1,720,967 research outputs found
Drinking water demand determinants: Evidences from Vlora city
Get PDFIn Albania there are plenty of natural water resources, a fraction of these reserves cover the need of population for fresh, clean drinking water. But this sector presents several critical problems related with water suppliers. It seems they have not completed the decentralization process; they depend on state subsidies to cover losses from uncollectible bills. Literature shows traditional forms of financing of water supplier in different economies (developed or not). One of the classic financial forms is to increase the rate paid bills. The water should be seen as product that has its own market and an equilibrium price. But do the citizens of Vlora city perceive in adequate way this concept? Should be an economical problem for them if the water tariffs increase or are they using alternative resources of drinking water?
The article aims to give a descriptive overview of water industry and suppliers in Albania and especially empirically conclusions about of the situation in Vlora city, focusing on the perceptions of citizens. Are the accumulated financial losses of water supplier correlated with the citizens’ perception about water as a public good? It's been used data through a structured questionnaire (Zeneli F., WP-Questionnaire, 2015) about 160 families, were part of the survey; also data from General Directorate of Water in Albania; elaborated using statistical software IBM SPSS 21, to identify link between determinants of drinking water demand in the sector.
The main conclusion is that citizens see the water provider service a public good, while from water suppliers water distributed is their product that provides their market position and their economic sustainability.
Let this paper be one of the first in the topic to determine drinking water demand determinants in Vlora city
Analysis of risks and investments’ opportunities in water sector
Get PDFWhile water demand is projected to grow by 41% by 2030, considering also the ultimate reserves of drinking water, it is believed that this element will attract the majority of investments in the coming decades.
Opportunities in drinking water sector are numerous, because its process of providing and delivery of drinking water includes many aspects: management of infrastructure, design of technological solutions, conservation and water’s quality.
These opportunities result from the difference between water supply and water demand; an increasingly difference that requires capital investments in production and water treatment technologies. Investments need to be combined with the knowledge on the legislation, regulatory framework and technological developments.
This article may serve to clarify type of investments in drinking water sector, known by literature, to identify opportunities of investment in this sector, indicating the theoretical framework of beta and alpha risk ratio coefficient calculation and to suggest how these types of investments can be allocated to the investment portfolios
On-Line Social Network Sites and Negative Social Capital: The Influences in Albanian Economy
Get PDFIn the terminology of political economy made a distinction between quantitative economic policy and structural economic policies. Quantitative policies are policies aimed at controlling short-term economic cycles through quantitative interventions: fiscal stimulus (decrease or increase taxes and / or government spending), the increase or decrease of the rate of interest, intervention by monetary policy; in other words, the policy aimed at orienting the economy in one or another direction through management macroeconomic parameters. These are policies which in most cases common concern to economists and state fiscal bureaucracy (such as ministries of finance or central bank), or even ideological opposite orientations politicians express the necessity of one or another kind. These groups often finds in dealing with economic problems dealing with the need for or the effects of this kind: for example, given arguments for the necessity of lowering taxes to businesses in order to encourage investment; need for to stimulate demand through increased public spending; debate on the reduction or increase of VAT or excise or tax rates etc.. Foundation is totally debate revolves around the use of the macroeconomic mechanisms in response to cyclical economic developments. In this paper we want to illustrate the facts that both means of supplying markets exporting and production in those markets. Moreover, there are two international business activities that we are studying in our paper research. The main hypothesis is: “Is there a negative “Social Capital”? The database includes 1000 questionnaire about 50 relevant variables (collected during April, May, and June 2011 in Vlore city). The statistical program SPSS is used for creating, testing econometric models which links economic, social and demographic attributes of Internet users with frequencies of accessing / using of the Internet. The paper aims to reach conclusions for the city of Vlore, Albania, to figures out the chances that youth spend hours in Internet contributing in a negative “Social Capital”
Water Privatization in Developing Countries: Case of Albania
Get PDFA safe, clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation service for all individuals is a human right recognized explicitly from the United Nations General Assembly (Resolution 64/292, July 2010). Access to clean drinking water is so crucial for development that developed countries have made significant investments in water infrastructure (production, distribution investments in investments in piping, pumps, water purification systems and wastewater treatment plants etc.), managerial structures and capacities. The picture is very different in developing countries. One of the main problems is the lack of efficiency of the water systems, leading to a higher loss rate (from system leakage and illegal connections to the system) and cost-recovery failure because of the low revenues from tap water sales. In most of the cases governments fail to finance the financial loss of the water suppliers and in this way fail to fulfill the public need for drinking water and sanitation and water treatment services. So an alternative to solve the situation is seen the privatization of drinking water sector. The paper will give a summarized picture of the phenomenon in the world having as the case study the situation in Albania during years starting from the legislative frame, previous attempts to future tendencies related to the privatization of drinking water sector. The main objective is to explore the arguments pros and cons related to the privatization of “an economic good” such as water suggesting different alternatives in this context
Between public - private partnerships and public finance in the public infrastructure sector: The water and sanitation sector in Albania
Get PDFIt’s known in the literature that public-private partnerships (PPPs) are one the main instruments
that permit private collaboration in projects that are public otherwise. It’s also clear that their
implementation is different depending on the rules of the countries, their market level of
acceptance etc.
The first objective of this paper is to revise PPPs projects in the water sector in Albania, seen in
the context of alternative financing ways for joint-stock companies of Albanian water sector,
due to the nature of the market (a developing emerging market), in the context of bad fi nancial
times after 2008 (the start of the international financial crisis). The second objective is to describe
the development of the Albanian legislation for management contracts introduced for the first
time in the waters and sanitation sector in 2004 and privatization practices in public sector.
The main conclusion is that in the developing markets creating possibilities for private
sector participation in the infrastructure public services (especially in the drinking water
and sanitation sector) will be seen with skepticism because of failed previous privatization
practices or the sensitivity degree of the water sector related to the penetration level of private
factor in the sector. Public finance will be explored as a convenient alternative
Financing SMEs in Vlora City, Albania: between Game Theory and Lack of Information
Get PDFAbstractThe SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) play a crucial economical role, especially in transition economies. However, the financing problem affects the SMEs’ development. Information asymmetry between banks and enterprises is the main reason for the SMEs’ gaining funds so hard; the banks do not know the operating conditions and credit situation of SMEs. The study focuses on the analyses of the game of (in) complete information and financing growth strategies of SMEs in the city of Vlora to face with challenges of a sustainable development and a competitive market
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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