Challenges and Opportunities for Albania and the Balkans: Interview with Edith Harxhi
This exclusive interview with Edith Harxhi provides insight on the challenge and opportunities facing Albania as it aspires to a larger regional role.
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This exclusive interview with Edith Harxhi provides insight on the challenge and opportunities facing Albania as it aspires to a larger regional role.
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In an interview conducted by the German weekly Die Zeit in 2008, Jürgen Habermas analyses the most important social, political and economic consequences of the global crisis. He worries about the social injustice, namely, that the costs of the collapse of the system must be paid by the most vulnerable groups of the society. He argues that despite of the shocking pictures of the crisis, this turbulent environment could widen the spectrum of possible political alternatives. The neoliberal project reached its limits and a new equilibrium should be created between the market and politics, where the new dimensions of solidarity and democracy should be integral parts of the structure. The European model, which is based on autonomous economic policy measures, will not be sufficient to manage the crisis, and this system should be followed by a close coordination of economic policy and economic governance. The new economic and political order can be created by a new type of diplomacy. Habermas is optimistic about the role of the US: after the reconsideration of the neo-conservative approaches, and the implementation of the decentralized universalism, the country can play an important role in the creation of a new world order where there is no need for superpowers anymore.
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Unemployment has always been a problem for humanity. It is important for both the individual and the society to find a place in the employment in order not to leave the people materially and spiritually in the society. For the absence of social classes and disagreements in the society, the active population should be included in the working life. It would be more beneficial to support all individuals who wish to work in the business by not only adhering to the private sector but also with statism. In the study, the emphasis on youth unemployment was emphasized and it was aimed to contribute to solutions. In this study, adopting the principle of statism and preventing the waste of resources by making a division of labor in all the countries of the world, increasing income inequality, increasing the class differences among the citizens living in countries and reviewing the policies to increase employment in order not to increase the phenomenon of terrorism in countries are discussed. The survey method wa sapplied in the study and data were collected electronically. Random sampling method was applied in the sample selection and 600 participants were reached. Multiple fit analysis were applied As a result of the study, gender, age, marital status, education, housing status, differents pending for education and salary expectations among individuals whose unemployment expectations differed. Solutions and suggestions to increase employment are given.
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The paper presents the results of the research of structural changes in the rural areas of the Polish-German borderland region. The main objective of this study was to determine the nature, rate and directions of the changes in the demographic structure and the rural economy. An important part of the research were case studies of individual farms in the municipalities of Letschin and Krzeszyce. The study covered the period from 2002 to 2010. The study used the methods of observation, as well as monographic, diagnostic and statistical survey. The results show an unstable demographic development. The limited labour market in the border areas contributes to the outflow of the working age population from both Märkisch-Oderland and Sulęcinto the cities of the Berlin Metropolis. The influx of working and retirement-aged populations to rural areas is associated with more attractive conditions of residence. In contrast to Märkisch-Oderland, the age structure of the poviat of Sulęcin is characterised by a higher proportion of the pre-working age population and a smaller share of those at the retirement age. The structure of land use still shows the old boundaries of large-scale collective farms. The leading form of the use of arable land of large holdings is leasing, while private property accounts for only 10-20%. In Poland, however, the share of ownership of small farms is 80-90%.
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Since 1990, rural Lithuania has experienced a transformation due to a change in the agricultural model, when social and economic reforms were launched towards creating a market economy. Agricultural activity started concentrating in territories with the best social and physical conditions. A type of latifundium agrarian structure has formed in northern and central Lithuania. The transition from the collective model into the family farming model in western and south-western Lithuania developed faster than in other regions by the active formation of medium and large family farming. Small family farming has overtaken the collective agricultural exploitation in eastern, southern and coastal regions. Landscape structure analysis supported the results of socio-geographical research in rural spaces. During 19952009, the decline of the agrarian land area was the most intensive and an increase in the average size of land plot was the least visible in the morainic hill landscape (eastern Lithuania), the most unproductive compared to the other investigated landscape types: clayey plains and downy clayey plains (central and northern Lithuania).
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This paper analyses the relationship between the level of socio-economic development in rural areas of the Mazowieckie voivodeship and the degree of modern information-communication technologies in agriculture in these areas. The case study area was the Mazowieckie voivodeship, which is very diversified in both the level of rural area socio-economic development and the types of agriculture. Empirical data was obtained by a survey of over 1400 questionnaires. They were addressed to farmers from 20 selected communes, diversified by location in the voivodeship functional-spatial structure background and by the type of agriculture. This group of respondents revealed a rather low level of ICT application in agriculture. The results were analysed by regression analysis between the level of socio-economic development and indexes of the ICT application level in a given commune. The level of socio-economic development was measured by the Hellwig index of distance to theoretical exemplar of development. It takes into consideration three dimensions of development: economic, demographic-social and infrastructural. Characteristics of ICT application in agriculture were used to describe four categories: infrastructural equipment, frequency of ICT usage, scope of application of the Internet in household and for agricultural purposes. The results were verified by regression analysis, where the Hellwig index values for a given commune were the describing variables and the index of ICT application in agriculture was the described variable.
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Having in mind the fact that Sociology had been included from the beginning in the curricula at the Faculty of Economics in the University of Belgrade, it seems plausible and interesting to present its development until these days, as it is the oldest economic faculty in Serbia. Since Economic Sociology has been one of the most dynamic and most developed sociological disciplines in the recent decades, teaching Sociology at the Faculty of Economics in the University of Belgrade, without any doubt, contributes to more fruitful scientific and professional cooperation among sociological and economic science and scientists.
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The study analyses the tax structure of Bulgaria and its relation to economic growth for the period 2003 – 2015. The results reveal that Bulgarian budget revenue mainly depends on the taxes charged on consumption. It was found that in times of economic growth tax and non-tax revenues form the necessary fiscal resources in the budget while during a crisis the revenues are insufficient, which in turn leads to the formation of a budget deficit and a subsequent increase in government debt. There are statistical arguments in support of the notion that budget revenues are inversely related to economic growth and create conditions for its reduction. Government spending has a direct proportional relation to growth and results in its increase. The econometric estimates and the interpretation of the results are calculated with the use of a multiple linear regression with an included dummy variable (OLS with a dummy variable), the Two-Stage Least Squares method (TSLS) and the Vector Autoregressive model (VAR models).
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The study analyses the tax structure of Bulgaria and its relation to economic growth for the period 2003 – 2015. The results reveal that Bulgarian budget revenue mainly depends on the taxes charged on consumption. It was found that in times of economic growth tax and non-tax revenues form the necessary fiscal resources in the budget while during a crisis the revenues are insufficient, which in turn leads to the formation of a budget deficit and a subsequent increase in government debt. There are statistical arguments in support of the notion that budget revenues are inversely related to economic growth and create conditions for its reduction. Government spending has a direct proportional relation to growth and results in its increase. The econometric estimates and the interpretation of the results are calculated with the use of a multiple linear regression with an included dummy variable (OLS with a dummy variable), the Two-Stage Least Squares method (TSLS) and the Vector Autoregressive model (VAR models).
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Empirical evidence of tax buoyancy is presented as an assessment of the effectiveness of the tax system. The buoyancy analysis aims to track whether tax revenues follow economic growth and at what rate. The survey includes the EU-28 countries, with data divided into three panels: consumer, hybrid and income tax systems. The time period from 1999 to 2015 is covered. An autoregressive distributed lag model is used in order to establish that in the hybrid tax system the short-term and long-term tax buoyancy is the highest, meaning that this type of tax system is the most effective and marks the highest increase in economic growth.
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Behavioural accounting is a branch of accounting that deals with human attitudes and behaviours to accounting phenomena, which determines decision‐making behaviour. The most important ethical issue facing the accounting profession is earnings management. The aim of this study was to assess the prevailing attitudes of Polish accounting students towards earnings management. The impact of indi-vidual variables (gender, age and work experience) on ethical judgments regarding earnings manage-ment was assessed. The study revealed that the students’ judgements were affected by the field of manipulation in earnings management. The manipulated accounting method was far less ethically acceptable than manipulated operating decisions. Perceptions of ethicality in accounting practices did not differ significantly between students working in accounting, students working in other fields and unemployed respondents. With regard to age, younger participants were more likely to regard earnings management practices as less ethical than older respondents, but the observed differences were not statistically significant. The differences between genders were not statistically significant either. The research makes a useful contribution to the scientific debate as it is the first research of that type in Poland, shedding light on behavioural aspects of earnings management.
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In examining the justifications of accounting decisions which refer to measuring the value of the in-ventory for the purposes of financial accounts, the role of the person in the creation of accounting information is argued. The role of such research is to show that accounting theory assumes ideal cir-cumstances when preparing information that is meant to represent economic phenomena in words and numbers. However, it is influenced by the behavior of the accounting practitioners and their perception of the economic reality in which the decision is made. The activities of these practitioners are silent but influential in terms of the quality of financial information. The study on 274 young practitioners focuses on the essence of their justifications and analyzes the relationship between the arguments raised by the individuals and decision stability after a group discussion. According to the results, the participants who justified their choice using sound, substantive points less often changed their decision during the group discussion. Our findings develop an understanding that, in the application of account-ing principles, and, furthermore, in producing financial reports, substantive and non-substantive (bi-ased) justifications play a role in the stability of accounting choice. Incorporating cognitive biases into the process of developing the justification can influence the accounting choice and alter future deci-sion-making processes, because such a person is more likely to succumb to the pressure of the group
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Fraud is like a disease for organizations. One of the key people meant to detect fraud is the auditor. A detected fraud is the most stressful case, and therefore, there are written standards of actions. According to professional standards, an auditor should have enough “professional skepticism,” which should help to organize his way of thinking and his actions. However, even such organized people are only people; human nature influences their behavior. The aim of the paper is to show the behavioral aspect of auditing and to find out how cognitive characteristics of decision-making could help auditors detect and investigate fraud. This theoretical research is a theory-driven interpretative literature review, based on a synthesis of the academic literature. The key finding of the research is that the cognitive process plays a key role in auditing because processes of judgment and decision-making are basic cognitive processes. When fraud is detected, according to cognitive theory, the auditor recalls the last experience of fraud detection, forms a judgment, and then makes a decision based on this experience. Trying to provide the best solution for the case, it could be relevant to share the experience and opinions among auditors.
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The paper has been aimed at finding agrotourism development opportunities in particular municipalities of Western Pomerania district. A Drzewiecki's method, comprising seven criteria scale for agro tourism attractiveness for each municipality, was used to valorise recreational space in there. According to Drzewiecki a rural or urbanrural municipality can be regarded as a rural recreational space only if three, out of seven criteria, are met. In case of Western Pomerania region, municipalities happen to meet the criteria of agrotourism attractiveness mainly due to small population density (89% of municipalities), high individual agriculture rate (52% of municipalities), and last but not least, high forest to overall area rate (47% of municipalities). Specifically, 41 municipalities shall be regarded as country recreational since they meet at last three, out of seven concerned, criteria. Country recreational space in the Western Pomerania district amounts to 10 700 km2 (47% of the total district area), which is inhabited by 206 000 people (12% of the district population). The area does not provide a compact space, though the agrotourism oriented municipalities tend to conglomerate in Drawskie Lakeland (namely Drawsko, Łobez, and Szczecinek counties), as well as in Goleniów county. Four criteria (maximum) are met, however, only by 14 municipalities of Western Pomerania (zachodniopomorskie) District, most frequently in Drawsko, Goleniów, and Stargard Szczeciński counties.
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The aim of this paper is to analyse students’ perceptions of teaching from three different perspectives: students’ interest, teacher and course assessment. We use ordinal logistic model to quantify the effects of grade, pass rate and class size on results of evaluation of undergraduate and graduate courses held during the summer and winter semesters in the academic year 2016/2017. The data were collected using a standardised online questionnaire. Research results indicate that on the observed economic HEI, both teacher and course assessment is positively and significantly affected by student’s achieved grade, and by class size. Moreover, we find large and significant difference between students’ interest in study programmes delivered in Croatian and those delivered in English. Students enrolled in English study programme value pass rate over grade, as opposed to students enrolled in Croatian study programme. We attribute this to the different motivation of students, that is, students enrolled in English programme are more prone to participation in student mobility programmes.
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The article analyzes the solvency of mutual insurance companies in Poland under the legal system Solvency II. The analysis is based on the solvency and financial condition reports of all mutual insurance companies obliged to prepare and publish these reports. The article describes the legal form of the mutual insurance company and Solvency II system. Then, an analysis of the quality and amount of own funds, an analysis of the amount and decomposition of the capital solvency requirement and the minimum capital requirement and an analysis of covering capital requirements with eligible own funds was carried out.
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The paper enhances the discussion about the determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern European countries and the ability of public policy to influence their FDI attractiveness. Based on data for 15 countries in 2013 and 2017, we build a composite index, which allows us to rank countries in terms of their overall FDI attractiveness, as well as its most important imensions, such as institutional framework, infrastructure endowment, labour force quality and cost competitiveness. In addition to allowing comparison between economies across these dimensions, the results reveal areas in which some countries need improvement so that they can attract more FDI.
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The retail sector probably is the most important sector of economy because it has to do directly with consumer. It includes all stores, from kiosks and small groceries to supermarket chains and shopping malls that sell products and services to final consumer for personal and household use. The aim of this paper is to make an investigation of retail sector and its business type. To gather the data, second resources has been used. A deeply scanning of literature has been performed. According to the investigation, the retailing sector generally is organized in two main groups: the retailing within the store and retailing out of the store. Retailing within the store is classified according to different characteristics, but the most important types of classification are those based on the form of the ownership, merchandise and price. According to the ownership-based classification, the most important types are independent stores, chain stores, franchising and leased department stores. According to the merchandise-based classification the most important types of retailing are department stores, supermarkets, specialty stores, convenient stores, superstores and retailer services. According to the price-based classification, the most important types of retailing are discount stores, factory outlets, category killers, off-price stores, warehouse clubs and hypermarkets. According to the place-based classification the most important type of retailing are shopping centers. The most important types of retailing out of the store are direct selling, direct marketing and automatic vending machines selling.
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The aim of this study is to investigate the mediating effects of employee emotional exhaustion (EE) on workplace ostracism (WO) and job insecurity (JI) using the theory of resource conservation. In this research, structural equality modeling was conducted through 211 questionnaires, working in Hotels in Northern Cyprus. For data analysis used Microsoft Excel and Statistical Software Programs including SPSS and AMOS. The study results show that the gradual convergence of emotional exhaustion due to incapacity can lead to an increase in negative effects on job insecurity or ostracism in the workplace which gradually increases over time, impacting negatively on and ultimately increasing workplace ostracism. Although, the studies on exhaustion and insecurity in the workplace increase, “the individual perceives that they are ignored or excluded by others”, furthermore, there has not been sufficient attention on the effects of emotional exhaustion workplace ostracism and group unemployment. Therefore, this study will lead to future studies.
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