Suchergebnisse

The Great Lockdown has caused severe economic distractions to the majority of world countries, and de-globalization trends have started to increase. Globalization was to an extent beneficial for smaller economies, and it was one of the factors contributing to the rise in the number of countries around the world during the last few decades. According to the perceived larger openness and vulnerability of smaller states, it is thus expected that those countries are hit much harder by the economic contraction, as their outputs are much more volatile in relation to the economic cycles. In this context, the paper intends to investigate the exposure of European states to the current lockdown, where the focus is particularly on assessing the fiscal impacts of the lockdown. The main research question is whether there are any differences regarding the fiscal functions of government between smaller and larger states. This is addressed through the cross-national comparative investigation based on data for 44 European countries; and we specifically assess how fiscal activities of government differentiate among smaller and larger states. The results of the study suggest that the effect of the size of the state does not affect the consumption spending of government, but the size variable matters for the transfer expenditures. This piece of research would like to add to the development of the discipline of small state studies, in particular to the issue of their vulnerability and changing global economic environment.

Purpose: Small state studies has emerged as a discipline, and this discipline has been initially dominated mainly by the issues of vulnerability and a lack of capacities of small states, although these issues have been gradually replaced by the discussions on the potential opportunities of small states, not just their challenges. Within this framework, the consideration needs to be done also on the effect of the state size on the economics, governance and public management, among others. Design/methodology/approach: The current theorizing in small state studies focuses on the specifics of the small economy modelling and governance. The existing economic literature has occasionally stressed the relations between the size of the state and size of government, but with rather mixed empirical results. Moreover, relations between state size and quality of governance has also been emerging issue. This study would like to integrate both approaches. The empirical research utilizes cross-national comparative investigation based on the data for 44 European states; and we specifically assess, in addition to the existing approaches, how budgetary and non-budgetary scope of government differentiates among smaller and larger states. Findings: The results of the study suggest that the effect of the size of the state does not necessary favour larger states in respect to the smaller size of government and quality of governance. Thus, although potential scale economies matter regarding the public services' provision, the structure of spending, institutional context, and innovations in public service delivery modes also have the role in shaping scope and functions of the government, whereas quality of governance seems to be independent regarding the state size, at least in the European context. Research limitations/implications: Analysis is limited to the cluster of European states, and the results should be interpreted within this context. Originality/value: After the World War II the number of states has increased substantially, in fact, it has tripled. We are currently living in the era of small states, as more than one third of the existing two hundred and more states around the globe are actually small, if we assess the multiple criteria combination. In this context, this paper would like to add to the development of the field of small state studies.

Koncept ili oznaka pametnog grada postala je sve popularnija u znanstvenoj literaturi, kao i u kreiranju suvremene urbane politike, gdje se popularizira u svrhu rješavanja složenih urbanih problema. Ovaj rad usredotočuje se na pregled postojeće literature o ovom konceptu uz primjenu pristupa analize kodiranja sadržaja. Istraživanjem se potvrđuje da se u zadnje vrijeme ovaj koncept popularizira, te preuzima (i zamjenjuje) ulogu nekih starih pojmova, što bi se djelomično moglo pripisati njegovoj terminološkoj neutralnosti i širem sadržaju koji pokušava obuhvatiti. Međutim, glavni praktični poticaj za njegov rast popularnosti može se pripisati tehnološkom zamahu. Sve veći broj istraživanja ovog područja djelomično odražava i dostupnost sredstava za istraživanje, što ukazuje da je istraživanje pametnih gradova također temeljeno na politici. Slijedeći ovaj trend, ne treba zanemariti potencijal za nastajanje novih oznaka gradova u budućnosti. ; Smart city concept or label has become increasingly popular in scientific literature as well as in contemporary urban policy-making, where it has been popularized for the purpose of solving complex urban problems. This paper focuses on the review of the existing literature on this concept, following mainly manifest content analysis approach. The scrutinisation process reveals that this concept has been indeed popularized recently, overtaking (and substituting) some more older concepts, which could be partly contributed to its terminological neutrality and broader content that it tries to address. However, the main practical impetus for the growth of popularity can be attributed to the technology push. The increase in the volume of research partially also reflects the availability of research funds, thus indicating that smart city investigation is also policy-driven topic. Following a trajectory, a potential for the new city label emergence in the future should not be disregarded.

Paper estimates productivity change in 10 Slovenian urban (city) municipalities during the period 2009-2012. Total factor productivity (TFP) change is estimated with input-orientated Malmquist productivity indices, which enables the productivity change to be decomposed into technical efficiency change and into technological change. The results indicate that average TFP annual means decreased by 5.8 % during the report period, and only one urban municipality experienced productivity improvement. Besides, technological regress can be identified as the main source of TFP decrease during the report period.

The purpose of this paper is to provide the evidence on the "stickiness" of intergovernmental transfers. Namely, intergovernmental transfers have fiscal (expenditure) effects as they stimulate provision of local government goods and services, and this expenditure effect should be larger for the matching grants and smaller for lump-sum transfers. It is also expected that this effect would be larger than the equivalent increase in local income, prediction labelled as fly-paper effect when related to lump-sum transfers. Empirical research for Slovenian municipalities provides the evidence that the magnitude of expenditure effects of various categories of intergovernmental transfers is substantially lower compared to international findings, and in some cases the effect is even smaller than the effect of per-capita income.

Namen prispevka je s pomočjo ekonometrične analize preveriti določene teoretično utemeljene ekonomske, politične, družbene, demografske in kulturne dejavnike, ki naj bi povzročali razlike v velikosti javnega sektorja med državami, pri čemer se analiza usmerja tako na velikost »fiskalnega« dela javnega sektorja, merjenega z deležem posamezne kategorije javnih izdatkov v bruto domačem proizvodu, kot »nefiskalnega « oz. »tihega« dela javnega sektorja, merjenega z makro obsegom regulacije zasebnega sektorja. Splošna ugotovitev analize je, da so ekonomski dejavniki pomembnejši pri analizi obsega regulacije in javnih izdatkov za nakupe dobrin in storitev, medtem ko so drugi dejavniki pomembnejši pri analizi transfernih izdatkov. Ena izmed pomembnejših ugotovitev analize je tudi, da se velikosti fiskalnega dela in nefiskalnega dela javnega sektorja gibljeta v nasprotni smeri.

Non-profit or third sector is a very diverse sector and its socio-economic importance is rising in modern societies, although the way in which this sector is operating is changing dramatically, causing that dividing lines with for-profit and government sector are blurring. Nevertheless, quite substantial differences can be observed in the development and relative size of non-profit sector across countries, several factors potentially contributing to those differences. Consequently, the purpose of the paper is to theoretically and empirically investigate the effect of governmental interventionism, level of economic development and extent of societal heterogeneity on the variations in the size of the non-profit sector across countries, since theory predicts certain macro relations between those variables. Furthermore, the paper tries to address certain limitation and pitfalls of the development of non-profit sector in the future, predominantly related to increased pressures for commercialisation and performance orientation.

This paper empirically analyses average costs function and technical efficiency for 200 Slovenian municipalities in the year 2011. The methodology is based on the econometric estimation of the average costs function and stochastic parametric analysis of best-practice frontier to address technical inefficiencies. The results reveal that the average costs function for Slovenian municipalities is U-shaped, and the estimated least-cost size of the municipality implies that the current number of municipalities is not optimal. Besides, the average technical efficiency of Slovenian municipalities is approximately 22-25% above estimated best-practice frontier. Following, the issues related to municipal consolidation and increased efficiency should be promoted.

AbstractAt the height of the migration crisis, around 2.4 million asylum claims were submitted in the European Union Member States. The enormous weight of a massive inflow of migrants and immigration‐related threat perceptions prompted Member States to start reintroducing border controls at EU internal borders, which resulted in a 'temporary suspension' of the Schengen agreement on open borders. With the use of zero‐sum phenomena and application of public goods theory to asylum policy, the article seeks to explain the influence of a structural limitation of European integration in the form of asymmetric integration of asylum policy on the sustainability of the Schengen agreement on open borders. To eliminate this structural limitation and thus strengthen the sustainability of the Schengen agreement on open borders, the article proposes a fully functioning Common European Asylum System (CEAS) based on a unified asylum system and governed by a centralized EU institution.

The paper presents the legal status of existing public enterprises in Slovenia before and after the adoption of Public-Private Partnership Act, that demanded the reorganization of existing public enterprises in the period 2007-2009. The paper also presents the analysis of local public utilities delivery mechanisms in Slovenia, focusing on the local public utilities providers in the field of water and waste management. The aim of the paper is to introduce the changes in the legal status of existing public enterprises, caused by new legislation and also to give an insight into the current state of local public utilities providers in the field of water and waste management. The results confirm the fact that public enterprise is the most common organizational form of local public utilities providers in the field of water and waste management and lead to conclusion that in the reorganization process the majority of existing public enterprises retained the status of a public enterprise.