Tourism as a discipline in light of the non-classical sociology of science

Embedding the issue of the recognition of tourism by the academia in the context of the scientific identity of the researchers of tourism can bring valuable insights into the debate. Moreover, such an approach is aligned with the main assumptions of social constructionism and the non-classical sociology of science (knowledge) stemming from the paradigm theory of science formulated by Kuhn. These concepts served as the foundations for the present research, allowing for the formulation of its main hypothesis: that every academic community has the right to decide whether it accepts tourism as a separate academic discipline or not, and that there is no reason why any opinion on this matter should be imposed on everyone. Another useful piece of information can be gained by adopting an epistemological perspective in the form of the questions: will separating tourism from other disciplines make it possible for us to learn more about it? Or should we continue considering it through the prisms of other disciplines? These were the premises which drove both parts of the present research: literature query and empirical study (which featured results from researchers from all around the world), and were addressed in the conclusion.     

Employment fluctuations and dynamics of the aggregate average wage in Poland, 1996–20031

The aggregate average wage is often used as an indicator of economic performance and welfare, and as such often serves as a benchmark for changes in the generosity of public transfers and for wage negotiations. Yet if economies experience a high degree of (non‐random) fluctuation in employment, the composition of the employed population will have a considerable effect on the computed average. In this paper we demonstrate the extent of this problem using data for Poland for the period 1996–2003. During these years the employment rate in Poland fell from 51.2 percent to 44.2 percent and most of this fall occurred between the end of 1998 and the end of 2002. We show that about a quarter of the growth in the average wage during this period could be attributed purely to changes in employment.     

Enlargement, the Lisbon Agenda, and the Economic Development of Member States

The issues of enlargement, the Lisbon Agenda, and economic development are important not only to new European Union (EU) member states but impact all 25 countries. EU membership may help the new members to foster long-term economic growth through increased credibility, effective use of structural funds, a better framework for economic growth, and entry into the European Monetary Union (EMU). The economic growth of all member states can be strengthened if the reforms related to the main goals of the Lisbon Agenda are completed. Action must be taken both at the member-state level and at the Community level. At the member-state level it is necessary to assure fiscal consolidation and deregulation. At the Community level the preservation of the Stability and Growth Pact, completion of the single market, especially in the service sector, and enforcement of limits on public aid are of the greatest importance.The 2006 Robert A. Mundell Distinguished Address presented at the Sixty-First International Atlantic Economic Conference. Berlin, Germany, 15–19 March 2006. In preparing this paper, I was assisted by Pawel Opala and Andrzej Rzońca. The usual caveats apply.     

The nature of listed real estate companies: property or equity market?

This paper addresses the question of whether shares of public real estate companies should be treated as real estate or as equity investments. Because theoretical considerations do not suffice for making such a classification, we empirically investigate correlation structures and cointegration relationships of private and public real estate and equity markets for the United States and the United Kingdom. Our results suggest that public real estate stocks show similarities to the general stock market with regard to short-term return co-movements. For long-term investment horizons, the interdependence between direct and securitized real estate is much stronger. However, in the latter case, real estate stocks substantially lead the private property markets.

Tourist sustainability of destination as a measure of its development

The traditional understanding of geographical space as a given place is now insufficient. It should be analysed in a wider context of social, cultural, economic and environmental aspects as well as psychological and emotional factors. It signifies that also a tourist destination, which is of geographical character, should be studied as a set of similar factors. In this respect, a given destination is characterized by particular complexity and multi-dimensionality, which generate an ontological question concerning its nature. On the other hand, including the whole complexity of destinations, an epistemological issue concerning the possibility of their cognition remains open. Taking into account these considerations, a research problem related to the nature destinations as well as the possibility of their development has been formulated. The problem is followed by the hypothesis, which assumes that the measure of tourist development of destinations is the achievement of the state of tourist sustainability. Wherein the tourist sustainability is understood as an advantage of benefits gained from tourism over the costs of its development. In the empirical part of the paper, a method for assessment of development of destinations has been presented. This relies on social constructionist foundations and is related to the model of sustainable tourism whose assumptions have been applied as theoretical bases. The method itself was positively tested in an actual environment of five tourist towns and can be treated as a universal tool for measuring the state of tourist sustainability (unsustainability) of different destinations and in consequence, it can constitute a useful device for the management of tourist areas.     

On construction of admissible quadratic estimators

A random linear model for spatially located sensors measured intensity of a source of signals in discrete instants of time is considered. A basis of a quadratic subspace useful in quadratic estimation of a function of model parameters is given. Received: December 1999     

Managerial Ownership and Intellectual Capital Efficiency： Evidence From Poland

This article contributes to the corporate governance and intellectual capital literature and examines the relationship between managerial ownership and intellectual capital efficiency （ICE）. The results were obtained by investigating a sample of 1,057 firm-year observations and 292 companies listed on the Warsaw stock exchange between 2008 and 2013. Since the data span covers six years, panel data analysis （fixed-effects model） is employed. The empirical analysis indicates that managerial ownership is negatively related to human capital efficiency （HCE）, which is partly consistent with some previous studies. As such, it indicates the entrenchment effect of insider ownership. Moreover, the study concludes that these and previous results on the relationship between managerial ownership and IC efficiency are not robust due to ICE measures, which now are employed in research.