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Abstract
This paper focuses on sports-related public spending in the Member States of the European Union (EU). Based on the public procurement database of the EU (TED), a sport-related public procurement database was built and analysed. Using data from 33 countries for the period 2017–2019, the paper describes the characteristics of sport-related public procurements. The research highlights that the public database is an adequate way of making the data on public procurements available, where traditionally the latency was high. The characteristics found for the eight most active Member States include a high proportion of construction works. There is a connection between countries and the dominant type of purchasing organisations, although the involvement of central purchasing bodies is not a game-changer in this area. Higher value contracts usually lasted for longer and the length of contracts has a strong connection to the contract types. Non-negotiated types of procedures show a far higher average contract value than negotiated procedure types. When the lowest price criterion was applied, the total procurement value was significantly lower.
Abstract
The esport industry is emerging and constantly changing. The pandemic has had a significant impact on esport and its markets and has affected the whole ecosystem. The focus of this paper, besides esport, is simracing: due to the limitations on physical events, motorsports have had to convert their races to the digital world. The aims of the article are: (1) to identify the changes in the esport and simracing world and markets caused by the pandemic, (2) to examine the difficulties and challenges that the industry is facing, and (3) to explore the opportunities for the further development of the business. Our research methodology involved in-depth interviews with industry professionals from different backgrounds. The results show that esport and simracing need to become more economically sustainable, and changes are required in all related markets. This article identifies such opportunities. Despite the difficulties, esport will continue to be a major player in the digital world and in the world of sports.
Abstract
In recent years public and political debate suggested that individuals with children value the future more. We attempt to substantiate the debate, and we use a representative survey to investigate if the number of children (or simply having children) is indeed associated with a higher valuation of the future, which we proxy with an aspect of time preferences, patience. We find that, in general, there is no correlation between having children and patience, though for young women with below-median income there is some weak evidence in line with the conjecture. We also show some evidence that it is not having children that matters, but marital status. More precisely, single women are less patient than other, non-single women.
Abstract
The aim of this research is to examine whether consumers in Croatia behave ethically, focusing on whether they believe that family farm products have ethical attributes and whether they are willing to pay a higher price (premium) for such products. Given the specificity of the market niche of family farm products, the paper provides an innovative and different view of the product market with a focus on characteristics rather than the good itself. In the paper, family farm products are viewed as goods with ethical attributes, ethics in consumer behavior is examined, as well as the extent to which consumers are willing to pay a price premium for an ethical good, i.e., its ethical attributes. The sample consisted of 143 participants aged between 20 and 71. The results show that consumers in Croatia commonly behave ethically, perceive the characteristics of family farm products as ethical and are willing to pay a price premium for these products. Women perceive family farm products more ethically, and consumers perceive family farm products to have ethical attributes regardless of how frequently they buy these products.
Abstract
This paper explains the EU's Aid for Trade (AfT) and trade relations with Vietnam, and examines how EU AfT influences Vietnam's trade policy reform. It provides an analysis of EU AfT as a contested trade policy intervention by using the results of the EU-MUTRAP project in Vietnam. The finding is that EU AfT can interfere as an “external impacts” on Vietnam's trade policy reform. Based on the priorities of EU trade policies towards Vietnam, the EU uses AfT projects to support and change the Vietnamese trade environment. The paper partially proves the contribution of the EU-MUTRAP on the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement negotiations and implementation.
Abstract
In this article we use a natural experiment to assess the effects of a public transport disruption on the bicycle sharing system ridership. We exploit maintenance work on a major tram line in Budapest. Fixed effects panel regressions are applied in a difference-in-difference setting. Our results show that bicycle sharing usage significantly increased on weekdays during the disruption, however, this effect is not substantial relative to the baseline usage of the tram service. These findings raise interesting policy questions.
Abstract
Policy makers must identify the priorities in which resources should be invested in order to stimulate growth. This requires the identification of drivers of economic growth. Numerous researchers have pointed out that entrepreneurship is one of the key drivers of growth in the developed countries. However, sometimes entrepreneurship can be “unproductive”, and even “destructive”, because different forms of entrepreneurship do not have the same impact. Our paper investigates the impact of different types of entrepreneurships on growth in the emerging markets in order to identify the productive forms of entrepreneurship. The regression results, from panel data analysis of 20 emerging countries for the period of 2011–2018, showed that total entrepreneurial activity has a positive impact on economic growth in the emerging markets, but this impact is not statistically significant. The greatest and significant contribution to economic growth has high-growth expectation entrepreneurship. The influence of innovative entrepreneurship on economic growth is positive, but statistically insignificant, while impact of necessity-driven entrepreneurship is negative. Necessity-driven entrepreneurship and informal entrepreneurship are unproductive and destructive forms of entrepreneurship in the emerging markets.
Abstract
The main goals of the article are to investigate the level of fiscal unsustainability in Poland and estimate the tax gap necessary to stabilize the size of the public debt and to follow a path to fiscal sustainability. It hypothesizes that by closing the tax gaps for value-added tax (VAT) and personal income tax (PIT), Poland can cover most of its current fiscal needs and stabilize the country’s fiscal situation. We estimated a modified version of the equation describing Ponzi games, calculated the primary gap indicator, and conducted cointegration tests for ex-post data on public expenditures and revenues to investigate the actual level of fiscal unsustainability. The research period covers yearly observations between 2003 and 2017. Empirical evidence confirmed our research hypothesis. We found out that closing the tax gap could change the situation dramatically. If the public authorities were able to collect the VAT and PIT that currently go uncollected, Poland could easily embark on the path towards fiscal sustainability.
Abstract
We investigate whether the European Union can be considered as a convergence machine after the 2008/2009 financial crisis. To do so, we econometrically test the relationship between the per capita GDP growth rate and macroeconomic variables in the period of 2004–2018, further subdivided into three periods: 2004–2008, 2009–2013 and 2014–2018. We hypothesize that the 2008/2009 financial crisis had a negative effect on the σ and β-convergence process. Our results support the convergence hypothesis, namely that the poor countries tend to grow faster than the rich countries. The convergence rates ranged between 1.71% and 4.51%. The negative effects of the crisis on convergence have been identified only for the absolute convergence. Our findings demonstrate that economic openness, inflation and government integrity have a positive impact on growth. The effects of unemployment have not been identified.
