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Research background: Agriculture plays a vital role in producing food to ensure food security, but it is one of the biggest contributors to environmental pollution. One of the main goals of the new CAP is to set higher ambitions for environmental actions, which brings into the front the concept of agricultural eco-efficiency. The notion of eco-efficiency includes the economic and also ecological dimensions of sustainable agriculture. Purpose of the article: The main goal of this paper is to evaluate the eco-efficiency of agricultural production and its dynamics during the years 2013, 2015, and 2017 of NUTS 2 regions within the Visegrad 4 (V4), i. e. The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland. The part of the main goal is to verify the research hypothesis that all the biggest agriculture producers are eco-efficient. Methods: V4 regional eco-efficiency of the agricultural sector is expressed by the Malmquist productivity index and is estimated using the output-oriented Data envelopment analysis (DEA) model, under the assumption of constant return to scale (CRS). The Malmquist index is decomposed to technical eco-efficiency change (EC) and technological change (TC). Based on the ecoefficiency, technological and pure technical eco-efficiency change, V4 regions are classified into three groups: the most progressive regions, the progressive regions, and the regressive regions. Findings & value added: CZ02: Central Bohemia, CZ04: Northwest, HU33: Dél-Alföld, HU31: Észak-Magyarország, HU32: Észak-Alföld, PL21: Malopolskie, PL41: Wielkopolskie, SK01: Bratislava region, and SK02: Western Slovakia have an eco-effective agricultural sector, the remaining V4 regions have eco-ineffective agricultural sector. The research hypothesis that all the biggest agricultural producers are eco-effective is not confirmed. During the analyzed years, 19 V4 regions improve their agricultural eco-efficiency. The main contributor to eco-efficiency improvement is technological progress, which indicates that producers implement innovations that lead to more eco-efficiency agricultural production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: The patients' confidence in physicians, as well as in healthcare personnel in general, is an important determinant of the patients' satisfaction and their loyalty. The patients' confidence as well as their overall satisfaction is influenced by many determinants, which are in a causal relation. Purpose of the article: The main aim of the study is to find out which socio-demographic factors influence the confidence of inpatients in physicians, nurses, other medical personnel, as well as in the treatment as such. The inpatients' confidence is considered as an important dimension of the inpatients' satisfaction. Methods: The questionnaire consists of 112 structured and semi-structured sur-vey questions. It was inspired by the HCAHPS survey. The questionnaire was distributed both on-line and in paper form in the Czech Republic. The dataset consists of 1,479 observations (899 females and 580 males). The descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression were used to process all data. Findings & value added: The research revealed significant differences in the confidence of inpatients in physicians in relation to the physicians' communication styles regarding the inpatient's gender. Males are more tolerant to the communication styles of physicians than women. There exists a relatively strong linear relationship between confidence in physicians, nurses, other healthcare professionals, and confidence in a treatment. Also, it was determined that in cases when a physician talks about an inpatient as if she/he is not there, the patient's confidence in the medical personnel is reduced by 65%. Overall confidence in medical personnel is also gender biased i.e., in 87% of cases, women are more likely to have a higher confidence in medical personnel than men. The age of inpatients is not statistically significant and its impact on a confidence in medical personnel is neglectable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: Microfinance institutions (MFIs) play an important role in alleviating poverty. Thus, MFIs should be efficient in order to ensure that their objectives on social welfare and financial performance can be achieved by identifying the potential determinants, specifically on social globalisation. Purpose of the article: This paper examines the impacts of the social globalisation dimensions of interpersonal, informational, and cultural globalisations on the financial and social efficiency of MFIs. Methods: The data period covered the years 2011-2018; the data set consists of 176 MFIs from six Asian countries. The Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach was employed to examine the MFIs' efficiency levels. Generalised Least Square (GLS) regressions were used to analyse the impacts of social globalisation and other determinants towards the efficiency of MFIs. Findings and value added: Interpersonal globalisation had a significantly negative correlation with social efficiency, suggesting that increasing the number of foreigners in management intrudes on local managers' decisions. Informational globalisation had a significantly positive correlation with financial and social efficiency, which signifies that more information produces monopolistic profits in this industry. Finally, cultural globalisation had a positive correlation with social efficiency, demonstrating that a global trading culture improves the abilities and technological skills for labour development and enhances MFIs' social efficiency. In general, the Cobb Douglas Production theory explained the understanding of the impacts social globalisation has on MFI efficiency. Furthermore, the findings from this study could provide important scientific, practical gap and contribute new insights and implications to various parties. Firstly, governments or policymakers can establish effective national policies and strategies. Secondly, this study could support investors in monitoring and understanding the performance of MFIs. Finally, the research could fill scholarly gaps and uncover more potential factors that influence the efficiency of MFIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: The paper investigates the earnings management phenomenon in the context of Central European countries, attempting to identify the factors and incentives that can influence earnings management behavior on a sample of 8,156 enterprises from Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. Purpose of the article: The main purpose of the manuscript is to prove that there are significant differences in earnings management practices (measured by discretionary accruals) across the countries and to find the firm-specific features that influence the way enterprises manage their earnings. Methods: The modified Jones model was used to calculate the discretionary accruals, which are further analyzed across the countries. The statistically significant differences were confirmed across the countries. Thus, the impact of the economic sector, firm size, firm age, legal form, and ownership structure on earnings management behavior is studied by the Kruskal-Wallis test. The Dunn-Bonferroni post hoc tests then revealed the significant differences across the categories of the investigated earnings management determinants. To find the association between the particular earnings management practice (income-increasing or income-decreasing manipulation), correspondence analysis was used to visualize the mutual relations. Findings & value added: The results of the realized investigation revealed that the economic sector is one of the most important earnings management determinants, as its statistical significance was confirmed in each analyzed country. The correspondence analysis determined specific sectors, where income-increasing manipulation with earnings is practiced (NACE codes F, J, K, M, N), and vice versa, income-decreasing earnings management is characteristic for enterprises in sectors A, C, D, G or L. In specific economic conditions, firm size is also a relevant indicator (Hungary), or firm age and legal form and ownership structure (Poland). The recognition of crucial earnings management incentives may be helpful for authorities, policymakers, analysts and auditors when identifying various techniques and practices of earnings manipulation which could vary across the sectors and taking necessary measures to mitigate potential financial risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the issue of globalisation and deteriorating precision of domestically oriented frameworks is addressed. A hypothesis that the effect of international trends on the growth of economy is increasing over time is formed. In order to validate this, a method of composing foreign series with local indicators in a hierarchical dynamic factor model is presented. The novelty of this approach is that globalisation effect is measured focusing on prediction rather than similarity. This way the measure presents the country's sensitivity to global shocks and reveals how much focal country's economy is intertwined with global economy. The application was performed on the basis of Lithuanian data and the hypothesis was validated. The results indicate that globalisation effect has an increasing effect over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the problem of rational forming of the financing system for local self-government entities. The concept of fiscal federalism as well as the role and importance of own revenues and revenues from the state budget transfers, which are slightly different from other unitary countries, have been referred to in this context. The aim of this paper is to statistically analyze the selected categories of local self-government revenues in Poland with regard to the local self-government total revenue in 2013 and the total expenditure between 1999 and 2013. The study involved methods for the analysis of dynamics of mass phenomena such as, first of all, fixed base indexes, the average rate of change indicator and the correlation and regression coefficients from time series. The correlation and regression coefficients from time series were calculated with the first difference method. The results of study demonstrate a statistically significant role of transfer revenues in the expenditure (with the exception of voivodeships) and a statistically insignificant effect of sensu stricto own revenues in the case of cities with poviat status, poviats and voivodeships. The results reveal that the spending policy of local self-governments in Poland is highly dependent on a specific category of revenue, which is referred to as "other revenue" in the study, as a result of the inflow of EU funds. In the long term, once this specific, incidental source of revenue has been exhausted, the local self-government finance may face serious disruption. Such conclusions may serve as a practical contribution to the creation of an early warning mechanism in the shaping of present and future fiscal policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on the issue of the modifiable areal unit problem, which means a possibility of obtaining various results for spatial economic analyses depending on the assumed composition of territorial units. The major research objective of the work is to examine the scale problem that constitutes one of the aspects of the modifiable areal unit problem. Analysis of the scale problem will be conducted for two research problems, namely, for the problem of the causal relationships between the level of investment outlays in enterprises per capita and the number of entities of the national economy per capita, and the issue of the dependence between the registered unemployment rate and the level of investment outlays per capita. The calculations based on the empirical values of those variables have showed that moving to a higher level of aggregation resulted in a change in the estimates of the parameters. The results obtained were the justification for undertaking the realisation of the objective. The scale problem was considered by means of a simulation analysis with a special emphasis laid on differentiating the variables expressed in absolute quantities and ones expressed in relative quantities. The study conducted allowed the identification of changes in basic properties as well as in correlation of the researched variables expressed in absolute and relative quantities. Based on the findings, it was stated that a correlation analysis and a regression analysis may lead to different conclusions depending on the assumed level of aggregation. The realisation of the research objective set in the paper also showed the need to consider the adequate character of variables in both spatial economic analyses and during the examination of the scale problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of foreign direct investments net inflows on changes in GDP value in Poland in the period between 1994 and 2012 with the use of the Cobb-Douglas production function. The paper consist of five parts. Parts I and II present some aspects of the FDI influence on economic growth from the theoretical and empirical point of view. Part III defines conditions indispensable for the positive FDI impact on the economy of the host country. Part IV outlines changes of FDI flows in Poland in the period of 1994- 2012. Part V includes the main assumptions of the Cobb-Douglas production func-tion and an estimate of changes in GDP value for Poland in the period 1994-2012 with the use of the VECM. The factors significant for economic growth are also identified, including the significance of the net FDI inflows. Eventually, the effect of gross fixed capital formation, employment, FDI net inflows, exports and R&D on changes in the GDP value are determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: A strong industrial base is essential for achieving long-term sustainable economic growth and export competitiveness. In that sense, manufacturing remains a significant contributor to exports in the CEE countries. However, its role and its influence vary between CEE economies and change over time. Purpose of the article: The main objective of this paper is to compare the determinants of the international competitiveness, measured by the net exports of the manufacturing sectors in the Czech and Polish economies, by using the database of 13 manufacturing sub-sectors in 1995-2011. The authors research the question of how much foreign and domestic demand, the level of labour costs, the level of sector innovation intensity, the level of sector openness to foreign markets as well as sectoral labour productivity influence the changes in trade balance. Methods: Our approach is based on employing an error correction model and SUR model to disaggregated sectoral manufacturing data. Findings & Value added: The results of the analysis conducted show substantial differences in the roles particular variables play in explaining the net exports in individual sectors. For the majority of Polish and Czech manufacturing sub-sectors, generation of positive trade balance is determined by relative demand growth. An increasing labour productivity influences heavily a positive trade balance of Polish goods in majority of sub-sectors, however, a key factor in Czech sub-sectors is decreasing unit labour costs. The results of the analysis indicate mostly a greater impact of the researched factors on net exports in long rather than short term and the better capacity of the Czech economy to correct deviations from the equilibrium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: The problem of bankruptcy prediction models has been a current issue for decades, especially in the era of strong competition in markets and a constantly growing number of crises. If a company wants to prosper and compete successfully in a market environment, it should carry out a regular financial analysis of its activities, evaluate successes and failures, and use the results to make strategic decisions about the future development of the business. Purpose of the article: The main aim of the paper is to develop a model to reveal the unhealthy development of the enterprises in V4 countries, which is done by the multiple discriminant analysis. Methods: To conduct the research, we use the Amadeus database providing necessary financial and statistical data of almost 450,000 enterprises, covering the year 2015 and 2016, operating in the countries of the Visegrad group. Realizing the multiple discriminant analysis, the most significant predictor and the best discriminants of the corporate prosperity are identified, as well as the prediction models for both individual V4 countries and complex Visegrad model. Findings & Value added: The results of the research reveal that the prediction models use the combination of same financial ratios to predict the future financial development of a company. However, the most significant predictors are current assets to current liabilities ratio, net income to total assets ratio, ratio of non-current liabilities and current liabilities to total assets, cash and cash equivalents to total assets ratio and return of equity. All developed models have more than 80% classification ability, which indicates that models are formed in accordance with the economic and financial situation of the V4 countries. The research results are important for companies themselves, but also for their business partners, suppliers and creditors to eliminate financial and other corporate risks related to the unhealthy or unfavorable financial situation of the company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: Organizations that function in the contemporary, competitive economy attribute the increased importance to employee loyalty, which translates, to a large extent, into commitment to work. A loyal employee, strongly associated with the organization, is its valuable asset. On the other hand, in the dynamically changing reality, organizations more often use the alternative, flexible forms of employment, which are not only a response to the needs of the organization, but also employees themselves. Purpose of the article: The purpose of the paper is to examine the relationship between employee loyalty to the employer and the form of employment. Methods: The paper presents the results of research conducted by means of a diagnostic survey with the use of a questionnaire among 569 employees of manufacturing and service enterprises operating on the Polish market. Empirical data were collected from December 2015 to January 2016. The research process was based on the grounded theory and statistical analyses were conducted by means of the SPSS, assuming the level of significance at 0.05. In order to compare people with the different forms of employment, the Kruskal-Wallis test was used. Findings & Value added: The research results indicated that there are certain relationships between the form of employment and loyalty to the employer. A majority of the respondents believed that the form of employment influences the loyalty to the employer. A majority also rated the degree of their own loyalty to the employer high. Employees working under an indefinite duration employment contract rated the impact of the current form of employment on loyalty to the employer higher than people that have a fixed-term employment contract. The people who have an indefinite duration employment contract rated the degree of their own loyalty to the employer higher than people that have a fixed-term employment contract. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: Institutional investors such as: commercial banks, pension funds, and insurance companies are constantly looking for low-risk stable investment opportunities, whereas one of the solutions can be a simulated portfolio. This research takes a look at the incentive to invest in government debt portfolios, as it can outperform the returns of deposit accounts. Purpose of the article: This study considers several classic methods of portfolio constriction and includes the basis of debt instruments that have not been a research topic for a long period of time. At the same time, this paper analyzes the classic methods of modern portfolio theory with a Sharpe ratio as an indicator of efficiency. Methods: The constructed portfolio consists of four elements from different countries: two government obligations and two bond indexes, aiming to employ international diversification. All the data was collected for the period of 12 years in order to represent the consequences of accrued recessions. Findings & Value added: The past two severe financial crises created a higher demand for stable investments, and more investors are ready to compromise a higher return for it. Therefore, the results of this paper represent a simulation of low-risk hedge fund portfolio construction with the use of highly rated debt instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: Fluctuations in economic activity forced companies to change the traditional methods of organization and management and to search for new tools, knowledge, resources and competences in order to strengthen their positions. This has particularly intensified debates on corporate social responsibility (CSR) not only between business people, but also between pieces of research, industry leaders and government representatives. The ongoing global ecologic crisis quickened discussions about how the alternation of macroeconomic business environment influences the development of CSR. Purpose of the article: The aim of this paper is to investigate how the changes in macroeconomic business environment influence the development of socially responsible activities in Baltic Countries and Slovakia. Methods: A statistical analysis of secondary data was used in order to reanalyse the data for the purpose of gaining new insights. The objectives of statistical analysis in this paper were twofold: firstly, to identify the challenges in macroeconomic business environment; secondly, to explore the development of socially responsible activities in different countries. The research period covered the years 2006-2016. The choice of this period is determined by data availability. Findings & Value added: The authors found that economic conditions may diversely affect the development of different dimensions of CSR. Even in unfavourable macroeconomic conditions companies continue to be involved in socially responsible actions because of long-run CSR benefits. The analysis is useful at an international level because it justified the development of socially responsible businesses in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia, and has provided an opportunity to assess the tendencies of CSR development during the different period of economic cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: Interfunctional coordination (IFC) is a part of market orientation and at the same time an approach which helps to improve cooperation between different departments or functions in a company. Market orientation is an approach aimed at external and internal elements and activities leading to performance increase. Services offered by a manufacturer are activities complementing their products. Manufacturers can benefit from the service differentiation and use it to design alternative marketing strategies. Generally, IFC and services - contributes to higher positive effect on business performance. For this reason, it is interesting to know if synergy of IFC and services have a higher positive effect on business performance. Purpose of the article: This article aims to determine how IFC and services at manufacturing companies in the Czech Republic influence business performance. The research question is as follows: Does the synergy of IFC and services in companies producing electrical equipment and electronic components have a higher positive effect on business performance? Methods: Sixty SME's filled in a questionnaire to gather information about IFC and services. For measurement of correlation for two variables, Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was chosen. Regression analysis was used for measuring the synergy. Findings & Value added: The main finding shows that the synergy of the quantities observed has not been confirmed, although some of the following relations were approved such as a positive relationship between: a) some items of IFC and items of business performance, b) some items of services and items of business performance and c) items of IFC and items of services. The result of the paper shows further consequences of IFC and services in today's manufacturing companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: In this paper, we study empirically the relationship between different forms of innovations, multi-product status and export performance of firms from four Visegrad countries. We treat innovations as the key element that can increase the level of firm productivity. Purpose of the article: The main objective is to analyze the empirical relationship between different firms of innovation of firms from Visegrad countries and their export performance. In contrast to previous studies that use R&D spending as a measure of innovation, we rather relay on innovation outcomes. Our detailed hypotheses postulate the existence of positive relationships between firm export performance and different forms of innovation. We seek to determine which type of innovation activity is of the greatest importance for exporting and whether it depends on firm size, the level of internationalization, the use of human capital and its sector of activity. In addition, we control for the multi-product status of firms, i.e. whether they sell one or many products. Methods: The measures of innovative activity of companies include both spending on R&D as well as its effects, such as product and process innovations. In addition, we control for the multi-product status measured by the share of the main product in total sales of the firm, as well as for other firm-level characteristics. The empirical implementation of the theoretical framework is based on the probit models, applied to the fifth edition of BEEPS firm level data set covering the period 2011-2014. Findings & Value added: Our results indicate that the probability of exporting is positively related to both product and process innovations but not to the multi-product status. In addition, we find that the probability of exporting is related to the set of control variables including labor productivity, firm size, the share of university graduates in productive employment, foreign capital participation and the use of foreign licenses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: The decreasing fertility rate is a serious problem for policymakers as it affects the pension system as well as private consumption and savings. It seems reasonable to analyze whether fiscal policy may mitigate the low birthrate problem. Purpose of the article: In this paper we strive to answer the question whether fiscal incentives spur fertility if parents are rational. Methods: A theoretical economic model of utility maximization is applied to analyze the impact of fiscal policy on fertility. The conclusions are based on the analysis of comparative statics simulation calibrated for actual data from Poland. Findings & Value added: The results indicate that a substantial fertility effect can be obtained by raising subsidies for children or general benefits for families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: Many contemporary empirical studies and most economic growth theories recognize the importance of innovation as one of the most progressive determinants of socio-economic growth, both in the regional and local perspective. However, much of the empirical literature has discussed the issue of innovativeness and institutional environment without the significant results for small enterprises, especially in peripheral regions. Purpose of the article: The aim of this paper is to evaluate the institutional support system and its impact on SME innovativeness in Podkarpackie region. In analyzing this case, we raise the following two questions: (1) what are the types of innovation strategies of SMEs in Podkarpackie? (2) what are the factors affecting innovation and potential barriers to further use of institutional support systems aimed at the implementation of innovation in enterprises? Methods: Based on the empirical research, we have analyzed the data (individual in-depth interviews) and found out how the entrepreneurs, R&D, business environment institutions, regional and local authorities assess the use of programs and projects dedicated to innovation in the scope of the institutional support system and what are the barriers encountered by entrepreneurs that limit the implementation of innovation. Findings & Value added: The results of our research show that institutional support systems mitigate negative consequences of peripheral localization of the enterprises, where specific innovation strategy has no influence on SME assessment of innovation effectiveness. Innovation is too costly, and SMEs are too weak in peripheral regions, therefore there is great need for reasonable and flexible institutional support systems. However, the peripheral situation influences this institutional system itself, strengthening the mechanisms of self-censorship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: There has been an extensive process of foreign and joint ownership enterprises establishment in the Russian economy since 2006. Domestic manufacturing industry has been experiencing certain pressure on behalf of foreign direct investment bringing new technologies and higher labor requirements. Purpose of the article: The aim of this paper is to investigate differences in employment strategies and labor indicators in the case of enterprises in foreign and joint ownership (FJO) and domestic enterprises in Russian ownership (RO). We analyze the manufacturing industry in Russia and its regions under conditions of stable and crisis periods. Methods: The study enhances the analysis of Rosstat's statistical data for 2005-2016 and applies ANOVA method to compare the employment results for companies with different ownership patterns. The research is carried out both at the national level of the Russian Federation and at the regional level according to the regions. Findings & Value added: The study identifies significant decline in employment and increase in productivity for the period of 2005-2016. In contrast to the crisis of 2008-2009, in 2014-2016 there has been no sharp drop in employment. However, there is a substantial decline in real salaries which is comparable to the crisis of 2008-2009. According to ANOVA, statistically significant differences in labor indicators between FJO and RO companies are manifested. RO companies dominate in employment and payroll funds, while FJO enterprises have better productivity results with a higher average salary. FJO companies demonstrated faster growth in employment and payroll fund in relatively stable conditions (2012-2013). However, they reacted with a significant reduction in employment for a new crisis (2014-2016), although the creation of new FJO enterprises continued in separate regions of Russia. The results can be used in social policy to regulate the employment and earnings of industrial workers in the current economic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: Commercial banks could affect the stability of the whole banking system due to the way they carry out their business activities. The supervision authorities play a key role in protecting banking stability by ensuring banks' resilience to shocks, ability to recover their position in response to crisis and ultimately the supervision authorities help prevent failure of these banks. Therefore, in recent years' researchers have been trying to define conditions that could guarantee stability of banks. Purpose of the article: This paper aims to describe the methodology used to measure banking stability, namely banking stability index (BSI) and Z-score. In the first part, we present the literature review, then we try to assess the stability in the condition of the Czech Republic and Slovakia during the period 2006-2016. Methods: The BSI is constructed according to the methodology presented by Ghosh (2011), taking into account the main components, which are described by the set of financial indicators of banks. Findings & Value added: Results showed that the average BSI in the whole sample moved from 0.20454 (in 2015) to 0.2486 (in 2007). The results according to countries have showed that the tendency of development in the Czech and Slovak banking sector was the same. At the beginning of the analyzed period, the Slovak banks were more stable compared to Czech ones. Since 2009 the situation has been different, where the Czech banks could be considered as more stable compared to Slovak ones. The tendency of development of Z-score in both countries could be considered as the same, without the 2009 year, when the Czech banks significantly strengthened their capitalization, which influenced the development of Z-score. The results of correlation analysis between Z-score and BSI pointed to the fact that there was no high correlation between these two measures, therefore it is appropriate to use both methodologies for stability evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: There are several methods to construct a price index for infrequently traded real estate assets (mainly residential, but also office and land). The main concern to construct a valid and unbiased price index is to address the problem of heterogeneity of real estate or put differently to control for both observable and unobservable quality attributes. The one most frequently used is probably the hedonic regression methodology (classic, but recently also spatial and quantile regression). An alternative approach to control for unobservable differences in assets' quality is provided by repeat sales methodology, where price changes are tracked based on differences in prices of given asset sold twice (or multiple times) within the study period. The latter approach is applied in renown S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller house price indices. Purpose of the article: The goal of the paper is to assess the applicability of repeat sales methodology for a major housing market in Poland. Previous studies used the hedonic methodology or mix adjustment techniques, and applied for major metropolitan areas. The most widely known example is the set of quarterly house price indices constructed by NBP--especially for the primary and secondary market. The repeat sales methodology has not been adopted with significant success to date -- mainly because of concern regarding relative infrequency of transactions on the housing market in most metropolitan areas (thus a potentially small sample of repeated sales). Methods: The study uses data on repeat sales of residential transactions in Krakow from 2003 to 2015. We apply different specifications of repeat sales index construction and compare respective values to the hedonic price index for Krakow estimated by NBP. Findings & Value added: Findings suggest that repeat sales house sales indices can be used to track price dynamics for major metropolitan areas in Poland. The study suggests problems that need to be addressed in order to get unbiased results -- mainly data collection mechanism and estimation procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: Commonly known and used parametric tests e.g. Student, Behrens– Fisher, Snedecor, Bartlett, Cochran, Hartley tests are applicable when there is an evidence that samples come from the Normal general population. What makes things worse is that testers are not fully aware in what degree of abnormality distorts results of parametric tests listed above and suchlike. So, it is no exaggeration to say that testing for normality (goodness-of-fit testing, GoFT) is a gate to proper parametric statistical reasoning. It seems that the gate opens too easily. In other words, most popular goodness-of-fit tests are weaker than statisticians want them to be. Purpose of the article: The main purpose of this paper is to put forward the GoFT that is, in particular circumstances, more powerful than GoFTs used until now. The other goals are to define a similarity measure between an alternative distribution and the normal one and to calculate the power of normality tests for a big set of alternatives. And, of course, to interest statisticians in using the GoFTs in their practice. Method: There are two ways to make GoFT more powerful: extensive and intensive one. The extensive method consists in drawing large samples. The intensive method consists in extracting more information from mall samples. In order to make the test method intensive, the test statistics, as distinct from all existing GoFTs, has two components. The first component (denoted by Δ) is a classic Kolmogorov / Lilliefors test statistics i.e. the greatest absolute difference between theoretical and empirical cumulative distribution functions. The second component is the order statistics (r) at which the Δ_max^((r)) locate itself. Of course Δ_max^((r)) is the conditional random variable with (r) being the condition. Large scale Monte Carlo simulations provided data sufficient to in-depth study of properties of distributions of Δ_max^((r)) random variable. Findings & value-added: Simulation study shows that the Two Component Modified Lilliefors test for normality is the most powerful for some type of alternatives, especially for the symmetrical, unimodal and bimodal distributions with positive excess kurtosis, for symmetrical and unimodal distributions with negative excess kurtosis and small sample sizes. Due to the values of skewness and excess kurtosis, and the defined similarity measure between the ND and an alternative, alternative distributions are close to the normal distribution. Numerous examples of real data show the usefulness of the proposed GoFT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: It is not straightforward to identify the role of institutions for the economic growth. The possible unknown or uncertain areas refer to nonlinearities, time stability, transmission channels, and institutional complementarities. The research problem tackled in this paper is the analysis of the time stability of the relationship between institutions and economic growth and real economic convergence. Purpose of the article: The article aims to verify whether the impact of the institutional environment on GDP dynamics was stable over time or diffed in various subperiods. The analysis covers the EU28 countries and the 1995-2019 period. Methods: We use regression equations with time dummies and interactions to assess the stability of the impact of institutions on economic growth. The analysis is based on the partially overlapping observations. The models are estimated with the use of Blundell and Bond's GMM system estimator. The results are then averaged with the Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) approach. Structural breaks are identified on the basis of the Hidden Markov Models (HMM). Findings & value added: The value added of the study is threefold. First, we use the HMM approach to find structural breaks. Second, the BMA method is applied to assess the robustness of the outcomes. Third, we show the potential of HMM in foresighting. The results of regression estimates indicate that good institution reflected in the greater scope of economic freedom and better governance lead to the higher economic growth of the EU countries. However, the impact of institutions on economic growth was not stable over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: Despite increased attention in the literature to the importance of the CEO's brand for companies, understanding of the effect of the CEO brand on the corporate brand remains limited. To contribute to this discussion, this paper investigates different facets of the impact of the CEO brand, and particularly its media coverage, on corporate brand equity. Purpose of the article: This study investigates the relationship between the different aspects of the CEO brand's media coverage and corporate brand equity. Methods: Comprehensive media monitoring in the press and online sourcing of CEOs from the strongest Polish brands were conducted. For three years (2014-2017), media monitoring covered 81 CEOs, resulting in over 44,000 data points for this study. Regression analysis was conducted to determine whether a relationship exists between different facets of the CEO's personal brand and company brand equity. Findings & value added: This study provides a new perspective on the relationship between the CEO and corporate brands and showcases empirical evidence of the CEO brand's relationship with corporate brand equity. It introduces two relevant and novel variables (CEO brand reach and CEO brand advertising value equivalent [AVE]) to the literature, which have been limited to the number of mentions and its sentiment. Accordingly, this study contributes to the emerging literature of CEO branding within the branding field. Contrary to expectation, the intensity of media coverage alone was not significant. Results indicate that reach and AVE of CEO media exposure are reflected in the corporate brand equity. The study also finds that negative sentiment toward a CEO's brand negatively affects corporate brand equity. The study adds to the growing stream of literature on the role of CEO brand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: The paper focuses on the research of investors' decisions with regard to shares of all 12 banks listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange during the first half of 2020. It examines the behavior of a subindex reflecting bank shares' prices against the main WIG index WIG and 14 sector subindices. The authors identify groups of banks with different investors' responses. They also classify banks into separate groups on the basis of changes in the fundamental indicators describing their economic and financial performance. The study concentrates mainly on the verification of the stability of this attribution, explaining reasons for its modifications over time. Purpose of the article: To identify the characteristics of bank clusters determining different capital market responses to their listed shares and to explain the reasons for volatility in investors' behavior within the analyzed period. Methods: The methodology of the research can be described in three areas. The first is the statistical analysis with the emphasis on the use of a quarter range to capture changes in the volatility of share prices. The second area is the clustering k-means method based on the interpolated -- from quarterly to daily -- measures of the bank's financial condition. This mathematical approach is a novelty in finance and economics. The last, third, area is forecasting with the use of linear regression analysis, which is the key factor in determining the abnormal rates of return. The indicated areas are combined through a generally understood correlation analysis. Findings & value added: Large retail banks have been less affected compared to medium-sized ones with relatively rich corporate portfolios. The initial market reaction reflected concern about the resistance to the crisis of poorly capitalized banks with mean liquidity buffers. Upon the announcement of government support, investors' approach to the shares of banks of differentiated economic and financial performance conformed accordingly. These findings are valuable in the long term especially from the perspective of supervision authorities' policy during external shocks. The presented study suggests designing flexible and tailor-made regulatory approach aligned with the defined bank clusters. Its value added also consists in proposing a new method of analysis, combining interpolation and automatic clustering, which has proved to be adequate for the study of a bank's financial condition based on daily frequency data. Furthermore, assuming the same length of the estimation window, a close relationship is shown between the results of clustering and the forecasts based on different measures of rates of return. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: Transfer of newly created money through unconventional monetary measures follows the official European Central Bank distribution key. Yet, it does not take into account the ability of individual countries to drive growth process in other economies. Money spent to boost domestic credit provisioning in growth pole-like economies is more likely to spill over to other adjoined economies and help them to recover, even in the presence of depressed domestic demand and/or overleveraged domestic banking sector. Purpose of the article: This paper reports growth pole scores for 19 euro area countries, and compares it to the official distribution key used to transmit newly created source of funding. Methods: We modify the procedure developed in World Bank (2011) for growth pole computation in order to account for strength of linkages connecting member states. Findings & Value added: Our results suggest that the official distribution key might not be completely optimal once looking at the growth pole scores. Countries small in economic size (Baltic states, Slovakia and Slovenia) would benefit from a more differentiated distribution, as they strongly outperform their benchmark set by the official distribution key. On the other hand, big euro area economies do not achieve the levels used in official distribution key, taking into account their growth pole potential for other euro area economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: The processes of economic convergence observed in many developing countries are characterized by reduction of economic differences on the cross-country level, which are accompanied by growing internal economic inequalities. This may stem from the fact that in the catching-up countries, a more dynamic growth pattern is observed in the economically strongest regions, which is initially reflected in spatial polarization and increasing regional inequalities. However, just as the countries reach higher levels of development, the diffusion of growth-inducing impulses to less-developed areas should lead to the spatial equalizing of the development levels and reducing regional inequalities. Purpose of the article: The aim of the paper is to determine the relationship between the level of economic growth and observed economic inequalities in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. The theoretical framework adopted to describe and explain those relations is the so-called Williamson's hypothesis in which the relationship between the scale of regional inequalities and economic growth is illustrated by a curve shaped like an inverted U. Methods: The research procedure was intended to verify Williamson's hypothesis by estimating parabolic econometric models. Indicators of economic growth along with measure of regional inequalities (Williamson's coefficient of variation) were used in the regression modeling. The research period spanned the years 1995-2014. Findings & Value added: In the light of the study of CEE countries, it was possible to observe both convergence symptoms as well as divergence tendencies. It can be thus stated that the analyzed CEE countries followed a similar path to the one observed earlier by Williamson in other developing countries. However, the analyses conducted by the authors at the national and regional levels of CEE countries were equivocal and did not fully support the theoretical assumptions of Williamson's hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: Economic development in sub-Saharan Africa is of paramount importance, yet it escapes most of the attempts to understand it better in the economic discourse, and it remains a sensitive issue in politics, contradicting stakeholders at national and international levels. The region still lags behind others in terms of technological advancement and economic development. It has grown significantly in the precedent decade, but the extent of growth has not sufficiently translated to its development. Determining strategies for sub-Saharan Africa is a scientific challenge, which requires more attention. In the globalized, interconnected reality, solving problems of the South is in the best interest of the North. Purpose of the article: The aim of this research is to analyze structural changes as factors of economic development in the best performing sub-Saharan African countries on the grounds of new structural economics in order to provide policy implications. Methods: Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Gabon were selected as best performing economies in the region. Based on the literature review and the analysis of descriptive statistics, profiles of sample countries were set. This in turn allowed to determine the potential explanatory variables for OLS model of economic development. In the model, factors relating to labour productivity, technology and structural change were included. The data was sourced from WDI (World Development Indicators) database, Gretl software was used for computations. Findings & Value added: This paper contributes to the literature by attempting to explain structural changes in the process of economic development in the sub-Saharan region on the sample of best performing states. Results of the study revealed that there is no common way of economic development in sub-Saharan Africa. However, best performing states are characterized by relative advantage in human capital. Based on the results, policy implications were proposed with respect to technology promotion, natural resources management, and quality of institutions. The research was limited by data availability and reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on the internal knowledge sharing, namely on the methods and practices used in the case of tacit knowledge exchange among the individuals within an enterprise. Therefore, the first aim of the paper is to present the methods and practices that are recommended by knowledge management's experts in the process of tacit knowledge sharing. The second research purpose is to determine which of those methods and practices are most frequently used by surveyed enterprises and how employees evaluate their utility in tacit knowledge sharing. In order to achieve the second purpose of the research, a survey was carried out in 153 enterprises located in the region of Wielkopolska in Poland, operating on domestic and foreign market. The first section of the work provides a brief summary of guidelines on tacit knowledge sharing within an enterprise highlighted in the relevant literature and a set of methods and practices that are used in tacit knowledge sharing which are recommended by the specialists in the field of knowledge management. Then the paper presents the results of own study on the surveyed group of enterprises. In the concluding remarks possible implications for the development of tacit knowledge sharing are suggested. The research results allow the conclusion that according to what is reported in the literature, tacit knowledge sharing is associated with broad defined staff training system. So exchange of tacit knowledge mainly takes two forms in surveyed enterprises: collective learning and transmission of accumulated previously knowledge to other employees within a company. However, as the research results suggest, the degree of using methods and practices for tacit knowledge sharing could be higher. Rather small level of tacit knowledge sharing in surveyed enterprises may be caused by insufficient activities focused on developing a strong organizational culture based on trust and cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: The role of supplementary pension systems in providing adequate income in old-age is increasing significantly. They are frequently analysed, but rather in terms of architecture, product forms, assets under management or tax incentives than in terms of their efficiency, costliness or readability for individuals. Purpose of the article: The first aim of this paper is to evaluate individual retirement products in Poland regarding their linguistic readability and transparency, investment efficiency and costliness. Moreover, we examine whether there is any correlation between the analyzed characteristics of contracts that would suggest an intentional strategy by financial institutions to hide low efficiency and high costs. The second aim of the article is to assess which individual retirement products are similar to each other and which are significantly different. The research covers two types of individual retirement products (IKE and IKZE) offered at the beginning of 2017. Methods: We used the 'Jasnopis' linguistic analysis tool to assess the difficulty level of the language used in the contracts and we conducted desk-research to analyse their transparency. We indicated the costliness and efficiency of the products by calculating the 5-year cost ratios and real average 5-year rates of return. To examine the relations between the characteristics of pension contracts, we used the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient and then verified its significance with a non-parametric test. Moreover, to identify groups of products that are similar to or different from each other, Ward's method was used. The study includes nearly 90% of all individual retirement products offered in Poland. Findings & value added: For both types of retirement products studied (IKE and IKZE), we found that the more readable a contract is, the higher its rate of return is and the higher the costs charged are. Moreover, the more readable a contract is, the more transparent it is. The findings of the study provide financial institutions, the supervisor and creators of social policy with information on market imperfections and recommendations how to improve the individual retirement products offered on the market. Our research makes a unique contribution to the multidimensional research of supplementary pension systems. It also develops the understanding of how to successfully use linguistic tools in complex analyses of financial services. The results of the hierarchical cluster analysis proved that both IKE and IKZE products differ substantially and their features generally do not depend on the type of the financial provider. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: This paper integrates the marketing and corporate social responsibility concepts by investigating how the previous studies de-bated CSR as a business strategy. This discussion extended from academics to business practices. Hence, this study investigated the concept of CSR as a business strategy in a multifactorial fashion in the marketing field. Purpose of the article: This study evaluates the modified model of CSR initiatives as business and marketing strategy and their impact on customers' buying behavior. For this purpose, we have taken dimensions of Carroll's pyramid of CSR as marketing strategies. We have also examined the influence of brand loyalty and cause-related marketing as mediating variables and technology as a moderator between dimensions of Carroll's pyramid and customers' buying behavior. Methods: We employed modified theoretical & conceptual model for evaluating the direct and indirect hypothesized relationship. We have collected 693 responses from the structured and adapted questionnaire. The survey was done among marketing and senior managers of the Asian pharmaceutical industry. We employed SEM-based multivariate modeling to examine the hypothesized relationship. Findings & value added: The finding of this research exhibited that dimensions of Carroll's pyramid of CSR have a positive and significant impact on customers' buying behavior. The results further demonstrated that brand loyal-ty and cause-related marketing positively and significantly impact mediators between CSR dimensions and customers' buying behavior. Finally, the technology has a significant influence as a moderator between exogenous and endogenous factors. The undertaken study demonstrated important theoretical and practical implications. The modified conceptual framework has provided several new dimensions for future researchers to use and replicate in different economic sectors. On the other hand, practitioners of the pharmaceutical industry should incorporate Carroll's CSR pyramid as business strategies to gain the trust and respect of their customers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: High servitisation of manufacturing makes it impossible to separate services from manufactured goods properly, which implies difficulties in the assessment of the position of the country on the smile curve, i.e. in the proper assignment of products or services to one of the industrial process steps: pre-production, pure fabrication or post-production services. Therefore, we propose to use the business functions of industries identified with the aid of labour market data rather than the industrial classification of products in order to create a more appropriate measure of the position of countries in GVCs. Purpose of the article: We aim to identify and analyse the patterns of functional specialisation for eight Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) -- the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia -- both at the country and industry level. In addition, we analyse functional specialisation patterns for Germany, which serves as a reference country. Methods: To assess functional specialisation patterns, we employ the methodology proposed by Timmer et al. (2019a). It allows us to obtain functional specialisation indices for four different business functions -- management, R&D, marketing, and fabrication. To compute them, we combine two sources of data -- domestic value added from decomposed sectoral input-output tables (the World Input Output Database) and the Occupations Database built up by Timmer et al. (2019a). Findings & value added: Our research shows a very heterogeneous pattern in CEEC countries' position in GVCs by taking into account their functional specialisation at the countries and industries levels. Poland and Slovakia focus primarily on low value-added fabrication processes, the Baltic countries and Slovenia specialise in management services, Hungary and Latvia gain in marketing services, and the Czech Republic and Slovenia win in R&D activities. We indicate that some CEE countries (Poland, Slovakia) could be stuck in a functional trap, and our approach could be a valuable tool for assessing the process of coming out of it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: The current changes in the global stock markets are related to the next wave of the industrial revolution "Industry 4.0". It is expected that the Industry 4.0 will lead to an acceleration of the innovation process and growth of volumes of tailor-made products. The stock markets started to react to the upcoming technological changes over the last decade, which are reflected by the changes in the composition of the major stock indices where the technological sector started to grow in importance. But innovations are not only connected with the specialized technological sector, but they are also of direct concern to the whole spectrum of economic entities. Besides the private investments that are usually allocated via the stock market, also the public sector investments play an important role. Purpose of the article: The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between government expenditures on research and development (R&D) and stock markets (and GDP) in the US and in Germany. Methods: We use the tools of descriptive analysis as well as correlation and regression methods of estimation. Findings & Value added: Our research confirms that the collection of data on R&D on annual basis for Germany and the US is insufficient for analytical and systemic management purposes. The real effects of investments in the R&D are time lagged. The regression analysis of annual data confirms only the statistical importance of patent applications as well as interest rate and stock index as independent variables in explanation of variability of real economy growth during the 1985-2017 period. Our model did not prove the significance of government expenditures. We can explain it, among others, by the fact that governments do not pay sufficient attention to the challenges yet, which are associated with the Industry 4.0, especially in the US, where the government expenditures in R&D gradually decrease. The governments in both economies try to increase their support, but fiscal sustainability is a limiting factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: In spite of abundant evidence that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) contributes to improving the emotional state of employees as stakeholders and can serve as a useful tool for reduction of their turnover in organizations, until now, it remains unclear how the different status of CSR is related to consequences accompanying mobbing. Purpose of the article: This study compares the emotional state and intentions of Polish and Lithuanian organizations' employees who have experienced mobbing with regard to the status of CSR. The paper presents part of the results of a wider study conducted in two neighbouring states, which are exclusively related to the employees' emotional state and employee intentions after experiencing mobbing in the workplace. Methods: The research sample involved 823 respondents employed in Lithuania and Poland. The questionnaire survey was conducted using the questionnaire "Mobbing as a Psychosocial Stressor in the Organizations Accessing and Implementing Corporate Social Responsibility -- MOBCSR". Comparisons are made with regard to and CSR and relate to Lithuania (LT) and Poland (PL), when organisations are divided into three groups: (I) Is CSR; (II) Seeks to be-come CSR and (III) Does not seek to become CSR. Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis H test were used as the research methods. Findings & Value added: CSR is related to employees' better emotional state and lesser intentions to leave the organisation, but the study revealed unexpected results showing that according to certain parameters, the situation in the organisations seeking CSR was better than in those already declaring this status (e.g. the feeling of hopelessness, reluctance to seek better results, etc.). It is discussed why the results between countries that have similar historical experience and are culturally close differ. The conclusions emphasize the necessity for practitioners and researchers to evaluate the impact of change on employees' emotional state and intentions at different stages of CSR implementation more carefully. Besides, the results revealed a significant impact of the different status of enterprises with regard to CSR on employees' emotional state and intentions to stay in the job. This article contributes to the literature analysing organizational management by filling gaps in empirical research on CSR, mobbing, employees' emotional state and intentions in different cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Background: The banking sector plays a crucial role in the world's economic development. This research paper evaluates the volatility spillover, symmetric, and asymmetric effects between the macroeconomic fundamentals, i.e., market risks, interest rates, exchange rates, and bank stock returns, for the listed banks of Pakistan. Purpose of the article: The main purpose of this study is to examine the volatility of Pakistani banking stock returns due to the influence of market risk, interest rates, and exchange rates. Pakistan is selected for the study because the volatility of its banking stock returns is strongly influential in achieving sustainable economic development. Methods: By applying the OLS with the Heteroskedasticity and Autocorrelation Consistent (HAC) covariance matrix, the GARCH (1, 2), and the EGARCH (1, 1), analysis is conducted for the period from January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2019 using samples of 13 listed banks. Findings & Value added: The ARCH parameter is significant in the OLS with the HAC covariance matrix estimation, which is a clear indication of the existence of heteroskedasticity in the squared residuals and the inaccuracy of the OLS with the HAC covariance matrix. The results of the OLS with the HAC covariance matrix suggest using the GARCH model family to accurately measure the volatility of bank stock prices. The results of the mean equation in the GARCH (1, 2) and EGARCH (1, 1) indicate the positive significance of market risk and the low significance of interest and exchange rates, confirming that market returns strongly affect the sensitivity of bank stock returns compared to interest and exchange rates. It should be noted that the ARCH (α) and GARCH (β) parameters of the variance equation fulfill the non-negative conditions of the GARCH model. Furthermore, the leverage parameter (λ) is found to be positively significant for all banks, and volatility is found to be influenced by positive shocks compared to negative shocks. Conclusively, it can be stated that market returns determine the dynamics of the conditional returns of bank stocks. Nevertheless, the interest and exchange rate volatilities determine the conditional bank stock returns' volatility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: Some statistics are of a bilateral nature. This is how foreign trade data is organized. They are recorded both in the supplier and recipient countries, hence they are called mirror data. The data recorded at both trading partner countries are not the same for different reasons. Such differences between data on the same groups of transactions are often referred to as the asymmetry of mirror data. The information about the value of the flows of goods are of great importance in economic analyses and therefore their quality is particularly important. Purpose of the article: The aim of this paper is to present a new measure of data asymmetry -- the aggregated quantity index with value-based weights. Methods: The proposed measure combines the quantity and the value of turn-over in individual trade relations. Such a measure makes it possible to eliminate basic deficiencies in value-based measures, while considering the specificity of trade in individual countries. The proposed measure of data asymmetry was confronted with several measures present in the literature and previously used by the Authors. The numerical example uses Comext data on intra-Community trade in 2017 provided by Eurostat. Findings & Value added: The proposed measure performs better than all the previously used data asymmetry indices. It is to some extent immune to exchange rate differences and inconsist encies resulting from the inclusion of transport and insurance costs in the value of goods. In addition, it gives lower weights to unimportant trade directions than other data asymmetry indices. Since the new index has proved to be better than the measures previously used, it is worth applying to those trade relations where the data are not de-rived from customs documents, but from declarations made by businesses, as in the case of intra-Community trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: In the economic literature there are many arguments presented by critical supporters and opponents of measuring and reporting comprehensive income. There is a justified need to examine the relevance and usefulness of comprehensive income, especially the predictive power of comprehensive in-come for forecasting future earnings. It may be assumed that the comprehensive income has a better predictive power for future bank performance than net income, because this measure includes many elements, which were previously presented in the statement of changes in equity. Purpose of the article: The major subject of the theoretical-empirical study presented in this paper is the evaluation of the usefulness of comprehensive income for predicting banks' future earnings. Realization of the fundamental objective of this paper was centered around the main research hypothesis, stating that in economic practice of banks listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange it can be assumed that there is a positive predictive power of financial result in forecasting financial standing of these entities. Methods: The research comprised bank joint-stock companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (qualified on 15.09.2016). Empirical data for the study was obtained from the quarterly financial statements (the period from 2009 to 2015) from EMIS. The problem was realized in two analytical dimensions: absolute dimension financial results, and a relative dimension (return ratios). The research method was the regression analysis conducted by means of Spearman's rank correlation coefficient and by two regression models in two versions. Findings & Value added: The research showed that the analyzed bank companies were characterized by a diversity usefulness of comprehensive income for predicting banks' future earnings. Nevertheless, it must be stressed that the calculated Spearman's rank correlation coefficients confirm in most instances a positive character of dependence between the comprehensive income and future return ratios. The results of the estimation of econometric models shows the positive association of comprehensive income with future profitability of banks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: In order to achieve systematic development and growth of creative industries, instead of its being a random process, effective cultural policy tools need to be implemented. This task is greatly burdened by the fact that creative industries are a heterogeneous concept. Evidence suggests that indirect state aid is one of the most effective ways to stimulate growth and development of audiovisual segment. Lithuanian indirect state aid case suggests that there is still a great deal of confusion and misconception with the implementation and exploitation of this tool. Purpose of the article: To analyze how effectively indirect state aid is constructed to stimulate growth and development of the Lithuanian animation industry. Methods: This paper uses two methods to gather data. The first one is a quantitative questionnaire design to evaluate the overall situation of Lithuanian animation industry. The second method involves qualitative semi-structured interviews to collect specific data about Lithuanian film tax incentive from representatives of government institutions that administrate local fiscal incentive scheme and representatives of audiovisual industries. Findings & Value added: Results show that although Lithuanian film tax incentive can be considered as a successful cultural policy tool that brought a noticeable inward investment to the local film industry and economy in general, it had no positive effect on the local animation industry. The gathered evidence suggests that indirect aid tool should be constructed with more of surgical precision for each industry, rather than a fit-for-all cultural policy tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: Stable and reliable access to a variety of energy carriers is undoubtedly a basis for the development of any economy. Therefore, the primary condition for the security of the state and its citizens is to ensure the essential minimum of energy on its territory. We can observe, however, an increasing dependence of the Polish energy sector on external sources. Purpose of the article: The aim of this paper is to examine and evaluate the economic aspects of the Polish energy security considering the fact of growing de-pendency on foreign supplies of energy carriers. Methods: In this paper we analyze the Polish energy security using several indicators: fuel/price efficiency ratio, energy intensity of the economy and Herfindahl-Hirschman rate of market concentration. For calculations we use statistical data provided by Energy Market Agency publications, including "Energy Situation in Poland" covering the years of 2000- 2015. Findings & Value added: On the one hand, the Polish energy security depends on its internal conditions and resources -- in this context, the available resources of coal and lignite play an extremely positive role because they provide access to a reliable source of energy. On the other hand, Poland is becoming dependent on external commitments that restrict the free use of domestic resources, thus lowering the energy security of the country, speaking in particular of oil and natural gas resources. The analysis carried out in this paper will allow to evaluate the effectiveness of using various energy carriers with respect to their price, market structure and geopolitical conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: The practical analysis suggests that credit ratings are especially significant for banks. The literature review suggests that in previous analysis researchers usually took into consideration financial factors of the banks' credit ratings methodology. This article analyses the impact of macroeconomic factors on the banks' credit ratings. Purpose of the article: The paper examines and analyses the impact of the macroeconomic risk factors on the credit ratings received by banks. In the article, the methodology of credit risk assessment proposed by Moody's Investor Service and Standard & Poor's Financial Service is presented. Two hypotheses are put herein. The first one is: Changes in countries' credit ratings convey new information and influence on banks' financial condition. The second hypothesis is: A highly-developed, stable economy with an advanced financial market has a positive influence on banks' credit rating assessment. Methods: The study used banks' and countries' ratings assigned by Standard & Poor's and Moody's for the period from 1 January 2005 to 1 January 2016. To verify the hypotheses static panel data models have been applied. Findings & Value added: In credit rating agencies guidelines and previous research, the impact of countries' credit ratings on those received by banks is not indicated. The impact of macroeconomic factors has not been verified. The analysis confirms that changes in countries' credit ratings convey new information and influence the banks' environment condition. But only for the assessment given by S&P the condition of banking sector is an important group of factors. For all verified types of credit ratings the risk of country is presented by countries' credit rating, not by particular factors. These analyses suggest that during the risk estimation process prepared by banks, a country's risk represented by its credit ratings should be taken into consideration more often than particular macroeconomic factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: Geographical proximity, common historical roots and collaboration within the Nordic Council cause the Nordic countries to be often wrongly treated as monoliths. However, in reality, Nordic regions differ in terms of broadly defined social and economic development. Issues concerning the standard of living are one of the priorities of the Helsinki Treaty signed by Nordic countries. Purpose of the article: The main goal of this paper is to analyze the existence of the social convergence in the Nordic NUTS-3 regions over the 2000-2015 period. The social convergence refers to a reduction in the dispersion of the standard of living across regions. The results of this analysis may be helpful in evaluating the efficiency of the activities under third and fourth Nordic Strategy for Sustainable Development. Methods: The spatial taxonomic measure of development proposed by Pietrzak was used as the standard of living approximation. Inclusion of spatial relationships in the construction of taxonomic measure of development is justified as regions are not isolated in space and can be affected by other units. The existence of beta-, sigma- and gamma convergence was tested for global spatial aggregate measure and as well for sub-groups of determinants forming the standard of living. Findings & Value added: The analysis showed that the regions with the highest standard of living are those situated on the west coast of Norway. Regions with the lowest standard of living were the ones located in central Finland. However, the most important part of this research was to investigate the existence of beta-, sigma- and gamma- social convergence. The results show that there is no convergence for global standard of living measure. However, the convergence occurs in groups of determinants of education and health care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: A literature review on innovativeness and institutions pointing to their correlation and the possibility of their joint examination. Purpose of the article: This paper attempts to devise a measurement method for a creative economy, where as a result of feedback between institutions, human capital and technology conditions facilitating the development of creativity are created. Methods: An empirical meta-analysis of indicators characterising innovativeness and institutional environment was carried out, following the hypothesis that at least in part they contain common information on creative economy. Findings & Value added: The new synthetic index, a creative economy index (CEI), was constructed. The study was conducted for a group of 34 economies of the European Union and its associated states for the period of 2005-2014. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: There are many consultative groups and market research companies on the market that have also brand valuation included in their service portfolios. Such companies tend to adopt their own unique approaches to value brands to face increasing competition, which is also reinforced by the fact that brand constitutes the company's most valuable commercial and intangible assets. The paper compares selected internationally recognized brand valuation methods, using the mathematical statistics apparatus (Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients), on the sample of 12 global well-known brands (Apple, Google, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Facebook, Toyota, IBM, Disney, McDonald's, General Electric, Samsung and Amazon). Purpose of the article: The aim is to analyze the brand values and the methods applied for possible deviations, and identify whether they are statistically significant and/or find any statistical correlation, or eventually recognize them as totally different and independent approaches. Methods: The analysis is carried out by pairwise comparison of selected brand values provided by selected consultative companies (Forbes, Interbrand, Brand Finance and Millward Brown). The degree of correlation of brand values provided by respective consultative groups is calculated using the following correlation coefficients: Pearson's correlation coefficient and its modified non-parametric version involving ordinals -- Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. Findings & Value added: The analysis proved the highest correlation of the brand values provided by the Forbes and Interbrand; Subsequently, a trend analysis is carried out to determine the development over time, identifying the most striking development in the brand values provided by Millward Brown (BrandZTM) for the period 2013-2016. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: In a rapidly changing economic environment companies deepen their cooperation, which occurs in all sectors of the economy. The progressive increase in market concentration, especially in the banking sector, is caused by various reasons. Purpose of the article: The purpose of this article is to compare the tendencies within market structures in few countries which origin from similar political systems and which have got experience in transformation of banking sectors. Methods: The research concerns the Baltic and the Western Balkan States. Concentration of the banking sectors, as measured by both HHI and CR5 indices changed during the quoted period, as a result of the consolidation of the sector. The study revealed a distinct change in the growth rate of market concentration and the number of banks, and is based on data provided by the local central banks and the European Central Bank. Findings & Value added: The situation in banking sectors in the Western Balkans differed significantly, which could be explained by strong economic ties, particularly with Germany and Austria. In this region, the raising concentration of the banking markets is related to the decreasing number of banks, while in the Sea Baltic States the increasing number of institutions is accomplished by the falling concentration ratio. The paper concerns the developments of the banking sectors which are not yet well described and do not belong to the mainstream of research in the Polish literature, meaning the region of the Western Balkans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: Since the turn of the 21st century financial statement manipulations became the center of attention for accountants, auditors and financial analysts. Since being classified by the regulators as fraudulent, earnings management has required a separate detection methodology. The majority of detection research is performed through the comparison of a large number of statements for the same company in order to find irregularities in earnings behavior. Shortening of the detection time and the amount of data becomes important. Purpose of the article: The goal was to compare the characteristics of M-Score and ?P-?R and to find their advantages and limitations. Applying both indicators to the different samples, the research attempted to determine the statistical connection between them and to set up the limits of their applicability. Since M-Score indicator is liquidity-based, this research attempted to determine to which extent M-Score and Z-Score are statistically related. Methods: The research paper compares the behavior of both indicators using various samples of financial data: the sample of companies, charged with fraud, the sample with exceptional liquidity, the large random sample and the sample from the emerging market economy. Based on the original observations, two other subsamples (one based on poor Z-Score and one based on exceptional Z-Score) were extracted from the main sample. For all samples ?P-?R, M-Score and Z-Score were statistically compared among and between themselves. Findings/value added: The research found the limitations of ?P-?R and M-Score in the stable markets and was able to connect them in the emerging market by using linear regression model (also including Z-Score). The research confirmed that M-Score can mistake exceptional performance for manipulations, resulted in Type I errors. ?P-?R appeared somewhat coarse and prone to Type II errors. The combined use of both in the emerging markets will provide the best approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experience of Japan from the 90s of the twentieth century and the recent global financial crisis has shown that the zero lower bound problem has ceased to be a theoretical curiosity and became the subject of intense scientific discussion. This issue is closely linked with John Maynard Keynes's liquidity trap. The phenomenon of the zero lower bound is very controversial. Not all economists agree that it may restrict the effectiveness of the central bank's actions. The aim of the article is to present the views of economists on this transmission mechanism of monetary policy under the zero lower bound. The paper also attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of the Federal Reserve System's monetary policy at zero nominal interest rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inflation expectations, both their median and dispersion, are of great importance to the effectiveness of monetary policy. The goal of this paper is to examine the impact of the global financial crisis on dispersion of inflation expectations in the European Union. Using European Commission's survey data, we find that in the early phase of the crisis the dispersion dropped rapidly but then, after Lehman Brothers' collapse, the trend reversed and these fluctuations cannot be explained by movements of inflation rates and other commonly used factors. We also observe that, in the new European Union member states, the initial drop of the dispersion was weaker whereas the subsequent rise was stronger as compared to the old member states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of corporate governance is being taken up by different branches of science. Particular views on the nature and goals of a firm, as well as on corporate law, determine various approaches to the issue. The ongoing debate on corporate governance is being stimulated by notorious scandals and economic crises. The agency theory (prevailing today), which assumes egoism and pursuit of one's own interests, forms the basis for shareholder primacy model, while team production theory forms the basis for director primacy model. Stewardship theory, which assumes convergence of management's and stakeholders' interests, may be competing or complementary towards the agency theory, depending on situation. According to management theory, efficient management requires law regulation of managers' status. This paper is aimed at presenting controversies about traditional agency theory as theoretical basis for corporate governance, as well as at discussing other perspectives on the issue, which are extensions of the traditional theory or are based on substantially different premises. The analysis shows that going beyond agency theory allows for better understanding of the whole range of models of corporate governance as well as of the changes that are being proposed in the area. The method utilized in this paper is descriptive and comparative in character. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]