PUBLIC INVESTMENT, ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE AND BUDGETARY CONSOLIDATION: VAR EVIDENCE FOR THE FIRST 12 EURO COUNTRIES

In a period of heightened concern about fiscal consolidation in the euro area, a politically expedient way of controlling the public budget is to cut public investment. A critical question, however, is whether or not political expediency comes at a cost, in terms of both long-term economic performance and future budgetary contention efforts. First, common wisdom suggests that public investments have positive effects on economic performance although the empirical evidence is less clear. Second, it is conceivable that public investment has such strong effects on output that over time it generates enough additional tax revenues to pay for itself. Obviously, it is equally plausible that the effects on output although positive are not strong enough for the public investment to pay for itself. In this paper, we investigate these issues empirically for the first twelve countries in the euro area using a vector auto-regressive approach. We conclude that the euro countries can be gathered in four groups according to the nature of the economic and budgetary impact of public investment. The first group includes Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Netherlands, where the economic effects are either negative or positive but very small and, therefore, cuts will be harmless for the economy and effective from a budgetary perspective. The second group includes Finland, Portugal, and Spain, where public investment does not pay for itself and, therefore, cuts are an effective tool of budgetary consolidation although they are harmful for the economy. The third group includes France, Greece, and Ireland where public investment just pays for itself and therefore cuts are not an effective way of achieving long-term budgetary consolidation and are harmful for the economy. Finally, the fourth group includes Germany and Italy, where public investment more than pays for itself and, therefore, cuts are not only harmful for the economy but also counterproductive from a budgetary perspective.Public Investment, Economic Performance, Budgetary Consolidation, Euro Area

Impact of Public Investment Upon Economic Performance and Budgetary Consolidation Efforts in the European Union

In an period of heightened concern about fiscal consolidation in the Euro zone, a politically expedient way of dealing with the situation is to cut public investment. A critical question, however, is whether or not political expediency comes at a cost, in terms of both long-term economic performance and future budgetary consolidation efforts. In fact, one would expect any type of investment, including public investment, to improve the long-term economic performance. Moreover, to the extent that public investment increases output in the long-term, it also expands the tax base and, therefore, tax revenues in the long term. It is conceivable that public investment has such strong effects on output, that over time it generates enough additional tax revenues to pay for itself. It is equally plausible that the effects on output although positive are not strong enough for the public investment to pay for itself. In the first case, cuts in public investment hurt long-term growth and make the future budgetary situation worse. In the second case, cuts in public investment hurt the long-term economic performance without hurting the future budgetary situation. In this paper we investigate this question empirically in the context of a number of countries in the Euro zone using a vector auto-regressive/error correction mechanism approach to determine the effects of aggregated public investment on output, employment and private investment. Our ultimate objective is to determine in which regime do the different countries seem to fit and determine to what extent cuts in public investment may turn out to be counter-productive in the long-term from a budgetary perspective. JEL Classification: C32, E62, H54, O52

Neighbourhood retractions of nonconvex sets in a Hilbert space via sublinear functionals

For a closed subset C of a Hilbert space and for a sublinear functional, which is equivalent to the norm, we give conditions guaranteeing existence and uniqueness of the nearest points to C in the sense of the semidistance generated by given sublinear functional. This permits us to construct a continuous retraction onto C well defined in an open neighbourhood of C. In particular, according to one of the conditions, this neighbourhood can be represented in terms of balance between the local strict convexity modulus of the Minkowski (sublinear) functional and the measure of nonconvexity of the set C at each point

Innovations in teaching and learning: exploring the perceptions of the education sector on the 4th industrial revolution (4IR).

Business operations are undergoing drastic changes due to the disruptive effects of technology innovations; however, there is insuffcient knowledge regarding the acceptability and consequences of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) in the education sector. Using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), this study explores the readiness of the education sector for 4IR. We adopted face-to-face semi-structured interviews to explore the views of 33 key stakeholders in the education sector, to understand the readiness and acceptability of 4IR in the sector. Findings show that the education sector, especially in Africa, is unprepared for 4IR, although there are indications for opportunities to harness the potential of the much-anticipated 4IR. Moreover, our study demonstrates a mutual symbiotic relationship between the education sector and technology innovations. The findings show that 4IR can facilitate students’ learning experience and transforms the workplace, although there is a need to assess the learning environment, to understand the facilitators and barriers to 4IR diffusion. The findings indicate the opportunity for the education sector to harness the innovations associated with 4IR through research and teaching to enhance learners’ experience; however, this may require a significant improvement in education curricula, as well as investments. The findings contribute to the theory and practice of technology in education and the limited literature on 4IR in the education sector, particularly in Africa

Políticas de formação inicial de professores em Portugal no quadro do Processo de Bolonha: Tensões na construção de identidades profissionais

The article analyses the model of initial basic education teacher training in Portugal resulting from the commitments made in the framework of the Bologna Process. This analysis focuses on the impact that the policy guidelines - that point to an improvement in education quality - have on the socialization with the teaching profession. The empirical study analyses policy guidelines for teacher training and the opinions of teachers responsible for initial teacher training courses obtained through a survey. Overall, the data show a moderate agreement with policies concerning teacher training and some tensions regarding the training model adopted. On the one hand, it is pointed out that this model offers reduced opportunities of professional socialization, but, on the other hand, it is considered that it allows greater flexibility in obtaining a degree to teach in different levels of the education system. From this point of view, it can be considered that this model resolves educative system problems related to teachers placement, currently facing an elevated number of teachers which is higher than necessary in some school levels. RESUMEN: El artículo analiza el modelo de formación inicial de maestros de educación básica en Portugal, como resultado de los compromisos hechos en el marco del Proceso de Bolonia. Se centra en los efectos que las políticas -que apuntan a una mejora en la calidad de la educación- tienen en la socialización de la profesión docente. La investigación analiza documentos políticos que orientan la formación de maestros y las opiniones de los profesores encargados de los cursos de la formación inicial obtenidas por cuestionario. En general, los datos muestran un moderado acuerdo con las políticas de formación de maestros y algunas tensiones en relación con el modelo de formación adoptado. Por un lado, se señala que este modelo ofrece reducidas oportunidades de socialización profesional, pero, por otro lado, se considera que permite una mayor flexibilidad en la obtención de una habilitación para ejercer la profesión en diferentes niveles del sistema educativo. Desde este punto de vista, se puede suponer que este modelo puede resolver problemas relacionados a la ubicación de los maestros, que enfrenta situaciones de exceso de docentes en algunos niveles de Educación Básica. RESUMO: O artigo analisa o modelo de formação inicial de professores de Educação Básica em Portugal, resultante dos compromissos assumidos no quadro do Processo de Bolonha. Essa análise foca efeitos das políticas que apontam para uma melhoria na qualidade da educação na socialização com a profissão docente. O estudo empírico analisa documentos de orientação política para a formação de professores e opiniões de professores responsáveis por cursos de formação inicial de professores obtidas por questionário. Globalmente, os dados mostram um acordo moderado com as políticas relativas à formação de professores e algumas tensões em relação ao modelo de formação adotado. Por um lado, é apontado que este modelo oferece reduzidas oportunidades de socialização profissional, mas, por outro lado, é considerado que ele permite maior flexibilidade na obtenção de habilitação para que os futuros professores possam exercer a profissão em distintos níveis do sistema educativo. Deste ponto de vista, pode considerar-se que este modelo de formação poderá resolver problemas relacionados com a colocação de professores, que enfrenta situações de excesso de docentes para alguns dos níveis de escolaridade.A11D-C969-8086 | Maria de Fátima de Sousa Pereirainfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio