Search results for "Union"
showing 10 items of 2069 documents
Entrepreneurs’ Exit and Paths to Retirement: Theoretical and Empirical Considerations
2019
The number of ageing entrepreneurs in micro- and small-sized companies is rapidly increasing in Finland and other European Union countries. Over half a million jobs, in over one hundred thousand companies within the EU, are lost annually due to unsuccessful, predominantly retirement-related transfers of businesses. This challenge coincides with EU Grand Challenges and has been highlighted in the Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan (European Commission 2013). It has been estimated that in Finland, some 8000 jobs are lost yearly due to the ageing of entrepreneurs. Therefore, entrepreneur ageing has implications not only for the ageing individual but also for the company and the society at large…
Environmental productivity in the European Union: A global Luenberger-metafrontier approach
2019
This paper studies environmental productivity in the European Union-28 (EU-28) by extending the methodology proposed by Oh (2010) to an additive Luenberger-metafrontier framework. The main advantage of this approach is that it allows the analyst to account for cross-country heterogeneity. Using data on GDP, environmental pressures and inputs, the change in environmental productivity and its determinants between the years 2001 and 2016 is assessed in several scenarios; heterogeneity is accounted for by differentiating between the members of the former European Union-15 (EU-15) and the new members that joined the EU-28 from the 2000s onwards. Our results show an improvement in environmental p…
Neural Modeling of Greenhouse Gas Emission from Agricultural Sector in European Union Member Countries
2018
The present paper discusses a novel methodology based on neural network to determine agriculture emission model simulations. Methane and nitrous oxide are the key pollutions among greenhouse gases being a major contribution to climate changes because of their high potential global impact. Using statistical clustering (k-means and Ward’s method), five meaningful clusters of countries with similar level of greenhouse gases emission were identified. Neural modeling using multi-layer perceptron networks was performed for countries placed in particular groups. The parameters that characterize the quality of a network are the predictive errors (mainly validation and test) and they are high (0.97–…
Introduction of the circular economy within developing regions: A comparative analysis of advantages and opportunities for waste valorization
2018
The introduction of effective solid waste management strategies in developing countries should be considered for improving sustainability at global level. Many barriers should be overcome, concerning the introduction of environmental policies, effective investments, social inclusion and public awareness, which are significant issues in low-middle income countries. The Circular Economy could represent the answer for improving current solid waste management activities worldwide, since denote the principle of waste valorization and recycling for boosting developing economies. This paper is focused on this theme, analyzing main opportunities for improving the current state of solid waste manage…
Evaluation of the current status of operating and closed landfills in Russia, Finland and Ireland with regard to water pollution and methane emission
2003
The annual production of municipal solid wastes (MSW) in Russia, Finland and Ireland in the late 1990s accounts for 37.5, 2.5 and 2.05 mln. tonnes or 252, 488 and 566 kg per capita, respectively. 96.5, 64 and 91% of these wastes (for Russia, Finland and Ireland, correspondingly) are currently disposed of via landfilling. However, nowadays, MSW management in these countries is undergoing drastic changes (source separation, closure of old landfills, reduction of the number of landfills etc.) forced by recent legislation set by the European Union and Russian authorities. This paper evaluates the current status of MSW landfills, as well as information on current leachate and methane emissions i…
Performance in the treatment of municipal waste: Are European Union member states so different?
2019
Abstract Efficient management and treatment of municipal waste is essential for achieving green growth. Recent studies have revealed convergence in European Union (EU) member states' performance in municipal waste treatment, particularly since the transposition of the 2008 European Waste Framework Directive into national laws. However, there are still notable differences between countries. In this paper, we calculate a composite indicator of performance in municipal waste treatment at the country-level. We also present an in-depth examination of differences in performance across EU member states. Our results show that the best performers—mainly high income Northern and Central European coun…
Efficiency of wastewater treatment facilities: The influence of scale economies.
2018
The water cycle, from catchment to discharge, is a sector that involves an important investment and operation and maintenance costs. In particular, sewage treatment is a challenge for governments because they are having to consider economic, environmental, and social aspects. Within the European Union, implementation of Directive 91/271/EEC is responsible for the location of wastewater treatment facilities in the territory, due to the requirement that all urban areas must have this infrastructure to reduce the environmental impact of treated water in water bodies. Different sizes of municipalities affect the design of each wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and cause variations in the operat…
Essays in Macroeconomics: Growth, Macroeconomic Volatility and Currency Unions
2011
Essays in Macroeconomics: Growth, Macroeconomic Volatility and Currency Unions Essays in Macroeconomics: Growth, Macroeconomic Volatility and Currency Unions
Understanding maritime transport route choice among Irish exporters: A latent class approach
2021
Abstract The reduction in the level of maritime connectivity between Ireland and mainland Europe has been the focus of concern for Irish exporters since the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union in January 2019. In a post-Brexit scenario, new proposals are being sought to address Ireland's reliance on the UK land-bridge. Policy developments aimed at circumventing the potential negative impact of UK customs checks for Irish exports include the proposals by the European Commission to introduce new direct shipping routes connecting main ports in Ireland with Zeebrugge and Antwerp in Belgium, as well as with Rotterdam in the Netherlands. From a transport policy perspective, f…
Higher education institutions, economic growth and GDP per capita in European Union countries
2018
This paper presents an estimation of the contribution of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to economic growth and the Gross Domestic Product per capita of the European (EU) countries over the pe...