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on Transition Economics |
| By: | Lippert, Barbara |
| Abstract: | Now that the European Council has given the green light to opening EU accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, it is clear that the Union is no longer simply showing symbolic solidarity with neighbours invaded or threatened by Russia. Rather, a new chapter of enlargement policy is beginning in the shadow of war. After Turkey and the six Western Balkan countries, the third enlargement area is formed by Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia in Eastern Europe. Ever since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Brussels has understood enlargement to mean expansion into strategically important regions. Geopolitical demands for rapid accession are gnawing away at the existing enlargement doctrine, according to which there can be neither compromises on the Copenhagen criteria for EU membership nor shortcuts along the path to accession. What is more, accession issues could soon enter the perilous waters of war diplomacy when lasting security for post-war Ukraine is at stake. In a bid to overcome the dilemma between geopolitics and integration policy, the European Commission is currently developing ideas about how new members can be integrated step by step. |
| Keywords: | European Council, European Commission, European Union, EU accession negotiations, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Russia |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:swpcom:283044&r=tra |
| By: | Blagov, Boris; Dirks, Maximilian; Funke, Michael |
| Abstract: | Using Russia as a case study and a global VAR model as a methodological tool, we analyze how heightened geopolitical risk shocks propagate across advanced economies and quantify the economic effects of these events. The global VAR impulse response functions in response to the skyrocketing Russian geopolitical risk shock after Russia's invasion of Ukraine revealed a contraction of GDP and an increase in inflation. Eastern European neighboring countries are particularly affected by the Russian geopolitical risk shock. We also document a strong component of the Russian geopolitical risk shock that is not driven by fossil fuel prices. |
| Abstract: | Unter Verwendung des Fallbeispiels Russland und eines globalen VAR-Modells als methodisches Instrument analysieren wir, wie sich Schocks eines erhöhten geopolitischen Risikos in fortgeschrittenen Volkswirtschaften verbreiten und quantifizieren die wirtschaftlichen Auswirkungen dieser Ereignisse. Die globalen VAR-Impuls-Antwort-Funktionen als Reaktion auf den sprunghaften Anstieg des geopolitischen Risikos in Russland nach dem Einmarsch in die Ukraine zeigen einen Rückgang des BIPs und einen Anstieg der Inflation. Staaten in Osteuropa sind von diesem geopolitischen Risikoschock in Russland besonders betroffen. Ein Großteil der beobachteten Effekte wird nicht durch Energiepreise getrieben. |
| Keywords: | Geopolitical risk, international business cycle transmission, global VAR model, Russia |
| JEL: | C32 E32 F51 F52 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:282988&r=tra |
| By: | Vu, Tien Manh; Yamada, Hiroyuki |
| Abstract: | We examine whether changes in capital intensity from Vietnamese firms during 1999-2019 influence family formation and gender inequality, using panel data of communes. We use the recorded trajectories of cyclones to create a damage index as an instrumental variable. We find that higher capital intensity is associated with a higher share of single people and a lower share of families with multiple generations living together. Also, women prepared for high capital intensity industries by increasing their educational attainment. However, the results also indicate the sex ratio at birth is more skewed in communes with high capital intensity. |
| Keywords: | Capital intensity, Gender inequality, Family formation, Cyclones, Vietnam |
| JEL: | I24 J12 J16 O15 R23 |
| Date: | 2024–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:120002&r=tra |
| By: | S.М. Nurdavletova (L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Astana); Р.M. Yesdauletova (L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Astana); A.O. Yesdauletov (L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Astana) |
| Abstract: | As a full member of the international community, Kazakhstan contributes to ensuring geopolitical stability and international security, presenting itself as a state that is fully aware of its responsibility to provide global energy balance and security. Central Asia is increasingly becoming the new focus of Chinese diplomacy. This region is an axis linking Northeast, West and South Asia, China and Russia. The People's Republic of China (PRC) is beginning to move closer to key political and economic players in the Central Asian region. Therefore, it is necessary to consider how the new initiative of China, Belt and Road, will affect its further energy cooperation with Kazakhstan and other countries of Central Asia. Kazakh-Chinese cooperation contributes to strengthening the independence of Kazakhstan, allowing development of its energy resources and their export to European markets. But China, as a rapidly growing consumer of energy, inevitably emerges as a potential competitor to the United States and the European Union in Central Asia. Based on a scientific analysis of the strategic interests of Kazakhstan and China, the main purpose of this article is to study new systemic approaches for optimizing cooperation between these two states, which affect national, bilateral, and regional/international issues in the framework of economic development and geopolitics. In turn, based on the study, recommendations will be made for the state structures of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the field of energy policy and energy security of the country. |
| Keywords: | Kazakhstan, China, Central Asia, energy policy, oil and gas |
| Date: | 2023–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smo:raiswp:0314&r=tra |
| By: | Doina Muresan (Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University, Bucharest, Romania) |
| Abstract: | The use of technology has steadily increased over the years, however, there is wide variation between people of different ages, with skills higher among younger “digital natives†and lower among older people. The daily use of the Internet among the Romanian population has increased considerably since 2014, proving the increase in the population’s comfort and confidence in using digital technologies and the Internet. Unsurprisingly, the level of digitization among businesses and individuals in Romania differs between regions. The level of digitization is higher in cities than in rural areas and the highest rate is, as expected, in Bucharest, Cluj and the North of the country. Reducing the knowledge and capacity gap between the country's areas can be done through a digitalization plan for the economy, similar to those published by the governments of many other countries, and through the digitalization of the interaction between SMEs and government institutions. The Romanian government is currently going through a significant process of digitizing both its own internal operations and the way it interacts with people and the business environment, for example through electronic signatures and the online takeover of tax-related matters. However, the constraints on government institutions derived from the lack of information determine opportunities for tax avoidance and evasion and inevitably favor compromise. Digitization can help alleviate these constraints in two ways: by implementing more accurate methods to verify the true economic results of taxpayers by connecting information existing in different parts of the tax system or by implementing more sophisticated tax systems. |
| Keywords: | advanced technologies, digitization, data storage, communication networks, taxes |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smo:raiswp:0322&r=tra |
| By: | Enache Tusa (Ovidius University of Constanta, Romania) |
| Abstract: | The education system in Romania reached a high degree of maturity in the period after the First World War, integrating different educational systems, thus managing to include a large number of the country's population in a form of organized education. At that time, only primary education was compulsory and free, and the country was faced with illiteracy that affected especially the elderly segments of the population. Education has been and will remain a priority. It begins at birth and continues throughout life in various forms. To support this judgement, we proceed to the development of policies that integrate the health and social fields into education. |
| Keywords: | management, education, PISA, school management |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smo:raiswp:0329&r=tra |
| By: | Bogdan Virjan (Titu Maiorescu University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania) |
| Abstract: | In Article 10 (11) from Law no. 241/2005 for the prevention and combating of tax evasion, a clause of non-punishment is regulated, which becomes incident if the damage caused by the commission of one of the acts provided by Article 61, 8 or 9 of this law does not exceed the value of 100, 000 Euros, in the equivalent of the national currency, and this damage, increased by 20% of the calculation basis, to which interest and penalties are added, is fully covered during the criminal investigation or during the trial until a final ruling is rendered. In Article 10 (12), this normative act also states that the provisions governing this clause of non-punishment apply to all defendants even if they did not contribute to covering the damages. In view of these provisions, the High Court of Cassation and Justice - the judicial panel for the settlement of legal issues in criminal matters was seized in order to issue a ruling by which the question of law would be resolved, consisting in the question of whether the provisions of Article 10 (11) of Law no. 241/2005 are applicable in the case of covering the damage as a result of an involuntary activity, respectively a foreclosure procedure. By Decision no. 39/2003, The High Court of Cassation and Justice - the judicial panel for the settlement of legal issues in criminal matters rejected as inadmissible the seizure made in order to issue a preliminary ruling for the resolution of the legal issue under analysis, considering that the admissibility conditions stipulated by the Code of Criminal Procedure were not met in the case that generated the seizure, because it is not allowed to resort to this legal means in order to receive from the supreme court the concrete resolution of the case and the question that was the object of the seizure referred to a form of Article 10 (11) prior to the current form, which did not condition the incidence of this case of non-punishment by the maximum amount of the damage caused, of 100, 000 Euros, a form that was not applicable to the case in which the seizure was made and therefore the dismissal by law did not lead to the resolution of the case. Considering that the problem with which the Supreme Court was seized was not resolved as a result of the rejection of the seizure as inadmissible, in this article we proposed to conduct an analysis; on how the provisions of Article 10 (11) and (12) of Law no. 241/2005 should be interpreted and applied in the situation where the damage caused by the offense is covered by a third party or as a result of an involuntary activity, such as in the case of a foreclosure procedure. |
| Keywords: | clause of non-punishment, damages, tax evasion, real circumstance, foreclosure |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smo:raiswp:0350&r=tra |
| By: | Ekaterine Bakaradze (International Black Sea University, Tbilisi, Georgia) |
| Abstract: | Academic freedom is a fundamental principle of higher education, essential for the advancement of knowledge and the preparation of students for the challenges of the 21st century. It is important to protect academic freedom and to ensure that academic and administrative personnel, as well as students, are able to exercise their freedom without fear of reprisal. Academic freedom is guaranteed by the Constitution of Georgia, the Law of Georgia on Higher Education, accreditation and authorization standards. However, university community and organizations have different understandings of academic freedom. This can make it difficult to assess whether or not academic freedom is being protected or limited in a particular case. Accordingly, the research aims to clarify the meaning of academic freedom based on the Law of Georgia on Higher Education and identifies some of the challenges that need to be addressed to ensure that academic freedom is protected or limited in practice. The paper argues that academic freedom should be understood as the right of academic and administrative personnel, as well as students, to teach, research, and publish without fear of censorship or reprisal. The author suggests that more needs to be done to educate academic community and administrators about the meaning of academic freedom and how it can be protected. The paper concludes that academic freedom is a guarantor of innovation in educational institutions, which ensures that ideas dictated by freedom of thought are implemented by universities, academic, scientific personnel, and students and creates new knowledge. |
| Keywords: | academic freedom, higher education, university, academic community, law |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smo:raiswp:0321&r=tra |
| By: | Marta-Claudia Cliza (Nicolae Titulescu University, Bucharest, Romania); Laura-Cristiana Spataru-Negura (Nicolae Titulescu University, Bucharest, Romania) |
| Abstract: | This study aims to present the current status of the Deposit Return System implementation in Romania, called in Romanian ‘Sistem de Garantie Returnare’ and abbreviated as SGR. In 14 days from now, Romania must start operating the deposit return system according to the European Union legislation and the Romanian legislation put in place. Being an important component of the circular economy, everybody's asking if, through this implementation, Romania will be able to attain the recycling objectives of the European Union and be clean, especially now, on November 16, 2023, when the European Commission initiated infringement proceedings against Romania and five other EU member states over waste management issues. Numerous questions arise concerning the implementation and operation of DRS. Is Romania ready for this moment, especially since it is supposed to collect more than 7 billion recipients at the national level? What is the present status of the deposit return system implementation and how difficult will be to put in place a functioning operating system? Are all the stakeholders involved in DRS ready? This study will address the current issues in implementing the deposit return system in Romania, hoping that point by point will be addressed by the Romanian authorities in due time to have a functional system on November 30, 2023. |
| Keywords: | deposit return system, DRS, EPR, European Union, packaging waste, Romania, targets, SGR |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smo:raiswp:0353&r=tra |
| By: | Gabriel-Alin Ciocoiu (University of Political and Economic European Studies Constantin Stere, Republic of Moldova) |
| Abstract: | The concepts presented in this article are based on the context of morality.The analytical grasp of morality results in its identification as a property of what is moral, the nature, character, value of a fact, of the conduct of a person, or of a collectivity from a moral standpoint. Morality does not offer answers to specific questions but it only indicates whether something—a fact, an idea, or an action—is acceptable or unacceptable from a moral point of view. Morality may align with a certain set of laws while conflicting with another. In ethics, there are no categorical laws and there are no orders, there are only actions that are congruent with an ethical current and incongruent attitudes. We subscribe to the idea that ethics teaches individuals how to think but does not prescribe what to think. Like morality, ethics is not an absolute phenomenon. |
| Keywords: | ethics, morals, moral values, morality, human behaviors |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smo:raiswp:0347&r=tra |