Economy In Lithuania Research Articles

Impact of the Jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania on the Implementation of Green Economy in Lithuania

The objective of this interdisciplinary legal and economic article is to examine how the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, which has evolved over three decades, impacts the implementation of the green economy in Lithuania. To accomplish this aim, the article first explains the concept of the green economy in line with the economic and legal doctrine. The article analyses the constitutional bases of freedom of individual economic activity and environmental protection established in the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania. It then explores how the Constitutional Court aims to reconcile environmental demands and freedom of individual economic activity, and how this case law supports the deployment of the green economy.

Measuring the Level of the Youth Informal Economy in Lithuania in 2004–2020

This paper investigates the development of the youth informal economy in Lithuania in 2004–2020. Specific youth-tailored multiple indicators multiple causes (MIMIC) model has been derived in order to estimate the level of the youth informal economy. In total, 173 direct phone interviews with company managers were conducted in order to acquire information for the MIMIC model calibration. It was revealed that during the investigated period, the youth informal economy fluctuated between 38.7% and 46.1% and was significantly higher compared with the overall informal economy in Lithuania. Although showing a strong correlation level (0.742) the overall informal economy within the country and the youth informal economy show slightly different developmental paths, the latter being more prone to higher increases during a crisis period.

Economic Implications on the Basis of Lithuanian Maritime Sector’s Clustering

This article analyses the Maritime Sector economic grow impact to Lithuania’s economy from a Cluster perspective. The potential competitive Maritime industry Cluster in Lithuania is on interest because Lithuanian Maritime Sector is expanding its connections to the whole European region, going beyond the boundaries of anyone industry sector, is supported by EU Strategic documents, but the steps towards clustering still are tentative and negligible. Assessing the Maritime sector impact on Lithuania's economy, the total economic impact (direct and indirect) was calculated by using the following indicators: number of Employees, Turnover and Value Added at Production Cost (VAPC). The period for the evaluation of the statistical givens trends has been chosen for 5 years, according to Official 2007 – 2011 period statistical givens, provided by Department of Statistics. KEYWORDS: Competitiveness, Maritime Sector, Clustering, Lithuania. JEL CODES: O18, O32, P25, R11 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15181/rfds.v13i2.830

Evaluation of the Impact of Sharing Economy on Hotel Business

The sharing economy is growing in the hotel industry very fast. The study is important for the hotel’s management - strategy formulation. The aim of this research is to evaluate the sharing economy effect on hotels in Lithuania. Correlation and regression analysis methods were used for achieving the aim. The study analyses if the sharing economy has caused any impact on accommodating tourists at hotels, hotels income from accommodation services, and room occupancy rate. Results reveal a positive relationship between the sharing economy and all investigated indicators of hotel activities, thus indicating that the hotel business is growing together with the sharing economy. The hotels' sector in Lithuania has continued to grow while more and more hosts and consumers joined the sharing economy. Results imply that the sharing economy is not a competitor for the Lithuanian hotels business as the sharing economy targets different tourist segment, moreover the market is capacious for both segments. Sharing economy in the accommodation sector – a niche with its own customer group. The research results are important for making correct decisions in the Lithuanian tourism industry as other researches in other countries show a negative impact on the sharing economy on the hotels' sector. The rapid growth of the sharing economy in Lithuania may oblige hotels to focus on the sharing economy and consider further actions.

ŠEŠĖLINĘ EKONOMIKĄ LEMIANČIŲ VEIKSNIŲ TYRIMAS / FACTORS THAT DETERMINE SHADOW ECONOMY IN LITHUANIA AND EUROPE

The problem of the shadow economy exists in the majority of countries and, depending on its scale, affects the economic development of the state, the social well­being of companies and the population and the country’s policy. This economy distorts competition, has a negative impact on the country’s tax system and its structure and the distribution of state revenue becomes unregulated and distorted. This economic activity alters official statistics so a policy based on it can become simply irrational and ineffective. All this leads to a change in government­funded general budget revenue and slows down the country’s economic growth. The purpose of this article is to identify and evaluate the factors that influence the shadow economy in Lithuania and across Europe. Objectives: to analyse the factors influencing the shadow economy after the analysis of the scientific literature, to develop a methodology that will be used for the assessment of the shadow economy factors, based on the presented methodology prepare calculations about the estimation of shadow economy factors. The following methods were used for the research: analysis of scientific literature, correlation, pair regression and multiple regression analysis. The results have shown that average salary, levels of poverty and corruption in the country, compulsory taxes and inflation have the greatest impact on the country’s shadow economy.

The comparative analysis of Lithuanian manorial-serf economy and hacienda economic system of Latin America in the context of capitalist world system: from the second half of the 18th to the second half of the 19th centuries

The paper compares for the first time in historiography the Lithuanian manorial-serf economy and Latin American hacienda economic systems of the second half of the 18th century to the second half of the 19th century in the context of the capitalist world system (CWS). The main focus will be on the explication in macro level of similarities and differences of structures and development trends of these systems. The analyzed period corresponds to the stage of both the dominance and intensification of manorial-serf economy in Lithuania and predominance and intensification of hacienda economy in Latin American countries and it was determined by the same factor of the industrial revolution. The study confirms the thesis that these economic systems belonged to typologically closed economic kind (they were focused on the serfdom method of production) in the global division of labor. It shows that both Lithuanian manorial-serf economy and haciendas of Latin America were not typical feudal enterprises, but displayed only peripheral (agrarian) capitalism features.

Regional Estimates of Shadow Economy in Lithuania

The aim is to estimate the level of shadow economy in the regions of Lithuania during the year of 2012-2016 after having identified causal factors in this article. The topic is very relevant to such countries of transition economy like Lithuania, where huge separation exists between regions and big cities. Deeper social problems in regions, lack of job places, absence of investments and emigration to bigger cities of a country or abroad create conditions for the growth of criminal offenses and shadow economy. Performed calculations under MIMIC model have shown that the share of indirect taxes, average income, the cases of cigarette smuggling, population of women per 1000 men, the number of criminal offence, children in social risk families and the number of tourists are the main causes for the emergence and growth/decline of shadow economy level. The novelty of the article is that the calculations reveal a significantly higher level of shadow economy in the regions, than at the country level, therefore it is recommended to make calculations at the regional level in order to select measures to more effectively fight with the shadow. Identified reasons allow formulating the following recommendations for responsible authorities: increase efficiency in tax system, since current excise tax policy has a positive impact on the level of poverty, especially at regional level, deepening of social problems, which as a result contribute to the growth of shadow economy; encourage women’ occupancy, emancipation and attract funding from national and international projects, to promote equal rights in researched regions; increase the level of attractiveness and security level in cities, promote FDI to cities, and effectively use money from EU Structural Funds.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.29.4.19438

Waste Management Policy Development in Lithuania Applying Circular Economy Model

This paper analyses waste management policy development applying circular economy model and study its possibilities in Lithuania. The first part of this paper is dedicated to waste management policy concept, its dynamic analysis, circular economy model influence on waste management and waste management tools identification. The part of research analyses formation of waste management policy using circle economy in Lithuania. Used qualitative research based analysis of formed Lithuanian waste management policy using circle economy model. Project has found that currently formed waste management policy using circle economy or not targeted and systematic corrections are needed in order to achieve ambitious goals of the model. Identification of corrections and their practical appliance in policy formation would probably not only lead to the achievement of circle economy goals in Lithuania, but also would contribute to the targeted waste management policy formation on national, regional and local levels.

Samogitian Calvary Hills Prayers and Songs: Between Tradition and Innovation

The Catholic Liturgy comprises of the St. Mass and supplementary services. Supplementary services are religious practices of the community designed to be performed not during the Mass but in local language before or after the service, also at home and in chapels. In Lithuania, these are various religious songs and prayers. Lithuania’s ethnographic region, Samogitia, distinguishes itself by a very special form of singing, Samogitian Calvary Hills (hereafter – Hills) prayers and hymns. Today, this specific devotional practice is called ‘Old’ or ‘New’ Hills. The main aim of the article is to describe these two distinctive forms of prayers and singing. Research showed that the ‘Old’ Hills tradition of devotional practice was born in 1681 and had existed until the publication of a new Liturgical prayer book in 1968. From 1968 to 2016, six Liturgical prayer books with the new edition of ‘New’ Hills were released. The new version was influenced by the directives of the Second Vatican Council which took place in 1962–1965. Since 1991, liberal and free market-based economy in Lithuania has ousted the traditional ‘Old’ Hills practice. The article proves the hypothesis that today Hills prayers and hymns are performed in both traditional and new ways.

The evaluation of the factors influencing the shadow economy in Lithuania

This paper analyzes and evaluates the main causes of the shadow economy. MIMIC approach is used. This method evaluates which factors are statistically significant and mostly influence shadow economy. According to the research results shadow economy in Lithuania is mostly affected by unemployment, employment rate, taxes, consumer confidence, criminality, education and return on assets (ROA).

Level and sectors of digital shadow economy: the case of Lithuania

The fast pace of global computerization as well as the spread of online activities prompt the changes in the concept of shadow economy. Through cyberspaces, such as social networking platforms, alternative future currency systems, e-commerce, e-business systems or cyber computer games, real money (or an electronic equivalent of its value) circulates, but in most cases transactions are not accounted and do not generate taxes to the budget of a state. This article is aimed at supplementation of the traditional shadow economy estimation methodology with the indicator of digital shadow economy, and performance of the statistical analysis of the data which would allow to identify the areas with the highest scope of digital shadow economy. At present, the scope of shadow economy in Lithuania is estimated by employing one of the two methodologies – developed by the State Tax Inspectorate and by Lithuanian Free Market Institute. It should be noted that neither of these methodologies includes the elements of digital shadow economy. In theoretical level, no methodologies to cover any indicator of digital shadow economy with its relevant features have been developed so far. By employing the method of expert evaluation (with participation of 184 experts who work in the Department of Control, Lithuanian State Tax Inspectorate), the authors of this article initially estimated the scope of digital shadow economy and identified the areas with the highest scope of digital shadow economy in Lithuania over 2015. The research has revealed that more than a half of the experts have not inspected or identified any subjects illegally operating in e-space. The fact that the scopes of digital shadow economy have not still been estimated indeed burdens the development of any efficient mechanism, which would allow to identify and detect illegal economic activities in e-space.

XVIII amžiaus antros pusės – XIX amžiaus antros pusės Lietuvos palivarko ir Lotynų Amerikos hasjendos ūkio sistemos kapitalistinės pasaulio sistemos kontekste: lyginamosios analizės bandymas

Straipsnyje pirmą kartą istoriografijoje lyginamos XVIII a. antros pusės–XIX a. antros pusės Lietuvos palivarko ir Lotynų Amerikos hasjendos ūkio sistemos kapitalistinės pasaulio sistemos (KPS) kontekste. Pagrindinis dėmesys bus skiriamas šių sistemų struktūrų bei raidos tendencijų panašumams ir skirtumams eksplikuoti makrolygmeniu. Tiriamas laikotarpis – tiek palivarkinio ūkio vyravimo bei intensyvėjimo Lietuvoje, tiek hasjendinio ūkio įsivyravimo ir intensyvėjimo Lotynų Amerikos šalyse etapas – nulemtas to paties pramonės revoliucijos veiksnio. Tyrimas patvirtina tezę, kad šios ūkio sistemos priklausė tipologiškai artimam ūkio tipui (buvo orientuotos į baudžiavinį gamybos būdą) pasauliniame darbo pasidalijime. Atskleidžiama, jog tiek Lietuvos palivarkinis ūkis, tiek Lotynų Amerikos hasjendos ūkis nebuvo tipinės feodalinės įmonės, bet pasižymėjo periferinio kapitalizmo bruožais.

Evaluation of Digital Shadow Economy Prevention Measures

Abstract Although during the past few years the scopes of shadow economy in Lithuania have slightly decreased, different forms of this phenomenon, in particular digital shadow activities, still generate a significant part of the overall value added. As no constant estimations of the scope of digital shadow economy have been made in Lithuania, alleviation of this problem is based on consequence fighting rather than reason elimination. Digital shadow economy poses a significant challenge for law enforcement agencies concerning its investigation and prevention. Hence, it is purposeful to research both theoretical and practical aspects of digital shadow economy prevention in order to identify the measures that could be used for the efficient reduction of the scope of this phenomenon. The aim of this research is to identify the measures of digital shadow economy prevention and compare the attitudes of governmental institutions and consumers towards the efficiency of these measures. The results of the empirical research showed that both consumers and experts agree that the level of tax morale has to be raised not only by using the measures of self-education but also by introducing long-term educational programmes; second, public authorities should ensure business friendly environment, actively implement the principles of justice and officially acknowledge and announce the concept of digital shadow economy; finally, for more efficient detection of the cases of digital shadow activities, it is necessary to reinforce current labour resources that should be specially trained to be able to disclose revenue hiding and tax evasion schemes, employed in e-trade.

The Methodologies of Shadow Economy Estimation in the World and in Lithuania: Whether the Criterions Fixing Digital Shadow are Included?

Abstract The article covers an extremely topical but hardly researched problem of digital shadow economy estimation. Thus far, the phenomenon of digital shadow economy has not been universally defined either by scientists or by institutions responsible for the combat with shadow economy. Traditional shadow economy is commonly estimated applying direct and indirect methods possessing their strengths and weaknesses. As a result, final estimations of shadow economies are rather variant. For instance, with reference to Schneider (2014), the scope of shadow economy in Lithuania achieved 27 per cent rate in 2014 whereas the figure estimated by Lithuanian Department of Statistics composed 15 per cent rate. It can be presumed that the divergence of the results has been determined by application of different shadow economy estimation methods. The interviews with the experts of shadow economy have revealed that although the volumes of e-trade and e-transactions are increasing, indicators of digital shadow are not still included in the estimations of shadow economy.

Evaluation of the Shadow Economy Influencing Factors: Comparative Analysis of the Baltic States

Numerous scientific and publicist articles consider the Baltic States as a single economic unit, particularly from the geopolitical point of view. However, evaluating the scope and spread of shadow economy, significant differences among the States emerge (Putniņis and Sauka, 2015; Schneider, 2014). With reference to Putniņis and Sauka (2015), the level of shadow economy in Latvia reached 23.5 percent of GDP in 2014 while that in Estonia and Lithuania respectively accounted 12.5 and 13.2 percent of GDP in the same year. The study carried out by Schneider (2014) proposes different results: in 2014, shadow economy in Lithuania and Estonia reached 27.7 percent of GDP while in Latvia it accounted 24.7 percent of GDP. The differences in the results are determined by the different methods engaged for the evaluation of the level of shadow economy. Nevertheless, it is obvious that the scope of shadow economy in the Baltic States far exceeds the average of the EU (18.5 percent of GDP). Thus, this article is aimed at the identification of the factors that have the biggest impact on the scope of shadow economy in all three Baltic States and performance of the comparative analysis of the identified factors. The methods of the research include systematic and comparative analysis of the scientific literature, regression, multiregression analysis and statistical data analysis. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2015.v4n3s1p653

Towards sustainable use of marine resources in the south-eastern Baltic Sea (Lithuania): a review

The article provides a consistent insight into the results and experience related to the implementation of activities fostering the development of marine economy in Lithuania. EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region and the Blue Growth concept explicitly focuses on maintenance of the good status of the marine environment of the European seas. Recently developed Lithuanian integrated maritime spatial plan aims to create the favourable conditions for sustainable development of marine economy, and particularly the offshore wind energy. Proposed and tested innovative solutions for selection of new disposal sites as well as handling the dredged soil in ports, contributes to more environmentally sound and economically feasible operations of the south-eastern Baltic Sea ports.

The Impact of Renewable Energy on the Economy of Lithuania

The research purpose is to investigate negative and positive impacts of renewable energy sources (RES) on the economy of Lithuania on the basis of theoretical analysis, empirical investigation of significance of renewable energy for the economy and as well as possible threats for energy supply sources. The research is based on literature study, statistical and comparative research. Strategy for RES development has to be formed for a long-term period; this strategy has to be created by independent scientists not related to traditional energy producing business structures; it is necessary to involve into energy sector small investors so achieving bigger decentralized energy production based on RES expansion and parallel getting higher security of the energy sector.

Changes in Public Sector Management: Establishment of Project Management Offices – A Comparative Case Study of Lithuania and Denmark

This paper analyses an attempt to initiate an organizational-administrative reform on the basis of experimental (pilot) project initiated by the Ministry of Economy in Lithuania which established a specialized unit – Project Management Office (PMO) – responsible for portfolio1 of programs and projects’ coordination at ministerial level. The paper shortly describes types of reforms and how they can be implemented, as well as the notion of portfolio, program and project management and organizational capability to manage them, as one of the attributes of organizational maturity in project management is an existence of PMO. This article focuses on the main features of PMO and describes two qualitative case studies. Lithuanian and Danish cases are provided and differences of PMOs are analysed. The cases provide insights that the transition to portfolio, program and project management might last for decades. Although the reform did not gain the acceleration in Lithuania, the trend toward project management embedment in the public sector in Europe is evidenced and more cases of the establishment of PMO are observed.

THE EFFECTS OF MACROECONOMIC PROCESSES ON THE STOCK MARKET

The economy of Lithuania, which in the last five years has been one of the fastest growing economies in the European Union, in 2008 has slowed down due to unfavourable tendencies. The position of Lithuania has not been exceptional, on the contrary it proved the rule that has been present in the countries’ economies over the last decade. When evaluating Lithuania’s economic perspective and counting on the Eurostat forecasts, together with the opinion of the most of Lithuanian analysts, the growth of the economy in Lithuania should stop in 2009, and recession is forecasted in 10 EU countries. The stock market is closely related to the economy of the country, for that reason their growth has a mutual relationship because when the economic situation is getting better the stock market is becoming more active as well, and on the other hand when the stock market is developing it has a positive effect on the growth of the economy. Statistical measures that can reproduce the state of the stock market and the tendencies of its change dynamics are the stock indexes. Having in mind the more complicated state of the finance system it is important to answer the question of what impacts the fluctuations of the stock prices. The article discusses various factors that impact the fluctuations of the Lithuanian stock indexes; also stock index factor analysis is performed. Factors are determined using the main components method.

Place and Role of the Klaipeda Region in Economy of Lithuania

Abstract In the focus of economic research in recent years, fall more and more regions at the junction of the East-West economic system, EU regions with deviations over 25% of the European average and the coastal regions, which in 2011 accounted for 40,8% of the total population of the EU-27. Such interest to these regions is not random because exactly at the junction of regions, as in the junction of different sciences, identifies and opens up new mechanisms of interaction which could be tested in new non-standard approaches directed on strengthening of their competitiveness. In EU context population distribution on maritime coastal regions basins is the following: in the coastal regions of the Mediterranean Sea lives most of all the population from all inhabitants of coastal areas – 36,0%, in the North-Eastern shores of the Atlantic Ocean – 29,4%, at the coast of the North Sea – 20,6%, Baltic – 10,9%, and at the coast of the Black Sea and in Outermost Regions – 3,1%. Lithuania, along with such countries as Romania, Germany, Poland, Bulgaria and Slovenia is among the countries where the share of the population living in coastal areas is less than 15%. At the same time, for such countries as Sweden, Portugal, Greece, Ireland, Cyprus, Malta and Denmark this percentage is over 80, and for other countries varies from 32 to 74%, in particular for Italy 66%. Coastline have 23 of the 28 EU states. This study focuses on the role and place of the coastal region of Lithuania - Klaipeda region in the overall economy of the country. Formal coastline in Lithuania is 99 km or about 8% of the total length of the border, as opposed to 36% (498 km) in Latvia and 12,5% (440 km) in Poland. Since the Lithuanian segment of the Curonian Spit (about 60 km) as well as on the territories around Palanga and between Palanga and Sventoji located only recreation areas, they affect the economic performance of the region only in the recreation and tourism which on the coast is seasonal. Therefore Lithuanian stable economically active coastline is still much smaller and makes not more than 15-20 km, concentrating around Klaipeda and on an interval from Sventoji to Butinge. In this regard, having only one commercial port of Klaipeda and specialized port only on oil pumping in Butinge, Lithuania unfavorably differs from other neighboring countries, which may have a greater positive impact on the development of coastal areas and increase their competitiveness, which along with metropolitan regions are most commonly the engines of the economy throughout the country. Is no exception in this line and the Klaipeda region in Lithuania. Research methodology is based on a comparative evaluation of Klaipeda region compared with other regions of Lithuania. To prove the role and weight of the coastal regions in the overall economy of the country, different authors use different quantitative and qualitative indicators to assess their impact on coastal as well as to be compared with them regions. There is therefore noted a big role of clustering to increase competitiveness, efficiency and dynamic development as the industrial and services sectors as well territories. Through the use of two groups of cluster analysis - a divide and merge methodology for clustering and also the Ward's method, which gives out algorithm of clustered territories for an assessment of distances between clusters, was shown and analyzed the role of relationships and mutual influence of the coastal region with other regions of Lithuania. Suggested in this work the methodology can significantly specify directions of interaction between regions of Lithuania to enhance the overall competitiveness of the Lithuanian economy and create products and services with high added value.