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The competitiveness of the European Union in the light of human capital – what the Draghi report leaves out
No full textResearch on the competitiveness nexus has long underpinned economic policy theory and practice. It has focused on finding technical solutions to questions about economic growth, welfare, sustainability, and many other equally pressing issues. One might think it is challenging to make new waves in an issue that has been so actively researched. However, former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi has managed to attract the attention of economists and governmental organizations in many countries with his recently published Draghi Report on competitiveness problems in the European Union and how they can be addressed, even such experts who had not previously looked at the issue in depth joined the discussion. We begin our presentation of the main findings of the Draghi report with some of the key takeaways from the US response. The report itself, dealing with the facts indicating that the European Union is falling behind the United States and China in terms of competitiveness, stresses that European countries need new measures and substantial investment to maintain and improve their competitiveness. The US authors we quote raise questions about the growth advantage of the US economy. They show that industrial production growth in the US has also slowed considerably, and that the EU’s lag is not dramatic. They argue that the lag is primarily explained by the strengthening of the dollar and demographic factors. There are also very different trends depending on the indicators used to measure it.In terms of productivity per hours worked, measured in terms of purchasing power parity, many European countries are ahead of the US growth rate. On average, European workers have shorter working hours and take longer holidays.
The Draghi report touches on the quality and quantity of human capital, skills, and competencies in the context of the EU-US innovation gap. However, the report does not address potential workers’ physical and mental health. Absences from work due to physical and mental illness affect workplace efficiency and productivity. In the second part of our paper, we will explore how research on this topic paints a worrying picture. We present the actions that are necessary in this area.
In another paper published in the Financial Time on November 1, 2024, Draghi (2024a) highlights the issue of his proposed significant public investment needs and EU fiscal rules. We conclude with a discussion of taxation and changes to fiscal rules
Geopolitical continuity? : An analysis of the Turkish Straits and Russian ambitions
No full textThis paper analyses the Turkish and Russian interests in the Turkish Straits. The paper's main argument tests the traditional theoretical principle of the permanence of geography through a framework that deploys selected aspects of the model of neoclassical geopolitics. The application of this model - a cutting-edge development in the theory of geopolitics - constitutes one of the original contributions of this paper. After clarifying our theoretical and methodological choices, the paper provides the historical context and the legal background of the Straits to expand the scope for the analysis of the distribution of power in the region. The Turkish and Russian geopolitical agents' perceptions of space are also investigated, completing the methodological steps of the model. We performed tests of our main argument in three case studies: (1) the 2008 Russo-Georgian War, (2) the 2014 Annexation of Crimea, and (3) the 2022 Russo-Ukrainian War
Financially Savy Households as a Way of Smoohting Shocks in the Market Economy System
No full textWe assume that strengthening consumers' position has far-reaching benefits, including better decision-making, improved services from financial intermediaries, and, ultimately, overall financial stability. Therefore, the paper's main goal is to discuss the most effective way to achieve satisfactory national standards in financial literacy to better anticipate and respond to economic shocks through household financial decisions. Using inductive and deductive research methods, we generate a hypothesis and test it by utilizing microdata from the Household Finance and Consumption Survey, implemented by the National Bank of Slovakia and coordinated by the European Central Bank. Our findings demonstrate the impact of an individual's education on their level of financial literacy and how it affects financial decisions. Ultimately, our research proposes concrete solutions to improve financial literacy and decision-making, and so enhance financial stability
Interview with Dr. Magdolna Csath, Professor
Full text linkMagdolna Csath graduated from the Marx Károly University of Economics in 1966 and studied applied mathematics at the Eötvös Loránd University in 1967-68. In 1969, she won the national competition „Young People’s Competition in Economics” organised by Hungarian television. In 1972-73, she completed the MBA programme at the London Business School (England). In 1996, she was awarded a Habilitation in Economics at the Budapest University of Economics and Business Administration. She received her doctorate in economics from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1991. Between 1999 and 2002, she was awarded a Széchenyi Professorship Fellowship to support her teaching and research work. She taught for five years in the USA and one year in Great Britain. In the USA she was awarded the „L. J. Buchan Distinguished Professorship Award”. She received the Albert Szent-Györgyi Award in 2008 and the „For the Hungarian Economy” Award in 2015. She is an advocate of development as opposed to growth at any price. She believes that the economy exists to serve the people, rather than the people exist to serve the economy. She is particularly interested in the possibility of developing the Hungarian economy based on knowledge, innovation and people. She has published more than 100 papers in Hungary and abroad. She is the author and editor of the book „Regime change in the economy, or how Hungarian industry disappeared”, published by Kairosz Publishing House in 2015, and „Economics: social economics, macroeconomic foundations”, published by the National University of Public Service in 2014. Her most cited books are „Strategic Planning in the 21st Century”, „Competitiveness Management” (National Textbook Publisher 2010) and „Competitiveness Mosaic” (Academic Publishers 2023). Important recent papers include „Growth or Development Trap” (Financial and Economic Review 2022) and „The role of Intangible Capital Investment and Intangible Assets in Improving Competitiveness” (Financial and Economic Review 2023). She is a Private Professor at the National University of Public Service and a lecturer at the Pázmány Péter Catholic University. Member of the National Competitiveness Council from 2017 to 2022
Milgram's experiment in the knowledge space : individual navigation strategies
No full textData deluge characteristic for our times has led to information overload, posing a significant challenge to effectively finding our way through the digital landscape. Addressing this issue requires an in-depth understanding of how we navigate through the abundance of information. Previous research has discovered multiple patterns in how individuals navigate in the geographic, social, and information spaces, yet individual differences in strategies for navigation in the knowledge space has remained largely unexplored. To bridge the gap, we conducted an online experiment where participants played a navigation game on Wikipedia and completed questionnaires about their personal information. Utilizing the hierarchical structure of the English Wikipedia and a graph embedding trained on it, we identified two navigation strategies and found that there are significant individual differences in the choices of them. Older, white and female participants tend to adopt a proximity-driven strategy, while younger participants prefer a hub-driven strategy. Our study connects social navigation to knowledge navigation: individuals' differing tendencies to use geographical and occupational information about the target person to navigate in the social space can be understood as different choices between the hub-driven and proximity-driven strategies in the knowledge space
Liquidity Constraints, Income Variance, and Buffer Stock Savings: Experimental Evidence
No full textWe test the buffer stock model of savings behavior using a three‐period intertemporal model. In one treatment, liquidity in the second period is constrained (borrowing not possible), while the unconstrained treatment has no such constraint. The buffer stock model predicts that a second‐period liquidity constraint increases first‐period savings. We also vary the variance of stochastic income (high or low) in a design. While we find no evidence for the predicted liquidity constraint effect, most other predictions hold, for example, income variance effects. Observed departures can be explained by some combination of debt aversion, cognitive heterogeneity, and/or learning
Harmonic Development Index : a novel approach to measure environmental, social, and economic development
No full textGross domestic product (GDP) is the most commonly used approach to measure a country's economic performance. The shortcomings of GDP in capturing overall well-being, economic development and sustainable growth are among the most debated issues in economic research. This study aimed to develop a method that captures broader aspects of socio-economic prosperity. We compiled a panel dataset of yearly measurements with 32 social and economic indicators from 87 countries between 2005 and 2019 from publicly available sources. Linear interpolation, extrapolation, and random forest imputation methods were used to substitute missing values. Logarithmic transformation of some selected variables, followed by the standardisation of all variables, was applied to ease the usability and comparability of the variables. Exploratory factor analysis with maximum likelihood estimation was used to construct six domain- specific subindices, or domains in general (variance explained by factors 0.05). Three domains showed two dominant factors each (cumulative variance explained by the factors 50%, p < 0.05). One domain had a single dominant factor that did not reach the variance explained cut-off value (36.8%), although the second factor was not significant (p = 0.554); therefore, the first factor was considered the only dominant factor. We found that domains including variables related to the real economy (25.7%) and social equality and sustainability (19.0%) had the highest weights in the composite indicator. This study developed a novel method to capture important aspects of social and economic prosperity in 87 countries. The harmonic development index allows intercountry and intertemporal comparisons across six domains related to economic development, work- and knowledge-based society, and financial, environmental, social, and demographic sustainability. The composite indicator serves as a tool to rank countries and track changes in the rankings, providing useful information for policymakers and researchers
Spirituality in Professional Higher Education
No full textThere is alarming psychological dysfunction within our universities. Depression, together with anxiety, substance abuse and chronic stress is widespread among students and faculty. Additionally, there is increasing evidence of growing cultural, racial, political and other social-borne friction on and around campuses. Clinical and epidemiological evidence suggests that spirituality could have protective benefits for mental health. But the current functioning of many of our universities discourages introducing spirituality in academic culture, mission and values, not to mention curricular and extracurricular activities. This article investigates the root causes of this situation in different professional fields, namely pedagogy and psychology education, healthcare education, economics and business education and architecture education. Initiatives are presented where opportunities for spiritual approaches and practices are provided in universities. Finally, the vision of an ‘Awakened Campus’ is discussed which aims to create free and safe spaces for students, faculty and university leaders for spiritual growth and development
Granger predictability of real oil prices by US money and inflation in Markov-switching regimes
No full textThis paper presents new evidence that US money supply growth and inflation rates Granger predict real oil prices in a two-regime Markov switching vector autoregression (MS-VAR) model. An asset pricing theory motivates the empirical work by showing how jumps in real oil prices approximately follow jumps in the discount factor to keep constant the competitive return to oil capital. Using monthly data from January 1978 to June 2024, we consider alternative data combinations of US money supply growth rates, US inflation rates, and real oil prices to establish volatility regimes through goodness of fit testing. We set baseline model as that model with the highest likelihood in explaining the real oil price, which combines M2, the CPI less energy prices (CPIE), and real oil prices. Robustness considers two M2 variants combined with the CPIE that have the next highest likelihoods, for two alternative models. In the high volatility regime, results show robust Granger predictability of real oil prices by the baseline M2 and the M2 variants. In the low volatility regime for the baseline model, the CPIE inflation rate Granger predicts real oil prices. The paper contributes these new MS-VAR results that combined with the theory provide nuanced non-conventional support that monetary factors contribute to heightened real oil price episodes in volatile times as well as in calmer periods
A geopolitika és a vendégforgalom összefüggései Grúzia turizmusában
Full text linkTurizmus szempontjából nincsenek szerencsés helyzetben a világnak azok a térségei, ahol akár valódi konfliktusok vannak jelen, akár korábbi események miatt a potenciális utazók bizalmatlanok a terület iránt. Grúzia nincs könnyű helyzetben, hiszen a grúz rendszerváltozás óta számos olyan kedvezőtlen hír jelent meg a világsajtóban az országról, ami a távolmaradás irányába mozdítja az érdeklődőket. Tovább nehezíti a helyzetet, hogy a turisztikai szolgáltatások még távol vannak a nemzetközi turizmusban megszokott színvonaltól. Ennek ellenére – összefüggésben a világturizmus növekedésével – az utóbbi másfél évtizedben kimagasló mértékben nő a turisták érdeklődése. A tanulmány az ország geopolitikai helyzete és a turizmus fejlődése közötti összefüggéseket vizsgálja