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on Transition Economics |
| By: | Stiansen, Øyvind; Naurin, Daniel; Michailidou, Asimina; Riganova, Adriana |
| Abstract: | How does the European Union's enforcement of democracy and rule-of-law standards infuence the domestic public's attitudes toward backsliding governments? On the one hand, enforcement actions by international organizations may increase the costs of supporting backsliding governments and provide informational cues about non-compliance with international norms. On the other hand, scholars and practitionersworry that enforcement actions create “rally-around-the-flag” effects that inadvertently increase support for backsliding regimes. We report descriptive, experimental, and quasi-experimental results from a survey designed to assess the public-opinion effects of EU action in response to rule-of-law backsliding in Poland. The survey results suggest both that Polish citizens perceive the EU as a main critic of measures undermining judicial independence and that these perceptions are correlated with opposing the targeted measures. We find no evidence that additional information about EU actions turns public opinion against the targeted measures but there is also no evidence of any rally-around-the-flag effect. In diagnosing the null findings from our experimental and quasi-experimental designs, we also highlight important challenges associated with using survey-experimental methods to assess the effectiveness of EU interventions in ongoing and salient public debates. |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences, rule of law, European Union, international norms, public opinion, democratic backsliding |
| Date: | 2023–11–28 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:globco:qt2jz3g89m |
| By: | Enes Sunel; Robert Grundke |
| Abstract: | Weak investment has weighed on the convergence process of Latvia towards higher living standards. Limited access to finance coupled with high informality, costly insolvency procedures, skilled labour shortages and weak competition have hampered business dynamism and innovation, weighing on productivity growth. To reduce high credit costs, it is key to foster competition in financial markets by reducing information asymmetries and switching costs for bank customers and strengthening competition enforcement. As capital markets are shallow compared to other euro area countries, listing of large state-owned enterprises and facilitating greater exposure of pension funds to domestic securities could help attract investors and raise access to finance. Improving contract enforcement and fostering the reallocation of resources to more productive firms will require reducing the cost of filing insolvency, expanding the remit of the Economic Court and continuing to fight corruption. This will also help raise the low level of trust in institutions, which is key to reducing high informality. As training provided by firms is among the lowest across EU countries, better cooperation among firms and with training providers in the design and delivery of training is needed. Further strengthening the resources and investigative powers of the Competition Council would help improve the enforcement of competitive neutrality, reduce the high barriers to entry and competition, and foster business dynamism and innovation. |
| Keywords: | allocative efficiency, bank credit, capital markets, competition, digital adoption, institutional investors, Lerner index, pricing power, reputational risk |
| JEL: | E22 E26 G21 G24 J32 O16 O32 |
| Date: | 2024–07–25 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1809-en |
| By: | Doroteja Mandarić (University North Croatia Author-2-Name: Prof. Dr. Sc. Anica Hunjet Author-2-Workplace-Name: University North Croatia Author-3-Name: Author-3-Workplace-Name: Author-4-Name: Author-4-Workplace-Name: Author-5-Name: Author-5-Workplace-Name: Author-6-Name: Author-6-Workplace-Name: Author-7-Name: Author-7-Workplace-Name: Author-8-Name: Author-8-Workplace-Name:) |
| Abstract: | "Objective - This research aimed to investigate potential disparities between genders in Croatia regarding their pro-environmental attitudes and mindsets, focusing on understanding how gender influences individuals' environmental consciousness and support for sustainable practices. This paper presents an empirical study utilizing survey data to examine gender differences in environmental attitudes and behaviors. Methodology - It contributes to the field of environmental sociology by exploring the role of gender in shaping individuals' responses to environmental challenges, with implications for policy development and sustainability initiatives. By employing an online survey via snowball sampling, a total of 263 adult participants from Croatia were recruited for the study. Closed-ended questions on a Likert scale measured respondents' attitudes towards recycling, waste sorting, environmental protection urgency, and health impacts of environmental issues. Findings - The findings in this research indicate that gender plays a role in influencing individuals' environmental attitudes and behaviors, with significant gender-based variations in environmental consciousness. Women exhibit higher levels of concern for environmental issues, stronger support for recycling policies, and a more positive outlook on the health implications of ecological problems. This study provides valuable insights into the connection between gender and environmentalism in Croatia, making significant contributions to existing literature. Moreover, it offers implications for the development of policies targeting environmental management and recognizing the need to influence the environmental behavior of each gender. By focusing on gender disparities in pro-environmental behaviors, the study offers new insights into the connection between gender and environmentalism, emphasizing the need for gender-sensitive approaches to environmental policymaking and intervention. Novelty - The research aims to deepen our understanding of the intersection between gender and environmental attitudes, highlighting the importance of incorporating gender-specific perspectives into efforts to promote sustainable behaviors, address environmental challenges, and foster more environmentally conscious societies in Croatia and beyond. Type of Paper - Empirical" |
| Keywords: | environmental attitudes, sustainability, eco-awareness, environmental behavior |
| JEL: | F64 J16 Q54 Q56 |
| Date: | 2024–06–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gtr:gatrjs:jber249 |
| By: | Joyce P. Jacobsen (Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and Wesleyan University); Sooyoung A. Lee (Department of Economics, Hobart and William Smith Colleges) |
| Abstract: | A literature has developed in labor economics regarding employer discrimination and how it may be detrimental to firms, particularly firms operating in more competitive sectors. A second literature in international trade considers the effects of import competition and export orientation on gender employment and earnings gaps. Finally, factors affecting firm survival have been increasingly studied as more panel data have become available for firms. We unite these diverse literatures and test several pertinent hypotheses from them using a 2005-2018 panel of Vietnamese firms. We find that firms with higher proportions of female labor are more likely to survive, controlling for other firm-level and industry-level characteristics, and that exporting and foreign- owned firms have higher proportions of female labor. We also examine earnings and women-run firms to consider other dimensions of firm gendering and their effects on firm survival. |
| Keywords: | Vietnam, gender discrimination, trade competition |
| JEL: | D22 F16 J16 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wes:weswpa:2024-009 |
| By: | Dang, Hai-Anh H.; Kilic, Talip; Abanokova, Kseniya; Carletto, Calogero |
| Abstract: | Accurate poverty measurement relies on household consumption data, but such data are often inadequate, outdated or display inconsistencies over time in poorer countries. To address these data challenges, we employ survey-to-survey imputation to produce estimates for several poverty indicators including headcount poverty, extreme poverty, poverty gap, near-poverty rates, as well as mean consumption levels and the entire consumption distribution. Analyzing 22 multi-topic household surveys conducted over the past decade in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Vietnam, we find encouraging results. Adding either household utility expenditures or food expenditures to basic imputation models with household-level demographic, employment, and asset variables could improve the probability of imputation accuracy between 0.1 and 0.4. Adding predictors from geospatial data could further increase imputation accuracy. The analysis also shows that a larger time interval between surveys is associated with a lower probability of predicting some poverty indicators, and that a better imputation model goodness-of-fit (R2) does not necessarily help. The results offer cost-saving inputs into future survey design. |
| Keywords: | consumption, poverty, survey-to-survey imputation, household surveys, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, Sub-Saharan Africa |
| JEL: | C15 I32 O15 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1458 |
| By: | EORY Vera; BEGHO T.; MACLEOD Michael; MARTINEZ Mari Angeles; CASTELLANOS Vicente; GOMEZ BARBERO Manuel (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | Livestock production is responsible for most of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from European agriculture. To achieve the climate targets in the European Union, reducing emissions from the food chain, and within that from livestock production, is imperative. Along with structural changes, management and technological improvements on farms have an important role in reducing GHG emissions. However, our understanding of the uptake of low-GHG practices is limited, with uneven evidence across countries and practices. This report adds to the evidence base on the uptake of mitigation practices by presenting the results of two surveys, one done with dairy farmers in Poland about the use of breeding indices, and the other with pig producers in France about multi-phase feeding. The results provide evidence of the importance of farm size and specialisation in practice uptake, while also pointing to the role of the processors in the case of milk production. The most common barriers are high cost, low return on investment and a perception that the farm is too small to implement such practices. Adopters mentioned the benefits of improved milk yield and genetics and also better knowledge of the herd in the case of the breeding index, and reduced feed costs and nitrogen excretion with multi-phase feeding. Simulations of greenhouse gas emissions associated with the adopters’ and non-adopters’ farming systems showed a potential reduction of GHG emission intensity in both cases, namely 9% for milk production with using the breeding index in the herd and 3% for pig meat production with multi-phase feeding. |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc130981 |
| By: | Khakimov, Parviz; Aliev, Jovidon; Thomas, Timothy S.; Ilyasov, Jarilkasin; Pechtl, Sarah; Dunston, Shahnila |
| Abstract: | Climate change is one of the main challenges for food security in Tajikistan in the medium and long term. Tajikistan’s Agri-Food System and Sustainable Development Program (ASDP) for the period up to 2030 defined food and nutrition security as one of six priorities. Additionally, climate change is one of the key obstacles to the achievement of the country’s strategic objective defined in the National Development Strategy (NDS) 2016–2030, which is to improve the living standards of the population, and one of the four strategic priorities, which is to ensure food security and access to quality nutrition by 2030. The effects of climate change on food security in Tajikistan were examined using IFPRI’s International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade (IMPACT) by simulating climate change and no climate change (baseline) scenarios between 2015 and 2050. |
| Keywords: | Tajikistan; Central Asia; Asia; climate change; food security; sustainable development; nutrition |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ceaspb:141633 |
| By: | Volker Ziemann |
| Abstract: | Slovenia's current housing challenges are characterised by strong demand and inadequate supply, exacerbated by rising construction and financing costs. High ownership rates mask the affordability challenge for younger cohorts or those who want to move amid limited rental markets and insufficient residential construction activity. This paper proposes a range of policy options to make housing more efficient, inclusive and sustainable. Streamlining spatial planning and permitting systems would foster housing supply responsiveness. Levelling the playing field in rental markets and overhauling real estate taxation can boost market efficiency. Enhancing access to mortgage financing and improving framework conditions for the provision of social housing would expand housing options for households. Finally, housing policies should aim at accelerating the transition to a net-zero economy by aligning energy taxation more closely with the carbon content of the source, strengthening the support programmes for renovation works and improving framework conditions for the deployment of district heating and electrification. |
| Keywords: | Housing affordability, Housing decarbonisation, Housing policy, Housing supply, Property taxation, Rental markets, Residential construction, Social housing, Spatial planning |
| JEL: | H23 H77 R31 R38 G21 |
| Date: | 2024–07–25 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1810-en |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | On average, primary school students in OECD countries receive 805 hours of instruction per year, and lower secondary students 916 hours, spread over 38 school weeks. However, these averages mask wide variations across countries. The total length of school vacations averages around 14 weeks per year, ranging from less than 11 weeks in Costa Rica and Denmark to 17 weeks in Greece, Latvia and Lithuania. The organisation of the school year, in particular the length of the summer holidays, is frequently debated but is rarely the subject of educational reforms because of its sensitive nature. Contrary to common assumptions, the length of instruction time is not closely related to students’ academic performance. The quality of instruction and other factors such as students’ participation to private tutoring and extracurricular educational activities, play critical roles in determining learning outcomes, too. |
| Date: | 2024–08–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaaf:86-en |