Beyond GDP: an analysis of the socio-economic diversity of European regions

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to analyze the socioeconomic diversity of the European Union (EU-28) regions from a dynamic perspective. For that purpose, we combine a series of exploratory space-time analysis approaches to multiple Factor Analysis (MFA) applied to a large range of indicators collected at the NUTS-2 level for the period 2000–2015 for the EU-28. First, we find that the first factor of MFA, interpreted as economic development (ECO-DEV), is spatially clustered and that a moderate convergence process is at work between European regions from 2000 to 2015. Second, when comparing these results with those obtained for Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, we show that the convergence pattern detected with GDP per capita is more pronounced: ECO-DEV adjusts slower over time compared to GDP per capita. Third, pictures provided by the remaining interesting factors, capturing educational attainment, population dynamics and employment, are very different.     

Matching of police and hospital road crash casualty records – a data-linkage study in Malaysia

Underreporting of road crashes hampers the development of appropriate road safety countermeasures in many countries. In this study, police and hospital records from road crash casualties in the Melaka Tengah district in Malaysia from 2014 were collected to determine their matching and reporting rates. Based on authentic personal identifiers from both types of records, Microsoft SQL was used to reveal how the matching rate varies due to multiple factors. The results showed that 311 cases (of 7625 hospital records) could be linked to both databases, yielding a 4.1% matching rate and a 4.7% police reporting rate. Both the reporting and matching rates increased with the level of injury severity. The significant underreporting in the police database showed that complementary data are necessary for enhancing the current official crash data records.     

Altern Männer anders?

Zusammenfassung  Erektionsst?rungen, Hormonumstellung, Prostataerkrankungen — überraschenderweise halten sich M?nner für viel gesünder als sie es sind. Wenn M?nner ein gesundheitliches Problem schildern, offenbart sich, wie ungenau ihr Wissen über ihren K?rper und dessen Gesundheit ist. Aufkl?rung in Sachen M?nnergesundheit ist also dringend geboten. Literatur beim Verfasser     

Norm,virtue and information: the just price and individual behaviour in Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae

This paper aims at putting forward the analytical stake of the few passages that Thomas Aquinas devotes to prices and exchange, mainly in the Summa Theologiae. His objective – to enlighten a confessor vis-à-vis his penitent, or the judge in an ecclesiastical tribunal – leads the author to a complex construction, which involves establishing a referential norm – the just price – to which the transaction price should be compared.

It is recalled here that resorting to the just price avoids any consideration of individual behaviour. However, this last comes to the forefront when the issue dealt with is to explain the reasons why such a transaction price is equal to, or on the contrary departs from the just price. Thomas Aquinas' treatment of this issue allows one to acknowledge (a) that individual behaviour is characterized by virtue or by vice in various informational contexts, and (b) that the making of a transaction price is the result of a negotiation process between buyer and seller. In a context of correct information, where the partners are both virtuous, Thomas Aquinas explains why the transaction price is equal to the just price – in the exchange in se – or could differ from it – in the exchange per accidens. But focusing on the exchange in se, both an asymmetry of information and the vice of at least one of the partners give rise to deception strategies leading to transaction prices, presented as just by the party who knows it is not, and agreed upon as just by the deceived party. Lastly, the possibility of retaining information during the negotiation process paves the way for the opportunity for the virtuous seller to protect himself against the higher power of negotiation of a possible vicious partner.

Although aiming at a different goal, Thomas Aquinas thus provides a complete theory, not only of the just price, but more generally of exchange, in which ethical considerations become decisive in determining transaction prices.     

Default of Systemically Important Financial Intermediaries: Short‐term Stability versus Incentive Compatibility?

Financial integration and globalization have acted as a major stimulus in the development of large, internationally operating banks, which not only provide cross‐border services but also have a local presence. While these banks are themselves drivers of economic integration, they can pose serious threats to financial stability. Their size, interconnectedness and importance as providers of specific services mean that financial institutions can be too‐systemic‐to‐fail (TSTF). Since the entry and exit of market participants is a crucial feature of well‐functioning markets, the absence of any credible possibility of failure leads to serious distortions. This analysis gives an overview of the TSTF problem and discusses the challenges to be faced in establishing credible resolution regimes.     

Temporary contracts and labour productivity in Spain: a sectoral analysis

This paper analyses the impact on sectoral labour productivity growth caused by the increase in the use of temporary employment contracts in Spain over the period 1987–2000. With this aim, we estimate a production function model in which effective labour is represented by the shares of permanent, temporary and self-employed workers. Results suggest that productivity growth has been slowed down by the use of temporary contracts for regular jobs and that this has not been affected by compositional changes in activity over the period. However, this effect has only been detected in the manufacturing and energy sector, in contrast to low-technology low-human capital sectors like construction and hospitality.     

Property,Power, and Public Choice: An Inquiry into Law and Economics

This article briefly describes the evolution of the recent economic crisis based on different theories toward my own interpretation of it. The deregulation wave of the last decades has created new profit opportunities in various contexts — from labor flexibility to privatization and from financialization to globalization — so promoting a renewed process of capitalist accumulation after the stagflation of the 1970s. This has taken place at the cost of a wide-ranging increase in inequality and instability, thus bringing a cascade of crises, including the latest one of 2008.     

A micro view on home equity withdrawal and its determinants: Evidence from Dutch households

For most households, home ownership is the largest wealth component that has become more accessible through innovation and deregulation in mortgage markets. This paper studies the factors driving home equity withdrawal (HEW) at the household level using Dutch survey data. In the Netherlands, house prices were growing fast and mortgage expenses are to a large extent tax deductible. Expectations and perceptions do seem to play an important role in HEW. Withdrawers tend to be more positive about house price developments and – although having lower income – less concerned about their future economic situation. HEW can have a significant impact on both households and the economy, with most of the equity released being reinvested in the housing sector and only a small share used to finance consumption expenditure.     

THE PORTUGUESE MALAISE: STRUCTURAL CAUSES OF THE CRISIS AND LESSONS FOR THE EUROZONE

The analysis of the structural causes of the Portuguese crisis points to a mix of internal and external factors that reinforced each other. Among the external factors were the perverse incentives posed by the current institutional setting in the EU and the single currency. These have wider implications for the eurozone in that the long‐term sustainability of the eurozone will require more effective operation of internal adjustment mechanisms. Additionally, the implementation of monetary competition in the eurozone is suggested as an alternative to the current path towards greater centralisation.     

Hidden innovators: the role of non-R&D activities

Although R&D has been highlighted as the main source of firm-level innovations, a significant group of firms develop innovations without performing R&D activities. The primary goal of this study is to understand the sources of innovation in such firms. To accomplish this goal, we explore the role played by other, non-R&D activities that can lead to innovation – activities such as technology forecasting, design, use of advanced manufacturing technologies and training. Our empirical analysis is based on a representative panel of Spanish manufacturing firms. The results strongly support the view that non-R&D activities are critical factors in explaining both product and process innovations attained by any firm, especially in the case of firms not performing R&D. Academic, managerial, and policy implications are derived from these results.