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Research background: The relationship between labour share and income inequality is a complex and multifaceted problem. Despite ongoing discussions among economists, there is still no consensus on the direction of the relationship between labour share and income inequality. Purpose of the article: The article aims to assess the impact of labour share on income inequality, which is measured in three ways: the Gini index of gross income, the Gini index of market incomes, and the Gini index of household disposable income. Methods: Dynamic panel data models were applied to estimate the relationship between Gini coefficients and socio-economic indicators. The study investigated 25 European Union countries over the 2011-2021 period. Findings & value added: Despite the long convergence process of the EU economies, there is still great diversity in the labour share, social inequalities, and the interplay between these factors. The added value of this research is the indication of labour share impact on three Gini measures covering a diverse income spectrum (from labour and capital). Based on the research findings, hypothesis 1, claiming that the more developed the national economy, the lower the share of employment income, favouring capital gains, is confirmed. Hypothesis 2 (as the share of income from work increases, the Gini coefficient of gross incomes decreases) must be rejected. There is no significant relationship between labour share and the studied Gini measures in 'old' EU countries. In 'new' EU members, there is a reverse relationship than assumed in hypothesis 2. The growth of the Gini coefficient was influenced by the rise in labour share, which can be attributed to the diversity in economic structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current approaches and cultures for the economic evaluations of environmental and health policies may suffer from excessive reliance on a standard neoclassic economic toolbox that neglects alternative perspectives. This may prematurely limit the spectrum of available policy options. Here we show how the inclusion of neglected currents of thought such as non-Ricardian economics, bioeconomics and a set of qualitative-quantitative methods from post-normal science leads to richer perspectives for a more inclusive uses of quantitative evidence, and opens the analysis to more possible futures. We also present some case studies in the energy, water, health and climate domains that highlight the point in a practical context for a more policy-oriented audience. We situate our analysis in the context of recent calls in the EU for the inclusion of more perspectives from the social sciences and the humanities in environmental assessment works. • Current impact assessments in the field of environmental policies suffer from lack of diversity in economic thought. • A standard neoclassic economic toolbox appears to dominate methodological choices. • Non-Ricardian economics and bioeconomics can provide some diversity as well as robustness. • Also useful would be a set of qualitative-quantitative methods derived from post-normal science. • These new lenses are tested on four different relevant test cases in a European Union context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to improve the methodology of the Digital Economic and Society Index (DESI), the European Commission's newest index to assess the development of the digital economy. In particular, we investigate whether methodological changes to the structure of DESI improve its ability to capture the digital transformation of EU economies. Using the sensitivity-based analysis, we check whether the selection of weights of individual elements included in the DESI is optimal or should be improved. We also verify the importance of DESI in explaining changes in GDP per capita in EU economies. In the literature, we find that digital transformation has enabled the creation of new business models and maximized efficiency in traditional firms. Using DESI, we empirically test whether the gap between rich and poor countries in European Union can be closed or eliminated through rapid and intensive digital transformation. Our results show that the DESI -- when modified by eliminating the pillars on internet services and digital public services -- has the same explanatory power. Connectivity is the dimension with the largest impact on digital transformation in EU countries. We also find that DESI is a significant regressor to explain changes in GDP per capita in EU countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three decades after the fall of the Berlin wall and one and a half decades after the Big Bang enlargement of the European Union (2004-2007), we revisit contrasting narratives about the benefit of both free trade and the EU enlargement for Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. We distinguish old, pre-2004 EU countries from CEE countries that joined the EU in 2004-2007, as well as from the CEE countries that have not become part of the EU, in particular Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine. Our analysis looks at two temporal windows: one from 1991 – the demise of the Eastern European free trade zone (COMECON) – to today, and the second zooming on the period following the enlargement process of 2004-2007. Our analysis points to an unfavourable turn of events for CEE countries, which appear to have experienced significant losses in their process of rapid integration in the world and EU economies. We are comparing these events in Central and Eastern Europe with the patterns of de-industrialisation and migration that took place in Latin America after a similar free trade shock starting in the 1970s. • With accession, 'Old' Europe managed a profit at the expense of the new one • This was caused by trade asymmetries and by deindustrialisation of new member states • Migration from accession countries became a source of cheap labour • The Euro has not helped accession countries or the EU Southern periphery • The EU enlargement has many losers – in both the old and the new EU [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy transition is now treated in most countries as a necessary condition for their long-term development. The process of energy transformation assumes the simultaneous implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, which are a major challenge for modern economies and introduce significant restrictions in their functioning. Our study aims to group EU member states according to their ability to achieve energy transition over time. The novelty of our approach is the assessment of energy transformation in the European Union through two aspects. The first one, "smart and efficient energy systems", assess the current, widely understood energy consumption in economy, and the second one, "macroeconomic heterogeneity", refers to the economic potential of a country. In our analysis, we included indicators from the 7th, 8th, 10th, 11th, and 12th Sustainable Development Goals. Using taxonomic methods, we created clusters of countries according to the emissivity of their economies and the socio-economic potential for the energy transition. The analysis results revealed that countries vary more due to their emissivity than economic potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]