How product market reforms lubricate shock adjustment in the euro area

The essay sets out what product market reforms are, as well as the main measurement issues, followed by an analysis of how such reforms lubricate adjustment processes in EMU, in particular via the “competitiveness channelâ€. Attention is paid to the short-run and longer-run aspects of adjustments to shocks and the scant empirical evidence on the role of product markets in adjustment is discussed.  The essay investigates empirically the need for product market reforms in the euro area, based on the KLEMS data set. Two questions are addressed: how likely is it for euro area countries to experience an asymmetric shock, and what empirical evidence can we deduce about eurozone countries' capacities to adjust to asymmetric shocks? The approach is disaggregated and highlights (especially services) sectors with relatively greater adjustment problems.  The record of product market reforms of the euro area countries is briefly summarized. The paper shows that substantial reforms have been undertaken, yet, there is considerable evidence that the eurozone, and in particular with respect to services, could significantly intensify product market reforms and thereby augment the net benefits of having a single currency. Subsequently, product market reforms are placed in the context of wider reforms efforts (complementarities e.g. with labour and financial markets) as well as in the two-tier institutional structure of the euro area and the EU at large (given cross-border spillovers and the case for coordination). Designing reforms in this euro area context is briefly discussed. A final section with five “policy messages†concludes the essay.adjustment, product market reforms, asymmetric shocks, Pelkmans, Acedo Montoya, Maravalle

The Dynamics of Influencer Marketing

YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Vimeo, Twitter, etc. have their own logics, dynamics and different audiences. This book analyses how the users of these social networks, especially those of YouTube and Instagram, become content prescribers, opinion leaders and, by extension, people of influence. What influence capacity do they have? Why are intimate or personal aspects shared with unknown people? Who are the big beneficiaries? How much is vanity and how much altruism? What business is behind these social networks? What dangers do they contain? What volume of business can we estimate they generate? How are they transforming cultural industries? What legislation is applied? How does the legislation affect these communications when they are sponsored? Is the privacy of users violated with the data obtained? Who is the owner of the content? Are they to blame for ""fake news""? In this changing, challenging and intriguing environment, The Dynamics of Influencer Marketing discusses all of these questions and more. Considering this complexity from different perspectives: technological, economic, sociological, psychological and legal, the book combines the visions of several experts from the academic world and provides a structured framework with a wide approach to understand the new era of influencing, including the dark sides of it. It will be of direct interest to marketing scholars and researchers while also relevant to many other areas affected by the phenomenon of social media influence

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Interacting with Smart Objects 2015

These are the Proceedings of the 4th IUI Workshop on Interacting with Smart Objects. Objects that we use in our everyday life are expanding their restricted interaction capabilities and provide functionalities that go far beyond their original functionality. They feature computing capabilities and are thus able to capture information, process and store it and interact with their environments, turning them into smart objects

Interim research assessment 2003-2005 - Computer Science

This report primarily serves as a source of information for the 2007 Interim Research Assessment Committee for Computer Science at the three technical universities in the Netherlands. The report also provides information for others interested in our research activities

An institutional development policy framework for growth in the non-hydrocarbon sectors of Oman : a systems approach

Collective action involving public and private actors (e.g. public institutions, foreign and domestic investors) faces difficulties even in developed economies, let alone in economies that are still developing their institutions. Especially for the latter this lack of collective action in bringing public and private actors together in order to enhance policy making processes for viable and better policymaking performance is paramount. Oman is one such economy which, like many other economies endowed with natural resources, is trying to grow its non-hydrocarbon (non-oil-gas) sectors. Although there is a growing literature concerning the use of systems approaches in enhancing public and private sector governance there is a gap concerning the availability of such approaches in their simultaneous policymaking process; especially in developing economies and Oman in particular.Accordingly, the aim and objectives for this thesis were laid down to develop a methodological framework, based on a systems approach (viz. the viable system model-VSM) that could aid policymaking processes in Oman, respective institutional developments (ID), and ultimately growth in the non-hydrocarbon sectors. Developing in particular the kind of institutions required to foster collective action between the relevant public institution representatives (PIRs), foreign, and domestic investors.To investigate the above empirically 30 face-to-face interviews were held with foreign and domestic investors; whereas two focus groups were held with a 14 government institutional representatives. Their results are used to demonstrate the operation of the aforementioned methodological framework.This thesis is thus making an original and substantial contribution to the body of knowledge concerned with ID, collective public-private action, through the successful use of VSM. Filling thus the aforementioned gap identified in the literature, within the Omani context