Using Game Theory in Decentralization and Policy Making

Author(s): Igor Munteanu / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2015

Since 1994, Moldova engaged in a systematic process of devolution by recognizing the need to share substantial powers to its sub-national governments. Devolution remains yet largely an asymmetrical endeavor prone to conflicts and centrifugal rifts. By 1994 Constitution, some territories have been entitled to get far-reaching devolved powers, while others remained the object of centralist policies, receiving but some embryonic shares of self-governance. As part of its domestic conciliation policy, Moldova recognized a sort of ‘internal self-determination’ to the region of Gagauz settlements, suggesting a readiness to employ this model for another conflict-prone region Transnistria. Any variable of political settlement will extensively depend not only on the legal and political elements of the negotiated status-quo, but also on the strategic interaction of domestic actors, national-wide consensus on the costs and benefits of integration, external actors agenda, as well as on the perceived success or failure of the regional autonomy devolution. This region represents only 4.5% of the country’s population; central government faced a challenging task to reconcile the special provisions of the Gagauz autonomy, making sure that the national legislation is also homogenously implemented across the country. This reflects an essential asymmetry between the ‘conventional SNGs’ and other SNG belonging to the Gagauz region. Devolution is also advancing for cities and villages, but their autonomy is rather limited. Based on local autonomy principles, Government pursues the objective to define and implement a strategy of devolution, first of all as a matter of political necessity, and second as an element of its adaptation to the norms and standards of local governments in Europe. These asymmetries create a playground for increased interactions between the agents of this game, with rules, tradeoffs that can be modeled with the game theory variations.

The End of Banking Secrecy in Post-Crisis Economics- First Step.

Author(s): Carmen Adriana Gheorghe / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2015

Inequality, distribution and growth are important topics in modern post- crisis economics and their interconnections are a favorite subject of economists and international and national institutions. There is strong evidence also that the end of banking secrecy wasn’t a real priority for authorities. On the other hand, unfairness generates economic and political instability that reduces investment and therefore growth. Economic contrast impedes the social consensus necessary to absorb shocks and sustain growth. In this context, what positions should the effects of money laundering and tax evasion, as a result of banking secrecy, occupy? What is the reason for not including banking secrecy among the causes for instability, inequity and, consequently, crisis? Two recent cases have prompted the adoption of measures on banking secrecy in the E.U. – the Coty dispute between Germany and a German bank (more specifically, the interpretation forwarded by CJUE) and the HSBC Swiss bank secret accounts scandal (respectively, the deal on bank accounts between E.U. institutions and Swiss banks). Currently, the Romanian economy is characterized by macroeconomic balance and microeconomic tensions – the GDP distribution in economy is inadequate. The disciplined (individuals and legal entities who comply with the law) are tense, the reason being that they do not experience economic growth. Many distribution added value channels are clogged by the indiscipline of other individuals and legal entities. The undisciplined are relaxed, because they acquire and unreasonably large part of the added value in the economy.

Managing “Mega- Daguos” in the Global Society of XXIst Century

Author(s): Mădălina Virginia Antonescu / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2015

The present paper starts from analyzing the conceptual roots of the “daguo” term, as it is used in the Chinese studies of international relations; we’ll introduce into discussion the new concept of “mega-daguos”, as referring to supra-entities (political or civilization), as a kind of new trans-state and super-state actors, one of them being of continental and trans-continental dimensions and we’ll try to define some of their features and importance for 21st global society. The third part of the paper will be focused on the concrete types of mega-daguo-s, that are in full process of re-composition and emergence, connecting this new reality to concepts as “global governance” or “harmonious governance”.

Public Sector Financial and Personnel Management during Cutbacks: Looking back at the Literature of the 1970s and 1980s

Author(s): Ringa Raudla,Tiina Randma-Liiv,Riin Savi / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2015

Given that the current era of austerity in the public sector is likely to bring aboutchanges in the management practices of the public sector, it is worth taking a lookback at the literature of the previous era of major cutbacks. This article examineswhat kind of changes to public sector financial and personnel management wereproposed and adopted during the era of retrenchment in the 1970s and 1980s. Thereview of the literature shows that the previous cutback era triggered a search forincreased flexibility and rationality both in financial management and personnelmanagement to enable optimal cutback decisions and their implementation. It alsoindicates that the management of the finances and human resources during scarcityrequires very difficult trade-offs.

Book review: "Strategic Management in Public Services Organizations: Concepts, schools and contemporary issues"

Author(s): Bernadette Connaughton / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2015

Polityka energetyczna UE w kontekście realizacji Europejskiego programu energetycznego na rzecz naprawy gospodarczej

Author(s): Michał Piechowicz / Language(s): English,Polish Issue: 1 (73)/2015

This article is based on documents and legal acts of the EU institutions which are essential for the functioning of the European Energy Programme for Recovery. It also provides the legal basis and assumptions of the EU common energy policy. Important aspect addressed in this paper is the efficiency and the level of integration of European gas market and ways to ensure a secure supply of raw materials, which are combined with investments in infrastructure. In this context there is a significant need to set up works on the development of the internal network and interconnections. This article also reveals the importance of the European Energy Programme for Recovery as a useful tool tailored to the objectives of the discussed legislations that allows progress in key European investment projects.

Spółdzielnia europejska w aspekcie swobody działalności gospodarczej na terenie UE

Author(s): Leszek Michalczyk / Language(s): English,Polish Issue: 1 (73)/2015

In this article, we analyze legislation on the formation and functioning of the European Cooperative Society as a pan-European cooperative structure. The adopted paradigm as that of economic freedom, which is deemed one of the EU’s key objectives and consists in shaping economic relations in member states and across the entire European Union. The legal status is considered as at September 30th 2014.

Kritikus ponton? Önkormányzati lakásgazdálkodás a gazdasági világválság után

Author(s): Márton Czirfusz,Zsuzsanna Pósfai / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 05/2015

The Hungarian public housing sector is experiencing continuous disinvestment (first by the central then by localgovernments) since the beginning of the 1980s. State withdrawal from the public housing sector was the mostradical after the regime change of 1989. During this period the residualization of the municipal housing stock– at that time intended to become social housing in the sense of providing subsidized housing to the neediestpopulations – accelerated. The state of the municipal housing stock then became critical following the economiccrisis of 2008. On the one hand, the economic situation of the tenants in the municipal housing stock becamemore and more difficult, which led to an increase of arrears in rent or utility charges. On the other hand, thehousing stock itself – due to chronic lack of investment – is by now in critical state. In the context of selectivedecentralization (meaning that certain, usually costly, competencies are delegated to the municipal level withoutadequate resources) this means that the municipal housing stock primarily represents a burden for the ownermunicipalities – a burden from which they have incentive to free themselves. This leads, on the one hand, to thefurther dismantlement of the municipal housing stock and on the other, to local policies aiming to relegate tenantsliving in poverty. In the article we analyze these processes based on data provided by the Central Statistical Officerelating to the period between 2007 and 2013.

GRAPH METHODS IN AN ANALYSIS OF A LEVEL AND A STRUCTURE OF PUBLIC COSTS OF UNIVERSITIES

Author(s): Anna Ćwiąkała-Małys,Monika Mościbrodzka / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2015

In this article a usage of graph methods as a tool for a classification of polish public universities due to a generated level and a structure of costs is shown. The research was conducted in a spatial interpretation and referring to 57 public universities of an academic function. The usage of graph methods constitutes a tool which can be used by decision makers in a process of searching for ineffective usage of public sources. The outcomes should be a basis for further cause and effect analysis.

PENSION FUND MARKETS IN EUROPE. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS APPLYING SYNTHETIC MEASURE OF DEVELOPMENT

Author(s): Krzysztof Kompa,Dorota Witkowska / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2015

The pension systems in the majority of European states have been reformed because of serious changes in the demographic structure of the populations. Therefore funded pillars have been added to the pension systems. This addi-tional (to pay as you go system) pillar, created by pension funds, is manda-tory in some countries. The investments made by the pension funds influ-ence the development of financial markets and affect the situation in na-tional economies. The aim of the paper is comparative analysis of the pen-sion fund markets in selected European states in the years 2000-2013, using the synthetic measure of development.

THE INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION FLOW OF LABOR DURING THE PROCESS OF INTEGRATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA WITH THE EUROPEAN UNION

Author(s): Alic Bîrcă / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2015

In this article the author debates the international migration flow of labor during the process of Republic of Moldova’s integration with the European Union. Therefore, the author presents the economic causes and effects of the international migration of workforce. Both emigration and immigration flows grouped by specific categories of persons are presented. The evolution of the number of Moldovan immigrants and emigrants in the member states is also presented. Furthermore, the article shows statistic data regarding the number of Moldovan citizens aged over 15 that are working abroad or searching for a workplace abroad.

The effects of autocatalytic trade cycles on economic growth

Author(s): Jurriën J. Bakker,Oscar Afonso,Sandra T. Silva / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2014

This paper shows that autocatalytic trade cycles can be a positive feedback system for innovation and thus for economic growth. Using United Nations data, a trade network is proposed and a set of variables that represent the participation of countries in autocatalytic trade cycles is constructed. A clear relationship between these variables and economic growth is found since more innovation is produced in countries that are part of trade cycles. However, the relationship changes with autocatalytic trade cycle sizes, categories of goods and time scales. Moreover, autocatalytic trade cycles also have a positive effect for the trade flows involved, although this effect differs significantly depending on the size of the cycles. This new approach based on autocatalytic trade cycles emphasizes the benefits that countries can extract from trade cycles and points out the need of policies that foster these benefits. These conclusions strengthen existing literature, and also add new insights to innovation policy and the pursuit of economic prosperity.

Impact of a Common Corporate Tax Base on the effective tax burden in Belgium

Author(s): Annelies Roggeman,Isabelle Verleyen,Philippe Van Cauwenberge,Carine Coppens / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2014

In March 2011, the European Commission launched a proposal for a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB). However, a Common Corporate Tax Base (CCTB), leaving consolidation and apportionment out of consideration, appears to be a more realistic proposition for corporate tax harmonization in Europe. Using the European Tax Analyzer (ETA), we simulate the impact of the CCTB on the effective tax burden in Belgium. The results show that the adoption of the CCTB increases the Belgian effective tax burden by 16%. This remarkable increase is mainly driven by the fact that national tax deductions are not allowed under CCTB. This study allows policymakers to gain insight into the size effects of certain corporate tax measures and contributes to the current discussion on corporate tax harmonization in Europe.

An alternative approach to identify key industries: issues to selection criteria

Author(s): Abul Quasem Al-Amin,Abdul Hamid Jaafar / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2014

Within a process of modeling exercise, this study aimed to understand appropriate selection criteria to identify key industries. There are many key sector identification linkage measures in the subject matter and sensitivity issue among them can be tricky because many of these measures differ only slightly but can result in outcomes that are quite dissimilar. With this background, we proposed an alternate approach that helps to resolve this issue. The proposed approach utilizes in this study by five sub-methods and high degree of the frequency of their occurrences in sub-methods to determine the key sectors. The study approach is applied to Malaysia as the public sector investment remains a large share in the national economy, like other developing countries, and the correct identification is still a challenge for sectoral planning. The experiences from this study can be used to guide appropriate public investment in Malaysia and elsewhere with similar economic forms.

Modeling national innovation system enabled by knowledge management

Author(s): Mei-Tai Chu,Sedigheh Rezaeian Fardoei,Hasan Fallah,Sepehr Ghazinoory,Alireza Aliahmadi / Language(s): English Issue: 5/2014

The main objective of this paper is to explore the model of how knowledge management functions enables national innovation system. To achieve the objectives of the study, a conceptual framework is proposed and described, then the systemic analysis is undertaken. Path coefficient and t-value are also used to measure the relationships among chosen variables. A great number of sources are used to collect data, including questionnaires, interviews, observations, and literature review. The achievements of the study demonstrate 10 distinctive national innovation system performance dimensions and the relationship with knowledge management functions. The first layer includes explicit knowledge, while the second layer deals with tacit knowledge. Both of two layers link to a complete knowledge management functions and processes: explicit knowledge building, explicit knowledge gathering, explicit knowledge distributing, explicit knowledge reusing, tacit knowledge capturing, tacit knowledge sharing tacit knowledge disseminating, tacit knowledge innovating; whereas the third layer includes NIS enablers items or performance dimension of national innovation system: quality, effectiveness, quantity, codification, structure, efficiency, internalization, expertise, effectiveness.

Can firms with the best training program withstand the storm of economic policy uncertainty?

Author(s): Vichet Sum / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2015

This study examines if firms whose training programs ranked as the best ones in the United States can withstand the changes in economic policy uncertainty. The regression analysis of monthly changes in economic policy uncertainty index, monthly returns on the CRSP value-weighted index, and monthly returns on an equal-weighted portfolio of public firms in the United States ranked consecutively from 2006 to 2011 in the top 50 of the Training Top 125 shows that the increased changes in economic policy uncertainty negatively affect the portfolio returns; however, this effect is not statistically significant at the 1% level. The result from regressing monthly returns on CRSP value-weighted index on the monthly changes of economic policy index yields a statistically significant negative coefficient at the 1% level, and this coefficient is more negative than the coefficient obtained from regressing the monthly portfolio returns on the monthly changes in economic policy uncertainty. This study provides empirical evidence of the ability of firms in the US with the best training program to withstand the storm of economic policy uncertainty better than the whole market. In other words, the findings suggest that firms with the best training program are more prepared than the whole market in responding to the changes in economic policy uncertainty.

Theoretical Approach and Empirical Research of Administrative Catchment Areas on the Example of Petru Maior University of Târgu Mureş

Author(s): Zoltán Bujdosó,Péter Katona,Izabella Kocs,Veronika Major-Kathi / Language(s): English Issue: 25/2015

Based on their functions, out of the different types of settlements, cities are those that are able to provide goods and services to their own population and also can serve the needs of other settlements. The relationship between the cities and their catchment areas a vary depending on the functions of the city. Urban functions are carried out by different institutions, thus their importance also varies based on how often they are solicited. The characteristic functions of a city are the services used the most often both by the inhabitants of the city and by the population of its catchment area. Connections between cities and their catchment settlements are formed by individuals making use of the city's services (homo oeconomicus) in order to satisfy their needs. In this paper we analyze the connections based on higher education services, representing the educational-cultural function; furthermore, we also examine the dynamics of these connections determined by the expansion of higher education.

Governance, Strategy and Innovation of Utilities controlled by Urban Governing Bodies: Insights for Industrial Policy

Author(s): Giacomo Di Foggia / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2015

There is renewed interest in the role that utilities controlled by local public entities can play in promoting economic development, but also in the role that these firms have on the financial stability of the controlling bodies. Almost all urban governing authorities rely on utilities to deliver goods and services. Provided that these utilities are essential for the healthy functioning of the economy, their governance shall be forward looking and sustainable. Thus, one of the key tasks of today's executives of such enterprise is to participate in and contribute to their organisations' strategies. Strategic analysis entails evaluating business goals, objectives and plans in light of a company focus on revenues maximisation. We argue that where enterprises dispose of a structured analyst aimed at analysing consumer’s behaviour, business inclination toward innovation activities improve. This advantage stems different roots, e.g. from deeper knowledge of the economic and business environment, better ICT literacy and familiarity with customer relation management. Although some research limitations, the research outputs support our statements.

Regional Integration and Sustainable Development in Hong Kong

Author(s): Mahmud Hassan Talukdar,Al-Amin Mia / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2015

Overall development goal of the Greater Pearl River Delta (GPRD) region is to the emergence jointly as the most dynamic, internationally competitive, world-class city cluster of the Asia-Pacific region. To achieve this goal harmonious regional integration towards sustainable development is decisive. But, Rapid discordant economic integration resulted social and environmental squalor which denotes the adequate attention towards the necessity of harmonizes integration for sustainable development. So, the main aim of this paper is to prepare a harmonious integration model which will be useful for urban planners, policy makers and researchers who are directly or indirectly involved or willing to involve in the task of regional integration in Hong Kong. Literature review is the main source of information of this study. In this paper, firstly, regional integration of Hong Kong as well as the concept of sustainable development is described from theoretical point of view. Then, status of sustainable development in Hong Kong under regional integration is briefed. In this section, some challenges of Hong Kong are identified which hindering economic vibrancy as well as overall social progress and environmental soundness of Greater Pearl River Delta. After that, the reasons of mismatch narrated and finally in the way forward section integration model is prepared as well as some recommendations are suggested to overcome existing constraints and to facilitate sound regional integration and sustainable development of Hong Kong as well as the PRD in the longer term.

Индустриализация как ведущий путь преодоления социально-экономической отсталости развивающихся стран

Author(s): Nadezhda Nikolaevna Ponomareva / Language(s): Russian Issue: 3/2016

Social and economic backwardness of developing countries is one of the global problems and needs to be overcome. The main way of its overcoming is industrialization of economy of these countries. The article considers both broad and narrow understanding of industrialization in developing countries and outlines the reasons which are constraining the active distribution of industrialization in developing countries. The author analyses the role and economic interest of developed countries in this process, identifies the essence of the cascade mechanism of industrialization in developing countries and its social and economic consequences both for developing countries and global economy. The reasons for acceleration of the cascade mechanism of industrialization in developing countries are under consideration. Two models of industrialization in developing countries which prevail in the world practice – import-substituting and export-oriented have been charac-terized according to their essence, advantages and disadvantages, productivity as well as emer-gence of newly industrialized countries (NIC) of different "waves" of industrialization. The author describes the progress of social and economic development of the newly industrialized countries (NIC), especially of "the first wave" of industrialization as based on the analysis of a complete group of statistics: a) the indicators which cardinally changed the demographic situation in these countries, i.e. coefficients of birth rate, mortality, a natural increase of population, infantile mortality, total birth rate, indicators of the age structure of the population, life expectancy and urbanization; b) the indicators reflecting the level of economic development, income level per capita, the index of human development, the education level; c) the indicators characterizing formation of innovative economy, the volume of internal costs of research and development, expenses on research and development in structure of gross domestic product (GDP), number of people occupied in research and development; the innovative index, number of patent applications, indexes of development of the information and communication technologies (ICT) and network readiness. The article considers ten newly industrialized countries which are included in top list because of the development of knowledge-intensive industries, hightech industries and types of productions, aeronautical and aerospace industry, precision instruments, production of computers, semiconductors, communication equipment, pharmaceutical industry. The development of scientific and technical potential of the newly industrialized countries has led to appearance of such forms of the territorial organization as scientific and industrial parks, science and technology parks, technopolises, some of them have been described in the article.