Search

Solitude is a rising phenomenon in the western world. The share of people affected by solitude has been rising for some time and the Covid-19 pandemic has further brought this trend to the fore. Yet, we know next to nothing about the aggregate subnational economic impact of the rise in solitude. In this paper, we analyse the consequences of solitude on regional economic performance across Europe, distinguishing between two of its key dimensions: alone living, proxied by the regional share of single-person households and loneliness, proxied by the aggregate share of social interactions. We find that solitude has important implications for economic development, but that these go in different directions. While alone living is a substantial driver of economic growth across European regions, high shares of lonely people undermine it. The connection of loneliness with economic growth is, however, dependent on the frequency of in-person meetings, with large shares of the population meeting others socially on a weekly basis, alongside a small percentage of people who never meet others, yielding the best economic returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several scholars have suggested that political dividedness has harmful effects on economic performance. Interestingly, empirical tests tackling this argument are almost entirely absent. The paper aims to fill this gap by testing the above hypothesis using data from the European Social Survey, including 27 countries between 2002 and 2015. Controlling for a range of well-known explanatory variables, the results of the panel regression analysis suggest that partisan polarisation is adversely related to economic growth, while ideological polarisation is not. The finding is congruent with the hypothesis of polarisation having a notable negative effect on growth, yet future works are necessary to test both the direction and the possible channels of causality. As scholars increasingly describe contemporary politics as an era of growing polarisation, the results imply that partisan polarisation should deserve more attention from political scientists and economists as a factor that might influence economic growth. [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]

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]

This paper examines the relationship between credit constraints—proxied by the investment‐to‐cash flow sensitivity—and firm‐level economic performance— defined in terms of labor productivity—during the period 2009–2016, using a sample of 22,380 manufacturing firms from 11 European countries. It also assesses how regional institutional quality affects productivity at the level of the firm both directly and indirectly. The empirical results highlight that credit rationing is rife and represents a serious barrier for improvements in firm‐level productivity and that this effect is far greater for micro and small than for larger firms. Moreover, high‐quality regional institutions foster productivity and help mitigate the negative credit constraints–labor productivity relationship that limits the economic performance of European firms. Dealing with the European productivity conundrum thus requires greater attention to existing credit constraints for micro and small firms, although in many areas of Europe access to credit will become more effective if institutional quality is improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With a large number of railway development projects in Europe and worldwide, which once completed will be serving rail passengers of the future, this paper aims to take a step back and evaluate current railway systems performance. The objectives are to compare statistical data on various passenger-related parameters of the railway system in a number of selected European countries and draw conclusions on the level of their performance when compared to the European average. Analyses of publically available statistical data, extracted from the Eurostat service at a European level will allow for a comparison of various indicators which influence the performance of the railway systems from an infrastructure and operational perspectives. The analyses will also allow identifying key performance indicators for the accurate assessment of the rail systems. The paper will highlight case studies for various parameters which are important to stakeholders of the railways, including infrastructure managers, rail operators, policy makers and the end users. This knowledge will be to the benefit of today’s railway industry as well as the rail systems of the future, as it will show trends drew upon existing data which might continue in the future. [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]

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]

It has been argued that the concept of “borrowed size” is essential to understanding urban patterns and dynamics in North-West Europe. This paper conceptualizes this idea and provides an empirical exploration of it. A place borrows size when it hosts more urban functions than its own size could normally support. A borrowed size for one place means that other places face an “agglomeration shadow” because they host fewer urban functions than they would normally support. This paper explores the extent to which size and function are related for places in North-West Europe and tries to explain why one place borrows size while the other faces an agglomeration shadow by examining the position of places within the regional urban system. The presence of urban functions was approximated using high-end cultural amenities. We conclude that the largest places in their functional urban area (FUA) are better able to exploit their own mass. The largest place in a FUA is also better able to borrow size from nearby places and from (inter)national urban networks than the lower-ranked places. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the production function of firms based on the use of intellectual capital. The authors come up with this problem since believe that the new economy conditions require an adjustment and a development of classical firm theory. Design/methodology/approach – The research question addressed in this study is mainly related to the empirical validation of the function based on companies' intangibles in the Cobb-Douglas framework. This model enables the authors to advocate the idea of the complementarity of intellectual resources as well as simplifies the analysis of intellectual capital features. To accomplish the purpose of the research, the authors design a log-linear model and estimate it on a sample of more than 400 European and American companies. Findings – Application of Cobb-Douglas framework allowed designing a production function based on intellectual capital. The complementarity of intellectual capital components is justified on the empirical results obtained in this research. The increasing return to scale for intellectual capital was established for the sample examined in this study. Research limitations/implications – The main shortcoming of the approach implemented in this study is related to the proxy indicators of intellectual capital. Nevertheless, the authors statistically validate the chosen indicators applying hedonic approach. Practical implications – Practical accomplishment of this research is mainly associated with the conclusion about an increasing return to scale of intellectual capital. This phenomenon appears to be of a particular importance for investment decisions. Originality/value – The findings of this paper provide a new insight into intellectual resources interrelation that enhances companies' value creation. The authors also hope to assist future research attempts in application of the theory of company's growth driven by its intangible capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the current Eurozone crisis, this paper argues that the economic crisis has provoked a crisis of identity in the EU. This paper examines popular discourse on Germany and Angela Merkel in the Eurozone periphery, France and the UK according to which Europe is effectively being colonised by Germany—the so-called ‘Fourth Reich’. Using theories of fear and disgust including Burke's Sublime, Kristeva's Abject and, especially, Freud's Uncanny, it is argued that this Discourse can be understood as an essentially Gothic narrative based around the fear of the ‘return of the repressed’—in this case Nazi Germany. [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 analyses differences and similarities between the NUTS 2 regions of the European Union in terms of natural conditions with the subsequent evaluation of differences in land use, size structure, enterprise focus and selected economic indicators. The paper is also focused on the evaluation of the position of regions of the Czech Republic. NUTS 2 EU regions were classified into four groups, where the first represented favorable conditions for agriculture, on the other side the other group with conditions unsuitable for intensive agriculture - mountainous areas and the last two groups represented a transition between them. Czech regions were found in all groups except mountainous areas. Based on the analysis can we say that between clusters were found significant differences in the structure of farms, size of the enterprises, business focus but differences were not found in the economic indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current financial turbulence in Europe inspires and perhaps requires researchers to rethink how to measure incomes, wealth, and other parameters of interest to policy-makers and others. The noticeable increase in disparities between less and more fortunate individuals suggests that measures based upon comparing the incomes of less fortunate with the mean of the entire population may not be adequate. The classical Gini and related indices of economic inequality, however, are based exactly on such comparisons. It is because of this reason that in this paper we explore and contrast the classical Gini index with a new Zenga index, the latter being based on comparisons of the means of less and more fortunate sub-populations, irrespectively of the threshold that might be used to delineate the two sub-populations. The empirical part of the paper is based on the 2001 wave of the European Community Household Panel data set provided by EuroStat. Even though sample sizes appear to be large, we supplement the estimated Gini and Zenga indices with measures of variability in the form of normal, t-bootstrap, and bootstrap bias-corrected and accelerated confidence intervals. [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]

The purposes of this paper are twofold: a presentation of the theoretical basis of benchmarking and a discussion on practical benchmarking applications. Benchmarking is also analyzed as a productivity accelerator. The authors study benchmarking usage in the private and public sectors with due consideration of the specificities of the two areas. Special attention is paid to the presentation of the current picture of higher education and conditions for the application of benchmarking. The chosen examples of benchmarking projects conducted in higher education illustrate the spectrum of benchmarking usage. The authors conclude the paper with a recommendation for the employment of benchmarking in the higher education environment, especially in the light of competition pressures and rapid economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first part of this paper describes the small but constant expansion of the cross-state mobile population within the EU in the two decades preceding the 2004 enlargement. This expansion is puzzling in the light of the economic growth and the income convergence of member states over the same period. While the level of geographical mobility within the EU is frequently held to be 'low', data show that it should have been even lower given the rise of prosperity and the decline of income differentials in the EU15. In fact, it is argued that pro-mobility policies and the rise of non-labour migration have countered the diminishing appeal of intra-EU mobility that might be expected on the basis of purely economic conditions. The second part of the paper discusses the rationales and reasons of mobility. A distinction is drawn between observers' and social actors' views of the benefits of free movement. While the former usually put an emphasis on economic rewards, the latter are more likely to stress emotional and identity-linked returns. Survey data on Western European citizens who have resettled in another EU member state are revealing of the multifaceted causes and consequences of geographical mobility. In particular, these data show that identification with Europe and support for EU institutions in the mobile population are strikingly higher than among the general population. While it is true that cross-state mobility can entail economic benefits raising productivity and innovation, its political dividends are possibly even clearer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the roots of territorial cohesion thinking in the 'European model of society'. There is much to do about this model. Some regard it as a liability for European competitiveness. The Barroso Commission wants to safeguard the model by, albeit temporarily, giving priority to growth. There are those - not only in Europe, but also on the other side of the Atlantic - arguing that the European model forms a solid basis for a highly competitive economy. In these debates, 'European model' stands for moderating the pursuit of economic growth with concerns for social welfare and equity, sustainability and good governance. Before elaborating, the paper summarises the discussion about territorial cohesion and the struggle over current EU policy. Then the paper backtracks to the ideas of Jacques Delors responsible for injecting the European model into the integration discourse. What follows is an account of four reports in the wake of the hapless Lisbon Strategy, all invoking the European model. The paper concludes with reflections on territorial cohesion policy and the European model. [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]

This paper examines the sustainability of current urban regeneration practice, through the application of weighted indicators and a points scoring framework. The analysis applies the hierarchical model discussed in the preceding paper of this journal issue to case studies of waterfront areas and cultural quarters in three European cities: Belfast, Dublin and Barcelona. The evaluation permits performance comparisons to be made between the case studies regarding the sustainability of regeneration areas and projects, variations on an indicator set basis and the sensitivity of scores. Conclusions are drawn concerning regeneration practice, the extent to which sustainability principles are adhered to, potential policy benefits and the applicability of the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we aim to enhance the prevailing structural perspective on metropolization by pointing to the mutual relationship between the processes of metropolization and polycentric development. We claim that a processual view is needed to emphasize the temporal dependencies between different layers of polycentricity, and to reveal that European city–regions are situated in different stages of polycentric metropolitan development (PMD). To illustrate this empirically, we first analyse Bratislava and Vienna as two European city–regions that recently decided to jointly approach metropolitan development, while their contextual conditions and development trajectories differ significantly. It is shown upon an indicator-based analysis that the two are in different phases of the metropolization process. Confronting this evidence with stakeholder assessments of the need for strategic intervention in metropolitan development further uncovers the importance of the strategic dimension in metropolitan research. Building upon that, we conduct cluster analysis for a sample of 50 European city–regions by the same indicator set. It is shown that even this large sample of agglomerations can be grouped by different types of metropolizes, reflecting distinct effects of the metropolization process on urban-regional transformation. Hence, we conclude that a processual understanding in strategic approaches to PMD is necessary. Only if the different phases, paces, and effects of the metropolization process are taken into account, we can formulate serious recommendations for the polycentric development of distinct European urban territories. The move from structural to processual understanding is an essential foundation to learning processes for the governance of future PMD. Furthermore, the emphasis on different types of metropolizes should be taken into account in the formulation of future European policies on metropolitan development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper introduces indicators of regional related variety and unrelated variety to conceptually overcome the current impasse in the specialization-diversity debate in agglomeration economics. Although various country-level studies have been published on this conceptualization in recent years, a pan-European test has been missing from the literature until now. A pan-European test is more interesting than country-level tests, as newly defined cohesion policies, smart-specialization policies, place-based development strategies and competitiveness policies may be especially served by related variety and unrelated variety conceptualizations. We test empirically for the significance of variables based on these concepts, using a cross-sectional data set for 205 European regions during the period 2000–2010. The results confirming our hypotheses are that related variety is significantly related to employment growth, especially in small and medium-sized city-regions, and that specialization is significantly related to productivity growth. We do not find robust relationships that are hypothesized between unrelated variety and unemployment growth. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper analyses factors that contributed to the evolution of SO, NO and CO emissions in Europe from 1960 to 2010. Historical energy balances, along with population and economic growth data, are used to quantify the impacts of major determinants of changing emission levels, including energy intensity, conversion efficiency, fuel mix, and pollution control. Time series of emission levels are compared for countries in Western and Eastern Europe, throwing light on differences in the importance of particular emission-driving forces. Three quarters of the decline in SO emissions in Western Europe resulted from a combination of reduced energy intensity and improved fuel mix, while dedicated end-of-pipe abatement measures played a dominant role in the reduction of NO emissions. The increase in atmospheric emissions in Eastern Europe through the mid-1990s was associated with the growth of energy-intensive industries, which off-setted the positive impact of better fuel quality and changes in fuel mix. A continuous decrease in energy intensity and higher conversion efficiencies have been the main factors responsible for the moderate rate of growth of European CO emissions. [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.

Abstract: A big amount of final energy in Europe is used in buildings (about 50%). Thermo insulating investments in the building sector can have a great impact on the improvement of the energetic efficiency of buildings and the reduction of the use of final energy in this sector. In the paper there were presented properly modified indicators for the economic assessment of the investments which is based on the thermal insulation of external walls of the building, such as: net present value, profitability indicator and payback period. For the ecological assessment the following indicators were introduced: ecological net present value, ecological indicator of profitability and ecological payback period. LCA technique was used in ecological indicators. For different variants of external walls, sources of heat and thermo insulating materials, the assessment of investments due to economic and ecological indicators was conducted. Ecological payback periods were obtained within 0–6 years. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper examines the observed impact of past economic downturns on human development indicators in 29 countries of the region. We estimate empirical elasticities of key human development indicators covering demographics, crime, epidemiology, unemployment, and poverty with respect to changes in per-capita purchase power parity (PPP) gross domestic product. Based on published gross domestic product growth projections from the IMF, we then project the likely impact on the human development indicators in coming years for the countries in the region. The results suggest that the adverse impact of past downturn in income on poverty, public health, mortality, and suicide and homicide rates is likely to be considerable, long-lasting, and to affect the poorest disproportionately. Based on our results, we argue that policy-makers will need better and more timely data to provide the evidence base for policies; and that those policies need to take into account the looming substantial backslide in human development indicators stemming from the global economic crisis. [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]

The paper aims to highlight the features of European voters behavior at the European elections, based on the correlation between political-electoral variables (voter turnout, political options) and various social, demographic and economic indicators (population density, urban population rate, professional structure of population, active population rate, unemployment rate, gross domestic product per capita, parity purchase power included, etc.). These particularities are highlighted with the aid of a combination between the principal component analysis and the hierarchical ascendant classification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of the new Europe based on knowledge strengthens the role of the regions and offers great potential for generating higher levels of growth and employment and greater prosperity and cohesion. In this paper, the geographical distribution of knowledge produced by European universities in the regions has been analysed by means of a sample from 213 regions in the EU-15, comparing its degree of concentration with that of economic activity and verifying whether a process of convergence of relevant indicators has taken place during the period 1998-2004. Finally, an evaluation as to whether this convergence of university scientific and technological knowledge affects the regional economic convergence has been carried out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the movement of unemployment rate and the long and short term relationships between unemployment rate and economic growth rate are examined for individuals and pooled cases in European countries over the period 1977-2008. Several panel techniques are used for non-stationary panels and thereby some evidence are found for unemployment hysteresis in all European Countries. The Okun's coefficients are also estimated. The results show that the validity of Okun's Law and the significance of the relationship between economic growth rate and unemployment rate vary between countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the large volume of resources employed in policies financed by the Structural Funds and the importance of the Objectives pursued, this paper seeks to perform an analysis of the efficiency of the application of these resources to increase productivity and employment by those regions classified as Objective 1 over the period 2000-2006. In the first place we are going to identify which are the most efficient regions by calculating both the level of efficiency according to the results obtained from the resources used (pure technical efficiency (PTE)) and the degree of efficiency according to their optimum production capacity (scale efficiency (SE)) and we have determine the “Reference Set” for inefficient regions. Finally, we will analyse the extent to which certain factors have repercussions on the efficiency such as country, geographical location and contribution of agriculture of GDP. The result indicates that the PTE of the regions are higher level although it does operate on an optimum scale. Furthermore, the country, geographical location and contribution of agriculture of GDP have significantly influences of PTE and SE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of the literature on fiscal decentralization has tended to stress that the greater capacity of decentralized governments to tailor policies to local preferences and to be innovative in the provision of policies and public services, the greater the potential for economic efficiency and growth. There is, however, little empirical evidence to substantiate this claim. In this paper we examine, using a panel data approach with dynamic effects, the relationship between the level of fiscal decentralization and economic growth rates across 16 Central and Eastern European countries over the 1990–2004 period. Our findings suggest that, contrary to the majority view, there is a significant negative relationship between two out of three fiscal decentralization indicators included in the analysis and economic growth. However, the use of different time lags allows us to nuance this negative view and show that long-term effects vary depending on the type of decentralization undertaken in each of the countries considered. While expenditure at and transfers to sub-national tiers of government are negatively correlated with economic growth, taxes assigned at the sub-national level evolve from having a significantly negative to a significantly positive correlation with the national growth rate. This supports the view that sub-national governments with their own revenue source respond better to local demands and promote greater economic efficiency [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the global trend of total factor productivity, efficiency, and technological change in the European Union regions over the period 1986-2004, using the Malmquist index computed by data envelopment analysis. The results reveal the important role played by technical efficiency in explaining total factor productivity growth in the European Union. For this reason, in a second stage, we investigate existing regional disparities in efficiency levels across the European regions, using a nonparametric methodology that allows us to study the dynamics of the entire cross-sectional distribution. Estimates show the presence of a process of convergence in efficiency levels over the sample period, despite a relatively low degree of intradistribution mobility. In order to complete these results, factors such as the geographical location of the various regions, country-specific characteristics, or the sectoral composition of economic activity were examined for their role in explaining the observed disparities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence on the neighboring effects of Internet adoption as measured by the percentage of firms with their own website in the European regions. This is the first study that explicitly analyzes the role played by spatial effects to explain website adoption for the European case. A set of instruments and techniques commonly used in the spatial econometrics framework is employed to test the hypothesis that proximity matters when explaining Internet adoption by firms. Results show that firms in physically adjacent regions register a similar degree of Internet adoption, confirming the presence in this context of positive spatial dependence. Nevertheless, the spatial effects detected are mainly constrained by national borders. Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, population density, sectoral composition, and education are positively related to geographic distribution of Internet adoption in the enlarged European Union. In addition, regional disparities in Internet adoption were found to be less important than territorial inequalities in GDP per capita. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

4th Generation District Heating (4GDH) systems can have a supply temperature lower than 50 °C to decrease losses and to favour the integration of renewable and waste heat. As the temperature requirement for space heating in new and retrofitted buildings is around 35 °C or lower, they would be suitable for 4GDH. However, Domestic Hot Water (DHW) is a significant barrier in district heating, because the temperature needs to be maintained above the standard Legionella growing range (25 °C–55 °C), even if 45 °C would be sufficient for comfort. Nonetheless, current regulations vary widely across countries in Europe, especially for small buildings. This paper aims to study the effect of different Legionella regulations on the DHW energy use, and on the substation cost of a Swiss single-family household connected to a 4GDH network. The Swiss standard is confronted with the requirements of the Danish regulation and the German "3-litre rule". Results demonstrated that a relaxation of the current Swiss regulation could present energy and economic savings. The "3-litre rule" resulted in an annual heat consumption reduction of 13% while the Danish standard achieved the lowest annual running cost and annualized total cost. • Impact of DHW regulations on a 4GDH substation energy and economic performance. • DHW regulations in Europe with different temperatures or specific exceptions. • Swiss DHW standard compared with Danish and German regulations. • Danish standard reduced the annualized system cost and the annual running cost. • German 3-litre rule with lowest investment cost but highest annual cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the issue of the relationship between internal migration rates at NUTS 2 level and economic developments. For five European countries, several hypotheses were tested on three groups of economic variables: general business cycle indicators, financial variables as well as variables reflecting more structural labour market developments. The empirical analysis is based on first differences of all variables. Although some support was found for all of the hypotheses tested but one, the main conclusion is that there is a stable relationship between GDP per capita and internal migration that is highly similar across countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Expectations that biotechnology will become a major contributor to economic growth and impact on quality of life explain its high priority on the political agenda of EU Member States. Theoretical advances in understanding innovation processes and instruments for innovation policy have created an increasing demand for empirical tools to develop policy from a systems perspective. This paper aims to provide policy-makers with tools to assist in biotechnology policy-making. Key aspects considered are: the systemic nature of the innovation process in biotechnology; the different policy areas involved in its promotion; and the time lag between policy action and potential policy outcomes. The benchmarking approach combines quantitative and qualitative indicators in order to assess policy activity in relevant policy areas and the achievement of policy goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A relevant share of the theoretical and empirical analysis on economic growth has been devoted to finding a specific role for international trade in reinforcing countries' growth rates. Not as much attention has been dedicated to the role of sectoral composition of export in influencing the effect of trade on income convergence. In this paper we look at this issue along the line of research on multiple regimes and convergence clubs, considering how openness and similarity in export composition among countries can induce convergence in income levels among the same countries. We apply our analysis to the catching-up of income levels of Central and Eastern Europe Countries to the EU benchmark. We explicitly consider the sectoral export patterns of the CEECs by comparing them to those of the 15 old members of the EU, focusing on countries' specialization as suppliers for the EU market. Our main result is that similarity in export composition has a positive, significant and nonlinear impact on catching-up. Results are robust to controlling for openness and country-size and for investment, schooling, and the quality of institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, many major Western cities aim to be attractive to new and economically successful high-tech industries, financial and business services, cultural industries and consumer services industries. Most of these new activities are dependent upon well-skilled creative workers, which will be followed by those who will work in personal services. It is said that a large share of the well-skilled and creative workers requires impulse-rich and attractive urban environments. The idea has arisen that highly segregated, socially and culturally less integrated cities, do not match the newly required city profiles. On the contrary, these cities would exacerbate urban poverty and deter skilled people from settling there. Consequently, some believe that today's cities should also be socially and culturally cohesive. This hypothesis parallels policies against segregation and policy interventions in favour of more mixed and balanced local communities. The latter type of policy is also driven by the idea that more mixed neighbourhoods will enhance individual social opportunities and thus, on aggregate, strengthen the urban economy. This paper elaborates on these ideas and hypotheses and focuses on the rise of new economic activities and the locations they aim for, their potential relation with the social (and ethnic) segregation of the population and the related impact upon the attraction of creative workers and the possible impact on the social mobility of the population. Empirical data from Europe are used to support the arguments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the European Union, tens of billions of euros are spent on regional policy every year. A major part of this amount is allocated on the basis of regional gross domestic product per capita. Because of the administrative use of this statistical estimate, the requirements for the quality of these figures are very strict. This quality is, however, not easy to specify by means of a confidence interval. What can be done to monitor the quality as a basis for improvement? In this paper an inventory is drawn up of recent work on the quality of regional accounts estimates. Special attention is paid to the instrument of process tables. In the last five years process tables have been developed for the national accounts (GNI Committee) as well as the regional accounts. The focus of the regional accounts process tables is on the treatment of multi-regional companies and the sources for top-down methods. The regional accounts should be compiled in close cooperation with the national accounts. The quality of the national accounts estimates and – indirectly – the regional accounts estimates, could be improved by the findings of the regional accounts compilation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite an increasing policy interest in biotechnology in Europe, there is a lack of internationally comparable data on national performance in biotechnology. This paper presents a performance analysis of 14 Member States using science technology and economic indicators. A strong relationship between scientific and commercial performance was found. Four performance clusters were identified: the best-performing countries Denmark, Sweden and Finland; the second-best performers The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Germany; cluster three with Austria, France and Ireland, performing below the European median performance value, and the Mediterranean countries Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece performing weakly as measured by all indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract. The European Union's Harmonised Indices of Consumer Prices (HICPs) were developed as a response to the need for comparable CPIs to measure the convergence of inflation of EU Member States as a criterion for entry to the Monetary Union. They are now used mainly as a tool for monitoring price stability in the Monetary Union. Many Eastern European countries and Cyprus are developing HICPs in readiness for accession to EU membership. The paper describes the main features of HICPs and the plans for further development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

The evolution of the Western world has drawn on theoretical structures of classical and neoclassical liberalism for its explanatory support and sources of inspiration for centuries. Against this ideological background, institutionalists aim at showing that growth is a process of transformation, a double change: an economic and an institutional one. In this analysis, our purpose is to highlight the importance of informal institutional arrangements and their quality in explaining the disparities of revenues and developments between countries. In our approach, we will consider several indicators meant to highlight various aspects of research. The approach proposed is a transversal-comparative one and static methods pertain to uni- and multivariate analysis. The results obtained suggest the existence of major differences within the Central and East European area as far as informal institutions are concerned; moreover, the analysis conducted confirms the existence of a significant relation between the level of development and the structure of informal arrangements such as: trust level, bribe culture and corruption control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]