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Research background: The article attempts to include the accuracy of statistical data in a synthetic evaluation and classification of EU countries in terms of innovation.

Common agricultural policy (CAP) is a factor of development and cohesion of the European Union (EU) agriculture. The fundamentals of CAP were defined in the 1950s, when the Union was formed. Since then, CAP has been reforming and adapting to new circumstances. Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union defines the goals of CAP: stable (acceptable) prices of agricultural products, growth, productivity and technological progress in agriculture, growth in farmers’ income and supplying the common market. Factor analysis of the prices and production goals of CAP directly or indirectly involves the following variables: prices of agricultural and industrial products, indices of the prices of cereals, meat and milk, indices of the prices of agricultural products in France and Great Britain, agricultural GDP and EU GDP. The analysis results come down to 2 factors. The first – “internal factor” is a set of indicators homogenous in terms of greater impact of CAP on their trends (the prices of agricultural products in France, income from agriculture, the prices of agricultural products in EU and Great Britain and the milk price index). The second - “external factor” is made of general and global indicators (cereals prices, EU GDP and prices in industry). Factor analysis has confirmed high correlation of goals: production growth, productivity and technological progress in agriculture as well as “reasonable” prices in agriculture. The analysis shows high correlation between agricultural and industrial products, indices of the prices of cereals, meat and milk, indices of the prices of agricultural products in France and Great Britain, agriculture GDP and EU GDP (classified into internal and external factors). In general, the results of the factor analysis justify the existence of CAP, while the EU budget support brings wider social benefits.

Subject and purpose of work: Integrated fare to date is essential for the efficient functioning of city transport services and for the involvement of citizens to shift from private to public transport. Implementation of this kind is a necessary component of the future development of the city in the direction of smart mobility.

This study aims to investigate the impact of savings and foreign direct investment on economic growth in Poland. Savings play an important role in achieving sustainable growth. High saving rates are also an important tool to increase resilience to financial shocks. The economic climate that emerged following the financial crisis revealed problems with the economy of Poland to obtain foreign financing. The decrease in foreign direct investment has led to an unpredictable economic environment for developing countries such as Poland. The decrease in foreign direct investment has led to lower growth rates for an emerging market such as the economy of Poland. The relationship economic growth rate, saving and foreign direct investment are examined for Poland over the period 1992-2016 by using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach. According to this approach there is a cointegration relationship between the series and a 1% increase in savings which leads to a 0.81% increase on economic growth rate. Also a 1% increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) leads to a 1.52% increase in the economic growth rate.

Use of multiplicative interaction of explanatory variables has been a standard practice in the regression modeling literature, and estimation of the parameters of such a model in the case of spatial autoregressive (SAR) or spatial Durbin (SDM) models can be accomplished using existing software for spatial regression estimation. However, use of the conventional scalar summary estimates of direct and indirect effects reflecting the own- and other-region impacts on the dependent variable associated with changes in the explanatory variables will not produce valid inferences. We discuss the issues that arise and introduce new methods for interpretation of own- and other-region impacts based on estimates from this type of model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This scoping paper addresses the role of financial institutions in empowering the British Industrial Revolution. Prominent economic historians have argued that investment was largely funded out of savings or profits, or by borrowing from family or friends: hence financial institutions played a minor role. But this claim sits uneasily with later evidence from other countries that effective financial institutions have mattered a great deal for economic development. How can this mismatch be explained? Despite numerous technological innovations, from 1760 to 1820 industrial growth was surprisingly low. Could the underdevelopment of financial institutions have held back growth? There is relatively little data to help evaluate this hypothesis. More research is required on the historical development of institutions that enabled finance to be raised. This would include the use of property as collateral. This paper sketches the evolution of British financial institutions before 1820 and makes suggestions for further empirical research. Research in this direction should enhance our understanding of the British Industrial Revolution and of the preconditions of economic development in other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim/purpose – The main objective of the paper is to explore mobility choices of Generation Y in Poland to check if they can be translated into guidelines for the development of mobility services.

Numerous theoretical and empiric studies investigate the correlation between education and human capital and economic development. Full affirmation of knowledge and the role of education in stimulating economic growth were provided by endogenous theory. The subject of this paper is to analyse the correlation between education and educational system and the economic growth of the Western Balkans countries (WB). The hypothesis of this work says that: education and educational system in the WB affect the growth of GDP per capita. A better education system stimulates and accelerates the economic growth and development. The aim of this research is to prove that an optimal education system stimulates the growth and development in each observed national economy. In this paper, the results of the correlation analysis indicate high compliance of higher education with GDP per capita i.e. higher education population is particularly important for the level of development whereas there is a highly compliant but inverse relation of the population with informal level of education and economic development in the WB countries.

North et al. (2009) argue that accounting for different development outcomes requires understanding how different societies manage violence. Almost all societies have been limited-access orders where elites constrain violence to preserve their rents. Alternatively, in open-access orders, violence is constrained by a government characterized by widespread political participation. Open-access societies were the first cases of sustained economic development; almost all of them have been Western European or offshoots. Understanding why is important. North et al. elaborate on three necessary conditions for achieving open access: (1) rule of law for elites, (2) support for perpetually-lived organizations, and (3) centralization and consolidation of violence. These constitute the "doorstep" to an open-access order. I argue that significant progress towards this doorstep was affected by the Carolingians of the early medieval era. I emphasize their large-scale distributions of confiscated/conquered lands to vassals, cultivation of bonds with the Church, and regularization of assemblies. The Carolingians introduced governance innovations that impersonalized relationships between elites and encouraged their enforcement under the rule of law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the impact of country R&D on the allocation of self-employment across different types, where types are identified based on occupational status and start-up motive. We first conduct a literature review based on which we consider the self-employed with employees to be of higher 'quality' (in terms of their overall contribution to the economy) compared with independent own-account workers, who in turn may be considered of higher quality than dependent self-employed workers. Similarly, we also consider opportunity self-employed to be of higher quality than necessity self-employed. Our empirical analysis then shows that the level of a country's R&D expenditures increases the share of self-employed with employees and that of opportunity self-employed (i.e. the self-employment types associated with higher quality) at the cost of the shares of dependent self-employed and necessity self-employed. Higher R&D expenditures at the country level thus increase the quality of self-employment in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This study examined the relationship between financial innovation and economic growth in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka for the period Q1 1975 to Q4 2016. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds test was used to gauge long-run relationships, and the nonlinear ARDL (NARDL) test was used to explore asymmetry between financial innovation and economic growth in the sample of Asian countries. The findings from the bounds tests revealed long-run cointegration between financial innovation and economic growth in the sample countries. Furthermore, NARDL confirmed that positive changes in financial innovation linked positively with economic growth and vice versa in the long run. In the short run, however, the study found mixed behaviors in the case of positive and negative changes in financial innovation. To investigate directional causality, the Granger causality test under an error correction model was employed. The Granger causality results supported the feedback hypothesis in both the long run and short run. Thus, financial innovation boosts economic growth in the long run by stimulating financial service expansion, financial efficiency, capital accumulation, and efficient financial intermediation, which are essential for sustainable economic growth.

We argue that the growth rate, but not the level of aggregate income, affects the support for extreme political parties. In our model, extreme parties offer short-run benefits to part of the population at the expense of a minority. Growth effects on the support for such parties arise when uncertainty exists over whether the same subset of individuals will receive the same benefits in the future. More people are willing to take political risks if economic growth is slow. Based on a panel of 16 European countries, our empirical analysis shows that slower growth rates are associated with a significant increase in right-wing extremism. We find no significant effect of economic growth on the support for extreme left-wing parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we describe the evolution of welfare state spending in Portugal in the period 1980–2018 and consider its implications for economic growth. Overall, welfare spending in Portugal increased over this period as a percentage of GDP, but stagnated or even declined in recent years. Our empirical analysis attempts to quantify the contribution of welfare spending to economic growth in that period. We provide a comprehensive robustness check by means of specification-curve analysis. We conclude that the sign of the effect varies with the specification choices, but neither positive nor negative estimates are robust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2008 crisis occurred in Spain while the Social Economy was undergoing a process of development and transformation to meet growing demand. The new stage uncovered organizational inefficiency in the Social Economy's institutions that might put at riskh8 their survival and highlighted new challenges that these organizations had to face. It was necessary to move towards a strategic model that would allow them to respond more swiftly and effectively to external shocks without renouncing the values and principles of the Social Economy. This paper analyzes the effects of the 2008 crisis on the institutions of the Spanish non-profit sector and suggests a methodology to help them decide between different affordable future strategies. We use a multi-criteria decision-making methodology to carry out a case study focused on a non-profit association, whose main goal is to take care of disabled people. We show how to help the association make decisions in an efficient, rigorous and democratic way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study empirically investigates the impact of public procurement regulation quality on the competition for tenders and the cost-effectiveness of awarded contracts, by employing the World Bank's Benchmarking Public Procurement and EuroPAM Public Procurement quality scores. Using extensive data on public procurement in the European Economic Area, Switzerland, and Macedonia, the analysis in this paper shows that higher quality public procurement regulatory regimes are associated with higher levels of competition and cost-effectiveness. Improved regulation quality significantly increases the number of bidders and the probability that the procurement price is lower than the estimated cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What drives external performance of countries? This is a recurring question in academia and policy circles. The factors underlying export growth are receiving great attention, as countries endeavoured to grow out of the crisis by increasing exports and as protectionist discourses take foot again. Despite decades of debates, it is still unclear what the common characteristics of countries that have a very good external performance are and, importantly, which ones policy makers can influence. We use Bayesian model averaging in a panel setting to investigate variables related to export market shares in 25 EU countries, considering a wide range of traditional indicators along with novel ones developed within the CompNet Competitiveness Research Network. We find that export market share growth is linked to different factors in the old and in the new member states, with one exception: for both groups, competitive pressures from China have strongly affected export performance since the early 2000s. In the case of old EU member states, investment, quality of institutions and available liquidity to firms also appear to play a role. For the new EU member states, labour and total factor productivity are particularly important, while inward FDI matters rather than domestic investment. Price competitiveness does not seem to play a very important role in either set of countries: relative export prices do show correlation with export performance for the new member states, but only when they are adjusted for quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we examine whether job control, job demands and job outcomes of 'dependent self-employed workers', i.e. the workers in this particular grey zone between employment and self-employment, are more similar to those of the self-employed or paid employed. To this end, we use microdata drawn from the 2010 wave of the European Working Conditions Survey for 34 European countries. First, we develop and validate a psychometrically sound multidimensional scale for these 3 key constructs by conducting both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Then, multilevel (hierarchical) linear regressions are used to test the validity of our hypotheses. Our results suggest that these hybrid work relationships are endowed with the least favourable attributes of both groups: lower job control than self-employed workers, higher job demands than paid employees and, overall, worse job outcomes than both. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using macro-level data for 32 European countries, the present paper explores developments in the education distributions among solo self-employed workers and employer entrepreneurs in the non-agricultural economy over the period 1997–2014. Our dynamic analysis reveals that over this period, the number of solo self-employed workers, but particularly the high-educated solo self-employed, has increased considerably in Europe. This trend is even more pronounced for female solo self-employment. The education distribution of the solo self-employed is thus shifting quickly towards higher levels of education. Moreover, our static analysis based on 2014 reveals that, for the higher-developed countries within Europe (Western Europe including Scandinavia), solo self-employed and employer entrepreneurs are on average equally highly educated. We also find that the solo self-employed in Western Europe are considerably higher educated than their counterparts in the rest of Europe. In general, our results underline the rapidly increasing importance of, particularly high-educated, solo self-employed workers in modern, highly developed economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the impact of human capital on the growth of total factor productivity in European countries. Using the modified Nelson–Phelps framework, we estimate regressions based on panel data for the period 1950–2014, measured as 5-year averages. The GMM estimates show the positive and statistically significant effects of human capital on technological progress and diffusion. However, the results do not favour the convergence of all countries in the sample to the technological frontier. In addition to countries that are not yet members of the European Union (EU), our estimates suggest that peripheral EU countries have a weak convergence rate due to insufficient investment in human capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper addresses the issue of convergence with the EU for nine countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Serbia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Montenegro and Ukraine. All that are at different stages of EU candidacy that could eventually lead to full membership. Some are officially recognized as candidate countries while others are at the stage of an association agreement. The presence of convergence is examined in terms of two macroeconomic indices: GDP per capita and GDP per person employed. Panel unit root tests as well as univariate unit root tests are estimated for the period 1997–2016. In broad terms, the empirical findings reported herein indicate a lack of convergence with the EU irrespective of the metric used. However, they indicate a process of in-group convergence mostly in terms of GDP per person employed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore the effects of EU-accession on firms in Central and Eastern Europe. We draw on trade theory and institutional reform literature to argue changes in both the perceived market structures and productivity distributions. Using firm level data from six waves of the World Bank's Enterprise Survey between 2002 and 2013, we document a decreasing likelihood of higher market concentration as countries accede. We show changes in the firm level productivity distributions. EU-membership tends to a decrease the variance of productivity across firms, and shifts the distribution towards higher productivity levels. Less concentrated markets are associated with higher productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessing the return of the EU's regional financial support, the research examines whether financial support promotes economic growth, increases labour productivity, and creates new jobs. Since 2000, these issues have been widely discussed in scientific studies aiming to ascertain if the cost of regional policy is justified, and whether the return on Structural Funds (SF) investments is positive. However, scientific studies mainly test the proposed evaluation models at NUTS 2 or at country level. Moreover, previous contributions in this field mostly model homogeneous effects of SF payments across regions in the EU, encouraging research on the conditioning factors that can foster or hinder effects of the support. In the light of these facts, this article aims to discuss a model that would supplement scientific literature by assessing the return of the EU's regional financial support capturing heterogeneous effects of SF payments on regional growth. Empirical application is based on NUTS 3 level data over 2000–2006 programming period and estimation of the heterogeneous SF payment effects on the dynamics of per capita GDP growth. Estimations provide an evidence that EU's regional financial support enhances growth and that significance and size of the positive effect are highly conditioned by institutional quality of the supported region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The international economic debate on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) has focused mainly on trade induced real income gains while the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)-related and innovation induced benefits have been largely neglected, although the EU and the US are leading FDI host countries and FDI source countries. Moreover, from a theoretical perspective a knowledge production function has to be considered in order to analyze FDI and innovation dynamics – and this can then be linked to output and economic growth, respectively. It is argued that such a Schumpeterian approach for an open economy is needed to understand deep integration dynamics while the standard CGE model used by Francois et al. (2013) leads to an underestimation of deep integration projects such as TTIP. The panel data estimation of knowledge production functions for 20 EU countries between 2002 and 2012 shows clear empirical evidence that a rise of the number of researchers and of the FDI stock-GDP ratio (or related variables) will raise patent applications. Additionally, a higher per capita income – that could reflect trade related real income gains in the context of TTIP – also contributes to new knowledge and a fortiori to higher GDP. Time series data analysis for Germany indicates additionally that FDI induced higher innovation dynamics will raise output - combining trade benefits and FDI/innovation related real income gains plus transatlantic macroeconomic interdependency effects a real income gain of nearly 2% should be expected for Germany (and the EU). As the Trump Administration is focusing on bilateralism, the US is essentially renouncing a considerable output increase and opportunities to improve its current account; instead the Trump Administration has adopted a policy of protectionism which is likely to undermine trade dynamics and economic growth. In the long run, transatlantic trade perspectives could improve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A strategy for MCMC estimation of a family of models involving multiple simultaneous dependence parameters is set forth that is capable of producing rapid estimates for problems involving a large number of observations. Simultaneous dependence parameters arise when dependence exists between dependent variable observations, with spatial and cross-sectional dependence being specific examples. The approach taken is to express the joint conditional distribution of the dependence parameters as a quadratic form, where the dependence parameters are outer vectors of the quadratic form and the inner matrix expressions of the quadratic form involve only sample data that allow these to be pre-calculated. During MCMC estimation, multiple evaluations of the joint conditional distribution of the dependence parameters can be carried out rapidly, allowing a block-sampling scheme. Block sampling of the dependence parameters is useful for imposing stability restrictions that arise for these parameters. In addition, a Taylor series approximation to the log-determinant expression that arises in the joint conditional distribution for the dependence parameters can be used to rapidly evaluate this term. The joint conditional distribution for the dependence parameters is obtained by analytically integrating out other model parameters, allowing Monte Carlo integration of the log-marginal likelihood, which can be used for model comparison. Timing results are discussed along with Monte Carlo evidence regarding performance as well as applied illustrations involving large sample sizes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU has many supranational accomplishments to its credit. Frictions nonetheless exist within the EU because some members want to rollback parts of the consensus (“less Europe”) and others want to expand them (“more Europe”). The conflict cannot be amicably resolved as EU leaders are trying to do in a one-track supranational regime because both factions disagree about whether confederation or federation is best. A solution in a one-track system requires one side to capitulate to the other. This is why the EU is at an impasse. However, the conflict is easily resolved by switching from a one-track to a multi-track supranational system that allows advocates of “more Europe” and “less Europe” to do as they like in some areas, while acting collectively wherever consensus permits. The EU already accepts the multi-track principle with regard to the euro and non-euro zones, and could restore harmony to the European project by applying the principle more broadly.

Environmental policies are a significant cornerstone of a developed economy, but the question that arises is whether such policies lead to a sustainable growth path. It is clear that the energy sector plays a pivotal role in environmental policies, and although the current literature has focused on examining the link between energy consumption and economic growth through an abundance of studies, it does not explicitly consider the role of institutional or governance quality variables in the process. Both globalization and democracy are important drivers of sustainability, while environmentalism is essential for the objective of gaining a "better world." Governance quality is expected to be the key, not only for economic purposes but also for the efficiency of environmental policies. To that end, the analysis in this paper explores the link between governance quality and energy efficiency for the EU-28 countries, spanning the period 1995 to 2014. The findings document that there is a nexus between energy efficiency and income they move together: the most efficient countries are in the group with higher GDP per capita. Furthermore, the results show that governance quality is an important driver of energy efficiency and, hence, of environmental policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union is highly attractive for FDI in services but investment is unevenly distributed across EU countries and regions. This paper explores the issue of disentangling national and regional factors in the location choices of service FDI in the EU for the period 1997–2012. Using a dynamic panel Poisson model, our results support the conclusion by Casi and Resmini (Pap Reg Sci 93(S1):51–78, 2014) that both national and regional performances are considered by foreign investors in services when making their location decisions. However, we emphasize that the interplay between regional and national determinants is not straightforward and varies greatly between sectors and groups of countries. In this respect, the business services sector is close neither to the industrial sector nor to the other services sector, whatever the kind of country: those sectors cannot be considered as a single entity when trying to understand FDI location in services. A similar conclusion can be reached about the location in a region within the EU: depending on whether it belongs to the most attractive group of countries or not for service FDI, the combination of regional and national performances under consideration is not the same for investors. Therefore, implementing uniform economic policies across sectors and places to attract service FDI is likely to be inefficient. Policymakers should design specific measures depending on the type of services they wish to attract and should take into account the characteristics of the area at subnational, national or EU level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]