Differences in the Environmental,Social and Economic Development of Polish–Lithuanian Trans-Border Regions

Regional development is a complex process that can be analysed in various contexts, including environmental, social and economic factors. Variations in the levels of development are naturally observed across countries and regions, but they play a special role in trans-border regions. The aim of this study is to investigate differences in the level of development of two Polish voivodships (Warmia and Mazury, and Podlasie) and two Lithuanian counties (Marijampol? and Alytus) which are trans-border regions (NUTS 4 level). The study was conducted by analysing three subordinate criteria, namely environmental, social and economic factors, as well as the overall development of the evaluated regions with the use of the analytical hierarchy process and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution methods. The evaluated trans-border regions are characterised by a predominance of rural areas and considerable variations in development. The entire area is characterised by high natural value. This is an important observation because the condition of the natural environment is a key determinant of well-being, and it directly influences the quality of life. The analysis revealed considerable demographic problems, mainly in Lithuanian regions, resulting from low population growth and a negative net migration rate which influence population structure. Disproportions in regional development call for regional policies that are adapted to local needs and resources.

     

Erratum to: Does National Income Inequality Affect Individuals’ Quality of Life in Europe? Inequality,Happiness, Finances,and Health

Social Indicators Research -     

On Moments of k-Records from Discrete Distributions

In this article, we establish recurrence relations satisfied by first and second moments of k-records arising from discrete distributions. Then we use these relations to obtain means, variances, and correlation coefficients of geometric k-records. We consider all the three known types of k-records: strong, ordinary, and weak.     

On the E-optimality of complete block designs under a mixed interference model

In experiments in which the response to a treatment can be affected by other treatments, the interference model with neighbor effects is usually used. It is known that circular neighbor balanced designs (CNBDs) are universally optimal under such a model if the neighbor effects are fixed (Druilhet, 1999) or random (4 and 7). However, such designs cannot exist for every combination of design parameters. In the class of block designs with the same number of treatments as experimental units per block, a CNBD cannot exist if the number of blocks, b  , is equal to p(t−1)±1$p(t-1)\pm 1$, where p is a positive integer and t is the number of treatments. Filipiak et al. (2008) gave the structure of the left-neighboring matrix of E-optimal complete block designs with p  =1 under the model with fixed neighbor effects. The purpose of this paper is to generalize E-optimality results for designs with p∈N$p\in \mathbb{N}$ assuming random neighbor effects.     

Exact Bounds for the Bias of Trimmed Means

Trimmed means remove outliers but affect the estimation efficiency in uncontaminated samples. This paper provides and analyses sharp upper and lower bounds on the bias in the non–parametric estimation of population means by various trimmed means in different scale units. It also presents sharp evaluations of expected trimmed means by the expectations of properly truncated parent distributions.     

The Contemporary Family in Poland: New Trends and Phenomena

At the beginning of the 21st century, Poland can still be examined in the context of a political and economic transformation. The building of democracy and the intentional, ongoing reshaping of the Polish economy in the direction of a market economy are exerting significant influences on a wide range of issues that are affecting contemporary life. This article examines how these changes have affected women, men, and children as members of contemporary families. The article places the transformation to a market economy and to democracy within the context of the historical economic and social forces that have affected all modern states and concludes with a discussion of the potential short and long run impact of Polands entry in the European Union.     

R&D in a post centrally-planned economy: The macroeconomic effects in Poland

Half a century of centrally planned policy in the Central and Eastern European countries resulted in outdated technologies, inefficient allocation of resources and low productivity. Following the end of communism there was a fifteen year process of transition which ended in 2004 with eight post-communist countries joining the European Union (EU) of which Poland was the largest. As part of the EU these countries now face the challenge of the common EU strategy Europe 2020, which has set the target of achieving R&D expenditure to GDP ratio (called the R&D intensity) of 3% by 2020 for the Union as a whole in an effort to increase the competitiveness of the region. Poland, like the other post-communist countries, faces a lower target of R&D intensity, set at 1.7%. Nevertheless, the challenge is immense, since the country is still at only half that level and has little experience in developing policies to help achieve it. In this paper we tested two possible policy options to achieve the target: (1) to increase government expenditures on R&D and; (2) to provide tax relief on R&D to businesses. The method applied to assess the options is a recursive dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model for Poland with an explicit link between productivity and R&D stock. The results show that achieving the R&D intensity target via the use of tax relief is 2.5 times more costly to the government budget, but it has a greater impact on the economy in terms of a higher GDP growth. Tax relief proved efficient in the short run while in the long run the government expenditure policy provides better value for money.