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on Transition Economics |
| By: | Tomáš Heryán (Department of Finance and Accounting, School of Business Administration, Silesian University) |
| Abstract: | The paper has focused on financial management of medium-sized hotels and travel agencies in eight selected Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. According to a business finance theory, there should be inverse relation between liquidity and profitability of companies. In general, if managers decrease firm's liquidity through investing into the fixed assets they should increase firm's profitability, which is caused by possible higher earnings from those investments. The aim of the study is to estimate how is profitability of those profitable tourism companies affected by selected financial variables, and decide whether the business finance theory is valid also within tourism industry among selected CEE countries. Annual data from Amadeus, the international statistical database are obtained from 1,957 hotels and 785 travel agencies from Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. General Methods of Moments (GMM) with panel data is used as the main estimation method for period from 2006 to 2015. However, results of the paper have shown that the business finance theory is not valid either within both types of tourism companies nor among all selected CEE countries. Furthermore, it is obvious that a conflict between managers of tourism companies and their owners should have been paid more attention. A creating of retained earnings within the stockholders' funds when owners had reinvested the earnings back to the business had particular significance for tourism companies' profitability within the period affected by the global financial crisis, even in the case of those profitable companies. |
| Keywords: | CEE countries, tourism, financial management, cash conversion cycle, stockholders' funds |
| JEL: | C50 D20 |
| Date: | 2018–12–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:opa:wpaper:0062&r=tra |
| By: | Qing Li (Business School, The University of Western Australia); Long H. Vo (Business School, The University of Western Australia); Yanrui Wu (Business School, The University of Western Australia) |
| Abstract: | Our main argument in this paper is that conventional growth convergence analysis in China is incomplete without considering intangible investment. We first document the unbalanced investment of intangible capital across Chinese regions. A few mega cities invest heavily in intangible capital, while the majority of regions have below-average investment levels. In addition, long-term convergence clusters is an important feature of intangible capital distribution: High levels of investment tend to be persistently concentrated in the few coastal regions while investment in poorer regions is projected to be low, leading to a long-run distribution with probability mass located at levels much lower than the national average. External shocks such as the global financial crisis can exert an adverse effect: The level to which most regions converge based on the post-crisis transition dynamics is lower than that based on the pre-crisis dynamics. Finally, we document that poorer regions have less difficulty in converging to the average level of their neighbouring regions, suggesting that knowledge spill-overs is an important mechanism that help mitigate the level of unbalance in the context of intangible economy. |
| Keywords: | Economic growth convergence; Intangible capital; Distribution dynamics |
| JEL: | O10 R11 C14 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uwa:wpaper:18-08&r=tra |
| By: | Mu, Y. |
| Abstract: | Based on monthly prices data from retail markets from 2000 to 2015, this article studies spatial transmission of piglet,hog and pork, and also the determinants and efficiency of pork price transmission in China. A vector error correction model (VECM) and stochastic frontier model are estimated.The estimated VECM shows that violations of spatial price equilibrium are corrected faster between provinces in close proximity. The stochastic frontier shows that price transmission is more efficient between provinces with closer distance, common borders , higher quantity of highway per capita and more production. The distance makes the highest contribution to pork price transmission efficiency, a 1 % change in distance between two provincial markets, a 9.33% growth in price transmission efficiency. We conclude that proximity matters for market integration processes in Chinese pork markets. Acknowledgement : |
| Keywords: | Demand and Price Analysis |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277387&r=tra |
| By: | Falilou Fall (OECD); Daniela Glocker (OECD) |
| Abstract: | The Czech health care system is doing well in terms of health outcomes compared to other Central East European economies that inherited similar health systems after the transition and has been converging to OECD averages. However, benchmarking the Czech health system to countries with comparable institutional setting points to potential for efficiency gains. This paper assesses the performance and emerging key challenges of the Czech health system, and provides recommendations to adapt the system to remain effective and financially sustainable in the context of an ageing society. Further, the contribution of various disincentives in the system on the supply and the demand side of health care are discussed. This Working Paper relates to the 2018 OECD Economic Survey of Czech Republic. (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/economic-surve y-czech-republic.htm). |
| Keywords: | ageing, Czech Republic, fee-for-services, generics, health care system, health disparities, health insurance, health policy, health practitioners, healthcare coordination, hospital, pharmaceutical expenditures, prevention, primary healthcare |
| JEL: | I11 I12 I13 I15 I18 |
| Date: | 2018–12–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1522-en&r=tra |
| By: | Konstantins Benkovskis (OECD); Olegs Tkacevs (OECD); Naomitsu Yashiro (OECD) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effects of spending the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) on productivity, employment and other performance indicators of Latvian firms. After controlling for the fact that more productive and larger firms are more likely to benefit from ERDF resources, we find that participation in projects co-financed by the ERDF increases firms’ employment, turnover and capital stock per employee immediately, while it raises their productivity only three years after the launch of such projects. Furthermore, participants that were initially less productive, larger, less capital intensive and more financially leveraged enjoy larger productivity gains. Also, financing capital investment through the ERDF does not result in any productivity gains compared to the case when it is financed through private funding. However, it results in a larger increase in employment, which is possibly partly due to the firm’s plan to increase employment being one of important criteria for selecting the ERDF beneficiaries. |
| Keywords: | EU funds, firm-level data, productivity, propensity score matching |
| JEL: | C14 D22 R11 |
| Date: | 2018–12–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1525-en&r=tra |
| By: | Agnes Szunomar (Institute of World Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences) |
| Abstract: | Chinese companies have increasingly targeted East Central European (ECE) countries in the past one and a half decades. This development is quite a new phenomenon but not an unexpected one. On one hand, the transformation of the global economy and the restructuring of China’s economy are responsible for growing Chinese interest in the developed world, including the European Union. On the other hand, ECE countries have also become more open to Chinese business opportunities, especially after the global economic and financial crisis with the intention of decreasing their economic dependency on Western (European) markets. In ECE, China can benefit a lot from the EU’s core and peripheral type of division. For China, the region represents dynamic, largely developed, less saturated markets, new frontiers for export expansion, new entry points to Europe and cheap but qualified labour. This adds up to less political expectations, less economic complaints, less protectionist barriers and less national security concerns in the ECE region compared to the Western European neighbours. |
| Keywords: | FDI, internationalisation, Chinese MNEs |
| JEL: | F21 F23 O53 P33 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iwe:workpr:249&r=tra |
| By: | Nivievskyi, O. |
| Abstract: | In this paper we looked at how various tax incentives affected agricultural productivity growth in Ukraine. The empirical analysis was carried out using Ukraine-wide farm-level accounting data for an unbalanced panel of agricultural enterprises over the period 1995-2014. The results demonstrate that the impact of tax exemptions varies across different groups of agricultural producers and sectors. Overall, however, tax exemptions positively affect agricultural TFP growth, but they turned out to be very cost-inefficient instrument of stimulating TFP growth in agriculture. Also tax exemptions strongly undermined efficiency and productivity convergence in agriculture. Acknowledgement : |
| Keywords: | Productivity Analysis |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277498&r=tra |
| By: | Xuan Lu; Li Huang; Kangjuan Lyu |
| Abstract: | The insufficient understanding of the credit network structure was recognized as a key factor for regulators' underestimation of the destructive systematic risk during the financial crisis that started in 2007. The existing credit network research either took a macro perspective to clarify the topological properties of financial systems at a descriptive level or analyzed the risk transmission path and characteristics of individual entities with much pre-assumptions of the network. Here, we used the theory of complex network to model China's credit system from 2000 to 2014 based on actual financial data. A bipartite financial institution-firm network and its projected sub-networks were constructed for an integrated analysis from both macro and micro perspectives, and the relationship between typological properties and systematic credit risk control was also explored. The typological analysis of the networks suggested that the financial institutions and firms were highly but asymmetrically connected, and the credit network structure made local idiosyncratic shocks possible to proliferate through the whole economy. In addition, the Chinese credit market was still dominated by state-owned financial institutions with firms competing fiercely for financial resources in the past fifteen years. Furthermore, the credit risk score (CRS) was introduced by simulation to identify the systematically important vertices in terms of systematic risk control. The results indicated that the vertices with more access to the credit market or less likelihood to be a bridge in the network were the ones with higher systematically importance. The empirical results from this study would provide specific policy suggestions to financial regulators on supervisory approaches and optimizing the allocation of regulatory resources to enhance the robustness of credit systems in China and in other countries. |
| Date: | 2018–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1812.01341&r=tra |
| By: | Chang Liu; Wei Xiong |
| Abstract: | Since the 1990s, China's real estate market has experienced a dramatic and long-lasting boom across China. This boom has led to substantial concerns in both academic and policy circles that the rising housing prices might have developed into a gigantic housing bubble, which might eventually burst and damage China’s financial system and economy. Motivated by this concern, this paper reviews the historical development of China’s real estate market, describes the real estate boom, and discusses its links to households, local governments, firms and the financial system. |
| JEL: | R21 R28 R3 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25297&r=tra |
| By: | Wei Xiong |
| Abstract: | China's economic reforms over the past 40 years have led to a mixed economic structure with the government playing a key role in an increasingly market-driven economy. This paper expands a standard growth model of Barro (1990) to incorporate this structure, with a particular focus on including the agency problem between the central and local governments. To incentivize local governors, the central government has established an economic tournament, which generates not only intended incentives to develop local economies, à la Holmstrolm (1982), but also short-termist behaviors, à la Stein (1989). The latter channel helps to explain a series of challenges that confront the Chinese economy, such as overleverage through shadow banking and unreliable economic statistics. |
| JEL: | E02 G18 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25296&r=tra |
| By: | Ding, J.; Jia, X.; Huo, X.; Moustier, P. |
| Abstract: | Are public and private standards affecting farmer knowledge and moving farm practices toward food safety and environmental sustainability in China? We surveyed a total of 355 apple farmers, involved in chains supplying a diversity of retailing points, including supermarkets. Using a multivariate regression model, we find no measurable evidence that the certification schemes of farm bases and agribusiness companies lead to improved apple growers knowledge regarding pest and disease management. The observed behavioral changes are mainly prompted by delegated decision-making towards leaders of farm bases, which raises questions on the long-term changes in farmers practices and on the fundamental values and ethics of China s agrofood system that is governed through the standards. Acknowledgement : |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277444&r=tra |
| By: | Rapacki, Ryszard; Gardawski, Juliusz; Czerniak, Adam; Horbaczewska, Bożena; Karbowski, Adam; Maszczyk, Piotr; Próchniak, Mariusz |
| Abstract: | The article contains a review of the most representative theoretical and empirical studies on the emerging varieties/models of capitalism in Central Eastern Europe (CEE). A critical appraisal was made of standard and non-standard approaches found in the subject literature. Specific features of the institutional structure existing in the CEE countries have been indicated which make it difficult to apply the theoretical framework used in the developed capitalist countries. Possible directions of further research on the models of capitalism emerging in CEE have also been delineated together with some proposals of modification and extension of the theoretical and methodological framework of this research. |
| Keywords: | Capitalism; Central and Eastern Europe |
| JEL: | P1 P5 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:90363&r=tra |
| By: | Pham, Tho; Talavera, Oleksandr; Tsapin, Andriy |
| Abstract: | This paper exploits the geopolitical conflict in Eastern Ukraine as a negative shock to banking sector and examines the shock transmission. We find that banks with more loans in the conflict areas during the pre-conflict period face a higher level of bad loans in other markets after the shock. This effect is stronger in the regional markets which are closer to the conflict zone. We also find evidence for the “flight to headquarters” effect in post-conflict lending. Specifically, while more affected banks tend to cut their credit supply, the larger contraction is observed in regional markets located farther from headquarters. |
| JEL: | G01 G21 |
| Date: | 2018–11–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bof:bofitp:2018_021&r=tra |
| By: | Zhang, T. |
| Abstract: | Based on nationally representative survey data, this paper investigates the mechanism of employment flexibility of rural labor in China. By analyzing the dynamic adjustment process (the entry and exit of different industries and sectors), we find that the new entering off-farm workers and off-farm workers exiting the non-agricultural industry/sector play a main role in the employment flexibility, rather than the off-farm workers smoothly transfer among different non-agricultural industries/sectors in the labor market. To explain the difficulty of rural laborers employment transformation, we establish the empirical model for multiple regression analysis and the estimation shows that the relative lack of human capital is still the main factor. Acknowledgement : |
| Keywords: | Labor and Human Capital |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277314&r=tra |
| By: | Armenak Antinyan (International Academy of Business and Economics, Tianjin University of Finance and Economics); Luca Corazzini (Department of Economics, University of Venice \"Ca’ Foscari\"); Filippo Pavesi (Department of Economics (University of Verona)) |
| Abstract: | Whistleblowing is a powerful tool that the tax authorities of various countries use to curb tax evasion. Nonetheless, the determinants shaping one’s positive attitude toward whistleblowing on tax evaders are rather understudied. We investigate the relationship between trust in the government and the attitude toward whistleblowing on tax evaders. We use data from two survey experiments conducted in Italy and the US, as well as from a unique national household survey administered in the Republic of Armenia. Our findings indicate that the level of trust in the government positively influences individuals’ attitude toward whistleblowing, with this effect being robust across countries and data sources. |
| Keywords: | Government Trust, Whistleblowing, Tax Evasion |
| JEL: | H26 G28 |
| Date: | 2018–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ver:wpaper:07/2018&r=tra |
| By: | Zhao, Y.; Hu, R.; Deng, H. |
| Abstract: | This paper examines Chinese public attitudes toward GM labeling and evaluate the impact of public confidence in government management of GM food labeling on their attitudes. We collected data from 1730 respondents in 2015-16, including consumer, farmer, media and agricultural official in relevant agricultural department. The results show that different groups of people have different attitudes toward GM food labeling, and those who are more familiar with GMOs or who trust the government are more positive. They have different attitudes toward different ways of labeling as well. Most respondents prefer foods without labeling and foods labeled no GM ingredients. Our findings may contribute to provide a basis for GM food labeling policy establishment and promote development of GM foods in China. Acknowledgement : |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277344&r=tra |
| By: | Vértesy, László |
| Abstract: | The role of multinational companies is significant in each of the national and thus in the global economy. The longstanding debate in the literature is whether the economic growth is more likely to be driven by the large-scale enterprises or small and medium-sized enterprises, especially if the high proportion of dependent, suppliers SMEs is taken into account. 45.6% of the value added by the Hungarian business sector - without financial sector - was generated by only 906 large companies. This ratio is one quarter of the country's total GDP and 10 percent just for the automotive industry. In its proportions it represents only 0.13% of enterprises, yet it employs 33.1% of employees (850.000 people) in the business sphere. The leverage and labor productivity of large and multinational companies are significant. In the EU's economic policy, the principle of growth that benefits everyone should be a decisive goal. The paper deals with the following topics: wages adjusted to the productivity level; sectoral domestic and EU minimum wages; stronger employee protection and trade union system; state and EU subsidies; dual product quality practices. |
| Keywords: | multinational companies, economy, economic growth, labor market, subsidies, wages, minimum wages, productivity |
| JEL: | E24 F43 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:90262&r=tra |
| By: | Hao Wang; Jan Fidrmuc; Qi Luo; Mingzhong Luo |
| Abstract: | While much research on China has focused on rural to urban migration and transitions of rural households away from agriculture, little is known about the changes within the rural agricultural sector. Yet, the agricultural sector continues to account for a large share of employment. We study the determinants of transitions from subsistence farming into either formal agricultural employment or agricultural self-employment. We pay particular attention to the role of capital endowments. We find that financial capital plays a relatively limited role, compared to natural, human, social and political capital. |
| Keywords: | on-farm transitions, rural household livelihood strategy, capital endowments, labor allocation |
| JEL: | D13 O18 Q10 Q12 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7306&r=tra |
| By: | Hansjörg Blöchliger (OECD); Olivier Durand-Lasserve (OECD) |
| Abstract: | Russia is a federation of more than 80 regions spanning across a huge territory. Natural resource endowment, inherited industrial specialization, remoteness and climate conditions contribute to large regional disparities. This paper presents an empirical framework model for assessing determinants of regional growth in Russia between 2004 and 2015 with an extension to include sub-national fiscal policies. Baseline results show convergence rates of regional GDP per capita in line with the 2% “iron law of convergence” between countries. Capital investment, and public investment in particular, is a stronger driver of regional growth than in most OECD countries. Natural-resource rich regions are growing faster, and oil price shocks have little economic impact in these regions, pointing at Russia’s centralized tax and transfer system. Subnational current government expenditure is associated with lower growth and slower regional convergence, suggesting low sub-national spending efficiency. There is also weak evidence that sub-national investment yields higher returns than federal government investment. Transfers have mixed effects depending on their nature. Budget equalization grants tend to slow regional growth as they reduce incentives to improve spending efficiency. On the other hand earmarked matching grants tend to spur growth and convergence as they direct resources towards more productive spending. |
| Keywords: | empirical growth model, fiscal federalism, public investment, Regional convergence |
| JEL: | H72 O47 P25 R12 R50 |
| Date: | 2018–12–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1523-en&r=tra |
| By: | Joanna Kielin - Maziarz (Kozminski University) |
| Abstract: | Sustainable Development when discussed on the ground of legal science is first of all the subject of environmental law but also constitutional law and the theory of law. It is possible to say that its legal status is specified by terms used by the theory of law, its importance by the EU primary law and on polish grounds ? in polish constitution. The scope of its realization is a subject of studies of environmental law. The paper will discuss the problem of understanding the principle in Polish law. The main aim is to show the dilemma of location of the sustainable development principle in the first chapter of Polish Constitution and the consequences of that fact. |
| Keywords: | sustainable development, principle, constitutional law |
| JEL: | K10 K32 K39 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:6709872&r=tra |
| By: | Sean Sylvia; Xiaochen Ma; Yaojiang Shi; Scott Rozelle; C. -Y. Cynthia Lin Lawell |
| Abstract: | The cost-effectiveness of policies providing subsidized goods is often compromised by limited use of the goods provided. Through a randomized trial, we test two approaches to improve the cost-effectiveness of a program distributing free eyeglasses to myopic children in rural China. Requiring recipients to undergo an ordeal better targeted eyeglasses to those who used them without reducing usage relative to free delivery. An information campaign increased use when eyeglasses were freely delivered but not under an ordeal. Free delivery plus information was determined to be the most socially cost-effective approach and obtained the highest rate of eyeglass use. |
| Date: | 2018–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1812.00383&r=tra |
| By: | Ding, Z. |
| Abstract: | It is widely accepted that rural microcredit has the potential to contribute to poverty reduction in developing countries. This paper examines the factors that affect rural residents decisions to participate in different types of microcredit, and how these factors impact on household income and consumption, using cross-sectional data from a survey in China. A multinomial endogenous switching regression model is employed to account for selection bias and treatment effects. The empirical findings indicate that family size, dependency ratio, local casual wage rate, credit information and shocks mainly determine the selection of different credit sources. Furthermore, the estimates reveal that participation in microcredit tends to increase both per capita income and consumption significantly. Acknowledgement : |
| Keywords: | Food Security and Poverty |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:276953&r=tra |
| By: | Wahl, T.; Seale, J.; Bai, J. |
| Abstract: | Food safety incidents in China have ignited demand for safer food and increased regulation of food products. Reports of sales of adulterated pork, beef, wine, etc. have increased concern over food safety. What do consumers perceive determines the safety of their food? Do consumers perceive that food purchased at large supermarkets is safer than that from traditional wet markets? Do they trust their ability to evaluate the appearance of products? Does government certification of safety matter? Do certain brands elicit trust in the safety of their products? Does an expiration date on the product matter? In this paper, we analyze how consumers determine the safety of meat, milk, fruit, vegetables, and juice products and how these determinants vary with economic and demographic variables. Acknowledgement : |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277327&r=tra |
| By: | Liu, X. |
| Abstract: | The export tax rebate policy in Chinese fishery sector is under dispute, as it is claimed that it works as a subsidy for foreign consumers rather than domestic producers. This paper investigates the distribution of benefits of this policy in the fishery sector. We find that the effects of the export tax rebate on domestic producers depend on the relative magnitude of the export supply and import demand elasticities. After applying the best-bet parameter values, simulation results indicate that, although the export tax rebate does improve Chinese producers welfare, foreign consumers capture most of the welfare benefits of this policy (60%-75%). Furthermore, the results imply that the welfare gain for Chinese producers is overestimated if the vertical linkage between the retail and the farm markets is ignored. Acknowledgement : We thank Dr. Henry Kinnucan at Auburn University for his helpful insight about the model. This work was supported by Shandong Social Science Research Project of China [grant number 16BCXJ04]. |
| Keywords: | Resource/Energy Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277454&r=tra |
| By: | Yi, F.; McCarl, B.; Zhou, X. |
| Abstract: | This study measures the damages that surface ozone pollution causes within the Chinese agricultural sector. We find substantial spatially differing damages that are greatest in wheat growing areas with higher ozone concentrations. The total damage in China s agricultural sector probably ranges between CNY 1,630 billion and CNY 2,238 billion, which accounts for one fifth of agricultural revenue in 2014. A moderate ozone reduction by 30% benefits the agricultural sector by CNY 678 billion. The benefits largely fall to consumers with producers losing as the production gains lead to lower prices lessening food costs and simultaneously farm income. Acknowledgement : |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:276973&r=tra |
| By: | Gong, B. |
| Abstract: | This article aims to evaluate the effects of multi-dimensional interstate competitions on agricultural production, which is achieved using spatial econometrics and model averaging methods. Using panel data, this article finds that interstate agricultural competition ought to be encouraged in the United States due to their positive impacts on spillovers and productivity but should be discouraged in China as it leads to negative spillovers and a decrease in productivity. U.S. agriculture enjoys the benefits of competition thanks to agricultural industrialization and a competitive market, whereas the planned system with government interference found in China has benefits as well as detriments. Acknowledgement : |
| Keywords: | International Relations/Trade |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae18:277462&r=tra |
| By: | Kaiser, Caspar F. (nuffield college, oxford); Vendrik, Martinus (Research Centre for Educ and Labour Mark; iza, bonn; ehero, rotterdam) |
| Abstract: | Richer people are happier than poorer people, but when a country becomes richer over time, its people do not become happier. This seemingly contradictory pair of findings of Richard Easterlin has become famous as the Easterlin Paradox. However, it was met with counterevidence. To shed more light on this controversy, we distinguish between five different versions of the paradox. These versions apply to either groups of countries or individual countries, and to either the long or the medium term. We argue that the long term is most appropriate for testing the paradox, and that tests of the paradox should always control for an autonomous time trend. Unfortunately, this requirement renders the long-term version of the paradox for individual countries untestable. We test all other versions of the paradox with Eurobarometer data from 27 European countries. We do so by estimating country-panel equations for mean life satisfaction that include trend and cyclical components of per capita GDP as regressors. When testing variants of the paradox that apply to groups of countries, we find a clear and robust confirmation of the long- and medium-term versions of the paradox for a group of nine Western and Northern European countries. Moreover, we obtain a non-robust rejection of the medium-term variant of the paradox for a set of eleven Eastern European countries. On the level of individual countries, the medium-term variant of the paradox clearly holds for the nine Western and Northern European countries, but is consistently rejected for Greece, Ireland, Italy, and Spain. In the case of the Eastern European countries, the medium-term version of the paradox is rejected for Bulgaria, Lithuania, and Poland. As the Western and Northern European countries have a high per capita GDP as compared to that of Southern and Eastern European countries, our results are in line with the finding of Proto and Rustichini (2013), who find a non-monotonic relation between per capita GDP and life satisfaction over time which is positive for poorer countries, but flat (or negative) for richer countries. |
| Keywords: | Easterlin Paradox, happiness, life satisfaction, economic growth, Hodrick-Prescott filter, European country panel |
| JEL: | I31 I32 O11 |
| Date: | 2018–12–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umagsb:2018026&r=tra |
| By: | Vértesy, László |
| Abstract: | The affordable and adequate housing in a safe environment is a basic necessity and a fundamental right. There are two major disadvantages of renting a home in Hungary today: uncertainty and high price. However, many international examples show that renting a home is often more popular and cheaper than buying a private home: while only 9% of the population rent a flat in Hungary, almost half of the population in Germany, and more than 40% in Austria and over 30 % in the Netherlands live in a rental apartment. Even the significant differences between the rental fees do not diminish the migration of the Central and Eastern European labour force, since an average of € 1,200 in London and € 1,500 in Berlin remain at the foreign employees for living after the payment of it, while at home it is only € 500. Housing affordability is a problem in all the European Union countries. It is worth noting that the tighter state oversight of the apartment market is commonplace in Western and Northern Europe. |
| Keywords: | housing, rentals, housing market, rental fee, livelihood, standard of living |
| JEL: | I31 I38 O18 R31 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:90292&r=tra |