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The relationship between government spending and economic growth is an important and controversial issue in modern societies. In this paper, the correlation between economic growth and government expenditure is studied. The analysis is based on data for the European Union countries and panel data techniques are used.

This paper provides new evidence of the impact of government spending on economic growth in the European Union countries. Governments can adjust their levels of spending in order to influence their economies, although the relationship between these variables can be positive or negative, depending on the countries included in the sample, the period of estimation and the variables which reflect the size of the public sector. The results obtained based on regression and panel techniques suggest that government expenditure is not clearly related with economic growth in the European Union countries over the period 1994-2012.

This paper provides new evidence of the impact of government spending on economic growth in the European Union countries. Governments can adjust their levels of spending in order to influence their economies, although the relationship between these variables can be positive or negative, depending on the countries included in the sample, the period of estimation and the variables which reflect the size of the public sector. The results obtained based on regression and panel techniques suggest that government expenditure is not clearly related with economic growth in the European Union countries over the period 1994-2012.

This paper provides new evidence of the impact of government spending on economic growth in the European Union countries. Governments can adjust their levels of spending in order to influence their economies, although the relationship between these variables can be positive or negative, depending on the countries included in the sample, the period of estimation and the variables which reflect the size of the public sector. The results obtained based on regression and panel techniques suggest that government expenditure is not clearly related with economic growth in the European Union countries over the period 1994-2012.

Research background: Importance of intangible resources for country's ec onomic growth is widely recognized. However, empirical evidence o f this influence is hard to show due to measurement limitations of intangible resources. Ma jority of empirical studies concentrates on the analysis of a specific type of intangible re source's influence on economic growth. National intellectual capital concept provides back ground for an integrated assessment of the country's intangible resources. This new approa ch enables the estimation of intangible resources' influence to economic growth in a more c omplex way. Purpose of the article: a) To examine various scientific approaches of the national intellec- tual capital and its impact on the economic growth; b) to offer a measurement model of the national intellectual capital influence on economic growth; c) to evaluate the specific Euro- pean Union countries' intellectual capital's effect on their economic growth. Methods: Econometric analysis; refined factor value computat ion method using the stand- ardized regression coefficients; the SAW method; ex pert evaluation, cluster analysis; corre- lation and regression analyses. Findings & Value added: A review of the economic growth theories showed tha t structural components of intellectual capital (human capital, structural capital, social capital, relational capital) in economic growth theories are analyzed a s key determinants of economic growth. Our proposed research methodology consists time lag between variables and this let us evaluate casual relation. Empirical analysis of 25 European Union countries' intellectual capital's effect on their economic growth rate reve aled that national intellectual capital and the countries' level of economic development have s tatistically significant impact on eco- nomic growth rate. The analysis of intellectual cap ital components' influence on economic growth rate of 25 European Union countries showed t hat only human capital and the level of economic development have statistically significant influence. A more comprehensive hu- man capital's influence on economic growth analysis revealed that 63.1 percent of the long- term economic growth rate in 25 European Union coun tries can be explained by differences in their economic development level and differences in educational achievement factor values. Moreover, analysis of national intellectual capital effect on economic growth in separate clusters allowed to identify influence dif ferences in each group of countries.

Purpose: The main aim of this article is to measure and compare the level of financialisation of enterprises in the European Union countries and determine the correlation between this process and the size of the financial sector, measured by the ratio of its assets to GDP. Approach/Methodology/Design: An analysis of the differentiation in the level of financialisation of non-financial enterprises in the EU was made, and the scale and direction of changes in this process between 2009 and 2018 were determined. The analysis uses a synthetic indicator of enterprise finalization (SIEF) that allows assessing the level of this phenomenon in non-financial entities. The taxonomic standard method was used in the construction of the indicator. The source of empirical materials for research were the financial data of companies, from 2009-2018, derived from the pan-European database of financial statements of the companies "Amadeus". Findings: It has been shown that the average level of enterprises' finalization in the EU countries measured by the synthetic SIEF index is varied, but in most EU countries the scale of this variation did not change significantly between 2009 and 2018. In the analyzed period, the SIEF index fell in almost all EU countries and the trend concerned both countries that had a relatively high level of SIEF in 2009 and countries with a low level of this indicator. Practical Implications: The synthetic SIEF indicator presented in the study may be a useful tool for international, regional or industry comparative analyses of the degree of finalization of non-financial enterprises. Originality/Value: Most of the scientific studies on financialisation focus on the financial sector and the importance of this process for the entire economy and the stability of the financial sector. Therefore, the macroeconomic approach dominates. The value of this study is the microeconomic approach, i.e., examining the process of enterprise financing based on economic and financial data obtained from companies' financial reporting. A comparative analysis of the level of finalization and its changes in 2009-2018 in individual EU countries used in the study may constitute the basis for further in-depth research on the determinants of this phenomenon. ; peer-reviewed

Aim of the article is to analyse the causes and practical reforms of the pension system in the European Unioncountries. Another task is to clarify the requirements of the European Union's institutions for the member – statespension system reforms and to sum up the pension system reforms of the European Union member – states.This theme is actual not only in the light of the execution of the reforms of the Lithuanian pension system, butalso because Lithuania is in the middle of co – ordination processes of the European Union.The practical results, presented consequences and conclusions can be used planning future reforms of theLithuanian pension system. Also it may be used as methodical literature studying the actual processes in the fieldof the pension system reforms of the European Union.

The electricity production sector has a significant share of final energy consumption and has a huge potential to use more renewable energy sources. Over the last two decades, the European Union (EU) reform of electricity markets has had positive results, and market liberalization acts as a stimulus for energy efficiency, lower prices, and technological progress. Today&rsquo ; s EU policy for the development of electricity and the entire energy sector seeks to provide system modernization, stability, reinforcement of the single market, and implementation of climate change policy with an emphasis on the decarbonization of energy sources and the increase of energy efficiency. After all of the EU efforts to form an electricity sector in member states, it is necessary to assess the efficiency of the policy implemented and to identify the results achieved in shaping a sustainable electricity sector. The purpose of this article is to carry out a sustainability assessment of the electricity sector in the EU countries. A set of eight indicators designed to assess the sustainability of the electricity sector of different EU countries in 2017 has been drawn up. The assessment is made using the multi-criteria decision-making method (MCDM) Technique for Order Preference (TOPSIS). The assessment shows that the electricity market of Slovenia is the most sustainable, with Luxembourg in the second position in the EU.

This study examines how national culture affects corporate investment. We argue that national culture affects corporate investment efficiency through the level of secrecy that national culture exhibits. Using a sample of firms from eight culturally-diverse European Union countries, we find that the level of secrecy that national culture exhibits is negatively related to corporate investment efficiency after controlling for a number of firm- and country-level factors. We also find that the negative relation between national culture and corporate investment efficiency is mitigated by an exogenous shock to the information asymmetry problem between managers and investors. Our study highlights the importance of the cultural value of secrecy/transparency as a determinant of investment efficiency at the firm-level.

The purpose of the article is to analyse factors influencing the behaviour and decision-making of local tourists in choosing Azerbaijan as a destination. The main attributes, elements and types of tourism destinations are analysed. The understanding of consumer behaviour is defined and the peculiarities of decision-making process are presented. The main internal and external factors influencing tourist's behaviour and decision-making are summarised. The current situation of tourism in Azerbaijan is examined. The analysis of social, cultural, personal and psychological factors influencing the decision-making of local Azerbaijani tourists to travel to various types of tourism destinations with different attributes like, attractions, available amenities, accessibility, image, price and human resources is done. The research includes both primary and secondary data. Secondary data is used to give insight to the topic and assess conclusions. Primary data is collected by surveying domestic travellers of Azerbaijan. Survey results are analysed by implying descriptive statistics, non-parametric tests and Factor analysis. The research results show that the age, monthly income and marital status of local Azerbaijani travellers affect their travel behaviour especially in the duration of their trip. Destination amenities, tourism infrastructure, environmental features, human resources and price are the important attributes for local tourists in choosing tourism destination. ; This article investigates the theoretical and practical aspects of tax morale among households in European Union countries. The attitude of households on tax payment is assessed quantitatively by employing a dichotomous logit-probit regression analysis. The research is based on household-level data received from the World Values Survey and the European Values Study. Weak tax morale among European Union households is mainly determined by the perception of corruption, disrespect to one's own country and parliament. Additionally, a household's tax morale depends on age, gender, religiousness, level of income and education. Based on the findings of this article, a more precise policy guidance is presented.

Abstract
This paper attempts to test for inflation convergence in a sample of 24 European Union countries. To tackle this issue, first- and second-generation panel unit root and stationarity tests are employed so as to provide evidence of inflation convergence before and after the launch of the single currency, the euro. We also test for and then allow for cross-sectional dependence. In general, the findings reveal that conditional inflation convergence exists for all panels under study. The estimation of half lives shows that the evidence for faster speed of convergence applies for the new member states followed by the core countries and the old member states.
JEL classifications: C33, E3, F33
Keywords: Inflation Convergence, EU, Maastricht Criteria, Panel data

The study aims to determine whether the unexplained gender wage gap varies in the different sectors of the economy and to identify the possible causes of these differences. Firstly, we estimate average treatment effect on the individual sectors to identify the unexplained part of gender pay gap. To identify the possible causes of observed variability in unexplained gender wage differences, we use a linear regression model. Using European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) data for 24 European Union (EU) members, we conclude that the unexplained gender pay gap in the individual sectors varies both within the individual EU countries and among the countries. The most important factors in explaining the differences in the gender pay gap among the individual sectors are ownership and the proportion of women in the sector. On the other hand, the proportion of female managers and the proportion of small companies are not statistically significant factors for the explanation of the variation in the sector-specific gender pay gaps. To the best of my knowledge, this study is the first to present fully comparable estimates of the unexplained sector-specific gender pay gap for the 24 EU countries and to identify the causes of the differences in the unexplained gender pay gap at the sectoral level.

This paper reviews important aspects of gender labour market inequalities in four European Union countries. It shows that individual countries differ in many aspects of gender discrimination. It seems that contributing factors to these differences are the national social and economic structures, the level of economic development, the legislative framework and the effectiveness of anti-discriminatory policies. It also shows that there are notable improvements in many gender gap indicators during the recent years and, at least part of the improvement should be attributed to the European commission's legislative and policy initiatives.

Digitalization involves an increase in the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in all areas of the economy and all domains of the functioning of a society. Technologies of this kind affect the level of competitiveness of economies. The aim of the article is to compare the levels of competitiveness of European Union countries in the field of information and communication technologies, on the basis of indices developed by international institutions.The European Commission, World Economic Forum and Eurostat databases were used for comparative analysis of economies. Synthetic indices, such as the 9th pillar of the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI Pillar 9), the European Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) and the Networked Readiness Index (NRI) were used to compare the levels of digitalization of the economies. The actual individual consumption (AIC) value was adopted as an indicator of the wealth of EU economies. Changes in single indices were analysed as follows: in the NRI in 2014–2016, in the GCI Pillar 9 in 2015–2017 and in the DESI in 2016–2018, while the multi-character classification of countries according to the three variables (the NRI, DESI and GCI Pillar 9) was performed for the year 2016. Ward's hierarchical method and non-hierarchical analysis of k-means clusters were used to this effect. The multiple regression model revealed relationships between the welfare level measured by the AIC and the level of digitalization. The NRI turned out to be the best predictor. The results of the analysis indicate that there are still differences between the 'old' and the 'new' EU countries in terms of the development of the ICT sector.

The relationship between export and economic growth is still a topic of discussion by researchers. Some studies have confirmed that export leads to economic growth, while others see economic growth leads to export. Many countries are still in a dilemma of whether to open up their economies to promote export or whether they should concentrate on economic activities, which will promote export. This paper has aimed to examine export – growth nexus in the European Union (EU) countries during the period of 1995 – 2015. Descriptive statistics analysis and econometric methods have been applied for this purpose. On the basis of correlation analysis, twenty-two countries have had significant relationships between export and economic growth. Granger causality test has been applied to detect the direction of causality. The research has found unidirectional causality running from export to GDP in Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Sweden. In contrast, unidirectional effects from GDP to export have been detected in eleven the EU countries, such as Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Romania and Slovenia. Moreover, the research also has noticed bidirectional causality in Denmark. That is, GDP causes export and vice versa. Finally, in six countries, such as Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and Malta Granger causality has not been found. It means that export does not cause economic growth and vice versa. The presence of a causal link between export and economic growth has implications of great importance on development strategies for the EU countries.