The analysis of convergence process of voivodships’ efficiency in Poland using the DEA metod

Since 1999 – when the new administrative division in Poland was introduced – it has been possible to measure and compare standard of living between Polish and other European regions (NUTS II). In 2004 Poland has joined the European Union. Since that year voivodships have become main beneficiaries of the EU funds. The essential part of that aid is related to the EU cohesion policy (convergence objective). According to the fifth cohesion report “cohesion policy has made a significant contribution to spreading growth and prosperity across the Union, while reducing economic, social and territorial disparitiesâ€. However, the differences in standard of living still remains significant between countries as well as between regions within one country. In many researches the level of welfare is measured using “classic†indicators (GDP per capita, GNI per capita, unemployment rate, etc.). In this paper the authors focus on the regional economies’ efficiency. The efficiency will be measured using the Data Envelopment Analysis. Due to the method used, the efficiency will be measured as relative in nature, i.e. will be compared between voivodships within the period of research. The goal of the paper is to analyze variety of relative voivodships’ efficiency in order to answer the question if the dispersion in efficiency is increasing or decreasing over time.

Measuring the Relative Efficiency of Economic Sectors. Advices for Policy Makers in Poland

The main goal of the paper is to present an idea of the Data Envelopment Analysis model and its potential as a method of evaluation of economic sectors efficiency. An empirical part is concentrated on the use of the DEA model to assess efficiency of the construction industry in Poland from 1999 to 2007. The first part of the article addresses the concept of DEA (CCR model) and the next section presents data and results of the analysis. To obtain the outcomes DEA solver software was applied.Głównym celem opracowania jest zaprezentowanie modelu Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) oraz jego potencjału jako metody oceny efektywności sektorów ekonomicznych gospodarki. Część empiryczna artykułu dotyczy oceny efektywności budownictwa (definiowanego według sekcji PKD) w latach 1999-2007. W pierwszej sekcji artykułu zaprezentowano istotę modelu DEA (w ujęciu CCR). Następnie przedstawiono charakterystykę zmiennych wykorzystanych w analizie oraz wyniki badania. W analizie wsparto się programem DEA solver software

The Study of the Relative Efficiency of Selected Commune Offices Located in Nowy Sacz, Limanowa and Gorlice Poviats

The main aim of this paper is to analyze the efficiency level of the local administration units supporting the self-government authorities in gminas. The elaboration objects were 28 gminas from the Nowosądecki, Limanowski and Gorlicki poviats (southern Poland). The analysis was carried out for years 2009 and 2010. The authors used the DEA method (CCR model) for calculating relative efficiency of the selected units

Facial Mimicry and Social Context Affect Smile Interpretation

Theoretical accounts and extant research suggest that people use various sources of information, including sensorimotor simulation and social context, while judging emotional displays. However, the evidence on how those factors can interplay is limited. The present research tested whether social context information has a greater impact on perceivers’ smile judgments when mimicry is experimentally restricted. In Study 1, participants watched images of affiliative smiles presented with verbal descriptions of situations associated with happiness or politeness. Half the participants could freely move their faces while rating the extent to which the smiles communicated affiliation, whereas for the other half mimicry was restricted via a pen-in-mouth procedure. As predicted, smiles were perceived as more affiliative when the social context was polite than when it was happy. Importantly, the effect of context information was significantly larger among participants who could not freely mimic the facial expressions. In Study 2 we replicated this finding using a different set of stimuli, manipulating context in a within-subjects design, and controlling for empathy and mood. Together, the findings demonstrate that mimicry importantly modulates the impact of social context information on smile perception

Do Only Fools Smile at Strangers? Cultural Differences in Social Perception of Intelligence of Smiling Individuals

Abstract Studies on social perception reveal that on many dimensions, smiling individuals are perceived more positively in comparison with non-smiling individuals. The experiment carried out in seven countries (China, Germany, Iran, Norway, Poland, USA, and the Republic of South Africa) showed that in some cultures, smiling individuals may be perceived less favorably than nonsmiling individuals. We compared ratings of intelligence made by participants viewing photos of smiling and non-smiling people. The results showed that smiling individuals were perceived as more intelligent in Germany and in China; smiling individuals were perceived as less intelligent than the (same) non-smiling individuals in Iran. We suggest that the obtained effects can be explained by the cultural diversity within the dimension of uncertainty avoidance described in the GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) project by House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, and Gupta

Take 2 personality factors: A study of two fundamental ways of trait differentiation in eleven trait taxonomies

We investigated a two-dimensional structure of traits in eleven trait-taxonomies. Ratings from 7,104 participants on 4,642 trait variables were used. We studied exploratory two-factor (PCA) results, hierarchies of solutions with two and five factors, second-order structures of solutions with five factors, and confirmatory analyses. Moreover, we did the same analyses on the joint data set (using Simultaneous Components Analyses), initially consisting of 4,642 trait variables, but reduced on the basis of common trait terms to 922 terms. The two factors were easily identified in the separate data sets, though the relation with the Big Five factors was not consistently the same for those data sets. The analyses of the joint data set clearly supported the two-factor model

Happiness around the world: A combined etic-emic approach across 63 countries.

What does it mean to be happy? The vast majority of cross-cultural studies on happiness have employed a Western-origin, or "WEIRD" measure of happiness that conceptualizes it as a self-centered (or "independent"), high-arousal emotion. However, research from Eastern cultures, particularly Japan, conceptualizes happiness as including an interpersonal aspect emphasizing harmony and connectedness to others. Following a combined emic-etic approach (Cheung, van de Vijver & Leong, 2011), we assessed the cross-cultural applicability of a measure of independent happiness developed in the US (Subjective Happiness Scale; Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999) and a measure of interdependent happiness developed in Japan (Interdependent Happiness Scale; Hitokoto & Uchida, 2015), with data from 63 countries representing 7 sociocultural regions. Results indicate that the schema of independent happiness was more coherent in more WEIRD countries. In contrast, the coherence of interdependent happiness was unrelated to a country's "WEIRD-ness." Reliabilities of both happiness measures were lowest in African and Middle Eastern countries, suggesting these two conceptualizations of happiness may not be globally comprehensive. Overall, while the two measures had many similar correlates and properties, the self-focused concept of independent happiness is "WEIRD-er" than interdependent happiness, suggesting cross-cultural researchers should attend to both conceptualizations