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Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to examine Okun's Law in European countries by distinguishing between the transitory and the permanent effects of output changes upon unemployment and by examining the effect of labor market protection policies upon Okun's coefficients.


Design/methodology/approach
– Quarterly data for 13 European Union countries, from the second quarter of 1993 until the first quarter of 2014, are used. Panel data techniques and Mundlak decomposition models are estimated.


Findings
– Okun's Law is robust to alternative specifications. The effect of output changes to unemployment rates is weaker for countries with increased labor market protection expenditures and it is more persistent for countries with low labor market protection.


Originality/value
– The paper provides evidence that the permanent effect of output changes upon unemployment rates is quantitatively larger than the transitory impact. In addition, it provides evidence that increased labor market protection mitigates the adverse effects of a decrease in output growth rate upon unemployment.

This article investigates the competitiveness of agri-food exports of the European Union (EU-27) countries on global markets, using the revealed comparative advantage (B) index over the years 2000-11. Panel unit root tests, mobility index and the Kaplan-Meier survival rates of the B index are used. The majority of agri-food products in the EU-27 countries show a comparative disadvantage on global markets. The B indices of the EU-27 countries tend to convergence. Most of the old EU-15 Member States experienced a greater number of agri-food products having a longer duration of revealed comparative advantages than have most of the new EU-12 Member States. Among the most successful Member States in agri-food export competitiveness on global markets are the Netherlands, France and Spain. Adapted from the source document.

Abstract
Background
Circular economy (CE) is a development priority of the European Union and it is part of the EU industrial strategy. The transition to a more circular economy is an essential contribution to the EU's efforts to develop a sustainable, low carbon, resource-efficient and competitive economy. The author focuses her CE-related reflections and research in this paper on the macro-level (research subjects: 28 EU countries), the level which is least represented in scholarly publications addressing CE (as follows from the analysis of literature in the Scopus database). This study aims to fill this gap partially. The aim of this paper is to identify and group the EU-28 countries according to their advancement towards circular economy. CE indicators proposed by the European Commission were used for the analysis. Given the research subjects and after an analysis of the literature they were concluded to be the most adequate. The theoretical part was based on an analysis of the literature, whereas the empirical work used the principal components analysis, hierarchical and k-means clustering and a grade correspondence-cluster analysis.

Results
On the basis of the research, the existence of a "two-speed Europe" was identified in terms of EU countries' advancement towards CE. Leading countries, those most advanced in pursuing operation according to CE principles, include Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The second pole accommodates EU countries in which transformation towards CE is happening at the slowest pace. This group includes mainly countries of the Central and Eastern Europe and the countries of the south of Europe.

Conclusions
Differentiated levels of advancement of individual countries towards CE result inter alia from the adoption by some of the latter of different development strategies for their economies' transitioning to circular economy (according to recommendations of EU ministers at the Environment Council in June 2016) and also from the differences occurring in social and economic development (it is mostly noticeable between the EU-15 and the EU-13 countries). Unfortunately, as can be concluded from the effects obtained so far, only a few of the adopted development strategies may be considered effective in meeting the challenges of circular economy according to the European Union's standards.

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Unrecorded alcohol, that is, alcohol not reflected in official statistics of the country where it is consumed, contributes markedly to overall consumption of alcohol. However, empirical data on unrecorded alcohol consumption are scarce, especially in high-income countries. This study measures the contribution of unrecorded alcohol in 7 member states of the European Union. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Two categories of unrecorded consumption were assessed in general population surveys (reducing alcohol related harm Standardized European Alcohol Survey; <i>n</i> = 11,224): home-made alcohol and cross-border shopping. Country-specific logistic regressions were used to link respondent characteristics to odds of acquisition of unrecorded alcohol. Total <i>per capita</i> alcohol consumption was estimated under different assumptions of calculating unrecorded alcohol consumption. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Individuals with higher drinking levels were more likely to acquire unrecorded alcohol in all 7 countries. In some countries, male sex and more affluent social class were also positively linked to acquisition of unrecorded alcohol. There was a substantial contribution of unrecorded alcohol to overall consumption in 5 out of 7 member states (Croatia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Portugal), but not in Poland or Spain. In Greece, up to two-thirds of all alcohol consumed was estimated to be unrecorded.<b><i> Conclusion:</i></b> Unrecorded alcohol contributes to overall consumption even in high-income countries, and thus needs to be monitored. In monitoring, as many categories of unrecorded alcohol as possible should be clearly defined (e.g., surrogate alcohol) and included in future surveys.

Investing in green facilities is a process of urban renewal that can transform cities by enhancing the quality of life, strengthening the local economy and reducing the environmental impact. Nevertheless, greener cities are not a guarantee for improved adaptive capacity when facing current local or global challenges. In this context, we have taken into account a series of sample cities from Central and Eastern European Union. Using the green cities typology proposed by the European Environment Agency, the present approach studies the statistical relationship between indicators of green infrastructure and different proxies for the resilience capacity and performance. The results distinguish between different types of green cities, indicating which are more resilient and, respectively, which are less resilient. The statistical relationship between the indicators shows that green infrastructures are developed in new urban areas, while the natural areas diminish the flood risk and air pollution and make cities more attractive; however, in older and higher density cities, the green is sacrificed for other uses that are considered more profitable. The conclusions highlight the contradictory characteristics in the territorial distributions of cities in relation to their green infrastructure and resilience features. The present assessment contributes to promoting an integrated vision that could be used in urban planning and in more coherent strategies for sustainable cities.

The process of demographic changes in European countries is characterized by greater and greater ageing of the population, as a result of the decline in the rate of natural increase and the rise in life expectancy. Europeans have less and less children, they live longer and face the problems how to ensure a safe old age. Noticed trends of change will be intensified till the middle of the new millennium (2050), when the following situation is expected: the decline in the number of children (0-14 years) for almost 20% and the active-working population (15-64), while there will be more "old persons" (65-79) for more than 44%, and "the oldest" persons (80 or more) for even 180%. Ageing of the population characterizes all regions, but is specially pronounced in the countries in the south and countries in transition. Faced with the challenges of the disturbances in the demographic structure, the members of the European Union (25) developed an entire spectrum of measures and activities to prevent the negative social-economic consequences. Creation of "the policy of ageing" at the Union level develops within the co-ordination (OMC) of the process of modernization of the social security system (old-age pension insurance, health insurance, social and child protection); it also implies the creation of conditions for "the active old age" (increase in employment and staying as long as possible on the job market), the development of "the new forms of solidarity" between generations (as a consequence of the increase of the coefficient of dependency between active working and supported population), preventing poverty and social exclusion, etc. Strategic documents, directions and national action-plans determined the concrete measures needed to face the demographic challenges.

In the European Union (EU), as a global economic community, there are countries with very different levels of economic development. Therefore, it takes place unevenly – some countries develop intensively, but with significant changes in it, others – stably, without significant changes, but not intensively, etc. In such a situation, it is important to determine adequately the current state of economic development. It is an integral quantity that combines both development changes and intensity. These two components of development form two of its partial indicators. Combined into one size, they comprehensively reflect the current situation of the country's economic development. Development refers to a process, so it must be assessed not on the basis of the state at the end of the period under consideration, but on the whole of this period. The presentation of development in the sense of recent years does not reflect the overall development process, based on the economic development of countries 2018–2022. Their ranks are determined by the results of the comprehensive assessment. Since they do not adequately reflect the current situation, the countries were combined into homogeneous groups, where countries with close values of the economic development indicator were located. This allows to highlight the economic development trends of EU countries.