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This paper examines the importance of trade openness for attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows, using a sample of 36 developing economies for the period 1990-2008. It provides a direct test of causality between FDI inflows, trade openness and other key variables in developing regions of the world: Latin America, Asia, Africa, CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) and Eastern Europe. Trade openness is measured by using eight different indicators. The main empirical findings of the panel regression analysis reveal that in the long run, trade openness contributes positively to the inflow of FDI in developing economies.

Major demographic changes around the world. Disproportionate sovereign debt. A shift from North America, Western Europe, and Japan to emerging economies as centers of growth. Unprecedented levels of market risk and volatility. The structure of the global economy is undergoing significant changes. Michael Oyster, managing principal of Fund Evaluation Group, explored this topic with Sam DeRosa-Farag, principal of the investment team at Morgan Creek Capital Management, and Stephen Wood, chief market strategist at Russell Investments.

Analysis of three common approaches to higher education planning (social demand, manpower planning, and rate-of-return) in European countries suggests that while planners should not rely on one approach, combining approaches superficially can produce contradictory indicators. It also suggests ideological differences are less significant in planning than might be expected. (MSE)

Alzheimer's disease (AD), breast cancer (BC) and prostate cancer (PC) continue to be high in the research and innovation agenda of the European Commission (EC). This is due to their exceptionally large burden to the national health systems, the profound economic effects of opportunity costs attributable to decreased working ability, premature mortality and the ever-increasing demand for both hospital and home-based medical care. Over the last two decades, the EC has been steadily increasing both the number of proposals being funded and the amounts of financial resources being allocated to these fields of research. This trend has continued throughout four consecutive science funding cycles, namely framework programme (FP)5, FP6, FP7 and Horizon 2020 (H2020). We performed a retrospective assessment of the outputs and outcomes of EC funding in AD, BC and PC research over the 1999–2019 period by means of selected indicators. These indicators were assessed for their ability to screen the past, present and future for an array of causal relationships and long-term trends in clinical, epidemiological and public health sphere, while considering also the broader socioeconomic impact of funded research on the society at large. This analysis shows that public–private partnerships with large industry and university-based consortia have led to some of the most impactful proposals being funded over the analysed time period. New pharmaceuticals, small molecules and monoclonal antibodies alike, along with screening and prevention, have been the most prominent sources of innovation in BC and PC, extending patients' survival and enhancing their quality of life. Unlike oncology, dementia drug development has been way less successful, with only minor improvements related to the quality of supportive medical care for symptoms and more sensitive diagnostics, without any ground-breaking disease-modifying treatment(s). Significant progresses in imaging diagnostics and nanotechnology have been largely driven by the participation of medical device industry multinational companies. Clinical trials funded by the EC were conducted, leading to the development of brand-new drug molecules featuring novel mechanisms of action. Some prominent cases of breakthrough discoveries serve as evidence for the European capability to generate cutting-edge technological innovation in biomedicine. Less productive areas of research may be reconsidered as priorities when shaping the new agenda for forthcoming science funding programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractIn an era of intense geopolitical competition, concerns about the impact of foreign investments in strategic sectors of the European economy have led policymakers to review European investment screening mechanisms (ISMs). In doing so, European institutions and member states have to find a balance between security and economics, maintaining a favorable environment for potential investors while simultaneously protecting specific sectors that they deem important for European and national security. We argue that the existing structure of state-firm relations decisively shapes the institutional configuration of European ISMs at the national level. We identify two ideal-typical patterns of state-firm relations: Public governance and private governance ecosystems. We hypothesize that variations in domestic state-firm relations decisively shape the institutional configurations of European ISMs, and, more broadly, how European governments and firms navigate the trade-off between openness and protection of strategic assets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been significant EV sales growth in Europe, benefiting from its policies for promoting electric vehicles (EVs) and investments in manufacturing. This study investigates the investment announcements for EV and battery production announced by manufacturers and compares them to four scenarios with different EV penetration levels in Europe. This study projects the required capacities and estimates the investment needs to meet different EV sale targets in each scenario. The investigations show that, for Europe to achieve 60% new EV sales by 2030 and to be on track for 100% by 2035, its 4.8 million planned production capacity of EVs would fall short of the needed 9.2 million in 2030. The gap could close to 2.0 million when tentative announcements are counted. The results for batteries indicate that tentative plans are adequate and firm plans can satisfy most scenarios by 2030. More investments into EV production, along with policy support and incentives, are needed for more rapid scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the analysis of some indicators that capture important aspects regarding the protection of the environment. The indicators chosen were: environmental protection investment of total economy, area of wooded land, protected areas and protected forest, as well as air emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases from production activities and households. The results showed that the reduction of pollution both from the productive activity and from the households of the population can lead to the mitigation of polluting emissions as well as to the preservation of biodiversity. Environmental protection investment is also an important help against pollution if they are applied effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With increasing textile consumption and limited sorting and recycling capacities, the EU faces major challenges in terms of managing its textile waste. This study investigates the environmental and socio-economic impacts of explorative policy scenarios for a more sustainable textile waste management system in Europe. These scenarios differ substantially in the amounts of textile waste generated and separately collected, closed-loop recycling capacities and textile waste exports. Our results show that sustainable textile waste management remains highly relevant for the sector. Still, without addressing in parallel prevention of textile waste generation via production and consumption patterns, a climate-neutral and circular textiles sector will be hard to achieve. Interventions in the waste management of textiles could reduce global warming impacts by up to 22.3 Mt CO 2 per year, which translates to an 18% sector-wide impact by 2035. Depending on the intervention(s), the estimated required investment at present amounts to between 7 and 33 billion EUR. The study provides a valuable starting point for evidence-based decisions on future textile policymaking in Europe., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The post-coronavirus era will open myriad opportunities for the biopharma industry. However, the extent to which each country will take advantage of this promising new scenario will largely depend on its position in a few key areas. Here, we offer an overview of the European countries that are winning and those that are lagging behind in the race to attract the greatest investment in this industry and to attain the highest rate of successful new ventures. Our results highlight the vital importance of a sound, active funding base, especially in terms of venture capital. Our findings also suggests that general scientific foundations are not enough to secure an advantage in new venture formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an adaptive network fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) based decision support system that can provide European policy makers with systematic guidance in allocating and prioritizing scant public resources, whilst accomplishing the best growth performance at a regional level. We do so by taking the stance of the Smart Specialization Strategies, which aim at consolidating the regional strengths and make effective and efficient use of public investment in R&D. By applying the ANFIS method, we were able to understand how—and to what extent—the competitiveness drivers promoted technological development and how the latter contributes to the economic growth of European regions. We used socio–economic, spatial, and patent-based data to train, test, and validate the models. What emerges is that an increase of R&D investments enhances the regional employment rate and the number of patents per capita; in turn, by taking into account the several combinations of specialization and diversification indicators, this leads to an increase of the regional gross domestic product (GDP). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable finance and investment has become an important factor in achieving environmental sustainability. Evidence also suggests it has become more prominent in the global financial system. Although academic interest has increased in recent years, most prior studies have investigated support for sustainable finance within corporate environments. Studies examining the support of individuals, or the wider public, are scarce. Consequently, using a Eurobarometer survey of 27,862 Europeans across all 27 EU countries, this study explores support for sustainable finance among people in Europe. We used a nested fixed effects model – with two levels – to examine the influence of sociodemographic factors, knowledge of sustainable finance, and a country's progress towards attaining the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our results show that sociodemographic factors are the most influential predictors of support for sustainable finance. We found that age, gender and living in rural/urban areas all influenced people's support for sustainable finance. Meanwhile, the influence of sustainable finance knowledge and SDG progress were either negligible or negative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides new evidence on the appropriateness of the Fama-French five-factor model to evaluate international equity funds' performance. After extending this model to a conditional framework by allowing for time-varying risk and performance, the results show that funds underperformed during the 2000–2017 period. Funds investing globally and in Europe tend to invest in aggressive firms, but only the latter are exposed to firms with weak profitability. We thus conclude that although both investment and profitability factors are significant in explaining fund returns, the investment factor plays a more relevant role irrespective of the funds' geographical area of investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung: DIW-Wochenbericht is the property of DIW Berlin 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.)

• Business-friendly regulations, public support, access to finance and education matter for investment in intangible assets. • Business-friendly regulations are more positively related with investment in intangible assets than in tangible assets. • External financial conditions matter more for investment in tangibles, while internal sources matter more for intangibles. • Systematic reporting and a regulatory framework fostering profitmaking may improve access to finance for intangibles. • Investing in education emerges as another key dimension of policies to unlock investment in intangible assets. In this paper, we look at the determinants of investment in intangible assets in Europe and explore whether their drivers and barriers are the same as for tangible assets. Our assessment suggests that tangible and intangible assets indeed appear to be affected somewhat differently by some of the tested key determinants. For instance, the regulatory framework seems to be more relevant for investment in intangibles while financial conditions, and in particular the availability of external funding, appear to be more relevant for tangible investment. Moreover, some evidence of complementarities between investments across different asset types suggests that a barrier to investment relevant for one asset type may indirectly impede investment in other assets too as there are synergies among different asset types, notably between tangible and intangible assets but also between different types of intangible assets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In 2022, the "New Capitalism Grand Design and Implementation Plan" was adopted in Japan, emphasizing the promotion and environmental development of startups. Given this context, an investigation into the startup and investment landscape in the allergy sector, both domestically and internationally, becomes imperative., Methods: We analyzed 156 allergy-related startups from Japan, the US, and Europe from 2010 to 2021. Data on corporate information and investment trends were extracted from databases and VC websites., Results: The total investment reached approximately 7.2 billion USD, with a ratio of 20:6:1 for the US, Europe, and Japan, respectively. The US showed a decline post its peak from 2016-2018, while Europe and Japan experienced growth. Notably, the US primarily invested in biopharmaceuticals for atopic dermatitis and food allergies, Europe in asthma-related apps, and Japan in healthcare apps and cross-border startups., Discussion and Conclusion: While Japan's investment environment in the allergy sector remains in its nascent stages and has room for development, the US and Europe are evidently ahead. Considering the rise of startups and funding limitations in Japan, external funding from regions like the US becomes a potential avenue. These findings are anticipated to contribute to the strategic activation of startups in allergy research and development.

Whereas the design and properties of bent and plateaued functions have been frequently addressed during the past few decades, there are only a few design methods of the so-called five-valued spectra Boolean functions whose Walsh spectra take the values in $\{0, \pm 2^{\lambda _{1}}, \pm 2^{\lambda _{2}}\}$. Moreover, these design methods mainly regard the specification of these functions in their algebraic normal form (ANF) domain. In this paper, we give a precise characterization of this class of functions in their spectral domain using the concept of a dual of plateaued functions. Both necessary and sufficient conditions on the Walsh support of these functions are given, which then connects their design (in the spectral domain) to a family of the so-called totally (non-overlap) disjoint spectra plateaued functions. We identify some suitable families of plateaued functions having this property, thus providing some generic methods in the spectral domain. Furthermore, we also provide an extensive analysis of their constructions in the ANF domain and provide several generic design methods. The importance of this class of functions is manifolded, where apart from being suitable for some cryptographic applications, we emphasize their property of being constituent functions in the so-called four-bent decomposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract A digital industrial policy should take into account the new opportunities for industrial policy arising from digitalisation for tackling the sluggish economic growth performance in the Europe. The structural problems and potential market failures related to the adoption of digital technologies are identified. Apart from incentives to invest into digital infrastructure, the policy measures should strengthen the intangible asset base along the value added chain of the digital economy, fostering the related R&D activities, along with the skills of researchers and of workers. Public and private sector financing, combined through financial instruments, should focus on furthering entrepreneurship and implementation of innovative business plans. Highlights • Industrial policy appropriate for digital economy. • Remedies for potential market failures in digital infrastructure buildout. • International positioning of Europe in digital economy. • How to face predominance of US firms. • Financing the digital economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this contribution, we analyze the presence of China in the countries of eastern and south-eastern Europe, some of which are EU members, others in the accession phase or in the process of becoming candidates, gathered in the 17 + 1 Format. This presence takes different forms: trade and direct investment (still low in volume, especially in comparison with the rest of Europe), the provision of services - construction of railway lines, ports, highways - thanks to bank loans granted by Chinese financial institutions. One wonders about the rationalities of the strategies implemented: search for outlets, especially for Chinese firms in overcapacity, attempt to create regional value chains, junction of the maritime and land routes of the new silk roads, finally, search of influence on the periphery of the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study empirically investigates the relationship between the relative GDP share of agriculture and the unemployment rate in a sample of ten Central and Eastern European countries. Utilising the annual data for the sample period 1996-2013, the empirical analysis is carried out using the dynamic panel regression analysis and the Granger causality tests. The estimation results based on the alternative specification of regression equations for the unemployment rate suggest that the unemployment rate is negatively related to the relative GDP share of agriculture. In addition, a similar effect has been obtained for some other explanatory variables we have included in the unemployment equation as controlling variables: higher investment rate and trade openness are likely to lower the rate of unemployment. The financial development has also been found to be negatively related to the unemployment rate, although the statistical significance of its effect depends on the estimation technique used. On the other hand, the GDP growth and the government consumption have been found to be insignificantly related to the unemployment rate. While the Granger causality tests performed for each country produced evidence of a causal effect of the relative GDP share of agriculture in some countries, in some other countries the direction of causality has been found to be from the unemployment rate to the relative GDP share of agriculture. Our findings suggest that agriculture may play a potential role in lowering the prevailing rates of high unemployment; but this potential is likely to vary between countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the regulatory and policy frameworks practiced in Europe and in some European countries on power systems and energy distribution amidst the increasing demand for energy efficiency and environmental sustainability. It mentions that the energy and power landscapes in the region experience profound change due to the increasing number of renewable energy sources (RES) and other conventional forms of power generation.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to ascertain whether weather variables can explain the stock return reaction on the Dow Jones Sustainability Europe Index by employing a number of macroeconomic indicators as control variables.Design/methodology/approach The authors incorporate the generalized autogressive conditional heteroskeasticity model in methodology for the period August 26, 2009 to May 30, 2014 using daily data.Findings The empirical results indicate that not only do changes in humidity and wind levels seem to affect positively the European stock market but changes in returns oil and gold prices as well. However, the results show that the volatility of the US dollar/Yen exchange rate and ten-year bond value exerts significant negative impact on companies’ stock returns.Originality/value This study adds to the international literature by documenting the impact of weather variables on socially responsible companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electricity distribution system operators (DSOs) are expected to invest heavily in system innovation in the form of smart grids (SG) in order to help achieve energy policy goals. In this context, regulatory reforms to spur DSOs investments are considered a policy priority. Based on a review of the European regulatory status and using a dataset of 459 innovative SG projects, this study focuses on market and regulatory factors and performs a series of statistical tests to investigate how the different factor levels affecting SG investments in Europe. The results show that (1) lower market concentration in the electricity distribution sector (2) the use of incentive-based regulatory schemes; and (3) the adoption of innovation-stimulus mechanisms are key enablers of SG investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the behaviour of European firms in the time of the economic crisis in 2008-2009. We analyse the determinants of proactive strategies in the context of innovation and the range of products offered by every firm on the market. Research Design & Methods: Based on a large and representative sample of 14 750 (EFIGE dataset) firms from Austria, Germany, France, Hungary, Italy, Spain and the UK, we estimate the logit model for two measures of proactive strategy: the investment behaviour and the introduction of new products on the market. Findings: We find evidence that the experience of the former crisis by the company is associated with the adoption of proactive behaviour in the case of investments in innovation, and reactive behaviour in the case of the product offer range. Implications & Recommendations: As the public support for innovative investments proved to be rather ineffective, the most promising direction for public policies in the times of crisis are those that facilitate the access to external financing. Contribution & Value Added: Our paper contributes to the development of knowledge on the dynamics of company behaviour in the wake of the economic crisis in 2008, and to the better understanding of the determinants of proactive behaviour of enterprises within the context of rising uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use a panel dataset of about 5,000 Lithuanian firms between 2003 and 2010, to assess the impact of the EU ETS on the environmental and economic performance of participating firms. Using a matching methodology, we are able to estimate the causal impact of EU ETS participation on CO, emissions, CO2 intensity, investment behaviour and profitability of participating firms. Our results show that ETS participation did not lead to a reduction in CO2 emissions, while we identify a slight improvement in CO2 intensity. ETS participants are shown to have retired part of their less efficient capital stock, and to have made modest additional investments from 2010. We also show that the EU ETS did not represent a drag on the profitability of participating firms. [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]

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]

Present economic situation in the world, especially in the Europe does not allow investors to hope for expected return from conservative investment instruments - government securities, bonds or deposits. Therefore, such a situation in the market leads to choose riskier investments in shares of the company of both professional and non- professional investors. In order to reduce the investment risk and to increase the possible return, investors often rely on fundamental analysis. This analysis is the homework of the investor before making the investment portfolio: research of the country, industry branch, company. Therefore, in this article the proper application of fundamental analysis is reviewed, while maintaining the logical its sequence in order to evaluate the suitability of various financial measures to be included in investment portfolio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a merchant-regulatory framework to promote investment in the European natural gas network infrastructure based on a price cap over two-part tariffs. As suggested by Vogelsang (J Regul Econ 20:141-165, ) and Hogan et al. (J Regul Econ 38:113-143, ), a profit maximizing network operator facing this regulatory constraint will intertemporally rebalance the variable and fixed part of its two-part tariff so as to expand the congested pipelines, and converge to the Ramsey-Boiteaux equilibrium. We confirm this with actual data from the European natural gas market by comparing the bi-level price-cap model with different reference cases. We analyze the performance of the regulatory approach under different market scenarios, and identify relevant aspects that need to be addressed if the approach were to be implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the course of the economic and financial crisis, investment activity, which was not very strong to begin with, in Europe and especially the Eurozone caved in. In relation to gross domestic product, fixed capital formation declined by four percentage points since 2008. Already prior to the crisis, investment activity was rather weak in parts of the Eurozone -- amongst others in Germany. This finding is indicated by model simulations which account for country-specific macroeconomic conditions. On the other hand, especially in southern European economies, investment -- mostly in the home construction sector -- was markedly high before the crisis. These investments were however mainly financed by capital in flows from abroad. In the course of the crisis, foreign direct investment slumped and so did investment activity in these countries which has not been counterbalanced by higher investments in other parts of the monetary union. As a result, current investment in the Eurozone remains markedly below the level corresponding to macroeconomic conditions. When measured against this baseline, there was an underinvestment of around two percent on average in relation to gross domestic product between 2010 and 2012. This is associated with significant reductions in growth in the short and long run since the capital stock needed to expand production capacity is growing rather slowly. If investment activity in the Eurozone had been correspondingly stronger, potential growth in the monetary union could have been 0.2 percentage points higher than observed since the crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Only strong economic growth will help Europe emerge from its crisis. The reforms implemented to date at national and European level have failed to impact the economy positively; this is due to excessive national, corporate, and private debts, weakness of the banking system, the lack of structural reforms, an insufficient institutional framework at European level, as well as a persisting climate of distrust in the stability of economic development. The probability of economic stagnation, characterized by high unemployment, declining incomes, decelerating potential growth, and deflation, is high and has increased significantly. The risk of economic development in Europe following Japan's example of the 1990s is very real indeed. This Economic Bulletin shows that one of Europe's biggest economic weaknesses is a lack of private investment and that a European investment agenda is vital in order to generate the impetus required to push the European economy towards a sustainable recovery. European economic policy should focus not on higher public spending, but on increasing private investment as well as creating markets that function properly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Panel cointegration methods are used to analyze the saving and investment relationships of the EU member countries; the degree of capital mobility is investigated by pooled mean group estimation. Results demonstrate that although saving and investment move together in the long run, there is also a moderate level of capital mobility in the short run, suggesting that the Feldstein-Horioka puzzle is not valid for these countries in the 1980-2012 period. Results differ in the subsamples of the European Union as the degree of capital mobility is higher in the eurozone countries and early members of the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biofuel is an important business opportunity in the green economy and it was supported by European energy policy. The patterns of investments in this industry are analyzed considering a number of criteria. Some of the risk factors identified are economic risk factors, political risk factors, and social and environmental factors. Investments could be financed using investment funds, loans or governmental programs. Central to increasing the return on investments is the supply activity, which has direct effect on the competitiveness of biofuels. Perfecting the structure of supply is likely to occur for oilseeds purchase at a great price in the market. Meanwhile, high export and low yield seeds of these crops in our country hinders the achievement of significant managerial performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the changing security, economic and diplomatic components of the transatlantic link, with a particular focus on Washington's approach and implications for Central and Eastern Europe. The United States continues to play an essential role as security underwriter in the region, but the military dimension of the transatlantic relationship is transforming and will result in greater burdens on Europeans. Economic links between the U.S. and Central Europe are developing more strongly than generally understood, and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is likely to drive both political and economic ties. Unconventional gas developments are enhancing U.S. engagement in European energy markets. Finally, the U.S. remains keen to engage its European partners on a broad agenda of global and regional issues and retains its own interests in working particularly with Central and Eastern European countries to lend stability to 'wider Europe'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the economic impact of diminishing levels of uncertainty on investment, as a result of conflict resolution processes, is tested by means of a case study on a European region largely affected by political violence. For this purpose, the response of Basque investment during conflict resolution attempts is used as a natural experiment with which to evaluate the effect of reduced uncertainty on productive investment. Thus, it is found that productive investment in the Basque Country increased considerably when credible peace talks directed towards the end of the conflict were undertaken. Accordingly, when compared with other subsets of comparable Spanish provinces, the truces declared in 1988 and 1998 propelled the growth rate of investment in this region by 21.2 and 25.8 percentage points, respectively. This finding gives an idea on the magnitude of the potential peace dividend to be reaped in the event of an eventual conflict resolution and a complete cessation of political violence in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There might be some specific problems for Central East European Countries (CEE/ CEEC) to comply with the additionality principle and to avoid excessive deficits at the same time. The main reason is that the budgets of the CEECs still face some risks for revenues and expenditures. Therefore, maintaining structural expenditure at a stable level without allowing for temporary public deficits will be difficult for CEECs. In this paper we will provide several arguments that suggest not targeting the EU structural assistance exclusively at the reduction of regional disparities within CEECs. Doing so would not only face problems due to missing administrations and statistics at the regional level, but might also be at the expense of national economic growth and extend the process of catching-up. Each CEEC has it own specificity that is reflected more or less on capital region. According our analysis we will find what are the opportunities for investments in this Capital regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Industry / Industrija is the property of Economics Institute 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.)

As economic performance has deteriorated in most European countries, EU public opinion and leaders have begun to stress with increased urgency the need for far greater emphasis on growth. Meaningful actions on a sufficient scale have however not yet been taken, although the recent approval by the European leaders of a similar pro-growth program to the one present here is encouraging. The purpose of the present note is to make specific proposals on how one key and successful EU institution, the European Investment Bank (EIB), can expand its lending significantly, in ways that will make a meaningful contribution to growth, particularly in the countries whose economies have suffered most from the sovereign debt crisis. We will also examine the role that EU Structural Funds can play on their own, and especially, as a complement to EIB lending, to further contribute to EU growth. One important advantage of our approach is that with fairly limited public resources, it can achieve a very large impact, due to the benefits of leverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Once with the development of the human capital theory, the education received an economic value, which is a quality variable of human resources and the main determinant of economic growth. The famed economists have shown that the remarkable economic effects of the investments in education influence the chances of acquiring a job and earnings, demonstrating how the theory justifies such an investment. Human capital approach allows also estimating the costs of education in schools and higher education, as well as the profits that comes out of it. Thus, the human capital theory is primarily focused on the demand for education. Moreover, the objective function of the state, in terms of education, contains itself two contradictory arguments: the state, theoretically, is a representative and guarantor of the collective good and its organizer; the state will seek to maximize individual education on the one hand and on the other hand will search for the optimization of the relationship between professional training and formal education. Also, in the context of recent years, the budgetary constraints are raising the problem of optimal allocation of the resources, as well as the funding of the performance of the educational services. The particularities, in terms of flexibility and cumulative distribution of the investment levels in the human factors, are translated into a practical action in the sense that global competition, from which Romania cannot decouple. In the long run, there are winning and resisting only those with academic flexible formation and the intelligent persons. Considering the above arguments, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the main characteristics of funding mechanisms for education systems, the volume of spending on education and ways of managing the resources allocated to the education. The cost allocation for education in Romania is investigated in terms of government policies, but also in terms of human capital theory. Also, to answer to the question how Romania had aligned to the modern trends in terms of allocation of the resources more and more important for human capital formation, this paper attempts to estimate the economic effort claimed by the financing of the education system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to provide some empirical explanations for the gaps in information and communication technologies (ICT) diffusion between industrialized countries and especially between European countries and the USA. National macro-economic panel data are mobilized for 11 OECD countries over the 1981–2005 period. The analysis is based on factor demand estimates. It provides some original results: (i) the impact on ICT diffusion is positive for the level of education and negative for market rigidities, and both increased over time (in absolute terms) until mid-1990s; (ii) in each country, the price-elasticity of demand for ICT decreased (in absolute terms) over time, from 2 at the beginning of the 1980s to 1 in the middle of the 2000s. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Some economic processes cannot be finished only by using an econometric model with one equation because the economic theory is a systemic concept that contains many variables. After the Great Depression was discovered the concept of macroeconomic modeling that went mainstream in Europe and The United States of America, and in our days the phenomenon accelerated, it derived similar with the structure of the derivates market, which are micro and macroeconomic valid. This research paper underlines the overview of the last 20 years in the development of the first tier macroeconomic indicators that stress the general trend of the economic evolution of Romania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research focusing on previous work experience revealed the current energy crises, and the use of energy resources and energy efficiency. Although researchers have discovered some important findings regarding power generation facilities, the improvement of energy efficiency, and efficient investment conditions to secure generation adequacy, there is still a great deal that is unknown and that requires further empirical inquiry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the empirical literature on the effects of environmental regulation on investment. In particular, we ask whether and how strongly an industry's investment responds to stringency in environmental regulation. Environmental regulation is measured as (i) an industry's total current expenditure on environmental protection, and (ii) a country-industry's's revenue from environmental taxes. Focusing on European data of manufacturing industries between 1998 and 2007, we estimate the differential impact of environmental stringency on four types of investment: gross investment in tangible goods, in new buildings, in machinery, and in ‘productive’ investment (investment in tangible goods minus investment in abatement technologies). Both environmental variables enter positively, and their quadratic terms exhibit significantly negative parameter estimates. This, in turn, indicates a positive but diminishing impact of environmental regulation on investment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

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This paper investigates the relationship between investment and regulatory regimes (incentive vs. rate-of-return regulation) for a sample of EU energy utilities from 1997 to 2007. We control for the effect of firm ownership and for cross-country differences in the underlying energy demand and energy supply. To deal with potential endogeneity of the regulatory regime, we apply instrumental variable methods (2SLS and GMM). Our results show that investment rate is higher under incentive regulation than under rate of return regulation. Using original data on the regulatory tools (X factor and WACC), we find that investment of incentive regulated firms appears highly sensitive to the X factor, consistent with efficiency- and profit-seeking motivations. Electric utilities investment is also sensitive to the level and change in the weighted average cost of capital (WACC). Finally, we find that the positive relationship between private control and investment is not robust to IV estimations, suggesting that in Europe regulation may have reduced the differences between private and public firms’ incentives to invest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper computes (marginal and average) forward-looking effective tax rates for a sample of more than 650,000 firms in and outside of Europe using Bureau van Dijk’s ORBIS data-base. Comparing the firm-level effective tax rates with their country-level counterparts we arrive at two important findings for empirical research on the behavioral response to taxation. First, the firm-level component of the effective tax burden is generally much more important than the one at the country level. Second, tentative empirical results on the nexus between firm level investment and corporate taxation illustrate that the conclusions obtained with forward looking firm-level effective tax rates differ starkly from those based on country-level forward-looking rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Strategic Property Management is the property of Vilnius Gediminas Technical 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.)

Copyright of Cuadernos de Negocios Internacionales e Integración is the property of Universidad Catolica del Uruguay Damaso Antonio Larranaga 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.)