East European Countries Research Articles

Common Policy but Different Outcomes: Structural Change in Family Farms of Central and East European Countries after Their Accession to the EU

This paper investigates structural change in family farming in ten EU New Member States from Central and Eastern Europe which can be treated as a borderline between transition and developed economies. The paper proposes that farms using at least one Annual Work Unit (AWU) family labour are classified as family since it is considered that engaging less than one full-time family member may not show commitment to the family operation. The Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition is employed to analyse the drivers of structural change at a farm level, i.e., the extent to which it is technology or endowment driven. To compare the developments in different countries, the changes are presented in relative terms in order to reveal the relative distance travelled by the structural change in individual New Member States alongside the relative importance of technology and endowments changes. The estimation of a translog production function by country is used to derive the corresponding decompositions. Empirical analysis is based on data from the EU Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) for two time points—2007, when the last of the ten CEECs joined the EU—Bulgaria and Romania, and 2015 to investigate structural change during the first decade of EU membership. The results show that the differences in the initial conditions and the adjustments to the CAP have brought about quite a diverse picture concerning the changes in output in the family and non-family farms in the NMS. The a priori expected dynamics of positive output growth in family farms and negative in the non-family has only materialised in Latvia, Romania and Slovakia. The decomposition of output changes suggests a positive effect of technical change in family farms only in the early years of EU accession. Concerning endowments, their effect on structural change is mostly positive with the only exception of Slovenia. This suggests that the family farming sector grows by accumulating productive resources. However, this growth has not always materialised in increase of family farms output.

Michael King: prolific researcher and one of the first doctors to “come out”

Renowned as brilliant, kind, and humorous, Michael King helped to transform University College London’s division of psychiatry into an international centre of excellence. A gay man, he was among the...

School-Work-Transition of NEETS: A Comparative Analysis of European Countries

This study investigates the connection between the reasons why some young people end their education without attaining a university degree and the effect of this decision on the probability of becoming a NEET in a set of European countries. Young people face the highest degree of disadvantage in the Mediterranean and East European countries, whereas in Continental European countries the school-to-work transition is smooth. We use the ad hoc module of the 2016 Labour Force Survey (LFS) and focus on young people aged 15 to 24. Our analysis reveals a positive relationship between the decision to drop out of education for health or family reasons and the probability of becoming a NEET. Conversely, when the reason for not completing university education is the desire to start working, and when the individuals who dropped out of university education gathered work experience during this period, the probability of becoming a NEET decreases significantly.

Compiling a Guide to Open Access Historical News Sources from Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Countries

ABSTRACT The digitization of historical news sources – both print and audio-visual – has altered the information landscape for researchers in all scholarly disciplines that investigate the past. Thanks to the initiative of nonprofit cultural heritage institutions, commercial enterprises, and joint public-private partnerships, researchers now have a plethora of electronic resources at their disposal. Unfortunately, only a portion of this data is freely available online, and what is available is generally scattered all over the internet. While guides to contemporary (currently active) news media outlets and newspapers abound, historical news sources are more difficult to locate. This article describes the authors’ efforts to compile and publish an online guide to open access historical news sources from Slavic, East European, and Eurasian countries. It outlines the selection criteria, describes the guide’s layout, and provides a survey of preliminary usage statistics.

Does outward foreign direct investment crowd in or crowd out domestic investment in central, east and southeast europe countries? an asymmetric approach

Does outward foreign direct investment crowd in or crowd out domestic investment in central, east and southeast europe countries? an asymmetric approach

Middle-Income Trap - Threat or Reality

The middle-income trap (MIT) describes obstacles to sustainable growth experienced by some middle-income countries. The initial growth of emerging economies is often characterized by reliance on labor intense, import driven factors, facilitated by foreign direct investment (FDI). As it matures, that initial growth becomes more dependent on foreign technology imports to produce exports, which can impede sustained growth. Poland is representative of several middle-income East European countries; after the 1990 transition, Poland had inadequate infrastructure and obsolescent industries, but a work force that was highly educated. Since 1990, relatively low labor costs, technology imports, European Union (EU) funding, and FDI have propelled Poland to middle-income status. However, Poland’s comparative labor advantages have recently diminished, while both the quantity and composition of FDI inflows are changing. In this paper, we examine whether some growth factors have been exhausted, leaving Poland subject to MIT. To answer this question, we assess changes in investment and factor productivity, labor force educational attainments, FDI, new product/technology development, imports, export diversification, product complexity, and other factors. We conclude that in Poland several conditions consistent with MIT are gaining importance and may be an early warning sign of challenges to its future growth.

The Expectation for Pension Insurance in Funded Schemes: Theoretical Model and Global Implementation

In this study, we derive the financial position of pension actors in the market during pension system transition toward more funded capitalized scheme, mainly via an option benefit model. This is enabled by not considering the economy as a single earning cohort. We analytically demonstrate a socio-economic anomaly in funded pension system, which is in favor of high earning cohorts on the expense of low earning cohorts. This anomaly is realized by lack of insurance and exposure to financial and systemic risks. Furthermore, the anomaly might lead to pension re-reform back to unfunded scheme, mostly due to political pressure. We find that minimum pension guarantee is a rebalance mechanism to this anomaly, which increases the probability to sustainable pension scheme. Specifically, we argue that implementing the guarantee with an intra-generational, risk-sharing mechanism is the most efficient way to reduce the effect of this abnormality. Moreover, we exhibit the convergence process toward implementing minimum pension guarantee in many countries, which have capitalized their pension systems during the last three decades, particularly among Latin America and Central East Europe (CEE) countries. Received: 11 December 2020 / Accepted: 5 August 2021 / Published: 5 September 2021

The evolving perceptions of corruption in Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic

AbstractAlong with other postcommunist Central and East European countries, the Czech Republic continues to exhibit alarming levels of corruption. The present article draws on unique stakeholder interviews and document analysis to explore the evolving perceptions of corruption by Czech actors who had intimate knowledge of how this practice was occurring in the period between the last years of the communist regime until today. The key finding is that corruption in the Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic evolved from an individual coping strategy at the time of communism to a systemic phenomenon, which is widely institutionalized today, especially in the public procurement procedures.

Beyond hardship and joy: Framing home gardening on insights from the European semi-periphery

European accounts of home gardening or food self-provisioning (FSP) typically frame these practices as primarily economically motivated and need related, and community gardening or urban agriculture as ethical sustainability strategies. Drawing on primary research on FSP in two East European countries, this paper combines analysis of socio-demographic and socio-economic characteristics of food self-provisioners with analysis of their motivations. There is strong evidence that while economic reasons are present FSP is primarily motivated, even in comparatively less affluent East European societies, by the desire to obtain fresh and healthy food and engage in a pleasurable activity. Based on our findings, we thus propose that a more appropriate framing for FSP in the European East and West alike is characterised by autonomy and community care. This would provide for a reengagement with the epistemology of sustainability-compliant behaviours and attitudes beyond the joy vs. limitations dichotomy. Given the performativity of social scientific research, rooting the framing on knowledge from East European societies, where FSP is widespread in all social groups, including the affluent middle class, is important for lending credence to alternative visions and practices that can enhance the sustainability of overdeveloped societies.

Influence of Oral Health Care Systems on Future Career Environment of Dental Students in Europe.

Oral healthcare is organized subsidiarily and independently by nation states in Europe and also within the EU and consequently, major differences between the nation states and the various oral healthcare systems in Europe are present. The socialization in the respective catchment area can have an impact on the job choice and the perception of employment opportunities of different professional groups. Therefore, the purpose of this survey was to elucidate the influence of different oral healthcare systems on students living or studying in the respective catchment area. A questionnaire (in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish) with 18 different components was administered. Data on gender, age, country of origin, university, semester, nationality, expected time of graduation, and forecast for future professional practices were gathered. In addition, 3851 students participated (2863 f/988 m). The sample distribution was uneven with predominantly Bismarckian and Southern European System participants. The National oral health care system was statistically significantly linked (p < 0.01) to the ownership period of a dental practice. Students in Bismarckian and Nordic systems tended to find their own practice earlier than in the Beverdigian system or Southern European and Transitional—East European systems. An association between the oral health care system and vocational training was inhomogeneous, but also significantly different (p < 0.01). The majority (47.51%, n = 1555) would like to work in their own practice, 18.95% (n = 621) want to establish a practice with two or more owners. It was striking that no student would like to work in the investor practice/practice chain of both Nordic, Beveridgian and Transitional—East European countries systems (p < 0.01). The oral health care system in which a dental student grows up/resides/studies influences the career choice/perception of future professional practice.

Does a ‘reform’ socialist legacy serve as an asset or a liability for democratic transformation? Considering some roots of ‘orbanism’

ABSTRACT A commonly held assumption in the transition literature suggests that earlier successes with reforms in Central and East European countries would serve as an asset when the regime changed. Taking Hungary as a case in point, the author revisits the legacies from pre-transition period, calling for differentiating between short and long-term effects of the reform legacy. Emphasised is that Western stakeholders tended to misjudge the starting position of transition nations, generally. This inquiry exposes the role of institutions of democracy, market order, and rule of law in socio-economic transformation, highlighting the contradiction between formal institutional conformity with EU rules and the diverging tendencies in some countries concerning substance of market (e.g. competition) and liberal democracy (checks and balances, separation of constitutional branches). The Hungarian case assists in explaining the emergence of symptoms of a crony state, and the seemingly high-level of tolerance for organised corruption and favouritism.

Inequities in first education policy responses to the COVID-19 crisis: A comparative analysis in four Central and East European countries

The historically high inequities in the education systems of Central and East-European countries have been further exacerbated in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using critical frame analysis, we compared the education policy debates in Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Republic of Moldova during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic with a particular focus on inequities. We discuss the policy frames proposed and utilized by governmental and non-governmental actors to understand their roles played in articulating policy responses to the COVID-19 crisis, and highlight the specificities and commonalities of the political language within and across the national borders of the four countries. We conclude with our findings on the dynamics and structure of the policy debate between state and non-state actors in times of crisis with a particular focus on policy spaces and policy temporalities. Two ways of constructing spatio-temporalities co-exist: one is national, state and public health centric and focuses on governing ‘through’ the crisis; and the other is focused on long term planning while constructing the crisis as an opportunity for decisive intervention towards more equitable education.

Foreign experts in the People’s Republic of China: an historical review from the perspectives of modernization and globalization (1949-1966)

ABSTRACT In the history of the People’s Republic of China we see two waves of foreign experts who contributed to China’s becoming a self-reliant, modern industrialized country. The first wave took place in the 1950s when experts from the Soviet Union and other Eastern Europe countries were dispatched to China. The second wave, beginning in the 1960s, was mainly driven by experts, workers and technicians from the Western capitalist countries. In the early days of the P. R. C, the arrival of a large number of Soviet experts precipitated the systems established by the CCP Central Committee and the State Council in order to manage issues related to the foreign experts. Under the leadership of a bureau within the State Council that was responsible for these issues, the system incorporated government organizations both at the central and local levels, including those established by Central ministries and commissions. Under the principle of “equal treatment,” the Chinese government made policies concerning payment and benefits for experts from capitalist countries, using as reference the standards observed in the Soviet Union and other East European countries in the mid-1950s. From the time when Soviet and East European experts departed China to 1966, the Chinese government still adhered to the principles of “seeking common ground” and “different approaches towards internal and external issues,” respectively. The approach of the Chinese government was largely cost efficient.

PETER SÝKORA (ed.): Promises and perils of emerging technologies for human condition. Voices from four postcommunist Central and East European countries Berlin: Peter Lang 2019, 208 s.

PETER SÝKORA (ed.): Promises and perils of emerging technologies for human condition. Voices from four postcommunist Central and East European countries Berlin: Peter Lang 2019, 208 s.

Comparative analysis of political transformation in East-Central European countries: Searching for general patterns

This paper focuses on political transformation processes in post-Communist countries of the current Visegradgroup or as it is also referred to, Central and East European countries, trying to find similar trajectories orsome general patterns of their political development in comparison both with each other and also otherpost-Communist countries.

Aufstieg zur Energiemacht: Der sowjetische Weg ins Erdölzeitalter: 1930-er bis 1950-er Jahre

Aufstieg zur Energiemacht: Der sowjetische Weg ins Erdölzeitalter: 1930-er bis 1950-er Jahre

Ten-year follow-up on efficacy, immunogenicity and safety of two doses of a combined measles-mumps-rubella-varicella vaccine or one dose of monovalent varicella vaccine: Results from five East European countries

BackgroundWe assessed the 10-year efficacy, immunogenicity and safety of two doses of a combined measles-mumps-rubella-varicella vaccine (MMRV) or one dose of a monovalent varicella vaccine (V) in children from Czech Republic, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. MethodsThis was a phase IIIB follow-up of an observer-blind, randomized, controlled trial (NCT00226499). In phase A, healthy children aged 12–22 months from 10 European countries were randomized in a 3:3:1 ratio to receive two doses of MMRV (MMRV group), one dose of MMR followed by one dose of V (MMR + V group), or two doses of MMR (MMR; control group), 42 days apart. Vaccine efficacy (VE) against varicella (confirmed by viral DNA detection or epidemiological link and clinical assessment) was calculated with 95% confidence intervals using Cox proportional hazards regression model. Immunogenicity was assessed as seropositivity rates and geometric mean concentrations (GMCs). Solicited and unsolicited adverse events (AEs) and serious AEs (SAEs) were recorded. ResultsA total of 3705 children were vaccinated (1590, MMRV group; 1586, MMR + V group; 529, MMR group). There were 663 confirmed varicella cases (47, MMRV group; 349, MMR + V group; 267, MMR group). VE ranged between 95.4% (Lithuania) and 97.4% (Slovakia) in the MMRV group and between 59.3% (Lithuania) and 74% (Slovakia) in the MMR + V group. At year 10, seropositivity rates were 99.5%–100% in the MMRV group, 98%–100% in the MMR + V group and 50%–100% in the MMR control group, and the anti-VZV antibody GMCs were comparable between MMRV and MMR + V groups. The occurrence of solicited and unsolicited AEs was similar across groups and no SAE was considered as vaccination-related. No new safety concerns were identified. ConclusionsOur results indicated that two doses of varicella zoster virus-containing vaccine provided better protection than one dose against varicella and induced antibody responses that persisted 10 years post-vaccination.

The Expectation for Risk-Sharing Cycle: Theoretical Model and Global Implementation

In this paper, we offer an explanation to pension systems cyclical reforms, based on Central East Europe (CEE) countries experience over the last three decades. We claim that in the transition to funded pension design, the government not only transfers longevity and fiscal risks to the individualbut also absorbs risks transferred from the public, where each market actor transfers undiversifiable risks to the other. This hidden risk path that has not been discussed yet in the literature, stemmed from the public expectation to risk premium or adequate old age benefits that evolves to political pressure. The outcomes of this risk path realized in financial transfers, such as social security, means-tested and minimum pension guarantee. Consequently, funded pension designs naturally converge to a new landscape paradigm of risk sharing, including intergenerational and intra-generational play. Financial crises such as the recent COVID-19 pandemic foster the convergence process.

Researching Estonian Transformation: Morphogenetic Reflections by Kalmus Veronika (review)

SEER, 99, 2, APRIL 2021 390 down by the sort of obfuscating jargon so beloved of social scientists. This, it should be stressed, has nothing to do with the quality of the contributors’ English, which is uniformly excellent; it has more to do with the baffling terminology and impenetrable style that too many of them choose to employ. There are exceptions: the articles by Müller, Holmes and Enyedi stand out for their clarity. Given the importance of the subject-matter, and the urgency of making it a matter of general concern, the collection as a whole has to be reckoned a missed opportunity. University of Exeter Ian D. Armour Kalmus, Veronika; Lauristin, Marju; Opermann, Signe and Vihalemm, Triin (eds). Researching Estonian Transformation: Morphogenetic Reflections. University of Tartu Press, Tartu, 2020. xxi + 358 pp. Figures. Tables. Notes. References. Appendices. Index. €20.00. Can a whole country comprise a single case study of ‘planned’ social change over three decades? This is the challenge set by the present volume, which aims to trace the pathway followed by Estonia from the fall of the Soviet empire to the present day. The enterprise stands on two pillars. First, the authors deploy a massive corpus of survey data, coming from various waves of research conducted since 2002, whose focus is on both structural change and its perception by the Estonian population. This involved reconstructing the demographic landscape and the emergent forms of social stratification in the country, as well as drawing a profile of changing life-worlds and lifestyles, political participation, culture and media consumption, and more. The second key point is the attempt to provide a unifying interpretation of this huge data set — and of the related ‘large processes’ — through an overarching conceptual framework, namely Margaret Archer’s ‘morphogenetic approach’, thereby revealing the transformative patterns of Estonian society. The project seems particularly timely, and the chosen theoretical approach especially suitable. Transitions from authoritarian rule to democracy as a theme for social science has come in various historical waves, and the guiding idea of most studies has been to model ideal pathways from closure to openness, often from chaos to stability. As regards Eastern Europe in the aftermath of the fall of the Soviet empire, the story has been told in two opposing ways. Heroic narratives describe the epochal success of countries making their way from beingSovietsatellitestobecomingmembersoftheEuropeanUnionandAtlantic Alliance. Therefore, their developmental path is characterized as a process of liberation, emancipation, modernization, Europeanization, Westernization. Counter-narratives see the same process as a sequence of failures, emphasizing REVIEWS 391 the excessive social hardships, growing inequalities and undaunted corruption that here are seen as the true hallmarks of that historical play. According to this gloomy view, the social and cultural trauma of transition was never overcome, which also explains the current ‘populist’ surge in some countries. Failure is alternatively attributed to the legacy of the Soviet past, in the form of a persistent ‘civilizational incompetence’ (recalling Piotr Sztompka’s wellknown verdict), or to the backlash of brute Westernization. In either case, most studies fail to account for the specificity of the inner socio-cultural dynamics in each country, beyond the alternative between Westernization and nostalgia. Moreover, social science still has to account for the processes leading various East European countries from shared beginnings to divergent ‘post-colonial’ paths, avoiding the deceitful linearity of ‘master trends’. The present book addresses these research gaps, offering an original way to examinetheEstonian‘successstory’.Thechoiceofthemorphogeneticapproach as the methodological key to interpretation is profoundly consequential. The challenge lies in the fact that the authors throw this conceptual framework like a net over their data sets, in order to capture the underlying patterns, while the data collection was originally inspired by other theories. However, such a decision is not merely ad hoc, but results from the authors’ journey through social theory, which led to an appreciation of a conceptual framework that is particularly sensitive to transformations and diachronic transitions. In this sense, such a démarche amounts to what Niklas Luhmann called the method of ‘theoretical variation’ as hermeneutics of social facts. From this vantage point, four main internal mechanisms of change are identified: neoliberal reforms, digitalization, ethnic divide and generational dynamics. These are coupled...

(2810) Proposal to reject the name Thymus marschallianus (Lamiaceae)

(2810) Proposal to reject the name <scp><i>Thymus marschallianus</i></scp> (<i>Lamiaceae</i>)