On the Empirical Evidence of the Intertemporal Current Account Model for the Euro Area Countries

A simple intertemporal current account model is found to explain successfully the current account configuration in the euro area before the Great Recession. The analysis suggests that consumption smoothing, prompted by expectations of economic convergence and the removal of exchange rate risk, has been an important driving force for the build‐up of current account divergence in the euro area since the creation of monetary union. The model also predicts that current account deficits and surpluses would narrow under a post‐crisis scenario of moderate catching‐up and more segmented bond markets.     

Whose feedback matters? Empirical evidence from online auctions

The seller rating systems based on feedback are routinely used to minimize risks in online auctions. We explore the effects of the feedback from buyers and sellers separately. The results reveal that feedback from auction issuer’s selling activity increase both sales and new visits of auction. The effects of feedback from buying activity are significant only for visits.     

Multiple Criteria Assessment of Insulating Materials with a Group Decision Framework Incorporating Outranking Preference Model and Characteristic Class Profiles

We present a group decision making framework for evaluating sustainability of the insulating materials. We tested thirteen materials on a model that was applied to retrofit a traditional rural building through roof’s insulation. To evaluate the materials from the socio-economic and environmental viewpoints, we combined life cycle costing and assessment with an adaptive comfort evaluation. In this way, the performances of each coating material were measured in terms of an incurred reduction of costs and consumption of resources, maintenance of the cultural and historic significance of buildings, and a guaranteed indoor thermal comfort. The comprehensive assessment of the materials involved their assignment to one of the three preference-ordered sustainability classes. For this purpose, we used a multiple criteria decision analysis approach that accounted for preferences of a few tens of rural buildings’ owners. The proposed methodological framework incorporated an outranking-based preference model to compare the insulating materials with the characteristic class profiles while using the weights derived from the revised Simos procedure. The initial sorting recommendation for each material was validated against the outcomes of robustness analysis that combined the preferences of individual stakeholders either at the output or at the input level. The analysis revealed that the most favorable materials in terms of their overall sustainability were glass wool, hemp fibres, kenaf fibres, polystyrene foam, polyurethane, and rock wool.     

Die Problematik des Verbraucherschutzes in der Volksrepublik Polen

Zusammenfassung In letzter Zeit hat das Problem des Verbraucherschutzes in Polen sehr an Bedeutung gewonnen. Dies hängt damit zusammen, daß eine bessere Befriedigung der aktuellen Bedürfnisse der Bevölkerung in den Vordergrund gerückt worden ist, was auch in politischen und wirtschaftlichen Programmen zum Ausdruck kommt.Der Artikel behandelt die in diesem Bereich herrschenden Tendenzen und informiert über die wichtigsten Lösungen der Grundprobleme des Verbraucherschutzes.Die Autoren heben mit Nachdruck hervor, daß in den sozialistischen Ländern infolge der Vergesellschaftlichung der Wirtschaft der Verbraucherschutz sich auf zweierlei Weise entwickeln kann: und zwar durch entsprechende Stimulierung der Produktion und des Angebotes. Auf diese Weise wird eine Möglichkeit geschaffen, nicht nur die Folgen, sondern vor allem die Ursachen, welche das Verbraucherinteresse bedrohen, zu eliminieren.

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Problems of consumer protection in the People's Republic of Poland

The problems of consumer protection have come to the fore in Poland as of late. An important reason has been that in recent political and economic programmes, more emphasis has been placed on the necessity of better provision for the population's current needs.The article presents contemporary developments in this respect and informs about different attempts in the doctrine and practice of law to solve the basic problems of consumer protection. The authors emphasize that in socialist countries consumer protection can be achieved not only by strengthening the position of the individual consumer but also, due to the public ownership of the means of production, by adequate stimulation of production and supply. This provides for the opportunity to deal not only with the consequences but also with the determinants of violations of the consumer interest.The following problem areas are treated in the paper together with the solutions attempted in Polish law and in political and administrative practice: (1) problems connected with the creation of large monopolistic production units (more consideration of manufacturer than of consumer interests in decisions concerning content and quality of production; unreasonable pricing; producer-dictated terms of trade between producer and retailer); (2) the treatment of final consumers (terms of contracts favorable to the seller; tendencies of large organizations to bureaucratic and magisterial treatment of their customers); (3) quality deficiencies in products and the preventive and protective measures taken (quality marks and quality control; warranties; producer liability).

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Ewa towska ist Leiterin der Zivilrechtsabteilung des Instituts für Staat und Recht der Polnischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 00330 Warszawa, Nowy Swiat 72. Stanisaw Sotysiski und Jacek Trojanek sind wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiter der Adam-Mickiewicz-Universität, Juristische Fakultät, 61–809 Poznan, ul. Czerwonej Armii 90. Czeslawa ulawska ist wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin der ökonomischen Akademie, Institut für Ökonomik und Warenverkehr, 31–510 Kraków, Rakowicka 27.     

Physics competition to inspire learning and improve soft skills: a case of the Chain Experiment

International Journal of Technology and Design Education - The Chain Experiment competition has been held successfully for 6 years in Poland and is attracting growing interest. The...     

Changes in Polish Farmers’ Attitudes Toward Risk After Poland’s Accession to the EU

This article presents the econometric estimation of the risk attitudes of Polish farmers. For that purpose, a model of production under risk has been employed. The research is based on data from the Polish Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN), from the years 2004–2010. For the Polish farming sector, risk-related considerations became increasingly important after Poland’s EU accession in 2004. After the accession, Polish agriculture was affected by market liberalization, which was somewhat mitigated by CAP support. To examine the risk aversion of Polish farmers, an estimation procedure based on Antle’s (1987) approach has been applied. This study suggests that, as was the case in other countries, risk aversion decreased following EU accession, that is, the Arrow-Pratt measure of absolute risk aversion based on producers specializing in field crops systematically decreased over the analyzed period.     

Off-the-beaten-track tourism: a new trend in the tourism development in historical European cities. A case study of the city of Krakow,Poland

In the recent years, substantial changes in the manner of sightseeing in cities have been becoming visible. Tourists are leaving the old city centres and are deciding to visit places that are not typical tourist attractions. In such places, alternative forms of city tourism described as off-the-beaten-track tourism are developing. In Europe, this pertains especially to historical cities, specifically capital cities and large agglomerations, such as Krakow, one of the biggest cities in Poland, commonly described as the cultural capital. The aim of this article is to analyse the management of tourism in European historical cities in the context of off-the-beaten-track tourism’s development using the case study of Krakow. To illustrate the issue, two districts, Nowa Huta and Podgórze, were chosen as the examples. In both districts one can observe changes affecting the model of city tourism that stems from the shift in motivations of visitors and from alternative ways of spending free time in the city they are visiting. This process necessitates appropriate management of tourism in the city in accordance with the rules of sustainable development and protection of cultural and historical authenticity of places and buildings.     

Firm-specific Human Capital Accumulation: Evidence from Brazil*

We introduce firm-specific returns to experience and tenure into a standard two-way fixed effects model, show that they are separately identified under the standard exogenous mobility assumption and with sufficient between firm mobility, and provide a new evidence on heterogeneity of returns to experience and tenure across firms using the administrative data from Brazil over the years 1999–2014. We document that (1) returns to tenure are not strongly related to firm wage premia, (2) returns to experience are strongly negatively correlated with firm wage premia, (3) the relationship between firm wage premium and return to experience is stronger for ‘blue collar’ firms.     

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.     

Legal Regulation of the Obligation of Employers to Provide Social Support to Employees in the Polish Legal System

The aim of the article is to present the Polish legal regulations concerning the obligation of social support to employees by employers, including the rich axiological layer having its source not only in socialist history of this country, but also in the legal principles expressed in the current Constitution. This issue may be interesting and inspiring in particular for people who, in order to better protect employees, support broader state interference in the market economy. The abovementioned obligation was regulated by the Polish legislator by the Act (and therefore for many employers is imperative) and formulated very widely (on both the objective and subjective scope). For this reason, Polish labor law, to the extent presented in this article, is in many ways unusual, compared to other legal systems, but it seems that it is still not known to a wider group of specialists dealing with labor law in capitalist countries. The paper also presents the analysis of the specific legislative solutions within the scope of the topic; for example the role of trade unions in the process of disbursement of funds from the social fund. The whole discussion is complemented by a consideration of the implementation of the social obligation to support workers by employers on the example of University in Szczecin (one of the largest universities in Poland).