A GLIMPSE OF POSITIVE ACCOUNTING THEORY (PAT)

Author(s): Muhammad Rifky Santoso,,Minda Muliana br Sebayang / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2017

Positive accounting theory (PAT) has been more developed than normative accounting theory in this era. The development of PAT research has discussed about what factors influenced management to report earnings. By using literature reviews, there are many researches in discussing the external factors to influence management to report earnings, such as bonuses, the debt equity ratio, political costs, and good governance. The other researches have discussed the association between earnings and stock prices. There are still few discussions about the selfmotivation of the directors or managers why choose a certain accounting method. The difference of environment, types of industry, and timing of financial statement reporting can be a further research. By using theories introduced by Popper, Kuhn, and Lakatos, PAT has elements in these three theories; however, PAT has not been categorized as science.

A GROWTH-FRIENDLY SPENDING MIX? BREAKING DOWN PUBLIC SPENDING IN IRELAND

Author(s): THOMAS A. MCDONNELL,PAUL GOLDRICK-KELLY / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2018

In the context of sustained improvements in Ireland’s public finances since that country’s fiscal crisis of 2008–2012, the scope and adequacy of public expenditures in Ireland have reemerged as a major political and social concern. In this paper, we identify the broad areas of public spending most associated with long-run economic growth. Next, we compare the aggregate level of expenditure in Ireland with euro area averages under the ten Classification of Functions of Government (COFOG) categories. We generally demonstrate under expenditure in the Irish case relative to comparators. However, there are problems arising from the use of GDP in the Irish context as well as problems with comparing spending levels in Ireland with that of the much poorer and cheaper EU countries. We therefore move to compare per capita spending in Ireland with that of similarly affluent EU countries. We find similar under spends within many public expenditure categories, some of which are likely attributable to demographic factors, such as the relative absence of elderly populations in Ireland in contrast to comparator countries. In terms of the composition of spending we find that Ireland allocates a relatively large share of its aggregate primary spend to public order and safety, to housing and community, to education, and especially to health. However, Ireland’s lower per capita primary spend of €14,502 in 2016 was just 84.7% of the peer country population weighted average of €17,112. This meant that education spending on a per pupil basis was actually lower than the peer country average. Certain areas of relative under expenditure, such as the under-expenditure on education, on per capita expenditure on gross fixed capital formation and on per capita expenditure on public Research and Development (R&D) are concerning from a long run growth perspective. We conclude that the limited fiscal resources should prioritize expanding productive capacity through investment in these areas along with measures such as enhanced childcare subsidies to improve employment outcomes, equity and facilitate long run growth.

A HELYI ADÓZTATÁS SAJÁTOSSÁGAI MAGYARORSZÁGON

Author(s): Eva Darabos / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 1/2016

A possible alternative of involving resources required for carrying out the municipal tasks is to introduce local taxes which allows the municipalities to manage themselves financially alone. Aim of the treatise is to present the development in number of municipalities introducing local taxes, the role of own revenues and local taxes in the budget of municipalities, highlighting the development in amount of the business tax by settlement type. Based on the data, it can be stated that there has been a significant change in the structure of budget of municipalities since 2008,the local taxes play a decisive role, those ones serve as important sources of funding in addition to the decreasing state aid.

A KEYNESIAN APPROACH TO FISCAL POLICY FOR FULL EMPLOYMENT AND CONTINUOUS TIME DEBT DYNAMICS

Author(s): Yasuhito Tanaka / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2020

It is widely argued that public debt is a burden on the future generations. We analyze another aspect of public debt as an economic stimulus program, that is, the measure to realize full employment from an under-employment state. Using a continuous time version of a dynamic analysis of debt-to-GDP ratio we show that a fiscal policy to realize full employment from a state of under-employment can reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio. More precisely we show that the larger the extra growth rate (increasing rate) of real GDP by a fiscal policy is, the smaller the debt-to-GDP ratio at the time when full employment is realized is. Also we show that even if the marginal propensity to consume is very small (including zero), an aggressive fiscal policy can realize full employment without increasing the debt-to-GDP ratio. Further, we consider a condition to realize full employment from a state of under-employment within one year without increasing debt-to-GDP ratio.

A lender of last resort on trial: Remarks on the controversy surrounding the role of the European Central Bank in the financial crisis

Author(s): Detlev Ehrig / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2016

The recent European debt crisis has generated a growing importance of the European Central Bank (ECB). The ECB was forced to take measures far beyond its traditional role to stabilize monetary markets and inflation. The ECB has adopted a new function as a lender of last resort, providing banks and governments with almost unlimited liquidity and purchasing government bondswithin Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT). This new role of the ECB has been hotly debated.In Germany, the debate even reached the Constitutional Court. The article will give a survey ofthe fundamentals of a lender of last resort and of the debate referring to the arguments of the ECBand Bundesbank. It is indeed questionable whether the ECB has a mandate for its new monetaryand nolens volens fiscal role. Regardless of whether the arguments are convincing, new steps towardsnew fiscal arrangements and a banking union are needed to stabilize the euro area.

A Local Government Revenue System under Macroeconomic Pressure – The Case of Poland

Author(s): Beata Guziejewska,Katarzyna Walerysiak-Grzechowska / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2020

This study analyses macroeconomic factors, especially the level of GDP and its changes, in terms of their impact on the revenues of Polish local governments from 1999 to 2016. The importance of the factors in managing local finances is growing because of the increasing threats of globalisation and economies becoming more vulnerable to exogenous shocks. This article attempts to identify the structural weaknesses of the local government revenue system in Poland in the context of macroeconomic circumstances. It follows from our research that the property tax and general state grants are relatively insensitive to GDP changes and that they are capable of ensuring local revenue stability during a crisis. Greater sensitivity to economic fluctuations is shown by shared income taxes. The study analyses Central Statistical Office and Eurostat data using an advanced research approach, the key elements of which are cointegration analysis and a vector error correction model.

A Method to Calculate Corrective Coefficients for the Valuation of Land Rental Payments

Author(s): Irina Aleksandrovna Astrakhantseva,Ekaterina Vyacheslavovna Balandina / Language(s): English / Issue: 25/2019

The authors propose a methodology to calculate corrective coefficients in the process of calculating rental fees for land use. Based on the analysis carried out, a list of factors affecting the value of the coefficients is presented: general economic and political factors, factors of the municipality’s socio-economic status, factors of profitability, physical characteristics, and the geographical location of the plots of land. The authors propose a methodology to evaluate land use intensity. The authors calculated corrective coefficients used to determine rental fees for land use in Ivanovo, Russia. According to the results of the analysis, it can be concluded that the proposed methodology makes it possible to establish lower values of the corrective coefficients and, consequently, the rental fee amount for plots of land of social significance which do not yield significant profits. Based on the example of calculating corrective coefficients for land located in the city of Ivanovo, it is possible to note the increased amount of rental fees for land intended for the placement of trade facilities, public catering, consumer services, hotels, businesses and commercial buildings.

A Model Assessing Innovativeness of Administration Units Awarding Public Contracts as a Tool to Conduct Economic Policy of the State

Author(s): Arkadiusz Borowiec / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2015

In today's market economy factors concerning knowledge, new technologies and innovative solutions are essential for economic development. However, the Polish economy, despite its high innovation potential compared to other European Union countries, is characterized by a very low level of innovativeness. Im-plementing this potential is conditioned by an appropriate economic policy of the state and rational approach to its resources and legal solutions. One of the possi-bilities of such an action is the use of public procurement instrument through which it is possible to more effectively create demand for innovative products and services.As shown by literature studies, the achievements of the subject literature asso-ciated with the creation of demand for innovations by public administration in Poland have been very modest. This gap is recognized by the article, and it at-tempts to build a model for assessing the innovativeness of these units. Network thinking methodology was used to build the model. As a result, after the identification of factors affecting the conduct of an innovative public procurement, a network of links was established between them and examined in terms of type, intensity and duration of exposure. Building a model according to the methodology, the opinions of experts have been used along with long-term observations conducted in the course of participation in all kinds of conferences and trainings. The model was also subjected to validation in two selected units.

A model for predicting Inactivity in the European Banking Sector

Author(s): Themistokles Lazarides / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2015

Purpose – The paper will addresses the issue of inactivity and will try to detect its causes using econometric models. The Banking sector of Europe has been under transformation or restructuring for almost half a century. Design/methodology/approach – Probit models and descriptive statistics have been used to create a system that predicts inactivity. The data was collected from Bankscope. Findings – The results of the econometric models show that from the six groups of indicators, four have been found to be statistically important (performance, size, ownership, corporate governance). These findings are consistent with the theory. Research limitations/implications – The limitation is that Bankscope does not provide any longitudinal data regarding ownership, management structure and there are some many missing values before 2007 for some of the financial ratios and data. Originality/value – The paper's value and innovation is that it has given a systemic approach to find indicators of inactivity.

A MULTIDIMENSIONAL AND DYNAMISED CLASSIFICATION OF POLISH PROVINCES BASED ON SELECTED FEATURES OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN 2002–2013

Author(s): Wojciech Łukaszonek / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2017

For close to two decades after the fall of communism in 1989, Polish higher education enjoyed an unprecedented period of development. Favourable political, economic, social and demographic changes led to a fivefold increase in the number of students and the number of higher educational institutions. The dynamic changes and their effects did not occur uniformly, in either space or time. An attempt is made here to identify and analyse the regional differentiation between Polish provinces in terms of features relating to higher education. To investigate the changes in higher education in the period of economic and social transformation, observations were made of fundamental characteristics of higher education in the years 2002–2013. The applied procedure uses new statistical methods applicable to a space of doubly multivariate data. The covariance matrix used to construct principal components is given the structure of a Kronecker product. The results led to the identification of six groups of provinces, including two consisting of a single province – Mazowieckie and Małopolskie provinces – which contain the largest and the highest-ranked2 higher educational institutions in Poland: the University of Warsaw and Jagiellonian University.

A NEW AND UNIFIED APPROACH IN GENERALIZING THE LINDLEY’S DISTRIBUTION WITH APPLICATIONS

Author(s): Bouchahed Lahsen,Zeghdoudi Halim / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2018

This paper proposes a new family of continuous distributions with one extra shape parameter called the generalized Zeghdoudi distributions (GZD). We investigate the shapes of the density and hazard rate function. We derive explicit expressions for some of its mathematical quantities. Various statistical properties like stochastic ordering, moment method, maximum likelihood estimation, entropies and limiting distribution of extreme order statistics are established. We prove the flexibility of the new family by means of applications to several real data sets.

A NEW ESTIMATOR OF MEAN USING DOUBLE SAMPLING

Author(s): Vadlamudi Kalyan Rao,Sedory Stephen A.,Singh Sarjinder / Language(s): English / Issue: 4/2017

In this paper, we consider the problem of estimation of population mean of a study variable by making use of first-phase sample mean and first-phase sample median of the auxiliary variable at the estimation stage. The proposed new estimator of the population mean is compared to the sample mean estimator, ratio estimator and the difference type estimator for the fixed cost of the survey by using the concept of two-phase sampling. The magnitude of the relative efficiency of the proposed new estimator has been investigated through simulation study.

A NEW METHOD FOR COVARIATE SELECTION IN COX MODEL

Author(s): Nader Ebrahimi,Ujjwal Das / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2018

In a wide spectrum of natural and social sciences, very often one encounters a large number of predictors for time to event data. An important task is to select right ones, and thereafter carry out the analysis. The l1 penalized regression, known as “least absolute shrinkage and selection operator" (LASSO) became a popular approach for predictor selection in last two decades. The LASSO regression involves a penalizing parameter (commonly denoted by l) which controls the extent of penalty and hence plays a crucial role in identifying the right covariates. In this paper we propose an information theory-based method to determine the value of l in association with the Cox proportional hazards model. Furthermore, an efficient algorithm is discussed in the same context. We demonstrate the usefulness of our method through an extensive simulation study. We compare the performance of our proposal with existing methods. Finally, the proposed method and the algorithm are illustrated using a real data set.

A PARADOX OF REFORMING PENSIONS IN POLAND

Author(s): Anna Ząbkowicz / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2016

Recent years see intense reforming of funded pensions sub-system in Poland. Actually, what are the policy objectives at which change in design introduced in 2013 (mandatory funding) and projected in 2014 (voluntary funding) is oriented? The article briefly reports what contemporary re-designing of the pension system at different stages was about, and reconstructs the objectives of reforming at each stage. It finds that interlocking streams of change aimed at two goals in fact which are i) relief to public finance ii) expanding pension funding by financial intermediaries. It argues that the two are in contradiction to each other, and this makes a paradox of pension reforming. The review of 2013- and 2014- design, unexpectedly enough, results in conclusion that at present reforming is focused on pension funding revitalization, which may cause a recurring distress to public finance. Thus, the article identifies one of dilemmas of institutional-order development in Poland, which can be probably also experienced in other countries where pension funding has been introduced.

A Performance Ranking of LGUs in Macedonia

Author(s): Mirjana Kraja-Sejdini / Language(s): English / Issue: 15/2016

Local government performance within public sector performance is coming back because local government is faced with the problem of increased responsibilities under tighter budgets. Therefore, the issues of managing taxpayers’ money more efficiently and effectively still remain a challenge for local government decision makers. In addition, increased social inclusion has created a need for increased accountability and transparency towards local government managers. This paper aims to facilitate decision makers as well as local government officials to offer a ranking system of local government units (LGUs/municipalities) in Macedonia by analyzing and normalizing some of the main financial indicators that make up the final annual accounts of all LGUs in Macedonia. The output of this work is a local government index showing the best and worst performing municipalities in the country. The provision of one aspect of LG government performance allows all local government stakeholders to have an overview of the budget spent as well as identify some best practices by comparatively identifying the practices of the best performing LGUs. However, the data availability has narrowed the scope of this performance ranking. We hope that this study will contribute modestly to the existing literature of the performance in the public sector and specifically in that of the local government sector. There is an increasing interest in studies related to public sector performance. However, this interest has been very little in Balkan Countries.

A Post-Pandemic Budget: The New Multiannual Financial Framework 2021–2027

Author(s): Melchior Szczepanik / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2020

The European Commission (EC) wants to issue bonds to finance the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic without reducing the budgets of existing common policies. The axis of the larger EU budget will be the implementation of two key projects launched before the pandemic: the green and digital transitions. The Commission proposal has elements that are attractive for both sides of the debate about the EU budget and it is, therefore, likely that the final outcome of the negotiations will not be much different.

A Real-Business-Cycle Model with Reciprocity in Labor Relations and Fiscal Policy: The Case of Bulgaria

Author(s): Aleksandar Vasilev / Language(s): English / Issue: 03/2017

In this paper we introduce reciprocity in labor relations and government sector to investigate how well the real wage rigidity that results out of that arrangement explains business cycle fluctuations in Bulgaria. The reciprocity mechanism described in this paper follows Danthine and Kurmann (2010) and is generally consistent with micro-studies, e.g. Lozev et all. (2011) and Paskaleva (2016), while at the same time comes into contrast with models with efficiency wages of no-shirking type that emphasize the importance of aggregate labor market conditions as the main determinant in wage setting, e.g. Vasilev (2017). Rent-sharing considerations, and worker's own past wages turn out to be the most important aspects of how labor contracting happens. In contrast, aggregate economic conditions, as captured by the employment rate, are not found to be quantitatively important for wage dynamics. Overall, the model with reciprocity and fiscal policy performs well vis-a-vis data, especially along the labor market dimension, and in addition dominates the market-clearing labor market framework featured in the standard RBC model, e.g Vasilev (2009).

A Resolution in the Spanish Banking Sector: The Case of Banco Popular Español

Author(s): Magdalena Kozińska / Language(s): English / Issue: 6/2018

The restructuring of Banco Popular Español (BPE) through its takeover by Banco Santander provided a valuable example of the first resolution framework application, which allowed for the assessment of its effectiveness. However, similar crisis tools were also utilised in the Spanish banking sector in 2008–2013. Their analysis may provide a valuable contribution to the issue of selecting the most appropriate resolution tools for banks, which can be utilised by Spain and other EU countries when further restructuring their respective banking sectors or managing crises. The aim of this article is to evaluate the effectiveness of the BPE resolution. Additionally, other examples of the application of the “sale of business” tool from the Spanish banking crisis of 2008–2013 were assessed. The conclusions were then used to assess the possible application of similar tools at other banks in Spain and other European countries.

A tale of two cities:

Achieving smarter economy through communication and virtual work

Author(s): Joshua Olusegun FAYOMI,Zainab Abdulqadir SANI / Language(s): English / Issue: 01/2020

Seamless communication within and between cities allows for a tremendous increase in efficiencies, one of which is the way work can be done. When work no longer needs to be carried out only within the confines of the traditional office, it can then be done virtually and this research seeks to explore how communication influences the creation of smart economy through virtual work. Virtual work is increasingly becoming ideal for organizations as there is a rise in the quality and quantity of data that can be accessed and analysed from outside the traditional office. Smart city research has shown that has also shown that for cities to be have smart economies there needs to be seamless connection between points of information within such cities.This research begins with a detailed desk research to identify and outline the key indices for smart mobility and smart cities, leading to the proposal of a conceptual framework for evaluating two selected case studies through surveys within these cases. This research therefore builds on prior smart cities and virtual work research to establish a framework for evaluating and explaining the relationship between smart communication and smart economy and established the link between connectivity/communication to mobility, and further shows how the increase in connectivity increase virtual work which in turn leads to a smarter economy. The implications for the results from this research extends the ongoing work been done to increase efficiencies in the connection of infrastructure, human capital and information within cities which is useful to both academics and policy makers alike. The clear relationships established between virtual work and smart mobility and its mediating effect on the development of smart economy is very valuable for academic and practice.

A THREE-PARAMETER WEIGHTED LINDLEY DISTRIBUTION AND ITS APPLICATIONS TO MODEL SURVIVAL TIME

Author(s): Rama Shanker,Kamlesh Kumar Shukla,A. Mishra / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2017

In this paper a three-parameter weighted Lindley distribution, including Lindley distribution introduced by Lindley (1958), a two-parameter gamma distribution, a two-parameter weighted Lindley distribution introduced by Ghitany et al. (2011) and exponential distribution as special cases, has been suggested for modelling lifetime data from engineering and biomedical sciences. The structural properties of the distribution including moments, coefficient of variation, skewness, kurtosis and index of dispersion have been derived and discussed. The reliability properties, including hazard rate function and mean residual life function, have been discussed. The estimation of its parameters has been discussed using the maximum likelihood method and the applications of the distribution have been explained through some survival time data of a group of patients suffering from head and neck cancer, and the fit has been compared with a one-parameter Lindley distribution and a two-parameter weighted Lindley distribution.