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This study examines the intricate relationship between economic growth and European environmental degradation via the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). Our results contest the traditional inverted U-shape model of the Environmental Kuznets Curve, indicating that the theory may not be consistently applicable across European countries. Utilizing CS-ARDL and MMQR modelling, we reveal substantial regional disparities. Western European nations demonstrate a typical Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) pattern in the short term, characterized by an initial increase in emissions alongside GDP development, followed by a subsequent fall. Conversely, Eastern and Balkan nations exhibit a U-shaped connection, described by an early decline in emissions followed by a subsequent increase as their development levels increase. The influence of renewable energy differs, as it decreases emissions in the short term in Western Europe. However, its long-term impacts are variable, especially when contrasted with its more pronounced effect on emissions in Eastern and Balkan countries. Furthermore, trade openness intensifies environmental degradation in the short-term across all regions, although its long-term impact diminishes, particularly concerning greenhouse gases (GHG). The relationship between renewable energy and trade openness is substantial for the short-term reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, but this effect declines with time. The results indicate that a uniform environmental policy throughout Europe may lack efficacy. Customized strategies to expedite the transition in Western Europe and more specific interventions in Eastern Europe are essential to harmonize economic progress with environmental sustainability. Future research should examine the determinants of the diminishing long-term effects of renewable energy and the interplay between trade and environmental policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the benefits and risks of international investments made on the Romanian stock market, from the perspective of euro-based investors. We investigate the contribution of exchange rate volatility to the total risk of these investments over a period of nine years, between January 2011 and December 2019, by using monthly values for the exchange rate between the Romanian leu and Euro and monthly values of the Romanian stock index. Our findings indicate that, on average, Romanian leu depreciated against euro, causing currency losses for the euro-based investor, counterbalanced by the Romanian index mean return, higher than euro countries index mean return during the period under analysis. However, comparing the exchange rate volatility with the volatility of the local index market, we find that that exchange rate returns have lower standard deviations values, which may suggest that the exchange rate volatility does not seem to be an additional factor to the total volatility of the Romanian stock market returns denominated in euro. This conclusion is supported by the values obtained for lambda, a synthetic indicator which measures the proportion of the volatility attributable to exchange rate fluctuations from the total volatility of the euro-based investor returns. Combined, these results imply that currency risk has only a moderate and controllable influence on international investments made by a euro-based investor on the Romanian stock market

Our paper investigates the gaps in performance in the manufacturing sector between Western and Eastern European countries and attempts to analyze how enterprises from these two parts of Europe have tackled recovery after the Global financial crisis of 2007-2009. We uncover the patterns of performance in the after-crisis period and offer insights into the prospects of the manufacturing sector in the European Union, faced nowadays with a new recovery, after the coronavirus crisis. Moreover, we study these patterns in industries with different technological levels. We have selected five performance variables, namely Turnover growth rate, Turnover per employee, Wage-adjusted labor productivity, Gross operating rate, and Investment rate, and employed statistical cluster analysis, which is a multivariate data analysis technique that can detect these patterns in performance, in both its approaches: hierarchical and k-means clustering. Our findings show that the almost perfect groupings of businesses from Western, more developed economies, and Eastern, less developed ones, in all industries, with the notable exception of Portugal, are rather striking, regardless of the technological level of industries. We show that Eastern EU businesses were not the worst performers in the after-crisis period, but rather on the contrary. Certainly, they are smaller in size but have enjoyed higher labor productivity and profitability, as well as higher investment rates in all industries. This points towards a higher dynamism of smaller-sized businesses in general, and Eastern EU located ones, in particular, in the years after the Global financial crisis, which has been reflected in superior performance.

Currency fluctuations became a daily habit of nowadays financial markets and their impact canbe felt in all companies, from the mere domestic ones to the transnational corporations withintricate businesses around the world. Our paper investigates the economic exposure to currencyrisk for a number of 20 companies from Romania and Croatia, between 2006 and 2011, on a shorttermand long-term perspective. The results picture a different image regarding these companies’exposure either to the Euro and the US dollar. We find that Romanian companies are moreexposed to unexpected changes in the value of their national currency against both the Euro andthe US dollar compared to Croatian companies, with the exposure more pregnant over the longterm. This may be explained by the exchange rate regime applicable to both currencies: a managedfloating for the Romanian currency and a more controlled rate for the Croatian currency.

Even though the literature implies that customers and banking organizations can profit from digital banking in various ways, client adoption of this service is still low, especially in emerging and developing nations. Consumers' openness to digital services limits their willingness to adopt digital banking, especially mobile banking services. We used a quantitative research method based on a questionnaire sent during August–December 2022 to Romanian individuals and received 118 answers, which we analyzed using the logistic regression model; throughout, we determined the extent of mobile banking use, payments, and banking products needed within the population with tertiary education, as well as new developments that the shift to digitalization brings to users, with new features for existing products, cryptocurrency accounts, and fintech companies now being complementary to traditional banks. Our study presents current customer perceptions of implementing bank digitalization through mobile applications in a developing nation like Romania; here, advantages are counterbalanced by limitations and there are, undoubtedly, difficulties to be overcome in the quest for a more effective e-business framework. We determined the factors that are relevant in making people use fintech accounts using logit analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With VAT being one of (if not the) largest contributors to country budgets, many Governments are preoccupied with maximising VAT collections. However, a simplistic view of increasing the VAT rate is not appropriate, as research shows there is inverse relationship between marginal collections and marginal VAT rates. Instead, as results in this Generalized Method of Moments estimation proposed by this paper shows, Governments should look at effective rates of taxation based on the composition of their economy. Also, providing generalized or large-scale reductions or exemptions depresses the effective rate of taxation and reduces the VAT productivity index, although we see them as very popular in European Union countries. A connected but important area is the level of collection, which is influenced by a cumulus of factors, starting with the tax rate (negative correlation), to digitalisation of the administration (positive correlation) and economic culture of a country (positive correlation). In any case, consumption taxes such as VAT seem to be less distortionary to economic activity and investment than direct taxes, so more attention is required to setting an optimal VAT rate that generates maximum marginal collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current situation, shaped by the relocation of multinational companies following the disruption of global value chains, the efforts for attracting foreign direct investments (FDI) should be better focused on enhancing the flows that create value in the economy, stimulate the local business environment, and are destined to sectors with high value added. The aim of this paper is to identify the factors shaping competitiveness in Central and Eastern European countries that also matter for the foreign investors' decision regarding location. We have taken an innovative approach in dealing with the large range of FDI determinants and we have used the machinelearning based random forest methodology to identify the most important predictors of FDI in CEE countries from a set of 15 indicators also present in the calculation of the European Regional Competitiveness Index 2019. Our results show that countries' particularities, market size, digitalization of the economy, labour force characteristics (such as population in tertiary education and employment in knowledge-intensive services and high-tech manufacturing sectors), and economic potential market are the factors with the highest contribution in attracting FDI in the CEE region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]