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The aim of this paper is to empirically examine the effect of renewable energy use and economic growth on pollution within EUROZONE from 2005 to 2013 by utilizing Dynamic Panel Generalized Method of Moments approaches. The empirical results reveal that economic growth positively affects environmental pollutants. The use of renewable sources of energy negatively affects pollution. The more the renewable energy we use the less the air pollution. However, energy saving and energy intensity contribute to more air pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extent of demographic changes in Europe is much more drastic than in the United States. This paper studies the effects of population aging on the interactions between economic growth and living standards in Europe with labor market and pension reform, behavioral adaptations, and international capital flows. Our analysis is based on an overlapping generations model with behavioral reactions to reform which is extended to the multi-country situation typical for Europe. While the negative effects of population aging on growth in Europe can in principle be compensated by reforms and economic adaptation mechanisms, they may be partially offset by behavioral reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although countries in South-East Europe (SEE) traditionally use less pesticide in agricultural production than more developed countries in Europe, primarily due to the extensive character of their agriculture production, it is important to find the level of pesticide use because their usage can have a significant negative impact on the environment, health and social costs. The main objective of this paper is to find the correlation between pesticide use and economic development in SEE countries. In that context, the model for determining economic factors that can influence pesticide use is constructed and estimated. The results show that gross domestic product and precipitation had a positive impact on pesticide use, while farm size, trade openness, and membership in the European Union (EU) had a negative impact. This paper makes a significant contribution to the literature of pesticide use in SEE countries and answers questions which are significant for determining economic factors. This is important for policymakers, especially in countries that are candidates for EU membership, countries that should adopt EU legislation of pesticide use and establish new agri-ecological measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

Purpose - This paper seeks to contribute to the study of the link between financial intermediation and economic growth in the context of the European Union and particularly in the context of the integration of new member-states. Design/methodology/approach - Panel fixed and dynamic Arellano-Bond estimates (with balanced panels) were used to explain and compare the influence of financial intermediation with the real per-capita GDP growth in two sub-sets of EU countries: the first one takes into account the availability of quarterly data and comprises 11 "old" EU countries, excluding Luxembourg, Denmark, Ireland and Sweden, for the period between Q2 1980 and Q4 1998; the second panel includes 24 EU countries (excluding only Luxembourg) for the period between Q2 1999 and Q4 2002. The existing empirical evidence was enhanced by introducing some financial variables to explain the real per-capita GDP growth, namely, the real domestic credit growth, the real foreign liabilities growth, the real growth of the sum of the bonds and money market instruments, in addition to two ratios: bank assets/bank liabilities and domestic credit/bank deposits. Findings - The results obtained confirm the importance of these variables to th~ real per-capita GDP growth and allow one to draw conclusions on some differences in the behaviour and the level of -integration of the two groups of EU countries. There is a relatively more homogeneous behaviour in the first panel, while the results for the second panel indicate that, in spite of the relative heterogeneity and the differences in their historical evolution, all the countries have had to adapt rapidly to the increasing competition and to the new EU market conditions. Originality/value - The paper confirms the influence of financial systems on output growth, as well as the efforts of financial institutions to adapt to the new conditions of the European and global markets in spite of all the differences in the historical evolution and initial conditions among EU member-states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

Copyright of Papers in Regional Science 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.)

This paper explores the role of micro, small and medium size enterprises in the growth of per capita gross domestic product at European Union level between 2005 and 2010. Using a panel of data from 25 Member States the results show a positive connection between the prevalence of SME in terms of created value added and GDP per capita growth. When investigating the aforementioned relationship at enterprise size class level the results differ considerably. While microenterprises prevalence in terms of created value added does not appear to cause more growth in per capita income at EU level, small and medium sized enterprises are some of the main drivers of the annual per capita GDP growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

The paper, based on recent EU-SILC data, investigates the patterns of income inequalities in "old" and "new" EU member states. We describe income inequality within countries as well as income differences between states and test our results using different methodological assumptions. Our results show that the group of new member states was no less heterogeneous in terms of inequality and poverty than the EU15 at the time of EU enlargement. The most important difference between the two country groups is found in their GDP levels and in some measures that are directly related to economic development. We observed that sensitivity to changes in the equivalence scales is not systematically related to membership status; thus for overall inequality comparisons of countries, a standard scale seems appropriate. The possibility of a difference between "old" and "new" EU member states in the role of incomes in generating overall welfare of households calls, however, for caution in interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we provide a comprehensive evaluation of the euro area GDP growth and unemployment rate forecasts collected in the quarterly ECB Survey of Professional Forecasters (SPF) over the period 1999Q1-2008Q4. Our results suggest that while SPF forecasts generally appear to be slightly superior to naïve and purely backward-looking benchmarks, forecast errors nonetheless exhibit a high degree of persistence. In addition, our analysis of the heterogeneity across individual SPF replies suggests that the broad pattern of the individual forecasts is essentially the same as that of the aggregate SPF results. This may reflect a high degree of commonality in the information available (and not available) to panel members, thus leading them to "get it wrong" (or right) not only in the aggregate, but also individually. In particular, although a small number of forecasters perform substantially above average for some variables and horizons, none does so systematically for all variables and all horizons. Lastly, we have presented and assessed the information about forecast uncertainty provided by the SPF. In line with other studies based on the US SPF, disagreement among panel members does not appear to be a good proxy for overall macroeconomic uncertainty, i.e., a high degree of consensus is not necessarily an indication of a low level of forecast uncertainty. Our analysis also suggests that, at the individual level, panel members may not fully internalise the overall level of macroeconomic uncertainty. For example, compared with the level of uncertainty indicated by the historical volatility of actual GDP growth and the unemployment rate, the perceptions of individual panel members about uncertainty appear quite low. This possible underestimation of overall uncertainty is much less severe when densities are aggregated across forecasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research has highlighted that in the last few years, the evolution of regional disparities in many European states has become pro-cyclical. This represents a change with respect to the predominantly anti-cyclical pattern of the 1960s and 1970s. This paper addresses the question of whether and when this change has taken place in the southern periphery of Europe, before analysing the factors that may have played a role in such a change. The analysis relies on a regional database that includes the evolution of the GDP per capita of NUTS II regions in five European countries (France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain) between 1980 and 2000. The results of the analysis support the hypothesis of a change towards a pro-cyclical evolution of regional disparities in the cases of Italy, Portugal, and Spain, but not in those of Greece and France. A relationship between these pro-cyclical patterns and the emergence of less dynamic sheltered economies is also detected in peripheral regions. This lack of dynamism is related to the fact that numerous peripheral areas in southern Europe have become increasingly dependent on factors such as transfers or public investment and employment, and therefore are less exposed to changes in market conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to discuss whether human development was concurrent with economic growth during the transition towards a market economy in Central Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The main hypothesis is that economic growth is not always concurrent with human development. Using an OLS model, human development variables were correlated with GDP per capita. The results suggest that in transition economies human development is a sufficient but not a necessary condition for economic growth. A Granger causality test confirms this finding. Therefore, investing in human development is crucial for obtaining GDP growth. However, since human development is strictly correlated with institutions, appropriate institutional policies are crucial to a development process. Dans cet article, on se demande si le développement humain va de pair avec la croissance économique dans la période de transition en Europe de l'Est et Centrale et dans l'ex-URSS. L'hypothèse principale est que la croissance économique ne contribue pas toujours au développement humain. L'utilisation d'un modèle MCO (moindres carrés ordinaires) montre que les variables de développement humain étaient corrélées avec le niveau de PIB par tête. Le résultat suggère que dans les pays en transition, le niveau de développement humain est une condition suffisante mais pas nécessaire pour la croissance économique. Un test de causalité de Granger confirme une telle relation. Il devient dès lors crucial de s'intéresser au développement humain dans une perspective de croissance économique. Cependant, si le développement humain est strictement corrélé avec les institutions, les politiques institutionnelles sont déterminantes pour le processus de développement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic literature and related specialty practice, the development of the European Economic Community along with the factors determining them (such investments and staff) represents a topic that is of great notoriety. This paper shows the role and influence that direct investment in the economy and employment ratio can propagate in the growth of gross domestic product per capita to ensure increased economic sustainability of countries in the European Community. The most important economic effects of FDI on the host economy can be represented by labor productivity growth through knowledge transfer (know-how) technology, management skills and marketing term in countries emerging favor progress technological and economic growth. To determine this goal, in the context of economic logic, this research shows the importance of gross domestic product, total and per capita, as a macroeconomic indicator synthetic, and encouraging and using the action of factors that can also provide political steps, organizational and financial, achieving levels attesting social progress and prosperity. The study highlights a Custom Analysis on gross domestic product per capita, direct investment and the proportion of people employed in total for 24 European Union countries in 2014 and also develop an econometric model multifactorial based on system statistics. Research shows utility in making decisions about investment growth in the European Community by attracting a workforce that is in full compliance with state investment policies and by providing a high living standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper proposes the analysis of the main drivers of the economic growth in Central and Eastern Europe, in three emerging countries: Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, with a development stage similar with that of Romania. Given the vulnerabilities of the Central and Eastern Europe region at the beginning and during the recent global economic and financial crisis, there is an increased interest to identify the models that can describe the principalcharacteristics of the Central and Eastern Europe macroeconomic variables: gross domestic product, investment, wages and salaries, inflation, hours worked, consumption and themonetary variable- interest rate. Moreover, another scope is to analyze the frictions that describe the evolution of the seven data series, as the stochastic dynamic of the macroeconomic model is driven by orthogonal structural shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper was aimed at understanding the importance of SMEs in the market economy as the economic engine continues to be the factor that motivates both business and human existence. The yield and quality of the results of a national economy depend largely on the ability to determine the creation and operation of a large number of businesses which provide products and services of quality, cost and reduced prices and quantities and of appropriate requirements domestic and foreign market. The article deals with the content and structure, activities that are specific to SMEs and how they operate in the market, and how these types of companies influence the economy of the European Union and Romania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Europe's GDP growth is gathering pace as a consequence of both sound policies and external factors. Forecasts are being revised upwards even though they keep potential growth estimates low. This article argues that there are good reasons to expect a scenario with higher medium term growth, where reforms are accelerated, and increases in investment, productivity, and labor participation offset the decline in population and temporary legacies from the crisis. Several studies show the big growth gains from this scenario. Moreover, experience in various European countries confirms that it is feasible. Reforms are underpinned by the current accommodative monetary policy and by a responsible, but more flexible, fiscal policy stance that smoothens adjustment, improves fairness, and supports demand in countries with fiscal space. Successes in growth-enhancing reforms, better awareness of their potential net benefits, and more attention to prevent or reduce negative distributional effects, may restore trust and garner citizens' support for this growth model. They may also help overcome the obstacles to further integration that should make this model more robust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary geo-economic development is characterised by global transformation from the EU and Western countries, in general, towards the Asia-Pacific and East Asian concept, which will result in further evolution of the World System determined by the economies of the new industrial and post-industrial countries. The objective of this article is to investigate the role of economies of East Asian countries in global economic development. Particularly this paper analyses the situation in the textile industry, as exemplified by China, in the world market to identify prospects for its sustainable and competitive development. During the progress of this work, it was determined that the textile industry in China is currently under the influence of delayed adverse effects of the global financial and economic crisis of 2008-2010, which can further lead to systemic risk emergence in the Chinese economy, as the textile industry plays a leading role in its economic development. Analytical procedures performed in this study clearly showed the urgency of implementing technological and managerial innovations in order to increase the competitiveness of the Chinese textile industry. The government also needs to revise its measures of support to the sector. Improving competitiveness and providing sustainable growth and development of the textile industry in China allows to create a new margin of safety for the Chinese economy and secure unconditional long term leadership for the textile industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contrary to the well-recognized and studied causality running from economic growth to health, this study presents evidence of the reverse causation - from health to economic growth. The study tries to analyze the processes and connections that trigger the relationship between investment in health and the achievement of economic growth. This paper goes through a review and an analysis of the effects that health investment has on economic growth and the economic rationale for investing in health. The focus of this research paper is finding out how better health serves as a predictor of economic growth and the degree to which economic growth is explained by health expenditures in South Eastern European countries. Regression analysis, used in identifying the relation between health expenditure per capita and GDP per capita for SEE countries are based in the data of World Bank for years 2000-2011. Based on the findings, there exist a strong relationship between investment in health and economic growth in all SEE countries. By comparing the regression's results of the SEE countries, it can be concluded that health expenditures per capita in Albania, as a measure of investing in health, explain slightly more of the variation in GDP per capita than in the other countries. On the other hand, Macedonia and Albania are the countries where health expenditure has the highest impact on economic growth. To sum up, SEE countries have to consider investment in health sector as a crucial instrument for achieving both, economic and social inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses whether hosting the most prestigious European cultural event, the European Capital of Culture, has an impact on regional economic development and the life satisfaction of the local population. We show that European Capitals are hosted in regions with above-average GDP per capita, but do not causally affect the economic development in a significant way. Surprisingly, using difference-in-difference estimations, a negative effect on the wellbeing of the regional population is found during the event. Since no effect is found before the event, reverse causality and positive anticipation can be ruled out. The negative effect during the event might result from dissatisfaction with the high levels of public expenditure, transport disruptions, general overcrowding or an increase in housing prices. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The innovation and new information technologies have become crucial determinants to encourage competitiveness in all sectors of economy. This paper investigates the relationship between economic growth and digital skills. The analysis of the economic growth will be carried out with the help of the most representative indicator of results, respectively the gross domestic product (GDP). The starting point of the study is the analysis of the level recorded by GDP/capita and the level of digital skills for each EU member state, continuing with the perspective of the evolution of the link between the two indicators and the grouping of countries according to it. The results show similarities and dissimilarities between the EU countries and help us understand the progress of the EU28 countries towards a digital society and economy. Also, the study can be a necessary tool for decision makers, focusing on the important aspects whose evolution depends on the development of the Digital Single Market for Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Business Consultant / Poslovni Konsultant is the property of FINconsult Ltd. 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.)

Copyright of Research Papers of the Wroclaw University of Economics / Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego we Wroclawiu is the property of Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny we Wroclawiu 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.)

There is growing policy and academic interest in transferring ecosystem service values from existing valuation studies to other ecosystem sites at a large geographic scale. Despite the evident policy demand for this combined transfer and 'scaling up' of values, an approach to value transfer that addresses the challenges inherent in assessing ecosystem changes at a national or regional level is not available. This paper proposes a methodology for scaling up ecosystem service values to estimate the welfare effects of ecosystem change at this larger geographical scale. The methodology is illustrated by applying it to value the impact of climate change on European wetlands for the period 2000-2050. The proposed methodology makes use of meta-analysis to produce a value function. The parameters of the value function include spatial variables on wetland size and abundance, GDP per capita, and population. A geographic information system is used to construct a database of wetland sites in the case study region with information on these spatial variables. Site-specific ecosystem service values are subsequently estimated using the meta-analytic value function. The proposed method is shown to enable the adjustment of transferred values to reflect variation in important spatial variables and to account for changes in the stock of ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic growth is a key concept in developing countries and in designing growth models becoming more efficient. This paper begins by defining the concept of growth, identifying and presenting the factors that contribute to achieving it, and finally the European growth model is outlined for attaining this objective. Given the global financial crisis started in 2008, were analyzed performance of growth models used in Central and Eastern Europe, an attempt to identify causes and effects. Thus, we have outlined three growth models: robust, moderate and a model with economic contraction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article claims that a predator-prey model of cyclical growth is a useful concept for studying the dynamic relationship between wage and salary shares of GDP and employment. The rate of growth of employment is considered as an indicator of union bargaining strength: the change of the wage share is treated as a reflection of an ongoing distributional conflict between profits and wages. The paper discusses some of the analytic properties of the formal model. It continues with an attempt to fit the model to West German data for the period from 1960 to 1985. Given the formal rigidity of the model, this strategy is only partially successful. As a consequence, a more complex model is introduced which also relies heavily on the idea of a predator-prey cycle. As a fully-fledged political-economic model of the OECD type of systems, it allows us to study, among other issues, the implications of different union policies under the constraint of a serious unemployment problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article aims to analyse the evolution of budgetary expenditures and their relationship with economic growth, especially in the EU countries and three non-EU countries - Switzerland, Norway and Iceland during 1991 - 2012. To test the link between government spending and economic growth the research used the United Nation Classification of the Functions of Government and three econometrical regression methods – ordinary least square, least squares dummy variable and the generalized method of moments. Statistical results for the 10 categories of expenditure have shown that economic affairs, environmental protection, recreation, culture and religion and social protection have a significant impact on economic growth. Also the recent economic crisis and the EU accession influenced the variation of GDP/capita. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under Basel III, banks are required to build up countercyclical capital buffers during periods of excessive credit growth to cover future credit losses. Based on a review of the credit boom episodes in sixteen Central, Eastern, and Southeastern European countries during 2000s, two measures of excessive credit are calculated: one based on the Hodrick-Prescott filter, as suggested by the Basel Committee for the activation of the countercyclical buffer, and the other based on an estimate of equilibrium credit. While the filtering-based measure signals future credit losses quite well, using the measure based on equilibrium credit improves the forecast of future deleveraging and its impact on GDP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the correlation between public expenditure for each individual sector and economic growth for 30 European countries over the period 1991 to 2012 using three econometric methods -- ordinary least squares, least square dummy variable and generalized method of moments. In order to test the link between government spending and economic growth, the research uses the United Nation's Classification of the Functions of Government. By analyzing the sub-branches of public spending, we arrived at the conclusion that most of the public expenditures negatively affected economic growth. Also, the use of dummy variables showed that the recent economic crisis has had a negative effect on the sample states. The European integration didn't have a big influence on economy, the GDP per capita growing with only 0.03%. The impact of public expenditure on economic growth is very important nowadays because the economic system was changed by the recent events, mainly the global economic crisis, the almost economic collapse of Greece and the European Union's ageing and debt problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents an interesting analysis of the future economic development of EU countries, offering in the same time some comparisons with USA. Starting with an analysis of the annual dynamic rates of GDP for the EU countries, during 2000-2012, there are identified two periods which are important to consider them for scenarios of Strategy Europe 2020. The trajectories of future economic development until 2015 are extrapolated considering the average dynamic rates both for the period 2002-2007 also for 2002-2008. There are obtained two trajectories: an optimistic one based on average dynamic rate of the period 2002-2007 and a less optimistic the other based on the average dynamic rate during 2002-2008. An analysis of the relative positions of the countries depending on their GDP per capita and their development potential shows which scenario will be viable for the EU development until 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I argue that 'second-tier' European cities warrant more attention because they could potentially help secure balanced development and territorial cohesion. I compare the asset bases of four such cities (Munich, Tampere, Timisoara, and Leeds) located within different state and urban systems and examine the scope for public policy to improve their growth trajectory. Each city has sufficient economic critical mass and institutional capacity to act as motors for their respective regions and to relieve pressure on capital city regions by attenuating the steady drift of investment and jobs to them and encouraging greater déconcentration of investment. The case studies suggest that general characteristics of effective urban policy making also apply to second-tier cities: continuity, compositional balance, comprehensive packages of measures, stakeholder participation in design, and delivery to reflect their particularities. However, better ways of handling relations between second-tier cities and other city regional authorities and interests are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we empirically investigate the causal nexus between economic growth (GDP), CO2 emissions (environmental degradation), financial development, and trade openness using the ordinary least squares technique for a yearly panel data of 40 European economies, during the period of study from 1985 to 2014. To examine this causal link, we utilize the Cobb–Douglas production function. The empirical findings point to a bidirectional Granger causal linkage among GDP and pollution, GDP and financial sector development, GDP and trade openness, financial sector development and trade openness, and trade openness and pollution in the case of European economies. From the causal link between GDP and environmental pollutants, we validate the existence/confirm the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis. Also, we confirm/bear out the feedback suggestion of the bidirectional causality among trade openness and financial sector development. Besides, we find the neutrality hypothesis linking carbon emissions and financial sector development inflows. We find the presence of the bidirectional nexus between GDP and financial sector development and among GDP and trade openness in the European economies. Finally, panel causality verifies that bidirectional causal connection is found between economic growth, environmental degradation (CO2), financial development, and trade openness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of the paper is to provide a quantitative and qualitative analysis of state aid policy and its role in ensuring economic development in the EU. Based on theoretical approaches and empirical evidence, it is assumed that an efficient state aid policy should support the macroeconomic stabilization and the economic development. Therefore an econometric model is proposed to evaluate and quantify the relation between the level of horizontal aid and the value of GDP per capita at purchasing power parity standard. According to the results of the analysis, important disparities can be identified in analyzing the correlation between the two indicators mentioned above, deficitary to several EU member states, suggesting the necessity of a better coordination in the economic policies. Thus, one of the most relevant conclusions is that while the general objective of reducing state aid level is mainly achieved since the early 1990s, a redirection of state aid towards horizontal objectives can be observed beginning with 2000 and is still ongoing at present with important consequences for the general economic development of the EU member states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Regional Science / Revue Canadienne des Sciences Régionales is the property of Canadian Regional Science Association 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.)

Abstract  The role of insurance companies, although growing in importance in financial intermediation, has received less attention than bank and stock markets and if so, mainly as a provider of risk transfer in single country or very heterogeneous samples. We investigate both the impact of insurance investment and premiums on GDP growth in Europe. We conduct a cross-country panel data analysis from 1992 to 2005 for 29 European countries. We find a positive impact of life insurance on GDP growth in the EU-15 countries, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland. For the New EU Member States from Central and Eastern Europe, we find a larger impact for liability insurance. Furthermore our findings emphasise the impact of the real interest rate and the level of economic development on the insurance-growth nexus. We argue that the insurance sector needs to be paid more attention in financial sector analysis and macroeconomic policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

EU Commission forecasts are used as a benchmark within the framework of the Stability and Growth Pact, aimed at providing a prudential view of economic outlook, especially for member states in an Excessive Deficit Procedure. Following Elliott et al. (2005), we assess whether there exist asymmetries in the loss preference of the Commission's GDP growth forecasts from 1969 to 2004. Our empirical evidence is robust across information sets and reveals that the loss preferences tend to show some variation in terms of asymmetry across member states. Given certain conditions concerning the time horizon of forecasts and the functional form of the loss preferences, the evidence further reveals that the Commission forecasting exercise could be subject to caveats. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence for nation-states suggests that the long-standing negative relationship between fertility and economic development might turn positive at high levels of development. The robustness of the reversal continues to be debated. We add to this discussion from a novel angle by considering whether such a reversal could also occur at the sub-national level within highly developed countries. Our contributions are both theoretical and empirical. We first discuss important trends which might foster the emergence of a positive fertility–development relationship across regions of highly developed countries. These include shifts in family policies, changes in the spatial organisation of the economic sphere, and selective international and internal migration processes. In order to explore whether we observe tendencies towards a reversal, we investigate data covering 20 European countries subdivided in 256 regions between 1990 and 2012. We document a weakening of the negative relationship between fertility and economic development within many countries, and among some countries the emergence of a positive relationship. These findings do not seem to be driven by postponement effects alone. However, there is substantial variation in the fertility and the economic development levels at which such tendencies towards a reversal are observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Strategic Review / Przeglad Strategiczny is the property of Faculty of Political Science & Journalism, Adam Mickiewicz University 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.)

Building on work funded by the European Spatial Planning Observatory Network 2013 Program, the article analyzes the regional development of the “creative workforce” among its active population against regional economic growth measured by changes in per capita gross domestic product over the period 2001 to 2008. The analysis establishes regional typologies in this relationship according to the “sense” and evolution of this association, allowing a critical evaluation of processes and policies that may explain the large degree of spatial variation encountered, and addresses the issue of causal relationships between these two dimensions, suggesting the need to rethink development policies based on “creative capital.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional income inequality in Latin Europe (France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal) showed a distinctive pattern between 1870 and 1950. Data about population on a decadal basis and Gross Domestic Product (gdp) for 171 regions (84 French départements, 22 Italian regioni, 18 Portuguese distritos, and 49 Spanish provincias) shows that regional inequality increased from 1870 to 1910 but gradually flattened out thereafter until 1950. Current regional disparities in per-capita income throughout Latin Europe are essentially the result of a long-term evolution that traces back to the origins of modern economic growth. Moreover, this study shows the emergence of the core–periphery pattern that characterizes much of Latin Europe today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We provide evidence of a positive relationship between the intensity of gambling and economic growth in 27 European countries for 2005-2013. Our proxy for gambling is represented by government revenues fromtaxes on lotteries, betting and gambling. This variable is linked to GDP growth in a panel regression framework and pooled OLS. However, when we split our sample to account for the heterogeneity among European countries, we found that the positive 'gambling -- GDP growth' relationship is driven extensively by the Central and Eastern European countries. It appears that people in these countries tend to gamble more when the economy is expanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

We reassess the results from the literature on the relationship between the youth unemployment rate and GDP growth (Okun’s law), based on the concern that the unemployment rate is not an ideal indicator for teenagers and young adults. Using the unemployment ratio instead, we find that youth unemployment (15–24 years old) is not significantly more responsive to economic growth than prime-age (25–64) unemployment. However, compared to prime-age unemployment, teenagers’ unemployment (15–19) is relatively unresponsive, whereas young adult’s (20–24) unemployment is more strongly correlated with economic growth. These results are quite different than those obtained with the unemployment rate as the dependent variable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]