Privatization of state-owned enterprises in Poland

The transition from centrally planned to market economies in Eastern Europe has become a field of debate in economic literature since the late 1980s. Privatization plays a very important role because it is also a sensitive political problem. Privatization is a key element of the several reform packages that are being applied in Poland. This paper examines the different ways that small- and medium-sized enterprises were privatized from 1990 to 1995 using statistical data of the Ministry of Privatization [1995]. Analyzed enterprises are presented by the following group of projects. Capital privatization, direct foreign investment, joint stock companies awaiting privatization, and other methods of privatization are connected with the special program designed for firms with bad financial standing.     

Mostly harmless simulations? Using Monte Carlo studies for estimator selection

We consider two recent suggestions for how to perform an empirically motivated Monte Carlo study to help select a treatment effect estimator under unconfoundedness. We show theoretically that neither is likely to be informative except under restrictive conditions that are unlikely to be satisfied in many contexts. To test empirical relevance, we also apply the approaches to a real‐world setting where estimator performance is known. Both approaches are worse than random at selecting estimators that minimize absolute bias. They are better when selecting estimators that minimize mean squared error. However, using a simple bootstrap is at least as good and often better. For now, researchers would be best advised to use a range of estimators and compare estimates for robustness.     

Empirical Likelihood Approach for Aligning Information from Multiple Surveys

When two surveys carried out separately in the same population have common variables, it might be desirable to adjust each survey's weights so that they give equal estimates for the common variables. This problem has been studied extensively and has often been referred to as alignment or numerical consistency. We develop a design-based empirical likelihood approach for alignment and estimation of complex parameters defined by estimating equations. We focus on a general case when a single set of adjusted weights, which can be applied to both common and non-common variables, is produced for each survey. The main contribution of the paper is to show that the impirical log-likelihood ratio statistic is pivotal in the presence of alignment constraints. This pivotal statistic can be used to test hypotheses and derive confidence regions. Hence, the empirical likelihood approach proposed for alignment possesses the self-normalisation property, under a design-based approach. The proposed approach accommodates large sampling fractions, stratification and population level auxiliary information. It is particularly well suited for inference about small domains, when data are skewed. It includes implicit adjustments when the samples considerably differ in size. The confidence regions are constructed without the need for variance estimates, joint-inclusion probabilities, linearisation and re-sampling.     

Impact of Digital Transformation on Value Creation in Fintech Services: An Innovative Approach

The aim of this article is to indicate economic and financial characteristics of financial technology, or fintech, that contribute to value creation in the financial services industry. This study presents a theory of digital transformations and elements of ecosystems theory and connecting them to fintech issues. Building from the DIPLOM model of corporate diplomacy. Corporate diplomacy. Building reputations and relationships with external stakeholders. Sheffield UK: Greenleaf Publishing Limited, this article proposes the DIPLOMA model with seven elements of fintech best practice, that are, Digital, Innovation, Pricing, Learning, Openness, Modernity, and Agility. This article stresses on practical insights to provide tool to enable stakeholders create value on fintech.     

ICT skills measurement in social surveys: Can we trust self-reports?

Quality & Quantity - Self-reports are the most common way of measuring information and communications technology (ICT) skills in social surveys. Studies comparing self-reported computer skills...     

Economics at the FTC: Multi-level Marketing and a Coal Joint Venture

Review of Industrial Organization - Economists in the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Economics support the Commission’s dual missions of protecting consumers and maintaining...     

Application of the Information Bottleneck method to discover user profiles in a Web store

ABSTRACT

The paper deals with the problem of discovering groups of Web users with similar behavioral patterns on an e-commerce site. We introduce a novel approach to the unsupervised classification of user sessions, based on session attributes related to the user click-stream behavior, to gain insight into characteristics of various user profiles. The approach uses the agglomerative Information Bottleneck (IB) algorithm. Based on log data for a real online store, efficiency of the approach in terms of its ability to differentiate between buying and non-buying sessions was validated, indicating some possible practical applications of the our method. Experiments performed for a number of session samples showed that the method is capable of separating both types of sessions to a large extent. A detailed analysis was performed for the number of clusters ranging from two to seven, and the results were compared to those achieved by applying the most common clustering algorithm, k-means. Increasing the number of clusters generally leads to better results for both algorithms. However, IB demonstrated much higher average efficiency than k-means for the corresponding number of clusters, and this superiority was especially clear for lower number of clusters. The IB-based division of user sessions into seven clusters gives the mean entropy value of 0.28, which means the 95% separation of sessions of both types. Furthermore, a big advantage of our approach is that it gives a possibility to analyze the probability distribution of session attributes in individual clusters, which allows one to discover hidden knowledge about common characteristics of various user profiles and use this knowledge to support managerial decisions.     

A new take on an old structure? Creative and slow tourism in Krakow (Poland)

The contemporary tourism market trends indicate an increasing need for the individualisation of tourist experience and necessitate a move away from the standardisation of tourism products, including those offered within the cities that primarily market their cultural heritage. The concept of creative tourism as a way of practising cultural tourism is a response to the changing needs and expectations of tourists. This is because it offers non-traditional uses for the cultural potential of cities. This article attempts to embed creative tourism in the overall tourist product using an example of a historic city – Krakow. The authors examine the development of tourism products in Krakow, focusing primarily on cultural and historical heritage tourism and secondarily on new forms of tourism that have emerged, such as creative tourism and slow tourism. They analyse this issue in terms of districts – traditional and new tourist areas, indicating the potential for tourism growth.     

The Investment Development Path: Evidence from Poland and Other Countries of the Visegrád Group

This article discusses Polish foreign direct investment against that of the other Central and Eastern European countries belonging to the so-called Visegrád Group. The article is a continuation of this author’s previous work, now revised and taking into account a longer perspective of the analysis, theoretical recommendations modifying and widening the scope of the Investment Development Path model, the results of analytical studies published by other authors as well as the results of two research projects conducted by a Nicolaus Copernicus University team between 2006–2009 and 2010–2013. This article’s fundamental aim is to define the current stage of Poland’s economic development according to the Investment Development Path trajectory. The author concludes that Poland is in its third stage of development according to the Investment Development Path model, although still in an early phase of that stage.     

Poland’s uninterrupted growth performance: new growth accounting evidence

Since 1992 Poland has experienced an exceptionally long spell of output growth that was not interrupted even by the global economic crisis. Using a growth accounting exercise based on new estimates of flows of capital and labour services in the Polish economy during the period 1996–2013, we study the structure of this growth, highlighting the key role of certain supply-side factors. Most notably, unlike other European countries, the Polish economy recorded both a marked increase in capital deepening, a big improvement in workforce composition (driven mostly by educational attainment), and an uninterrupted process of productivity convergence. We also comment on the supply-side factors which contributed to Poland’s relative resilience to the global economic crisis of 2007–2010.