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The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis has become a centre of interest for empirical research, as it serves to identify the relationships between economic growth and environmental degradation that will lead to a sustainable development path. The aim of the paper is to investigate these relationships for each of the EU15 countries, which are responsible for the largest amount of carbon dioxide emissions in Europe. Based on the results of the analysis of ARDL bounds cointegration approach, for the 1960–2019 period, it was found that there is a great diversity between the countries in the EU15 regarding the existence and shape of EKC, from the identification of N shape, Inverted U-shape or monotonic relationships to the absence of statistically significant relationships. Thus, there are countries that have managed to implement environmental protection measures early and now ensure GDP growth while significantly reducing CO2 emissions. The similarities and differences identified among EU15 countries can serve as a guide for EU policymakers in developing recommendations adapted to specific situations in order to facilitate economic growth taking into consideration environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to address the EU policy for achieving low carbon economy by assessing energy technologies in electricity and road transport sector based on costs and impact on climate change and to indicate the most competitive electricity and transport technologies taking into account EU policy targets in GHG emission reduction, utilization of renewable and energy efficiency improvements. The main tasks of the paper are: to develop the multi-criteria framework for comparative assessment of energy technologies by applying MCDM methods for the electricity generation and transport technologies assessment. The interval TOPSIS method is employed in order to tackle the uncertain criteria. The assessment framework allows the comparison of electricity generation technologies and road transport technologies in terms of their GHG emission reduction and economic impacts and facilitates decision making process in energy sector seeking to implement EU energy policies. The main indicators selected for technologies assessment are: private costs and life cycle GHG emissions. The ranking of energy technologies based on private costs and GHG emissions allowed prioritizing these technologies taking into account the lowest GHG emission reduction costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how different forms of digitalization affect inequality in Europe. Using a cross-national dataset of economic development and digitalization across a range of regression specifications including country and time fixed effects, this article explores the heterogeneous relationships of disparate forms of digitalization -- human capital, broadband connectivity, integration of digital technology into small and medium enterprises, and digital public services -- with income inequality. Fixed country and time effects models show that only the digitalization of human capital and integration of digital technology by SMEs are associated with decreases in income inequality. Causal mediation analysis reveals that tertiary education, despite its oft-cited connection to digital technology uptake, has no causal effect on the pathways through which digitalization of labour and SME operations lower inequality, which are direct. The findings tentatively suggest that there exist informal sources of digital skills training apart from formal tertiary education and point to SMEs as a potentially impactful area for investing in digitalization as pathways for income redistribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a sample of private sector male workers from the European Community Household Panel to examine the wage effects of educational mismatches across segments of the earnings distribution in 12 countries. We consider two types of mismatch, overqualification and skills mismatches. By differentiating between quantiles, we discriminate between groups of workers with different unobservable earnings conditions. We find that the detrimental effects of skill mismatches on wages are larger than those of overqualification in most segments of the earnings distribution. Moreover, we find that the pay penalty of educational mismatch tends to be higher among workers with higher unconditional wages. This finding suggests that the mismatch phenomenon entails wage losses over and above those attributable to unobservable earnings determinants, including ability and skills possessed by workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The research aims to identify the determinants of process and product innovation in a traditional and low-tech sector, supported in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), specifically European Construction Sector. The study uses micro data from the e-Business Survey of the European Commission. The dependent variables studied are binary (presence or absence of process or/and product innovation). The explanatory variables considered are: suppliers, clients, market orientation, turnover growth and size. In addition, some national context variables – GDP per capita and R&D weight in GDP – are also tested. The results show that the sector of construction innovates, and the factors that contribute more to this innovation are suppliers and growth of business. It is also concluded that firm size is more relevant for process innovation than for product innovation, and companies that are guided by international markets innovate more than those that focus on local and regional markets. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

It is the intention of the European Union to create a growing and sustainable European economy by 2020, a much more moderate target than the 2010 target of becoming the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world. This intention has to be supported by an adequate Optimization and Decision Support System. Therefore, MULTIMOORA is proposed. MULTIMOORA is a quantitative method, which compares multiple and optimum objectives, expressed in different units, as much as possible on a non-subjective basis. In opposition to similar methods MULTIMOORA does not need normalization, being based on dimensionless measures. Importance of an objective can eventually be given by the stakeholders concerned. MULTIMOORA is composed of three approaches: Ratio System, Reference Point and Multiplicative Form Methods, all of the same importance and each controlling each other. Twenty two objectives, 10 originating from statistics and 12 from statistics and forecasts, important for the future, characterize the 27 EU-Countries economies as a preparation for 2020. Which of these countries are the best prepared for 2020? A Dominance Theory, summarizing the three obtained ordinal numbers per country, ranks the 27 countries for that purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]