Search results for "TRADE"
showing 10 items of 1475 documents
EU Referenda in the Baltics: Understanding the Results at the Regional Level
2005
This paper analyses regional differences in EU referenda results in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. In each of the three countries, other things being equal, high income regions were significantly more pro-European than low-income ones, while regions with a high share of ethnic minorities were significantly more opposed to the enlargement than other regions. The ethnic effect was strongest in Latvia and weakest in Estonia. These findings clearly indicate necessity of stronger efforts both in integration of the Baltic societies and in the promotion of reliable EU information, especially in less developed regions. On the other hand, we confirm the findings from earlier referenda that support …
The Multi-Fibre Arrangement—A hydra of protectionism?
1981
Talks are at present in progress in Geneva among 51 industrialised and developing countries on a renewal of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA) which expires at the end of 1981. The preliminaries of the negotiations have already revealed the existence of massive conflicts of interest not only between the industrialised countries on the one hand and the developing countries on the other but also within the two groups. The talks are moreover overshadowed by threats from individual industrialised countries to resort to unilateral protectionist measures unless a result satisfactory to them is achieved. This situation is the more explosive as the outcome of the negotiations is regarded worldwide a…
Free trade and protection of the environment: Is the GATT in need of reform?
1992
The GATT negotiations under the Uruguay Round have almost run their course. However, consultations are certain to continue, as critics regard the GATT rules on environmental protection as inadequate. What aspects need to be reformed, and how might the initial reform measures look?
Crowdfunding in Europe: Between Fragmentation and Harmonization
2020
AbstractThe European crowdfunding market is growing rapidly, especially in continental Europe. At the same time, cross-border activities are still constrained. Fragmented markets, especially caused by differences in regulation, are an obstacle to growth of crowdfunding platforms. The European Union introduced the European Crowdfunding Service Provider (ECSP) Regime in 2019. This harmonized regime applies to crowdfunding platforms intermediating equity and debt investments between businesses and retail investors. This chapter discusses evidence on the fragmented nature of the European crowdfunding market, while presenting the ECSP directive, as a critical regulatory initiative towards harmon…
A Macroeconomic Analysis of Regional Migration in Finland, 1975-95
1999
This study analyzes regional migration in the 85 Finnish subregions during the period 1975-95 using data on net in-migration rates. Both cross-section and panel data methods are employed. The regression analysis reveals that the direction of net in-migration flows can be explained by a set of regionally differing characteristics. Unemployment rates, tax rates, and the share of primary production affect net in-migration negatively, whereas the share of higher education and the growth of regional incomes have a positive effect. This indicates that regional disparities may not be alleviated by migration, but there is some evidence for a cumulative causation growth pattern induced by net in-mig…
The Importance of Creative Services Firms in Explaining the Wealth of European Regions
2013
This chapter shows the important impact that a specific set of services, those belonging to the creative industries, have on regional economic development and wealth generation. Creative industries are a set of knowledge-based activities focused on the generation of meaning, contents and aesthetic attributes through the use of creativity, skill and talent, and have the potential to create wealth from trade and intellectual property rights. A key hypothesis in this paper is that creative services firms are a “growth driver” that promotes wealth in the regions where they are located. This is due to the fact that firms in creative industries introduce new ideas that are subsequently transferre…
QUALITY COMPETITIVENESS OF LATVIA’S WOOD INDUSTRY
2012
Quality is a complex phenomenon and there exist no general accepted definition, which fits every purpose and all the complexities in teal economics. While competitiveness of enterprises has been studied by many scholars around the world, competitiveness of nations is a relatively new discipline. Studies of export competitiveness in the world markets are not new. Several attempts to evaluate export competitiveness have been made in the past, primarily in Eastern Europe. In Czechoslovakia, for example, a detailed and comprehensive analysis of the study was undertaken already in the 1960’s. Similar approach was used by World Bank studies of the price and quality competitiveness of exports by o…
Checks and balances and international openness
1991
In the course of a long digression within his famous inspection of Plato’s political philosophy, Karl Popper (1945: 121) argues that “the problem of politics” is the following: “How can we so organize political institutions that bad or incompetent rulers can be prevented from doing too much damage?” Popper’s answer is: “the theory of checks and balances”, which he defines as the striving to establish “institutional control of the rulers by balancing their powers against other powers” (122). From that general approach to “the problem of politics”, it follows that democracy is definitely not the rule of the majority, or the sovereignty of the people (a conception that entails various paradoxe…
Which innovation strategy do internationalised firms follow?: evidence from Spain
2016
This paper compares the innovation strategy of internationalised firms, foreign-owned subsidiaries and domestic exporters, relative to firms that serve the domestic market only. The analysis is performed on a sample of manufacturing Spanish firms over the period 2006-2011. We not only focus on different forms of innovation, distinguishing between imitation and pioneer innovation, but also on the heterogeneity of exporters and foreign-owned firms. We find that foreign-owned firms and domestic exporters (excluding those serving only the EU market) are more likely to introduce market novelties ahead of competitors in low-tech sectors and, to a lesser extent, imitate more than local firms. Howe…
Application of a genetic algorithm in calibration of traffic microsimulation models
2017
This chapter describes the genetic algorithm-based calibration procedure for a microscopic traffic simulation model focusing on freeways and modern roundabouts. For both case studies, the genetic algorithm tool in MATLAB® was applied in order to reach the convergence between the outputs from Aimsun microscopic simulator and the observed data. The automatic interaction with Aimsun software was implemented through an original external Python script. Results showed that the genetic algorithm-based calibration procedure gave a better match to the observed data than simple manual calibration and the efficiency of the calibration efforts resulted significantly improved. At last, the calbrated mod…