Eva Muchová

Level and quality of openness and corruption in the ECA countries

Despite recent progress, corruption is frequently cited as an obstacle inhibiting business in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region, and there are considerable differences in corruption across the ECA countries. Regression analyses show that both the level and quality of openness significantly affected corruption in the ECA countries between 1996 and 2009. These findings are robust; they do not depend on the addition of a number of other relevant variables or the choice of estimator – OLS, robust or random-effects generalized least squares.

Export Competitiveness of Central and Eastern Europe Since the Enlargement of the EU

We use constant market share (CMS) analysis to decompose changes in the export shares of the Central and Eastern European (CEE) economies in the period since the 5th enlargement of the European Union (EU) and measure changes in export competitiveness. We find that the CEE transition economies have generally increased their world export competitiveness, but gains in market share have been tempered by a poor match between both the commodity and regional export profiles of most of the CEE economies and the changes in the world import profile, and by generally slow adaptation of the region to changes in the latter on both the commodity and regional dimensions. Changes in export competitiveness in the region overall are instead driven largely by expansions of market share within the EU. Using a new method we show that only a small proportion of the change in the trade share is attributable to changes in the extensive margin. We discuss possible policy implications.

What can eastern European countries learn from the Slovak economy? A twin deficit growth approach

This paper applies an extended growth model to the Slovak economy and explains the potential pitfalls that a transition economy faces on the way to converging with other advanced European countries. Our empirical analysis shows that Slovakia grew at a higher rate than that allowed by the balance-of-payments equilibrium rate and that this is consistent with the accumulation of trade deficits over time. A scenarios analysis shows that improving trade competitiveness, changing import and export shares toward a current account balance, and financing the economy at a lower cost will be the most successful ways to achieve higher growth.

European integration in the aftermath of the debt crisis

Despite a timid recovery in growth after the global financial crisis, the economic crisis in the European Union is far from over, and the effects of the crisis continue to linger. Real GDP in the fourth quarter of 2016 in the EU was only 5% higher than in the first quarter of 2008, showing a remarkable stagnation for a region used to steady (if unimpressive) growth. The situation in the Euro area has shown even less progress, as nearly every country in Western Europe using the euro has stagnated significantly since 2007, with countries in the south of Europe such as Greece and Spain seeing unemployment exceeding 25%. For all intents and purposes, economic growth in the European Union came to a halt as a result of the crisis, with only a few countries such as Poland showing signs of resilience. Growth was not the only casualty of the global financial crisis. Indeed, and somewhat ironically, the leap forward in European integration that was the euro may have sowed the seeds of the demise of further integration. In addition to the impact of the global financial crisis, Europe plunged directly into an ensuing sovereign debt crisis, a crisis which exposed the incapability of existing European institutions in dealing with economic problems of this magnitude. While a common currency had been put into practice, legal and regulatory framework deficiencies, combined with the weakness of the euro project itself, created severe difficulties in crisis response. In particular, as Wyplosz (2014) notes, politicians were forced into the role of micromanaging solutions which were usually taken care of by professional bureaucrats. This injection of more politics into a situation already somewhat attributable to national policies made managing the crisis even more difficult. As already noted, part of the issue plaguing the EU was the euro itself. When individual countries gave up their own currency, they not only facilitated trade and capital flows and reduced transaction costs, but they also gave up the possibility of monetizing their debts. Without any mechanism guaranteeing sovereign debts under a common currency area, this created a ticking time bomb. It is well understood that financial crises tend to work as self-fulfilling prophecies even if justified by the fundamentals, and the slightest loss of confidence might spark a disaster (Cole and Kehoe 2000). If anything, such an eventuality was underestimated during the pre-crisis period, which was marked by a striking convergence of interest rates on government bonds of EU Member States. Simply put, the issue of an individual country facing a sovereign debt issue under a common currency was never entertained, given that convergence appeared to render such a possibility moot. Underpinning this assumption was the belief that membership within the European Union and subsequently in the Euro Area would necessarily be accompanied by more prudent fiscal policy, an assumption backed by mechanisms such as the Stability and

Are the transition economies balance-of-payments constrained? An aggregate and multi-sector approach applied to Central and Eastern Europe

The balance-of-payments (BoP) can act as a constraint on the output growth rate because it limits the growth of demand. This article focuses on verifying whether the hypothesis that BoP constrains growth is suitable for explaining the growth performance of several transition economies in Central and Eastern Europe that joined the European Union after 2004. According to Thirlwall’s law, the BoP equilibrium growth rate in an economy is determined using the ratio of the income elasticities of demand for exports and imports and the growth in foreign demand. The results obtained are compared with the multisector version of Thirlwall’s law as an alternative approach that considers the structure of the economy and how specialization affects BoP-constrained growth. The results show that almost all the transition countries in the sample grew at a higher rate than is consistent with the BoP equilibrium and that the multisector version of this approach predicts actual growth in these countries.

INFLATION VS. UNEMPLOYMENT - SOME POLEMIC ISSUES

During the treatment of this paper it is aimed the accurate characterization of natural objects that constitute the natural heritage of this region, as well as the proposals for new monuments. In this article it is conducted a genuine scientific work for the analysis of these monuments and the values associated with them. The basic method that is used in the treatment of this paper has been the one of direct field observations, analyzing these aspects; their physical condition, size, prognosis and photography. The paper has scientific value to researchers in the field of geography and local authorities. The main part in the paper is occupied by the results of the performed work in the following areas: The assessment of the natural conditions of this district, in function ofthe natural monuments. The classification of natural monuments; geomonuments, bio and hidromonuments. The physical analysis of the declared monuments,explaining their current situation and future trend.Their association with different views. Proposals for new natural monuments, for those objects that meet the criteria of being such. All these proposed monuments, are analyzed by the natural aspect, and accompanied by photos. At the end of this paper are given the conclusions, noting that the natural heritage of this district is a national asset. There are given some recommendations such as; their defence is responsibility of the state and of all the public opinion. Their good management requires strong legal measures in order to preserve these values.This article focuses in the azorean third tea period (1878-1879), time to learn and the first move towards tea industry. This time is made up of two periods: First, time to collect and make tea (March to July 1878); Second, time to collect and make tea (April to July 1879). With the hiring of two Chinese tea technicians, Lau-a-Pan (the master) and Lau-a- Teng (the interpreter) by the local agricultural society, locals rapidly acquired two things: how to grow and make tea and the value of his tea. Tea industry brought together first and second generation SPAM members, who, to cope with wine and orange crises, among other products, invested in tea. Industry mainly developed in Saint Michaels‘s Island.Military in Pakistan and Bangladesh has been deeply involved in politics all over the history. Since after the birth of both countries, the strong democratic government has not yet been established, due to the continuous involvement of Military in politics. The current research attempts to evaluate the main causes of Military Intervention in two countries. The utilized information of causes has been taken from books, journals, articles, on line materials and other secondary sources. The findings result with regard to the sources of military interventions in politics are the causes of weak political institution, vested interest of the military, legacy of the British army, political corruption and superiority.The subject of insurance law has been a very trickish and clumsy one to anybody who desires to know about it or conduct any research with regard to same. The general notion of the public against insurance companies is very negative when it comes to the aspect of payment of indemnity by the insurers. Perhaps based on a simple or very trivial excuse, the insurer may repudiate liability either on the basis of non – disclosure or non – possession of insurable interest e.t.c. In most cases, insurers have denied or repudiated indemnities on ground of non – disclosure which in all of the policies are made to be a ―warranty‖ or ―conditions‖ which goes to the root of the contract itself. The common law rule on this is very strict and therefore operates against the claim of the assured whenever the defence is raised by the insurer. However, the Nigerian Insurance Act, appears to have remedied this common law position by making the concept of non – disclosure equitable to both parties to an insurance policy. It is hereby suggested that other jurisdiction should follow suit for the development of insurance law.The need to own assets, whether in the form of long-term tangible or intangible assets, conditions a successful operation of an accounting entity in some cases. The objective of the article is to compare the asset structure defined for public sector accounting entities to the asset structure binding for business entities in compliance with the legislation valid in SR. Further objective of the article is to compare the legislation valid in SR in terms of long-term assets to the legislation defined under IAS/IFRS International Accounting Standards (applicable for businesses) and IPSAS (applicable for public sector entities). Our effort is to point out the differences on the grounds of the given comparisons, and to propose measures aimed at enhancing the legislation on the grounds of the analysis.Mass housing estates of the second half of the 20th century represent a poorly described and appraised topic of recent history. Mainly professionals overlook their garden design related aspect. It seems unbuilt areas within them were neglected by their authors; still, they represent an essential change in the urban structure in the 20th century and the rising significance of elements representing nature in urbanized environments. The present text focuses on housing estates in the Czech Republic that were built between the 1960s and 1989, especially their garden design related and landscape related aspects. First, circumstances of post-war building of mass housing and the role of modernist theories are introduced. Second, the development of forms of public areas in specific conditions of socialist central planning is observed. Our exploration concentrates on significant projects presented in the press of the time as well as housing estates that did not stand out from the average. The results, which we are presenting, are an overview of particular types of public spaces within mass housing estates with their basic characteristics and a definition of the roles of vegetation and other garden design means related to housing. In conclusion, we formulate a general development direction which the relation between landscape and housing took, as we can observe it in the example of housing estates of the second half of the 20th century.Our research is dedicated to the problem of the development of the future doctors’ subject competencies in Medical deontology by means of Cooperative learning structures. In this article we are going to review the findings on the initial level of the future doctors’ subject competencies in Medical deontology in terms of the motivational component within the framework of the experimental part of the investigation. Our main task is to reveal the gaps in the motivational component of the future doctors’ subject competencies in Medical deontology and to suggest Cooperative learning as a technique to improve the deontological education. The initial level of the development of the future doctors’ subject competencies in Medical deontology has been evaluated by us in terms of three components – motivational, cognitive and behavioral the essence of which is represented in criteria and the latter are reflected in indicators. In this article we will review the findings on the motivational component. The initial level of the development of the motivational component of the competencies in Medical deontology has been determined in terms of the professional needs and interests of the medical students, the indicators of which include awareness of a career choice, type of motivation to study at the higher medical educational establishment (“professional” motives, motives of “personal prestige”, “pragmatic” and “educational” motives, external factors), prevailing personality orientation (humanistic, professional, social, business, and antisocial), motivation for communication, self-improvement and selfdevelopment motivation, recognition of the practical significance of the academic course “Deontology in medicine”, an interest in ethical and deontological education.Nowadays, the number of stimuli reaching the consumers is underdrastic growth. At the same time, consumers are not able to or willing toprocess this amount of information. In spite of the educational level,informative campaigns and publications, the consumers‘ level of knowledgeremains low concerning the composition of food products. On the basis of aresearch carried out in 2013, in Hungary and involving 1,150 individuals, wecan state that consumers are not aware of the extent of carbohydrates andenergy contained in their food products. It is the responsibility of consumerprotection to work out a signalling for food products that is easy to beprocessed and can be immediately understood by the consumers. Such aninitiative could be the comprehensive and mandatory introduction of the―traffic light system‖.Agence France-Presse (AFP) is an international French news agency located in Paris. It is the oldest and largest news agency in the world. It is one of four most outstanding agencies together with “Associate Press”, “Reuters” and “Itar-Tass”. Information agencies originated from 1835 when a young French writer and translator Charles-Louis Havas established Agency Havas on the basis of which was established one of the greatest agencies France-Presse. A lot of issues were changed in the strategy of the Agency from the day of its foundation, but in XXI century, the epoch of modern technologies, it faced new challenges and accomplished changes in the sphere of its activities. Top management of Agence France- Presse managed to implement new technologies and become one of the most prestigious agencies in the world.The spectrum of the problems analyzed in the following article is based on the works by Merab Mamardashvili (1930-1990) dedicated to the theme of Europe, talks given in Paris and Barcelona, articles and interviews published in various French newspapers or journals. Mamardashvili clearly realized that the establishment of democratic regime in the society emerging on the ruins of a totalitarian state could create the most complicated problem to the state and culture; that the indigenous peoples of the former Soviet Union (including Georgians) who before October Revolution could not follow the time, modernity, would find themselves in a difficult situation in the process of formation of civil society and its members as citizens. The aspiration toward modernizing the individuals poses many difficulties to the politicians and citizens because we are simultaneously being transformed into free and independent nation, and the members of civil society. The situation is complicated by the fact that this process passes through the fog of post-totalitarian society. Merab Mamardashili’s critical analysis is due to a desire for better future of Georgia, the desire that in the era of globalization Georgian thinking could adequately respond to the challenges of time. In the process of desovietization of thinking and formation of civil society, the views developed by the philosopher Merab Mamardashili about the relationships between the individual and society are still valuable and relevant.The total world population is 7.093 billion of them 1.29 billion do live with absolute poverty [PPP below

INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO MEASUREMENT OF WELLBEING

1.25]. Around 4 million of people die cause of starving and malnutrition and 25 million without treatment/year. 100 million is homeless and further 100 million is hidden homeless. Around 200 million is unemployed, of them 75 million that is 13% of the total figure is between the ages of 15 & 24 [IMF-2012]. If dramatic changes are not happened in the world job markets and young jobless is remain stable, its impact would be very devastative for the forthcoming world.This paper analyzes the category of mediation from the point of view of humanisticoriented pedagogy. Mediation is discussed first in its presumably most popular context, that is, in the context of legal procedures, where Polish law is taken as an illustrative material. Against this background, the main functions and principles of legal concept of mediation are presented. Further investigations are devoted to the characterization of humanistic-oriented pedagogy, with emphasis on the main categories of this type of pedagogical inquiry. The very notion of category is also focused on. Finally, the research question concerning the understanding of mediation as a category of humanistic-oriented pedagogy is discussed. It is argued that certain important values underlying the legal concept of mediation are present in the research in pedagogy, but in the latter context, the category of mediation adopts a much broader meaning, for its elements are present in every stage of human development.Screening of oncologic pathology of gastro-intestinal tract by means of multicenter endoscopic examination has shown that phylactic esophagogastroduodenoscopy, сolonofiberscopy can be recommended as an obligatory component during planned examination. Despite all the achievements of modern medicine , the entry of new methods of diagnosis and healing, the disease incidence and death rate due to oncologic diseases has been constantly increasing in the world. It is well-known , that cancer is the second leading reason of death after cardiovascular system diseases death. If to summarize the cancer frequency of all organs of gastro-intestinal tract, it will take the first place (more than 50%), powering past larynx cancer, breast cancer, and prostate cancer1. Therewith disease and death rate are the cancer of approximately all digestive systems 2. Numerous research proves, that disease prognosis mainly depends on oncology diagnose promptness, which gives much meaning to the earlier diagnosis. Unfortunately, 60– 80% patients with for the first time oncology diagnose already have III–IV stages of disease2. Potential causes of such late diagnose are late application of patients, erased clinical performance, and also deficient oncological suspicion of doctors with primary stage of healthcare.

Slovak economic growth and the consistency of the balance-of-payments constraint approach

The National Academic Depository of India is a crystallized vision. The depository was conceptualized to digitalize academic awards offered by educational institutions at one place. The depository can eliminate the need to store awards in physical form. It can verify the awards issued by different organizations to different individuals. The secure digital depository is a good remedy to fake and forged certificates. The concept of academic depository is very similar to the concept of financial securities. The concept of depository was tried out with the help of academic awards of one examination body in India. The pilot was completed successfully. In order to become fully functional, the depository has to overcome a few challenges with respect to academic diversities in terms of duration of courses and equivalence. The Legislation on academic depository is being drafted to take care of these challenges. Besides that, the NAD is begetting with many other new kinds of uses and possibilities. The NAD may open up new roles for the educational institutions as well such as to prepare reports for teachers from examination data on teaching learning gaps rather than just labeling students. Academic Depository is a pioneering effort of its kind in the world.The Annual Report is a good mean of describing the situation of a company to all the stakeholders although it is difficult to compare Annual Reports coming from different entities. A process of harmonization of European accounting standards was started in order to bring Annual Reports into line and it is currently being carried out through the adoption of IFRS standards. Once Annual Reports have been created adopting a common accounting standard, the very next step is to code them using the same IT language. If a common computer language is selected, Annual Reports or other documents can easily be compared without recoding and retyping them. The starting point of this process is the definition of an appropriate taxonomy to be used by both those drafting and reading the documents. The process of adopting an appropriate set of accounting standards, selecting the related taxonomy and, finally, drawing up documents using a new business language, called eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) leads companies to produce sound, meaningful and clear documents that greatly improve sharing of useful information. Moreover, the adoption of IFRS standards and XBRL encoded statements provides a set of measures for building sound and widely accepted models. The aim of the present paper is to analyze the changes to income statement presentation and the new concept of financial performance that emerges as a result of the adoption of IFRS and XBRL language. The drawing up of the Income Statement by XBRL may improve the financial performance measurement and disclosure with many benefits for all the stakeholders.The low quality of primary and secondary education in most Latin America countries is a well-known problem. As a response to this reality, the private educational market has been steadily growing in those countries. These private schools, in general, offer a higher quality and personalized education for the students that can afford it. The main selling point of these institutions is access to better resources: better teachers, technologies, materials and pedagogical methods. This difference in education quality creates a problem once students from public schools reach university. This IGUAL project will generate learning solutions (combination of e-learning software, pedagogical methodologies and learning materials) to facilitate the assimilation of new knowledge and the development of new skills even when the student has deficient background knowledge and/or underdeveloped required skills. The solutions that this project will provide have the potential to be used by all students in the Latin AmericanThe relationship between teacher and student is of extreme importance, especially as the latter is going through a delicate period in his life require planned to meet the requirements of the positive relationship in education and influence the psyche and personality and then impact in the community beyond. The most important characteristic of human from other organisms other being a social being by nature it affects and is affected at the same time by culture, traditions and customs of the society, and in this context says sociologist (role Chaim): * it when he speaks of human society is the one who speaks.The author in her article focuses on the issue of long-term unemployment and poverty, which often results in interdisciplinary problems. It is a problem of the whole society, which needs to be constantly looked into and it also constantly needs the elimination of the outside world´s effects on it. The aim of this work is to highlight the seriousness of this problem, the need for its elimination, with emphasis on the confrontation between scientific disciplines and their connections.