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Energy developments in the post-Communist states of Eastern and Central Europe (ECE) have a major impact on global energy security and sustainability, thanks to this region's key geographical position between the energy-exporting states of the former Soviet Union, on the one hand, and the energy-importing states of Western and Southern Europe, on the other. At the same time, post-socialist reforms of energy industries in this region provide unique insights into the complex relations of power, economic transformation and spatial inequality that govern energy production and consumption. This paper therefore aims to provide an initial look at some of the theoretical and policy issues that underpin the emergent ‘geographies’ of energy reform in ECE, as well as their embeddedness in relations of power stemming from organisational, infrastructural and economic inequalities in the region. It employs an analysis of local news reports, policy papers and statistical data to examine the intricate institutional networks and spatial formations that have governed the energy transformation process. In broader terms, the paper aims to emphasise the important role that human geography can play in making sense of the territorial differences and frictions that have emerged during the post-socialist reform process, while challenging the idea of a ‘neat’ neoliberal transition from a centrally planned to a market-based mode of energy regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Using individual-level data from a large number of countries, this paper examines how self-reported subjective well-being depends on own income and reference income, where reference income is defined as the income of one's professional peers. It uncovers a divide between ‘old’—low-mobility—European countries on the one hand, and ‘new’ European post-Transition countries and the United States on the other. The relative importance of comparisons (‘jealousy’) versus information (‘ambition’) seems to depend on the degree of mobility and uncertainty in the considered countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper sets out to re-examine the money demand function for the euro area. Traditional specifications often yield unsatisfactory results: instability of short and long-term coefficients; relatively large differences between estimated and actual value of variables; and significant changes in the number of long-term relationships, etc. Using a standard Vector Error Correction Model, we find that the usual specification is indeed unstable. However, introducing a European equity price gives rise to a more stable system. Furthermore, recursive estimates confirm the relative stability of long-term coefficients. Estimates of the real money gap, based on the money demand equation including equity prices, point to moderate, albeit persistent, excess liquidity in the euro area in recent years. The real money gap contains information about future inflation but this content may have diminished since 2001. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents evidence of the existence of a return effect on European stock markets coinciding with New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) holidays, which is particularly marked after positive closing returns on the NYSE the previous day. The effect is large enough to be exploited by trading index futures. This anomaly cannot be explained by seasonal effects, such as the day of the week effect, the January effect or the pre-holiday effect, nor is it consistent with behavioural finance models that predict positive correlation between trading volume and returns. However, examination of factors such as information volume or investor mix provides a reasonable explanation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper exploits survey information on reservation wages and data on actual wages from the European Community Household Panel to deduce, in the manner of Lancaster and Chesher, additional parameters of a stylized structural search model; specifically, reservation wage and transition/duration elasticities. The informational requirements of this approach are minimal, thereby facilitating comparisons between countries. Further, its policy content is immediate in so far as the impact of unemployment benefit rules and measures increasing the arrival rate of job offers are concerned. These key elasticities are computed for the United Kingdom and 11 other European nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We argue that an important determinant of voters' support for economic reform is the strength of family ties. While the 'crisis hypothesis' predicts that crises facilitate reform, we show in a political economy model that this relation can break down, and even reverse, when agents take into account the effect of reform on their family members. Applied to southern European countries with strong family ties, the model rationalizes why the extremely high (youth) unemployment following the Great Recession has not led to more substantial labor market reforms. In such countries austerity might block rather than foster additional structural reforms. ( JEL D64, D72, J48) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

Why are regional unemployment differentials in Europe so persistent if, as the wage curve literature demonstrates, there is no compensation through wages? Using Urban Audit data for 142 cities over 12 EU countries, as well as a Dutch household survey, we estimate relationships between local labour market indicators and the average house price level. The evidence suggests that workers are compensated in housing markets to a significant extent, so that regional differences in unemployment may reflect an equilibrium outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores some of the issues relevant to the development and progress of corporate governance structures in the European arena. Corporate governance is just one of the areas of European life where the need for convergence is becoming increasingly obvious. Europe's action plan for corporate governance is outlined. The original corpus of rigidly regulated European governance structures failed to produce workable outcomes. The flexibility of new governance is much more likely to achieve the policy outcomes necessary to achieve the convergence needed in Europe.

This article charts the rise of global science and a global science infrastructure as part of the emerging international knowledge system exemplifying a geography of knowledge and the importance of new info-communications networks. The article theorises the rise of global science, which still strongly reflects a Western bias and is highly nationalistic, in terms of an historical account that sketches three ‘moments’— classical science, colonial science, ‘big’ science. The historical sketch is a basis against which to raise questions about the emerging political economy of international research collaborations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we analyze Adam Smith's claim that the 'natural progress of opulence' described the way in which economies would, if left to themselves, develop. It is argued here that the reasons Smith gave for this being 'entirely inverted' in Europe do not, in fact, demonstrate that the European path was historically unnatural, even on Smith's own criterion. The cause of this internal inconsistency is located in Smith's methodological approach which took an a priori concept, that of productive labor and attempted to apply it to historical situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses reports of the European Chemical Industry Council's (Cefic) concerning the recovery of the European chemicals production recovery in September 2010 compared to that in 2009.

Context Rising drug prices are putting pressure on health care budgets. Policymakers are assessing how they can save money through generic drugs. Methods We compared generic drug prices and market shares in 13 European countries, using data from 2013, to assess the amount of variation that exists between countries. To place these results in context, we reviewed evidence from recent studies on the prices and use of generics in Europe and the United States. We also surveyed peer-reviewed studies, gray literature, and books published since 2000 to (1) outline existing generic drug policies in European countries and the United States; (2) identify ways to increase generic drug use and to promote price competition among generic drug companies; and (3) explore barriers to implementing reform of generic drug policies, using a historical example from the United States as a case study. Findings The prices and market shares of generics vary widely across Europe. For example, prices charged by manufacturers in Switzerland are, on average, more than 2.5 times those in Germany and more than 6 times those in the United Kingdom, based on the results of a commonly used price index. The proportion of prescriptions filled with generics ranges from 17% in Switzerland to 83% in the United Kingdom. By comparison, the United States has historically had low generic drug prices and high rates of generic drug use (84% in 2013), but has in recent years experienced sharp price increases for some off-patent products. There are policy solutions to address issues in Europe and the United States, such as streamlining the generic drug approval process and requiring generic prescribing and substitution where such policies are not yet in place. The history of substitution laws in the United States provides insights into the economic, political, and cultural issues influencing the adoption of generic drug policies. Conclusions Governments should apply coherent supply- and demand-side policies in generic drug markets. An immediate priority is to convince more physicians, pharmacists, and patients that generic drugs are bioequivalent to branded products. Special-interest groups continue to obstruct reform in Europe and the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reconsiders the relative growth performance of centrally planned economies in the broader context of postwar growth in Europe. It reports a new dataset of revised estimates for investment rates in eastern European countries between 1950 and 1989. Complemented with data on other growth determinants, this evidence is used to re-evaluate the socialist growth record in a conditional convergence framework with a panel of 24 European countries. After controlling for relative backwardness, investment rates, and improvements in human capital, the findings show that centrally planned economies underperformed due to their relative inefficiency only after the postwar golden age. In the 1950s and 1960s, eastern Europe was falling behind mainly due to relatively low levels of investment and weak reconstruction dynamics. Both are explained, in part, by the lack of labour-supply flexibility that, in turn, resulted from the comparatively much larger negative impact of the war on population growth in eastern Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wine cooperatives were relatively scarce in Europe before the Second World War, but by the 1980s accounted for more than half of all wines made in France, Italy, and Spain, the three major producer countries. Unlike Danish dairy cooperatives, whose success before the First World War was linked to their ability to improve product quality and compete in high-value niche markets, wine cooperatives are often associated with the production of large volumes of low-quality products. This article argues that the initial slow diffusion of wine cooperatives was caused by the difficulties of improving quality due to environmental conditions in European vineyards ('terroir') and measurement problems, rather than institutional shortcomings. Cooperatives only became widespread when the state found them a useful instrument to regulate markets, especially after 1950. The problems associated with poor wine quality were never resolved, and cooperatives have become increasingly uncompetitive in the market place, especially following the major decline in per capita consumption and shift towards premium wines from the 1980s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Treatment of wounds of different aetiologies constitutes a major part of the total health care budget. It is estimated that 1·5-2 million people in Europe suffer from acute or chronic wounds. These wounds are managed both in hospitals and in community care. The patients suffering from these wounds report physical, mental and social consequences of their wounds and the care of them. It is often believed that the use of wound dressings per se is the major cost driver in wound management, whereas in fact, nursing time and hospital costs are together responsible for around 80-85% of the total cost. Healing time, frequency of dressing change and complications are three important cost drivers. However, with the use of modern, advanced technology for more rapid wound healing, all these cost drivers can be substantially reduced. A basic understanding of the terminology and principles of Health Economics in relation to wound management might therefore be of interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, shale gas will provide half of the United States' domestic gas by 2035. The United States has already moved from being one of the world's largest importers of gas to being self-sufficient in less than a decade, bringing hundreds of thousands of jobs and attracting back companies that long ago left America in search of cheap manufacturing costs. But the increase in shale gas extraction has also had an environmental cost. There is clear scientific evidence of leaking shale gas wells and induced earthquakes, and in some areas a population increasingly turning against the industry. The technology of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing that was developed in the United States is now being tried outside the United States, including in Europe, Argentina, and China. There are clear reasons why shale gas might be attractive to Europe. It may offer security of energy supply to some countries particularly dependent on Russian gas; it could stimulate growth and jobs; and it could supply a cleaner fuel than coal in power stations. However, prospective shale often underlies areas of high population density in Europe, and moreover, populations that are unfamiliar with onshore gas operations. The main challenge in Europe therefore is not mainly technological but for the industry to achieve a 'social license' and for Government and regulations to be manifestly protecting the public and property. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

. This article assesses how well welfare models with different financing mechanisms cope with a major financial crisis. It focuses on five EU countries, which represent different welfare models. It also analyses how the crisis and the associated stimulus or austerity measures changed financing, revealing a regressive impact. It demonstrates that, in the short- or medium-term, contribution-based social systems have more stable public finances during a recession than tax-based systems. That said, the corporatist/continental welfare model seems most likely to remain stable in the long run, in so far as it focuses on keeping employment - the system's main source of revenue - stable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses on the decline in performance in the chemical industry in Europe. According to Christian Jourquin, chief executive officer (CEO) of Solvay SA and European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) president, it will be years before the EU industry returns to its January 2008 performance eventhough there are tentative signs of recovery. He adds that the industry can excel because of the climate change.

This article quantifies the activities of medieval and early modern parliaments. It traces the long-term evolution of this European institution, and offers a first pass at analysing its impact on long-term economic development. Starting in Spain in the twelfth century, parliaments gradually spread over the Latin west between 1200 and 1500. In the early modern period, parliaments declined in influence in southern and central Europe and further gained in importance in the Netherlands and Britain, resulting in an institutional 'Little Divergence' between 1500 and 1800. We discuss the background of this phenomenon in detail. Moreover, by analysing the effects of parliamentary activity on city growth we find that these differences in institutional development help to explain the economic divergence between north-western and southern and central Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conduct a cross-national econometric analysis of intra-family location and caregiving patterns. Using European data, we first assess, from an international perspective, the relationship between family structure and the geographic proximity between adult children and their parents. We then examine whether differences in family structure are related to the amount of informal care adult children provide to their elderly parents. Lastly, we look for cross-country differences in family location and caregiving patterns, and interpret observed differences in terms of heterogeneous institutional solutions to elderly care. Our results not only provide a new empirical perspective on the geography of the family, but also provide insights into how family-related and institutional factors shape patterns of time transfers from adult children to elderly parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of human capital in economic growth is now largely uncontested. One indicator of human capital frequently used for the pre-1900 period is age heaping, which has been increasingly used to measure gender-specific differences. In this note, we find that in some historical samples, married women heap significantly less than unmarried women. This is still true after correcting for possible selection effects. A possible explanation is that a percentage of women adapted their ages to that of their husbands, hence biasing the Whipple index. We find the same effect to a lesser extent for men. Since this bias differs over time and across countries, a consistent comparison of female age heaping should be made by focusing on unmarried women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social capital refers to norms and networks of reciprocity, trust, and cooperation that facilitate coordinated action for a mutual benefit. Theoretical and empirical studies have documented the positive contribution of social capital in social welfare and development. This study empirically explores the determinants of social capital, in the form of group membership, across European countries. Data is derived from the European Community Household Panel, which covers a large sample of individuals from a set of European countries. Binary logistic regression models are applied to regress an index of individuals' group membership on a set of individual characteristics (income, education, gender, age, marital status, employment), as well as aggregate characteristics of countries (GDP per capita, income inequality, social trust, trust in public institutions, corruption, unemployment, and violation of political and civil rights). Results provide evidence of the impact of both individual and aggregate factors on group membership. These factors constitute a possible means to rebuilding patterns of social capital, especially in Southern European countries, where special-interest groups and patron-client relations prevail over generalized norms and networks of reciprocity, trust, and cooperation that promote wider social welfare and development objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a compilation of monthly and annual wheat price data, this article examines the trend of market development in Europe from the late medieval period to the industrial revolution. In contrast to much of the earlier scholarship, which suggests that markets improved, the findings propose that markets were on average as well integrated in Europe in the early sixteenth century as in the late eighteenth century. In the intervening period, markets are found to have suffered a severe contraction. These findings enable us to build a more complete picture of markets in history, and to carry out a better examination of the relationship between markets and economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European dairy industry is facing a number of challenges related to policy changes and global trends that add pressure on their economic performance. This study uses logistic regression to analyze differences in financial and performance indicators between European dairy cooperatives and investor-owned firms. The investigated indicators are profitability, debt, operational efficiency, equity growth, size, and country dummies. The empirical application uses data from 170 European dairy firms. Cooperatives are on average less profitable, operate more efficiently, and have a stronger financial position than investor-owned firms. Using the above-mentioned financial and performance indicators, cooperatives appear to be well equipped to cope with the challenges ahead. [EconLit citations: Q13; M12; C25]. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to increasing care needs, the reform or development of long-term care (LTC) systems has become a prominent policy issue in all European countries. Cash-for-care schemes-allowances instead of services provided to dependents-represent a key policy aimed at ensuring choice, fostering family care, developing care markets, and containing costs. A detailed analysis of policy documents and regulations, together with a systematic review of existing studies, was used to investigate the differences among six European countries (Austria, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Sweden). The rationale and evolution of their various cash-for-care schemes within the framework of their LTC systems also were explored. While most of the literature present cash-for-care schemes as a common trend in the reforms that began in the 1990s and often treat them separately from the overarching LTC policies, this article argues that the policy context, timing, and specific regulation of the new schemes have created different visions of care and care work that in turn have given rise to distinct LTC configurations. A new typology of long-term care configurations is proposed based on the inclusiveness of the system, the role of cash-for-care schemes and their specific regulations, as well as the views of informal care and the care work that they require. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents empirical results of explorative case studies that examine whether the New Public Management mechanisms have improved the academic performance of PhD education in selected German and European economics departments. Our data rely on document analyses of organisational variables and in-depth semi-structured interviews with professors in Germany and several European countries. We propose a typology of departments along their PhD production technology and suggest that organisational improvements should look at the processes through which new professional standards gain acceptance in departments and at the means by which long-term incentive problems of collective action in a department are solved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the European Commission proposed a Directive On Market Access to Port Services in February 2001, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) issued a declaration of war on Europe’s waterfront. To protect established terms and conditions of employment in the port transport industry, the ITF developed a strategy of internationalization that required dock workers to engage in a new politics of scale wrought by globalization. A new repertoire of collective action — based on more effective union articulation (i.e. stronger interrelationships between the workplace, national and international levels of organization) combined with the activities of new labour networks that connected port workers at the trans-national corporation, port range and pan-European levels — enabled dockers to sink the Directive in the European Parliament in November 2003. The dockers’ victory will not be lost on other European unions or indeed other global union federations, although their success will doubtless prove more difficult for other occupational groups to emulate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the purchasing power parity (PPP) with panel data in Europe. Use of threshold cointegration in the study; Prevalence of cointegration with threshold adjustment on bilateral basis; Presence of nonlinear characteristics in the error-correction model; Difference in adjustment patterns for positive gaps from PPP.

The prospect of direct intervention in the process of wage determination as envisaged in the Social Charter has met with considerable criticism. In particular, employers' organizations and certain governments have rejected outright the proposal to require firms to pay an equitable wage. However, in all member-states except the UK and Ireland, arrangements exist to ensure that nearly all workers are covered by minimum wage protection (through national minimum wages or full-coverage collective agreements). In this article the nature of low-paid employment in member-states is examined and different methods of wage regulation are described. After reviewing the economic effects of wage regulation, we discuss possible initiatives on wage regulation at the Community level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue is concerned with the development of the Single European Market (SEM) and its likely impact on industrial relations in the member-states of the European Community (EC). The articles that follow present new empirical material, analysis and speculation on the development of industrial relations arrangements at the level of both the EC and the member-states.
The articles fall into three groups. The first provides a general overview of EC developments and the establishment of the Single Market. The second group then focuses on the structure and governance of firms within the EC and on channels of representation of workers' interests at enterprise level. The third part of the issue deals with likely economic problems and possible economic outcomes of the SEM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the importance of Christopher Columbus's bibliography and discovery of America in European economic setting. Theme of Europe's earlier expansion of books about Columbus; Awareness of the background of the expansion; Interest of demythologizing re-evaluations of Columbus and the voyages; History of colonization after Columbus's discovery.

Discusses the various dimensions of spontaneous student mobility in the European Union and their related problems. Benefits to be derived by European integration from more developed exchanges in education and training; Creation of a framework for a cost-benefit analysis; Agents and decision making processes in education; Regulatory and non-cooperative scenarios.

Presents an economic model where people of different ages interact in financial markets and in the labor market, and where governments set taxes to balance receipts against pension spending. Macroeconomic impact of demographic changes; Forecast on the European wealth income ratio until 2051; Projected savings rate in Europe until 2050.

The article discusses a comparative study of insurance integration in the United States and in Europe. The objectives of insurance regulation are described. Preconditions of effective regulation are examined, particularly resources of the regulator, nature of the insurance market, controlling access to the European market, and making the American market controllable. Scaled capital and surplus requirements are likewise investigated. Regulation of marketing and control of policy terms are discussed.

This article presents information on the "new economic history," sometimes called econometric history or cliometrics. The new economic history is not often practised in Europe. However, it is fair to say that efforts to apply statistical and mathematical models currently occupy the centre of the stage in American economic history. Econometric history gained its present eminence with extraordinary rapidity. Perhaps the first definitely formulated expression of the new approach is contained in a pair of essays written by economists Alfred H. Gonrad and John R. Meyer in 1957, less than a decade ago. The considerable impact of the new economic history on research in the United States is due primarily to the novelty of its substantive findings. If cliometrics merely reproduced the conclusions of previous scholarship, its methods would be of trivial consequence. However, the studies of the new economic historians have substantially altered some of the most well-established propositions of traditional historiography.