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Some insights on the development of economic sciences through the lens of the Nobel Prize
The paper discusses the key developments in the area of economic sciences. The insights are derived from the analysis of the achievements of the laureates of the prize in economic sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel.
Copyright (c) 2025 Krzysztof Jajuga https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
The level, antecedents and consequences of occupational burnout among academic teachers from state universities of economics in Poland
Aim: The purpose of the study was to diagnose the level of occupational burnout of academic teachers from state universities of economics in Poland, and to identify its antecedents and consequences. The hypotheses are as follows: H1: The level of occupational burnout of academic teachers from state universities of economics is high; H2: The higher the effort-reward imbalance, the higher the level of occupational burnout; H3: The higher the work-family conflict, the higher the level of occupational burnout; H4: The higher the family-work conflict, the higher the level of occupational burnout; H5: The higher the intensity of stress-inducing student behaviour, the higher the level of occupational burnout; H6: The higher the level of occupational burnout, the higher the turnover intention; H7: The measured occupational burnout is a consequence of effort-reward imbalance, stress-inducing customer behaviour, work-family conflict and family-work conflict; H8: Turnover intention is a consequence of occupational burnout; H9: Turnover intention is a consequence of effort-reward imbalance, stressinducing customer behaviour, work-family conflict and family-work conflict. Methodology: The study applied a variety of psychometric tools, including Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT), Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) questionnaire, Carlson Scale (measuring Work-Family Conflict (WFC) and Family-Work Conflict (FWC)), Stress-Inducing Customer Behaviour Scale (SCBS) and Turnover Intention Scale 6 (TIS-6). Results: In the surveyed group of academic teachers from state universities of economics in Poland, one in five was at a very high risk of burnout, and one in five was qualified to be considered as being at risk of burnout. Their burnout is related to the effort-reward imbalance, the severity of the workfamily conflict, and the family-work conflict, and the intensity of stress-inducing student behaviour. The most important factors were the effort-reward imbalance and the work-family conflict. Burnout is also clearly correlated with turnover intention. Implications and recommendations: This study has both scientific and practical implications. Research at other types of universities in Poland is recommended for further studies. Moreover, international inquiries would enable an international and multicultural view of the occupational burnout of academic teachers, whilst expanding research onto organizational, social, and personality-related factors would give a more comprehensive view of the studied phenomenon. The practical implications show the need to incorporate strategies for prevention of burnout at state universities of economics. Originality/value: The research significantly expands the existing knowledge about the level and important antecedents and consequences of occupational burnout among academic teachers. The methodological novelty of the study lies in the unique and multi-dimensional combination of burnout antecedents. The investigation included one of the first applications of the Turnover Intention Scale (TIS-6). The research is also one of the first in the world (and the first in Poland) application of the Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT) among a group of academic teachers.
Copyright (c) 2025 Marta Nowak, Marzena Syper-Jędrzejak, Przemysław Kabalski, Aleksandra Baszczyńska https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Elements of household income and income inequality in selected EU countries
Aim: The aim of this study was to identify the most influential factors impacting the level and dynamics of general income inequalities in Poland, Denmark, Germany, Spain and Romania in the period 2007–2019. Methodology: The study was based on unpublished individual data from the European Survey of Income and Living Conditions carried out by the European Commission. The research was conducted using the procedure of decomposing the Gini coefficient to the general assessment of inequalities as per income source. Results: The study enabled the conclusion that the biggest inequalities in household gross income were present in Romania, and the smallest in Denmark. In Romania and Poland income inequalities are slowly but continuously rising, whilst in Denmark, Spain and Germany, they are in decline. The gross income in the analysed EU households was based on three main elements, namely paid employment, self-employment and pensions, which constituted 86-96% of household financial resources. The diversity of inequality was predominantly influenced by the income from paid employment, interests, dividends and profit from capital investments in unincorporated businesses, self-employment as well as old-age benefits; such benefits showed an equalising effect on income inequalities. Implications and recommendations: Analyses carried out on the basis of microdata can contribute to the formulation of policies, the targeting of interventions, and the monitoring and measurement of the impact of ongoing interventions and policies on the situation of households. Originality/value: This study contributes to the literature on income inequality by providing a comparative analysis of five European countries, By utilizing unpublished microdata from the European Survey of Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), this research offers a novel approach to identifying the distinct contributions of employment income, self-employment, capital income, and pensions to inequality levels. The study's cross-country comparison covering the period 2007-2019 also provides valuable insights into the heterogeneous impacts of socioeconomic policies across both Western and Eastern European countries. This original dataset and analytical approach support the development of more effective, evidence-based public policies aimed at reducing income disparities.
Copyright (c) 2025 Joanna Maria Kozak, Aldona Mrówczyńska-Kamińska, Andrzej Wołoszyn https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Can occupational skills explain the gender wage gap in a developing economy? Evidence from an unconditional quantile regression approach
Aim: This study investigated the gender wage gap across occupational groups in Pakistan differentiated by their skill level. The author intended to explore how wage disparities between men and women vary across low, average, high, and very high-skilled occupations and examines the presence of structural barriers such as the glass ceiling. Methodology: The study utilised nationally representative microdata from the Pakistan Labour Force Survey (2020-2021) and applied Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition techniques along with unconditional quantile regression models. Results: The empirical findings indicate that women earn significantly lower wages in low and average-skilled occupations compared to their male counterparts. Conversely, women attain wage parity or enjoy a relative advantage in high and very high-skilled occupations. Nonetheless, evidence of glass ceiling effects persists in low, average, and very high-skilled groups, suggesting that human capital differences alone do not fully explain gender-based wage disparities. Implications and recommendations: A multi-pronged approach is necessary to reduce the gender wage gap. Policymakers should strengthen labour market regulations, raise minimum wages, enforce equal pay legislation, and promote gender-inclusive work environments. Encouraging women’s participation in high-skilled occupations through targeted training, mentorship, and flexible work arrangements is essential for sustained wage equality. Originality/Value: This study makes a novel contribution by examining gender wage disparities across occupational skill levels in a developing country using recent data. It also offers disaggregated insights beyond aggregate wage gap estimates, providing actionable evidence for policymakers addressing gender inequality in labour markets across the Global South.
Copyright (c) 2025 Zubaria Andlib https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Labour market policy in OECD countries – selected aspects
The goal of the paper was to evaluate OECD countries in terms of labour market policy, and to create a measure allowing to divide the analysed countries according to public spending on labour market policy. Dealing with crises caused by exogenous and endogenous factors mainly consists in activating macroeconomic policy instruments, which requires a deeper analysis. One of the objectives of macroeconomic policy is full employment, pursued in particular through labour market policies – and this aspect of the state’s activities is presented extensively in the paper. First, on the basis of the OECD database, an analysis was made of the amount of funds spent on labour market policy: active and passive, measured as the percentage of the GDP of a given country. Secondly, based on the TOPSIS method and the CRITIC method, a synthetic measure with regard to public spending on labour market policy was created. These methods enabled to group the countries according to the number of these measures as well as in terms of the importance of labour market policy within macroeconomic policy. Thus countries were assigned to the labour market policy models analysed and presented in the earlier literature. Research method: literature analysis (OECD reports), analysis of statistical data from the OECD database with the use of descriptive statistics methods, logical inference, analysis of cause-effect relationships, the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method, the Criteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation (CRITIC) method. Hypotheses: OECD countries are diversified in terms of the labour market policy (measured as % of GDP); an active labour market policy plays a more important role in OECD countries than a passive one; the assignment of countries to the labour market policy models discussed earlier in the literature has changed. Results: The analysis showed that the examined OECD countries were diversified in terms of labour market policy, as they focused on different instruments of this policy. However, the level of public spending on labour market policy increased in most countries in the period 2007-2019. Based on the employed methods, the author divided the OECD countries into four groups in terms of the role of labour market policy, and stated that in some OECD countries (e.g. Scandinavia), the policy on labour market (LMP) corresponded to the classification of models of LMP in the literature. Other OECD countries represented different models of LMP and different values of a synthetic measure and, in their case, this study did not confirm compliance with the theoretical models, however this could have resulted from the specification of the research or the change in the specific nature of labour market policy in these countries. Value added: The literature offered varied typologies of labour market policy, most often derived from the models of implemented economic and social policy. This study contributes to the literature by investigating empirically the selected OECD countries in terms of labour market policy, and also compared the results with existing models of labour market policy in the literature.
Copyright (c) 2024 Magdalena Knapińska, Katarzyna Woźniak-Jasińska https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
The impact of the credit rating of the ESG debt instruments’ issuer on the coupon rate
This article investigates the potential impact of having credit ratings assigned by multiple rating agencies, including S&P, Moody’s, and Fitch, on the issuance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) bonds. It examines the impact on both the coupon rate offered and the volume of debt instruments issued. The research employed a mixed research methods approach, utilising observation methods and analysis of source data. Data for this research was obtained from the Refinitiv Eikon information database. The credit ratings of issuers as at the date of issuance of ESG instruments were analysed, focusing on the credit ratings assigned to issuers of ESG debt instruments issued between 2012 and 2021. Only instruments that were in circulation as of 31 December 2021 were included in the study. The findings suggest a potential link between the number of credit ratings an issuer possesses and both the offered coupon rate and the volume of ESG instruments issued. A review of the existing literature, both theoretical and empirical, does not provide clear evidence of how an issuer’s credit rating affects the success of debt issuance in relation to meeting ESG criteria.
Copyright (c) 2024 Sylwia Frydrych https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
SNA metrics in the analysis of international trade measured by added value – the example of the EU trade network
Research background: Dynamic changes in the trade network are evidence of the rapid development of the world economy. There is a need to analyse these transformations in the 21st century. A comprehensive description of the adjustments in the European Union trade network in terms of value added has not yet been carried out in the literature, especially in the context of network analysis. Purpose of the article: The paper presents the changes in the European Union trade network structure measured by value added and in gross terms in the years 2005 and 2018 using social network analysis (SNA). This study makes it possible to verify whether the proposed new research methodology will find confirmation in the conclusions of the research carried out with the use of other methods. Methods: For this purpose, the authors proposed applying SNA metrics to trade data, including density, weighted degree centrality, average link strength of vertex, and the PageRank algorithm. The analysis used trade data measured by value added and gross terms from the OECD trade in value added (TiVA) database for 65 economies in 2005 and 2018. Value added & findings: The literature lacks comprehensive analyses of trade value added data by using SNA metrics. The use of SNA in the study demonstrated different complexities of the EU trade network measured in gross and value added data. This confirmed that gross trade data were overestimated and did not indicate actual connections between economies. Networks based on data on trade in value added are much less developed and only consist of real connections between economies without ‘intermediary countries’. Changes in the connections between European countries in 2005 and 2018 reflect the changes occurring in the global economy, resulting in the decreasing share of the United States and Japan in the European Union trade network in favour of China. The results of the conducted research confirm the great effectiveness of the SNA methodology in the analysis of trade links in the context of the networks created by the analysed entities.
Copyright (c) 2024 Aleksandra Nacewska-Twardowska, Dominika Brózda-Wilamek https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
A dynamic programming model for hospitality performance in tourist cities
The paper suggests the use of a dynamic programming model to describe how external shocks from tourism source markets are dispersed across visitor flows to a travel destination, with major effects on the destination’s hospitality performance. One can determine the driving forces underlying local cycles by modelling this mechanism, which also provides a theoretical foundation for empirical research. Additionally, the study revealed that in an equilibrium tourism market, positive changes in the push and pull variables have a beneficial influence on the local economy, resulting in decreased prices and increases in the number of visitors and revenues. In contrast, a negative external shock can have a detrimental influence on these aspects of the local economy.
Copyright (c) 2024 Li Sheng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Analysis of the impact of export specialisation and investment attractiveness on the processes of innovation diffusion in the processing industry in Poland
The fundamental ways of building innovativeness of the economy are the creation and diffusion of innovation, the latter of which is the dispersal of new technological, organizational, marketing solutions as well as knowledge among imitator enterprises, and copycats (the ‘spillover effect’). Important determinants of innovation diffusion include the inflow of foreign capital (in the form of FDI) and foreign trade. Few empirical studies exist that attempt to explain the sources of innovation diffusion in the Polish economy applying quantitative tools used in contemporary statistics and econometrics. The existing research gap makes it difficult to reliably assess the actual cause-and-effect relationships between spillover processes and macroeconomic variables. This article sought to determine the nature and strength of the impact of investment specialisation (and investment attractiveness) as well as industry export specialisation on the phenomenon of penetration of innovation in the Polish processing industry. The occurrence of innovation diffusion and its dynamics were investigated using the logistic function econometric model. To study the impact of the specialisation, according to FDI located in Poland, and specialization of export on the process of innovation diffusion, dynamic models of error correction estimated for selected industrial processing industries were used. The obtained results allowed to answer the questions: in which industries has innovation diffusion occurred, in which was it the fastest, and to what extent was it the effect of investment attractiveness, and to what degree of the export specialization of the industry?
Copyright (c) 2024 Marcin Salamaga https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
The impact of economic and behavioural factors on the shaping of international relations with the Russian Federation. A comparative analysis of Poland and Germany
Research background: The article addressed the importance of economic and behavioural factors in shaping relations between states. This significance was examined in the context of the possibility of building the power and strength of the state, ensuring economic security, and in particular energy security. Purpose of the article: The aim of the article was to identify the main economic and behavioural dependencies of the diverse attitudes of Poland and Germany towards the Russian Federation, and to determine the impact of these dependencies on these attitudes. Methods: The research methods and techniques included: elementary analysis, desk research, causeand-effect analysis, and selected qualitative and quantitative analysis methods. Findings and value added: The obtained results are important for international political economy and geoeconomics. The study covered the economic and behavioural factors determining the relations between Poland and the Russian Federation as well as those between Germany and the Russian Federation. The results of the comparison of these two categories of bilateral relations explain the different attitudes of Poland and Germany towards the Russian Federation, which was particularly visible in the context of the Russian aggression against Ukraine and contribute to reducing the research gap in this thematic area.
economic and behavioural factors in shaping international relations
Copyright (c) 2024 Tomasz Motowidlak, Urszula Motowidlak https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Causal linkages between stock, crude oil and gold returns in Central Europe
The aim of this paper was to evaluate the relationship between the stocks, crude oil and gold markets of Central Europe in the short and long-term by applying a vector error correction model (VECM), and the Granger-causality analysis followed by a forecast error variance decomposition (FEVD) and impulse response function (IRF) analysis. Since gold seems to demonstrate a low or negative correlation with stocks, while the correlation between crude oil and gold is positive, it is important to investigate the interrelations in the markets in question to understand the nature of the linkages between them and their implications. It is assumed that there exists a long-term equilibrium between the analysed assets and that the changes in the prices in the gold and crude oil markets impact the stock market. The research findings confirm a long-term relationship between the markets as the prices of the analysed assets are cointegrated. In the long-term, the increase in the crude oil price (Brent) caused a raise in the gold price, whereas the impact of the stock price (Central European Blue Chip Index CETOP) was opposite. The author indicated two cases of unidirectional causality, hence the gold returns Granger-cause the stock returns, as expected. However, the latter determined the crude oil returns, which contradicts the research hypothesis. One can observe the negative impact of gold returns on the stock returns, whilst the stock returns have a positive impact on the crude oil returns. To the best of the author’s knowledge, no similar research with the use of VECM was devoted to the interrelations between the stock, crude oil and gold markets of Central Europe described in this paper. Most of the research focused on countries classified as the key producers and consumers of gold.
Copyright (c) 2024 Katarzyna Mamcarz https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Analysis of the social impact of research activities carried out in the area of selected social disciplines in Poland and in the UK
The analysis of the social impact of research activity carried out in the area of selected social disciplines in the United Kingdom and in Poland was the main goal of the paper. The research process was conducted with the use of documents prepared for the evaluation procedures taking place in the United Kingdom in 2014 and in Poland in 2022 and presenting cases of the impact of research activity on society and the economy. This analysis, performed with the use of exploratory text analysis methods (particularly with the latent Dirichlet allocation model), allowed to identify topics and evaluate their significance in documents prepared by individual universities or groups of universities. A comparative analysis of the contents of descriptions was also performed. All the analyses presented in the paper were conducted by the authors with the use of computer programs written in the R language.
evaluation of the quality of research activity
Copyright (c) 2024 Paweł Lula, Magdalena Talaga, Agata Dobranowska https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Nonpayers also matter. On Lintner’s dividend partial adjustment model estimation
The dividend partial adjustment model proposed by J. Lintner (1956) is still one of the most widely used tools for analysing the dividend policy of companies. This model should be estimated only on the basis of observations in which dividend payments were recorded. This causes the sample selection to be not random and so the parameters estimator of the Lintner’s model to be inconsistent. However, the level of the payouts of the companies selected for the Lintner’s model may be affected by the decisions of dividend nonpayers not selected for this model. Some authors noted this contradiction, but there are no effective methods to solve it. In the article, to solve this problem, the Heckman (1976) sample self-selection model was proposed, which consists of two equations: the participation equation, which is a probit model of the propensity to pay dividends, and the outcome equation, which is Lintner’s partial adjustment model. This was examined using an unbalanced panel of 112 companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The results of the estimation of the Heckman model confirm that the inclusion of information about companies not paying dividends in the Lintner’s model results in a significant reduction of the dividend target payout ratio and speed of adjustment. Estimated target dividend payout ratio and the speed adjustment for the entire market may be important information for companies’ management when developing their own dividend policies.
Copyright (c) 2024 Mieczysław Kowerski https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Does increased trade openness enhance the impact of transport infrastructure investment on economic growth?
Aim: This paper focuses on the impact of transport infrastructure investment on the economic growth of European countries, with a particular emphasis on analysing the effects of investment in both road and railway infrastructure in the first two decades of this century. The primary objective was to empirically test whether greater trade openness amplifies the positive effects of investment in transport infrastructure on economic growth. Methodology: The panel data analysis approach was employed for its numerous advantages over timeseries or cross-section analyses, encompassing a sample of 19 European countries from 2001 to 2021. Following the results of the applied econometric tests, models were estimated using generalised least squares (GLS) and ordinary least squares with panel-corrected standard errors (PCSE) methods. Results: The results revealed the positive impact of transport infrastructure investment on economic growth, with a pronounced significance associated with rail infrastructure investment, especially in the most developed countries. Road infrastructure investment only exhibited a positive impact in transition countries. Crucially, the analysis determined that the positive effects of investing in transport infrastructure on economic growth intensified with increasing trade openness. Implications and recommendations: The implications of the findings suggest that transport infrastructure investment alone is insufficient to drive economic growth. Other conditions must also be satisfied, particularly the economic integration of the country. Consequently, alongside transport infrastructure investment, it is essential to foster high levels of trade openness to ensure significant positive effects on the economy. Future research should further explore the significance of additional enabling conditions, such as a well-educated workforce and improved institutional environments, in facilitating and enhancing the positive effects of transport infrastructure investment. Originality/value: Given that the most significant investment in developing high-quality transport infrastructure within the European Union took place in the two first decades of this century, this research offers valuable insights through its empirical analysis of this period, deepening the understanding of the relationship between transport infrastructure investment and economic growth in Europe. The study’s value lies in identifying the particularly strong positive impact of investing in rail infrastructure in the most developed countries, alongside the positive influence of investing in road infrastructure, especially in transition countries where motorways comprise the largest share of investment projects. The originality of this research largely stems from its quantitative verification that increased trade openness enhances the positive effects of investing in transport infrastructure on economic growth.
Copyright (c) 2025 Marko Miljković, Svetozar Tanasković, Jelica Petrović Vujačić, Ivan Vujačić https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Does the rural social pension alleviate urban-rural health inequality of opportunity? Evidence from China
Aim: To examine the impact of the New Rural Pension Scheme (NRPS) on health disparities between the urban and rural elderly in China. Methodology: The authors constructed health inequality of opportunity (IOp) based on the ex-ante principle and utilised panel data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (2015-2018), employing both difference-in-differences (DID) and propensity score matching DID methodologies to assess the impact. Results: It was found that enrolment in the NRPS significantly enhanced health levels of the rural elderly and reduced health inequality of opportunity between the urban and rural elderly by 6.67%. The impact was more pronounced among lower-income and older age groups. Implications and recommendations: The findings suggest that targeted social pension programmes can effectively reduce regional health disparities. Future research should explore the long-term sustainability of these effects and their applicability to other developing countries with similar urbanrural divides. Originality/value: This study uniquely applied inequality of opportunity theory to distinguish between ‘justifiable’ and ‘unjustifiable’ health disparities, providing a more comprehensive understanding of urban-rural health inequalities and demonstrating the effectiveness of social pension programmes in addressing these disparities.
Copyright (c) 2025 Cheng Qin, Jing Zhao, Jianyi Liu https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Taxonomic analysis of photovoltaic technology diffusion processesin European countries
Aim: The aim of the article was to compare the processes of diffusion of innovations in photovoltaic technologies in European countries. Methodology: The study used the Bass model, and on the basis of individual estimates of the parameters of this model for each of the compared countries, their taxonomic analysis was carried out. Results: The innovators in the field of photovoltaic technologies turned out to be countries with high GDP and elevated expenditure on research and development, as well as countries whose favourable geographical location ensures a sufficiently large number of sunny days per year. This is followed, in turn, by countries with limited solar energy market potential located mainly in Central and Eastern Europe and some Scandinavian countries. Implications and recommendations: The results presented in the article may support decision-makers in creating an appropriate system for the synchronisation and coordination of policies and activities aimed at creating an electricity system with a high share of renewable energy sources. Comparative studies of the diffusion of solar technologies are also important from the point of view of assessing the effectiveness of actions aimed at creating zero-emission economies and possible adjustments to the European Green Deal. Originality/value: The article presents an original comparative analysis of the diffusion profiles of innovations in photovoltaics in European countries, thus the research results fill the research gap in this area.
Copyright (c) 2025 Marcin Salamaga https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Illiquid banks in an overly liquid sector. The impact of liquidity regulation on the deposit policy of listed banks in Poland
Aim: The article aimed to show that banks may face liquidity issues even in a structurally over-liquid sector. The relation between monetary policy and liquidity regulations (liquidity coverage ratio, LCR) was outlined, showing that changes in regulatory liquidity, in the form of the surplus over LCR requirement, impact banks’ deposit policy. Methodology: The author employed qualitative and quantitative data analysis, including dynamic panel data modelling and the calculation of the beta coefficient, presenting the response of deposit policy to changes in the central banks’ reference rate. Results: It was found that the scale of bank interest rate increases in Poland was visibly higher than in the most of EU countries, among others as a result of the decrease in LCR ratios, which in turn was conditioned by the structural features of the Polish banking sector, namely the high exposure to interest rate risk on securities. Implications and recommendations: The presence of the macroprudential (liquidity) policy channel may reinforce monetary policy transmission via its impact on banks’ deposit policy. Originality/value: The article contributes to the emerging literature on the bank deposit channel of monetary policy transmission. Moreover, it outlines a new (liquidity part of the) macroprudential channel of monetary policy transmission and its operation in Poland during the interest rate tightening cycle.
Copyright (c) 2025 Marcin Czaplicki https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Examining the J-curve and S-curve patterns in Pakistan’s economic ties with the USA and China; the world’s economic giants
Aim: Since the Jand S-curve concepts were first introduced, several researchers have tried to test their validity through empirical research. To offer recommendations for additional research, this study looked at the relevant literature. Methodology: The idea of the S-curve is an extension of the J-curve, which shows how the trade balance improves over time despite initially being worse due to currency depreciation. According to the S-curve hypothesis, there is a positive cross-correlation between the current exchange rate and the future trade balance of a country, and a negative cross-correlation between the current exchange rate and the past trade balance. To understand the pattern of the relationships, the author considered time series data for fifteen 3-digit industries/commodities between Pakistan and its main trading partners – China and the USA – from 1980 to 2022. Results: The results demonstrate that the minority of Pakistani industries, engaged in trade with the USA and China, supported J and S-curves behaviour. Implications and recommendations: The study showed that improving the trade balance is not always possible with domestic currency devaluation. Originality/Value: This study made an incremental contribution in that it critiqued a consumer price index (CPI) which has been used in literature on the aggregate level, and constructed commodity-based CPI for the analysis.
Copyright (c) 2025 Jin Jing, Riaz Ahmad, Sahibzada Muhammad Usman, Javed Iqbal, Sareer Ahmad, Azeem Gul, Hong Mi, Zhainagul Abdirasulova, Ravshanbek Dzhumaev Mamadievich https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Social capital as an interdisciplinary concept
Aim: The main purpose of the article was to present the interdisciplinary nature of the concept of social capital on the basis of own research. Methodology: The research method used was a scientometric analysis conducted based on items found in the Web of Science database. For the literature search visualisation was performed using the VOSviewer application, and the methodology used allowed for a comprehensive assessment of the co-occurrence of keywords in scientific publications on social capital, as well as an overview of the scientific categories to which these publications were assigned. Results: The analyses led to conclude that the concept of social capital is correlated with a wide range of terms anchored in various research disciplines. The perceived multiplicity of approaches to the category of social capital in the literature also results in the wealth of scientific definitions formulated and the possibilities of operationalisation, which further strengthens the interdisciplinary evaluation of this category. This is evident in attempts to embed it on various cognitive levels and to assign multiple causal powers based on the considerations carried out. Implications and recommendations: This article attempts to fill the cognitive gap in the analysis of the interdisciplinary nature of the concept of social capital. It is an expression of the position taken by the author that the conceptualisation and operationalisation of this category visible in the literature, does not have to be accidental and occasional. The adopted research methodology, i.e. a scientometric analysis, allowed for the elimination of incidental (singular) connections between words of terms cooccurring in the base. Originality/value: The observed multiplicity of definitions of this concept, according to some researchers, indicates its scientific immaturity. However, there is still a belief in the many positive effects that the building of social capital and its proper use in various social groups causes. In the author’s opinion the conducted research is scientifically justified as it provides a clear statement about the interdisciplinary nature of the category of social capital.
Copyright (c) 2025 Andżelika Libertowska https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
An assessment of CSR disclosures in Polish listed companies
Identifying, measuring and evaluating reporting information provided by economic entities is a challenge for its recipients. So far, scientific research has only dealt with evaluating information contained in financial statements, namely financial data. However, economic entities report non-financial information in addition to financial information. Global studies attempt to measure non-financial information, using disclosure indices. The objective of this article was to determine the relations of the information provided in the reports of the studied companies regarding corporate social responsibility (CSR) with selected financial results and to determine the degree of linguistic difficulty with statistical analysis of the studied text. The study was conducted on a selected group of 70 companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in Poland between 2013 and 2018. In total, 420 financial statements and 420 CSR reports were studied. The research employed three readability indices: the FGL index, the FOG index (three variants) and Pisarek’s index (six variants) and a statistical analysis of the text was performed. In the next study phase, a panel regression model was used to examine the relationship between non-financial information and financial information. The main conclusion that emerged from the study was that there are differences between disclosure indices and the scale of disclosure in Polish listed companies. Furthermore, in some cases, non-financial information showed a relation with financial information.
Copyright (c) 2024 Małgorzata Węgrzyńska https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Innovation activities in the service sector across EU states: Similarities or differences?
Until 2005, service sector innovation had been a far less popular area of scholarly interest than studies on the industrial sector, the publication in 2005 of the methodological guidelines known as the Oslo Manual, in which it was noted that in addition to technological advancements in the economy, non-technological innovations might also be pursued in economic practice. Since then, although the popularity and dynamics of dedicated research have successively increased, this field of inquiry has not yet been sufficiently explored. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify and assess the degree of homogeneity among EU countries in terms of innovation activity in the service sector. The hypothesis adopted for this study stated that there are countries within the EU that can be divided into clusters with respect to service sector innovation activity. Bearing in mind the objective and seeking to verify the hypothesis, this research used a critical review of literature, indicator-oriented analysis as well as quantitative statistical methods, among others, while relying on the most up-to-date data from the Eurostat database on innovation activity (as of 5.07.2022). The objective was accomplished using fifteen indicators which describe the effects of innovation activity, which were classified into four groups: innovation activity, types of implemented innovations, types of product innovation, and types of business process innovation. The research proceeded in three stages: identification of groups (clusters) in the area of the surveyed European countries which demonstrated the homogeneity of analysed indicators using Ward’s agglomerative clustering method; identification of significant differences between the defined groups for each indicator carried out, using Student's t-test; an assessment of the degree of homogeneity in the scope of the surveyed EU countries with respect to innovation activity in the service sector by means of the methods outlined above. On the basis of the conducted investigations and the adopted methodology, it may be concluded, first, that the service sectors of the surveyed EU countries can be divided into three homogeneous groups in terms of innovation activity. Second, the similarity within each group was confirmed by Levene’s test, the results of which demonstrated homogeneity of variance for thirteen out of the fifteen analysed indicators. Thirdly, statistical analysis of the findings made it possible to identify significant differences between the defined groups of countries, with the exception of country clusters I and II with respect to three product innovation indicators, as well as country groups II and III relative to three business process innovation indicators, where no significant differences occurred. The conclusions from the study warrant confirmation of the baseline hypothesis, which assumed that the surveyed EU countries could be divided into clusters in terms of service sector innovation activity. The research and the analyses indicated that a homogeneous division of the surveyed EU countries into individual groups in terms of innovative activities in the service sector might offer a point of departure for further, in-depth analysis of the issues addressed in the study. Some of the compelling directions for future investigations include the determination of homogeneity and differences across the industries of the sector in question, as well as the creation of a ranking of countries in line with the analysed indicators. Approaching the issue in this manner will enable a detailed assessment of the innovation activity in the service sector and its internal structures, as well as provide grounds for validating the cluster division presented in this paper.
Copyright (c) 2024 Kamil Decyk https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Revisiting the effects of labour, capital and scale-augmenting technological progress on steady-state output
The effects of technical change may not exclusively be labour-augmenting, if it is assumed that linear homogeneity or balanced growth is not applicable. This study identified these effects on the steady-state output growth from labour, capital and scale-augmenting technological progress. The findings imply that a drop in investment-goods prices accelerates output growth but to a lesser extent than capital growth, and increasing (decreasing) returns to scale (IRS/DRS) will lead to faster (slower) per-capita output growth, but the effect is free from constant returns to scale (CRS). It was also found that a higher output elasticity of capital can be beneficial to output growth and that a substantial labour supply is conducive to higher income per capita under IRS but will reduce it if DRS are present, but again, CRS does not occur. Differentiating between labour and capital augmentations in empirical research is challenging, as a direct estimation of the impacts of technical change on output growth is impossible. Thus, an indirect estimation was conducted to measure these impacts as a Solow residual.
Copyright (c) 2024 Li Sheng, Yechang Yin, Anning Zhang, Jiwei Wu https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Reductions in payments to the State Fund for the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities (PFRON) as a tool to reduce non-wage labour costs in enterprises
In this study, the authors attempted to identify employment costs, with particular emphasis on non-wage employment costs in terms of payments to the State Fund for the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities (PFRON) and the possibility of their reduction. The main purpose was to identify and verify the effectiveness of legal and financial solutions aimed at stimulating Polish enterprises to employ workers with reduced competitiveness on the labour market and constituting a form of compensation for their employment in the context of reducing non-wage labour costs. The following research hypothesis was formulated: applying financial penalties for not employing persons with disabilities is not severe enough for enterprises to significantly change their attitude towards employing such persons, even in the context of their systematically growing number, because the multidimensional costs of employing persons with disabilities are more severe than the penalties paid for not employing them. The conducted research and literature review allowed for identifying the basic factors and correlations between the severity of penalties and the employment level of persons with disabilities. A strong positive correlation was observed between their employment rate and the increase in the basis for imposing penalties. Employers, having noticed the increasing amounts of penalties, tried at least not to increase the basis for their calculation and systematically aimed at supplementing employment or obtaining reductions in payments as a result of a lower ratio or the amount of payments made to the Fund owing to the cooperation with the employers of people with disabilities authorised to provide them. The research covered the years from 2018 to 2022, the subjective scope included enterprises with at least 25 full-time employees and subject to the obligation of employing persons with disabilities. The following research methods were used: critical analysis of source literature and legal acts, descriptive method, statistical analysis and correlation analysis based on the Pearson correlation coefficient.
payments to the State Fund for the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities (PFRON)
Copyright (c) 2024 Andrzej Koza, Adriana Politaj https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Inflation targeting, exchange rate and output gap in Central and Eastern European countries
This paper aims at empirical assessment of monetary policy relationships in Central and Eastern European countries (Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Romania), which practise the monetary regime of inflation targeting. Using quarterly data for the period of 2004-2019, the authors examined the relationship between the output gap, nominal and real exchange rate misalignment, consumer price inflation and the central bank policy rate, using the panel vector autoregression (PVAR) model. According to estimates, the central banks of the CEE-4 countries react with an increase of their policy rate to the output gap and inflation, as implied by the Taylor rule. At the same time, a monetary reaction to nominal (real) exchange rate misalignment is lost in the estimates for the post-crisis period of 2010-2019. An increase of the central bank rates does not seem to have unfavourable output effects, while the nominal exchange rate is likely to depreciate with three to five quarter lags. However, there is evidence of the price puzzle when monetary tightening is followed by a counterintuitive increase in the inflation rate. In full accordance with the New Keynesian framework, inflation depends on the output gap, while being expansionary in the real sector. Evidence of the exchange rate pass-through (ERPT) to inflation is mixed. This article provides insights into the average monetary policy reaction function and its macroeconomic effects in the CEE-4 countries, with the value added in that following the Taylor rule does not guarantee effectiveness in tackling inflation in the presence of the price puzzle. Based on the estimated exchange rate effects on the output gap and inflation, deliberate currency appreciation resulting from the central bank foreign exchange interventions and/or fiscal austerity measures can be helpful for such a disinflation that minimises output losses.
Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries
Copyright (c) 2024 Victor Shevchuk, Roman Kopych https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Does exchange rate misalignments lead changes in macroeconomic fundamentals?
This article aimed at verifying the reliability of equilibrium exchange rate (EER) concepts by exploring if exchange rate misalignments are leading to changes in macroeconomic fundamentals. The authors focused on G10 currencies and the three most popular EER models which the IMF regularly uses within the External Balance Assessment: Purchasing Power Parity, Behavioural EER and Fundamental EER. In methodological terms, the study applied the cross-sectional predictability approach developed by Sarno and Schmeling (2014), which ranks countries on the basis of the scale of EER misalignment to check if this ranking helps to predict key macro variables. The results indicate that EER misalignment contains cross-sectional predictive power and allows forecasting real effective exchange rates, short-term interest rates and current account balance differences across countries.
Copyright (c) 2024 Piotr Dybka, Michał Rubaszek https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
A creative industries perspective on open strategy drivers
Open strategy is a widely discussed research area, including the themes of organization design, open innovation, and open business models. However, the contextual perspective to analyse this concept is scarce. This paper addressed this issue by providing a framework highlighting a set of drivers that may affect transparency and inclusiveness as dimensions of open strategy and proposed these drivers by exploring the context of the creative industries representing the activities that differ in their business ecosystem. However, they are very similar in some respects (e.g., generating ideas, imagination, copyrights, intellectual property). These similarities make it interesting to bring the CI as the context for investigating industry factors that impact the strategy’s opening to understand the drivers that may hinder or foster its implementation. The authors believe the proposed framework could guide the decision-making process by providing the unfavourable and conducive drivers that might affect open strategy implementation.
Copyright (c) 2024 Joanna Radomska, Przemysław Wołczek, Monika Hajdas, Mikołaj Klimczak https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Yield rate in the Warsaw office market and its determinants. Further studies
This article is a continuation and extension of a previous study which, to the best of the author’s knowledge, was the first scientific attempt to identify determinants of the yield rate in the Warsaw office market. The paper is based on the Gordon growth model. In this approach, the yield rate of buildings offering office space to let is a function of the risk-free interest rate, the risk premium and a constant rate of growth of generated cash flows. In the article, five different elements of the risk premium were identified (term structure, alternative investments’, market (country) specific, monetary and local office market capacity risk premium). The Error Correction Model was formulated based on quarterly time series data from 2007Q1 to 2021Q2. Most investors in the office market in Poland are financial institutions representing foreign capital. Therefore, the innovation of the paper and its main goal was to define which factors play key roles in determining yield rates in the Warsaw office space market – national or regional/international. However, the selected group of Polish determinants were indicated as having prevailing an impact on the yield rate in the Warsaw office market than the corresponding determinants from the European Monetary Union and the USA. Based on the model, the lead-lag, as well as asymmetric relations, were depicted. Moreover, the use of dummy variables checks, the Chow test and the Markov switching model indicated the presence of structural breaks and the existence of the two regimes in the model.
Copyright (c) 2024 Krzysztof Nowak https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Network analysis of the foreign exchange market using minimum spanning trees constructed from the dynamic time warping distance measure
This paper evaluates the changes that occurred in the topological structure of the foreign exchange market due to the COVID-19 pandemic and after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A network of 17 currencies was analysed from 1.01.2019 to 31.07.2022 in four sub-periods: before the pandemic, in the year of the pandemic outbreak, in the further course of the pandemic, and the year the war started. Dynamic time warping (DTW) distances between pairs of time series for individual currencies were calculated, and based on these distances, minimum spanning trees (MST) were constructed whose topological characteristics were then analysed. The results show that the topological structure of the foreign exchange market varied in the sub-periods studied. The financial crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine affected the FX network in different ways. However, the two strongest monetary clusters (i.e. clusters centred on the USD and EUR, respectively) have still emerged. Comparing the MSTs for the crisis sub-periods, it can be seen that the USD took a dominant position during the pandemic outbreak, while the EUR played a more significant role during the war. This study contributes to the literature by characterising the topological structure of the FX market in specific sub-periods – during the COVID-19 pandemic and after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Thus, it represents a particularly relevant study of the impact of crises on the global financial market.
Copyright (c) 2024 Joanna Małgorzata Landmesser-Rusek https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
A linearization approach in solving a non-linear shelf space allocation problem with vertical categorisation of sales potential levels
Retail is a profit-driven, highly competitive industry. Customers expect retailers to provide appropriate assortment sets and excellent product visibility. The aim of this study was to develop and examine two models for optimising category-level shelf space management that maximise a retailer’s profit. The authors developed two shelf space allocation problem models. The first model combines three sets of constraints: shelf, product, and product group constraints, while the second model enlarges the first with the multi-shelves constraints. The study showed that this approach gives an optimal solution in a very short time (approximately 3 seconds on average and less than a second in 93 of the 134 instances for the first, and in 84 of the 146 instances in the second problem) for large-scale instances, which in most of the test cases is even less than a second. First, non-linear formulations of both problems were presented. Next, the authors proposed to use and adjust linearization techniques which allow transforming both problems into linear ones, thus obtaining the optimal solutions. Finally, both problems were solved using the CPLEX solver, the computational results were provided.
Copyright (c) 2024 Kateryna Czerniachowska, Marcin Hernes, Krzysztof Lutosławski https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Digital payments during the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland: An initial insight on the consumer perception of security and convenience
Purpose/Research problem – The paper’s key purposes are twofold: first, to identify the most important determinants for using mobile payments in the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic when the rules and behaviour changed; second, to investigate whether and why the coronavirus pandemic increased the degree of digital payments usage. Design/Methodology/Approach – The aim of the survey was to capture the ‘fresh’ effect of restrictions imposed by the government in Poland regarding digital payments. The research data were obtained in the CAWI survey after the pandemic started and before the end of the first wave to assess the result just for that period. Results – The study proved that the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic increased the degree of mobile payments usage due to the prevailing sense of uncertainty. The pre-pandemic preferences of buyers towards the cost, convenience, and risk have changed. In the initial phase of the pandemic, perceived personal security was extended and covered not only transaction security, but also health safety with benefits resulting from avoiding touching the banknotes and maintaining social distancing. This was identified as more important than perceived convenience and costs. Originality/Value – The time of the analysis time was a kind of a ‘research window’, when the researchers and respondents were exposed to the first wave of the pandemic and did not have a foresight of the coming waves of virus transmission. The questions concerning the sum and quantity of spending were adjusted to the time of quasi-stability in the economy – after the previous crisis and before the inflation level rose in the subsequent waves – which was mainly the effect of the monetary policy response to lockdowns.
Copyright (c) 2024 Joanna Bednarz, Magdalena Markiewicz, Agnieszka Szmelter-Jarosz https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0