Regional Development In Countries Research Articles

Application of Successful EU Funds Absorption Models to Sustainable Regional Development

The research paper comprehensively and consistently addresses all relevant theoretical areas related to the topic and includes an extensive empirical analysis of the absorption of EU funds and their impact on the sustainable development of Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, and Poland. The analysis aims to investigate the efficiency of the absorption of funds from the EU, the impact of these funds on regional development of countries, and the reasons for such impacts. The “Regional Development Model Based on EU Funds” was tested with the aim of applying the model to the Republic of Croatia, countries in the region, and other European countries, to achieve a higher level of absorption of financial resources from the available EU funds. Data for the empirical analysis were collected using a highly structured survey questionnaire completed by a sample of 244 respondents involved in the preparation and implementation of EU-funded projects. The contribution of economic science in theoretical terms arises from the development of scientific knowledge and ideas about the importance of increasing the number of development projects that will increase the absorption of funds from the European Union, thereby increasing economic activities in Croatia and the region. The expected contribution of economic science in the applied sense is based on the formulation of the “Regional Development Model Based on EU Funds”, which is based on the application of knowledge, good practices, and stakeholder experiences, considering relevant indicators from available sources. The greatest contribution is demonstrated through testing the “Regional Development Model Based on EU Funds”, which is applicable to the Republic of Croatia, countries in the region, and other European countries over a longer period. Finally, research into the impact of EU funds on the regional development of recipient countries is considerably less represented and very modest, and is only in the “upswing” of systematic scientific research. The research aims to fill the gaps in research and to encourage the thinking of key stakeholders responsible for regional development, who should eventually realize the importance of defining a regional policy aimed at EU funds as a key to regional development and reducing regional disparities within countries.

K-Means Cluster Algorithm for Grouping Inequality in Regional Development

Unsupervised learning is a subset of machine learning. Many unsupervised learning algorithms are used to solve various problems, especially the extraction of hidden data patterns. One of the problems that concerns unsupervised tasks is clustering. Clustering techniques are widely used for data grouping needs, one of which is development inequality clustering. The classification of development inequality is an important consideration in a country's regional development strategy. However, development groupings often do not pay attention to the hidden information aspects of the data, so they do not get the appropriate results. This research was conducted to provide an additional alternative in the realm of development inequality clustering, namely by classifying development data using the k-means algorithm. The data used is GRDP data for 41 regions in the western part of Java Island for the 2010–2021 range. The results show that the forty-one regions are grouped into four clusters. The first cluster (C1) contains 35 regions, the second cluster (C2) contains three regions, the third cluster (C3) contains four regions, and the fourth cluster (C4) contains three regions. Based on the cluster results, it can be seen that all members of cluster C4 are areas with the best level of development, while cluster C1 is the area with the lowest level of development. As for clusters C2 and C3, these are areas with development levels between clusters C1 and C4. The grouping results can be used by policymakers or local governments to determine the direction of future development priorities based on the cluster with the lowest level of development.

Законодавчі ініціативи у сфері конвергенції регіонів: виклики сучасності

The necessity of updating the issues of legislative improvement of the country's regional development through the prism of political conflicts is substantiated. The negative consequences for the development of the country as a result of the war are formed and its negative impact on the convergence of regions is noted. It has been determined that the primary task of the socio-economic recovery of the development of the country's regions is the formation of a state and regional policy of adaptive integration and cohesion of Ukrainian territories. Schematic representations of legislative initiatives of the convergence of regions are given, consisting of the laws of the economy, the principles of its functioning, the tools for implementation and the subjects of economic relations, which together form an effective platform for the implementation of regional transformations in the legal field. The regulatory and legal framework for the convergent development of regions at the macro- and mesolevels has been studied, which made it possible to form a vision of the readiness of the Ukrainian economy for effective reproduction and balancing the level of development. It is proved that in Ukraine there is a legal field for the effective development of regions, but there are no results of systemic regional development, harmonization of the interests of the regions and the state in the field of development. The conditions for reforming the legal support for the convergence of regions are formulated and it is indicated that the coordination of priorities for national and regional development should occur through the optimal unity of state, regional, local initiatives and taking into account the interests of business within individual regions.

Regional Disparities in the European Union from the Perspective of Environmental Context Indicators

Abstract The agricultural sector is one of the most important sectors of the countries’ economies and agricultural production has a huge socio-economic importance. In the current conditions of globalization and diversification of production, agriculture tries to achieve continuous development, realization of the potential, growth of the quantity and quality of the agricultural production, ensuring food security of the country. The quantitative and qualitative development of the agricultural sector takes place within a certain system, which is created under the influence of economic, social, and environmental factors based on innovations associated with transformation. These components of the current development of the agricultural sector are undergoing constant transformations, leading to the imbalances and the emergence of destructive processes within the complex system of the agricultural sector. Exploring regional disparities in terms of environmental and economic context indicators of CAP is strategically important for the stable rural and regional development of countries, increasing the competitiveness of agriculture, and sustainable and integrated development of regions. Based on the results of the calculations, we confirmed the effect of catching up between poorer and richer EU countries and identified the future trends in the occurrence and reduction of regional disparities.

SUSTAINABLE REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AS A FACTOR OF COMPETITIVENESS OF NATIONAL ECONOMY

Regional issues are an indispensable subject of interest of experts from different provinces in each country. The presence of pronounced regional disparities in different domains is generally considered to be the source of various problems in the functioning of the national economy and society as a whole. Over the past two decades, several proposals for regionalization have been put forward in Serbia, given its strategic commitment to EU accession. The paper presents the current regionalization of Serbia in accordance with the NUTS classification, taking into account the specific position of the Kosovo and Metohija region. The basic characteristics of the NUTS 2 level regions are analyzed from the point of view of strengthening the competitiveness of the national economy. In a separate part of the paper, the institutional foundations of the country's regional development and the need to align domestic regional policy with European practices and standards (exogenous vs. endogenous approach, urban-rural, etc.) are discussed. Human capital, entrepreneurship and regional development can be seen as determinants of the mechanism of progress through which national economies grow.

Autocratic governors in public procurement

The personal role of sub-national rulers is crucial for regional development in countries with weak institutions. This paper studies the impact of regional governors’ tenure in office and their local ties on procurement performance in Russia. To identify the causal effect, we construct instruments for governor’s tenure by exploiting the regional vote share of ruling party in past parliament elections. We find the evidence that governors who do not have pre-governing local ties in the region (outsiders) demonstrate predatory behaviour, compared to governors with local ties (insiders). Namely, governors-outsiders restrict the competition at awarding stage significantly more than governors-insiders. Moreover, for governors-outsiders this restriction becomes stronger with tenure in office, while governors-insiders do not demonstrate such negative tenure effect. We argue that this restriction of competition by governors-outsiders cannot be explained by the intention of better contracts execution: the delays in execution and the probability of contract termination either increase or keep stable with tenure for governors-outsiders and these outcomes decrease with tenure for governors-insiders.

The congestion total-factor energy efficiency of regions in Taiwan

This study applies the congestion total-factor energy efficiency model to analyze the energy efficiency of 20 administrative regions in Taiwan from 2004 to 2013, by studying four kinds of energies: amount of electricity for manufacturing industry use, amount of electricity consumed for lighting, amount of gasoline sales, and amount of diesel sales. The main findings are that: (i) in terms of these four energies, only Taipei City, Taitung County, and Penghu County among the 20 administrative regions exhibit no phenomenon of energy input congestion during the whole data period; (ii) more attention should be put on energy efficiency improvement in diesel use than on electricity for manufacturing industry use, electricity consumption for lighting, and gasoline usage; and (iii) the energy efficiency outcomes in Taiwan correlate to the country's regional development features such as its tourist regions, including Taitung County and Penghu County, which have nature, green, and environmental protection characteristics.

Defining sustainable universities following public opinion formation process

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to define the sustainable university in Turkey, by considering perspectives of various stakeholders such as experts, intellectual, public, political parties and media using public opinion formation analysis. The paper aims to re-define the “sustainable university” with all dimensions including environmental, economic and social factors in Turkey.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, the model of shaping the policy agenda and public opinion formation by certain groups, presented by Papadakis (1996), was used to determine the main characteristics of a sustainable university. Based on this model, the researchers collected data from intellectuals, experts, political parties, media and public simultaneously. Focus groups and archival search were used.FindingsThe results of the public opinion formation process presented that the definition of sustainable universities in Turkey includes the economic, ecological and social aspects and a holistic view of different groups. The findings of the study presented that the definition of sustainable universities in Turkey has many facets. Different groups in the public opinion formation process share almost similar views, though these points are usually mentioned under different headings. Thus, nearly each respondent in the public opinion formation process discusses the concept of being a “trade mark” as a university.Research limitations/implicationsThe research may lack generalizability, as it takes place in Turkey, which is a non-Western country.Practical implicationsThe research sheds a light for universities, which are the major cornerstones of higher education, especially in the area of sustainability and sustainable development. Also, universities have a great impact in regional development, which stresses once again the importance of sustainability in higher education. They should modify their education programs and curricula in accordance with sustainability. University–industry cooperation should be provided. They should manage to become a trademark.Social implicationsUniversities being the major cornerstones of higher education play a vital role in regional development of countries; therefore, their sustainable development should be well handled to enable regional development.Originality/valueThe universities are the major actors which should pursue sustainability, as they affect society. The studies on sustainability and universities have been generally grouped under two main subjects in the literature. First group of studies highlights the support of universities for sustainability of corporations, whereas other studies stress the importance of becoming a sustainable university. There are not many studies on this subject which considers the public opinion formation process throughout the literature; therefore, this study contributes to the literature with this aspect. The study takes place in Izmir, Turkey, which is a non-Western country. Most of the studies on this subject take place in Western countries, so as the study is deployed in a non-Western country, it reflects a different point of view.

Human capital and exploit opportunity among Malaysia rural entrepreneurs: The mediating effect of opportunity discovery

Rural entrepreneurship plays significant role in a country regional development and become the main agent of lagging economic growth for many developing countries. Despite the significant contribution made by the entrepreneurs, until now limited of previous study that focused on rural entrepreneurs especially on the aspect of human capital and opportunity entrepreneurship. This study is therefore aims to explore the rural opportunity entrepreneurship in Malaysia. Specifically, this study try to determine the relationship between entrepreneurial human capital on exploit entrepreneurial opportunity for Malaysia rural entrepreneurs and the mediating effect of opportunity discovery on the relationship. To achieve the objectives this study relied on quantitative survey involved 345 respondents (rural entrepreneurs). Data captured from the survey were analysed using SPSS Version 20 for descriptive analysis and Smart PLS Version 2.0 Software for inferential analysis to explore the variables are related. The survey revealed that at the significant level 0.01 human capital has a positive relationship with exploit entrepreneurial opportunity and direct effect to entrepreneurial opportunity discovery. The entrepreneurial opportunity discovery is partially mediate between human capital and exploit entrepreneurial opportunity. The study concludes that human capital plays an important role or main element that contributes to the new venture creation in rural entrepreneurship. Hence, in the opportunity entrepreneurship rural entrepreneurs must consider entrepreneurial opportunity discovery aspects. This study makes a significant contribution to the research on rural entrepreneurship field, especially in relations to rural opportunity entrepreneurship.

INTEREST GROUPS AND SOCIAL ECONOMY

Impact of the action undertaken by the interest groups for the social economic prosperity is still the topic of the longterm scientific debates. According to some researchers the interest groups contribute to the boost of the society’s prosperity, while according to the others monopolistic structures tend to emerge due to the interest groups. Taking into consideration the scientific academic approach development of the uniform opinion on the role of the interest groups as the connecting element between economy and politics would be of high importance. The present opinion would facilitate process of the society’s judgment about the outcomes of the action undertaken by the groups. During the recent 40 years the influence made by interest groups on the country’s social economic environment has been in the focus of attention. In the 6-th decade the formation of economic interest groups was analysed, in the eighth decade rent seeking theories made their influence. Rent seeking theory includes the analysis of interest representation effectiveness and resource distribution. In the 9 th decade research included the influence of interest groups on nation growth and recession. Later research embraced the influence of interest groups on the regional development of countries as well as on the policy of European environmental safety and on the economic growth of developing countries. Evaluation of the efficiency of the action undertaken by the interest groups is of great importance for development of the uniform opinion, that in turn calls for objective evaluation of the profits received due to and costs spent by the entities for participation in the shared action. Papers of some economists provide analysis of both the interests groups and impact they make for the entities that make and implement strategic decisions. On the other hand, the lack of the analysis of the efficiency of the action undertaken by the interest groups with respect to the social economics, when evaluating the profits received from the shared action and the costs related to that with respect to the economic entity, as well as a shortage of the original patterns to demonstrate efficiency of the shared action undertaken by the interest groups are obvious. Taking into consideration diversity of the forms of the action undertaken by the interest groups and after having completed the comparative analysis of the concepts on the interest groups, the below definition of the concept on the interest group is provided: the interest group is a union that joins different subjects seeking for the benefit, and that represents their interests as well as provides members of the group with the products of selective encouragement. The costs incurred during the shared action is covered by the interest groups using the members’ fees collected and other purpose-driven contributions as well as means independently earned in a way of selling the products of selective encouragement. Membership in the interest group is based on the principle of voluntariness.

Исследование экономики регионов России: эконометрический подход

It is proposed a research program related to studying of economic development
 of regions and country as a whole. It is suggested to build econometric models
 of influence of factors which are able to affect indicators characterizing the
 economic development. For this purpose it is proposed to use cross-sectional
 data of the Federal State Statistics Service of Russia by region .On the basis of
 obtained models it is possible to get partial regression equations. From these
 equations it has been obtained equations for partial coefficients of influence of
 studied factors by region. A use of described techniques has allowed estimate
 an influence of capital-labor ratio, human capital, new technologies and private
 property institution on labor efficiency in Russia. A higher education expansion
 influence on salary level in Russia has been estimated. Estimates of private
 property expansion influence on labor efficiency in the regions of Russia have
 been obtained. Using these estimates it is possible to accomplish a costeffectiveness
 analysis related to management of factors affecting the economic
 development of country regions.

Prospects for Sino-Indian Trans-border Economic Linkages

The political thrust given to integrating southwestern China with the extended regional eco-nomy marks the latest shift in the country's regional development policy. China's develop-mental priorities have swung from a focus on inland development during the Mao years to Deng's coast-led strategy and most recently back again to the inland provinces under the Western development programme. Noteworthy in this context are the imperatives driving China's sub-regional initiatives in the region, particularly the Kunming Initiative, which seeks to strengthen regional economic cooperation between the contiguous regions of India's Northeast, China's Southwest, Myanmar and Bangladesh. There is clearly a strong case for fully exploring potential for trans-border linkages in trade, tourism and transport within this quadrant. Further, China's southern thrust coincides with India's own domestic impera-tive of strengthening the external orientation of the Northeast. These developments present opportunities as also challenges to India while it is willing to engage China bilaterally but not sub-regionally.

Highways and Regional Realignment in an Economic Frontier: The Case of Hungary

A U.S. geographer analyzes the relationship between Hungarian highway accessibility and regional development from the demise of Communism to macro-economic stability of the late 1990s. Nodal accessibility is correlated with economic variables using early and late transition-era data. Transportation facilities, particularly controlled-access highways, are key components of European Union (EU) expansion strategy; therefore the EU provides much of the infrastructure financing in central and eastern European countries. The study analyzes compatibility of the EU's international agenda with goals of national growth and regional development in countries on the economic frontier of post-industrial Europe. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: L91, O18, R40. 4 figures, 5 tables, 64 references.

Luxury Tourism and Regional Economic Development in Mexico

This article argues that little attention has been paid to the territorial and socioeconomic impact of consumer–service globalization on Third World countries. It specifically examines the economic role of tourism in Mexico and its limited effect on the country's regional development. Despite governmental support in order to enhance economic growth, currency receipts, and employment, tourism contributes less than 5 percent to the gross domestic product, and the majority of tourism–related jobs are precarious and low–skilled. The promotion of luxury resorts in coastal areas has led to highly concentrated and fast–growing enclaves of mainly foreign investment. However, this strategy has failed to stimulate productive links between tourist centers and their hinterlands and has led to large–scale urbanization characterized by a considerable lack of basic services for the resident population.