policy development during these 20 years. The article also provides an introduction to other articles presented in this issue, including one concerning the evolution of exchange-rate management, the effects of government debts on interest rates, and higher education reform in Europe.

The objective (aim) of this paper is to explore the impact of the Ease of Doing Business Indicators on FDI on transition economies in Europe. Authors have used the dynamic panel methodology, by using three methods: Pooled Ordinary Least Square (POLS), Fixed Effect (FE), and Two Step-System Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) estimation techniques. By referring to the GMM technique, it can be seen that variables such as: Starting a Business, Registering property, Getting electricity and Resolving insolvency have a positive and significant impact in attracting FDI in 16 European transition countries, while variables as: Dealing with construction permits, Getting credit, Paying taxes, Protecting minority investors, have shown negative impact, whereas Trading Across Border and Enforcing contracts have not shown any impact on attracting FDIs in European transition countries. This paper contributes to the enrichment of existing literature in this field by using these three methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and purpose: The goal of the paper is to determine the level of concentration in the insurance sector in the following eight countries of South and Eastern Europe: Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania in the period from 2007 to 2012. Design/Methodology/Approach: In this context, the analysed indicators of concentration were the market share of the four leading financial institutions (CR4), the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI), the coefficient of entropy (E), the coefficient of relative entropy (RE) and Gini coefficient (G). Results: The study showed that the insurance sectors in the analysed countries are highly concentrated on average (according to CR4 indicator), medium concentrated (according to HHI) with high levels of inequality of distribution of market shares between individual participants (in terms of G coefficient), and in the zone of relative uniformity and equality of business entities (according to RE coefficient). The research results point out that the existence of different levels of correlation between the analysed indicators of concentration in the insurance sector, which confirms the conclusion that, in order to obtain relevant and quality conclusions about the level of concentration, it is necessary to review and analyse several indicators of concentration integrally. Conclusion: In all observed indicators of concentration in relation with the density level GDP pc move in the zone of very low value, which on the one hand points to the fact that the analysed countries at a relatively similar level of development have significantly different levels of concentration, but also on the fact that some countries although at different levels of development, have similar levels of concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the idea that Europe 2020 Strategy is a too ambitious project for many Member States. The analysis is focused on PIGS countries. In order to demonstrate the impossibility to achieve the Strategy's goals, the analysis uses six representative economic indicators: GDP growth rate, employment, R&D investment, gas emissions, educational attainment and risk of poverty and social exclusion. The analysis uses regression, clusters, forecasting models and comparisons with Euro area average. The intermediate conclusion of the paper is that PIGS countries can be analysis under a cluster approach. The final conclusion is that PIGS countries are not able to achieve the Strategy's goals in 2020, even that their socio-economic trend is positive for almost all indicators. The analysis and the conclusions in the paper are supported by pertinent statistic tables and diagrams, coupled with dedicated IBM-SPSS software. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides empirical evidence that supports the view that the quality of institutions is an important determinant of long-term growth in European countries. It shows that an initial high government debt level coupled with institutional quality below the EU average tends to be associated with particularly poor longterm real growth performance. Interestingly, the detrimental effect of high debt levels on long-term growth seems cushioned by the presence of very sound institutions. The paper offers some evidence that sound institutions may be particularly important for long-term growth in countries in which the exchange rate tool is no longer available and less so in countries with flexible exchange rate regimes. The empirical findings on the importance of institutions are robust to various measures of output growth, different measures of institutional indicators, different sample sizes, different country groupings and to the inclusions of additional control variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Financial & Credit Activity: Problems of Theory & Practice is the property of University of Banking of the National Bank of Ukraine and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper we assess the impact of the recent European recession on stillbirth indices over the course of the 2000s and 2010s; the analysis focuses on four Southern European countries (Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal), which were seriously affected by the sovereign debt crisis from around 2008 to 2017. We use national vital statistics and established economic indicators for the period 2000–2017; stillbirth ratios (stillbirths per 1000 livebirths) are the chosen response variable. For the purpose of the study, we employ correlation analysis and fit regression models. The overall impact of economic indicators on the stillbirth indices is sizeable and statistically robust. We find that a healthy economy is associated with low and declining levels of stillbirth measures. In contrast, economic recession appears to have an adverse effect (Greece, Italy and Spain), or an unclear impact (Portugal), on the stillbirth outcome. This study provides evidence of the adverse effect of the European sovereign debt crisis and ensuing period of austerity on a scarcely explored aspect of health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

In this paper we analyze the impact of the quality of human capital on the main economic indicators of South-Eastern Europe countries [SEE] at the NUTS 2 level. The subjects of this research are the human capital indicators of regional competitiveness. The quality of human capital depends largely on the age structure of the population and the quality of education. Those regions, which have the highest percentage of the working-age population and highly educated people, are able to achieve higher productivity and gain a competitive advantage over other regions. As main indicators of the quality of human capital we identified: population; persons aged 25-64 with tertiary education attainment; students in tertiary education and participation of adults aged 25-64 in education and training and human resources in science and technology. As main economic indicators, we identified: regional gross domestic product; employment and income of households. The aim of this paper is to determine whether there is a correlation between the indicators of the quality of human capital and economic indicators. As a main methodology we have used the correlation coefficient which shows interdependence of the analyzed indicators. As part of our analysis, we consider only EU member states that belong to the SEE countries: Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece. We conclude that in all countries there is a high multiple correlation coefficient between the indicators human resources in science and technology, number of students and employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to investigate whether and which specific, distinctive characteristics of European cycle logistics projects and the corresponding supporting policies have an impact on their economic performances in terms of profit and profitability. First, we identify project success factors by geographic area and project-specific characteristics; then, we statistically test possible dependence relationships with supporting policies and economic results. Finally, we provide a value-based identification of those characteristics and policies which more commonly lead to better economic results. This way, our work may serve as a basis for the prioritization and contextualization of those project functionalities and public policies to be implemented in a European context. We found that cycle logistics projects in Europe achieve high profit and profitability levels, and the current policies are generally working well and supporting them. We also found that profit and profitability vary across the bike model utilized: mixing cargo bikes and tricycles generates the highest profit and profitability, whilst a trailer–tricycle–cargo bike mix paves the way for high volumes and market shares. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to map the position of the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region for university - industry cooperation in research and development. (R&D) To meet this goal, we use the Global Competitiveness Index 2011 database and consider those indicators describing the knowledge production and the knowledge absorption potential of 142 participating countries. Based on a discriminant analysis, we classify the countries and synthesize their performances for the selected indicators. The results confirm our hypothesis regarding the heterogeneity of the CEE countries' performances for university - industry cooperation and identifies the factors that explain the variations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: Islamic banks appeared on the world scene as active players over two decades ago. Many of the principles upon which Islamic banking is based have been commonly accepted all over the world. Financial institutions driven by Islamic principles acquire new clientele without excessive marketing, due to preservation of conservative values. Contrary to the conventional investment banks, their value is based on real money, and not on virtual activities from swap and derivative assets. Competition between conventional (or traditional) and Islamic banks is increasing every day, moreover, Islamic financial institutions are more resistant to the crisis. Our study contains analysis and comparison of economic efficiency of the conventional and Islamic banks. Besides the fact that traditional and Islamic banks apply inputs differently, the reason of better efficiency of Islamic banks may be connected with different approach to the risk management and control of the banking operations by the Sharia commission. Purpose of the article: The main aim of the article is to compare the economic efficiency of the conventional and Islamic banks in Europe. Methods: To achieve the aim of the paper, firstly the selected financial indicators of traditional and Islamic banks in Europe were compared. The second, the analysis of the economic efficiency of the selected 1460 conventional and Islamic financial institutions using DEA methods was conducted. Findings & Value added: Research results indicated methodological differences in the economic efficiency measuring in the Islamic banks. At the same time, the higher economic efficiency of Islamic banks was confirmed. The results are motivating for the follow-up investigation into the causes of higher efficiency of Islamic banks compared to traditional banks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The composition of economic growth can be analyzed in two different ways. In the ‘traditional method’ for the decomposition of GDP growth, total imports are deducted from exports. This approach underestimates the importance of exports for the growth in GDP, and overestimates the importance of domestic expenditure categories. In the alternative methodology proposed in this paper, imports are allocated to all expenditure categories. Although this ‘import-adjusted method’ is more complex than the ‘traditional method’, it has the considerable advantage that the contributions of the expenditure categories to GDP growth provide a better understanding of why GDP growth decelerates or accelerates. The methodology and data requirements for calculating the import content of final demand, and the implications for the decomposition of real GDP growth, are discussed. For six European countries and the United States, the paper shows that applying the alternative methodology provides rather a different economic story. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the sustainability of fiscal policy for selected Euro-area countries. We focus on those countries that either have a high debt to GDP ratio (Italy) or have recently violated the Maastricht treaty by permitting more than three percent of the deficit to GDP ratio (France, Germany, and Portugal). We apply an approach developed by Bohn who proposes to study whether the primary surplus to GDP ratio is a positive function of the debt to GDP ratio which does not need arbitrary discount rates that other approaches have to assume. By controlling for the impact of other variables in this process, we can show that for the above mentioned countries fiscal policy shows evidence for sustainability, although the three percent rule of the Maastricht treaty might temporarily be violated. We also compare our results from the Euro-area countries to results obtained for the US fiscal policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent technological developments make perovskite solar cells (PSCs) particularly suitable for building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) applications on vertical building envelopes, but the relatively short lifespan of PSCs requires frequent replacement, thereby generating substantial waste. Careful consideration of circularity credentials of this novel technology is therefore essential prior to the extensive implementation of vertical PSCs in building envelopes. This paper provides a circular economy approach for the implementation of PSCs in vertical envelopes and assesses its economic feasibility by life cycle cost analysis in Europe. The process of recycling PSC is developed. The economic performance of PSC envelopes is provided and compared to that of the conventional rigid BIPV system. Uncertainty analysis and sensitivity analysis of economic indicators are then performed to identify the influential parameters. The findings indicate that the PSC envelope has a significant potential for circular BIPV components and that PSCs applied on vertical envelope are economically viable. • LCCA of vertical PSC envelopes with recycling strategy is analyzed in Europe. • Recycling strategy of PSC is explored before diffusion to overcome PSC's short lifespan. • PSC price is the most influential factor for the deviation of LCOE. • PSC envelope has potential to achieve profitability in most regions of Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the latest global economic crisis (2007-2009) the importance of fiscal policy as a part of economic policy is growing. Its significance extends from the experience of the Great Depression of the 1930s. In this paper, with the help of the ARIMA model, the influence of fiscal policy instruments on macroeconomic fiscal indicators and some selected indicators of economic development in the context of countries of Southeast Europe have been explored. Friedman's test has shown that the countries have not yet recovered from the global economic crisis. The results shows that fiscal policy can act on the individual's standard of living, but only responsible implementation will have the same effect on public finances and the overall sustainable development of a country. Also, fiscal policy is an important measure of agricultural policy and is increasingly being used as a directional development factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the traits of the labour market in Romania, compared to the general tendencies in the EU. It adopts an institutionalist perspective, contrasting the impact of regulation with the structural problems of the Romanian labour market. By looking at such indicators as the level of public employment, self-employed persons, or percentage of manufacturing employment, this study delineas the managerial challenges embedded within the labour market in Romania, as characteristics of this country, as well as others in Eastern Europe. One of the main findings of this study is that many of the problems of the Romanian labour market remain hidden from general quantitative assessments, and policy-making needs to be informed by in-depth analysis of the underlying structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to establish the future intervention priorities in building a new programme that would target the economic development in the research area. The used methodology included an adapted A'WOT analysis - an initial SWOT analysis and a prioritization of the items through an expert questionnaire. In the present paper we analyze the experts' opinions and the areas where intervention is needed for the optimum strategies for the 2014-2020 financial frame. These should rely on the strengths in the Guidelines for Applicants, the rules for projects implementation and the institutional system, it should consider changes on the weak points concerning the programme objectives, the Guidelines for Applicants and the beneficiaries consultations, it should make use of opportunities coming from the crossborder status, European Union frame and economic opportunities and overcome the differences coming from crossborder status, membership of two different supranational structures and the economic gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of corruption on foreign direct investment inflows for ten Central and Eastern European states. The paper attempts to answer the question: what is the role of corruption in attracting foreign direct investments? Using the data from UNCTAD for foreign direct investment and Corruption Perception Index from Transparency International, for a period of 12 years, 2000-2012, we evaluate the specific impact of corruptions on FDI using GDP as control variable. Our results confirm the majority of literature and show a negative significant relation between the variables analyzed, but at a lower intensity than expected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

The urban migration in the North American cities and many European cities displays a great diversity of urban ethnic landscapes. These territories do not just show to the concentration of resident foreign-born population in certain areas inside the cities or in the suburbs but also the relevance of the economic activities developed by the immigrants. The role of migrant entrepreneurs has been critical in the revitalization of certain derelict urban cores and peripheries which have been transformed sometimes into vibrant ethnic business spaces. Some of these spaces show the importance of concentration of ethnic businesses and coethnic residents; some others present different geographic patterns, such as concentration or dispersion of ethnic businesses among a non-coethnic population; other times it is the concentration of specialized businesses. The combination of the different factors: concentration vs dispersion, diversity vs specialization and the majority vs minority relationship between ethnic businesses and the residents (monoethnicity vs multiethnicity) creates a set of different types of ethnic business spaces. The paper will explain theses types of ethnic business spaces with examples, such as Petite Asie in Paris, or multiethnic Ravalistan in Barcelona's old town, and the geographical factors that are shaping them. The methodology is based upon a review of contemporary literature and other research findings on ethnic landscapes mainly in metropolitan North America but also in European cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continuous monitoring of the evolution of the economy is fundamental for the decisions of public and private decision makers. The paper proposes EUROMIND, which is a new monthly indicator of the euro area economic conditions, based on tracking real gross domestic product monthly, relying on information provided in the Eurostat Euro-IND database. EUROMIND has several original economic and statistical features. First, it considers both the output and the expenditure sides of the economy, as it provides a monthly estimate of the value added of the six branches of economic activity and of the main gross domestic product components by type of expenditure (final consumption, gross capital formation and net exports), and combines the estimates with optimal weights reflecting their relative precision. Second, the indicator is based on information at both the monthly and the quarterly level, modelled with a dynamic factor specification cast in state space form. Third, since estimation of the multivariate dynamic factor model with mixed frequency data can be numerically complex, computational efficiency is achieved by implementing univariate filtering and smoothing procedures. Finally, special attention is paid to chain linking and its implications, via a multistep procedure that exploits the additivity of the volume measures expressed at the prices of the previous year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the role of labor market institutions in explaining different labor market developments in European countries, paying special attention to the new EU member countries. This may allow us to analyze the effects of various institutional setups and their changes to major labor market indicators. We complement several studies from the late 1990s by using more recent data that allow us to compare institutional setups from the mid-1990s and early 2000s in both old and new EU member states. We estimate the effects of labor market institutions on various performance indicators (unemployment, long-term unemployment, employment, activity rate). Our results confirm that high taxes increase unemployment, whereas active labor market policies tend to reduce it. We also show that stricter employment protection, higher taxes, and a larger economic burden represented by the minimum wage decrease employment and activity rates. Statistical tests indicate a difference in the institutional effects between old and new EU members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of Southeast European countries (SEECs) depends crucially on international trade. This paper empirically analyzes intraindustry trade between SEECs and the European Union using bilateral trade data at the combined nomenclature four-digit level from 1996 to 2004. We analyze trade patterns for Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, and Serbia and Montenegro. Applying the Grubel-Lloyd index indicates changes in the trade of manufactured goods between the SEECs and the European Union during the first years of the Stabilization and Association Agreement implementation period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of a circular economy (CE) has become popular and important issue in environmental management in recent years; however, there are not particular indicators dedicated to it in regional policy. CE approach is an industrial system that is restorative by design, and it emphasises that it is important that, rather than extracting natural resources, the materials that have already been taken can and should be recovered and reused in different ways, thereby securing natural resources from over-exploitation. In order to meet CE assumptions, modern and innovative technologies that allow for the recovery of valuable materials should be developed. This also applies to eco-innovation that connects technology development with environmental aspects. It is therefore obvious that issues of CE and eco-innovation are linked, and a uniform methodology aimed at compare the levels of moving to CE including eco-innovation solutions should be established. Because the focus in European Union (EU) has been paid on regions, measuring of CE-eco-innovations levels is especially important at the regional level. In this paper, the proposals of CE indicators, based on eco-innovation factors, which can be possible to create based on existing data set (Eurostat, Cohesion policy) are presented. It is recommend to use of five group indicators for measuring regional CE-eco-innovation. Based on Eco-Innovation Scoreboard which describes innovation measurement, three of proposed indicator groups are associated directly with innovations, taking into account the principles of CE: CE-eco-innovation inputs, CE-eco-innovation activities and CE-eco-innovation outputs, and other two groups of indicators are effects of the CE-eco-innovation introduction: resource efficiency outcomes and socio-economic outcomes. This way of measuring CE-eco-innovation allows for create holistic, systematic and integrated approach for the CE concept at the regional level. Proposed indicators can be used in current transition stage for assessment of implementation regional policy and as a base for creation final CE indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The determinants and effects of bank bailout programs on the economy and society are still controversial. Using a Propensity Score Matching approach relying on 22 European countries, it was identified economic growth, economic freedom, total banking assets, and liquid assets to deposits and short-term funding ratio as the main drivers for the decision to adopt a bank bailout program. The results show that the adoption of bank bailout programs did not lead to an improvement in the banks' solvency indicators or financial performance. Still, it has amplified financial stress and income inequality instead, hampering political stability, as well as social and economic conditions. The novelty of this research resides in adding a contribution to scarce literature covering the determinants of the decision to adopt a bank bailout program, also by comprehensively expanding the set of candidate variables that may have impacted the decision for Government intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

The article presents information on some comments based on a paper submitted by economist Steven Stack on a neo-Keynesian model of income inequality, which makes predictions like the greater the direct government involvement in the economy (DGI) the less the unemployment and the less the income inequality, the greater the DGI, the greater the economic growth and the less the degree of income inequality and that government spending will have an effect on income inequality independent of the level of development. The statement that the original association between growth and inequality is spurious and that growth affects inequality indirectly through its association with DGI is a non sequitur and reflects ignorance about what a spurious association really is. If the original association is spurious, then the second part of his statement is false. The distinction between Keynesian economic manipulation and central planning involves fundamental, qualitative differences in both the nature and form of government intervention, so that the planners of East Europe and of the Soviet Union are not simply Keynesian's writ large.

Decades after the transition processes have spread across Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern Europe (CESEE), the former Soviet Union, and the Baltic, it was interesting to perform the post-transition and non-transition advanced European economies comparison to capture the outcomes of the 'catching-up process'. In this analysis, I tried to reach the results of this 'catching process' using the firm-level accounting data, namely, enterprises' annual accounts rather than countries' national accounts. The goal was to evaluate if post-transition countries' enterprises have reached the financial performance of non-transition countries' enterprises across Europe, three decades after the transition processes began. The research captured firm-level financial performance aspects revealing some differentiators, namely, financial report indicators that differed for the enterprises belonging to post-transition countries in comparison with the ones belonging to non-transition countries in Europe. The findings related to the liquidity, solvency, indebtedness, profitability indicators, and labor intensity ratio were derived by logit regression models. The observations for 569 European companies were provided by Orbis Europe for the year 2021 annual accounts. According to the results, enterprises in post-transition countries, characterized by lower total assets and working capital scale, were likely to have lower profit margins, share of employees' costs in operating turnover, current ratio, and gearing, while higher solvency and liquidity ratio. Mild marginal effects indicated the gap narrowed but with still existing significant disparities, particularly in the field of liquidity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial performance is a method of subjective measurement used as an alternative to measuring overall health from a financial point of view. Financial performance shows the ability of a company to generate and control its own resources. A lot of researchers use financial performance indicators to compare similar companies from the same industry in order to determine the strengths and weaknesses of a company. This article highlights the way in which airlines are appraised based on financial indicators. The purpose of the paper is to create a ranking of the largest airlines in Europe, which we will differentiate in terms of their financial performance. The sample includes 15 companies from the European airline industry, which are in the top 20 largest companies in Europe in terms of the number of passengers on board. A number of 6 financial ratios were used, these being the most used in scientific research when it comes to measuring financial performance. The analyzed period was 3 years, from 2016 to 2018. The performance indicators aggregation method was determined using the ARAS method, a method of analysis with several criteria. This method helps us optimize the values of companies with certain ideal values. The results showed that Rayanair, which had the most passengers transported during the analysis period, does not record the best financial appraisals in the sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability and innovation are both significant for the development of the business environment. Moreover, sustainable innovation creates a new generation of businesses worldwide that provide products and services characterized by resource efficiency. This paper aims to emphasize an assessment of innovative sustainable businesses in Europe. The identification and analysis of businesses that focus on sustainability and innovation are currently necessary since the future of all economies depend on how companies are using the existing resources. Innovative sustainable businesses provide new competitive green solutions that meet human needs. In addition to economic performances, businesses around the world should focus also on social and environmental performances. The methodological approach included a comparative analysis of the Global 100 most sustainable companies and a case study of the most sustainable European business in the world in the field of renewable energy. The index of the Global 100 most sustainable businesses in the world is reported by Corporate Knights, a Canadian research company. The results of the research highlighted that European countries have the most sustainable businesses in the world. The company included in the case study can become best practice for the other European countries that were not included in the Global 100 ranking. Innovative sustainable businesses are the future of Europe because they provide socio-economic and environmentally performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research covers an evaluation of the impact of education system, educational, scientific and other institutions on the economic growth in nine countries of Southeast Europe (SEE). The main hypothesis is the following: GDP pc growth is significant and positively correlates with the indicators of the state of education system. In addition to educational institutions, there are other social and economic indicators on which education and science depend, namely the budget and fiscal system, corruption and protection of intellectual property rights, which also have positive and significant impact on GDP pc. The stated fields are interactive. Besides GDP pc, the analysis includes another 11 variables. Factor analysis for the variables grouped into two factors shows high significance. The F-test result shows significance of the regression model. ANOVA test, too, confirms the aforementioned significance. Both variables (the first and second factor) have positive direction with GDP pc. The results show significance of the institutional-educational variable, while the impact of educational population in the model is not sufficiently significant. Econometric analysis has mainly confirmed the initial hypotheses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several studies describe the causal connection between poverty and criminality, but only recently (Phillips and Land, 2012) is a systematic analytical method proposed for US counties. In this paper we present a regression analysis on European data for the 1993-2010 periods trying to identify the relationship between four types of crimes and three different economic indicators. To make the analysis more accurate, trends in variables are also computed and the variation of the residuals are compared. Dummy time series are created with and without the same trend as the explanatory variables to verify the accuracy of the proposed methodology. Following the three step analysis we can conclude that correlation between crimes and economic indicators are not statistically significant. The small number of observed correlations has negative values for some countries between robbery and unemployment and positive for others, which involves a lack of causal relation between the indicators. Thus we conclude that an aggregate analysis of European countries is compromised, due the increased dispersion of the variables. As a result we consider per-country analysis more appropriate. In some particular cases even regional groups of states with the same trend can be established, showing higher values of correlation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early transition phase in post-communist Europe, citizens' perceptions of the national economy appeared more favorable than objective economic indicators would suggest. With triple and quadruple digit annual inflation rates and a severe economic contraction, there was a substantial portion of the population in these countries who still thought that the national economy had been and would be improving. Thus, sociotropic economic perceptions in the wake of the democratic transformation appeared to be disconnected from the real economic situation. The purpose of this paper is threefold. First, it explores the link between objective economic indicators and public evaluations of the economy. Second, it investigates the microfoundations of economic perceptions. And finally, it tests a well-established proposition that political sophisticates are more accurate in their perceptions than their less informed counterparts. The findings of the study can be generalized to any political and economic system undergoing transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the urban context the quest to enhance economic growth and social well-being is challenged by the need to protect and manage natural resources. In order to promote sustainable urban planning, sustainability objectives are commonly embedded into planning policies, and the associated indicators used to evaluate planning interventions and monitor implementation of such objectives. The applicability of indicators is commonly tied in to their ability to address context-specific issues and monitor progress towards definite goals set at the local level. This paper presents the findings of a participative methodology applied in five European cities to develop a set of sustainability indicators with the aim of optimising their applicability for assessing planning alternatives affecting urban metabolism (i.e. the exchange of materials and energy within cities). The results indicate that engagement of researchers and practitioners through Communities of Practice (CoP) helped bridge the gap between science and practice, and facilitated the selection of consistent and meaningful indicators to be used as a tool for decision-making. However, the results also revealed that planning priorities can significantly shape the extent and scope of sustainability indicators, and that a CoP approach may not always be sufficient to guarantee continuity of collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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We have approached this paper with the idea of helping to predict the likely effects of the accession of the CEEC's on trade patterns in the enlarged EU and how the trade structure will affect growth. To this end, we examine the factors that account for the major changes that have taken place in trade flows since the CEEC's began their processes of transition and economic opening-up within the framework of the European Association Agreements. Specifically, our purpose is to find evidence that help us to foresee whether the accession of the CEEC's will involve not only increased trading with the new partners -attributable to the effects of trade creation and deviation, acknowledged on a general basis in the literature on the Regional Integration Agreements- but also a geographical restructuring of the trade flows between the members of the area. Due attention has not been attached until recently to this latter aspect in the context of the new geography and trade models, although it is of equal importance. In this respect, it is of particular interest to us to examine whether -as has been postulated in some papers- the integration of the CEEC's may lead to a concentration of the multinationals in these countries with a view to using them as a "exporting platform" in detriment to the exporting possibilities of the current members of the EU, and particularly of the Southern European member states, which have a more similar production and trading capacity to the candidates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous authors have described an acid rain game in which countries respond to transboundary depositions of sulphur by adjusting their domestic emissions. Multiple attempts to model environmental Kuznets curves for sulphur emissions over time, however, have ignored the theoretical dependency of emissions on transboundary depositions. This neglect is surprising since in Europe there are numerous examples of countries whose own contribution to domestic depositions is less than the contribution from foreign emissions. Within the context of a long panel of sulphur emissions for European countries it is shown that accounting for transboundary emissions markedly alters the perceived shape of the environmental Kuznets curve. Far more compelling however is a model characterized by a spatial lag in which countries simply track changes in the per capita emissions characteristics of their neighbours irrespective of their per capita income levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early 19905, leading economists have predicted huge unexhausted trade potentials associated with the political restraints under the COMECON regime. Besides the low Eastern per capita GDP figures associated with limited access to frontier technologies, the political regulation of West-East and also intra-East trade per se lead to discrepancies in the behavioral relationships. This paper addresses the question of whether changes in the determinants of trade such as market size and relative factor endowments or economic behavior (the different sensitivities of trade to its determinants) were responsible for these findings. Our empirical evidence from a large panel of bilateral European trade flows suggests that the conclusions differ sharply for East- West versus intra-East trade. Concerning East-West trade we observe pronounced convergence in behavior to intra-Western standards between the second and fourth considered phase of transition while for intra-East trade there is no such convergence in behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a previous paper in this journal (Headey et al., 2000) a comparison was made between three so-called ‘best cases’ of welfare regime types, the ‘Liberal’ US, 'the ‘Corporatist’ Germany and the ‘Social-Democratic’ Netherlands. The main conclusion was that the Social-Democratic welfare state performed best on nearly all social and economic indicators that were applied. That paper was based on the ten-year datasets drawn from the national socio-economic panel studies. For this paper we use the unique comparative panel dataset of the European Community Household Panel. At the time of research, only three waves of data covering the 1994–96 period were available. Instead of three countries representing three different welfare state types as in the earlier paper we cover twelve countries allowing us to distinguish a fourth Southern or Mediterranean welfare regime type and to compare the performance of the four regimes. Compared to the Headey's et al. paper we focus on the comparative analysis of the level of deprivation and pay less attention to income poverty and inequality. Because we consider deprivation to be part of the concept of social exclusion (see also Atkinson et al., 2002) our results also provide evidence on how welfare regimes across the EU cope with social exclusion. We conclude that the Social-Democratic welfare state does a good job of preventing income poverty but performs less well in equalising levels of deprivation. Our results also show that the immature Southern welfare states perform worse with respect to preventing deprivation. Trying to explain levels of deprivation by estimating Tobit panel regressions it turned out that the impact of regime type remains significant though limited. Common, ‘structural’ disparities between the countries and regimes in terms of economic welfare, the demographic structure, and the employment situation explain most of the variance across countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different European countries pay very different interest rates on their public debts. Will these differences disappear if and when exchange rates come to be irrevocably fixed in the European Monetary Union? Or rather will default risks in the high debt countries keep interest rates from converging? To answer this question, this paper investigates whether a perceived default risk is already priced by the market. The paper compares the interest rates on public and private financial instruments denominated in the same currencies in 12 OECD countries. A strong correlation is found between the size of public indebtedness and the spread between public and private rates of return. This correlation suggests that the markets perceive a default risk on the public debt of some OECD countries. The size of this default risk is however very small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses the association between firms' sustainability and economic performance in Europe, considering the channels of margin and turnover. The sample is composed of firms listed in the STOXX Europe 600 Index from 2012 to 2020. The sustainability performance is captured by the combined and individual ESG scores from Refinitiv, and dynamically tested with proxies of economic performance, including economic value added, return on firms' assets and its components, margin and turnover. The methodological approach comprises different panel data specifications and tackles the potentially unobserved, time-invariant heterogeneity, endogeneity concerns, and reverse causality biases. Our findings point to a strong positive association between firms' sustainability and economic performance in Europe, although the individual ESG forces are not at play with the same intensity. The environmental pillar is the one that is systematically associated with better economic performance across all estimations. The influence of sustainability performance on economic performance is also channeled by both profit margin and turnover. We find that a 1% improvement in the ESG score yields an increase in the economic value added of 0.08%, EVA over revenues. In general, our findings point to a shift from the conventional business model perspective to the incorporation of a core sustainability proposition and agenda that brings advantages and drives economic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural areas can benefit from the development of biorefineries for the valorization of endogenous feedstocks. In this study, a pre-feasibility assessment of an integrated multi-product biorefinery to produce essential oils and biomethane is carried out considering current technical and economic conditions. The proposed concept is based on the steam distillation of forestry biomass for the extraction of essential oils (2900 L/y) followed by biomethane production via syngas methanation using the spent biomass as feedstock (30.4 kg/h). In parallel, the anaerobic treatment of WWTP sludge (5.3 kg/h) is used to produce additional biomethane for mobile applications. The results show that the intended multi-product biorefinery delivers attractive benefits for investors as described by the calculated financial indicators: NPV of EUR 4342.6, IRR of 18.1%, and PB of 6 years. Overall, the pre-feasibility analysis performed in this study demonstrates that the proposed biorefinery concept is promising and warrants further investment consideration via cost and benefit analysis, ultimately promoting the implementation of multi-product biorefineries across Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents research paper about the methodological inquiry of how to measure the real value of the real output of bank services. It states that the paper shows that the bias of the deflated-balance series differs across types of bank services, countries and over time. Moreover, it notes that the official estimate of European bank output growth is most probably biased relative to that of the U.S.

Quality of life and life satisfaction are topics that currently receive a great deal of attention across the globe. Many approaches exist, which use both qualitative and quantitative methods, to capture these phenomena. Historically, quality of life was measured exclusively by economic indicators. However, it is indisputable that other factors influence people's life satisfaction, which is captured by subjective survey-based data. By contrast, objective data can easily be obtained and cover a wider range, in terms of population and area. In this research, the multiple fuzzy linear regression model is applied in order to explain the relationship between subjective life satisfaction and selected objective indicators used to evaluate quality of life. The great advantage of the fuzzy model lies in its ability to capture uncertainty, which is undoubtedly associated with the vague concept of subjective life satisfaction. The main outcome of the paper is the detection of indicators that have a statistically significant relationship with life satisfaction. Subsequently, a pan-European sub-national prediction of life satisfaction after the consideration of the most relevant input indicators was proposed, including the uncertainty associated with the prediction of such a phenomenon. The study revealed significant regional differences and similarities between the originally reported satisfaction of life and the predicted one. With the help of spatial and non-spatial statistics supported by visual analysis, it is possible to assess life satisfaction more precisely, while taking into account the ambiguity of the perception of life satisfaction. Additionally, predicted values supplemented with the uncertainty measure (fuzzy approach) and the synthesis of results in the form of European typology help to compare and contrast the results in a more useful manner than in existing studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to examine the association between earnings management (EM) and corporate social responsibility (CSR), as well as whether a firm's CSR orientation moderates the trade-off between accruals earnings management (AEM) and real earnings management (REM). Design/methodology/approach: Firm-year pooled regressions, based on unbalanced panel data and controlling for country, year and sector fixed effects, were estimated using a sample composed of European companies from 16 countries. Findings: Results suggest a negative relationship between EM and CSR, consistent with the idea that socially responsible activities are associated with more ethical behavior. Moreover, social responsibility orientation seems to mitigate strongly ERM, which may suggest that managers use less REM in order to protect firm's long-term profitability. Practical implications: The authors' findings have practical implications for a large group of stakeholders, such as regulators, investors and business partners. Thus, from an ethical perspective, more socially responsible firms present more trustworthy financial information and more sustainable economic performance, which decreases risk assessment from their business partners and remaining stakeholders. Originality/value: Prior literature focuses mainly on discretionary accruals to study the association between EM and CSR. The authors contribute to the literature by considering both EM strategies, accruals and real operations in a European context, which allows for a better understanding of the relationship between CSR and financial information transparency and quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]