ICT modernization in Central and Eastern Europe: a Schumpeterian catching up perspective

The paper characterizes main trends in ICT implementation and diffusion in the CEE countries in terms of market volume, economic development and ICT trade integration within the EU market. The analysis reveals a gradual closing up of the technology gap in ICT sector between the CEE and the ‘old’ EU countries. The focus is on the relationship between ICT expenditure, NRI index, vs GDP per capita, competitiveness and productivity. The evolution of ICT development trajectory is traced analysing the changing pattern of ICT trade between the CEE countries and the EU. The impact of the current crisis on the structural adjustment of the CEE ICT sector is assessed from the perspective of Schumpeterian technology gap and catching up.     

Lernstress und Lampenfieber

Zusammenfassung  Endspurt in der Ausbildung — In unz?hligen Unterrichtsstunden und zahlreichen Praxiseins?tzen haben wir eine Menge gelernt. Doch in der Abschlussprüfung bleiben nur wenige Stunden, in denen man das unter Beweis stellen kann. Stunden, die über die Zukunft entscheiden.     

Multi-item scale usage in marketing journals: 1980 to 1989

The use of multi-item scales reported in six marketing journals during the 1980s is analyzed. The analysis replicates some aspects of the Churchill and Peter (1984) study and extends the examination to issues not reviewed previously in marketing. The database for the study is unique in that it attempts to incorporate every instance of scale usage from the defined domain. Among the findings is that the use of multi-item scales increased substantially during the 1980s but the reliability of those scales was not different from earlier periods. A majority of scales have their origins in marketing and nearly half of all scales were used to measure consumer behavior constructs. He is Director of the Office of Scale Research and has written theMarketing Scales Handbook along with Dr. Hensel. His research has been published in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Marketing Education, and many other journals and conference proceedings. His research has emphasized measurement and advertising issues as well as ethical and social issues. He has published in journals such as theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Health Care Marketing, andJournal of Business Ethics. He also co-authored theMarketing Scales Handbook with Dr. Bruner.     

Optimality and efficiency of incomplete split-block designs

In this paper, a balanced incomplete split-block design (BISBD) is shown to be universally optimum for the estimation of the interaction effects with respect to each of the intra-plot stratum estimation and the GLSE. Furthermore, the efficiency factor of an optimal design is investigated.     

Stochastic ordering and schur-convex functions in comparison of linear experiments

The usual ordering of linear experiments is defined by quadratic risk of attainable linear estimators. It is shown that under normality assumption this ordering can be introduced in a risk-free way by stochastic ordering of the estimators. Moreover an application of Schur-convex functions to design of experiments is presented. Partly supported by CPBP 0.1.02.     

On methods of optimal portfolio construction

The transition from a centrally planned economy to a market economy in Poland has caused dynamic changes in the number and structure of potential investors of the stock exchange market. This phenomenon, unknown in the past, needs a new approach to statistical methods of stock market analysis. The paper presents two methods of optimal portfolio construction. The first one leads to the square programming problem. Applying the Lagrange multipliers, we obtain a system of algebraic equations which can be solved by the special algorithm proposed in the paper. The second method reduces the mentioned above square program to the linear programming problem which can be solved using the simplex method.     

Risk Diversification on the Polish Capital Market

The basics of portfolio management theory and methods of efficient selection of assets and their financing have been created by Markowitz and Sharpe. They propose that risk diversification consists, generally speaking, of the increase in the number of securities in a portfolio. So, authors try to answer the question of how many securities have to be bought on a given market to assure a well-diversified portfolio, where the increase in the number of securities does not lead to a significant decrease in portfolio risk. To evaluate such a purpose on the Polish capital market, 20 companies were surveyed that are included in the WIG20 index in the period January 2–October 10, 2001. The returns were estimated on a weekly basis. The research shows that a portfolio of securities constructed, according to the Sharpe Model, has a wide application to the Polish capital market.*University of Szczecin—Poland. This paper was presented at the Fifty-Eighth InternationalAtlantic Economic Conference, October 6Y9, 2005, Chicago, U.S.A.     

Portfolio optimisation under non-linear drawdown constraints in a semimartingale financial model

A drawdown constraint forces the current wealth to remain above a given function of its maximum to date. We consider the portfolio optimisation problem of maximising the long-term growth rate of the expected utility of wealth subject to a drawdown constraint, as in the original setup of Grossman and Zhou (Math. Finance 3:241–276, 1993). We work in an abstract semimartingale financial market model with a general class of utility functions and drawdown constraints. We solve the problem by showing that it is in fact equivalent to an unconstrained problem with a suitably modified utility function. Both the value function and the optimal investment policy for the drawdown problem are given explicitly in terms of their counterparts in the unconstrained problem.     

Determinants of investment and innovation expenditure in Polish manufacturing industries

This article analyses determinants of sectoral R&D and innovation expenditure as well as investment in Polish manufacturing industries in 1994–2004. The estimated coefficients for user cost of capital are generally in line with the neoclassical model of investment, except for R&D intensity. The latter are primarily discouraged by systemic uncertainty. The rate of growth of sales is not a prominent determinant of investment and innovation expenditure. Market concentration coupled with uncertainty has a damaging effect on physical capital investment but it promotes R&D expenditure and leaves innovation intensity unaltered.     

Credible enough? Forward guidance and perceived National Bank of Poland’s policy rule

Forward guidance effectiveness is conditional upon its credibility. This policy, when taken as credible, should reduce the perceived impact of macroeconomic variables on the interest rate. Using the Taylor rule framework and employing micro-level data set, we test the perception of monetary policy in Poland among professional forecasters. Our results show that the Taylor principle is violated in the forward guidance period, which provides evidence for forward guidance credibility.