Financing cancer control programs in European countries : a comparative analysis

PURPOSE: This article aims to analyze the level of financing of cancer control programs in European Union countries. There is a rationale behind selecting this particular research topic. Firstly, cancer is one of the leading causes of death in Europe. Moreover, cancer concerns affected individuals and national healthcare systems, welfare systems, national budgets, and economic efficiency and growth.DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: This article analyses literature on national cancer control programs in Europe. The source materials used in this article include websites of the European Commission and the national cancer control programs of selected countries (Belgium, the UK, Estonia, France, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway), as well as reports and studies compiled by research institutes, cancer societies, and peer-reviewed journals. This article analyses the level of direct cancer-related expenditure in European Union countries defined for this research as expenditures within the health care system. Graphical and tabular methods were used to present the estimated expenditures.FINDINGS: The conducted comparative analysis of direct cancer-related expenditure showed a significant variation between countries, which is indicative of the necessity of creating national cancer control programs which have their budgets and correspond to the specificity of a given country, enabling not only their monitoring in terms of medical, epidemiological and economic effectiveness and efficiency.PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Although most European countries have cancer control programs, many of them lack or insufficiently address resource allocation, management, evaluation of the quality of outcomes, and financing, which are the critical elements for the efficiency of a health system and the effectiveness of each such program.ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The issues presented in this article regarding the level of financing of cancer control programs and their components may constitute an argument in a discussion on the need to improve the quality of such programs.The project is financed within the framework of the program of the Minister of Science and Higher Education under the name „Regional Excellence Initiative” in the years 2019 – 2022; project number 001/RID/2018/19; the amount of financing PLN 10,684,000.00.peer-reviewe

Excise Tax on Alcohol – Fiscal or Non-Fiscal Objective?

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to assess the level and structure of excise tax on alcohol in European countries in the context of the implementation of the fiscal objective (increase in budget revenues) and the non-fiscal objective (striving to reduce alcohol consumption by reducing economic availability of alcohol). Research method – In order to illustrate the significance of the impact of alcohol excise taxes on state budget revenues (realization of the fiscal objective), an analysis of the level and structure of alcohol excise taxes in EU countries was carried out. In addition to the traditional tabular and graphical analysis, a study was conducted to determine the impact of excise taxes on the economic availability of alcohol in each country (realization of the non-fiscal objective), taking into account both differences in annual net income expressed in euros and in annual net income expressed in PPS (Purchasing Power Standard) for ethanol. Results – The analysis carried out shows that despite the harmonization of alcohol excise taxes in the European Union (EU) member states, there are numerous differences in the application of excise taxes, in the level of excise-derived budget revenues and in the degree of impact of excise taxes on the economic availability of alcohol. There is still some room in the European alcohol taxation system for further harmonization of rates, harmonization of exemptions and categorization of certain products, and more effective use of this instrument in the alcohol policy of individual countries. Originality /value /implications /recommendations – The originality of the presented approach is due to the comprehensive presentation of the impact of excise taxes on alcohol on the realization of the fiscal and non-fiscal goal in EU [email protected] of SzczecinAnderson P., Baumberg B., 2006, Alcohol in Europe, London: Institute of Alcohol Studies, Luxembourg.Anderson P., Moller L., Galea G., 2012, Alcohol in the European Union: Consumption, hHarm and Policy Approaches, World Health Organization. Regional Office for Eu‑ rope, Copenhagen.Babor T.F. et al., 2022, Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity. Research and Public Policy, 3rd ed., Oxford University Press, Oxford.Cnossen, S., 2006, Alcohol Taxation and Regulation in the European Union, CESifo Working Paper, No. 1821Cnossen S., 2010, The Economics of Excise Taxation, Working Paper, Georgia State University, Georgia.Eriksson A., Fotina S., 2010, Alcohol Tax in Sweden. Should It Be Reduced?, University of Gothenburg, School of Business, Economics and Law, Gothenburg.Excise Duty Tables. Alcoholic Beverages, 2019, European Commission, DIRECTORATE-GENERAL TAXATION AND CUSTOMS UNION Indirect Taxation and Tax administration, Indirect taxes other than VAT, Brussels.Goettel A., Goettel M., Lemmonier M., Orłowski J., Pahl B., Tyrakowski M., Zięty J., 2011, Instytucje prawa cywilnego w konstrukcji prawnej podatku, Wolters Kluwer, Warszawa, pp.176–179.Hines Jr J.R., 2007, Excise Taxes, University of Michigan–NBER, Michigan.Österberg E., 2011, Pricing of Alcohol, http://www.euro.who.int/_data//assets/pdf_file/0004/191371/11-Pricing-of-alcohol.pdf [date of access: 20.03.2023].Rabinovich L., Brutscher P-B., de Vries H., Tiessen J., Clift J., Reding A., 2009, The Affordability of Alcoholic Beverages in the European Union: Understanding the Link between Alcohol Affordability, Consumption and Harms, European Commission DG SANCO.Rabinovich L., Hunt P., Staetsky L., Goshev S., Nolte E., Pedersen J.S., Tiefensee Ch., 2012, Further Study on the Affordability of Alcoholic Beverages in the EU, Brussels: European Commission.Smith, S., 2005, Economic Issues in Alcohol taxation [in:] Theory and Practice of Excise Taxation: Smoking, Drinking, Gambling, Polluting, and Driving, Cnossen S. (ed.), Oxford University Press Inc.Taxation Trends in the European Union, 2021, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.www 1, https://taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu/taxation-1/excise-duties/excise-duty-alco‑hol_en [date of access: 20.03.2023].www 2, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database [date of access: 20.03.2023].3(113)466

Survival at the frontier of Holy War: political expansion, crusading, commerce and the medieval colonizing settlement at Biała Gora, North Poland

Between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries AD, the Lower Vistula valley represented a permeable and shifting frontier between Pomerelia (eastern Pomerania), which had been incorporated into the Polish Christian state by the end of the tenth century, and the territories of western Prussian tribes, who had resisted attempts at Christianization. Pomeranian colonization eventually began to falter in the latter decades of the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, most likely as a result of Prussian incursions, which saw the abandonment of sites across the borderland. Subsequently, the Teutonic Order and its allies led a protracted holy war against the Prussian tribes, which resulted in the conquest of the region and its incorporation into a theocratic state by the end of the thirteenth century. This was accompanied by a second wave of colonization, which resulted in the settlement pattern that is still visible in the landscape of north-central Poland today. However, not all colonies were destroyed or abandoned in between the two phases of colonization. The recently excavated site of Biała Góra, situated on the western side of the Forest of Sztum overlooking the River Nogat, represents a unique example of a transitional settlement that included both Pomeranian and Teutonic Order phases. The aim of this paper is to situate the site within its broader landscape context which can be characterized as a militarized frontier, where, from the later twelfth century and throughout much of the thirteenth century, political and economic expansion was combined with the ideology of Christian holy war and missionary activity. This paper considers how the colonists provisioned and sustained themselves in comparison to other sites within the region, and how Biała Góra may be tentatively linked to a documented but otherwise lost outpost in this volatile borderland

Opłata za wydanie zezwolenia na sprzedaż alkoholu jako źródło finansowania profilaktyki alkoholizmu

Artykuł porusza zagadnienia aktualne i istotne, w kontekście publicznego finansowania profilaktyki uzależnień. Problematyka wychowania w trzeźwości i przeciwdziałania alkoholizmowi stanowi istotne zadanie samorządowej administracji publicznej na płaszczyźnie społecznej. Działania te wymagają odpowiednich instrumentów finansowania, jak i odpowiedniego do potrzeb poziomu finansowania. Celem artykułu jest określenie roli opłaty za wydanie zezwolenia na sprzedaż alkoholu jako podstawowego źródła finansowania działań jednostek samorządu terytorialnego w zakresie przeciwdziałania alkoholizmowi oraz ocena poziomu finansowania tych działań. W opracowaniu dokonano analizy opłat za wydanie zezwolenia na sprzedaż alkoholu jako dochodów samorządowych, wskazując na ich odmienne znaczenie w zależności od poziomu samorządu (gmina – miasto na prawach powiatu – województwo samorządowe). Analizie poddano także poziom wydatkowania środków, ze wskazaniem głównych kierunków tych wydatków w obszarze profilaktyki uzależnień