The Impact of Regional Support on Growth and Convergence in the European Union

regional, growth, convergence, European Union

The impact of regional support on growth and convergence in the European Union

The tendency towards regional convergence that characterised most of the member states of the European Union from the 1950s onwards came to an end around 1980. To the extent that there has been any tendency towards convergence since then, it has been at the country level, related to the catch up by the relatively poor Southern countries that joined the EU during the 1980s. Within countries, however, there has at best been a standstill. A particularly challenging question is to what extent regional support from the EU, designed to help catch-up by relatively poor regions, has had a real impact on this situation. The EU Structural Funds were reformed in 1989. The objective was to make the funds more effective in reducing the gap between advanced and less-advanced regions and strengthening economic and social cohesion in the European Community. Since 1989 the financial resources allocated to these funds have doubled in real terms. The evidence presented in this paper suggests that this reform may have succeeded in improving EU regional policy so that it becomes more effective in its aim, to generate growth in poorer regions and contribute to greater equality in productivity and income in Europe. However it needs to be emphasised that there also are diverging factors at play. For instance, the estimates obtained for the empirical growth model used in this paper suggest that growth in poorer regions is greatly hampered by an unfavourable industrial structure (dominated by agriculture) and lack of R&D. Hence, to get the maximum out of the support, this needs to be accompanied by policies that facilitate structural change and increase R&D capabilities in poorer regions. Such policies must necessarily be of a long-term nature

The impact of regional support on growth and convergence in the European Union

The tendency towards regional convergence that characterised most of the member states of the European Union from the 1950s onwards came to an end around 1980. To the extent that there has been any tendency towards convergence since then, it has been at the country level, related to the catch up by the relatively poor Southern countries that joined the EU during the 1980s. Within countries, however, there has at best been a standstill. A particularly challenging question is to what extent regional support from the EU, designed to help catch-up by relatively poor regions, has had a real impact on this situation. The EU Structural Funds were reformed in 1989. The objective was to make the funds more effective in reducing the gap between advanced and less-advanced regions and strengthening economic and social cohesion in the European Community. Since 1989 the financial resources allocated to these funds have doubled in real terms. The evidence presented in this paper suggests that this reform may have succeeded in improving EU regional policy so that it becomes more effective in its aim, to generate growth in poorer regions and contribute to greater equality in productivity and income in Europe. However it needs to be emphasised that there also are diverging factors at play. For instance, the estimates obtained for the empirical growth model used in this paper suggest that growth in poorer regions is greatly hampered by an unfavourable industrial structure (dominated by agriculture) and lack of R&D. Hence, to get the maximum out of the support, this needs to be accompanied by policies that facilitate structural change and increase R&D capabilities in poorer regions. Such policies must necessarily be of a long-term nature

Prediction of knot size in uneven-sized Norway spruce stands in Sweden

The size of knots is negatively correlated with bending strength in sawn timber and it is therefore used as a quality grading criterion in national roundwood grading standards. Some standards even use the size of the largest knot as the sole estimate for individual log knottiness. The size of knots is determined by crown horizontal extension, which in turn is dependent on the impact of competing trees. Thus, with knot size models that are competition-dependent, roundwood quality due to knottiness can be simulated for different management alternatives. However, these types of models, calibrated on uneven-sized Norway spruce in Fennoscandia, are currently not available. Therefore, the objective of this study is to develop a competition-dependent model framework for prediction of the largest knot size per stem height section, for application within uneven-sized Norway spruce stands. Data from terrestrial laser scanning of an uneven-sized stand in southern Sweden are used to calibrate a modular prediction framework, consisting of interlinked allometric statistical models. Alternative framework sub-models are presented and the preferred model combination can be selected according to context and available input data. The flexible modular format enables further development of separate sub-components for adaptation to growing conditions not covered by the current calibration range

Care of the old—A matter of ethics, organization and relationships

The world stands on the threshold of a demographic revolution called global ageing. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the population aged 60 and over is expected to increase from today's 650 million to an estimated 2 billion by 2050. Alongside demographic changes, dramatic changes can also be observed in older people's services. The shift has resulted in reduced government spending on caring for ill and frail older people in health care. Today, many governments have developed strategies to keep older people living well in their private home for as long as possible and have replaced long-term care institutions with residential homes. The aim of this study was to illuminate the meaning of caring for older people as experienced by health care students and professionals working in this field. Interviews were carried out with 17 women and one man, aged 21–65 years; six were Registered Nurses (RN), six were Enrolled Nurses (EN) and six were nursing students. The interviews were analyzed with a phenomenological hermeneutical approach and provided three themes and eight sub-themes: Ethical moral self with sub-themes “meeting the needs of the old”, “pliability towards the old”, and “difficulties in meeting aggressiveness”; Organizational and co-workers ethical moral actions with sub-themes, “co-workers who are offensive”, and “supportive and non-supportive leaders”: The relation with the old persons and their relatives with sub-themes “fellowship and closeness in the relation”, “uncertainty and fear in the relation”, and, “demands from the older persons’ close relatives”

The caregiver perspective: an assistive AAL platform

The Ambient Assisted Living area has spawned several projects that aim to help the user on his/her daily activities. The AAL4ALL (ambient assisted living for all) project aims to develop a unified ecosystem using fully compatible devices and services. The UserAccess platform is part of the AAL4ALL and has as a goal to provide assistance to a type of actor that is commonly forgotten in the Ambient Assisted Living area, the caregiver. This paper presents the archi-tecture, implementation, and interfaces, along with a brief analysis of caregiver’s needs and work related issues.Project "AAL4ALL", co-financed by the European Community Fund FEDER, through COMPETE - Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade (POFC). Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Lisbon, Portugal, through Project PEst-C/CTM/LA0025/2013 and the project PEst-OE/EEI/UI0752/2014. Project CAMCoF - Context-aware Multimodal Communication Framework funded by ERDF -European Regional Development Fund through the COMPETE Programme (operational programme for competitiveness) and by National Funds through the FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-028980

Innovation as a Nonlinear Process, the Scientometric Perspective, and the Specification of an "Innovation Opportunities Explorer"

The process of innovation follows non-linear patterns across the domains of science, technology, and the economy. Novel bibliometric mapping techniques can be used to investigate and represent distinctive, but complementary perspectives on the innovation process (e.g., "demand" and "supply") as well as the interactions among these perspectives. The perspectives can be represented as "continents" of data related to varying extents over time. For example, the different branches of Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) in the Medline database provide sources of such perspectives (e.g., "Diseases" versus "Drugs and Chemicals"). The multiple-perspective approach enables us to reconstruct facets of the dynamics of innovation, in terms of selection mechanisms shaping localizable trajectories and/or resulting in more globalized regimes. By expanding the data with patents and scholarly publications, we demonstrate the use of this multi-perspective approach in the case of RNA Interference (RNAi). The possibility to develop an "Innovation Opportunities Explorer" is specified.Comment: Technology Analysis and Strategic Management (forthcoming in 2013