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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 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]

The countries of Central and Eastern Europe moved from a previously centrally planned economy to a modern transition economy with strong market aspects. This paper proposes project management as an answer to this transition. Traditional Cost-Benefit analysis does not respond to this purpose. Indeed Cost-Benefit analysis is only interested in one specific project and not in a competition between projects. In addition all goals (objectives) have to be translated into money terms, leading sometimes to immoral consequences. On the contrary Multi-Objective Optimization takes care of different objectives, whereas the objectives keep their own units. However different methods exist for the application of Multi-Objective Optimization. The authors tested them after their robustness resulting in seven necessary conditions. MOORA (Multi-Objective Optimization by Ratio analysis) and MULTIMOORA (MOORA plus Full Multiplicative Form), assisted by Ameliorated Nominal Group and Delphi Techniques, satisfy the seven conditions, although in a theoretical way. A simulation exercise illustrates the use of these methods, ideals to be strived for as much as possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The commercialisation of research results is very important in the world now. The situation of this problem in Europe is analysed in the paper. The possibility to use 4-6 Framework programme projects for commercialisation of research results is discussed at large. The situation of the results commercialisation using international projects in Lithuania as an example of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VGTU) is surveyed. The analysis of international projects results for ten last years in the VGTU using research reports and archive data of the VGTU is performed. Proposals for developing the international projects and the way to intensify the research results of commercialisation in Lithuania are presented in conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]