Panel data analysis of internal conflict and income inequality

The study determines how worsening internal and external conflict affects income inequality. The paper accounts for contributing variables and analyzes panel data in an unbalanced panel of 106 countries from 1988 to 2018—the panel data model groups by development status. The econometric model uses Driscoll and Kraay standard errors to account for heteroscedasticity, cross-sectional dependence, and autocorrelation. Worsening internal conflict increases income inequality in developing countries but not in developed countries. Worsening of internal conflict by one standard deviation increases income inequality by 0.068 in developing counties. External conflict does not noticeably affect income inequality in developed or developing panels.&nbsp

Territorial diagnostics and citizen perception of municipal public management, towards an efficient reform of Local Administration

Spain has a population distribution dispersed in small population centres where 60% of municipalities have less than 1,000 inhabitants. This situation generates a financial and functional incapacity to guarantee the successful and efficient provision of local public services. In order to fulfil its competences and improve services, a territorial diagnosis of the investigated area is necessary to adapt the size and structure of its administration. However, the social superstructure is reluctant to change the form of administrative action, despite being perceived as slow and bureaucratic by citizens.  For this reason, this work proposes a reform to improve local economic and financial management by redesigning its administrative structure, thus achieving citizen recognition of the advantages of change. The proposal is developed through a computerised reporting model for public decision-making, the result of which is a systematic spatial report of administrative-financial decisions, which optimises decision-making and makes public management more visible

Assessing the fairness of the EU Council qualified majority voting. A voting power critical perspective of the liberal intergovernmentalist accounts

The Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) used by the Council of the European Union developed to a high degree of complexity from one modifying treaty to another, until the latest definition stipulated in the Treaty of Lisbon. This paper analyses this EU intra-institutional voting method using a rational choice approach and emphasizes that there are situations when not even the institutions, as rational actors, can avoid a collective irrational outcome even when they are addressing subjects such as voting power distribution. It also addresses several shortcomings of the Liberal Intergovernmentalist explanatory framework focusing on the insufficiently developed level of credible institutional commitments. The core part of the article consists in investigating several types of EU Council internal decision-making options, proposing how they can be designed to be considered in the same time fair and efficient, and in analysing how close this voting power ideal type configuration is to the current decisional system

Wagner’s hypothesis in Europe: a causality analysis with disaggregated data

This paper examines Wagner hypothesis of the growth of public expenditure alongside the growth of economic activity for a panel of 28 European economies during the 1995-2018 period. The hypothesis is verified using Pesaran (2007) panel unit root and Westerlund (2007) cointegration tests that account for cross-sectional dependence in the series, and three panel causality tests (Toda-Yamamoto, Dumitrescu-Hurlin and Juodis-Karavias-Sarafidis) that are suitable for mixed order of series’ integration, heterogeneous balanced panels and cases of limited evidence of cointegration. The empirical results suggested that expenditure and output variables were non-stationary in levels and stationary in the first differences; the cointegration among the variables was present; the causality was principally uni-directional (from output to public expenditure), in line with Wagner’s hypothesis, or bi-directional; the causality from public expenditure to output along Keynesian lines was limited

Determinants of bilateral current account balance between the Eurozone and the United States

Long- and short-run current account balance (CAB) determinants of the nineteen Eurozone (EZ) member states vis-a-vis the United States (US) are examined. Particularly, the competitiveness of the EZ vs the US, the relationship between the current account deficit and the budget deficit (twin deficit), and other factors determining the current account balance are studied. Quarterly data was used in a sample of the nineteen EZ member states with the US as a trading partner over the period 2008 - 2018. It is found that the CAB in the long run has a positive relationship with the real interest rate, real exchange rate, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, and exchange rate volatility, but a negative relationship with the fiscal balance. In the short run, it is notable that only the real exchange rate affects the current account balance. Finally, policy implications are discussed regarding the determinants of the current account

The explanatory power of expenses in the performance of eurozone mutual funds

We studied the relationship between the mutual fund’s expenses and their profitability, as well as their ability to predict future performance. We used regressions in panel data with a sample of equity mutual funds of the eurozone area from 2003 to 2014. We concluded that expenses are an important determinant of performance in the eurozone and we show evidence that there is, in the short-term, a negative relationship between the profitability of the year and the level of expenses of the fund. Furthermore, there is also a relationship between the profitability of mutual funds with their level of expenses after one and three years. On the other hand, by applying the quantile regression, it seems clear that the funds with the highest returns have a positive relationship with the level of expenses

The impact of gender inequality on economic growth: an explanatory sequential mixed methods study of female labour participation in the civil service

Gender inequality is recognised as an impediment to economic growth and development. In Nigeria, several policies have been enacted to eliminate gender inequality. However, studies show that women are grossly marginalised, exploited, and discriminated against in their socioeconomic life. This paper examines the impact of gender inequality and female labour participation in the Nigerian civil service on the economic growth of Nigeria using mix-methods. First, an estimation of the impact of gender inequality on economic growth using panel data regression, followed by content- and consistency-based analysis that examines the factors responsible for gender inequality and discrimination issues women experience in the Nigerian civil service using content- and consistency-based analysis. The findings suggest that gender inequality negatively impacts economic growth and distorts the pool of human capital available to the Nigerian civil service and recommends the use of education and outsourcing of some employment functions to eliminate it effectively

Can a corporate well-being programme maintain the strengths of the healthy employee in times of COVID-19 and extensive remote working? An empirical case study.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the increase of working-from-home have drastically changed many aspects of work life, causing very negative effects on employees' physical and psycho-social well-being. Healthy organisations have healthy employees, who have at least five psycho-social strengths of engagement, self-efficacy, resilience, optimism and hope, which are reinforced by physical activity, relating to each other in a positive way and leading to numerous benefits for the company. These strengths are being weakened by the pandemic, and the aim of this empirical study is to analyse through a case study the effects of an updated corporate wellness programme in times of pandemic on these strengths of the healthy employee. The sample was of 251 employees, 91 women and 160 men. The instruments used were the International Physical Activity Questionnaire and the adaptation of the Healthy and Resilient Organization questionnaire. The results indicated that workers with high physical activity, higher seniority, well guided by supervisors, as well as a comprehensive (multi-component) well-being programme, not only physical but also psycho-social, and with the use of different digital tools (an App is not enough), can mitigate these negative effects. Whereas companies are grappling with reduced employee engagement among other harmful psychosocial and physical effects, this case study suggests that a good corporate well-being programme could help mitigate these detrimental consequences for their workforce and be helpful for the company to adapt to this rapidly changing workplace

Corporate governance and organizational commitment: the mediating role of organizational culture

This study seeks to determine the impact of corporate governance dimensions (compliance with the corporate governance code, top management, control environment, transparency and disclosure, rights of shareholders and stakeholders) on the three main types of organizational commitment, (affective, continuance and normative). It also aims at examining the impact of organizational culture, as an intermediate variable, on the relationship between the two above mentioned variables. The sample of this study comprised 152 respondents working at five types of Jordanian companies. The results of the study have confirmed the positive effect of the three corporate governance dimensions (compliance with the corporate governance code, top management, and control environment) on three types of organizational commitment (affective, continuance, and normative). The results also confirmed that there is no significant effect of t transparency and disclosure and the rights of shareholders and stakeholders on affective and normative commitment

Editorial Statement: Ten years of life of EJGE

In this editorial statement, we present a balance of the first decade of life of the European Journal of Government and Economics. We discuss the main difficulties an independent journal faces in maintaining the policy of open access and publication free of charge. We also renew the commitment to the journal's spirit, particularly with the editorial rigour and best practices. Finally, we identify the next steps in the consolidation of EJGE as an academic journal that attempts to keep an integrated approach between the fields of political science and economics