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This paper employs the correlation analyses to investigate the relation-ship between selected economic determinants of military spending and the level of military expenditures for each of the 27 NATO countries over the period 1993-2014. The findings indicate that there is very little uniformity in the economic factors that determine each country ́s military expenditures.
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The paper aims at discussing the mechanism of citizen participation in the budget of a local government unit, referred to as participatory budgeting, or, especially in the public discourse, a citizen budget. In Poland, this form of public consultation is gaining popularity at the level of local public administration. In 2013 civil budget procedures were launched in a number of Polish communes and the relatively high level of funding, reaching PLN 5-10 million, resulted in a considerable growth of citizens’ interest in local government affairs. As a result of those growing achievements of administrative practice the authors find it reasonable to research and comment on the aforesaid issue from the perspective of public finances and financial law.
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Dr. Wolfgang Schäuble, Minister of Finance of the Federal Republic of Germany, was awarded the title Doctor Honoris Causa from Corvinus University of Budapest on 5 December 2011. Below is the edited transcript of the speech he gave on the occasion of receiving the title.
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The paper analyses the most important legal aspects of the recent European Commission’s decision regarding the “Apple case”. The decision, adopted in August 2016, breeds controversies, especially as to the innovative interpretation of the so-called arm’s length principle and transfer pricing rules within the EU context. Legal reasoning of the Commission will be put to the judicial test by the Court of Justice of the European Union in the coming period. From a broader perspective, the Apple decision is tied to the current debates on “fairer” taxation of multinational companies. In this regard it is evident that the EU institutions are using state aid rules as instruments against the so-called aggressive tax planning. However, from the perspective of individual Member States this may be considered as an undue encroachment on their tax sovereignty. Against this backdrop, main findings of this paper may be useful for academics and practitioners dealing with neighbouring areas of tax law and state aid law.
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Public space in cities is widely seen as a developmental resource. It thus becomes a kind of urban product, and a lure for a range of groups of current and potential users. Cities compete for prestige and standing by creating new spaces or altering existing ones. The author attempts to assess the extent to which filling such a space with historical content is a significant contributing factor to the pursuit of such goals and the fulfilment of these tasks. The background for the analysis are projects submitted for the citizens’ participatory budget for the Polish capital, Warsaw
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National statistical institutes (NSIs) are currently facing many challenges: competition against the many producers of statistics, the emergence of new data ecosystems, and mounting pressure for cost-effectiveness and timeliness. In order to gain a sustainable competitive advantage, NSIs need to modernize their processes and technologies, increase skilled resources, tools, methods and standards, and adopt the best solutions to meet new demands. In process-oriented organizations the focus is on business processes and the improvement of interdepartmental and cross- functional interactions, with the goal of optimizing the execution of the whole procedure through a thorough understanding of end-to-end processes and the production system as a whole. One of the international standards supporting this modernization process is the Generic Statistical Business Process Model (GSBPM). Moving away from the current traditional state toward a more process-oriented organization is a complex, time consuming and costly effort, but the adaptation of international standards for business processes and the establishment of a coherent system would make NSIs more efficient in comparing and integrating international best practices and standards in the methodology, quality and IT fields, as well as in identifying further needs for harmonization and development. Modernization takes time, so even those NSIs which are the most committed to streamlining the processes have not yet fully completed statistical workflow management systems, end-to-end standardization and the automation of statistical processes.
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This article aims to present the financial information of the „Tsarigradski newspaper” published for about fifteen years. Hundreds of weekly papers, which contain an extraordinary volume of materials dedicated to finance: tables, reports, analyzes, orders from the Ottoman government, and so on, have been reviewed. The article does not claim for comprehensiveness. We are not able to present all the materials – they are too many. The cliometric data that can be collected from the newspaper will also not be presented. Here we will adopt a problematic thematic approach and will present only a few of the materials published in the newspaper. They are related to the determination of the value of coins and paper money, the way prices are formed, information for credit institutions, etc. We hope that the article will contribute to increase the interest in the digital editions of the Bulgarian newspapers, which we receive as an inheritance from the Revival period. They are a prime source of historical research and are fully accessible on the Internet – on the website of the National Library "St. St. Cyril and Methodius".
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This paper studies the dynamics of bank efficiency in Bulgaria for two different years in the last century, in particular 1923 and 1928, related to the financial stabilization and financial crisis respectively. In so doing several inter-dependencies has been detected related mainly with the reaction of different type of banks to the financial crisis and financial stabilization. The bank efficiency is measured by using nontraditional method for the measurement of bank efficiency – non-parametric method “Data envelopment analysis” (DEA) and parametric method "stochastic frontier analysis" (SFA). The non-traditional methods, such as DEA and SFA are more sophisticated method than the traditional accounting measurement of bank efficiency, overcoming traditional approach’s disadvantages. The banks are classified on different sub-groups in order to capture the reaction of different bank groups in respect to the financial crisis and the financial stabilization. We have collected the date from the official bank balance sheets as well as the profit and loss statements of Bulgarian credit institutions, published in the State Gazette, in order to define the inputs and outputs of banks. These methods have been applied in numerous studies of bank efficiency in a group of countries, but they are not used for the purpose of measuring the efficiency of the Bulgarian banking system for historical data.
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Croatian National Bank is not targeting inflation but exchange rate as the nominal anchor or intermediary goal of monetary policy and inflation in Croatia is a dominantly foreign driven phenomenon. Using monthly data on CPI in Croatia from January 1997 up to November 2015, ARIMA (0,1,1) x (0,1,1)12 model is fitted as the one describing CPI behavior pattern and therefore reliable for CPI forecasting. Furthermore, to establish its volatility pattern several ARCH family models are tested and ARCH (1) model is found to be the best fitted one in explaining CPI volatility development in Croatia.
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The aim of this paper is to indicate how the astroturfing method is used in the political crisis over the Polish judiciary bill in 2017. The analysis of literature sources was used as the research method to support the theoretical introduction. Following it, the main method of the analysis of the media content was applied. The formulated hypothesis claims that despite the lack of clear answer regarding astroturfing being the manipulation in this particular case, the importance of astroturfing method in the political market is growing. This topic raises a further question if this method will become a permanent and acceptable tool for political marketing.
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Celem niniejszego artykułu jest próba zbadania i znalezienia najlepszego modelu zarządzania w polskiej administracji publicznej.Badania były poświęcone satysfakcji klientów i pracowników Urzędu Miasta Krakowa. Zostały przeprowadzone w dziewiętnastu punktach obsługi jedenastu wydziałów Urzędu Miasta Krakowa. Ilość wypełnionych ankiet wynosi osiemset trzydzieści, składała się z dziesięciu pytań zamkniętych, czterech otwartych i sześciu pytań znajdujących się w metryczce. Średni czas trwania jednego badania to sześć minut. Ogółem badania trwały dwa tygodnie.Wyniki wskazały na nieznaczne różnice w ocenie u badanych pracowników i klientów. Urząd postrzegany jest dobrze przez dwie grupy uczestniczące w ankiecie, lecz klienci oceniają badane aspekty wyżej niż pracownicy.Badanie ukazuje, że środowisko wewnętrzne danej organizacji potrzebuje sprawnego zarządzania i ciągłego motywowania do tego, aby wysoko oceniać organizację w której pracują urzędnicy. Klienci usatysfakcjonowani są zachodzącymi zmianami w administracji państwowej.
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The rules governing the functioning of audit committees are one of the main topics in the discussion on public governance. Efficient and effective functioning of audit committees is seen as an opportunity to improve supervision quality in the public sector. In the public finance sector regulations have introduced audit committees to public administrations in many European countries. A discussion on extending the scope of responsibilities and competencies of audit committees in the public finance sector has continued all over the world. Polish regulations are also moving in that direction. This paper describes the effect of the current legal regulations on establishing audit committees in the public finance sector. The author analysed the roles and responsibilities of audit committees in public finance sector in order to initiate a discussion on the competencies and liability of audit committee members in Poland. Having analysed the Rules of Operation of audit committees as well as other documents the author classified: the main areas of audit committees’ activity in the analysed entities and similarities and differences in the functioning of audit committees in the public finance sector and public-interest entities. The following research methods have been used: critical analysis and deduction with particular reference to source documents and internal regulation of entities, as well as legal acts.
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The public procurement system has tools, electronic procedures, enabling the contractor, among others multiple reduction of the price of the offer. The purpose of this article is to submit an electronic auction and electronic bidding as procedures increasing the economic efficiency of the awarded contracts. The article attempts to estimate the degree of use of electronic procedures by the public health service, compared to other contracting entities. Using the available source materials and the tools of mathematical statistics, the share of electronic procedures in contracts awarded in 2016 by the national public health service was estimated. Due to the permanent underfunding of the health service, a research hypothesis has been put forward that the share of electronic procedures in contracts awarded by the public health service is greater than in contracts awarded by other contracting entities, obliged to apply Public Procurement Law.
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The research area on the quality of public finance (QPF) appears to be intellectually attractive. In the light of the challenges of the 21st century, public finance should be characterized by adequate quality, ensuring effective implementation of the economic functions of government. The problem of QPF is increasingly more frequent in the face of a deteriorating fiscal situation of most countries in Europe and around the world. Hence, it is worth considering which factors determine the quality of public finance. Purpose of the article: This article aims to show the possibility of assessing the quality of public finance in the light of fiscal governance concept. The identification of the key components of QPF seems to be useful from the point of view of empirical research, and can be implemented to assess the quality of public finance in the EU–28. Methods: Descriptive analysis along with principal component analysis (PCA) was implemented to indicate dimensions of QPF. Findings & Value added: The quality of public finance consists of a well-designed fiscal rules (numerical and non-numerical) and institutions, as well as structural reforms. The obtained results allow to characterize the quality of public finance through the prism of six identified principal components. They have a mixed character, two of them are partly or totally related to the institutional aspects of public finance, which proves their importance in the process of improving the quality of public finance. Improving the quality of public finance remains a key challenge for policy makers in the EU. The growing impact of globalization and the aging population also cause the need to improve the qualitative aspects of fiscal policy. The study contributes to the literature on public finance, particularly in the empirical dimension through broadening the knowledge on institutional factors which can be used to measure QPF index. The results of research have certainly enriched the existing knowledge on the phenomenon of QPF and the ways of its measurement.
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Although Western Europe is a global leader in innovation activities among the OECD countries, these activities are not distributed evenly across NUTS 2 regions. Thus, the analysis of convergence or divergence related to innovation performance and R&D expenditures among Western European NUTS 2 regions is posed as the aim of this paper. Applying differential local version of spatial autocorrelation (LISA), difference-in-difference estimation the paper reveals the local variation of convergence and divergence and general spatial regime divergence in innovation performance and R&D expenditures within Western European NUTS 2 regions. Moreover, spatial lag cross-sectional regression provides support to the consideration of R&D expenditures as determinant for innovation performance along with the continuing divergence between most of Western and Southern European NUTS 2 regions and the others. Thus, the results confirm the stability in innovation performance and R&D expenditures in Western European NUTS 2 regions which could be the source of lagging behind not only other OECD countries but BRICS countries as well. On the regional level several NUTS 2 regions demonstrated the convergence dynamics, however, the general spatial divergence regime should lead to more actions regarding R&D polices under the EU programming period of 2014-2020.
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Public debt is one of the most powerful instruments of economic policy. Like a power tool, it can be used to efficiently achieve one’s goals, but it can also cause severe injury. So, it is necessary to find the root of the relation between public debt and economic growth. From the theoretical point of view there are discussed classical economic schools’ views on the public debt and economic growth, their mechanisms, channels of an influence and effects. Essential question in interest is, whether public debt stimulates or is harmful for long-term growth? Theoretically justified associations between public growth and long-term economic growth survey as well as their final effects analysis is the aim of the paper.
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The EU is on a turning point marked by changes in concept of functioning of organizations resulting in choosing one of the five scenarios from the set that was presented in Rome in March 2017. Each of the scenarios has an impact on the EU’s budget. However, from the very beginning some assumptions need to be made: the budget will not increase the burdens laid on MS significantly, nor will it destabilize the volume of the budget. This so happens despite new own resources expected to be introduced in the New Financial Framework. The second important condition changing the European financial realities is caused by Brexit, meaning UK – a country outside the EMU but paying for EMU states. The simple calculation shows that budget transfers from the Budget general will be used as an incentive for those states who hesitate to join the EMU. One question needs to be asked here to which answer seems to be difficult if not impossible. The question is whether the UK supports enlargement of EMU or not. Until now the UK’s model of European integration has been used to reduce the volume of transfers to the MS. This was done by introducing a set different specific instruments, e.g. the UK rebate, which with time passing embraced a number of rich states. UK not having sufficient voting power in the EU used other models of persuasion. It is hard to say whether what is happening in Europe now is a new incentive or an old one. Who wants changes and why? Which direction will the changes go and are those changes wanted and desired? Within the framework of such changes, without specific strategies enabling preparation for such cuts Poland can face deep economic problems which will be linked directly to reduction of budgetary transfers.
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The purpose of this study is to determine the essence of the concept of "taxation" from the standpoint of its understanding as a social process based on disclosure of its specific properties, characteristics, key features and evolutionary development. It is grounded that taxation should be understood as the procedure for collecting taxes based on organizational and economic relations, interconnections and interaction between its subjects (participants - the state, taxpayers, tax agents, society) and objects (taxes, meetings), during which the reallocation of the gross domestic product is carried out in order to create a financial basis for the state's activities. The key actors in the tax process are the "state" - on the one hand, as a social institution and various government bodies authorized on behalf of the state to carry out certain actions and functions with the aim of formulating and implementing state tax policy and taxpayers - on the other hand, which have an object of taxation and are obliged to pay taxes and fees. The relationship between these entities is ensured by taxes are the main object of the tax process. The totality of social actions of tax entities, which ensure the functioning and change of taxation as a social system, forms the process of taxation itself. Taxation as a social process took place several evolutionary stages of development, taking different forms: origin, development, stabilization, adaptation, transformation, decay, transients.Taxation is proved to be a cyclical social process (since the taxing process is based on the interaction of different actors (participants in the taxation process) that are consciously focused on each other, taxation retains identity in time and its inherent evolutionary character), the level of development of which causes not only general indicators of state development, but also social indicators of social welfare, since with the help of taxes, on the one hand, financing of state needs is carried out and possible The implementation of the state functions of its functions (mainly at the expense of taxes formed a revenue part of the budgets of different levels - this shows the fiscal function of taxes), and on the other hand - it is precisely at the expense of taxes that the regulation of social processes is carried out (as the social function of taxes manifests itself).
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In this paper the robustness of the Okun’s relationship is tested using data from a group of selected European countries during the period 2005-2017, considering different age cohorts and gender. Four macroareas based on geographic location are also considered: Continental Europe, Nordic countries, Southern Europe, and Anglo-Saxon countries. Two traditional models are applied, the first difference and the ‘gap’ one. The relevant data for the latter model is constructed from the Hodrick-Prescott filter. The empirical results indicate that an inverse relationship between unemployment and output holds for the whole sample and subsamples. Besides, it can be highlighted that these countries show smaller output loss associated with higher unemployment. Additionally, our findings suggest that the oldest population tends to be less exposed to the business cycles. Meanwhile, slight differences along countries and macro-areas are found. Therefore, as disparities in productivity growth are showed, different policies are required for each area. Actually, policymakers should design various ways to increase employment opportunities for diverse groups in society (specific coordinated policies for each necessity): those on specific age cohorts, those working in particular economic activities or those living in specific countries or macro-regions.
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