From Bismarck to Maastricht: The March to European Union and the Labor Compact

This paper considers the likely impact that European Union (EU) will have on the labor compact. It is argued that, despite increased economic integration in Europe, countries will still be able to maintain distinct labor practices if they are willing to bear the cost of those practices. The incidence of many social protections probably already falls on workers. In addition, it is argued that imperfect mobility of capital, labor, goods and services will limit the pressure that integration will place on the labor compact. Evidence is presented suggesting that labor mobility among EU countries has not increased after the elimination of remaining restrictions on intra-EU labor mobility in 1993. Moreover, immigration from non-EU countries, which is much larger than intra-EU migration, has declined since 1993. Evidence is also reviewed suggesting that the demand for social protection rises when countries are more open, and therefore subject to more severe external shocks. This finding suggests that increased economic integration and European Monetary Union (EMU) could lead to greater demand for social protection. The U.S. experience with state workers' compensation insurance programs is offered as an example of enduring differences in labor market protections in highly integrated regional economies with a common currency.     

The long-term volume of East Europe's foreign trade: An estimate

The transformation process of East European (EE) countries led to the disappearance of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, the former Soviet-bloc economic integration scheme, as well as to other changes in the foreign trade sector of those economies. This study seeks to identify the potential long run modifications in the volume of trade of EE countries by using a well-established model employed in the foreign trade literature, the gravity equation. Quantitative results suggest that in the next decades trade between East and West European countries could double from its present level.     

Exploring variations in employment practices in the emerging economies of Europe: assessing the impact of foreign ownership and European integration

Few studies have assessed the impact of European Union (EU) integration on the emerging economies of Europe, especially with regard to employment practices. In this study, we focus on three aspects of employment practices and assess whether EU integration has lead to any differences between the emerging economies aligned to the EU and those that remain out of the EU fold. This comparison is quite valid because the emerging economies that we compare have all had a similar background in terms of their economic systems. We use a large World Bank database to compare domestically owned and foreign‐owned firms separately. The results show that, while there is some level of divergence between the two blocs of countries in terms of the percentage of temporary employees and education level of employees, in terms of the percentage of skilled workers employed, however, there is no divergence between firms in the two blocs of countries.     

Toward Monetary Union of the European Community

A bstract . European Community monetary integration has received periodic attention often as a result of financial crises but has now evolved into its major aim. To achieve this goal the European Monetary System was established in 1979. It was designed to provide a tool, the Exchange Rate Mechanism , for exchange rate stabilization and convergence of economic and monetary policies. To give further impetus to monetary integration the Maastricht Treaty was approved in December 1991. Experiences with the operation of the European Monetary System show that there is no conclusive evidence that it has disciplined the monetary and fiscal policies of all its members. More recently, Germany's insistence on a tight monetary- policy, to fight the inflation that resulted from unification costs, has brought turmoil in European financial markets and has dealt a serious blow to the system. Furthermore, the ensuing recession and its impact on the European economies make improbable that the timetable of the Maastricht Treaty will be met.     

A New Indicator of European Integration and an Application to Collaboration in Scientific Research

The goal of this study is to develop a comprehensive indicator of integration among countries within a supranational system. Integration is not analysed in terms of the growth in interactions among countries, but in terms of the matrix distribution of interactions among countries. Integration can then be indicated in terms of interaction biases among countries measured by the difference between the observed matrix distribution and the hypothetical random distribution. The indicator is applied to data on research collaborations among European research institutions (1993-2000). Evidence is found that the European science system has indeed become more integrated. The higher level of integration has resulted exclusively from a more evenly distributed pattern of European collaborations, while the strong bias towards intra-national collaborations persisted. The results point to the persistence of national science systems. A future research agenda and science policy implications are discussed.     

Determinants of Capital Structure: United Kingdom Versus Continental European Countries

In this paper, we analyze how country‐specific differences influence capital structure indirectly through firm‐specific variables. We apply a system Generalized Method of Moments technique to a panel data sample of companies from five countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) during the period 1998–2008. As the different financial systems of European economies (bank‐oriented or market‐oriented) may influence capital structure differently through firm‐specific variables, we first examine the determinants of capital structure for each country separately and we then analyze whether the observed differences between the United Kingdom and the continental European countries are relevant. The results show that there are substantial differences in the capital structure choices of firms across five major European countries. These differences are motivated by the type of financial systems of the countries (bank‐oriented and market‐oriented) and influence the capital structure indirectly through the firm‐specific variables. Overall, our results support the relevance of the differences in the capital structure choices of firms across five major European countries, and in particular, the singularity of the United Kingdom (a market‐oriented economy) as opposed to continental European countries (bank‐oriented economies).     

The Determinants of Intra-European Foreign Direct Investment Flows: Market Integration and Policy Issues

SUMMARY

This paper reviews the literature on the determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) and the European Community (EC), especially the few studies concerned with intra-European FDI. It applies international business theory to investigate the determinants of FDI flows within the EC over the period 1984–89. The key results are that the models found contrast with the standard US-EC literature, and also differ within the EC. Real variables assume the greatest importance, although financial variables do appear significant. The pattern of findings suggests that the growth of intra-EC FDI is linked to the adoption of a pan-European FDI strategy by EC firms, largely prompted by EC market integration.     

Europe 1992 revisited: Assessing the Net Benefit for the UK

Calendar time has passed the 31.12.1992 deadline for completion of the EC internal market and although a voluminous body of literature has accumulated over recent years, the predictive assessment of the economic consequences of the Single European Market cannot be considered as a settled issue. The widely quoted estimates of the welfare gains from ‘Europe 1992’ suggested in the Cecchini Report of the European Commission have failed to find the unanimous approval of the economics profession. The controversial academic discourse concerning the validity of these estimates has at least shown the need for further research in this direction. Moreover, in the face of the envisaged establishment of the Single European Area, which extends the internal market regime to the EFTA group, as well as in view of the imminent EC membership applications by several Community neighbours, the refinement of the tools for the analysis of further European integration retains a high ranking on the research agenda for future years. As a contribution to the ongoing exploration of the economics of the Single Market, this article summarises the main results of a recently concluded London Business School research project to quantify the net gains from completing the EC internal market for the UK. The analytical approach adopted for the purpose is an applied computable general equilibrium (CGE) model which incorporates recent advances in international trade theory by allowing for the presence of imperfect competition, intra-industry product differentiation and economies of scale. The approach overcomes various shortcomings of previous evaluations of regional integration programmes. The quantitative results suggest in particular that the UK is a net winner of the Single Market programme, yet the aggregate welfare gain remains well below 0.5 per cent of benchmark GDP. The analysis furthermore indicates that the long-tern industrial restructuring processes induced by the programme are likely to be far more moderate than is widely believed.     

Income convergence prospects in Europe: Assessing the role of human capital dynamics

We employ income projection models based on human capital dynamics in order to assess quantitatively the role that educational improvements are expected to play as a driver of future income convergence in Europe. We concentrate on income convergence dynamics between emerging economies in Central and Eastern Europe and Western European countries during the next 50 years. Our results indicate that improvements in human capital contribute significantly to the income convergence potential of European emerging economies. Using realistic scenarios, we quantify the effect that future human capital investment paths are expected to have in terms of speeding up the income convergence process in the region. The income projection exercise shows that the returns to education in terms of income convergence in Europe could be sizeable, although it may take relatively long for the poorer economies of the region to rip the growth benefits.     

Guest editors' introduction growth and globalization: Evolution of human resource management practices in Asia

In this introductory note, we offer an overview of how human resource management in Asian countries and corporations is evolving in the face of rapid business growth and integration into the global economy and we describe how the articles in this Special Issue contribute to new knowledge and insights regarding key issues, challenges, and evolution in the field of HRM in Asia. Driven by the combined forces of rapid gross domestic product growth in many Asian economies and their further integration into the global business arena, firms in Asia are in constant flux, no matter whether they are developed economies like Japan, Korea, andTaiwan; developing economies like Malaysia andThailand; or transitional economies like China and Vietnam. How will HRM systems in these countries evolve and transform under the combined forces of growth and globalization? We argue that HRM systems in these Asian firms most likely will evolve toward “bounded convergence.” The demands and expectations of the HR function to take on strategic roles (versus administrative roles) and address critical HR issues like attracting and retaining key talent, building talent pipelines, and creating high‐performing cultures are greater than ever. We conclude with a high‐level summary of the key contribution of the eight articles covered in this Special Issue. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Greece in the European Union: policy lessons from two decades of membership

This paper examines the first two decades of Greece’s experience as a member of the European Union (EU). In evaluating the Greek experience within the EU, we derive three fundamental policy lessons that apply both to similar small peripheral countries now entering the EU and to the EU itself in terms of facilitating their integration in a large economic area. First, small peripheral countries that enter the EU must address the structural deficiencies of their economies before entry in order to minimize the impact of increased competition after the removal of trade protection, and follow domestic policies that maintain and promote their comparative advantage within the EU. Second, the Convergence Criteria have proven to be a successful mechanism for countries with a poor historical policy record to achieve macroeconomic stability, as shown by the case of Greece. Third, common EU policies can be very helpful in facilitating structural reforms in small peripheral economies. However, these policies must be continuously evaluated and improved so that their effectiveness is maximized.     

Does Economic Integration Affect the Structure of Industries? Empirical Evidence from the CEE

In this paper we study the impacts of regional integration on the structure of industries in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) transition economies. Our empirical analysis is based on the economic geography framework, which is able to predict not only the industry location after integration, but also to capture other general equilibrium effects, such as transition to market economy, which turn out to be highly significant in the CEE. Our empirical results complement previous findings that industry location is strongly related to economic integration. We also find that CEE integration of the Council on Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) has distorted the industry location pattern predicted by the underlying economic geography theory. These distortions are higher in those regions that were more integrated in the CMEA. Our ex-ante simulation results suggest a convergence in regional specialisation after CEE integration with the EU.     

欧盟对华反倾销的影响及我国企业应对策略浅析

在反倾销领域,欧盟是我国企业应该重点关注的区域。应对和处理好欧盟对华反倾销问题,对中欧关系的全面发展,对于中国拓展对外贸易及全面应对外国对华反倾销问题都将产生深远的影响。在面对以欧盟为首的国外对华反倾销战中,我国企业应采取措施积极应对。     

基于Logistic方法的上市公司会计舞弊检测研究

中国新型加转轨经济的特征,监管制度等方面的不完善,决定了根据发达国家相对成熟资本市场上市公司财务数据建立的会计舞弊检测模型的不适用。通过采用会计舞弊检测中应用普遍并具有较高预测正确率的logistic回归方法,在对现有文献中预测效果较好的财务指标进行方差分析基础上,选择具有显著性的变量建立舞弊检测模型。基于SPSS13.0平台,选择2002～2006年间被中国证监会出具处罚公告的舞弊上市公司及其与之匹配的非舞弊公司控制样本数据,完成了确定样本规模、回归模型与回归参数选择等实验。结果发现,样本规模对舞弊检测正确率有显著影响,而参数中分类点的变化对正确率无明显影响,参数选择对混合逐步回归模型具有显著影响。最终通过比较实验获得具有八个指标的最佳拟合数据检测模型,该模型与现有会计舞弊检测模型相比具有较高的判定率。     

Performance of microfinance institutions in Europe—Does social capital matter?

This paper investigates performance drivers of microfinance suppliers in Europe. As such suppliers, in contrast to advanced microfinance suppliers in developing economies, typically focus on uncollateralized microcredit services to individuals at the margins of society and of labor markets, we draw on the theory of social capital and empirically investigate the role that social capital may play in the overall performance of European microfinance suppliers. We build a unique, unbalanced panel data set of 302 microfinance service providers in Europe covering the years 2008–2015, and measure their performance in terms of credit risk, financial and social performance, and efficiency. Pursuing an econometric approach, we test a series of hypotheses using various measures of conditions conducive to building social capital on both the institutional and the country level, such as the client base of a microfinance supplier and the level of cultural fractionalization in a society. Our findings confirm that a higher intensity of social capital is positively associated with all areas of the performance of microfinance suppliers in Europe. Our conclusions could help in the design and launch of microfinance institutions in those European countries in which microfinance markets are developed not at all or only to a very limited extent. Our paper thus contributes to the nascent literature on microfinance in developed economies by applying and extending the theoretical framework and empirical models on social capital and microfinance that were originally elaborated for developing economies.     

Growth at the EU periphery: the next enlargement

In 2004, 75 million people are scheduled to become EU citizens, making this the largest round of expansion of the Western European club to date. Of the 10 new entrants, 8 are former socialist economies, for which membership in the EU represents the coronation of an effort began with the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989. Based on their recent economic performance, the Central and Eastern European countries appear to be well on their way to successfully integrate in the Western European club, while the Baltic Republics still lag behind. The gap between the two groups emerges when we consider the adjustment of the production structure, the composition of trade and FDI flows, and income distribution. The evidence we review appears to support the role of institutional quality to facilitate integration in the world market and overall economic performance.     

Exchange rate, inflation and unemployment in East European economies: the case of Poland and Hungary*

The aim of the paper is to model the impact of exchange rate on both inflation and unemployment variables in economies which are characterized by important structural changes, i.e. a transition phase moving from centralized economies towards market economies. This phenomenon, which is common to the East European countries, stressed different effects both for what concerns the behaviour of economic agents and for what concerns fiscal and monetary measures adopted by governments and aiming to keep under control the inflation–unemployment trade off. Time series relationships between these variables are investigated within an econometric model. Economic theory and the available data on the hypothetically relevant variables, along with the consideration of the main facts occurred in the period under study, characterize our information set. It is found that single equation analysis yields inefficient inference relative to the whole system analysis, and important structural changes are detected which reflect possible breaks in the structure of the economic system along with a change in economic policy.     

Existence of equilibria with infinitely many consumers and infinitely many commodities: A theorem based on models of commodity differentiation

This paper presents a general result on the existence of competitive equilibria in exchange economies in which consumers and commodities are both infinite in number. The result shows that — in this framework at least — the added assumptions necessary to handle models with infinitely many agents are remarkably similar to the additional restrictions needed when only finitely many commodities are available for trade.It is shown that the results apply, in a straightforward manner, to two of the common models of consumer choice when commodity differentiation is an important consideration.     

Convergence in European GDP series: a multivariate common converging trend–cycle decomposition

Convergence in the gross domestic product series of five European countries is empirically identified using multivariate time series models that are based on unobserved components with dynamic converging properties. We define convergence in terms of a decrease in dispersion over time and model this decrease via mechanisms that allow for gradual reductions in the ranks of covariance matrices associated with the disturbance vectors driving the unobserved components of the model. The inclusion of such convergence mechanisms within the formulation of unobserved components makes the identification of various types of convergence possible. The common converging component model is estimated for the per capita gross domestic product of five European countries: Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. It is found that convergence features in trends and cycles are present and are associated with some key events in the history of European integration. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.