The Development of Legislation on the Social Economy in Continental Western Europe

One of the main instruments for local development is the regulatory legal framework of the so-called Social Economy, a term and concept that is yet to be fully defined. The society’s approach to the generation of wealth encompasses different concepts, movements, approaches, and ways of acting, all of which pose a challenge to the determination of a precise definition. Within the European Union (E.U.), a common legislative base has been developed, although the specific legislation developed by each Member State has been uneven. The legislation may have started from the same common principles, but each country has adopted different legal forms. This work aims to outline the diverse ways of legislating on a concept that is still under construction and within similar legal frameworks, illustrating the lack of harmony between European states that, despite the sharing of borders and having common legislative foundations, distance themselves in the final legislation, a situation that does not benefit the economic unity of entrepreneurs with social principles

Regional expression of tourism development

This paper aims to highlight the importance of tourism to strengthen the capacities of the different regions and their resources. With this goal in mind an empirical study was conducted in a tourist destination located in the inner part of Portugal (Beira Interior), which aimed to measure the satisfaction obtained by tourists and also to identify the elements of the supply that the demand considers more important to choose this destination. The research stated that the symbolic aspects related to the specific resources of the region were the most important elements that help tourists to choose their destination and the same elements are also those that make tourists more satisfied. Assuming that the symbolic contents are in fact the underlying identity of the region, one can conclude that the more the identity of the region is reinforced, the more the difference is motivating and the more this identity is a key factor of its attractivenessregional development, differentiation, specific resources, tourist destination, demand-oriented assessment

Ibero-American Research on Local Development. An Analysis of Its Evolution and New Trends

Local development is a subject that arouses significant interest in the international scientific community in general, and in the Ibero-American one, in particular. The process of globalization has transformed the management of local development, altering the role that is played by local and regional entities, and it is the object of an important follow-up and analysis by academia. This research uses a bibliometric methodology and a fractional counting method, reviewing the 738 articles from the Scopus database in order to understand the state of Ibero-American research on local development, and analyze the scientific literature on the topic. The results show a significant increase in the number of publications in the 21st century, with Spain and Brazil leading the way. In addition, this research provides interesting results regarding the most influential authors on this topic, the most relevant journals, and the most important institutions and funding organizations. There are several areas of knowledge involved since local development is a transversal field, such as Social Science, environment, business, economics, and agriculture. A deep analysis of authors’ keywords identified new trends, linking local development with tourism, education, geotourism, climate change, local sustainable development, social innovation, and creativity, which provides academia with potential new lines of research

Financial interdependencies and causality in the European Union

The main objectives of this paper are the study of foreign direct investment (FDI) among several UE countries, the appreciation of the interdependencies among them, the integration and co-integration of the FDI export series, in order to try to discover whose economies are the financial engines of the EU, the appreciation of the way of absorption of the FDI in the destiny countries of this money, the way that the economies found to regain the equilibrium after a foreign investment stimulus. In methodological terms the paper uses the VAR modelling theory, it optimizes the lag length, it uses the SURE method to estimate the parameters, it appreciates the IRF (functions), it uses the Granger causality and the Cholesky Variance Decomposition to study the degree of dependence or of independence of one economy against the others. Before this, it studies the stationarity, the integration and the co-integration of the series

Modernização tecnológica recente numa economia periférica da Europa: o caso português

Los objetivos de este artículo son: estudiar la evolución cronológica de los avances tecnológicos en la economía de un país periférico de Europa: el portugués; estudiar la forma en que las diferentes metodologías tratan la evolución tecnológica; estudiar una metodología que es capaz de apreciar los diferentes avances tecnológicos incorporados o no en los distintos factores de producción.The aims of this article are: to study the chronological evolution of technological progress in the economy of peripheral country of Europe: the portuguese one; to study the way the different methodologies treat the technological evolution; to study a methodology that is able to appreciate the different technological progress incorporated or not in the different production factors.Os objectivos do presente artigo são: estudar a evolução temporal do progresso tecnológico na economia de um país periférico da Europa: a portuguesa; estudar a forma como as diferentes metodologias tratam a questão da evoluão tecnológica; estudar uma metodologia que seja capaz de apreciar os diferentes progressos tecnológicos incorporados ou não nos varios factores de produção

Desigualdad en el consumo energético en Europa: un enfoque empírico

ABSTRACT. The aim of this paper is to analyse gross inland energy consumption (EC) in the EU-15 - European Union countries over the period 2005-2014. The standard tools in the measurement of income inequality such as Lorenz Curve, Gini Index, and Generalized Entropy and Atkinson indices are applied. The empirical results confirm that EC inequality has decreased (the Gini coefficient falls from 44.27% in 2005 to 42.16% in 2014), that there are a small inward shift in the corresponding Lorenz Curve and there are huge differences among the four European clusters of countries (Mediterranean, Continental, Nordic and Anglo-Saxon ones).RESUMEN. El objetivo de este artículo es analizar el consumo de energía (CE) en los países de la Unión Europea (UE-15) durante el periodo 2005-2014. Se aplican herramientas estándar en la medición de la desigualdad, como las Curvas de Lorenz, el índice de Gini, los índices de entropía generalizada y de Atkinson. Los resultados empíricos, obtenidos confirman que se ha producido un desplazamiento de las curvas de Lorenz, que la distribución de desigualdad del CE en los países de la UE-15 ha disminuido (el coeficiente de Gini cae del 44,27% en 2005 al 42,16% en 2014) y existen amplias diferencias entre grupos de países (Mediterráneos, Continentales, Nórdicos y Anglosajones)

Determination of the price in the fresh fruit market: case of pears

This document aims to evaluate the determinants of the price of pears in the international fresh fruit market, from an innovative vision in a complex world. The panel data methodology was applied. The variables considered were the different prices (CIF/kg) of pear, apple and stone fruits, their per capita consumptions, real per capita income, consumer price indexes and real exchange rates. Pear consumption responds especially to apple consumption, but also to prices of apples and peaches, real per capita income, consumer price indexes and countries’ exchange rates. This might imply improving commercial efficiency in international trade, effective budgets in price formation, and giving new impetus to studies on the price of fruits and foods with a new vision. Highlights Pears’ price (CIF) is determined by the number of imported pears and apples; also for import prices of other fruits such as apples, peaches and nectarines.  Panel data models is a novelty in this kind of articles. The panel integrates the yearly CIF imported prices (period 1990-2015) from 18 countries, the main world importers in the international demand for fresh pears.  This research changes the paradigm in the fresh pear business, with the disclosure of this article. The paper fills a gap in the literature on international worldwide fruit commerce.This document aims to evaluate the determinants of the price of pears in the international fresh fruit market, from an innovative vision in a complex world. The panel data methodology was applied. The variables considered were the different prices (CIF/kg) of pear, apple and stone fruits, their per capita consumptions, real per capita income, consumer price indexes and real exchange rates. Pear consumption responds especially to apple consumption, but also to prices of apples and peaches, real per capita income, consumer price indexes and countries’ exchange rates. This might imply improving commercial efficiency in international trade, effective budgets in price formation, and giving new impetus to studies on the price of fruits and foods with a new vision. Highlights Pears’ price (CIF) is determined by the number of imported pears and apples; also for import prices of other fruits such as apples, peaches and nectarines.  Panel data models is a novelty in this kind of articles. The panel integrates the yearly CIF imported prices (period 1990-2015) from 18 countries, the main world importers in the international demand for fresh pears.  This research changes the paradigm in the fresh pear business, with the disclosure of this article. The paper fills a gap in the literature on international worldwide fruit commerce

The Role of Regional Innovation Systems (RIS) in Translating R&D Investments into Economic and Employment Growth

The emergence of the so-called “European Paradox” shows that increasing Governmental R&D Investment is far from being a ‘panacea’ for stagnant growth. It is worth noting that Governmental R&D Investment does not have a statistically significant impact on employment, indicating the need to assess the trade-offs of policies that could lead to significant increases in government expenditure. Surprisingly, Governmental R&D Employment does not contribute to ‘mass-market’ employment, despite its quite important role in reducing Youth-Unemployment. Despite the negative side-effects of Governmental R&D Employment on both GVA and GDP, University R&D Employment appears to have a quite important role in reducing Unemployment, especially Youth-Unemployment, while it also does not have a downside in terms of economic growth. Technological Capacity enhancement is the most effective instrument for reducing Unemployment and is a policy without any downside regarding sustainable economic development

Regional expression of tourism development

This paper aims to highlight the importance of tourism to strengthen the capacities of the different regions and their resources. With this goal in mind an empirical study was conducted in a tourist destination located in the inner part of Portugal (Beira Interior), which aimed to measure the satisfaction obtained by tourists and also to identify the elements of the supply that the demand considers more important to choose this destination. The research stated that the symbolic aspects related to the specific resources of the region were the most important elements that help tourists to choose their destination and the same elements are also those that make tourists more satisfied. Assuming that the symbolic contents are in fact the underlying identity of the region, one can conclude that the more the identity of the region is reinforced, the more the difference is motivating and the more this identity is a key factor of its attractivenes