Suchergebnisse

For stability in the Black Sea region, the West should seek to converge with its most potent regional ally, Turkey.

This study aims at unveiling regional development differences in Norway with respect to various natural resource-based activities that take place in the NUTS 3 regions. Norway's natural riches range from agricultural and forest resources to fisheries, mines, petroleum and gas. Considering the possible spatial links for various regional characteristics of the Norwegian economy, this study does not only reveal the wide-ranging distribution of resource-based activities, but also sheds light on divergent income and population patterns in the Norwegian regions. Besides, these patterns are investigated through a number of models that test the impact of employment, investment and value added in natural resource sectors on regional differences. The main findings suggest that mining and quarrying as well as oil and gas extraction activities generate significant advantages for regional income generation whereas each resource type affects the distribution of population in a different way.

Economies of war underpinned by greed and opportunities have been posited to underlie causality, dynamics and the sustenance of conflicts – particularly Africa's resource wars. This study examines the economy of conflict in the resource conflicts in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. It found that a conflict economy comprising an intensive and violent struggle for resource opportunities, inter and intra communal/ethnic conflicts over resources, and the theft and trading in refined and crude oil has blossomed since the 1990s. This paper examines the interfaces between the Nigerian state, multinational oil companies, the international community, and youth militias with the economy. This paper found that though the economy did not cause the conflict, it has become a part of the resistance and a resource for sustaining it. The economy underpins an extensive proliferation of arms and the institutions of violence and the pervasiveness of crime, violence and communal/ethnic conflicts.

One way to analyse the actual state of economics can be done by quantitative illustration of the financial power of households. The current economical crisis has the greatest negative impact on the poorest households below the poverty threshold. Therefore, this paper focuses on quantification of the financial situation of households in individual regions in correlation with the poverty threshold. It contains description of methods used and results of their application with respect to evaluation of spatial distribution of poverty of population on the regional level in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The methodology is based on finite mixtures of regression models that belong to methods called Model Based Clustering. It concerns special methods of clustering of objects that are based on probability models. The criterion for clustering of regions is the level of risk of poverty rate of households. The regions are divided into three clusters (components) - "rich", "middle", and "poor". The households are scored according to the level of national poverty threshold, in our case according to the level 60% of median of the national equivalised disposable household income. The results of the statistical survey EU SILC (European Union - Statistics on Income and Living Conditions) made by the Czech Statistical Office and the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic in year 2005 through 2009 form the data base. All calculations have been made in the freeware programming environment R, which is accessible on the internet (http://cran.r-project.org/). For the purpose of modelling of the poverty rate of households using the regression clusters, the upgrade package flexmix was used.

Centre de Recherches en Economie Régionale et Politique Economique (CERPE). FUNDP, University of Namur. Rempart de la Vierge, 8. B-5000 Namur. Belgium. A previous version of this paper has been presented at the 46th Congress of the European Regional Science Association, August 30-September 3, Volos, Greece. Nicolas Debarsy is gratefully acknowledged for his useful assistance. The authors would also like to thank Henri de Groot, Centraal Planbureau, and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. Errors are ours. ; The purpose of this paper is to investigate how national interpersonal transfer policies affect regions' economic growth. Reviewing the economic literature, we found only incidental evidences and contradictory conclusions. Our objective is to provide some statistical evidence of the relation between interregional interpersonal redistribution towards poor European regions and their relative growth. Using some recent developments in the field of spatial data analysis, we found that interpersonal transfers do not seem to affect negatively the economic growth of poor European regions, while it is not possible to assert their impact on rich regions. ; El propósito de este artículo es investigar cómo las políticas de transferencias interpersonales a nivel nacional afectan el desarrollo económico de las regiones. Tras una revisión de la literatura económica, encontramos solamente evidencias fortuitas y conclusiones contradictorias. Nuestro objetivo es proporcionar evidencia estadística acerca de la relación entre la redistribución interpersonal interregional hacia regiones europeas pobres y su crecimiento relativo. Usando algunos desarrollos recientes en el campo del análisis de datos espaciales, encontramos que las transferencias interpersonales no parecen afectar negativamente el desarrollo económico de regiones europeas pobres, mientras que no es posible afirmar su impacto en regiones ricas.

AbstractThis paper analyses thse evolution of productivity disparities across 156 European regions in the period 2000–2015. Using regional data, a battery of inequality indexes enables us to assess the extent of regional disparities. After confirming that labour productivity is the main component of income disparities, a dynamic shift‐share analysis is carried out at a 10‐industry level of disaggregation. The study evaluates the relative role of the three components underlying the disparities in regional productivity: changes in the industry mix, and within‐ and between‐industry productivity gaps. The main results can be summarised as follows. First, regional disparities are on the rise again in the EU. Second, most regions are now closer to the average, while a small group of the richest regions are moving further away. Third, the main drivers of productivity disparities are within‐industry differences in labour productivity with regard to the richest regions and, less importantly, the specialisation of the richest regions in more progressive industries. Finally, the net effect of structural change is still making a positive contribution to convergence with the leading regions.

Though the European Union (EU) is a development conversion machine for national economies, it is less so for subnational regions. EU accession countries have been catching up to regional averages in terms of economic development since they joined the union. The economic success of the accession countries reduced disparities in national GDP per capita, but since 2005 both EU-wide and in most individual countries the gap between most- and least-developed subnational regions has been widening. This suggests that in accession countries growth, and its benefits are concentrated in a few regions, mostly large cities and national capitals, while many areas fall further behind. Slovakia illustrates the difference between national convergence and subnational divergence. While Slovakia is considered one of the EU's economic stars, it also has some of the union's highest regional disparities. Slovakia's impressive economic gains over the last two decades were led by Bratislava region, which in 2016 became the sixth richest region in the EU by GDP per capita. On the other hand, Eastern Slovakia, which includes Prešov, is among the poorest regions in the EU. This report on the Prešov region of Slovakia, reviews patterns of regional development in Slovakia, discusses opportunities and challenges of the Prešov region, and recommends policy actions for the region.

Objectives: The study is aimed at assessing the profile of unnatural death in an oil-rich city in Niger Delta region. Method: This is a descriptive retrospective study of all homicidal, accidental and suicidal deaths examined forensically at theCentral hospital mortuary, Warri from January 2003 to December 2016. Results: Unatural death accounted for 802( 82.5% ) of all medicolegal cases examined within the study period. Homicidal, accidental and suicidal deaths accounted for 541(67.5%),(247) 29.7% and 14(1.1%)respectively of the unnatural deaths. A total of 713(88.9%) males and 89(11.1%) females were encountered , giving a male-female ratio(MFR)of 8:1. The mean age of the victims is 32.7 years with the peak occurring in the 3rd decade.The most commonly used weapon for homicidal death is firearms, accounting for 374(69.1%) of cases. Accidental death result mainly from RTA, drowning, burns and electrocution whichrespectivelyaccounted for 142(57.5%) 34(13.8%)26(10.5%) and 19(7.7%) of the cases; and with a MFR of 6:1. 14 cases of suicides were encountered during the study involving 11 males and 3 females, giving a MFR of 7:2. Conclusion: The causes of unnatural death are mainly preventable.The resultant premature death, affecting mainly males of productive age is a great source of concern. There is need for the government, the community and individuals to contribute their quotas in reversing this ugly trend.