Cohesion project characteristics and regional economic growth in the European Union

We employ a novel methodology for the study of the characteristics of successful European Union cohesion projects. We first estimated ‘unexplained economic growth’ by controlling for the influence of various region-specific factors, and then analysed its relationship with about two dozen cohesion project characteristics. We found that the best-performing regions have on average projects with longer durations, more inter-regional focus, lower national co-financing, more national (as opposed to regional and local) management, higher proportions of private or non-profit participants among the beneficiaries and higher levels of funding from the Cohesion Fund. No clear patterns emerged concerning the sector of intervention

SHARE-ENV: A Data Set to Advance Our Knowledge of the Environment–Wellbeing Relationship

Climate change interacts with other environmental stressors and vulnerability factors. Some places and, owing to socioeconomic conditions, some people, are far more at risk. The data behind current assessments of the environment–wellbeing nexus is coarse and regionally aggregated, when considering multiple regions/groups; or, when granular, comes from ad hoc samples with few variables. To assess the impacts of climate change, we require data that are granular and comprehensive, both in the variables and population studied. We build a publicly accessible data set, the SHARE-ENV data set, which fulfills these criteria. We expand on EU representative, individual-level, longitudinal data (the SHARE survey), with environmental exposure information about temperature, radiation, precipitation, pollution, and flood events. We illustrate through four simplified multilevel linear regressions, cross-sectional and longitudinal, how full-fledged studies can use SHARE-ENV to contribute to the literature. Such studies would help assess climate impacts and estimate the effectiveness and fairness of several climate adaptation policies. Other surveys can be expanded with environmental information to unlock different research avenues

Living with reduced income: an analysis of household financial vulnerability under COVID-19

The COVID-19 crisis has led to substantial reductions in earnings. We propose a new measure of financial vulnerability, computable through survey data, to determine whether households can withstand a certain income shock for a defined period of time. Using data from the ECB Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) we analyse financial vulnerability in seven EU countries. We find that, out of the 243 million individuals considered, 47 million are vulnerable to a three month long income shock (the average length of the first wave COVID-19 lockdown), i.e., they cannot afford food and housing expenses for three months without privately earned income. Differences across countries are stark. Individuals born outside the EU are especially likely to be vulnerable. Being younger, a single parent, and a woman are also statistically significant risk factors. Through a tax-benefit microsimulation exercise, we look into the COVID-19 employment protection benefits, the largest income support measure in the countries considered. Considering as our sample individuals in households where someone receives a salary, we derive household net income when employees are laid-off and awarded the COVID-19 employment protection benefits enacted. Our findings suggest that the employment protection schemes are extremely effective in reducing the number of vulnerable individuals. The relative importance of rent and mortgage suspensions, (likewise, widespread COVID-19 policies), in alleviating vulnerability, is highly country dependent

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved