Multinational enterprises and the global economy

In this paper recent developments in the estimation of frontier functions and the measurement of efficiency are surveyed, and the potential applicability of these methods in agricultural economics is discussed. Frontier production, cost and profit functions are discussed, along with the construction of technical, allocative, scale and overall efficiency measures relative to these estimated frontiers. The two primary methods of frontier estimation, econometric and linear programming, are compared. A survey of recent applications of frontier methods in agriculture is also provided. (This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Recent Developments in Frontier Modelling and Efficiency Measurement

textabstractIn Dutch: Naar een Nieuwe Wereldeconomie: voorstellen voor een internationaal economisch beleid, Rotterdam University Press, Rotterdam, 1965, XV + 335 p.\nIn Spanish: Hacia Una Economia Mundial: sugerencias para una politica economica internacional, Series Biblioteca de Economia No.7, Orbis, Barcelona, 1985, 242 p.

Shaping the World Economy. Suggestions for an International Economic Policy. By Jan Tinbergen. New York: The Twentieth Century Fund, 1962. pp. xvii, 330. Index. 4.00, cloth.

Why do growth rates differ? This paper surveys the recent empirical literature on economic growth, starting with a discussion of stylized facts, data problems, and statistical methods. Six research questions are emphasized, drawing on growth and convergence research. In answering these questions, the paper argues that efficiency has grown at different rates across countries, casting doubt on neoclassical models in which technology is a public good. The latter half of the paper rounds up a variety of findings before providing answers to all six questions, including a short summary of how differences in growth rates arise.

The New Growth Evidence

http://www.irescampania.com/Pdf/POLECO1180.pdf

Organized crime, the quality of local institutions and FDI in Italy: A panel data analysis

Since early, economic theory dealt with the innovation as basic factor of economic development and technical change. The first approach in defining innovation has been made by Schumpeter (1934), which first focused on innovation factor as one of the core sources of dynamism in the capitalistic social and economic growth, asserting that innovation is one of the centred activities towards economic change and growth.

A Benchmarking Study for Human Capital in Europe

This study focuses on identifying the fiscal consequences of the current public pension scheme of the civil servants in the Republic of Cyprus and the mechanisms of governing the benefits offered to its members. The article explores the implications of the economic impacts of the scheme on the budget expenditures. The projections presented point out the fiscal positions of the scheme under the current arrangements, up to the year 2070. The sustainable fiscal stance and projected liabilities are also presented. The empirical evidence reveals that the public pension scheme in Cyprus can generate undesirable and widely distributed economic impacts. The results suggest that the public pension scheme, if it continues to function on the basis of the existing mechanisms of governance, will affect the whole of the economy in a negative way. The article concludes that effective institutional intervention with successful reforms of the Scheme will benefit the budgetary balance of the Republic of Cyprus. The policy implications are underlined and suggestions are given for the development of the public pension scheme in Cyprus. Finally, it concludes and gives some implications for further research.

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Assessing the public pension scheme of the Republic of Cyprus

In the past three decades, important changes in the pattern of economic growth and productivity have been interpreted as a movement towards knowledge-based economy. Currently, output and employment are expanding fast in high-technology industries, as well as in knowledge-based services. More resources are spent on the production and development of new technologies, in particular on information and communication technology. At the same time, major shifts are taking place in the labour market, in particular, the increased demand for skilled labour. Globalisation and worldwide competition has shifted the comparative advantage of economies towards the factor of knowledge and innovation, where productivity based on the endogenous development capabilities plays a rather important role, as far as growth and competitiveness enhancement are concerned.

Education Policy and Regional Convergence in the European Union

Efficiency Effects in Supply Chain Management: A Production Frontier Approach

Technology is apparently one of the main determining sources of productivity and economic growth and there is a huge literature on productivity, growth and innovation. This paper is aiming to review the main topics related to productivity, growth and innovation activities. In particular, the paper is also aiming to apply some econometric models, in order to estimate the effects of innovation activities to productivity growth in EU member states and to conclude to some safe results and policy implications.

Aikaterini Kokkinou

Papers

A Benchmarking Study for Human Capital in Europe

Assessing the public pension scheme of the Republic of Cyprus

Education Policy and Regional Convergence in the European Union

Efficiency Effects in Supply Chain Management: A Production Frontier Approach

Innovation and Productivity a Story of Convergence and Divergence Process in EU Countries