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In this paper, we introduce the special issue on Financial and Institutional Reforms for an Entrepreneurial Society in Europe. There are many reasons for Europe to want to make the transition to a more Entrepreneurial Society. And for decades now, policy makers are trying to bring that transition about with variations on the Beducate, deregulate and finance^ approach to entrepreneurship. We argue that more fundamental reforms are required to improve the entrepreneurial ecosystem and bring about this transition. We then discuss the 12 contributions that pertain to five different facets of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The first two papers address the most fundamental institutional foundations of the ecosystem. The next three papers discuss the (lack of) access to knowledge and incentives to start innovative entrepreneurial ventures. That is followed by three papers that focus on the institutions that (fail to) channel financial resources to such ventures and two papers that analyze the relevance of labor market institutions. The special issue concludes with two papers investigating how the interplay of institutions and productive entrepreneurship results in economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Management Issues / Problemy Zarządzania is the property of Problemy Zarzadzania 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.)

Abstract: This paper explores the broader setting of urban and economic development that links ports and cities in Europe and aims at enhancing our understanding of the port‐city interface. A relational view is taken for linking local developments and policies with overarching, more remote spheres of influence and impact, which can be considered both beneficial and critical for the port and the city. In order to illustrate the argument, a framework of three issues is applied to discuss the port‐city interface: first, the role of ports as economic engines of their wider region; second, the cruise ship industry as a market segment that re‐connects port and city; third, semi‐political bodies and institutions that play key roles as intermediaries and knowledge brokers. The paper finally discusses the implications of relationality for governing the port‐city interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the issues related to higher education in selected EU Member States and its contribution to the creation of wealth. Special emphasis was placed on the shape of education policy in selected countries through an analysis of the main indicators characterizing the same. The paper raises a number of questions which are important from the point of view of social policy: these questions relate to the policy of higher education funding and attempts to isolate and identify the relationships between higher education funding and the situation of people with higher education on the labour market. In the first part of this paper, the author presents the phenomenon of welfare by taking into account its measurement, especially those measures that relate to education related elements. Then the author indicates the relationship between education, especially its availability, and the process of wealth creation in the economy. In the empirical part of the paper an analysis is carried out on the basis of available and comparable indicators for selected EU Member States and conclusions are drawn based on the indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to find the effects of regulatory and supervisory policies on bank risk-taking. The same regulation and supervision have different effects on bank risk-taking depending on influence factors. These factors were considered and a sample of the largest European banks from France, Germany, UK, Italy, Spain and Greece was used over the period 2005-2011. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, the author analyses the effects of regulation and supervision on risk-taking. The author uses a sample of the biggest banks from six European countries (France, UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and Greece) over the period 2005-2011. Because the applicable entry of IFRS was in 2005, thus data of European banks are not available before this date. For each country in the sample, the 10 largest banks (defined by total assets) that lend money to firms were identified. The author does not include central banks or postal banks, which generally do not lend money to firms and are described as non-banking institutions (La Porta et al., 2002). Findings – It was found that restrictions on bank activities, supervisors’ power and capital adequacy decrease risk-taking. Thus, regulation and supervision enhance bank’s stability. While, deposit insurance increases the risk due to its association to moral hazard. Finally, it was found that strengthening regulatory and supervisory framework raises the risk-taking and weakens the stability of European banks. Originality/value – The author contributes to existing empirical analyses in three ways. First, the existing literature has drawn a lot of attention on US banks. However, the purpose of this paper is to examine the biggest banks of three European leaders (France, Germany and UK) and three more European countries influenced by the recent crisis (Spain, Italy and Greece) over the period 2005-2011. Second, most studies focus mainly on the relationship between regulation and profitability, yet seldom on the relationship between regulation, supervision and risk-taking. The author focuses on this relationship. Third, this study applies the two-step dynamic panel data approach suggested by Blundell and Bond (1998) and also uses dynamic panel generalized method of moments (GMM) method to address potential problems. The two-step GMM estimator that the author uses is generally the most efficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we deal with the possible options to reduce/stabilize one country's public debt as well as with the specific factors that public authorities must take into account when selecting among different options for setting up a credible and viable public desindebtedness strategy. We also analyze the mix of options reflected in the public desindebtedness strategies adopted by the national governments of overindebted EU countries, during the recent crisis, given the specific context of their membership to the EU/Eurozone. The main conclusion of the paper is that, although several options were available, budgetary consolidation was the central pillar of all desindebtedness strategies adopted by EU countries, ensuring not only the reduction of previously accumulated public debt but also the prerequisites for a more "preventive" behavior of public authorities in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is part 2 of a paper that revisits the European Union’s Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) in an attempt to take stock of how the system has worked and evaluate it from the standpoint of radical political economy. In part 1 of the paper the basic design, the workings and the outcomes of the scheme were discussed with critical perceptiveness. In particular, the paper revealed the unsatisfactory results of the scheme (even in its own proclaimed aims), including allowances surplus, allowance trades for pure financial profit, low and volatile prices of allowances, windfall profits, extensive use of Kyoto project-based credits, and several malfunctions and instances of fraud. These findings set the ground for part 2 of the paper, which offers a critical assessment of ETS, proclaimed by mainstream analyses as the major vehicle for the transition to a low-carbon economy. In particular, the complications and instabilities created by the increasing financialization of the carbon market are exposed. Moreover, the ineffectiveness of the ETS as a catalyst for investments in clean energy technologies, especially in times of economic crisis, is substantiated. Since the deep embeddedness of the scheme in capitalism risks climate sustainability, the analysis concludes that a more radical transformation of society with an eco-socialist orientation is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2014 European elections led to a sharp rise in the electoral consensus of parties and independent parliament members perceived as eurosceptic. This paper analyzes the interconnections between distressed economies and the electoral success of hard-line eurosceptic parties. On a panel of 108 elections between 2008 and 2015, the random-effects model shows the relative effect of long- and short-term political trust, economic performance indicators, and institutional variables in determining the rise of hard-line eurosceptic parties. In contrast with previous studies, which have tended to de-emphasize the effect of economic performance in determining the success of eurosceptic forces, the results of this paper detect both a direct and a mediated effect of the economic crisis on the electoral success of hard-line eurosceptic parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The business cycle synchronization was widely discussed before the last economic crisis and now the interest in this topic revives. The majority of literature about business cycle synchronization evaluates the role of mutual trade and similarities among the economies, while the investment links, mainly foreign direct investment flows and stocks are very often completely ignored or at least marginalized. The paper aims to discuss and then estimate the importance of continually increasing stock of foreign direct investment in synchronization of business cycles. It focuses to selected Central European economies after economic transition and their business cycle co-movements with their most important trade partners - France, Germany and Italy. The extent of trade flows, industrial structure similarity and selected trade environment variables are used to extend the standardly employed regression formula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- This paper aims to outline the extent and cost of work-related mental ill health and the challenges it causes in the workplace. It focuses on what employers can do to facilitate an early return to work for those absent from work. It argues for a proactive approach to the management of mental ill health in the workplace and highlights the important role of the line manager. Good practice from Europe is reported. Design/methodology/approach -- This paper reviews evidence from the HSE, EU_OSHA and IOSH. Findings -- Rather than only dealing reactively with cases of mental ill health in the workplace, it is more effective for an employer to adopt a proactive approach, recognising that employees are a valuable asset, assessing psychosocial risks and promoting health and wellbeing. This involves not only protecting their employees from work-related health and safety risks, but also helping employees with minor conditions to stay at work, for example, by negotiating flexible hours. Employees also need opportunities to look after their own health and wellbeing at work. Finally, it is important to create a culture where working with a mental health condition is accepted by other employees as normal. Originality/value -- The paper highlights the importance of a proactive management approach to managing mental ill health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the nexus between political instability and economic growth in 10 CEE countries in transition in the period 1990-2009. Our results support the contention that political instability defined as a propensity for government change had a negative impact on growth. On the other hand, there was no causality in the opposite direction. A sensitivity analysis based on the application of a few hundred different variants of the initial econometric model confirmed the abovementioned findings only in the case where major government changes were applied to the definition of political instability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European countries need to expand employment among older individuals. Many papers have examined this issue from different angles. However, very few seem to have considered its gender dimension properly, despite evidence that lifting the overall senior employment rate requires significantly raising that of women older than 50. The key issue examined by this paper is whether employers are willing to employ more older workers, in particular older women. The answer depends to a large extent on the ratio of older individuals' productivity to their cost to employers. To address this question we tap into a unique firm-level panel of Belgian data to produce robust evidence on the causal effect of age/gender on productivity and labour costs. We take advantage of the panel structure to identify age/gender-related differences from within-firm variation. Moreover, inspired by recent developments in the production function estimation literature, we address the problem of endogeneity of the age/gender mix, using a structural production function estimator (Olley and Pakes in Econometrica 64(6):1263-1297, ; Levinsohn and Petrin in Rev Econ Stud 70(2):317-341, ) alongside IV-GMM methods where lagged value of labour inputs are used as instruments. Our results indicate a small negative impact of larger shares of older men on the productivity-labour cost ratio. An increment of 10%-points of in their share causes a 0.17-0.69%-point contraction. However, the main result is that the equivalent handicap with older women is larger, ranging from 1.3 to 2.0%-points. This is not good news for older women's employability. And the vast services industry does not seem to offer working conditions that mitigate older women's disadvantage, on the contrary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to OCA theory, the creation of the EMU reinforces the role of wage flexibility as an adjustment instrument alternative to the exchange rate in order to mitigate the negative effects of asymmetric shocks. This paper uses the case of Spain as the frame of reference within the EMU – in order to ensure data homogeneity – and examines wage flexibility in the Spanish provinces using both nonparametric and semiparametric techniques. The main result of the paper is that the labour market appears to be quite rigid and, therefore, adverse shocks could have serious consequences in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inherent complexity of the Europe 2020 Strategy, focused on areas where the European Commission has not full jurisdictional competence, increases the relevance of a timely and precise monitoring system and of effective and efficient institutional settings. This paper performs a quantitative evaluation of countries' performances, using the Europe 2020 Index (Pasimeni in Soc Indic Res 110(2): 613-635, . doi:). We observe differences among countries and across time, and investigate their determinants by means of a model including potential explanatory variables, such as level of wealth, growth, sustainability of public finances and institutions. We refer to institutions in the sense of North (J Econ Perspect 5(1):97-112, ), and apply the distinction between formal and informal ones. The analysis confirms the importance of formal and informal institutions, both in absolute and in relative terms, compared with the other factors considered. Institutional variables, such as good governance and social capital, are the most significant ones and have the strongest estimated effects on countries' performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial effects of monetisation through concession in the sector of energy in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) may well increase the level of domestic investments, production, exports, employment and general economic growth, without additional higher borrowings and loss of ownership in these strategically important industries. These new financial opportunities are necessary for faster economic development of the country, especially in the transitional period, as this development process is a great challenge in modern world economy. It requires significant commitment and coordinated efforts of the public and private sector. The case study of Terminal Kakanj Power Plant (KPP) presented in this paper show that it is possible to implement monetization of assets through concession in the energy sector in B&H. The empirical results provide evidence of positive correlations between monetisation through concession process and economic development in B&H or other transition and development countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Macroeconomic stabilization of every country depends largely upon the conduct of appropriate economic policy, which comprises both fiscal and monetary policy; therefore, it is of great importance to choose the most adequate and productive ones. Many countries across the board have employed monetary policy in their attempt to ease the consequences of economic crises in the aftermath of global financial meltdown, and in the search for sustainable economic development. This paper was confined to the monetary policy in Bosnia and Herzegovina specifically, and its aim was to address the current Currency Board Regime along with the available monetary policy instruments and to determine whether an opportunity for the improvement of economic growth and consequently economic development lies within it. The importance of Central Bank was stressed out, as it represents the anchor of the monetary system. The paper comprises the analysis of the implemented CBR, its brief history, monetary policy instruments available and its consequences on the economy of B&H and based on that, the recommendations for exit-strategy which, ceteris paribus, represent a key to achieving higher levels of development. The economic indicators suggested that macroeconomic performance under CBA is not advantageous for B&H; therefore, it is thought that abandoning the arrangement either by joining the EMU or by making the Central Bank more independent is necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studies in Law & Economics / Studia Prawno-Ekonomiczne is the property of Lodz Scientific Society / Lodzkie Towarzystwo Naukowe 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.)

Europe's pension systems face serious challenges due to increasing life expectancy and decreasing fertility. One cause of the latter is the pension system itself: as parents are no longer dependent of their children in their older days, they are not inclined to have so many children. This paper presents the effects of the pension system's introduction in an overlapping generations framework (calibrated on the basis of the Hungarian data) with heterogeneous agents, reasoning fertility's general decrease. The paper also analyzes a possible solution, a new pension scheme, where the pension depends not only on the previous contribution which punishes child bearing but also on the number of children that a pensioner has. As a result we receive that such a pension system could increase fertility, although it decreases output and consumption per capita and the welfare of the society but increases the total output and consumption due to the higher fertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines economic growth in old and new member countries of the European Union (EU-15 and EU-12) during the years of 1994–2000 and 2001–2008 mainly due to changes in information and communication technology (ICT) capital development. The first group EU-15 is presented by old EU countries and the second group EU-12 is presented by new member countries that joined the EU in 2004–2007. The threefactor Cobb-Douglas production function is estimated through the panel general least squares method. The input factors that might influence the economic growth are labour, ICT capital services and non-ICT capital services. Since ICT capital growth data are not available for all selected economies, the groups of countries were reduced to EU-14 and EU-7. The estimated panel production functions confirmed that the average growth of GDP in the EU-7 countries was supported by the stable growth of labour quantity and ICT-capital and increasing total factor productivity. A short-term drop in non-ICT capital growth with follow-up stagnation was caused rather by lower labour productivity. The research discovered that the drop in GDP growth in the EU-14 countries was a result of the slower growth of non-ICT capital and total factor productivity and the stagnated growth of ICT capital with low elasticity, and showed that even the compensation of growth in labour quality did not prevent a decrease in total factor productivity and economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Foreign direct investments represent an important part of the economy of a state, producing effects not only in the economic sphere, but also in the legal and institutional ones. The present paper focuses on the analysis of flows of foreign direct investments in the Romanian economy in the period 1999-2013 - the pre and post-accession period to the European Union. The first part of the paper focuses on the analysis of Romanian legal and institutional framework, followed in the second part by a comparative analysis of FDI between the pre and the post-adhesion periods. Thus, we consider such issues as the development of legislation and competent institutions so as to attract foreign investment within a transition economy and afterwards we will track the volume of investments, the main investing countries, presenting which have been the areas that have benefited from foreign capital. This research is achieved through a comparative analysis of the issues mentioned above in the two periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- This purpose of this article is to argue for repealing the bulk of the EU's telecoms regulatory structure because the package's work is done. Design/methodology/approach -- The views expressed in this paper are based on the author's extensive experience in the telecoms, media and Internet sectors. Findings -- The paper finds that competition is strong and sustainable; that many of the key dynamics in the sector are driven by the broader digital economy and thus beyond the scrutiny of sector regulators; and that regulation is being capitalised into the political economy, distorting incentives to the detriment of European consumers. Originality/value -- The paper contributes to the debate over the future direction of regulation in European telecommunications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to explore at which extent the investments in human capital in rural areas could contribute to rural development and competitiveness. European Union is investing substantial resources for faster growth and competitiveness, addressing the faster development needs of the regions lagging development under cohesion policy. The EU cohesion policy emphasizes the role of the urban areas to reduce disparities in economic development, employment and opportunities between the most advanced and the most disadvantaged areas of the Union, while the rural development pillar under Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) focuses on promoting competitiveness and developed 1ment of rural areas. Since the economic and social patterns, as well as the development indicators of the rural areas deviate very much from the average EU values (European Commission, 2014a), the goal of reducing the regional development disparities cannot be achieved unless urban and rural development needs are considered together with the cohesion policy. The paper is based on the assumptions that: (a) investments in human capital are considered drivers underpinning competitiveness and development in both urban and rural areas (Marinas L., 2015) and (b) under scarcity of available local resources, the effective EU funds under cohesion and rural development policies could significantly complement local investments to human capital development in rural areas. The paper also aims to assess at which extent the EU funds within 2007-2013 programming period have contributed to rural human capital development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to test the hypothesis that societies, when becoming wealthier, are increasingly less concerned with the efficiency of their farms. It is to show that and why small family farms are a good which citizens aim to preserve. Design/methodology/approach -- Structural change between 2000 and 2010 in two rather wealthy European Union (EU)-member countries and two very wealthy European (non-EU) countries is compared and explained by socioeconomic variables. Findings -- The reason for the difference between Germany and Austria on one side and Norway and Switzerland on the other is strong political support in the latter countries where structural change is slowing down. A framework is outlined for why a preference for small family farms may emerge in a wealthy society. Originality/value -- Structural change in this paper is reconstructed as a function of political preferences, being again a function of state of economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: Public–private partnerships (PPPs) are long‐term contractual agreements between the public and private sector for the provision of public infrastructures and services. Due to tighter budget constraints and to a renewed interest in greater involvement of the private sector in the provision of public services, PPPs are likely to grow in the near future. In this paper, we review the theory and practice of PPPs, highlighting their potential role as well as discussing the main factors influencing the likelihood of performance failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population ageing, together with the negative effects of the recent economic and financial crisis that some European countries are still facing, have threatened the sustainability of public pension systems. In this context, voluntary private pensions have emerged as the most feasible alternative to supplement the minimum provided by Social Security Systems; however, this financial product does not enjoy its expected popularity. A potential explanation of this reality might be due to the fact that European countries are far from being homogeneous, nor their pensions systems. Therefore, any policy geared toward improving financial retirement planning should take into account these potential differences. As a first approach to their analysis, this paper proposes the existence of four different ‘social models’ in Europe -namely, Continental, Mediterranean, Nordic and Transitional-. Overall, empirical evidence confirmed the significant influence of country’ ‘social model’ on the decision to invest in retirement accounts on a sample of 31,468 individuals in 2013. It was also proved that this decision is positively related to age, household income and wealth, higher levels of formal education, job situation, good health status, and long-term planning horizons; and negatively related to age squared, household size or financial risk aversion. In short, future policies and reforms regarding private pensions should not only take into account the existence of individual differences among Europeans, but also the existence of differences depending on institutional and cultural country factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the role of the national institutional setting in explaining Single Market non-compliance regarding non-tariff barriers in intra-European Union (EU) trade. Using data on infringements to Single Market law we show that the quality of domestic institutional characteristics is relevant to explain non-compliance among EU countries. While government independence from political pressures and higher levels of representativeness and accountability reduce the propensity of member states to infringe upon Single Market laws, better regulatory quality increases the probability of non-compliance at industry level, suggesting that increases in competition may generate protectionist measures that violate Single Market law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union is trying to strengthen economic, social, and territorial cohesion of certain regions in order to improve the quality of life for its residents. The key part of that process is improving the urban and regional mobility, which is essential for a modern living standard of the residents in those areas. This paper discusses the attitudes and documents of the EU that encourage sustainable urban and regional mobility through the development and use of public transport networks as a part of the regional, urban and suburban transport in larger cities. Special emphasis is placed on Master plans for transport development in cities, counties and functional regions, which serve as initial and strategic points for launching further transport projects. Co-funding of the design documentation of the Master plans is encouraged, as well as carrying out projects of sustainable urban and regional mobility through EU operational programmes. A case of an integrated passenger transport system and shipping tariff in the City of Zagreb, Zagreb county, and Krapina-Zagorje county was analysed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2013 it was declared that 'the eurozone crisis is over'. However, in fact, the series of financial crises since 2008 may have interrupted the process of EMU enlargement, which in turn triggered a continuing crisis of confidence in the euro. In this paper we extend the sigma-convergence test to provide a more precise understanding of real interest rate parity ( RIP) convergence. On the basis of this, we predict the timing for eliminating the cost of economic asymmetric shocks. Our estimation indicates the RIP among EMU members and accessions were still valid after the disruptions of the 2008 financial crisis. However, the situation has been even worse since the 2010 European sovereign debt crisis, and ceteris paribus, symmetry cannot be achieved without further policy actions. This implies that the EMU authority must do its best to strengthen symmetry and thereby solidify the EMU, at which point it will be better able to re-start the process of enlargement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Incumbent parties in Southern Europe experienced losses in their electoral support that came along with a series of economic reforms imposed by the EU and the IMF. However, recent theories of accountability would predict lower levels of economic voting given the limited room left for national governments to manoeuvre the economy. To resolve this puzzle, the paper presents and models quarterly vote intention time series data from Greece (2000–2012) and links it with the state of the economy. The empirical results show that after the bailout loan agreement Greek voters significantly shifted their assignment of responsibility for (economic) policy outcomes from the EU to the national government, which in turn heightened the impact of objective economic conditions on governing party support. The findings have implications for theories linking international structures, government constraints and democratic accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose - This paper aims to evaluate internships in terms of governance structures. Internships are being promoted as a European Union policy lever to address high youth unemployment. However, concerns exist that internships often have few developmental opportunities and poor employment outcomes, something this conceptual paper examines. Design/methodology/approach - The authors develop a conceptual framework for distinguishing between different types of internships based on "dimensions of governance" (contract, agreed duration and partnership).Adistinction is made between "open market", "educational" and "active labour market policy" internships, drawing on examples and evidence from Spain and Portugal. Findings - The authors argue that "governed" internships, linked to educational programmes or genuine active labour market policies, are much more likely to have beneficial outcomes than "open market internships". This is because they provide the positive governance conditions relating to contract, duration and partnership arrangements under which employers, interns and third parties understand how they can benefit from the internship and what their responsibilities are. Research limitations/implications - The strength of the paper lies in outlining an analytical framework for future research. The evidence presented from Spain and Portugal provides support for the conceptual framework; future comparative internship research should further test the propositions made across a range of countries and contexts. Social implications - By increasing understanding of internship governance, employers, policymakers and educationalists will be in a better position to design successful internships. Originality/value - The paper broadens the focus beyond educational internships alone and proposes a conceptual framework for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Research Papers of the Wroclaw University of Economics / Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego we Wroclawiu is the property of Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny we Wroclawiu 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.)

The paper deals with the idea of analyzing the impact of the economic freedom on national economic development. In order to realize this, the analysis is focused on three steps. For the beginning, we determined the place of the EU28 in the global economic freedom approach using the Index of economic freedom and the comparative analysis. The second step of the analysis consists of a TwoStep cluster analysis, supported by SPSS19 software, which is realized in order to support the idea that the economic freedom, connected to the economic development, created three clusters from the Member States. The clustering criterion is BIC (Schwarz's Bayesian Criterion). Finally, the analysis is focused on a forecast of the index of economic freedom till the end of 2020, in order to observe if the disparities across the world economy. The dependent variables in this forecast are the economic freedom rates and the independent variable is time. The forecast method is ARIMA. Whole analysis process and all conclusions of the paper are supported by the latest official statistic data, pertinent tables and diagrams. The main conclusion of the paper is that the economic freedom supports the economic development. Its global trend was positive in 2013-2014. There is not global economic actor in world top 10 according index of the economic freedom. Only two Member States are ranked on the global top 10. Moreover, there are great disparities across the EU28 related to the economic freedom. As a result, the Member States can be grouped into three different clusters. Romania will have a positive trend of the economic freedom score until 2020, better than the global trend of this index. The disparities between EU Member States will not be fixed on short and medium term and the solutions seem to be found at national level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theory of human capital, even if it reckons the importance of time in science, is too short for explaining the existing diversity of scientific output. The paper introduces social capital as a necessary complement to explain the creation of scientific human capital. It connects these two concepts by means of a hierarchical econometric model. Bibliographical databases contain much information which is exploited to figure out collaboration, mobility, publishing habits and institutional characteristics. The two level hierarchical model is estimated on 14 European countries using bibliometric data in the fields of economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Comparative Economic Research is the property of Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Lodzkiego 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 Comparative Economic Research is the property of Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Lodzkiego 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.)

Gender equality, a policy objective of basically universal acceptance, has become a subject of interest in national governments, international organizations, research instructions, and political pressure groups. This paper reports recent investigations regarding gender disparities in the labor market. The main aim of our study is to identify factors affecting gender earning disparities in the European Union member states. Empirical research is provided in two separate areas. The first one focuses on the gender pay gap in the EU based on SES 2006 data. The second one is a detailed analysis of factors influencing wages in Poland, employing LFS 2009 data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the backdrop of the contagion literature, the paper analyses the impact of financial and trade linkages on sovereign bond spreads in the Eurozone crisis. Using quarterly data for a sample of EMU countries during the period 2000-13, we estimate fixed-effect panel models with Driscoll and Kraay standard errors that are robust to general forms of spatial and temporal dependence. Our main results can be summarised as follows: first, we suggest that the 'sudden stop' of capital inflow towards the peripheral sovereign debt triggered a re-segmentation of financial markets and economic systems along national borders, with negative implications for risk-sharing and the efficient allocation of capital. The 'home bias' effect - that is the increase in the share of sovereign debt held by domestic banks - worsened the country-specific risk because the twin crisis (sovereign and banking) began to be conceived as more closely intertwined within countries than before. Second, the structure of international trade helps to account for the geographic scope of contagion, even after controlling for macroeconomic and fiscal vulnerabilities. Finally, the 'substitution effect' of public debt securities of stand-alone emerging countries has affected more the sovereign spreads in the core than in the periphery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

That the lack of competitiveness of EU member states in the wake of the globalization era was a problem from the start of EMU is clear from the various interventions on this issue by the European institutions. These started from the White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment, of 1993, up to the various versions of the Lisbon agenda and agenda 2020. It might even be possible to hypothesize, in line with Colin Crouch and the literature on the political economy of competitiveness, that the establishment of EMU was an attempt to regain some of the competitiveness lost with the advent of the era of globalization. Accordingly, the role of the ECB to save the Eurozone dominant socio-economic sectors has been divided into two phases. In the first phase, the strategy was to rely on the depreciation of the euro vis-à-vis the dollar, which indeed gave some results in the first years of life of the European currency. With respect to the present phase, it is undeniable that the burden of the costs of the global financial crisis fell on the weakest countries of the system, through the two related phenomena of the sovereign debt crisis and the ensuing austerity programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we report on new data on intangible investment at the level of one-digit NACE industries of ten European Union (EU) countries. The data are constructed as a sectoral breakdown by using as control totals the INTAN-Invest database, which contains measures of intangible investment at the level of the aggregate business sector. With the sectoral data, we assess the contribution of intangibles to productivity growth based on growth accounting and econometric estimation of production functions. The growth accounting contribution of intangibles to labor productivity growth is generally highest in manufacturing and finance. The estimated output elasticity of intangibles lies between 0.1 and 0.2, above factor shares but considerably below values found in previous research using aggregate data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies whether a monetary union can be managed solely by a rule-based approach. The Five Presidents' Report of the European Union rejects this idea. It suggests a centralisation of powers. We analyse the philosophy of policy rules from the vantage point of the German economic school of thought. There is evidence that a monetary union consisting of sovereign states is well organised by rules, together with the principle of subsidiarity. The root cause of the euro crisis is rather the weak enforcement of rules, compounded by structural problems. Therefore, we suggest a genuine rule-based paradigm for a stable future of the Economic and Monetary Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The creation of a single currency is deemed to produce further heterogeneity in regional trade, as regions differ in their exposure to trade with other European countries. It is possible to disentangle two separate effects on bilateral trade, namely the 'exchange rate volatility effect' (from exchange rate fixing in 1999) and the pure 'common currency effect' (resulting from the issuing of a new currency in 2002). This paper presents an empirical analysis that shows evidence of a regional concentration of currency union effects in a few Spanish regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the extent of euro area policy convergence during the third stage of EMU. The policy convergence hypothesis from international political economy posits that euro zone national economies should become more similar over time in terms of economic growth, employment and inflation outcomes as a result of using a common currency and taking the same regional monetary policy. Yet the descriptive data show little evidence of euro area policy convergence post-1999. One possible explanation for the lack of macroeconomic convergence within the euro zone is advanced (fiscal policy divergence), and the implications of policy divergence for the long-term viability of EMU are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between trust and economic growth. Taking panel data and using a fixed-effects estimation for a 41-country sample over the time period from 1980 to 2004 and with a total of 129 observations, the paper points out that economic growth is negatively related to an increase in trust. This negative finding is in contrast to most empirical findings using a cross-sectional design. The common knowledge which has governed the nature of discussions in social science and economics for the last ten years, that trust is generally positively related to economic performance, must be seriously questioned. From a policy point of view an increase in trust is crucial for countries with low levels of trust, but can likely be neglected by countries with sufficient levels of trust and may even hamper economic performance in countries with high levels of trust. The relationship is tested in the context of EU countries, OECD countries and developing countries. Interpersonal trust and systemic trust is differentiated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]