EU cooperation could help Croatia reduce corruption

Significance The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has unblocked the long-stalled Zalac case. This shows the impact of the new institution on the fight against organised crime and corruption at the highest levels in the EU and Croatia. However, other high-profile cases are unresolved. Impacts Trust in the judiciary, traditionally very low, will not grow soon, but could improve in the long run with help from the EPPO. Populist parties are trying to use palpable public anger against elites, focusing on a referendum to end COVID-19 restrictions. With trust in institutions low, vaccine scepticism will remain high and Croatia will remain an EU laggard for its vaccination rate. The excessive length of judicial proceedings is a recurrent problem vexing investors.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Moscariello ◽  
Michele Pizzo

PurposeGrounded in the legitimacy theory and framed within the context of European Union’s (EU's) endorsement process, this paper analyses the International Accounting Standards Board’s (IASB's) response to the COVID-19 crisis and the impact of its practical expedient COVID-19-Related Rent Concession on the IASB's output legitimacy.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a qualitative process-tracing approach and combines inductive historical narratives and deductive reasoning to draw theoretical implications concerning the COVID-19 crisis' impact on the standard-setting process.FindingsThe paper shows a growing reliance on practical expedients in International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) to maintain the IASB's output legitimacy. While introducing some theoretical flaws, practical expedients increase the standards' flexibility and strengthen the IASB's ability to respond to the European political bodies' concerns. Indeed, an analysis of the IASB's response to the COVID-19 outbreak reveals the role practical expedients might play not only in reducing (ex ante) new IFRS transition costs but also in dealing (ex-post) with the broader economic impact of unexpected systemic crises to limit criticisms and controversies surrounding IFRS.Originality/valueThis study reveals a causal relationship between the rise of the European public good criterion in the EU endorsement process and the wider use of practical expedients in IFRS. An analysis of the latest amendment to IFRS 16 in response to the COVID-19 crisis also confirms the role of practical expedients in strengthening the acceptance of IFRS in an increasingly complex economic reality and sheds some light on the new strategies adopted by the IASB to preserve its legitimacy in the EU.


Focaal ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 (52) ◽  
pp. 77-91
Author(s):  
Cerasela Voiculescu

This article explores the recent transformations of the Romanian peasantry and critically discusses interpretations of these changes as either indicating the persistence or the disappearance of peasants in Romania. It shows that beyond the labels of depeasantization and repeasantization, which are extensively used to describe rural scenarios under socialism and postsocialism, it is important to take analytic account of the more complex social relations between different actors that are developing under the impact of interacting local and global processes. Given the sharp differences between peasants and the new class of agricultural rentiers, as well as the variations within the latter group, the different rent regimes in which peasants negotiate their control over land and subsistence involve complex relationships and statuses. The article concludes by hypothesizing possible ways in which all of these relationships could be transformed in the long run in the new context of the EU agricultural policy and by discussing two possible scenarios for the Romanian rural landscape, namely, those of peripheral and nonperipheral capitalism.


2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (12) ◽  
pp. 1688-1709 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xun Li ◽  
Qun Wu ◽  
Clyde W. Holsapple

Purpose – Best-value supply chains characterized by agility, adaptability, and alignment, have become a crucial strategic means for firms to create and sustain competitive advantage in today’s turbulent environment. The purpose of this paper is to investigate linkage between best-value supply chains and firms’ competitive performance. Design/methodology/approach – In Study 1, survey data from 76 firms is used to test the impact of the three qualities of best-value supply chains on firms’ competitive performance. In Study 2, to test if a firm’s competitive advantage can be sustained through building best-value supply chains, a long-run performance analysis is conducted, which is based on a stock portfolio of firms identified from the American Marketing Association’s annual list of “Supply Chain Top 25.” Findings – The results of Study 1 indicate that the three qualities of best-value supply chains are positively related to firms’ competitive performance. The results of Study 2 show that firms having best-value supply chains generate significant and positive abnormal returns for shareholders over time. Originality/value – This is a multiple-method research, providing two-level empirical evidence to the investigation of theoretical linkage between best-value supply chains and firms’ competitive performance.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ferdinando Ofria ◽  
Massimo Mucciardi

PurposeThe purpose is to analyze the spatially varying impacts of corruption and public debt as % of GDP (proxies of government failures) on non-performing loans (NPLs) in European countries; comparing two periods: one prior to the crisis of 2007 and another one after that. The authors first modeled the NPLs with an ordinary lest square (OLS) regression and found clear evidence of spatial instability in the distribution of the residuals. As a second step, the authors utilized the geographically weighted regression (GWR) to explore regional variations in the relationship between NPLs and the proxies of “Government failures”.Design/methodology/approachThe authors first modeled the NPL with an OLS regression and found clear evidence of spatial instability in the distribution of the residuals. As a second step, the author utilized the Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) (Fotheringham et al., 2002) to explore regional variations in the relationship between NPLs and proxies of “Government failures” (corruption and public debt as % of GDP).FindingsThe results confirm that corruption and public debt as % of GDP, after the crisis of 2007, have affected significantly on NPLs of the EU countries and the following countries neighboring the EU: Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Montenegro, and Turkey.Originality/valueIn a spatial prospective, unprecedented in the literature, this research focused on the impact of corruption and public debt as % of GDP on NPLs in European countries. The positive correlation, as expected, between public debt and NPLs highlights that fiscal problems in Eurozone countries have led to an important rise of problem loans. The impact of institutional corruption on NPLs reports that the higher the corruption, the higher is the level of NPLs.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Atif Awad

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the long-run impact of selected foreign capital inflows, including aid, remittances, foreign direct investment (FDI), trade and debt, on the economic growth of 21 low-income countries in the Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) region, during the period 1990–2018. Design/methodology/approach To obtain this objective and for robust analysis, a parametric approach, which was dynamic ordinary least squares, and a non-parametric technique, which was fully modified ordinary least squares, were used. Findings The results of both models confirmed that, in the long run, trade and aid affected the growth rate of the per capita income in these countries in a positive way. However, external debt seemed to have an adverse influence on such growth. Originality/value First, this is the initial study that has addressed this matter across a homogenous group of countries in the SSA region. Second, while most of the previous studies regarding capital inflows into the SSA region have focused on the impact of only one or two aspects of such foreign capital inflows on growth, the present study, instead, examined the impact of five types of foreign capital inflows (aid, remittances, FDI, trade and debt).


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Tahir ◽  
SAF Hasnu ◽  
Mario Ruiz Estrada

Purpose Trade openness plays a significant role in the growth process of countries. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of macroeconomic determinants on the trade openness of countries. Design/methodology/approach The study focuses on the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member countries and the data used were from 1971 to 2011. Panel data econometrics techniques and two stages least square method (TSLS) are used to carry out empirical analysis and robustness testing. Findings The main finding of the paper is that macroeconomic determinants such as investment both in physical and human capital and per capita gross domestic product (GDP) positively affect trade openness. Further, the size of labour force and currency exchange rate has also impacted trade openness negatively and significantly. Practical implications It implies that efficient macroeconomic management matters for higher trade openness. The sampled developing countries are suggested to pay favourable attention to macroeconomic variables if they want to grow in the long run through outward-oriented policies. Originality/value This paper is an original contribution in the context of SAARC countries by focusing on the relationship between macroeconomic determinants and trade openness.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosylin Mohd Yusof ◽  
Farrell Hazsan Usman ◽  
Akhmad Affandi Mahfudz ◽  
Ahmad Suki Arif

Purpose This study aims to investigate the interactions among macroeconomic variable shocks, banking fragility and home financing provided by conventional and Islamic banks in Malaysia. Identifying the causes of financial instability and the effects of macroeconomic shocks can help to foil the onset of future financial turbulence. Design/methodology/approach The autoregressive distributed lag bound-testing cointegration approach, impulse response functions (IRFs) and forecast error variance decomposition are used in this study to unravel the long-run and short-run dynamics among the selected macroeconomic variables and amount of home financing offered by both conventional and Islamic banks. In addition, the study uses Granger causality tests to investigate the short-run causalities among the selected variables to further understand the impact of one macroeconomic shock to Islamic and conventional home financing. Findings This study provides evidence that macroeconomic shocks have different long-run and short-run effects on amount of home financing offered by conventional and Islamic banks. Both in the long run and short run, home financing provided by Islamic banks is more linked to real sector economy and thus is more stable as compared to home financing provided by conventional banks. The Granger causality test reveals that only gross domestic product (GDP), Kuala Lumpur Syariah Index (KLSI)/Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) and house price index (HPI) are found to have a statistically significant causal relationship with home financing offered by both conventional and Islamic banks. Unlike the case of Islamic banks, conventional home financing is found to have a unidirectional causality with interest rates. Research limitations/implications This study has focused on analyzing the macroeconomic shocks on home financing. However, this study does not assess the impact of financial deregulation and enhanced information technology on amount of financing offered by both conventional and Islamic banks. In addition, it is not within the ambit of this present study to examine the effects of agency costs and information asymmetry. Practical implications The analysis of cointegration and IRFs exhibits that in the long run and short run, home financing provided by Islamic banks are more linked to real sector economy like GDP and House Prices (HPI) and therefore more resilient to economic vulnerabilities as compared to home financing provided by conventional banks. However, in the long run, both conventional and Islamic banks are more susceptible to fluctuations in interest rates. The results of the study suggest that monetary policy ramifications to improve banking fragility should focus on stabilizing interest rates or finding an alternative that is free from interest. Social implications Because interest plays a significant role in pricing of home loans, the potential of an alternative such as rental rate is therefore timely and worth the effort to investigate further. Therefore, Islamic banks can explore the possibility of pricing home financing based on rental rate as proposed in this study. Originality/value This paper examines the unresolved issues in Islamic home financing where Islamic banks still benchmark their products especially home financing, to interest rates in dual banking system such as in the case of Malaysia. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, studies conducted in this area are meager and therefore is imperative to be examined.


2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (10) ◽  
pp. 1439-1452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kashif Munir ◽  
Maryam Sultan

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of taxes on economic growth in the long run as well as in the short run. Design/methodology/approach The study uses simple time series model, where real GDP is dependent variable and different forms of taxes are explanatory variables under ARDL framework from 1976 to 2014 at annual frequency for Pakistan. Findings Direct taxes have positive relation with economic growth in the long run. Sales tax, tax on international trade (tariffs) and other indirect taxes have positive impact on economic growth of Pakistan in the long run as well as in the short run. However, sales tax and other indirect taxes impact negatively on economic growth in the short run after one year because people realize decline in their real income. Practical implications Government should increase direct taxes by increasing tax base. Indirect taxes usually indicate negative impact after one and two years; therefore, government should decrease its reliance on indirect taxes. Government should promote tax awareness among the people which increase the tax morale of people and increase the tax base. Originality/value Taxes are disaggregated into direct and indirect taxes, while indirect taxes have been further disaggregated into excise duty, sales tax, surcharges, tax on international trade and other indirect taxes. This study provides useful insight for policy makers in designing taxes and their effect on growth.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aspasia Vlachvei ◽  
Ourania Notta ◽  
Eirini Koronaki

PurposeThis study advances knowledge of interactive marketing strategies by examining the effect of different content types on the three stages of customer engagement (CE) in social media, namely, relationship formation, engagement creation and engagement contribution, for European wine brands.Design/methodology/approachBoth quantitative and qualitative content analyses are conducted; a panel data analysis validates the impact of content type on the three stages of CE in social media.FindingsThe results indicate that remunerative content is the most consistent and promising strategy for enhancing all three stages of CE in social media. Social content motivates consumers to interact with wine brands by commenting, which is the most demanding and time-consuming form of engagement.Practical implicationsThe empirical results offer valuable directions for managers and marketers of European wine brands on creating and maintaining optimal interactive engagement in all three stages with their Facebook communities over the long run.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first to empirically examine, through objective measurement, how content type affects the three stages of CE in social media. The case of European wine brands is examined, over time, through a panel data analysis.


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