Search results for "Economic system"

Contributions of the social economy to the general interest

1997

National Preferences and the European Union Presidency: The Case of German Energy Policy towards Russia*

2011

This article analyses the formation and development of Member State preferences and positions before and during the European Union (EU) Presidency term. The empirical analysis focuses on the Federal Republic of Germany's policy concerning EU–Russian relations, especially regarding energy policy. The extent to which liberal intergovernmentalism (LI) furthers our understanding of state behaviour in the context of the EU Presidency is questioned. The findings suggest that LI adequately explains the formation of German positions prior to assuming office, as its policy objectives are chiefly influenced by domestic producers' interests. However, LI cannot satisfactorily account for German governm…

Governance, entrepreneurship and economic growth

2012

In general terms, governance simply means how an organization is governed. It is the science of government performance and behaviour and it refers to several processes that must include historical, cultural, social and political determinants. For this reason, it is possible to establish a relationship between governance and institutions. Communities of persons, firms and institutions are essential ingredients of good governance and its analysis could be developed considering two possibilities. The first is considering the factors, such as entrepreneurship, by which government would more efficiently increase economic growth. Second is taking into account the economic results obtained by gove…

Community currency (CCs) in Spain: An empirical study of their social effects

2016

Despite its sudden proliferation along the economic crisis period, no previous study has investigated the social effects of the community currency (CCs) experiences in Spain. Previous research on CCs experiences from different countries provided evidences about social capital improvement, introducing CCs as sustainability tools. This research uses the theoretical frameworks of social capital and complex adaptive systems to approach concepts like sustainability, networks, trust, norms, participation and cooperation. Statistical analysis of the data collected in June 2013 through online survey explores social capital and resilience indicators among the Spanish exchange community users, conclu…

Social and solidarity economy and the need for its entrepreneuring ecosystem: Current challenges in Brazil

2020

Made available in DSpace on 2020-12-12T02:05:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2020-01-01 This articles purpose is to discuss the state of the art of the constitution of the entrepreneurial ecosystem for SSE and its application in Brazil. One of the major challenges for the creation, continuity and strengthening of Solidarity Economy Enterprises (SEE) is the effective establishment of an entrepreneurial ecosystem for Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE). The construction of the solidary entrepreneurial ecosystem is a complex task, full of challenges, especially when this construction is associated to structural weaknesses inherent to its modus operandi. Case studies of sev…

Inequalities in the efficiency of the banking sectors of the European Union

2002

The aim of this study was to analyse the inequalities of cost and profit efficiency existing in the banking sectors of the European Union, and the origins of the inequalities observed. The decomposition of the Theil index shows that on the cost side the greatest differences within groups occur when the total sample is divided into institutional groups (commercial banks, saving banks, co-operative banks and other banks), the country effect and the type of productive specialization being more important in explaining the differences between groups. In profit efficiency, there are great differences between countries, but none between specialization clusters.

Electoral vulnerability and size of local governments: Evidence from voting on municipal mergers

2014

Abstract We analyze how anticipated changes in the electoral vulnerability of municipal councilors affect their voting behavior over municipal mergers. The electoral vulnerability changes due to a merger because it changes the composition of political competitors and the number of available seats in the next election. We use this variation for identification and find that the smaller the increase in the electoral vulnerability of a councilor, the more likely he is to vote for the merger. The documented effect is not driven by the behavioral response of the voters, or by party-line considerations. The councilors' desire to avoid personal electoral competition may lead to sub-optimally small …

RIVALRY AND EXCLUDABILITY VERSUS TRANSPORT DEMANDS – EXAMPLES OF IMPACTS

2017

Creative Regions in Europe

2012

This chapter examines the existence of regional agglomerations of manufacturing, service and creative industries, and the relationship between these industries and the wealth of regions. Through an analysis of 250 European regions, three important conclusions can be inferred from the results obtained in this chapter. The first is that creative industries play an important role in the wealth of the regions. The second is that the most creative regions are characterized by having more high-tech manufacturing industries than the rest of the regions, although the number of low-tech manufacturing firms is similar. Lastly, in the richest regions, a greater share of high-tech manufacturing industr…

Territorial Capital and Growth over the Great Recession: a Local Analysis for Italy"

2017

The consequences of the crisis have been mainly analyzed at national/ international levels, neglecting its differential effects on local areas. Notwithstanding the international character of the Great Recession, the different local structural features might have influenced the economic and social impact of the crisis, determining effects on the resilience and recovery chance. In this paper, we focus on the role of different territorial indicators by looking at how their relevance has changed during the recent crisis at provincial level. Our aim is threefold. First, we identify the strategic territorial elements which might be particularly relevant in ensuring a greater local absorption capa…