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In the context of the economic crisis that started in the United States in 2007, economic growth has become of great importance for the countries affected by the crisis further to their confrontation with lower growth rates of GDP per capita. At national level, governments are searching for that mix of optimal economic policies that would revive economies on the upward and also sustainable trend. One of the key policies in this regard, especially for the countries in Central and Eastern Europe which intend to adopt the euro currency, is the tax policy. Its main instruments are taxes. In this paper, we pay special attention to these instruments and to the connection that they have with the economic growth. This paper is divided into three parts. The first part presents a few ideas related to the importance of taxes at national level, the second part is an analysis in terms of taxation of the Central and Eastern Europe countries, while the third part consists of a panel-type assessment of the relation between economic growth and taxation level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, empirical studies revealed that democracy is positively associated with environmental quality through the freedom gained by the people to demand environmental protection. In this paper, we explore empirical evidence linking how environmental performance interacts with democracy to influence tourism demand in twenty-seven European countries. To achieve this objective, we use the method of moments quantile regression (MMQR) model by Machado and Silva (J Econ 213: 145-173, 2019) and a balanced panel data covering the period 2002 to 2014. The empirical results suggest that environmental performance interacts heterogenously with democracy at different quantiles of the conditional distribution to stimulate tourism demand. Also, the effect of an increase in income and environmental performance is stronger in countries with lower tourism market shares than in countries with higher tourism market shares. The major implication for this study is that countries with lesser shares of the tourism market should strive for higher environmental performance and economic development as this would grant them more advantage in the tourism sector than their counterparts with higher market shares.

The euro crisis made visible the omitted stage in the European integration process. The EU jumped from the common market straight to the monetary union, neglecting the formation of the economic union. The new EU economic governance is a combination of a vertical shift of competences, i.e. from one level of government to another level, and a horizontal shift of powers and competences, i.e. from elected governments to unelected government bodies entrusted with (parts of) government policies, from discretionary policy towards rules. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the new EU economic governance within the conceptual framework of these vertical and horizontal shifts. This two-dimensional approach offers a better analytical tool than the more traditional one-dimensional fiscal federalism approach. In the first part of the paper the focus is on the policy domains that are the objects in the shifting process. Budgetary policy mainly is at stake, but also banking regulation and monetary policy are partly involved. The second part of the paper deals with the relevant aspects of the theories on the division of powers along vertical and horizontal lines. The fiscal federalism approach to vertical separation and the time consistency theory on the horizontal distribution of power are briefly exposed. In the third part the relevant aspects of the new EU economic governance of the European semester, six-pack, two-pack and fiscal compact are presented and put into our framework of vertical and horizontal power shifts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article charts the changing context of regional economic development and the advancement of both policy thinking and analysis on this issue. The shift away from 'traditional' regional policies, designed to bring about regional convergence, towards new approaches, designed to exploit the economic development potential of regions, is the focus of the article. Specific attention is paid to the emergence of regional development strategies in the process, where 'regions' may be defined functionally rather than administratively. We outline the elements of such strategies—including redefining objectives, new types of interventions, involvement of new actors, and the broadening and integration of regional interventions—which distinguish them from traditional policy and which will determine the degree of success achieved. In conclusion, the paper raises two points of interest, namely the need for more inclusive regional development processes and better implementation of these demanding strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the short-run and long-run effects of economic, sociological and energy factors on environmental degradation in 28 European countries. In so doing, we employ Panel Vector Autoregressive (PVAR) and Fully Modified OLS (FMOLS) approaches on data from 1990 to 2014 in a STIRPAT (Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology) framework. Key empirical results indicate that these factors may contribute to environmental improvement in the short run; however, there are adverse implications in the long-run. Specifically, economic factors including economic growth, trade openness and foreign direct investment cause environmental degradation in the under-analysis economies. The sociological factors as measured by the population growth and the level of urbanization also show a negative impact on the environmental degradation in the short-run but in the long run, both population size and urbanization increase environmental degradation. These findings are in line with the concerns raised by Thomas Robert Malthus in his Essay on the Principle of Population. With regards to the energy factors, it indicates that the renewable energies help the European environment by reducing the level of carbon dioxide emissions whereas the higher energy intensity is an ecological threat. Our results remain robust in the EKC framework., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Based on the premise of sustainable development of the environment, how to achieve the balance of energy utilization, economic development, and sustainable management of the environment is becoming increasingly important in the process of stable economic development. This paper analyzes the concept of environmental Kuznets curve, taking 35 European countries as the research objects, first discusses the trend of energy utilization efficiency from 1990 to 2013, and then analyzes the relationship between energy efficiency and economic development. Empirical results show that labor has a significant negative impact on energy efficiency and the increase in labor input will reduce energy efficiency. If the added value of national manufacturing accounts for a higher percentage in GDP, it will have a negative impact on the effectiveness of energy utilization. In addition, when the national price level is high, price fluctuation will increase the price of energy utilization, or the cost of energy input in economic activities, which will further reduce the country's energy efficiency performance. Lastly, the empirical study also found that energy efficiency and economic development showed a quadratic U-shaped relationship, indicating that the long-term energy efficiency of the country will first decline and then rise during economic activities.

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Energy consumption reduction and energy efficiency improvement are recognized as global priorities in the context of the green economy and sustainable development. In this paper, determinants of energy efficiency and energy consumption for the panel of 11 post-communist countries in the Eastern Europe during 1996-2013 are investigated. The stochastic frontier function approach and comparative analysis were used to examine long-run dynamic relations. The research results show that GDP growth is a key factor increasing both energy efficiency and energy consumption. The research results on energy efficiency relations show that CO2 emissions per capita, a fixed capital and the share of industry in the economy are other important drives. In the context of per capita energy consumption growth, the factors of structural changes determined by industry share in the national economy and innovation concerned with development and implementation of high technologies are significant. The European Union accession and participation in the European energy policy promote to energy efficiency improvements in the post-communist countries while progress in governance and enterprise restructuring as measured by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is not important for energy efficiency and per capita energy consumption in the post-communist countries. According to the research results, energy efficiency policy in the sample countries should be aimed at providing further economic growth enhancing a positive impact of other factors and implementing energy efficiency projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Teorija in Praksa is the property of Teorija in Praksa 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.)

Much of the literature on sustainable communities and compact cities calls for higher density housing including multifamily dwellings. Some researchers suggest problems with such dwellings. However, rigorous comparative research on this topic has not been conducted to date. This paper draws on a high quality, comparative data-set, the European Social Survey, to analyse (a) the quality of multifamily dwellings in European urban areas, (b) the characteristics of residents, (c) their life satisfaction compared with those living in detached housing and (d) the relative importance of built form in explaining life satisfaction. One of the main findings from the multivariate analyses is that residing in multifamily housing is not a statistically significant predictor of life satisfaction when you control for standard predictors of life satisfaction and housing and neighbourhood quality. Overall, the findings provide support for both place-based and peoplebased responses to urban regeneration. Both physical and social regeneration are required, addressing the education/training needs of residents and economic development strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The productivity slowdown in European countries is among the major stylised facts of the last two decades. Several explanations have been proposed: some focus on demand-side effects, working through Kaldor’s second law of economic growth (also known as Verdoorn’s law), others on supply-side effects determined by a misallocation of the factors of production, caused either by labour market reforms or by perverse effects of financial integration (in Europe, related to the adoption of the euro). The latter explanation is put forward by some recent studies that stress how low interest rates brought about by the monetary union may have lowered productivity by inducing capital misallocation. The aim of this paper is to investigate the robustness of the latter empirical findings and to compare them with the alternative explanation offered by the post-Keynesian growth model, which instead emphasises the relation between foreign trade and productivity, along lines that go back to Adam Smith. To do so, we use a panel of industry-level data extracted from the EU KLEMS database, comparing these alternative explanations by panel cointegration techniques. The results shed some light on the role played by the single currency in the structural divergences among euro area member countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examining the competitiveness of public transport plays an important role because through public transport, the transport of passengers to schools, public healthcare establishments and work is ensured. In addition, transportation for vulnerable groups of passengers (students, seniors) is provided. On the other hand, public transport constitutes a financial burden on public budgets. The aim of this paper is to point out that public transport does not have an equal status in the transport market within the European Union. In the states of Central and Eastern Europe, public transport had a dominant position in the transport market in the 90s. Nowadays, the market share is declining, particularly in the bus transport, with the rising costs for public budgets regarding an increase in individual motoring. The aim of this paper is to highlight the possibilities of increasing the competitiveness of public transport by integrating different components of public transport. Another aim is to define the possibilities of financing public transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

This paper considers future European growth prospects in the light of a new productivity paradox, namely, the co-existence of a productivity slowdown and exciting new technologies. Several potential explanations are reviewed. It is argued that while some are unpersuasive it is too soon to be sure which carry the most weight. This has the implication that while the slowdown is real, it is not necessarily permanent. A key, hotly disputed issue is the future economic impact of technological progress on which forecasts differ dramatically. Supply-side reform could have a strong positive effect, but this is not likely to happen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

In recent decades, climate change and environmental pollution have been at the center of global environmental debates. Nowadays, researchers have turned their attention to the linkage between real output and environmental quality and test the environmental Kuznets curve. Majority of the studies focus on a single pollutant aspect and measure the deterioration of the environment through carbon emission (CO 2 ) only. In contrary, the current study uses a comprehensive proxy, ecological footprint, to measure the environmental quality of the sixteen Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs). The aim of this paper is to discover the impact of financial development, economic growth, and energy consumption (renewable and non-renewable) on the environment. In addition, for the first time, the current study includes biocapacity and human capital in the growth-energy-environment nexus in the case of CEECs. In doing so, we used annual data of sixteen CEE countries in perspective of the One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative and cover the period of 1991-2014. For reliable findings, this study focuses on second-generation econometric approaches to check stationarity, cross-sectional dependency, and co-integration among the model parameters. The long-run estimations of the "Dynamic Seemingly Unrelated-co-integration Regression" (DSUR) signify that the effect of economic growth on ecological footprint is not stable and validate N-shaped relationship for cubic functional form between per capita income and ecological footprint (environmental quality). Empirical evidence divulges that financial development and energy use significantly contribute to environmental degradation while renewable energy improves environmental quality by declining ecological footprint significantly. Moreover, the significant effects of biocapacity and human capital are positive and negative on the ecological footprint, respectively. In robustness check through the "Feasible Generalized Least Square" (FGLS) and "Generalized Method of Moment" (GMM) models, we found consistent result. Lastly, the "Dumitrescu-Hurlin (D-H) Panel Causality Test" demonstrates that two-way causal relationship exists between EF and GDP, EF and FD, EF and EU, EF and BC, and EF and HC, while one-way causality is running from RE to EF. This study puts the present scenario of CEE economies in front of the policymakers and suggests that they should consider the vital role of renewable energy and human capital to get sustainability.

This paper takes a fresh empirical look at how cluster presence matters for economic performance. It analyses a new data set developed for the European Cluster Observatory to assess the impact of clusters on industry-level wages and regional prosperity. It is found that industry-level wages are associated with industry- and surrounding-cluster agglomeration levels to a similar degree. For regional prosperity, cluster portfolio strength is found to matter, while the specific mix of clusters is insignificant once business environment conditions are accounted for. The data show a meaningful relationship between clusters and economic outcomes, independent of other locational qualities. [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]

In this paper, we argue why, in our view, the so-called dynamic classification method should be favored when determining the contribution of small businesses towards job creation. First, it is the only method that consistently attributes job creation or loss to the size class in which it actually occurs. In addition, dynamic classification has two other advantages: (1) it is not vulnerable to the so-called regression to the mean bias, and (2) only a small number of aggregated data are required for its application. Using the dynamic classification, we analyze job creation within the different size classes for the 27 Member States of the European Union. Our main findings are as follows. For the EU as a whole, smaller firms contribute on a larger scale towards job creation than do larger firms. Net job creation rates decrease with each firm size class. This pattern occurs in most industries, however, not in all; the manufacturing industry and trade industry show different patterns. At the level of individual countries, the net job creation rate also tends to decrease with each firm size class. However, this relationship is not perfect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays the problem of valorisation of marginal rural areas in Europe is significant. In Italy some traditional agricultural crops with high added value may play an important role for the environmental preservation and social and economic development of some marginal rural areas. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the problems and potential of developing traditional crops in marginal rural areas, through their valorisation as typical products. Two main research questions are addressed: Are there specific problems for traditional products in marginal rural areas? In particular, is there a problem of loss of power and appropriation of value upstream the chain? The paper presents a case study analysis on the Iris Pallida supply chain. Iris Pallida is a minor crop, whose rhizome is used by the international fragrance industry. The fieldwork carried out has allowed to point out that the problem of power and appropriation is relevant and should be addressed by strengthening collective action and enhancing horizontal and vertical coordination. Specific problems in the role of traditional products in marginal rural areas also emerge. These are mainly connected to the structure of farms, to the conflicting strategies and to the access to information and technical support. The consequence is a higher need for coordination, for public support and for integrated rural development actions such us structural consolidation, research and development, marketing and tourism promotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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.)

Fifteen countries from CEE region are analyzed in the paper within the period from 2005 till 2010 with the aim of determining the relation between capital availability and economic growth. Moreover, the analysis uses the correlation and panel regression as main tools for confirming the hypotheses. Furthermore, within the paper financial inclusion and availability of financial services as one of the most important topics within EU are being analyzed. The main focus is on empirically investigated correlation between financial development and faster current and future rates of economic growth, with special focus on physical capital accumulation, and economic efficiency improvements. Finally, there is a link established between the growth of the citizens' wealth and economic development of the country and the availability of bank services and foreign capital inflow as well. Consequently, the obtained results indicate that the effects of world economic crisis influenced the citizen's welfare starting from 2009. [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]

In this article the author discusses the policy paper entitled "State Aid and the Credit Crunch" that was published in Europe in April 2008. He says that it aimed at affecting the policy stance of Directorate General (DG) of Competition at the European Commission (EU), but it did not respond to the paper. He also stresses that the global banking crisis have implications for economic development projects and the supply of finance for small businesses across Europe is disappearing.

Presented paper suggests an instrumental approach to soft security and aims to reveal capacity of soft security instruments in terms of contribution to both security and sustainable development in the region which is addressed by Eastern Dimension of European Neighbourhood Policy and which includes Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and ukraine. Russian federation (which is neither part of EaP nor among 16 Eu partners addressed by the European Neighbourhood Policy) is also included in the overview as an important factor of influence in respect of regional security and relations between EaP states and EU. Referring to the main ideas of researchers and policy makers using different approaches to soft security as a phenomenon, the authors of the paper define soft security instruments as purposely organised social practices which rely mainly on sharing, congruence and development of values and competences of initiators and participants of security governance. focus on the effectiveness of sharing, congruence and development of values and competences of initiators and participants of the Eu policies and related joint projects as well as relevant combinations of soft instruments with economic and normative hard means is seen as a possibility to gradually increase level of regional security and transfer elements leading to sustainable development in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In November 2011, the EU and China are ready for new leadership change, and both of them try to draft new EU-China policy to engage comprehensively; after 2008, China has been active in the EU affairs, and even both parties sit together to discuss the solution of the EU financial crisis. More and more heads of the EU governments believe that China is playing key role to support European economic growth and solution of financial problem. In addition, the barrier of military cooperation between the EU and China has not removed since 1989, and both of them have interest to discuss how to turn new page of the EU-China military cooperation under the EU-China new leadership. This paper aims to analyse how the EU and China cooperate to tackle the EU financial crisis, and how the EU and China restarts military cooperation under the new leadership that refer to the Ireland's EU Presidency and the Chinese Xi Jingping in 2013. This research applies the Comparative Case Study Research Design to set the two abovementioned questions in order to analyse how the new leadership responses by, and it employs the Neo-liberalism to be the theory base to analyse the EU-China relations in the EU financial crisis and military cooperation. At last but not least, the research process data by the principles of the OSINT (Open-Source Intelligence) The research finding speaks that China has strong willing to help the EU solve the EU financial problem, but China cannot avoid risk while helping the EU financial crisis, but therefore, China provides help but not much. In accordance with the EU-China military cooperation. The EU cannot skip political stress from the USA, and they have no process to lift up the weapon embargo against China, but more and more countries have already helped or cooperated with China in military field, because more and more European countries have been tired of US-China hostility or competition, and they voice for China, and believe China has no threat against the EU member states. This paper concludes that the EU does not stop persuasion toward China to cooperate with the EU to solve the EU financial problem, but China does some but not much in this issues; with regard to the EU-China military cooperation, China still continues to lobby the EU to drop the weapon embargo enforcement, and persuade the EU to restart military cooperation, and furthermore, the EU has change mind and position to favour China to restore military cooperation, and plan to a serial policies to prevent the political pressure from the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic growth literature suggests that knowledge spillovers are subject to distance decay effects. In this paper the main aim is to provide a theoretical framework and empirical evidence on the role played by other kinds of proximities, namely relational, social and technological proximity, in explaining productivity growth. Using a sample of 249 EU 27 NUTS 2 regions in the period 1990-2004, semiparametric spatial autoregressive models are estimated. Results provide evidence of a positive role of social and relational proximities as important channels of knowledge spillovers, and on the fact that, when simultaneously present, different kinds of proximities generate synergic effects on growth. Resumen La literatura sobre el crecimiento económico sugiere que los spillovers de conocimiento están sujetos a efectos de deterioro por distancia. El objetivo principal de este artículo es proporcionar un marco teórico y pruebas empíricas sobre el papel desempeñado por otros tipos de proximidades (relacional, social y tecnológica), a la hora de explicar el crecimiento de la productividad. Utilizando una muestra de 249 regiones NUTS 2 de la UE 27 para el período 1990-2004, se estiman modelos autorregresivos espaciales semiparamétricos. Los resultados aportan pruebas del papel positivo de las proximidades sociales y relacionales como canales importantes de spillovers de conocimientos, y del hecho de que, cuando se presentan simultáneamente, los diferentes tipos de proximidades generan efectos sinérgicos sobre el crecimiento. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the direction of causality between the Internet infrastructure (cyber-place), as is reflected in the accumulated international Internet backbone capacity, and the economic development of European city regions. On the basis of previous research which highlights the uneven allocation of this complex network infrastructure, this paper attempts to move the analysis a step forward, and addresses the causality issue by using the Granger causality test for panel data. The latter explores the heterogeneous causal effects of the Internet infrastructure, and results in verifying the well-established argument that ICT infrastructure is a necessary, but not a sufficient, condition for economic development. RÉSUMÉ La présente communication examine l'orientation de la causalité entre l'infrastructure de l'Internet (cyber-place), telle qu'elle est reflétée dans la capacité d’« épine dorsale » d'internationale que représente l'Internet, et le développement économique des agglomérations européennes. Sur la base de recherches précédentes, qui soulignent la répartition irrégulière de cette complexe infrastructure en réseau, la présente communication s'efforce de faire un pas en avant dans cette analyse, en se penchant sur la question de la causalité, et en utilisant le test de causalité de Granger pour les données de panel. Ce dernier cas explore les effets causaux hétérogènes de l'infrastructure de l'Internet, et donne lieu à une vérification de l'argument bien établi d'après lequel l'infrastructure ICT est une condition nécessaire, mais non pas suffisante, pour le développement économique. EXTRACTO Este estudio examina la dirección de la causalidad entre la infraestructura de Internet (ciberespacio), como se refleja en la capacidad troncal, internacional y acumulada de Internet, y el desarrollo económico de las ciudades región europeas. En base a la investigación previa que destaca la distribución no homogénea de esta compleja infraestructura de red, este estudio intenta hacer avanzar el análisis un paso más y trata la cuestión de causalidad utilizando el ensayo de causalidad Granger para datos de panel. Este último explora los efectos causales heterogéneos de la infraestructura de Internet y resulta en la verificación del bien establecido argumento en cuanto a que la infraestructura ICT es una condición necesaria, aunque no suficiente, para el desarrollo económico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge-intensive services (KIS) are assuming an increasing importance in innovation, to such an extent that they have even classified as "key agents" within innovation systems (Fischer, 2001). As one of the major features of KIS is coproduction, location is expected to play a significant role on the effects of KIS on regional innovation systems. The objective of this paper is to examine the relationship between the location of KIS and the innovation performance of the European regions. Starting from the results reached by previous studies: Makun and McPherson (1997) for three New York regions, Muller and Zenker (1998) for five German and French regions, Drejer and Vinding (2003) for Danish urban areas or Simmie and Strambach (2006) for large cities of England and Germany, our aim is to widen the traditional scope of the analysis and evaluate the relationship between location of KIS and innovation performance on an European basis. More concretely we try to show that the spatial concentration of KIS in some regions (and particular in capital cities) contributes to foster innovation. To do so we carry out an exploratory spatial analysis for more than 100 European regions. We take as a proxy for the location of KIS the share of employment in KIS in every region. The results obtained support the hypothesis that KIS exert a positive impact on regional innovation performance, an impact that could spill over into the neighbouring regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a spatial neoclassical growth model for a system of N regional economies. Regional output growth is determined by interregional fixed capital relocations which depend on initial factor endowments as well as a region's relative location in space. The dynamics of the model are captured by a Taylor approximation, which provides a testable spatial econometric model specification that is applied for European regions on the NUTS 2 level. Both theoretical and empirical results show how relatively high human capital endowments are beneficial to growth if found within one region, but disadvantageous if found in neighbouring regions. Este artículo proporciona un modelo de crecimiento neo-clásico espacial para un sistema de N economías regionales. El crecimiento del producto regional viene determinado por deslocalizaciones interregionales de capital fijo que dependen de la dotación de factores inicial, así como de la relativa localización espacial de una región. Las dinámicas del modelo son capturadas mediante una aproximación de Taylor, que proporciona una especificación comprobable de modelo econométrico espacial que se aplica a regiones europeas a nivel NUTS 2. Tanto los resultados teoréticos como los empíricos muestran como las dotaciones relativamente elevadas de capital humano son ventajosas para el crecimiento cuando se concentran en una región, pero una desventaja si se encuentran en regiones vecinas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses Europe's growth problem. Recovery from the recent global financial crisis and 'great recession' has been slower than after previous recessions in most advanced countries and areas, especially Europe. But the European growth problem is structural in character and it started much earlier. This paper analyses the structural causes of the European growth problem, evaluates the policies that Europe adopted to overcome it, and concludes that even with the appropriate policies, the prospects for accelerating growth in Europe will be difficult, especially in the context of Brexit and the slowdown of world growth in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decades many cities have experienced growing pressure to produce and stage cultural events of different sorts to promote themselves and improve economic development. Culture-led development often relies on significant public investment and major private-sector sponsoring. In the context of strained public finances and profound economic crisis in European peripheral countries, local community low-budget events that manage to create significant fluxes of visitors and visibility assume a particular relevance. This paper looks at the four editions (2011–2014) of Noc-Noc, an arts festival organized by a local association in the city of Guimarães, Portugal, which is based on creating transient spaces of culture by transforming numerous homes, commercial outlets and other buildings into ephemeral convivial and playful ‘public’ environments. By interviewing a sample of people who have hosted (sometimes doubling as artists) these transitory art performances and exhibitions, artists and the events’ organizers and by experiencing the four editions of the event and engaging in multiple informal conversations with the public, this paper attempts to discuss how urban citizens may disrupt the cleavages between public and private space permitting various transgressions, and unsettling the hegemonic condition of the city council as the patron of the large majority of events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reform and development of the financial sector was one of the most significant challenges that the former socialist countries faced during their transition to a market economy. At the start of this transition, their financial system was underdeveloped and centralised (monobank), where the central bank of each economy also functioned as a commercial bank. The restructuring, integration and development of the financial sector to enhance viability and enable it to respond to new demands was imperative, particularly for economic growth and the convergence of these economies with the developed economies of the region. This process of financial integration suffered a powerful shock with the economic crisis transmitted to the region in 2009. The initial aim of this paper is to highlight the problems created after the global economic crisis affecting the financial institutions of the former socialist countries of South-eastern Europe, as well as the problems that already existed, though not apparent, and were nevertheless exacerbated by the outbreak of the crisis. An attempt to investigate the role of the financial sector, dominated by the banking sector, follows, with regard to achieving macroeconomic equilibrium among the economies of the countries in the region and the potential for sustaining it in future as part of a path to growth. To fully satisfy this goal, we propose that it is preferable to avoid a linear approach to the issue, abandoning equilibrium theory to adopt an analysis inspired by the method of cumulative causation, based on the work of Nicholas Kaldor. Our analysis allows us to postulate that, in a post-crisis period, conditions prevail for the potential appearance of future structural impasses of a cumulative nature, which could lead to a systemic crisis and leave the development process of the region's economies exposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Borrowed size' is an emerging policy concept in several European countries, presenting theoretical potential to explain contemporary urban dynamics unaddressed through conventional urban growth theories that emphasise the role of agglomeration economies. In its original conceptualisation by Alonso, the concept describes and explains the situation that especially smaller cities that are located in a larger 'megapolitan complex' do perform better because they have access to agglomeration benefits of larger neighbouring cities. This paper scrutinises the concept of borrowed size, thereby focusing on its conceptualisation and reviewing its empirical justification thus far. Our empirical analyses show that the concept must be stretched in terms of scale and scope to enhance its policy value. Borrowed size occurs when a city possesses urban functions and/or performance levels normally associated with larger cities. This is enabled through interactions in networks of cities across multiple spatial scales. These networks serve as a substitute for the benefits of agglomeration. Theoretically, the borrowed size concept demands a recasting of the geographical foundations of agglomeration theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of membership on a country in EU on the ownership of its banking system. The ownership of a banking system is important for a country. A growing number of studies provide empirical evidence that well operation of financial systems accelerates long-run economic growth by allocating funds to more productive investments than poorly developed financial systems. So, the foreign ownership of banking system, if the owners are from more developed economies, through know how can influence for greater financial intermediacy and for better allocation of resources, too. Also if the owners are global systemically important financial institution they can provide financial support and can make a bank competitive advantage with cheap credit lines. The down side is that all the decisions are taken on group level and the subsidiary can be affected of strategy for deleveraging or reduced support although the driver is the economic conditions of the mother company. In order to evaluate the impact of the EU membership, this paper will compare the ownership of the banking systems in Romania and Bulgaria before and after the EU accession. Also, the analysis will include the ownership of Macedonian banking system, and having in mind the changes in the other two sample countries, will be assessed the impact of EU membership on the ownership of the banking system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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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]

Gløersen E. Renewing the theory and practice of European applied territorial research on mountains, islands and sparsely populated areas, Regional Studies. The mention of mountains, islands and sparsely populated regions in the European Treaty and in the European Commission's Green Paper on Territorial Cohesion (2008) reflects the importance of these categories in policy debates. Different studies have investigated whether there is an evidence base that would support the design of policies targeting the social and economic development of concerned areas. This paper argues that these categories are mental constructs as much as physical realities. On this basis, a critique of currently prevailing methods in the study of these areas is developed and alternative approaches are proposed. Gløersen E. 重塑欧洲山脉、岛屿及人口稀少地区领土应用研究的理论与实践，区域研究。欧盟条约和有关领土凝聚力的欧盟绿皮书中对山区、岛屿及人口稀少地区的提及，反映了这类领土在政策争论中的重要性。曾有不同研究探索是否有证据基础可以表明，政策的设计是以这些相关地区的社会和经济发展为目标的。本文认为这类区域不仅是物质存在，更关乎于精神建设。基于此，本文批判了当前通行的针对这些区域的研究方法，并提出了新的见解。 凝聚政策 地域多样性 山区 岛屿 人口稀少地区 Gløersen E. Renouveler les fondements théoriques et la pratique de la recherche territoriale appliquée sur la montagne, les îles et les espaces faiblement peuplés, Regional Studies. Le Traité européen et le Livre vert de la Commission européenne (2008) sur la cohésion territoriale font allusion aux montagnes, aux îles et aux espaces faiblement peoples, ce qui reflète l'importance accordée à ces catégories dans les débats politiques. Différentes études ont cherché à déterminer si on peut justifier empiriquement l'élaboration des politiques visant spécifiquement à promouvoir le développement social et économique des territoires concernés. L'article soutient que ces catégories géographiques sont des constructions mentales autant que des réalités physiques. Dans ce contexte, une analyse critique des méthodes actuellement en vigueur pour étudier ces territoires est développée et des approches alternatives sont proposées. Politique de cohésion Diversité territoriale Espaces de montagne Îles Espaces faiblement peuplés Gløersen E. Erneuerung der Theorie und Praxis der angewandten europäischen Territorialforschung über Berge, Inseln und dünn besiedelte Gebiete, Regional Studies. Die Tatsache, dass Berge, Inseln und dünn besiedelte Regionen im EU-Vertrag und im Grünbuch der Europäischen Kommission über territoriale Kohäsion erwähnt werden, zeugt von der Bedeutung dieser Kategorien in den politischen Debatten. In verschiedenen Studien wurde untersucht, ob es Belege gibt, die für die Entwicklung von Politiken zur sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung der betroffenen Gebiete sprechen. In diesem Beitrag wird argumentiert, dass es sich bei diesen Kategorien ebenso um mentale Konstrukte wie um physische Realitäten handelt. Auf dieser Grundlage wird eine Kritik der momentan bei der Untersuchung dieser Gebiete vorherrschenden Methoden entwickelt, und es werden alternative Ansätze vorgeschlagen. Kohäsionspolitik Territoriale Vielfalt Bergregionen Inseln Dünn besiedelte Gebiete Gløersen E. Renovar la teoría y práctica de la investigación territorial aplicada europea sobre las montañas, las islas y los espacios escasamente poblados, Regional Studies. El hecho de que se mencionen montañas, islas y regiones escasamente pobladas en el Tratado Europeo y en el Libro Verde de la Comisión Europea sobre la cohesión territorial refleja la importancia de estas categorías en los debates políticos. En diferentes estudios se ha investigado si existe una base empírica que apoye el diseño de políticas que aborden el desarrollo social y económico de los territorios en cuestión. En este artículo argumentamos que estas categorías son tanto construcciones mentales como realidades físicas. Sobre esta premisa, hacemos un análisis crítico de los métodos actuales predominantes en el estudio de este campo y proponemos enfoques alternativos. Política de cohesión Diversidad territorial Áreas montañosas Islas Espacios escasamente poblados [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper considers the work of the European Cluster Observatory (ECO) in light of current debates around the notion of clusters. Examining the definitions employed by the ECO, questions are posed about how effective policy can be when using highly restrictive means of analysis. Further, the work contends that, far from this being purely an analytical problem, there also exists a fundamental semantic issue regarding the term ‘economic cluster’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper is about the role of policy, institutions, and culture in creating a strong negative tradeoff between productivity and employment growth across groups of countries within Europe. Throughout the postwar era until 1995 labor productivity grew faster in Europe than in the United States. In the decade after 1995, productivity growth in the EU-15 slowed while that in the US accelerated. Europe's productivity growth slowdown was largely offset by faster growth than the US in employment per capita, leaving little difference in growth of output per capita between the EU and US going back to 1980. We document the productivity-employment tradeoff in the raw data, in regressions that control for the two-way causation between productivity and employment growth, and we show that there is a robust negative correlation between productivity and employment growth across countries and time. We find that the negative effect of changes in employment per capita on changes in productivity is robust to alternative instruments and to the inclusion or exclusion of particular countries like Italy or Spain. We conclude by suggesting that evaluations of alternative policy reforms in Europe should take into account any offsetting effects on employment and productivity by examining the ultimate impact on changes in income per capita. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we evaluate income distributions in four European countries (Austria, Italy, Spain and Hungary) using two complementary approaches: a standard approach based on reported incomes in survey data, and a microsimulation approach, where taxes and benefits are simulated. These two approaches may be expected to generate slightly different results, particularly in respect of individuals on lower incomes, because benefit receipts tend to be under-reported in survey data, and over-estimated in microsimulation procedures. However, we find that the two approaches do in fact produce reasonably consistent results, in terms of both inequality measures and poverty rates. To the extent that the results differ, we explore the reasons why these differences arise, and suggest directions for future research, in which each approach may inform improvements in the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of the global recession on selected southeast European countries. The implicit hypotheses of the paper are therefore related, first, to the question of sustainability of the global model of development, and second, to the sustainability of the economic model of development of the southeast European countries in which overall weak export orientation is a constant problem. The first sign of economic recession in the southeast European countries was a significant reduction of exports, which was the consequence of a strong decline in foreign demand. The stagnation and reduction of activities in other sectors, especially in trade, construction, and industry, soon followed. A reduction in personal consumption and the need to curtail the growth of government spending indicate that in the following period the only, and major, sources of economic growth are an increase of investments and exports. The results confirm the possibilities of strengthening mutual economic cooperation in the market of the region and on the international markets, especially in the circumstances of the global recession. It is necessary to review the existing economic models based on export orientation, especially export of manufacturing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to explore the role of globalization (the overall level as well as its three dimensions of economic, social, and political integration) in promoting economic growth and examine if the incumbent political party influences the relation between the two variables. We attempt to investigate the evidence of long-run equilibrium in terms of the relationship between globalization and economic growth in the period 1990-2006 while also considering the influences of the incumbent political party. In this paper we thus divide Europe into two groups based on political regime characteristics, using ten former communist countries (FCCs) and eighteen Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) members as the study samples. The results of our empirical test confirm our expectations that globalization contributes to economic growth, but it is also sensitive to specific institutional factors, like an incumbent political party. Globalization has a larger impact on real gross domestic product per capita in FCCs than in OECD countries. Although the FCCs and OECD countries are in geographic proximity, the difference in their level of economic development is very large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]