Suchergebnisse

Environmental consequences of the high standard of living in developed nations or of the economic engagement of companies based in industrialized countries are often born by the developing countries of the world. In three essays two different aspects of environmental consequences of North-South Economic Relations are analyzed. The first two essays jointly enhance the existing literature on the impact of resource extraction, conducted by the North, on the local environment of the South. With the help of a theoretical model the first essay determines South's local environmental quality in the context of a resource extraction contract in dependence of the democratic institutions in the host country. The quality of South's democratic institutions indicate the risk of expropriation as well as the degree to which the South internalizes environmental harm in the model. Meanwhile, the quality extraction technology provided by the North varies in marginal resource extraction costs as well as marginal pollution. Combining these various effects, the theoretical model cannot determine a unique impact of an improvement in democracy on the environment. The consecutive numerical simulation of three distinct cases suggests, however, that despite these contradicting forces environmental quality always benefits from improvements in democracy. The empirical investigation of the second paper supports this finding by showing that the level of the host country's democracy determines the extent of deforestation associated with oil drilling in a global cross-country comparison. The study reveals vast differences across countries in the amount of forest clearance due to oil drilling in the closest vicinity to oil wells. Making use of a quasi-natural experiment, difference-in-difference regressions identify the level of democracy as determining factor for the degree of deforestation due to oil drilling. While the discovery of oil in countries with high democracy scores is associated with clearance of 35% of the immediate vicinity of an ...

Most European countries are experiencing an increase in a number of diseases related to nutrition. These diseases have a more harmful impact on health even compared to microelementosis that is still common. There is data that proves correlation between high level of obesity, certain diseases and high calorie diet, overconsumption of saturated fats and low intake of vegetables and fruit. ; Проект № 2016-2592/001-001, 574826-EPP-1-2016-1-RU-EPPJMO-MODULE, при финансовой поддержке Европейской Комиссии

Urban, Regional and National Planning (UNRENAP).

The analysis of the economic efficiency of agriculture has been the subject of numerous studies. An economically efficient agricultural sector is not always environmentally efficient. Agriculture is a large emitter of greenhouse gases. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states that food production and agriculture are responsible for 21&ndash ; 37% of total global CO2 emissions. Due to the comprehensive assessment of the agricultural efficiency, it is worthwhile to apply to its measurement an integrated approach based on economic, energy and environmental aspects. These aspects were the main reasons for undertaking this research. The purpose of the study was to determine the economic, energy and environmental efficiency of agriculture in the EU Member States in 2019. The environmental analyses relate to the period 1990&ndash ; 2019. A total of 26 member states of the European Union (excluding Malta and Luxembourg) were selected for research. The sources of materials were Eurostat and the European Environmental Agency. This study was based on the Data Envelopment Analysis method, and used the DEA model focused on minimizing inputs. The research also adopts energy productivity and greenhouse gas emission efficiency indicators. The DEA model features the following variables: one effect (value of agricultural production) and four inputs (land, labour, use of fertilizers and use of energy). It was found that seven out of the 26 studied EU countries have efficient agriculture. The efficient agriculture group included the Netherlands, Denmark, Greece, Cyprus, the United Kingdom, Italy and Ireland. Based on the DEA method, benchmarks have been defined for countries with inefficient agriculture. On the basis of these benchmarks for inefficient agricultural sectors, it was possible to determine how they could improve efficiency to achieve the same results with fewer inputs. This issue is particularly important in the context of sustainable agricultural development. In the next stage of the research, the analysis of economic and energy efficiency was combined with the analysis of GHG emission efficiency in agriculture. Four groups of countries have been distinguished: eco-efficiency leaders, eco-efficiency followers, environmental slackers, eco-efficiency laggards. The leaders of the classification were the Netherlands, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Portugal.

At the current level of economic development, the digital transformation of society is an important factor in advancing any social structure. The purpose of the present study was to explore the transformation of a traditional society into a digital one, with a focus on ethical and environmental aspects. The study draws on a variety of information analysis methods to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of digitalization, including the environmental aspect. Our research revealed that in Russia, the only highly digitalized sectors were information technology and finance. Digitalization is strikingly different in the European countries, where only transport and building industries slowly implemented digital technologies into their business processes. We also examined digitalization levels in 7 Moscow universities. The universities managed to improve their digitalization scores with the help of recommendations developed for online learning, such as selection of quality software, having qualified teaching staff, constant monitoring, and evaluation of knowledge. The findings can be used in economic, social, and environmental spheres since they highlight the ambiguous effects of digitalization using practical examples.