European Journal of Government and Economics (EJGE, University of A Coruña)
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Clarifying the concept of social capital through its three perspectives: individualistic, communitarian and macrosocial
Get PDFThe concept of social capital has received increasing attention in recent years. The complexity and multidimensionality that accompany the variable of social capital have caused confusion and ambiguity. This article presents a synthesis of social capital in three perspectives. From the individualistic or micro-social perspective, social capital is an "individual resource" that consists of the networks of relations of the focal subject that bring it a set of instrumental and expressive resources. For the communitarian or meso-social perspective, social capital is a "community resource" or set of attributes and properties present in the social structure (shared norms and values, private trust, closure ...) that facilitate its functioning and collective action. Finally, for the macrosocial perspective, social capital is a "macrosocial and macroinstitutional resource" resting on aspects such as civic-mindedness, general trust and social cohesion, which favors the functioning of the economy and society in general
An inclusive taxonomy of behavioral biases
Get PDFThis paper overviews the theoretical and empirical research on behavioral biases and their influence in the literature. To provide a systematic exposition, we present a unified framework that takes the reader through an original taxonomy, based on the reviews of relevant authors in the field. In particular, we establish three broad categories that may be distinguished: heuristics and biases; choices, values and frames; and social factors. We then describe the main biases within each category, and revise the main theoretical and empirical developments, linking each bias with other biases and anomalies that are related to them, according to the literature
Editorial statement: The first five years of the European Journal of Government and Economics
Get PDFThis editorial statement reflects on the experience from the first five years of the European Journal of Government and Economics and proposes some broad ideas about what we believe should be the future of the journal in the following years. The developments and ideas presented here are divided in three parts: achievements and difficulties of the past five-year period, the renewal of the editorial team, and new challenges for the future
Hidden costs of cuts: Austerity, civil service management and the motivation of public officials in Central and Eastern Europe after the crisis
Get PDFThe implementation of austerity measures presents a dilemma for governments. While austerity measures such as cutbacks aim to reduce costs and enhance public sector efficiency, the same measures might undermine the motivation of employees and, consequently, the prospects of effectively implementing austerity programmes. Based on a survey of ministerial officials in Poland and Latvia, this article finds that the scale of cutbacks explains a larger decline of staff motivation in Latvia than in Poland. The article further shows that motivation was more likely to decrease after the crisis if austerity measures involved cutbacks such as staff reductions, recruitment freezes, and a reduction of training opportunities
The Link between Quality of Governance and Stock Market Performance: International Level Evidence
Get PDFThe present study investigates the link between quality of governance and stock market performance within the context of international markets. The study employed the Fixed Effect model using 23 countries with complete relevant data for the period spanning from 1996 to 2014. The study reveals that, quality of governance as captured by Voice and Accountability, Political Stability and Absence of Violence, Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law and Control of Corruption significantly affect stock market performance. Varying effects are produced when the countries are decomposed into income classifications. What is more, the findings and suggestions of this study suggest that quality of government significantly affect foreign direct investment and could have interesting policy implications. The main value of this paper is to examine the link between quality of governance and stock market performance within the context of international markets
Productivity in Europe during the Great Recession: Any evidence for creative destruction?
Get PDFThis article analyses the effects of the financial crisis and the Great Recession on productivity in Europe by studying the process of labour force reallocation between companies. Using micro-data on company balance sheets, a fixed-effects panel estimation of the predictors of the post-crisis evolution of the number of employees for a given company is used. Identification is achieved through the use of pre-crisis values of covariates. The results are in line with the theoretical predictions derived from Schumpeterian (“creative destructionâ€) endogenous growth models. Pre-crisis productivity is a predictor of a higher number of employees, which means creative destruction is taking place to some extent. Companies in financially dependent sectors perform worse in the context of the financial crisis. Indebtedness has an uneven effect: positive for large companies and negative for smaller ones
Sustainability of Italian budgetary policies: a time series analysis (1862-2013)
Get PDFIn this paper, we analyze the sustainability of Italian public finances using a unique database covering the period 1862-2013. This paper focuses on empirical tests for the sustainability and solvency of fiscal policies. A necessary but not sufficient condition implies that the growth rate of public debt should in the limit be smaller than the asymptotic rate of interest. In addition, the debt-to-GDP ratio must eventually stabilize at a steady-state level. The results of unit root and stationarity tests show that the variables are non-stationary at levels, but stationary in first-differences form, or I(1). However, some breaks in the series emerge, given internal and external crises (wars, oil shocks, regime changes, institutional reforms). Therefore, the empirical analysis is conducted for the entire period, as well as two subâ€periods (1862â€1913 and 1947â€2013). Moreover, anecdotal evidence and visual inspection of the series confirm our results. Furthermore, we conduct tests on cointegration, which evidence that a long-run relationship between public expenditure and revenues is found only for the first sub-period (1862-1913). In essence, the paper’s results reveal that Italy have sustainability problems in the Republican age
Switching costs in the European postal service. Are there any solutions?
Get PDFThis article examines the costs of switching that may exist in the European postal sector, where it is carried out an ambitious process of opening to competition since 1997. Inadequate regulation of the access to some elements of postal infrastructure or services within the scope of the universal postal service exists. This article proposes adaptations to ensure transparent and non-discriminatory access conditions to elements of postal infrastructure in line with the sectorial directives aimed at strengthening competition in the long term in the postal market. The proposed adaptations focus on services such as postcode systems, address databases, post office boxes, delivery boxes, re-direction and return to sender services. All of them can help reduce the switching cost and thus strengthen competition
The perspectives of family policy in Russia amid increasing cohabitation
No full textRussia has long been characterized by early and universal marriage. After the Soviet Union collapse, the average age of marriage has been rising, and cohabitations have become common. Many scholars explain the causes of this trend through the perspective of the Second Demographic Transition. The aim of this research was to define the nature of cohabitations in Russia, reveal the factors of entrance to non-marital unions in order to discuss how and why non-marital union is implicated in recent dialogues about family policy. In order to achieve the aim, such methods as Event History Analysis and Sequence Analysis were used
Urban population and economic growth: South Asia perspective
Get PDFPreviously economic growth was generally discussed in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI), educational growth, savings, investments, inflation as well as trade openness of a nation. Very recently it has been identified that population is one of the major determinants of economic growth of a nation. In the recent years, the study of urbanization has gained a matter of concern in developing countries as it has been recognized as part of a larger process of economic development which is affecting developing countries. South Asian countries are one of the emerging economics and growing at a faster rate over the past few years. At the same time, population of South Asia is growing at a significant rate. Therefore the study has attempted to identify the causal relationship between urban population and economic growth in South Asia using a panel data analysis. The study makes use of the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) and Phillips-Perron (PP), Pesaran as well as Fisher methods for panel unit root test. The panel Pedroni cointegration test suggests that there is long run relationship between the variables. The further panel Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) suggests that there is long run causality running from urban population growth to economic growth in South Asia. The study concludes that the growth of urban population can have significant impact on economic growth in South Asia in the long run