scholarly journals Corruption and the agricultural production efficiency of the European countries during the recent economic crisis

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 427-437
Author(s):  
Mohammad Monirul Hasan ◽  
József Tóth
Keyword(s):  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Production Efficiency ◽  
National Level ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Economic Downturn ◽  
Member States ◽  
Control Of Corruption

This paper examines the association between controls of corruption and the agricultural production efficiency of 23 European Union Member States during the recent economic crisis. Production efficiency, measured in terms of technical efficiency, is the effectiveness of a given set of inputs that is used to produce an output. Owing to climate and geographical location agriculture in European countries is diverse. The economic downturn led by the financial crisis which started in mid-2007, is still prevailing across European countries. Control of corruption along with the existing economic crisis of the member states are affecting agriculture production efficiency. This study used the national level production data for the period of 2003-2009. It shows that the technical efficiency of most Member States have declined over the years and that it was significantly lower in austere economic crisis time 2007-09 than 2003-06 for all countries. It is also found that the declining trend of technical efficiency is significantly lower for central and eastern European countries than for the western European countries. Study finds that the control of corruption in the presence of high government effectiveness, decreases the technical efficiency of agricultural production in the Member States.Res. Agric., Livest. Fish.2(3): 427-437, December 2015

scholarly journals A fuzzy set approach to economic crisis, austerity and public health. Part I. European countries’ conformity to ideal types during the economic downturn

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (18_suppl) ◽  
pp. 41-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Therese Saltkjel ◽  
Mari Holm Ingelsrud ◽  
Espen Dahl ◽  
Knut Halvorsen
Keyword(s):  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Fuzzy Set ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Economic Downturn ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Ideal Types ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Current Economic Crisis ◽  
Welfare Generosity

Aims: This is the first part of a two-part paper that takes an explorative approach to assess crisis and austerity in European countries during the Great Recession. The ultimate aim of this two-part paper is to explore the “crisis–austerity” thesis by Stuckler and Basu and assess whether it is the interplay between austerity and crisis, rather than the current economic crisis per se, that can led to deterioration in population health. In Part I of this paper we offer one way of operationalizing crisis severity and austerity. We examine countries as specific configurations of crisis and policy responses and classify European countries into “ideal types.” Methods: Cases included were 29 countries participating in the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) surveys. Based on fuzzy set methodology, we constructed two fuzzy sets, “austerity” and “severe crisis.” Austerity was measured by changes in welfare generosity; severe crisis was measured by changes in gross domestic product (GDP) per capita growth. Results: In the initial phase of the Great Recession, most countries faced severe crisis combined with no austerity. From 2010–2011 onward, there was a divide between countries. Some countries consistently showed signs of austerity policies (with or without severe crisis); others consistently did not. Conclusions: The fuzzy set ideal-type analysis shows that the European countries position themselves, by and large, in configurations of crisis and austerity in meaningful ways that allow us to explore the “crisis–austerity” thesis by Stuckler and Basu. This exploration is the undertaking of Part II of this paper.

scholarly journals Regional corruption variability in the European countries

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (8) ◽  
pp. 21-29
Author(s):  
Veronika Linhartova
Keyword(s):  
World Bank ◽  
Economic Performance ◽  
Regional Differences ◽  
National Level ◽  
Regional Disparities ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Unexplored Area ◽  
Regional Economic Disparities ◽  
High Level ◽  
Control Of Corruption

Quantification of the corruption rate in smaller sub-national areas is still a significantly unexplored area. Sub-national resolution of corruption rate could bring an entirely new dimension to the theory of causes and consequences of regional disparities. There are numerous reasons why to focus on this issue. Perhaps the strongest one is that if corruption negatively affects the economic performance, as many studies claim, the elimination of corruption in certain regions may be the key for the elimination of regional economic disparities and thus increase the economic performance of the state. Analysis of regional corruption may also lead to the creation of regional anti-corruption provisions that can bring a reduction of corruption rate at the national level. The main goal of this article is formulated in this context. A new corruption quantification method reflecting inter-regional differences in the level of corruption in the European countries is designed. Using this method, it is possible to draw a comparison of individual NUTS II regions and identify those which are more affected by corruption than the others. A high level of corruption variability was confirmed for NUTS II regions, especially in Italy. Because of this variability, it could be very deceptive to evaluate the country as a whole from the corruption level viewpoint. Keywords: Corruption, world bank, European union, economic performance, regional disparities, control of corruption.

scholarly journals Regional corruption variability in the European countries

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 156-164
Author(s):  
Veronika Linhartova
Keyword(s):  
World Bank ◽  
Economic Performance ◽  
Regional Differences ◽  
National Level ◽  
Regional Disparities ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Unexplored Area ◽  
Regional Economic Disparities ◽  
High Level ◽  
Control Of Corruption

Quantification of the corruption rate in smaller sub-national areas is still a significantly unexplored area. Sub-national resolution of corruption rate could bring an entirely new dimension to the theory of causes and consequences of regional disparities. There are numerous reasons why to focus on this issue. Perhaps the strongest one is that if corruption negatively affects the economic performance, as many studies claim, the elimination of corruption in certain regions may be the key for the elimination of regional economic disparities and thus increase the economic performance of the state. Analysis of regional corruption may also lead to the creation of regional anti-corruption provisions that can bring a reduction of corruption rate at the national level. This context is formulated the main goal of this article. A new corruption quantification method reflecting inter-regional differences in the level of corruption in the European countries is designed. Using this method, it is possible to draw a comparison of individual NUTS II regions and identify those which are more affected by corruption than the others. A high level of corruption variability was confirmed for NUTS II regions, especially in Italy. Because of this variability, it could be very deceptive to evaluate the country as a whole from the corruption level viewpoint. Keywords: Corruption, world bank, European union, economic performance, regional disparities, control of corruption.

Energy Performance of European Buildings

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Constantinos A. Balaras ◽  
Elena G. Dascalaki ◽  
Athina G. Gaglia ◽  
Kaliopi Droutsa ◽  
Simon Kontoyiannidis
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽  
National Level ◽  
Building Energy ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
European Countries ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Existing Buildings ◽  
Member States ◽  
Building Energy Performance ◽  
Eu Member States

The existing buildings stock in European countries accounts for over 40% of final energy consumption in the European Union (EU) member states. Consequently, an increase of building energy performance can constitute an important instrument in the efforts to alleviate the EU energy import dependency and comply with the Kyoto Protocol to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. This is also in accordance to the European Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings (EPBD), which is currently under implementation in all EU member states. This paper presents an overview of EPBD and ongoing national activities, and focus on building energy performance assessment methodologies, in line with the EPBD. These methods and software can be used to perform building energy audits and assess buildings in a uniform way, perform demand and savings calculations, provide owners with specific advice for measures that can improve energy performance, and issue an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) for existing buildings. Another ongoing European project is developing a common database structure and an evaluation scheme, which is being used to collect, process and evaluate data from 12 European countries. The results will constitute a good basis for the implementation of harmonized monitoring systems in the building sector on regional and national level.

Agricultural production mode transformation and production efficiency

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 160-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zimin Liu ◽  
Dan Yang ◽  
Tao Wen
Keyword(s):  
Division Of Labor ◽  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Selection Bias ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Production Efficiency ◽  
Production Mode ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mode Transformation ◽  
Endogenous Selection ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of farmers’ agricultural production mode transformation, from the perspective of agricultural division of labor and cooperation, on their agricultural production efficiency including technical efficiency, pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency. Design/methodology/approach This paper analyzes the impact of the agricultural production mode’s transformation on farmers’ agricultural production efficiency, based on the classical theory of division of labor and specialization, transaction costs and cooperation. It uses 2013 survey data from 396 farms in 15 Chinese provinces to explore the contributing factors of agricultural production efficiency using a double selection model (DSM), which can correct the endogenous selection bias in farmers’ decisions. Findings Farmers that participate in agricultural division of labor and cooperation means transform their agricultural production from a traditional self-sufficient mode to one that is specialized and intensive. Agricultural division of labor measured by farmers’ participation in an agricultural division of labor in the production stages, or in agricultural products, and agricultural cooperation measured by farmers’ participation in farmers’ cooperatives significantly and positively influence their agricultural production efficiency after correcting farmers’ endogenous selection bias. Originality/value This paper proposes a unified framework to analyze the impact of farmers’ agricultural production mode transformation on their production efficiency. Further, it builds a DSM for an empirical analysis to avoid the endogenous biases in farmers’ self-selection behavior. This paper also provides ways for policy makers to improve farmers’ agricultural production efficiency from the modern agricultural production perspective.

scholarly journals Smallholders’ Agricultural Production Efficiency of Conservation Tillage in Jianghan Plain, China—Based on a Three-Stage DEA Model

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (20) ◽  
pp. 7470
Author(s):  
Xin Yang ◽  
Guangyin Shang
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Production Efficiency ◽  
Conservation Tillage ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
Scale Efficiency ◽  
Jianghan Plain ◽  
Dea Model ◽  
The Impact

Based on interviews with 695 smallholders in Jianghan Plain, this paper introduced the three-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) model to analyze the agricultural production efficiency of conservation tillage adopters and explored the impact of environmental factors on agricultural production efficiency. The empirical results showed the following (1) Planting area, seed consumption, labor input, pesticide usage, chemical fertilizer usage, agricultural film usage were selected as input indicators, agricultural output was chosen as an output indicator, and the traditional DEA model was used to calculate the production efficiency of smallholders, and the agricultural production efficiency of smallholders was found to be at a low level. In addition, environmental and random factors both have significant impacts on efficiency, so they should be stripped. (2) After excluding environmental factors and random factors, the drop in pure technical efficiency of smallholders in the third stage was higher than the drop in scale efficiency when compared with the first stage. Moreover, the true technical efficiency was the main restricting factor for the agricultural production efficiency. (3) Educational level of smallholders, policy support, and information acquisition were the factors that affect the technical efficiency significantly. Improving the efficiency of agricultural production technology for smallholders requires strengthening rural basic education, improving subsidy policies for conservation agricultural technology, and establishing and improving rural information technology services.

scholarly journals Funkcjonowanie i finansowanie europejskiej polityki rynku pracy w czasach światowego kryzysu gospodarczego

2012 ◽  
pp. 205-224
Author(s):  
Alina Grynia
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Job Search ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
Economic Downturn ◽  
Market Mechanisms ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
The Unemployed ◽  
The Eu

Labour market policy is considered an element of state intervention in market mechanisms as consequence of negative labour market phenomena. Downturn on labour market caused by global economic crisis has led to increase in the number of tasks of LMP aimed at protection of existing jobs, providing social benefits to the unemployed and facilitating job search. Basic instruments of active and passive LMP are presented in the text as well as conditions and effectiveness of their application, and financing in the EU member states during economic crisis. The analysis performed showed that the LMP introduced in different states differed greatly depending on the chosen LMP model. It can be stated that expenses for active and passive instrument increased in all member states during crisis. However, the level of changes differed among the states. The largest increase has been noted among old member states. The largest share of the expenses for LMP was spent on passive LMP. During economic downturn the number of beneficiaries of passive LMP increased. The effectiveness of the instruments used is evaluated differently among the member states. Reliable analysis of LMP effectiveness during crisis requires more time and preparation of unified research methodology.

Modernisation of Higher Education – Willful Action or Wishful Thinking? The Case of Bulgaria

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 3-17
Author(s):  
Elena Blagoeva
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
National Level ◽  
Sustainable Growth ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Case Study Methodology ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

The impact of the last global economic crisis (2008) on the European economy put a strain on higher education (HE), yet it also pushed the sector towards intensive reforms and improvements. This paper focuses on the “Strategy for the Development of Higher Education in the Republic of Bulgaria 2014-2020”. With a case study methodology, we explore the strategic endeavours of the Bulgarian government to comply with the European directions and to secure sustainable growth for the HE sector. Our research question is ‘How capable is the Bulgarian HE Strategy to overcome the economic and systemic restraints of Bulgarian higher education?’. Because the development of strategies for HE within the EU is highly contextual, a single qualitative case study was chosen as the research approach. HE institutions are not ivory towers, but subjects to a variety of external and internal forces. Within the EU, this is obviated by the fact that Universities obtain their funds from institutions such as governments, students and their families, donors, as well as EU-level programmes. Therefore, to explore how these pressures interact to affect strategic action on national level, the case method is well suited as it enabled us to study the phenomena thoroughly and deeply. The paper suggests the actions proposed within the Strategy have the potential to overcome the delay, the regional isolation and the negative impact of the economic crisis on the country. Nevertheless, the key elements on which the success or failure of this Strategy hinges are the control mechanisms and the approach to implementation. Shortcomings in these two aspects of strategic actions in HE seem to mark the difference between gaining long-term benefits and merely saving face in front of international institutions.

European and Ukrainian experience in financial support to farming activities through fiscal instruments

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (9) ◽  
pp. 1040-1063
Author(s):  
E.A. Nepochatenko ◽  
E.T. Prokopchuk ◽  
B.S. Guzar
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Financial Incentives ◽  
Financial Support ◽  
Financial Regulation ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Main Task ◽  
Statistical Research ◽  
Tax Regimes

Subject. The article considers financial regulation through the use of tax mechanisms. Objectives. The aim of the study is to evaluate European and Ukrainian practices of fiscal incentives for farming through fiscal instruments with VAT playing the key role. Methods. In the study we employed economic and statistical research methods, like monographic, comparison, scientific generalization. Results. Based on the analysis of VAT implementation on farmers in developed countries in Europe we substantiated the conclusion about its focus on simplifying the tax procedures and eliminating the negative impact on operations of economic entities. Special tax treatment (including VAT collection) is mainly used to streamline tax relations, taking into account the specifics of farming, rather than to improve the financial support to farms. We revealed that in the Ukrainian practice its main task is financial support to agricultural production. Conclusions and Relevance. The experience of developed European countries on the use of special tax regimes and taxation procedures should serve as a model for Ukraine. Financial incentives for agricultural production development should be directly supported by the State, and special tax treatment and tax administration should be focused on streamlining tax relations in the region, based on the practice of developed European countries such as UK, Germany, Italy and France.

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