Agricultural and Rural Labour Markets in the EU Candidate Countries of Croatia, Former Yugoslav of Macedonia and Turkey

This paper provides an overview and comparison of labour markets in agricultural and rural areas in the three candidate countries for the EU membership: Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey. We analyse and compare the labour market structures and the factors driving them. The analyses are based on the available cross-section and time-series data on agricultural labour structures and living conditions in rural areas. Considerable differences are found among the candidate countries in the importance of the agricultural labour force, between rural and urban labour, and in poverty and living conditions in rural areas. Agricultural and rural labour market structures are the result of demographic and education processes, in addition to labour flows between agricultural and non-agricultural activities, from rural areas to urban ones and migration flows abroad. Declines in the agricultural labour force and rural population are foreseen for each of the candidate countries, but with significant variations between them. Showing different patterns over time, labour market developments in the sector and rural areas have been shaped by the overall labour market institutions, conditions and other factors in each country, such as the legal basis, educational attainment and migration flows, as well as the presence of non-agricultural activities in rural areas.

Agricultural and Rural Capital Markets in the EU Candidate Countries: Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey

This paper analyses agricultural and rural capital factor markets in the three European Union candidate countries: Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic (FYR) of Macedonia and Turkey. Aggregate capital market indicators and their dynamics, and factors driving agricultural and rural capital markets are analysed and compared in these countries. In general, agricultural and rural capital markets show similarities with general capital market developments, but agricultural and rural capital markets are facing specific credit constraints related to agricultural assets and rural fixed asset specificities, which constrain their mortgages and collateral use. Credit market imperfections have limited access to the investment credits necessary for the restructuring of small-scale individual farms. Government transfers are used to differing extents in the candidate countries, but generally tend to increase over time. Remittances and donor funds have also played an important role in agricultural and rural economy investments.

Comparison of a multiple regresion model and a two-regime model of a vertical refraction

Accuracy of the trigonometric measurement of elevations is affected by the systematic influence of a vertical refraction, which is caused by changes of meteorological parameters. Submitted paper deals with a modelling of the impact of the vertical refraction using selected meteorological parameters. At first, a concise derivation of a physical principle of the vertical refraction is given. Then, a multiple regression model and its extension into a form of two-regime model are given. Division into two regimes provides a threshold function, which expresses the dependence of the original explanatory variables. Different types of the threshold function are considered and finally a comparison of the quality of the proposed models and application of a chosen model on the results of repeated trigonometric measurements is given.Presnosť trigonometrického merania prevýšení ovplyvňuje vplyv vertikálnej refrakcie, ktorá je spôsobená zmenami meteorologických prvkov. Príspevok sa zaoberá modelovaním vplyvu vertikálnej refrakcie pomocou vybraných meteorologických prvkov. Úvodná časť sa venuje stručnému odvodeniu fyzikálneho princípu vertikálnej refrakcie. Následne je definovaný viacnásobný regresný model vertikálnej refrakcie, ktorý je ďalej rozvinutý do dvojrežimového modelu. Rozdelenie do dvoch režimov zabezpečuje prahová funkcia, ktorá vyjadruje závislosť pôvodných vysvetľujúcich premenných. Rôzne typy prahovej funkcie sú uvážené a následne porovnanie navrhnutých modelov ako aj použitie vybraného modelu je uvedené

Small Businesses and the Shadow Economy

This paper investigates causalities between small businesses and the shadow economy in ten New Member States of the European Union in the years 2000–2005. The transition from a centrally planned to a market economy, with deregulation and privatization of economic activities, has yielded new opportunities for small businesses, new entrepreneurial ideas, and new income sources in these countries. Yet, rigid legislation, high tax wedges, and transaction costs of government institutions have increased the incentives for people to take their work into the shadow economy. To account for the simultaneity and latent variable effects we apply the instrumental variables econometric approach to study the association between small business and the shadow economy. We find that these variables are (weakly) negatively correlated, implying that the macroeconomic environment and institutional framework have improved, encouraging entrepreneurial activities while somewhat impeding the further development of the shadow economy.small business, self-employment, shadow economy

Stationarity of time series and the problem of spurious regression

The goal of this paper was to introduce some general issues of non-stationarity for practitioners, students and beginning researchers. Using elementary techniques we examined the effect of non-stationary data on the results of regression analysis. We further shoved the effect of larger sample sizes on the spuriousness of regressions and we also examined the well known “rule of thumb” of how to identify spurious regressions. We also demonstrated the problem of spurious regression on a practical example, using closing prices of stock market indices from CEE markets.stationarity, time series data, various unit root tests, spurious regression, the R-squared and the Durbin – Watson statistics “rule of thumb”, CEE stock markets