Suchergebnisse

The objective of this paper is to evaluate the degree of financial integration achieved in the European Union based on covered interest parity and using Generalized Maximum Entropy. EU countries are divided into two groups according to their current situation with respect to the adoption of the euro. Financial integration before the adoption of the euro is analyzed for the countries that adopted the euro in 1999. Similarly, current financial integration is evaluated for non-euro EU countries. Besides the importance of comparing the situation of the non-euro EU countries with the situation of the euro EU countries previous to the euro adoption, which may be useful to evaluate an eventual decision of the non-euro members to adopt the euro, it is interesting to analyze the performance of Generalized Maximum Entropy. Generalized Maximum Entropy has the ability to estimate the parameters of a regression model without imposing any constrains on the probability distribution of errors and it is robust even when we have ill-posed problems. Overall our results suggest that the degree of financial integration on non-euro countries is lower than the degree of financial integration that existed among euro adopting countries before the adoption of the euro.

The objective of this paper is to evaluate the degree of financial integration achieved in the European Union based on covered interest parity and using Generalized Maximum Entropy. EU countries are divided into two groups according to their current situation with respect to the adoption of the euro. Financial integration before the adoption of the euro is analyzed for the countries that adopted the euro in 1999. Similarly, current financial integration is evaluated for non-euro EU countries. Besides the importance of comparing the situation of the non-euro EU countries with the situation of the euro EU countries previous to the euro adoption, which may be useful to evaluate an eventual decision of the non-euro members to adopt the euro, it is interesting to analyze the performance of Generalized Maximum Entropy. Generalized Maximum Entropy has the ability to estimate the parameters of a regression model without imposing any constrains on the probability distribution of errors and it is robust even when we have ill-posed problems. Overall our results suggest that the degree of financial integration on non-euro countries is lower than the degree of financial integration that existed among euro adopting countries before the adoption of the euro.

The Open Access movement started as an answer to the 'journals crisis' and has developed into worldwide initiatives to speed up and renew the process of scholarly communication and to improve the access to research publications and data. Open Access is currently being promoted by researchers and librarians, but also by university boards, national governments, funding bodies and the European Commission. The development of University mandates, Open Access Journals, institutional and subject repositories will be discussed. The focus will be on the developments in Europe and on the involvement and role of research libraries. Experiences with repositories learn that it is important that the deposit of publications is integrated in the workflow of the researcher and that repositories are seamlessly linked with the research information system. It is a great challenge to renovate the process of scholarly communication in such a way that open access can be provided to scholarly information, with maintaining the principles of quality control, certification and peer review. Research communities can play a key role in the development of new models and the creation of sustainable solutions, but leadership of university managers is essential to pave the way and to create the conditions for change.

The main purpose of this article is to build on previous efforts to investigate the effects of Out-ward-FDI promotion measures taken by governments and levels of outward foreign investment at regional level. We examine regional levels of outward FDI within Italy, a country with marketed regional asymmetries. Within the European arena, the heterogeneity of socio-economic condi-tions among Italian regions is a clear example of intra-border imbalances. In fact, the different growth rates characterizing the various areas of Italy are far from being an exception in the Un-ion, where diversity across member states is a reflection of domestic socio-economic disparities strongly concentrated in space and reproduced over time. The study allows also to investigate and to compare different types of incentives (financial and non-financial). Finally it provides evi-dences on the non-policy factors that determine the spatial evolution of O-FDI projects, a theme deserving careful and close attention. For the empirical model we use information on the population of Italian firms that received in-centives from 2000-2007. Data, aggregated at the regional level, refers to the major public tools implemented to promote Italian companies' internationalization.

Over the past decade, there has been increasing interest in the European Union in the question of media regulation. The oldest media regulation system, that of the Swedish Ombudsman and Press Council, dates from 1916. That model, and many others of more recent date, form part of the AIPCE – the Alliance of Independent Press Councils of Europe. To the best of my knowledge, no two press councils in Europe are the same. This is not a weakness. It reflects the fact that each institution has emerged organically from the culture and history of the state in which it is situated. The name of our organization – it is an "Alliance", not an "Association" - underlines the fact that uniformity of structure, or of policy, is neither desirable nor necessary. At the same time, the existence and the regular meetings of the Alliance provide an invaluable forum for the exchange of views and experiences, so that each local organization can benefit from the accumulated wisdom of the others. What I have to say to you today is based largely on that shared experience, for which I am grateful to my colleagues in a number of other countries.

Multilevel governance is widely recognized as one of the striking features of local development policy implementation and management. In Lombardia, Italy, this framework has been applied in the context of European Regional Development Fund actions in order to increase the number and quality of projects. As a consequence the governance of regional development policies now has new meta-actors: the Programmi Integrati per lo Sviluppo Locale (PISL) aimed at promoting and soliciting projects to be submitted for funding by the regional government. In this paper we evaluate the impact of this new governance structure by estimating a discrete choice model over a sample of more than 6000 projects submitted for funding to the Regional Government of Lombardia. We find that projects within the context of the PISL have a slightly greater probability of being funded, although we cannot exclude the existence of adverse selection because we also find that those projects are, on average, of lower quality from a purely formal viewpoint. We finally argue in favour of this new governance structure, even though we identify some critical points to be addressed in the next planning period in order to enhance the effectiveness of development policies.

An alkali stable polyamidase was isolated from a new strain of Nocardia farcinica. The enzyme consists of four subunits with a total molecular weight of 190 kDa. The polyamidase cleaved amide and ester bonds of water insoluble model substrates like adipic acid bishexylamide and bis(benzoyloxyethyl)terephthalate and hydrolyzed different soluble amides to the corresponding acid. Treatment of polyamide 6 with this amidase led to an increased hydrophilicity based on rising height and tensiometry measurements and evidence of surface hydrolysis of polyamide 6 is shown. In addition to amidase activity, the enzyme showed activity on p-nitrophenylbutyrate. On hexanoamide the amidase exhibited a Km value of 5.5 mM compared to 0.07 mM for p-nitroacetanilide. The polyamidase belongs to the amidase signature family and is closely related to aryl acylamidases from different strains/species of Nocardia and to the 6-aminohexanoate-cyclic dimer hydrolase (EI) from Arthrobacter sp. KI72. ; We would like to thank Markus List for measuring of the hydrophilicity of PA fabrics. The research was financed by the Commission of the European Union (GRD2000-30110 BIOSNYTEX), the Austrian FFG, the SFG, the City of Graz, and the Province of ...

ABSTRACTFirm success is often associated with the development of better products. Private firms undertake applied R&D seeking market advantage, by capitalizing on the freely accessible results of basic research. But unpatentable basic research often fails to address applied R&D open problems. What is the role of the incentives in improving the innovative performance of an economy by matching partially motivated public researchers to their mission? Sometimes government‐funded research projects are mission‐directed, and yet in many cases the public sector academics indulge in carrier‐driven research. An innovation system where, as in the United States, basic research is also driven by patents implicitly sets an ex‐post incentive to the researchers guided by invisible hand. For a public innovation system – like the European one – designing an incentive scheme to motivate public researchers is of key importance for fostering the performance of the economic system. This paper extends the Schumpeterian multisector growth model with vertical innovation by highlighting a link between the degree of 'targetness' of public research and aggregate innovation. A positive effect of social capital is also proved.

The aim of this paper is to estimate the joint impact on the distribution of household income and poverty of the implementation of two major anti‐poverty measures in Portugal: the "Solidarity Supplement for the Elderly" (CSI) and the "Social Integration Income" (RSI). These two means‐tested measures were designed as the main components of the anti‐poverty social policy in Portugal, but they are directed at different groups of the population and have different objectives in terms of poverty reduction. Implemented since 1997, the aim of the RSI is to reduce extreme poverty through the reduction of poverty intensity of the most vulnerable sectors of the population. The CSI,gradually introduced since 2006, has the explicit objective of reducing the incidence of poverty on older people, its threshold defined at the level of the poverty line. Using a prototype of the Portuguese microsimulation model MicroSimPT , based on household micro‐data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU‐SILC), we simulate the impact of each measure and their joint effect on the income distribution and on different dimensions of monetary poverty. The size of government expenditure required to finance these programs will also be estimated.

By the end of the former century there were less than 10 commercial vintners producing wine in Denmark. There was widespread acceptance of the view that commercial production of wine in the most northern parts of Europe was impossible. However, the number of commercial wine growers in Denmark grew to more than 60 at the end of year 2009 and the Association of Danish Winegrowers now counts more than 1400 members. Denmark can no longer be seen as a non-wine producing country! Formally, the transformation of Denmark to a wine producing country took place in year 2000 when Denmark was accepted as a commercial wine producing nation within the European Union. Based on a remarkably detailed micro data set this paper first gives a description of wine production in Denmark and thereafter we address the question whether vineyard characteristics are important for the quality of the wine and/or whether individual characteristics of the wine grower are important. Using a hedonic model the focus is especially on the importance of general factors like the type of soil, slope, geography, grape variety etc. in relation to the awards obtained by the respective vineyards.

Book reviewed in this issue.How to Save a Crowded Planet: A Review Essay Review of Jeffrey D. Sachs, Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet.Matthew ConnellyFatal Misconception: The Struggle to Control World Population Review Symposium: Review by John ClelandMatthew ConnellyFatal Misconception: The Struggle to Control World Population Review Symposium: Review by Malcolm PottsMatthew ConnellyFatal Misconception: The Struggle to Control World Population Review Symposium: Review by Dennis HodgsonArland Thornton, William G. Axinn, and Yu XieMarriage and CohabitationIsabella AboderínIntergenerational Support and Old Age in AfricaRobert EngelmanMore: Population, Nature, and What Women Want SHORT REVIEWS
by John Bongaarts, Susan Greenhalgh, Geoffrey McNicoll, Adam Weiner Daniela Del Boca and Cécile Wetzels (eds.) Social Policies, Labour Markets and Motherhood: A Comparative Analysis of European CountriesMarito Garcia and Jean Fares (eds.) Youth in Africa's Labor MarketAlan D. Lopez, Colin D. Mathers, Majid Ezzati, Dean T. Jamison, and Christopher J. L. MurrayGlobal Burden of Disease and Risk FactorsJames Raymer and Frans Willekens (eds.) International Migration in Europe: Data, Models and EstimatesLisa Ann RicheyPopulation Politics and Development: From the Policies to the ClinicsUnited NationsWorld Economic and Social Survey 2007: Development in an Ageing WorldWorld Health OrganizationWHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2008: The MPOWER Package

The UK Government's National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal (2001) identified ways in which the voluntary and community sectors are to be supported in developing their `capacity'. We can begin to reflect on current practice and experience and identify early trends. This article will draw on a completed evaluation of the development of a community centre funded via the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). It had as its remit that of increasing local capacity in the community and supporting new employment opportunities. The initiative established a local partnership that had a significant number of local residents and tenants on the management board. The article will suggest that while both the model developed and the expertise of those involved have a number of positive features there are important policy and practice issues still to be resolved. In particular, we need to be clear about both the intended (and unstated) assumptions surrounding `capacity building' and the potential limits to local or neighbourhood partnerships, and the real conflicts of interests they contain. Specifically, we need to think more clearly about securing relative independence for such initiatives, and what this may mean for all parties involved.

This article analyzes variations in interaction with non‐coresident adult kin based on comparable cross‐national surveys conducted in 2001 in 27 countries. The two main dimensions of kin contact are considered: (1) overall levels and (2) the relative emphasis given to contacts with primary kin (parents, adult children, siblings) and secondary kin (aunts, cousins, in‐laws). Age‐adjusted variations in kin contact between countries are much greater than those within countries. These results do not confirm the commonly hypothesized existence of well‐defined family system boundaries in Europe arising from historical factors. The similarity of patterns of countries outside Europe with European countries with which they have historical ties suggests cultural factors are important in explaining interaction with kin, whereas welfare regimes appear to have little explanatory value. Within Europe, kin contact levels are more strongly related to a north/south divide than to indicators of economic development or religiosity. The findings suggest that neither of the extreme assumptions—homogenizing pressures toward a nuclear family model or persistent well‐defined groupings arising from historical contexts—can be substantiated. Rather, there is a continuum in family behaviors over a substantial range, related to a number of explanatory factors.

Abstract This article analyses recent changes in the Greek and Spanish national health services. The aim is to assess how the period of austerity and further recovery during the 1990s and early 2000s impacted on them in terms of equity and efficiency. This is of interest because of the closeness in time between the universalizing reform laws and the arrival of the conditions for economic convergence established in the Maastricht Treaty. The analysis is also attractive because it deals with the transformation of already mature health insurance systems into national health services, a transformation that is novel in European welfare history. The article addresses the questions of whether austerity has hindered full implementation of the reform laws enacted in the early to mid‐1980s, examining reform trajectories and financing and expenditure trends. Furthermore, it considers the impact on access, understood in terms of population coverage, the array of services provided, waiting lists, and territorial inequalities. Finally, it discusses the introduction of new managerial formulas and attempts at enhancing efficiency. The concluding section states that divergent trajectories have occurred, thus rendering the definition of a 'Southern model of health care' difficult. It also provides explanations of the trajectories followed in both national cases and informs on prospects for the future.

Relationship lending is a common practice in credit financing all over the world, notably also in the European Union, which has been assumed to be particularly beneficial for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). During recent years, there has been the impression that relationship lending loses ground due to a change of the banks' business models, which could ultimately yield to a worsening of the business environment for corporates and SMEs. In this study, we investigate the determinants of relationship lending for Germany, where relationship lending traditionally plays an important role. Compared to previous studies, we refer to much more comprehensive data with information on more than 16,000 firm-bank relationships. Our findings confirm the assumption that relationship lending seems to be an important pillar for economic growth and employment: We find that the firms that are most likely to contribute to (future) economic growth, namely small and R&D-intensive firms, tend to choose a relationship lender. The same is observed for firms of high credit quality, independent of their size or R&D intensity. Furthermore, we also observe that the importance of relationship lending did not decrease since the mid 1990s.