Fiscal Costs of Delaying the EMU Accession - Medium Term Fiscal Projection for Selected New EU Members

The paper presents series of medium term economic simulations, evaluating fiscal costs of different EMU entry scenarios for six of the new EU members. Projections cover period of 2004- 2012 and use basic macroeconomic equations in an attempt to assess the value of public debtrelated costs that may occur in each of the countries, under specific assumptions. Four series of simulations were run, assuming two different EMU entry dates (2007 and 2012), and two growth scenarios (2% and 5% of real GDP growth p.a.). For each growth variant the early and late accession projections are compared in order to evaluate the net fiscal effect of delaying the EMU entry. Those effects depend on country’s starting position and are quite significant for most of the countries in question. Poland and Hungary are the biggest winners of the earlier EMU entry simulations, both saving equivalence of 18-20% of their 2004 GDP levels (as compared to results of the late accession scenarios). It appears that the GDP growth rate does not seriously affect the volume of the gains, which are rather generated by the faster interest rate reduction and tighter fiscal policies in case of the earlier EMU accession.fiscal projection, public debt, EMU accession, CEE countries

The External Public Debt of Baltic and Selected CIS countries in Years 1992-1997

The aim of this paper is to describe the dynamics and structure of public external liabilities in Baltic countries: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and in selected countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, Russian Federation, Ukraine. The main finding of the paper is that although the present level of external public debt of these countries is not large, its growth rate has been very high. The most rapid growth over the whole 1992-1996 period, in percentage points, was observed in Kyrgyz Republic and Moldova: their debt to GDP ratios have increased by over 40 percentage points. Such rate of growth is very high, much higher then the average growth rate of the total public liabilities in Western OECD countries and clearly unsustainable in the long run. The debt to GDP ratio increase was also quite large - above 10 percentage points - in Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Lithuania. Although it is comparable to the average growth of public liabilities of Western OECD countries, it seems to be excessive in case of countries, that have unsophisticated and much less developed financial markets as well as much lower international credibility. The main cause of the rapid increase in public borrowing of the selected countries have been large and persistent fiscal imbalances. A further prolonged rapid increase of government debt is unsustainable . even the present debt service requirements are putting a substantial pressure on the budget. Therefore it is crucial, that the authorities pursue in the effort to curb fiscal imbalances.external public debt, Baltic countries, CIS countries

Public Debt Structure and Dynamics in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania

This paper attempts to consider in a systematic way the developments of the public debt in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania during the 1990.s. After a brief outline of the public indebtedness of the four countries before 1989, it examines the public debt dynamics after 1990 and tries to capture its main determinants: to what extend the changes in the public debt ratio to GDP were caused by fiscal policy as opposed to other factors, like the difference between the growth rate of the economy and the effective interest rate on debt. The structure of the public debt is shown and main changes are summarised. The paper also tries to assess the implications of the countries. indebtedness to their further fiscal sustainability.Public Debt Structure, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania

Short-run Macroeconomic Effects of Discretionary Fiscal Policy Changes

The standard Keynesian view of fiscal policy holds that in short-run fiscal adjustments (expansions) reduce (stimulate) aggregate demand and due to sticky wages, prices or other market rigidities, these demand shifts affect the factors of production and output. These conventional predictions have been challenged by the observation of episodes of perverse effects of fiscal policy – so called “non-Keynesian” effects. This paper reassess the short-run consequences of fiscal policy. We provide evidence that consumption reacts in a non-linear fashion to discretionary fiscal policy changes. The results of our estimations show that households tend to behave in non-Keynesian manner when the fiscal situation of a country is bad, i.e. when public debt or fiscal deficit is large, while Keynesian behavior dominates, when the fiscal situation is sound. Our results suggest that, similarly to OECD countries, consumption function does not react in linear fashion to changes in fiscal policy also in transition economies.fiscal policy, Non-Keynesian effects

Fiscal Challenges Facing the EU New Member States

Since May 1, 2004 the European Union's new member states (NMS) have been subject to the same fiscal rules established in the Treaty on the European Union and Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) as the old member states (OMS). The NMS entered the EU running structural fiscal deficits. More than half of them (including the biggest ones) breach the Treaty's actual deficit limits and are already the subject of the excessive deficit procedure. A high rate of economic growth makes the fiscal situation of most NMS reasonably manageable in the short- to medium-term, but the long term fiscal outlook, mostly connected with the consequences of an aging population, is dramatic. The NMS should therefore prepare themselves now to be able to meet this challenge over the next decades (the same goes for the OMS). In addition, the perspective of EMU entry should provide the NMS with a strong incentive to reduce their deficits now because waiting (and postponing both fiscal adjustment and the adoption of the Euro) will only result in higher cumulative fiscal costs. The additional financial burden connected with EU accession cannot serve as excuse in delaying fiscal consolidation. In spite of the growing debate on the relevance of the EU's fiscal surveillance rules and not excluding the possibility of their limited modification, they should not be relaxed. Frequent breaching of these rules cannot serve as an argument that they are irrelevant from the point of view of safeguarding fiscal prudence and avoiding fiscal 'free riding' under the umbrella of monetary union. Any version of fiscal surveillance rules (either current or modified) must be solidly anchored in an effective enforcement mechanism (including automatic sanctions) at the EU and national levels.European Union, Economic and Monetary Union, Stability and Growth Pact, new member states, Central and Eastern Europe, fiscal policy, EMU enlargement

Frame of Mind : Self Industry in Performance

Przedmiotem refleksji w artykule jest spektakl Teatru A Part pt. Szkice o Ofelii. Do analizy spektaklu wykorzystano figurę suplementu w rozumieniu Jacques’a Derridy oraz związane z nią pojęcie limenu z teorii performance’u. Idea szkicu z definicji wymaga uzupełnienia, które Derrida lokuje na granicy. Tym samym naruszona przez suplement granica zostaje podana w wątpliwość. Niemożność jej ustalenia dotyczy również jaźni, czego przykład stanowią właśnie Szkice… , a ściślej: stanowią one przykład performance’u borderline. Szkice… stawiają bowiem pod znakiem zapytania wszelkie ramy, generując tym samym coraz to nowe „ja”. Nieustannie oscylują między przedstawieniem teatralnym i rytuałem, który prowadzi do transformacji, problematyzują relację podmiot–przedmiot, znaczący–znaczony, duchowy–materialny itd. Co jednak najistotniejsze, Szkice… unieważniają podział na widzów i aktorów; Szkice… to nie dzieło, a wydarzenie sztuki. Dzięki sprzężeniu zwrotnemu, każdy z uczestników ma realny wpływ na ich przebieg. Szkice…, będąc zarazem produktem i producentem jaźni, stanowią estetyczny przykład autopoiesis – nie ma „ja”, a co pozostaje to produkcja „ja”

The eastern horizon

Countries and regions in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have gone through several challenges. They went through totalitarian and authoritarian communist regimes, gained independence at the end of the 19th century, faced new economic and political challenges and rejoined Europe in a perspective of mutual development. As different as they may be, despite recent populist movements, the CEE countries have much in common and regional policies can help the “forgotten places” to explore their opportunities, supporting democracy, cohesion, and local economies in the European Union. Grzegorz Gorzelak is a professor of economics, specialising in regional and local development policies and strategy building. He has collaborated with the World Bank, the OECD, DG Regio of the European Commission, several agencies of the Polish and Ukrainian governments, as well as regional and local authorities. This is the fourteenth essay in the Big Ideas series created by the European Investment Bank

Lifestyle and Health

Gorzelak Martyna, Pierzak Monika. Lifestyle and Health. Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2017;7(11):268-280. eISSN 2391-8306. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1069093 http://ojs.ukw.edu.pl/index.php/johs/article/view/5074 https://pbn.nauka.gov.pl/sedno-webapp/works/839416 The journal has had 7 points in Ministry of Science and Higher Education parametric evaluation. Part B item 1223 (26.01.2017). 1223 Journal of Education, Health and Sport eISSN 2391-8306 7 © The Authors 2017; This article is published with open access at Licensee Open Journal Systems of Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Poland Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper. Received: 20.10.2017. Revised: 21.10.2017. Accepted: 30.11.2017. Lifestyle and Health Martyna Gorzelak1 Monika Pierzak1,2 1Doctoral field of Health Sciences, Jan Kochanowski University, Faculty of Medicine and Health Science 1,2Jan Kochanowski University, Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, Department of Surgery and Nursing Address for correspondence: Martyna Gorzelak Podewsie 8 26-070 Lopuszno tel. 600-442-448 e-mail: [email protected] ORCID orcid.org/0000-0003-0532-1690 Monika Pierzak e-mail:[email protected] tel.530-169-219 ORCID orcid.org/0000-0002-4367-4465 Abstract Admission: The World Health Organization defines lifestyle as a way of being associated with the interaction of man and the conditions, in which he lives, as well as individual behavior patterns, which have been determined by socio-cultural factors and personal characteristics charakter2. Aim: Aim of the study is to identify the impact of lifestyle on human health in every stage of life. Lifestyle is defined as all the characteristics of the behavior of a particular individual or community. It refers to behavior occurring in everyday life and those routinely repeated. The lifestyle behaviors include inter alia: attitudes to work and use, leisure, nutrition, clothing and relationships. Summary: Healthy lifestyle developed among people of all ages, will transfer into later adult health, their children, and the elderly. A healthy lifestyle improves the quality of life in every stage. Keywords: health, health behaviors, lifestyle Streszczenie Wprowadzenie: Światowa Organizacja Zdrowia styl życia definiuje jako sposób bycia związany ze wzajemnym oddziaływaniem człowieka i warunków w jakich żyje, a także indywidualnych wzorców zachowania, które zostały określone przez czynniki społeczno-kulturowe i osobiste cechy charakter2. Cel: Celem pracy jest wskazanie wpływu stylu życia na stan zdrowia człowieka w każdym okresie życia. Styl życia definiowany jest jako całokształt cech charakterystycznych dla zachowania się danej jednostki lub zbiorowości. Dotyczy zachowań występujących w życiu codziennym oraz tych powtarzanych rutynowo. W skład stylu życia wchodzą zachowania dotyczące między innymi: postawy wobec pracy, sposobu spędzania wolnego czasu, żywienia, ubioru oraz stosunków międzyludzkich. Podsumowanie: Zdrowy styl życia wypracowany wśród osób w każdym wieku, przełoży się na zdrowie późniejszych dorosłych, ich dzieci oraz osób starszych. Zdrowy styl życia wpływa na poprawę jakości życia w każdym jego etapie. Słowa kluczowe: zdrowie, zachowania zdrowotne, styl życi

Comment on „palaeoenvironmental control on distribution of crinoids in the bathonian (middle jurassic) of England and France” by Aaron W. Hunter and Charlie J. Underwood

Aaron W. Hunter and Charlie J. Underwood in their article published in Acta Palaeontologica Polonica (Hunter and Underwood 2009) present some interesting results regarding facies control on the distribution of certain crinoids in the Bathonian of England and France. This is an important contribution, but we feel necessary to comment on some issues raised in their paper

Reassessing the improbability of a muscular crinoid stem

Muscular articulations in modern stalked crinoids are only present in the arms. Although it has been suggested that certain coiled-stemmed fossil taxa may have been functionally adapted to utilize muscles, evidence supporting this interpretation is lacking. Here, we use cathodoluminescence and SEM to reveal the skeletal microstructure of the enigmatic coiled-stemmed taxon Ammonicrinus (Flexibilia). Based on the well-established link between skeletal microstructure and the nature of infilling soft tissues in modern echinoderms, we reconstructed the palaeoanatomy of the Middle Devonian ammonicrinids. We show that their median columnals with elongated lateral columnal enclosure extensions (LCEE) have stereom microstructure unexpectedly resembling that in the crinoid muscular arm plates. In particular, large ligamentary facets, that are present on each side of a transverse ridge, are mainly comprised of fine galleried stereom that is indicative of the mutable collagenous tissues. In contrast, fine labyrinthic stereom, commonly associated with muscles, is situated in the periphery on each side of the surface of elongated LCEE. Our findings thus strongly suggest that the muscles may have also been present in the stem of ammonicrinids. These results reassess the previous hypotheses about evolution of muscles in crinoids and provide new insights into the mode of life of Ammonicrinus