How does EU cohesion policy work? Evaluating its effects on fiscal outcome variables

The impact of EU Cohesion Policy has mainly been evaluated with regard to its growth effects. We extend the perspective by investigating the impact of EU Cohesion Policy on public investments and budget deficits in order to learn more about the channels through which this policy field works. Using a dataset of 27 EU countries for the time period 1982-2006, we find that EU Cohesion Policy payments do not cause public investments to increase significantly, which points to a crowding out of national investment. Moreover, the hypothesis that EU Cohesion Policy is used for the consolidation of public budgets cannot be completely rejected. --EU Cohesion Policy,public investment,public deficits,panel data

Which is the Right Dose of EU Cohesion Policy for Economic Growth?

The current empirical literature on the impact of EU Cohesion Policy on the economic growth rates of the European regions mainly relies on functional form assumptions. However, it is ex ante not clear which functional form is appropriate with regard to the relationship between structural funds pay- ments and regional economic growth. In order to avoid such assumptions, this paper applies the method of generalized propensity score (GPS) to a sample of 122 NUTS-1 and NUTS-2 EU-15 regions for the time period 1995{2005, which leads to the estimation of a dose-response function, as proposed by Hirano and Imbens (2004). Our results indicate that structural funds payments have a positive, but not statistically significant, impact on the regions' average three-year growth rates. This implies that it does not matter which \dose" of structural funds payments a region receives. --EU structural funds,economic growth,continuous treatment,dose-response function

Do EU structural funds promote regional employment? Evidence from dynamic panel data models

Despite its rather broad goal of promoting “economic, social and territorial cohesion”, the existing literature has mainly focused on investigating the Cohesion Policy’s growth effects. This ignores the fact that part of the EU expenditures is directly aimed at reducing disparities in the employment sector. Against this background, the paper analyses the impact of EU structural funds on employment drawing on a panel dataset of 130 European NUTS regions over the time period 1999-2007. Compared to previous studies we (i) explicitly take into account the unambiguous theoretical propositions by testing the conditional impact of structural funds on the educational attainment of the regional labour supply, (ii) use more precise measures of structural funds for an extended time horizon and (iii) examine the robustness of our results by comparing different dynamic panel econometric approaches to control for heteroscedasticity, serial and spatial correlation as well as for endogeneity. Our results indicate that high-skilled population in particular benefits from EU structural funds. JEL Classification: R11, R12, C23, J20dynamic panel models, EU structural funds, regional employment effects, spatial panel econometrics

EMU-enlargement and the Reshaping of Decision-making within the ECB Governing Council: A Voting-Power Analysis

The monetary policy of the European Central Bank (ECB) is the subject matter of this paper. We analyze the prospects for future price stability in an enlarged European Monetary and Economic Union (EMU). At the heart of this study are the potential e®ects of altering decision-making procedure within the Governing Council of the ECB on price stability in the eurozone. The authors compare the impact of three alternative reform scenarios of the ECB Governing Council with the help of a voting-power analysis. It is presumed that a considerable loss of current EMU-members’ influence power especially in favour of joining Central Eastern European Countries (CEECs) results in a loss of monetary credibility of the ECB: As transparency of the decision-making process within the ECB is lacking, markets may consider the ECB to be too much inclined to the economic performances of the CEECs. This has then a negative impact on the level of price stability in Europe. The voting-power analysis indicates which reform proposal is best with respect to a price-stability benchmark.

Longitudinal Momentum Mining of Beam Particles in a Storage Ring

I describe a new scheme for selectively isolating high density low longitudinal emittance beam particles in a storage ring from the rest of the beam without emittance dilution. I discuss the general principle of the method, called longitudinal momentum mining, beam dynamics simulations and results of beam experiments. Multi-particle beam dynamics simulations applied to the Fermilab 8 GeV Recycler (a storage ring) convincingly validate the concepts and feasibility of the method, which I have demonstrated with beam experiments in the Recycler. The method presented here is the first of its kind.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

Does EU Cohesion Policy Promote Growth? Evidence from Regional Data and Alternative Econometric Approaches

This paper analyses the growth e®ects of EU structural funds using a new panel dataset of 124 NUTS-1 / NUTS-2 regions over the time period 1995-2005. We extend the current literature with regard to at least three aspects: First of all, we extend the time period of investigation, using structural funds payments of the last Financial Perspective 2000{2006 that have not been analysed before. Second, we use more precise measures of structural funds by distinguishing between Objective 1, 2 and 3 payments and by investigating the impact of time lags more carefully. Third, we examine the robustness of our results by comparing different econometric approaches highlighting specific methodological problems. Apart from \classical" panel data methods like system GMM, we apply spatial panel econometric techniques. The empirical evidence indicates that the Objective 1 payments in particular have a positive and significant impact on growth, whereas Objective 2 and 3 payments negatively affect the regions' growth rates. Furthermore, our results show that the growth impact occurs with a time lag of approximately two to three years. --EU structural funds,economic growth,spatial econometrics

Who's afraid of an EU tax and why? Revenue system preferences in the European Parliament

The EU's revenue system is still typical for an organisation based on international cooperation and stands in contrast to the Union's far advanced legislative and political role. This contrast feeds the debate on granting the EU an autonomous tax source. Our contribution explores the factors which shape the acceptance of the EU tax option among European policy makers. We make use of a unique database : A survey among Members of the European Parliament (MEP) which resulted in a response of some 150 of the representatives. Our results confirm an important role for party ideology and individual characteristics but they also demonstrate that country-specific factors are important to understand the support for an EU tax. In the light of our findings the status quo bias in the EU's revenue system can be attributed to the persistent importance of national interests with respect to fiscal burden sharing and tax policy. --European Parliament,EU tax,revenue system

A kockázat szerepe a könyvvizsgálatban = The role of risk in external audits

A tanulmány a kockázatnak és a kockázatok felmérésének az éves beszámolók (pénzügyi kimutatások) könyvvizsgálatban betöltött szerepével foglalkozik. A modern könyvvizsgálat – belső és külső korlátainál fogva – nem létezhet a vizsgált vállalkozás üzleti kockázatainak felmérése nélkül. Olyannyira igaz ez, hogy a szakma alapvető szabályait lefektető nemzeti és nemzetközi standardok is kötelező jelleggel előírják az ügyfelek üzleti kockázatainak megismerését. Mindez nem öncélú tevékenység, hanem éppen ez jelenti a könyvvizsgálat kiinduló magját: a kockázatbecslés – a tervezés részeként – az audit végrehajtásának alapja, és egyben vezérfonala. A szerző először bemutatja a könyvvizsgálat és a kockázat kapcsolatának alapvonásait, azt, hogy miként jelenik meg egyáltalán a kockázat problémája a könyvvizsgálatban. Ezt követően a különféle kockázatalapú megközelítéseket tárgyalja, majd néhány főbb elem kiragadásával ábrázolja a kockázatkoncepció beágyazódását a szakmai szabályozásba. Végül – mintegy az elmélet tesztjeként – bemutatja a kockázatmodell gyakorlati alkalmazásának néhány aspektusát. ______ The study examines the role of risk and the assessment of risks in the external audit of financial statements. A modern audit – due to its internal and external limitations – cannot exist without the assessment of the business risk of the entity being audited. This is not a l’art pour l’art activity but rather the very core of the audit. It is – as part of the planning of the audit – a guideline to the whole auditing process. This study has three main sections. The first one explains the connection between audit and risk, the second discusses the different risk based approaches to auditing and the embeddedness of the risk concept into professional regulation. Finally – as a test of theory – some practical aspects of the risk model are discussed through the lens of former empirical research carried out mostly in the US. The conclusion of the study is that though risk based models of auditing have many weaknesses they still result in the most effective and efficient high quality audits

C-SIDE: The control-structure interaction demonstration experiment

The Control-Structure Interaction Demonstration Experiment (C-SIDE) is sponsored by the Electro-Optics and Cryogenics Division of Ball Aerospace Systems Group. Our objective is to demonstrate methods of solution to structure control problems utilizing currently available hardware in a system that is an extension of our corporate experience. The larger space structures with which Ball has been associated are the SEASAT radar antenna, Shuttle Imaging Radar (SIR) -A, -B and -C antennas and the Radarsat spacecraft. The motivation for the C-SIDE configuration is to show that integration of active figure control in the radar's system-level design can relieve antenna mechanical design constraints. This presentation is primarily an introduction to the C-SIDE testbed. Its physical and functional layouts, and major components are described. The sensor is of special interest as it enables direct surface figure measurements from a remote location. The Remote Attitude Measurement System (RAMS) makes high-rate, unobtrusive measurements of many locations, several of which may be collocated easily with actuators. The control processor is a 386/25 executing a reduced order model-based algorithm with provision for residual mode filters to compensate for structure interaction. The actuators for the ground demonstration are non-contacting, linear force devices. Results presented illustrate some basic characteristics of control-structure interaction with this hardware. The testbed will be used for evaluation of current technologies and for research in several areas. A brief indication of the evolution of the C-SIDE is given at the conclusion

A kockázatbecslés elmélete és hazai gyakorlata a könyvvizsgálatban = The theory of risk assessment and its domestic practice in financial audit

Könyvvizsgálati vagy ahhoz hasonló tevékenységet több ezer év óta végeznek. Ma már a könyvvizsgálat elsődleges célja bevallottan a felhasználók (stakeholders) pénzügyi kimutatások iránti bizalmának növelése. Napjaink könyvvizsgálatában a könyvvizsgálati kockázat mérésének központi jelentősége van: a releváns nemzetközi (és nemzeti) könyvvizsgálati standardok kivétel nélkül mind kockázatalapú könyvvizsgálatot követelnek meg, ugyanakkor a témához kötődő kategóriák meglehetősen puhák, a kockázatmérés (illetve -becslés) módszerei kidolgozatlanok és javarészt nem számszerűsítettek. Adott tehát egy társadalmi szempontból kiemelkedően fontos, ugyanakkor kockázatos szakma, ahol a kockázatok felmérésének és kontrollálásának központi szerepe van – ezt a témát jártam körül az értekezésben. Munkámban azt kívántam megvizsgálni, hogy miként fejlődött a könyvvizsgálati kockázat koncepciója, hol találhatóak a gyökerei a közgazdasági szakirodalomban, illetve milyen irányokban kutatják a modell továbbfejlesztésének lehetőségeit, beleértve a módszertani irányzatokat és a tartalmi kritikákat egyaránt. Empirikus kutatásomat pedig elsősorban annak a kérdésnek szenteltem, hogy mennyiben van relevanciája, magyarázó ereje ennek a modellnek napjaink magyarországi könyvvizsgálati gyakorlata szempontjából