South East European Journal of Economics and Business
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LITHUANIAN TEMPORARY WORKERS IN ICELAND IN ANOTHER ECONOMIC BOOM: EXPECTATIONS AND EXPERIENCES
Get PDFEconomic changes and a booming tourism industry in Iceland have triggered a rise in temporary workforce, where employees are brought to Iceland from Eastern Europe and other less economically developed countries. Major societal and economic shifts are evidenced by a doubled number of temporary staffing agencies and a ten-fold increase in foreign temporary agency workers. However, limited research exists regarding the phenomenon. Furthermore, the expectations of temporary work force in Iceland have not been researched. The study employed field survey methods to investigate pre-arrival expectations and post-arrival experiences of temporary agency workers regarding temporary agencies and Icelandic society. The findings indicate that the employees had relatively high expectations towards the temporary staffing agency and Icelandic society before arriving in Iceland. However, the findings also indicated unmet expectations in these respects. The study provides empirical data that serves as catalyst for both expectation management and better integration of foreign temporary workforce
ENDOGENOUS CONVERGENCE AND INTERNATIONAL TECHNOLOGICAL DIFFUSION CHANNELS
Get PDF The goal of the paper is to estimate relative importance of channels of technological diffusion between new member states and core EU countries. Based on neoclassical growth theory and extensive literature survey on technological diffusion we explore movements in the relative TFP in EU member states and try to identify relative importance of channels of technological diffusion as suggested by theory: imports, exports, FDI, R&D, human capital and fixed capital formation, etc. In the first step we employ Phillips and Sul (2007) log t test which has power to detect convergence even in the absence of cointegration between time series. In the second part we employ Abrigo and Love (2016) PVAR model in order to detect channels of diffusion of technology. The data is sampled from Eurostat and PWT repository and covers the period from 1995-2016 panel analysis and 1950-2014 for TFP convergence analysis. Our results indicate that in the overall sample FDI and R&D are major drivers of technological change, while, contrary to conventional wisdom, trade openness and human capital are dominant channels for TFP diffusion in periphery countries. The overall results point that productivity gap reduction is a heterogeneous process, country specific problem, but on average in the periphery it can be supported through various economic policies focused on openness and human capita
DO REMITTANCES REDUCE POVERTY IN KOSOVO? - A COUNTERFACTUAL ANALYSIS
Get PDFKosovo is of the poorest countries in Europe, with 17.6 percent of the Kosovar population living below the national poverty line, and an estimated 5.2 percent reported as extremely poor. Migration and remittances have been an effective mechanism for mitigating poverty, as well as a coping mechanism for disadvantaged households with no or little employment and earning opportunities. The high dependence of households on remittances suggests that poverty rates would be much higher without the safety net provided through migration and remittances. This paper analyzes the impact that remittances and migration have on the poverty in Kosovo, in a hypothetical case, without remittances and migration using data from the Household Budget Survey 2011. The study developed counterfactual consumption estimates for remittance recipient households through the use of econometric estimations to predict the consumption of households in the case of no remittances. Due to the potential presence of selection bias, the paper uses a two-stage Heckman-type selection procedure which suggests that there is no selection bias. The results support the hypothesis that remittances increase the consumption of recipient households. The poverty rate would be higher for a considerable proportion of households in the case of no remittances. The poverty rates would increase particularly in rural areas
COST-EFFECTIVE SERVICE EXCELLENCE: EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG RESTAURANTS' OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY, SIZE AND SERVICE QUALITY
Get PDFThe main goal of this study is to investigate whether higher (cost-effective) operational efficiency in restaurants can be achieved without lowering the perceived level of service quality. This study also investigates the importance of restaurants' size on operational efficiency and on the perceived level of service quality level. We present the methodological procedures used to investigate the relationships among restaurants' operational efficiency, size, and service quality after presenting the conceptualization of the cost-effective service excellence (CESE) research construct. The restaurants' efficiency was assessed using Data Envelopment Analyses and the DINESERV tool was implemented to analyse guests' perceptions of service quality. Guests of low- and high- efficient restaurants perceive service quality based on the same quality dimensions. Based on the structural equation modelling, it is clearly evident that CESE can be achieved in the restaurant industry. The restaurant size has proven to influence restaurants' operational efficiency and guests’ quality perceptions
OPTIMAL SIZE OF THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT SECTOR FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF ITS IMPACT ON THE EU ECONOMIES
Get PDFThis article is an attempt to determine the optimal size of the general government sector (GGS) from the point of view of the economies of EU countries. Achievement of this research objective implied a few intermediate objectives. Firstly, measures enabling the description of the size of the general government sector were identified. In order to do that, measures present in the literature, classical measures of size of the GGS, as well as the public sector were extended to include additional measures proposed by the authors. Selected variables enabled us to measure the size of the GGS, choosing sector variables which positively influenced the economies of EU countries. Based on that, researches on optimization of the size of the general government sector from a perspective of the economies of EU countries were made, using for that purpose an approach based on diagnostic inference. A combination of research methodology innovative for such elaborations on the topic adopted by the authors resulted in the paper, presenting in a complex manner the issues of combining measures and impact of the general government sector on the economies of the researched countries
EVALUATING THE PREVALENCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF UNREGISTERED EMPLOYMENT IN KOSOVO: LESSONS FROM A 2017 SURVEY
Get PDFDespite the growing recognition that unregistered employment remains a common problem both in South-East Europe and well beyond, there has been little evidence available on its prevalence and distribution. This paper begins to fill that gap by reporting a 2017 large scale national representative survey of 8,533 households in Kosovo. This reveals that 34.6% of all employees are engaged in unregistered employment (i.e., they have no employment contract). A Probit regression analysis reveals significant associations between unregistered employment and individual-, household, employer and job-related characteristics, with unregistered employment significantly more prevalent among men, younger people, single, widowed or divorced, those with fewer years in education, living in rural areas and in larger households, working in construction and services, part-time employees, with shorter employment duration, lower wages, and those in elementary occupations and craft and related trades. The wider theoretical and policy implications are then discussed
DETERMINANTS OF CURRENT ACCOUNT IN CASES OF SERBIA AND ROMANIA: TIME-VARYING PARAMETERS APPROACH
Get PDFFollowing competing theories, the paper brings the determinants of the Serbian and Romanian current account dynamics with policy implications. The research sample consists of quarterly time series data over the period 2004q1–2017q2 and 2007q1-2017q4 for the Serbian and the Romanian case, respectively. Based on the state space model with time-varying parameters (TVP) approach, accurate and more robust estimates of responses to changes in the domestic demand real effective exchange rate and money supply were obtained. Consistently with theoretical foundations, the research findings suggest the country- specific policy mix for each country that might be effective to resolve the issue of the current account deficit
THE IMPACT OF ACTIVE LABOUR MARKET POLICIES ON EMPLOYMENT: EVALUATION OF PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT SERVICES (PES) IN KOSOVO
No full textThis paper evaluates the effects on participants of public employment programmes (PEPs), as a component of Active Labour Market Policies on Employment (ALMP) in Kosovo. The study focuses on individual employment likelihood where micro data are used to measure the outcomes from registration at Employment Offices. This empirical analysis confirms the positive role of active labour market policies in Kosovo. Assessments show that groups targeted by employment offices have increased the probability of being employed by persons belonging to these groups. Empirical results may suggest that it would be appropriate that the activity of the Employment Offices and in general active policies grow their influence, which seem to be in the right direction. However they would need to meet a larger number of individuals who could benefit from their increased employability and activity in the labour market. Moreover, it is recommended that the active policies are associated with other complementary policies in designing an economic environment that provides incentives for the job creation.
 
PRODUCTIVITY CHANGE OF MICROFINANCE INSTITUTIONS IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
Get PDFThe main aim of this paper is to investigate the productivity changes of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) during and after the recent financial crisis. The study covers the period starting from 2008 until 2015. Using the Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI) over the sample of 10 MFIs and a balanced panel dataset of 80 observations, this study explores technical and technological change as well as total factor productivity (TFP) change. The empirical findings indicate a decline in TFP in most of the analyzed periods with an average decrease of 2.5%. The study reveals an average technological decline in the industry of 1.7%, while technical efficiency change is recorded at the level of -0.8%. Overall, crisis efficiency recovery occurred during the period between 2009 and 2013. However, due to technological inefficiencies, average total factor productivity change remains negative. Hence, policy makers need to enhance the technological progress in order to meet their strategic objectives in BiH MFIs