AVOIDABLE MORTALITY. IS IT AN INDICATOR OF QUALITY OF MEDICAL CARE IN EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES?

Since the 1970s, the process of decentralization has spread throughout the world, and today more than 95% of democratic countries are decentralized. Decentralization should lead to a well-organized and more efficient local government. Nevertheless, the empirical results are rather vague. The motivation for this paper is to examine the impact of political and fiscal decentralization on the quality of government in seventeen countries in Central and Eastern Europe for the period 1998 - 2012. The main objective of the paper is to explore whether fiscal decentralization positively influences the quality of government and whether political decentralization reduces its positive influence. An additional contribution of the paper comes from the introduction of a decentralization interaction variable. Our results have shown that fiscal decentralization has a positive impact on governance, while political decentralization was found to be statistically insignificant. Our results also showed that richer countries have higher government quality, that government size increases the level of corruption and decreases government quality, and that in more democratic countries politicians behave more responsibly and accountably, which decreases the level of corruption and increases government quality. We conclude that political decentralization cancels out the positive effects of fiscal decentralization on the quality of government, which can be explained by less developed institutions at the local level in Central and Eastern European countries.

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Regional Products in the Central and Eastern European Countries that Acceded to the European Union in May 2004

Comparative Economic Research ◽

10.2478/cer-2013-0002 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

pp. 21-38

Author(s):

Marcin Feltynowski

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

European Countries ◽

Eastern European ◽

The European Union ◽

Central European ◽

Regional Tourism ◽

Protected Designation Of Origin ◽

Eastern European Countries ◽

The Eu

This article presents information about regional products registered by those Central European countries which joined the European Union structures in May 2004. Their membership facilitated the registration of regional products and their participation in the EU’s registration procedures. Regional and local products registered in the area of a country can become a base for the promotion of regional tourism in the regions of origin of these products. The brand recognition of these regional products also becomes a basis to improve the quality of the agricultural products and foodstuffs. This article presents the activities of the Central European countries which are members of the EU since 2004 in their registration of regional products. The presented data shows how many products were registered within each group of products, protected by the marks: Protected Designation of Origin, Protected Geographical Indication, and Traditional Speciality Guaranteed. Verification of the statistical data allows for analysis concerning the product class, as defined in the EU directives.

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Factors influencing restaurant tipping behaviour – the case of Poland

International Journal of Culture Tourism and Hospitality Research ◽

10.1108/ijcthr-10-2019-0189 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Iwona Kowalczuk ◽

Jerzy Gębski

Keyword(s):

European Countries ◽

Computer Assisted ◽

Eastern European ◽

Food Services ◽

Content Type ◽

East European ◽

Factors Influencing ◽

Eastern European Countries ◽

Average Size

Purpose This paper aims to contribute to the literature that discusses consumer tipping behaviour in eating establishments. Because there is no detailed research into this issue with regard to consumers in Central and East European countries, the authors conducted research aimed at learning about the tipping behaviour of the Poles. Design/methodology/approach This study was carried out in 2018, using the computer-assisted web interviewing method, for a sample of 1,000 people. Six research questions were asked: How often the Poles give tips in eating establishments? What is an average size of a tip? What determinants influence the frequency and magnitude of tips? Who is likely to give a tip every one to two visits? Who is likely to tip more than the standard 10%? What influences the reasons why Polish consumers tend to tip? Findings The findings show the strong relationships between both a consumers’ tipping frequency and magnitude and the frequency at which these consumers eat out. This study also implicates income and education as essential factors influencing tipping behaviour and the lack of gender effect on consumers’ decision to tip. It was also noticed that such reasons as the quality of service, a taste of the dishes and a belief that it is proper to tip have a significant impact on the frequency of giving the tips. A significant diversity of the reasons’ meaning for tipping among Polish consumers depending upon their age was also stated. Research limitations/implications It would be interesting to compare the results of the current study with studies concerning consumer tipping behaviours in other Central and Eastern European countries historically and culturally similar to Poland to investigate whether the specifics of tipping behaviour noticed in Poland apply elsewhere. Originality/value This study shows the specifics of Polish people’s tipping behaviour and partially fulfills the gap in the knowledge of this aspect of consumers’ from Central and Eastern Europe behaviour. The obtained results suggest that with the increasing incomes and the widespread use of food services, tipping is likely to become more common in Poland. Furthermore, the pragmatic reasons for tipping will become more important than social and psychological motivators.

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Privatization

The Handbook of Political, Social, and Economic Transformation ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198829911.003.0067 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 604-610

Author(s):

Bruno Dallago ◽

Chiara Guglielmetti

Keyword(s):

Social Preferences ◽

Institutional Context ◽

European Countries ◽

Eastern European ◽

Direct Relation ◽

Central European ◽

Quality Of Institutions ◽

Eastern European Countries ◽

Apparent Similarity

Privatization was a fundamental component of the process of transformation in Central and Eastern European countries. It was also the most important case of privatization when considering the number of countries involved, the number of enterprises privatized, and the value of privatized assets and jobs in proportion to the size of the economies and employment. The apparent similarity of privatization blueprints notwithstanding, different countries operated under different conditions, faced different constraints, and had different political and social preferences concerning transformation and privatization. These led countries to pursue different goals via privatization and to use different methods. Consequently, economic and institutional outcomes were also different. It turns out that there was a clear, direct relation between the quality of institutions and the outcome of privatization: Central European countries fared much better than Eastern European countries thanks to the more developed market-institutional context and the perspective of EU access in the former.

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Institutional Quality and Illicit Capital Outflow: A Comparative Analysis of the Eastern European Countries

Journal of Economics and Public Finance ◽

10.22158/jepf.v3n1p66 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 66

Author(s):

Luca Andriani ◽

Anna Zajaczkowska

Keyword(s):

Multinational Corporations ◽

Global Economy ◽

Institutional Quality ◽

European Countries ◽

Eastern European ◽

Capital Outflow ◽

Capital Outflows ◽

Eastern European Countries ◽

Strategic Allocation

It is estimated that $1 trillion flows out of the developing and emerging economies illegally on a yearly basis. This affects the ability of governments to raise the tax revenue and deprive the citizens of crucial services. Multinational Corporations (MNCs), as one of the big player in the global economy, are suspected to play a role in those capital outflows. For the multinational, the outflows enable strategic allocation pf taxes as a mean to enhance profits. This study tests whether institutional quality and tax level are significant predictors of the illicit capital outflow. The analysis uses panel data regressions on a group of Eastern European countries for the years 2004-2013. Empirical evidence suggests that illicit capital outflow reduces with institutional quality and increases with the tax level. We speculate on the importance of cross-country coordination actions to improve the quality of the institutions not only domestically but also at the supranational level.

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Inclusive modernization and contradictions of changes in value systems of Eastern European countries in the 1990s and 2000s

Sociology: Theory, Methods, Marketing ◽

10.15407/sociology2019.02.070 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 70-97

Author(s):

Yurii Savelyev

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Eastern Europe ◽

Value Orientations ◽

European Countries ◽

Value Systems ◽

Eastern European ◽

Gradual Improvement ◽

Cohort Differences ◽

Eastern European Countries

The paper aims to acquaint Ukrainian sociologists with the research findings regarding modernisation processes and changes in value systems, which were happening in post-socialist countries of Eastern Europe during profound societal transformations of the 1990s and the first half of the 2000s. The analysis demonstrates that modernisation is a permanent, relative, non-linear and antinomic process. Antinomies of modernity are linked to the emancipation process and the corresponding change in value orientations in society. Emancipation, which is unfolding against a backdrop of improving the quality of life, is accompanied by the rise of personal responsibility for choices being made, as well as by threats to individual freedom. This brings into sharp focus the inclusiveness of modernisation. On the other hand, unfavourable socio-economic environment along with declining sense of existential security may lead to de-modernisation, which is coupled with shrinking tolerance and dwindling willingness to accept others, receding trust in democratic institutions, disruptions to rational communication in society, weaker support for emancipative values and adherence to materialistic ones. The estimate of effects related to a certain historical period and generational turnover through intra- and inter-cohort components of social change, which was made using statistical modelling, has shown that socialisation is a key factor explaining continuity of the modernisation trend — since there are cohort differences in value orientations formed during a gradual improvement of the quality of life in the preceding period. In 13 post-socialist countries, there is a tendency for emancipative values to spread due to socialisation; however, in a few of them a statistically significant inter-cohort component is combined with adverse contextual factors. Thus, even though European integration has proved to be quite an effective strategy for modernisation in most post-socialist Eastern European countries, it is not an irreversible process. Such a perspective helps to better understand the contradictory nature of transformations taking place in Eastern Europe, particularly in Ukrainian society.

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Institutional quality as a determinant of FDI inflow: the case of Central and Eastern European countries

Journal of Management and Financial Sciences ◽

10.33119/jmfs.2019.36.7 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 103-122

Author(s):

Tomasz Dorożyński ◽

Bogusława Dobrowolska ◽

Anetta Kuna-Marszałek

Keyword(s):

Central And Eastern Europe ◽

Institutional Quality ◽

European Countries ◽

Eastern European ◽

Synthetic Index ◽

Last Stage ◽

Eastern European Countries ◽

Institutional Efficiency ◽

The Relationship

In the article, we focus on the institutional aspects and their role in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI). Hence, the objective of the paper is to assess institutional quality in 17 countries of Central and Eastern Europe and to examine the relationship between the quality of institutions measured with the synthetic index of institutional quality and FDI inflow.This study is structured as follows. First, it explores the existing literature on factors of investment attractiveness, paying special attention to the importance of institutional efficiency. Then, we discuss FDI inflow into Central and Eastern European countries and select diagnostic variables that will later be used as the basis for the construction of a synthetic index of institutional quality (SIIQ). By composing a ranking of countries based on estimated values of the index, we could identify countries of similar institutional quality. In the last stage we analyse the correlation between SIIQ in individual countries and FDI inward stock as % of GDP. At the end we present conclusions.

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