|
on Transition Economics |
| By: | Tetrevova, Libena |
| Abstract: | The sharing economy represents a new business model which has been experiencing an unprecedented and increasing boom. However, differences are evident in the development of the sharing economy between individual continents and even countries, this being to the detriment of less developed countries such as post-communist countries. The aim of the study is to present a model of the sharing economy from the point of view of the practical experience of a small post-communist economy: the Czech Republic. An explanation of how the term sharing economy is defined and understood in a national context is provided in the chapter, and alternative types of the sharing economy which are applied in this country are specified. Discussion is presented of the key issues of an economic and legislative nature which are dealt with in the context of the model of the sharing economy in this country. Key and other major players in the sharing economy in the Czech Republic are also presented, and the scope of the sharing economy in this country is analysed and evaluated. The development of the sharing economy is discussed in relation to the opportunities and threats associated with this phenomenon. |
| Keywords: | Accommodation Sharing; Car-Sharing; Collaborative Economy; Collaborative Finance; Platform Economy; Ride-Sharing; Sharing Economy |
| JEL: | L86 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:110231&r= |
| By: | Bachev, Hrabrin; Ivanov, Bojidar; Toteva, Dessislava; Sokolova, Emilia |
| Abstract: | Sustainable development has become a major topic not only for economic science but in economic policy development. There is substantial literature dedicated to analyzing the different aspects of sustainability - economic, social and/or ecological. Agriculture has been recognized as one of the economic fields that has a multidimensional impact not only on the incomes and well-being of the employed but also on the rural population as a whole and the environment. This article presents a holistic approach for assessing agrarian sustainability in Bulgaria based on its economic, social and ecological aspects on sectoral macro-level. It is based on official statistical and other information as well as on expert evaluation. Our study has found that Bulgarian agriculture on the macro-level has good sustainability. Some of the sustainability aspects have higher levels (e.g. the economic aspect) while others (social and environmental) are inferior. Study results could help in focusing the political efforts, so that agrarian sustainability, in its social and ecological aspect, could be increased. However, a further research is needed to evaluate the level of sustainability at the micro-level, so that the major issues and problem areas are addressed accordingly. |
| Keywords: | agrarian sustainability, sustainability indicators, economic, social, ecological aspects, Bulgarian agriculture |
| JEL: | Q1 Q15 Q18 Q5 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:110263&r= |
| By: | Petra Landovska (Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic) |
| Abstract: | Increasing prevalence of obesity is a pressing public health issue in the Czech Republic as well as world-wide, affecting up to 2.1 billion people. In the Czech Republic, 20-25% of adults and an increasing number of children are obese now. Given that obesity is a chronic disease which is associated with several serious comorbidities, it generates large social costs. The main aim of this study was to estimate both direct and indirect costs of obesity in the Czech Republic. Social costs of obesity are estimated using the cost-of-illness approach. Population attributable fractions (PAF) are computed based on prevalence of obesity in the Czech Republic and relative risks of 19 comorbidities. Direct costs (healthcare utilization costs and costs of pharmacotherapy) are estimated using the top-down approach, while indirect costs (absenteeism, presenteeism and premature mortality) are estimated using the human capital approach. In aggregate, the annual costs attributable to obesity in the Czech Republic in 2018 were 37.3 billion CZK (1.5 billion EUR). Direct costs were 13.1 billion CZK (0.5 billion EUR) and accounted for 3% of Czech healthcare expenditures. The highest healthcare utilization costs were attributable to type II diabetes (21.7%), ischemic heart disease (18.4%) and osteoarthritis (16.9%). The largest indirect costs were attributable to premature mortality (9.2 billion CZK/0.36 billion EUR), absenteeism (8.7 billion CZK/0.34 billion EUR) and presenteeism (6.3 billion CZK/0.25 billion EUR). This report demonstrates that obesity is a serious problem with considerable costs. Several preventive interventions should be applied in order to decrease the prevalence of obesity and achieve cost savings. |
| Keywords: | obesity, social costs, cost-of-illness study, Czech Republic |
| JEL: | I12 I18 |
| Date: | 2021–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fau:wpaper:wp2021_33&r= |
| By: | Figurek, Aleksandra; Nurković, Rahman |
| Abstract: | From the studies conducted, it may be seen in 2018 that the driving force behind the sharing economy in Bosnia and Herzegovina are not small entities that come together to use their spare capacity and gain some economic benefit from others. In the past several years, a set of legal reforms has been established for aspects of labour, taxes, and consumer protection in a collaborative economy. Recognising the potential, the Council of Ministers (Government) in Bosnia and Herzegovina also wants to introduce sustainable production processes for converting biomass of harvested plants into useful wood and paper products. One of the biggest challenges is to develop a successful and reliable circular economy model. M4 - Citavi |
| Keywords: | Bosnia and Herzegovina; Economic Development; Environment Protection; Raw Materials; Recycling; Renewable Energy Sources; Sustainable Development; Waste Materials |
| JEL: | L86 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:110228&r= |
| By: | Lukasiewicz, Agnieszka; Nadolska, Aleksandra |
| Abstract: | In the chapter, there is an analysis of sharing economy development in Poland. It concerns both the big players on the market like the most known Airbnb and Uber, as well as smaller, local initiatives, flourishing especially in the food sector. Sharing economy is not a normative concept and is defined differently depending on the subject (i.e., products, services, ideas, models, or structures) to which it refers. However, the significance of the phenomenon is rising rapidly from year to year. Moreover, sharing economy brings many opportunities but also creates a lot of unsolved issues, such as regulations, tax regulations, labour law, competition, which often can lead to conflicts between diverse groups of actors. The new, unregulated, by law, model of the economy in some sectors has caused a lot of confusion, leading to conflicts (like between taxi drivers and Uber drivers), as well as a feeling of inequality. |
| Keywords: | Crowdfunding; Local Initiatives; Sharing Economy; Social Issues; Social Trust |
| JEL: | L86 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:110242&r= |
| By: | Gubalova, Jolana; Capkova, Sona; Kokavcova, Dagmar |
| Abstract: | The terms “collaborative economy” or “sharing economy” have been commonly used in recent years to refer to a proliferation of initiatives, business models and forms of work. To observe this significant phenomenon is necessary to take into consideration a new perspective on social, economic, environmental, and political processes that can be created from a number of assets and skills, in innovative ways and at an unprecedented scale. Using of digital technologies for collaboration, communication, coordination, and value creation purposes is included under the same umbrella of the collaborative economy. Market-focused digital innovation is able to disrupt existing business models and support economic activity. The situation in the area of the collaborative economy in Slovakia seems to be different from that of the Western European countries. Data from the area of sharing economy are not registered with the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic, and there is no analysis examining its impact. We introduce a short summary of case studies examining the collaborative economy platforms in Slovakia and some issues of taxation of the collaborative economy. |
| Keywords: | Business Models; Collaborative Economy; Digital Platforms; Sharing Economy; Taxation |
| JEL: | L86 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:110245&r= |
| By: | Anastasia A. Byvaltseva (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Anna A. Panova (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | The Russian academic sector can be characterized by university differentiation, which leads to differentiation of their goals and priorities. Governmental policies have stimulated the formation of a group of leading research universities. Different aims of universities mean there are different incentives for faculty. This paper estimates the “success” of Russian faculty in contemporary conditions. We measure success as the difference between an individual’s wage and the average university wage. We find that research-oriented universities pay great attention to the top journals, while for teaching-oriented universities journal rankings are of less importance – they need journals to be foreign. Time spent on teaching is not significant in teaching-oriented universities, while in research-oriented universities it is. Comparing the success of faculty in case they changed university shows that people from research-oriented universities could be more successful at teaching-oriented universities than their colleagues, while faculty of teaching-oriented universities would not be attractive employees for research-oriented universities. |
| Keywords: | teaching, research, Russian University Excellence Initiative, 5-100 Project, faculty. |
| JEL: | I2 I23 I28 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:62edu2021&r= |
| By: | Yermone Sargsyan (Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic) |
| Abstract: | The electricity prices in developing countries are relatively low to recover its costs of generation and provision. This results in under-investment in infrastructure, which usually leads to frequent outages or rolling blackouts by the electricity suppliers. Outages may have an adverse impact on the household's welfare including the health of household members. Using household-level panel data "Life in Kyrgyzstan" (LIK), and a coarsened exact matching (cem) procedure this paper investigates whether there is a relationship between outages and the health of children. Specifically, I study the differences in the anthropometric outcomes of children aged 5 and below (given by the z-scores) living in households that experience frequent outages and those which do not. I find that the children living in the households with frequent outages have z-scores of height-for-age that are -0.334 units lower, and z-scores of weight-for-age that are -0.157 units lower than compared to the children living in the observationally identical households but without frequent outages. |
| Keywords: | electricity outages; child health; height-forage; weight-for-age; developing countries; transition economies |
| JEL: | I12 I14 J13 P36 Q53 Q41 |
| Date: | 2021–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fau:wpaper:wp2021_32&r= |
| By: | Simonovits, Bori; Bernát, Anikó; Balázs, Bálint |
| Abstract: | In this chapter, we assess the current state-of-the-art of the Hungarian sharing economy sector relying on statistics, previous surveys, and expert interviews around case examples. Although we record a fast emergence of an increasing number and a widening variety of multinational and home-grown initiatives, we also contend that in Hungary, the innovation ecosystem of the collaborative economy is still relatively feeble. The linkages that are created through these initiatives are controversial sociologically. The main end-users are highly educated young urbanites. In contrast, on the service provider front, the non-formal workforce is quite vulnerable as the current regulations hardly provide any protection to platform workers. The motivations of the key players in the sector are varied, as only a few locally based initiatives are transformative. In contrast, most examples are solely linked to finding new business opportunities in a shrinking economy. |
| Keywords: | Collaborative Economy; Global and Local Case Examples; Hungary; Platform Economy; Ride-Sharing; Sharing Economy; Short-Term Rental; Social Innovation |
| JEL: | L86 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:110235&r= |
| By: | Maria Begicheva; Oleg Travkin; Alexey Zaytsev |
| Abstract: | Macroeconomic indexes are of high importance for banks: many risk-control decisions utilize these indexes. A typical workflow of these indexes evaluation is costly and protracted, with a lag between the actual date and available index being a couple of months. Banks predict such indexes now using autoregressive models to make decisions in a rapidly changing environment. However, autoregressive models fail in complex scenarios related to appearances of crises. We propose to use clients' financial transactions data from a large Russian bank to get such indexes. Financial transactions are long, and a number of clients is huge, so we develop an efficient approach that allows fast and accurate estimation of macroeconomic indexes based on a stream of transactions consisting of millions of transactions. The approach uses a neural networks paradigm and a smart sampling scheme. The results show that our neural network approach outperforms the baseline method on hand-crafted features based on transactions. Calculated embeddings show the correlation between the client's transaction activity and bank macroeconomic indexes over time. |
| Date: | 2021–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2110.12000&r= |
| By: | Hysa, Eglantina; Kruja, Alba Demneri; Shiko, Vera |
| Abstract: | Globalisation has brought immense changes to the national and international economic structure. The digital revolution and ICT expansion positively impacted the sharing economy development. In this regard, the most avant-garde countries in sharing economy seem to be the advanced countries. However, transitory countries such as Albania are making satisfactory progress as well. While being part of some global cases of sharing economy, Albania is also experiencing domestic incentives related with. The sectors involved in sharing economy are affiliated to different domains, including agriculture, tourism, healthcare, transportation, etc. Albania strongly embraced technology because of its relatively young population and the flexible education system adopting to the market needs. The Albanian government is doing well on the promotion and usage of public platforms, which are supportive of the sharing concept. Although not specifically for the sharing economy, the government of Albania has released some useful strategic plans to embed the necessary instruments and infrastructure to digitalisation. However, there is more to do for sharing economy in specific terms. The collaboration of three actors, businesses-academia-government, would bring to the Albanian market new capacities and additional added values. |
| Keywords: | Sharing Economy; Digitalisation; ICT Ecosystem; Triple Helix; Development; Case Study; Albania |
| JEL: | L86 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:110225&r= |
| By: | Baltova, Stela; Vutsova, Albena |
| Abstract: | Over the last decade, the phenomenon called collaborative economy or sharing economy gained significant dimensions and crossed many sectors of economic and social life, creating new business models. Despite the growing interest, there is no single concept for its definition, manifestations, impacts and business models, while at the same time, digital platforms have allowed its sophisticated development. The seen emergence of sharing economy in Bulgaria brings out the need to study the phenomenon at the national level, its context, development, stakeholders. The aim of this chapter is to shed light on the main manifestations and regulatory issues of the sharing economy in Bulgaria and to discuss its stage of development critically. The first part starts with a review of definition aspects and academic conceptualisation of the sharing economy and key issues. In the second part, aspects of the context and manifestations in the development of the phenomenon are discussed. Then, looking at several national examples of market players, an attempt is made to present the sectoral scope of the sharing economy and its development and to highlight the active stakeholders in the market. The study concludes with a discussion on the policies to be developed at the national level and future research to be carried out in order to catch the potential opportunities and overcome potential barriers. |
| Keywords: | Context; Impacts; Policy; Regulation; Sharing Economy |
| JEL: | L86 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:110229&r= |
| By: | Završnik, Aleš; Simončič, Katja; Kuzman, Manja Kitek; Kušar, Tomaž |
| Abstract: | In Slovenia, the collaborative economy is in the early stages of development. The collaborative economy became a popular topic in 2015 when the government intensified its efforts to initiate a debate on legal reforms that would better accommodate foreign collaborative economy companies in Slovenia. While in 2016, the government was actively working on the topic and eager to start the discussions on legal reform in line with the European agenda for the collaborative economy since 2018, the issue has lost its momentum. After the Act Amending the Hospitality Act was adopted, the government has slowed down its efforts to create a regulatory framework conducive to the needs of the collaborative economy. Nevertheless, the practice is becoming more and more common, with several sharing initiatives surfacing in the past few years. Most collaborative economy services are not yet subject to taxation and regulation, one of the most pressing questions that will have to be answered in Slovenia is how to regulate and tax the collaborative economy. |
| Keywords: | Airbnb; Collaborative Economy; Sharing Economy; Slovenia; Uber |
| JEL: | L86 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:110246&r= |
| By: | Ćirić, Maja; Ignjatijević, Svetlana; Fedajev, Aleksandra; Panić, Marija; Sekulić, Dejan; Stanišić, Tanja; Leković, Miljan; Arsić, Sanela |
| Abstract: | In the developed countries, the importance and development of sharing economy as a new economic model have been increasingly discussed in recent decades. In Serbia, sharing economy has not yet been sufficiently explored in official reports and academic literature. On the other hand, in practice, there are several collaborative platforms used by consumers. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to point out the specifics of the sharing economy in Serbia. At the outset, after a brief introduction, the concept of a sharing economy is defined. Consumers’ attitudes about knowledge of the sharing economy, the expectations, and motives that drive them to market engagement are examined and presented. Examples of good practices in the field of sharing economy in Serbia are given. The factors that stimulate or restrict the development of the sharing economy are highlighted, and the legislative framework that directly and indirectly regulates this area is presented. The conclusion about the level of the development of sharing economy in Serbia is derived, and recommendation for future research is given. |
| Keywords: | Consumers Perspective; Motives and Barriers; New Business Model; Serbia; Sharing Economy |
| JEL: | L86 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:110244&r= |
| By: | Trajanov, Dimitar; Angelovska, Julijana; Mihajlovska, Tamara; Poprizova, Marija |
| Abstract: | The growth of the sharing economy is important for developing countries because it creates value, economic growth, technological innovation, environmental sustainability, and social inclusion. Macedonian citizens have a long tradition of sharing things between friends, relatives, and neighbours. However, the new concept of sharing economy that enables strangers globally to share goods and services is still not developed and used by the Macedonian citizens. The goal of this study is by empirical analysis to give the state and potential of the usage of sharing economy by Macedonian citizens from the perspectives of providers and consumers. The results of the observational study and survey address future actions to boost the development of the sharing economy. |
| Keywords: | Collaborative Consumption; Developing Country; North Macedonia; Sharing Economy; Sustainable Growth |
| JEL: | L86 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:110240&r= |