European Insurance Markets＇ Size and Trends in Regulatory Environment in the Context of Its Complexity

In today＇s globalized world, regulatory issues are heatedly debated, and experts can be divided into two groups based on their attitudes towards these issues. In the first group, representatives are in favor of stricter regulation, and representatives of the second group are in favor of removing legislative barriers in the markets of financial services. An important objective of the European Commission in recent years is to integrate the individual segments of the financial services into a whole so as to ensure the proper functioning of the whole to satisfy all the member states. The aim of this paper is to show the complexity of the regulatory environment, to point out the large number of institutions that cooperate in the creation of legislative measures, and also to highlight the different approaches to regulation in individual member countries and these issues do not ease the situation.     

‘For them farming may be the last resort,but for us it is a new hope’: Ageing,youth and farming in India

Based on an empirical exercise carried out in five villages of Odisha in eastern India, the paper looks into ageing of the farm population and the experiences and responses of farmers of various age groups to farming. The findings of the study indicate that agriculture is greying, farmers are getting older and the youth, particularly of higher and cultivating castes, are averse to farming. The unwillingness of these youths to join farming is mainly attributed to loss of social status, declining profitability in agriculture and discouragement of immediate ‘mentors’, the middle-aged farmers, caused by the perpetual decline of farm income and loss of social recognition. The hitherto nonfarming youths, belonging to scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and service-rendering castes, especially the female youths, are joining farming to fill this gap, mostly as leased-in cultivators.     

Public support for economic transition

This paper focuses on the Czech economic transition and aims to identify the determinants of unusually high and long-lasting public support for market reforms. The study is based on a unique combination of statistical analysis of survey data and oral history (interviews with reformers, managers etc.), which has enabled us to depict the views of the general public as well as of many people involved in decision-making processes on both macro and micro levels. These findings allow us to propose recommendations on how to gain and maintain public support for economic reforms. Above all, reformers must utilize the period of euphoria and communicate the individual steps of reform with the public.