Scope and patterns of tourist injuries in the European Union

European Union (EU) countries are among the leading tourist destinations in the world. Despite growing consumer demands on the safety of travelling, injuries amongst tourists remain an essentially invisible problem. Unique national and regional data sources are the only means by which the important negative impact of injuries on the health of non-domestic tourists in the EU-15 is underlined. With an estimated number of 3800 tourists dying each year, injuries account for up to 30% of fatalities during vacation. This toll reflects an increased risk of mortality in tourists compared to the domestic population. Amendments to national and EU health and injury monitoring are suggested in order to enable authorities to examine personal risks to travellers in more detail.     

Subsidiarity in the European Union

Against the backdrop of the highly controversial debate on the future competences of the different European institutions, the principle of subsidiarity, a fundamental principle of European Union law, has recently met with renewed interest. The contributions to this Forum discuss a number of pertinent issues.

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*A longer version of this article is to be found in H. Tomann (ed.): Die Rolle der europ?ischen Institutionen in der Wirtschaftspolitik, Baden-Baden 2006, Nomos, pp. 59-76.     

National culture,entrepreneurship and economic development: different patterns across the European Union

The aim of this paper is double. Firstly, it contributes to identifying the specific role of national culture as a variable that helps explain the level of economic development and reinforces the effect of entrepreneurship on the income level. Secondly, a deeper understanding of these relations in the case of the European Union is sought. In this study, data from two different sources have been used. The Schwartz Value Survey measures seven cultural orientations that are then grouped into three bipolar dimensions (embeddedness vs. autonomy, hierarchy vs. egalitarianism and mastery vs. harmony). The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor provides information regarding entrepreneurial activity. Using linear regression analysis, cultural and entrepreneurial variables are able to classify countries according to their development level, explaining over 60 % of the variance in Gross Domestic Product per capita. The role of culture is complex, with geographical elements being significantly relevant. In the case of Europe, some common elements conform what could be called “a European culture”: autonomy and egalitarianism clearly predominate over embeddedness and hierarchy, while harmony tends to prevail over mastery. Nevertheless, four well-defined groups of countries within the European Union emerge. Central and Northern Europe is closer to this European stereotypical culture, while English-speaking countries, Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean area exhibit their own differentiating elements each. These differences also exist with regard to entrepreneurial activity (overall Total Entrepreneurial Activity, necessity and opportunity-driven activity). Each of the four regional entrepreneurial cultures is characterized by a different entrepreneurial dynamics that may be plausibly explained by culture and income.     

Immeasurable inequality in the European Union

Over time, the European Union has acquired more and more of the attributes of a state and, in economic terms, it can arguably be considered a single market. Nevertheless, the differences between member states are enormous. Small, rich countries, such as Luxembourg, contrast sharply with big, poor ones, such as Romania. Despite this, many indicators are published which refer to the EU as a whole, including measures of income inequality. According to Eurostat1, the ratio between the incomes of the top and bottom quintiles is 5. But is this figure even roughly adequate? This paper will argue that it vastly underestimates the true level of inequality in the EU which, unfortunately, is immeasurable in the twofold sense that it is both hard to measure and extremely high.     

Corporate Taxes in the European Union

The enlargement of the European Union in 2004 and 2007 by a number of countries with comparatively low corporate tax rates – seen by some as representing an unfair competitive advantage – has refuelled the debate on corporate taxation in Europe. The present Forum highlights a number of pertinent issues and discusses the challenges implied for European corporate tax policy. *The authors are indebted to Andreas Reutter for helpful comments. **The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the author. They should not be attributed to the European Commission. The author wishes to thank Anton Jevcav for valuable comments. ? European Communities, 2007.     

Taxation of interest in the European Union

Having struggled for a number of years with formulating a directive concerning the treatment of interest payments from financial institutions in member countries to persons resident in other member countries, the ministers of finance of the EU countries reached a compromise in November 2000. Rather than being a solution, however, what is now on the table might well amount to the opening of a Pandora's box of new problems.     

European Union policies and practice

Abstract: Early attempts to build a harmonized legal system for banking and financial services throughout the EU met insurmountable difficulties. The shift towards the single market approach in the mid-1980s has been much more successful in terms of removing the obstacles preventing banks and other financial services organizations from establishing themselves and selling their services wherever they choose throughout the EU. The theory has been that consumers would benefit in terms of wider choice and lower prices, but consumer protection needs have been relatively neglected until recently. The emphasis is now changing, and there is widespread recognition that consumer protection aspects of the marketing of banking and financial services need special consideration. However, there is still an unfinished agenda of consumer issues, including distance selling of financial services, overindebtedness, mortgage credit, better consumer information and improved systems of providing redress.     

Perceived credit constraints in the European Union

The promotion and support of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is an essential component of policies designed to help improve Europe’s economic performance. A crucial issue is whether SMEs face difficulty obtaining bank loans. Using pre-crisis survey data from 2005 and 2006 for nearly 3,500 SMEs (firms with fewer than 250 employees) in the European Union (EU), we investigate the determinants of perceived bank loan accessibility at the firm level and at the country level. Based on hierarchical (multi-level) binomial logit regressions, our findings show that the youngest and smallest SMEs have the worst perception of access to bank loans. The SMEs in nations with concentrated banking sectors are more positive about loan accessibility. In addition, a high fraction of foreign-owned banks is associated with improved perception of loan accessibility in the EU 15 but not in the EU 10.     

Consumer Behaviour Convergence in the European Union

This paper examines and contrasts the attitude to food shopping in Denmark and Spain in both grocery products and white goods used to store and prepare foods. The focus is on the underlying dimensions used by consumers in Copenhagen and Madrid to select food and electrical stores to patronise. The attributes studied are drawn from prior research and are consistent across the two product categories. The research concludes that there is a relatively meaningful set of attributes, which is limited in size, that consumers may employ to make judgements. The salience of individual attributes was shown to vary with the sector under consideration. Contrasts are evident between the attribute ranking given by Danish and Spanish consumers. Particular attention is paid to the manner in which consumers distinguish between ‘service’ and ‘personnel’ in making their store selection. The work is set in the context of the retail internationalisation literature, where it is held that there is a convergence of consumer tastes in different international markers that facilitate operators developing stores overseas. Some evidence is produced to support this idea, though the need for additional cross-cultural and longitudinal studies to test this idea further is recognised.     

欧盟在华直接投资对中国与欧盟贸易的影响

本文运用面板数据的方法,研究了欧盟在华直接投资对中国与欧盟贸易的影响,结论表明,欧盟在华直接投资促进了中国对欧盟各成员国的进出口贸易,但影响较小,影响中、欧贸易的主要因素是中国和欧盟各成员国的经济实力(GDP)。这表明欧盟在华投资企业的市场战略主要是针对中国广阔的国内市场的。文章最后部分对如何促进欧盟对华直接投资和扩大中、欧贸易提出了建议。     

Market convergence and advertising standardization in the European Union

In this study, we draw on industrial organization and institutional research to explore the relationship between market convergence and standardization of advertising programs. We argue that environmental isomorphism, which maintains that the external market environment is a principal driver of firms’ institutional structures, places pressure on firms to adapt their organizational structures and strategies to changing institutional conditions. We propose that the convergence associated with European market integration will lead firms to emphasize three advertising strategies: creating a uniform brand image, appealing to cross-market segments, and increasing cost performance in advertising. Further, we hypothesize that these strategies will be associated with an overall tendency to standardize advertising strategy and execution. Results of a survey of managers of subsidiaries of Japanese and U.S. firms operating in the EU suggest that firms that believe the EU is converging are more likely to engage in these standardized advertising strategies. Additionally, our findings suggest that firms that seek to create a uniform brand image and appeal to cross-market segments are more likely to standardize their overall advertising programs. Finally, we find that firms’ desire to create a uniform brand image is a function of their goal of building brand equity, regardless of the level to which markets converge. We draw implications for research and practice regarding firm responses to market convergence.     

Fiscal stimulus and its effects in the European Union

In the wake of the financial and economic crisis Keynesian macroeconomic management has once again come into the spotlight. The following article takes a critical look at the practice of expansionary fiscal policy in the EU’s old member states between 1980 and 2005 in order to answer the question whether fiscal stimulus can be a successful response to the current crisis in both the short and the long run.     

Consumer protection within the European Union

In April 1992, the Danish Parliament published an information paper regarding Denmark and the European Union which was distributed to all homes. The paper said, among other things, that a number of new areas are explicitly incorporated in the EC cooperation. Consumer protection was mentioned as an example. It is, however, questionable whether the Maastricht Treaty in this area involves anything more than a formal, statutory confirmation that the EC may work for the protection of consumers precisely as before. The Edinburgh declaration on Denmark and the European Union does not seem to contain an answer.

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Verbraucherschutz innerhalb der Europäischen Union

Zusammenfassung Im April 1992 veröfentlichte das dänische Parlament ein Informationspapier über Dänemark und die Europäische Union, das allen dänischen Haushalten zugestellt wurde. Unter anderem wurde darin behauptet, da\ eine Reihe néuer Bereiche in die Europäische Kooperation ausdrücklich neu aufgenommen worden sind. Verbraucherschutz wurde als ein Beispiel genannt. Allerdings ist fraglich, ob der Vertrag von Maaastricht gerade in diesem Bereich irgendetwas enthält, das über die formale vertragliche Bestätigung dessen hinausgeht, da\ die Europäische Gemeinschaft beim Verbraucherschutz genauso weiterarbeiten kann wie zuvor. Die Deklaration von Edinburgh über Dänemark und die Europäische Union enthält offendar nichts, was diese Frage beantworten könnte.

     

Assessing the Enlargement and Deepening of the European Union

This paper estimates a theoretically‐motivated gravity model to examine the effect of the European Union (EU) on trade and whether the order of entry has affected the trade performance of member countries. Additionally, we analyse the impact of the different phases of EU integration on trade. The results show that both original countries and successive enlargements boost intra‐bloc trade. Moreover, the results suggest that the deepening in the integration process has led to more trade creation among members. Finally, only the latter phase of the European integration process (the single currency) has increased trade with non‐members.     

The Neighbourhood Policy of the European Union

The European Neighbourhood Policy aims at creating a ring of stable, friendly and democratic countries surrounding the European Union. While this aim is generally accepted across the Union, major differences persist as to how it should be achieved. Where does the ENP stand today? What is its profile, potential and perspective?     

The Climate Policy of the European Union

There is now almost universal agreement that climate change, with potentially disastrous consequences, is happening and that it is contributed to by human activities. This Forum is dedicated to the discussion of various aspects of the European Union's climate policy, e.g. the EU's future role in the global effort to combat global warming, the efficiency of its climate strategy, the design of a new rule for sharing the corresponding burdens fairly among member states, and the interrelationships between the Union's climate policies, on the one hand, and its energy and transport policies, on the other. * and member of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU). The author wishes to thank Helen Bicknell (Mainz University of Applied Sciences), Oliver Deke (WBGU) and Jürgen Schmid (ISET, Department of Efficient Energy Conversion at the University of Kassel) for their helpful comments. ** This contribution is based on a Jean Monnet Lecture held at Aarhus University on 19 March 2007. The author would like to thank Harri Kalimo for valuable comments.