POLONIA dynamics during the years 2006–2012 and the effectiveness of the monetary Policy of the National Bank of Poland

In the study we investigate the effectiveness of the National Bank of Poland in counteracting the negative results of the financial crisis in the Polish interbank market. The situation was exceptional in a sense, that during the period of the financial crisis the Polish interbank market experienced liquidity surplus, and the main problem of the central bank was to regain confidence among commercial banks and stimulate interbank transactions. We concentrate on the spread between the rate of overnight interbank loans and the reference rate and based upon its dynamics we assess the monetary policy of the Polish central bank. Using econometric techniques we study how the central bank influenced the spread, when its control over it weakened and when was it strengthened. The study is supported by the results of the survey directed to the headquarters of commercial banks. We conclude that the ability of the central bank to control overnight rate was temporarily lost during the first phases of the financial crisis, but gradually regained after implementation of the confidence pact.     

The Effectiveness of Fiscal Policy Over the Business Cycle: A CEE Perspective

In this article we analyze the effectiveness of fiscal policy—for a group of four Central and Eastern European countries. The recent literature shows that fiscal multipliers in the developed economies are higher during recession than expansion. So far, similar empirical analyses have been lacking for CEE countries. The results presented in this article show that fiscal multipliers in CEE countries differ with respect to the phase of the business cycle. Based on the SVAR methodology in which we allow for deterministic regime switching, we show that the government spending multipliers are significantly higher when the output gap is negative.     

Has Brexit affected employment in Japanese affiliates in the UK?

On 23 June 2016, a referendum was held in the United Kingdom (UK) to decide whether the country should leave or remain a member of the European Union (EU). The ‘Leave’ vote won by 52 per cent to 48 per cent of voters, leading to the EU–UK Withdrawal Agreement that came into force in 2020 and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement that came into force in 2021. Brexit is not exclusively a European matter; it affects third parties as well. In this article we examine the presence of Japanese affiliates in Europe during 2000–21 by analysing data obtained from the Toyo Keizai's Overseas Japanese Companies database. While the UK has been a major beneficiary of Japanese investments in Europe, its share of Japanese affiliates in Europe has decreased, especially during 2000–10. Brexit has had no negative impact on direct employment created by Japanese affiliates in the UK in the short term, but its impact in the long term could be exacerbated by any further policy divergence between the UK and the EU.     

Regulating smart contracts: Legal revolution or simply evolution?

Blockchain-based smart contracts have triggered polarised discussions. They have been applauded as a significant technological achievement, but also criticised as a dumb idea. Their application is rapidly expanding in the financial sector, public sector, supply chain management, and the automobile, real estate, insurance, and health care industries. With the growing use of smart contracts and an increasing variety of smart contracts applications, the debate over the legal implications of this phenomenon has intensified and many legal issues related to smart contracts are being examined. Legal scholars have highlighted potential legal pitfalls, controversies and incompatibilities with existing legal frameworks. Blockchain technology and smart contracts have also been fuelling an interest of legislators, who have begun to recognise regulatory uncertainties and are making the first attempts to introduce legislative solutions to address them. This paper aims to highlight the fervour of the scholarly debate surrounding smart contracts and contrast it with a rather modest response from the legislators thus far. The paper reiterates that smart contracts represent the future. Even though they challenge practitioners, scholars, and legislators, current legislative initiatives indicate that under most legal systems there are no major obstacles for smart contracts and to accommodate smart contracts within the existing legal frameworks we should expect legal evolution rather than revolution.     

The Impact of Education on Innovative Economy Polish Experiences

Methods and concepts of innovation performance are widely analyzed, discussed, and evaluated. The influence of educational management on the creation of innovative economy is not widely described in literature, however, procedures of innovation performance include the measures of educational elements. The paper discusses the methodology of European Innovation Scoreboard （EIS） and Innovation Union Scoreboard （IUS） in the aspect of education for innovative economy. Educational indicators in EIS/IUS methodology are quantitative and do not include information about the quality of education. Researchers agreed that innovation processes and economical growth require well-educated and skilled workforce and they assume that skilled workers are on output of the educational system. The measurement system of innovations in Europe includes various economical aspects, allows to observe trends and gives opportunity to improvement for countries and is directed on future educational effects. Quantitative indicators allow to observe trends, educational needs, desires of pupils, and their parents. The efficiency of these indicators is presented on the example of Poland. Educational indicators to improve innovation performance should be very synthetic, but cannot lose important information. The article presents author＇s research on graduate career paths and suggests to include elements of this methodology in the measurement system of innovation economy.     

China's New Regional Trade Agreements

This paper discusses the recent regional trade agreements that China has concluded rapidly following accession to the WTO in 2002. Agreements are in place with Hong Kong, Macao, ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand, and are either in negotiation or under discussion with South Africa, Chile, India and the Gulf Cooperation Council. These agreements differ sharply in form and substance, and involve process commitments to ongoing negotiation and cooperation on a wide range of issues. Differences relating to the regional agreements negotiated by the EU and the US are emphasised, as are later potential difficulties these agreements create in moving to an Asian trade bloc centred on them.     

A dynamic linear economy with characteristic-based endogenous technical coefficients

We develop a characteristic-based model for the endogenous determination of technical coefficients in a linear economy and use it to describe the dynamics of the economy as driven by changes in knowledge. The use of the characteristic approach to determine technical coefficients makes our model suitable to be interpreted as a first attempt towards the formulation of a formal knowledge-based model of technology.     

Factors Driving Quality Standard Compliance in the Polish Dairy Sector

We construct a model to identify determinants of the diffusion rate of quality standards in a food chain. We argue that adoption decisions in the food chain are determined by farmers’ and processors’ economic considerations. Factors such as pricing behaviour, compliance costs and market structure are identified and discussed in the paper. The findings are used to test an econometric model utilizing data on Polish milk processing firms gathered between 2000 and 2002. The results indicate that input and output prices have a significant influence on the diffusion rate of standards; the dominance of large-scale holdings in the relevant procurement market significantly increases diffusion as well. Compared to their competitors, small cooperatives were found to face more significant problems in procuring high quality raw materials.