Neutralisation of discrimination in direct taxation: the problem of applicability from the perspective of tax treaties and 'opt in' domestic clauses

The thesis provides the analysis of the concept of neutralisation based on the existing case law of the CJEU, AGs' opinions and academic writings. It introduces the reader to the meaning, scope and the purpose of neutralisation. The core aspect is the difference in the approach used by CJEU in allowing to use the neutralisation as a compensatory measure for discriminatory treatment of a taxpayer either in a domestic situation (so called 'opt in' clauses which give access to an alternative tax regime to non-residents) or cross-border situations involving tax treaties. Ultimately the paper seeks to answer the question whether neutralisation is compatible with EU law and on what basis. Final parts provide additional thoughts as to current difficulties and possible future developments

Family formation and subjective well-being. A literature overview

While most frequently cited economic models of family formation link partnership or parenthood decisions with the concept of maximisation of life-cycle utility, empirical research has so far assumed that life satisfaction represents a factor which cannot be measured directly. Empirical studies have therefore treated the utility derived from partnership and parenthood as universal and assumed that only the direct or opportunity costs of family formation produce variation in the observed fertility behaviour. The emerging literature treats the subjective wellbeing as a measure of utility and hence allows direct tests of hypotheses related to the impact of events in family career on life satisfaction. This article provides an overview of the leading theoretical concepts and the recent empirical evidence on the impact of family formation on subjective wellbeing. It surveys the studies which investigate effects of entry into union and entry into parenthood on subjective well-being. The focus is on studies that attempt to estimate the causal effects. Furthermore, the article discusses studies that consider various ways in which institutional and cultural factors can modify the impact of family formation on subjective well-being. Finally, some suggestions are formulated how the research in this fi eld could contribute to the debate on population policy. Consequently, and some topics for further research are proposed

Trash contracts? The impact of temporary employment on leaving the parental home in Poland

Poland stands out in international comparisons as a country where leaving the parental home is remarkably delayed. There are many economic and institutional factors which contribute to postponement of residential independence among youth, such as housing shortages, limited availability of rental housing and limited social assistance for young people. However, there is little discussion in public debate about re-designing social policy support for youth or improving the situation on the housing market. What attracts attention instead is the role of flexibilisation of contractual arrangements on the Polish labour market. In media discourse, fixed-term contracts have been labelled as “trash contracts” and all the problems that young people in Poland face when making the transition to adulthood have been attributed to the spread of this specific employment form. This article aims to find out whether fixed-term contracts do indeed hinder residential independence of youth. Models of leaving the parental home are estimated based on panel data from EU-SILC. The results show no significant negative impact of temporary employment on the probability of establishing one’s own household among youth. What matters is whether young people have jobs at all, whereas the type of contract that they receive from employers seems to be of little importance

Poland: Fertility decline as a response to profound societal and labour market changes?

This article opens with a review of the main trends in family-related behaviour, i.e. fertility decline and changes in fertility patterns, a decreasing propensity to marry, postponement of marriage, and a slowly increasing frequency of divorces and separations. The analysis takes into account urban and rural differences. We then aim to identify the main determinants of family changes within the general conceptual framework of the Second Democratic Transition (SDT) in Poland. However, contrary to mainstream interpretations of the SDT, the main emphasis of this study is on the structural components of change, which need to be reformulated to account for processes specific to the transition to a market economy. The focus is, therefore, on labour market developments and family policy, and to a lesser extent on ideational change.childbearing, Europe, fertility, fertility decline, Poland

Temporary employment in Central- and Eastern Europe: individual risk patterns and institutional context

'This article uses data from the European Union Labour Force Survey (EULFS) 2004 for a comparative analysis of individual and contextual determinants of temporary employment contracts in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. Descriptive analyses reveal that temporary contracts are more often involuntary by nature and associated with relatively lower occupational status than permanent contracts in CEE countries compared to Western European average. Individual-level logistic regressions show that the general determinants of temporary employment are rather similar in both parts of Europe, but vary in their strength between countries. To evaluate the impact of macro-level influences on these cross-country differences in temporary employment risks, we focus on the risk of young people as one group of potential labour market outsiders. In general, young persons have a higher temporary employment risk, but their relative risk varies between countries. We use multi-level models implemented in a two-step estimation procedure and try to explain this cross-country variation with the intervening role of institutional influences under control of macro-structural conditions. Comparing CEE countries and Western European countries shows that neither employment protection of regular contracts nor its interaction with the level of employment protection of temporary contracts affects the young people's risk. Instead, we find a positive association between collective bargaining coverage as a measure of insider-outsider cleavages and the relative temporary employment risk of young persons.' (author's abstract

Dostosowanie sposobu organizacji czasu pracy do obowiązków rodzinnych w Polsce

This paper presents a diagnosis of reconciliation of work and parenthood in Poland based on the data from the European Labour Force Survey ad hoc module “Reconciliation between work and family life” carried out in 2010. These data provide information on the following options of combining work with parenthood duties: (1) part-time work (2) flexible arrangements of working time (3) distance work. We compare the conditions for combining work with parenthood duties in Poland with opportunities observed in other European countries. We also show to what extent the conditions for reconciliation of work and parenthood in Poland have improved in time. We make an overview of legal regulations related to combining work with childcare duties and indicate the opportunities for improvement of these policies

The effect of number of siblings on adult mortality: Evidence from Swedish registers for cohorts born between 1938 and 1972

Demographic research has paid much attention to the impact of childhood conditions on adult mortality. We focus on one of the key aspects of early life conditions, sibling group size, and examine the causal effect of growing up in a large family on mortality. While previous studies have focused on low- or middle-income countries, we examine whether growing up in a large family is a disadvantage in Sweden, a context where most parents have adequate resources, which are complemented by a generous welfare state. We used Swedish register data and frailty models, examining all-cause and cause-specific mortality between the ages of 40 and 74 for the 1938–72 cohorts, and also a quasi-experimental approach that exploited multiple births as a source of exogenous variation in the number of siblings. Overall our results do not indicate that growing up in a large family has a detrimental effect on longevity in Sweden

Science-nonscience research partnership in Poland

PURPOSE: The objective of this paper is to inquire into the network structure of publicly financed research collaboration, which Polish scientific institutions undertake with their commercial and non-commercial partners from a multilevel perspective (international, domestic, and intra-regional one).DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: Data collected from the POL-on was used. There were identified 97 publicly financed scientific inter-organizational projects launched in 2019. Social network analysis was applied: there were recognized components, bi-components, centrality measures were calculated (degree, closeness, betweenness).FINDINGS: Polish scientific institutions conduct cross-sectoral projects at different hierarchical levels, and nearly half of them involve partners from different domestic regions. A trilateral partnership between sectors is visible within international projects, while at domestic and local levels, science collaborates with those sectors separately. Warsaw University of Technology is a dominant entity recognized within the identified network.PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The conducted analysis helped describe some effects of the public financing system of Polish science. There were also indicated entities of significant meaning within this network. Particular science sector institutions may apply the research results to their future strategies.ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This study enriches the empirical investigation on cross-sectoral research collaboration in Poland (that includes not only university-industry-government linkages but also encompasses other types of scientific, commercial, and non-commercial entities). Moreover, a multilevel perspective was applied.peer-reviewe

Adipokine profile in patients with anorexia nervosa

Wstęp: Anorexia nervosa (AN) jest zaburzeniem odżywania i charakteryzuje się skrajnie niską masą ciała. Adipokiny to substancje wydzielane przez tkankę tłuszczową o szerokim spektrum aktywności biologicznej. Celem pracy była ocena stężeń wybranych adipokin u kobiet z anorexia nervosa przed i po interwencji żywieniowej. Badano również czy wskaźnik masy ciała jest jedynym czynnikiem wpływającym na stężenia adipokin w AN. Materiał i metody: Udział w badaniu wzięło 65 kobiet: 20 pacjentek z AN przed jakąkolwiek terapią, 18 pacjentek z AN po interwencji żywieniowej trwającej co najmniej 6 miesięcy, 27 kobiet z grupy kontrolnej. U wszystkich uczestniczek przeprowadzono pobranie krwi i badania antropometryczne. Metodą ELISA oznaczano receptor leptynowy, adiponektynę i jej frakcje oraz rezystynę. Leptyna była badana metodą RIA a wisfatyna z użyciem techniki EIA. Wyniki: Stężenie leptyny oraz indeks wolnej leptyny były najniższe u pacjentek z AN przed leczeniem. Frakcja HMW adiponektyny oraz wisfatyna były podwyższone w przebiegu AN. Wartości pozostałych adipokin nie różniły się znacząco pomiędzy grupami. Porównując podgrupy z anorexia nervosa stwierdzono różnice jedynie w stężeniach leptyny i receptora leptynowego oraz indeksie wolnej leptyny. Dodatkowo po wyłączeniu wpływu BMI jedynie wartości leptyny i indeks wolnej leptyny pozostały znamiennie różne pomiędzy pacjentkami z AN przed leczeniem a grupą kontrolną. Wniosek: Wyniki naszego badania sugerują, że najważniejszą adipokiną w AN jest leptyna. W naszej grupie pacjentek z AN leptyna i indeks wolnej leptyny były jedynymi czynnikami, których zmiany nie są wyłącznie zależne od zmian ilości tkanki tłuszczowej.Introduction: Anorexia nervosa (AN) is an eating disorder characterised with extremely low weight. Adipokines are adipose tissue-derived substances that show a wide spectrum of biological activities. We aimed to assess selected adipokine levels in women with AN before and after nutritional intervention. We also sought to examine whether BMI is the only confounding factor influencing adipokine assessment in AN. Material and methods: Sixty-five women participated in the study: 20 individuals with AN before any treatment, 18 AN patients after nutritional intervention lasting for at least six months, and 27 women as controls. In all participants blood collection and anthropometric measurements were performed. ELISA was used for evaluation of leptin receptor, adiponectin and its isoforms, and resistin. Leptin was assessed with RIA, and visfatin was measured with EIA assay. Results: Leptin and free leptin index (FLI) were lowest in treatment–naïve AN women. HMW-adiponectin and visfatin were enhanced in AN. Other adipokine levels showed no significant differences. When two subsets of anorexia nervosa were compared, only leptin, leptin receptor, and FLI were markedly different. When data were adjusted to BMI, leptin and FLI remained significantly different in the pre-treated AN subgroup when compared with the control group. Conclusions: Our results suggest that leptin is the most important adipokine in AN. It is also important that in our AN population leptin and FLI are the only factors that are influenced not only by the fat content