Innovation Levels in the Economies of Central and Eastern Europe

The statistical data presented in this paper indicates that the innovative position of the CEECs is still unfavourable and relatively weak, with the exception of Slovenia and Estonia. Poland is in a particularly difficult situation, with many signs of stagnation with respect to innovation, keeping it at a low level (next to Bulgaria and Romania).Dane statystyczne przedstawione w artykule wskazują, że pozycja innowacyjna CEEC jest ciągle niekorzystna i relatywnie słaba, z wyjątkiem Słowenii i Estonii. W szczególnie trudnej sytuacji jest Polska, w której występuje najwięcej (obok Bułgarii i Rumunii) oznak stagnacji innowacyjnej na niskim poziomie

Fiscal Policy in Poland in the Times of Crisis - Origins and Consequences

The present crisis has forced almost all countries to introduce an active economic policy. A lot of attention has been paid to fiscal policy and taxes in Poland. The measures taken in Poland differ considerably from global standards and decisions concerning taxes have been generally political in nature. The paper presents solutions in fiscal policy applied in Poland and explains the specificity of Poland's economy and its anti-crisis policy.Obecny kryzys skłonił niemal wszystkie kraje do prowadzenia aktywnej polityki gospodarczej. W USA i krajach UE dużą wagę w pobudzaniu gospodarki przypisuje się polityce fiskalnej i podatkom. Działania podejmowane w Polsce odbiegają od standardów światowych, a decyzje dotyczące podatków mają z reguły charakter polityczny. W artykule podjęta jest próba przedstawienia rozwiązań z zakresu polityki fiskalnej podejmowanych na Zachodzie oraz wyjaśnienia specyfiki polskiej gospodarki i prowadzonej polityki antykryzysowej

Microeconomics of transformation in Poland : a survey of state enterprise responses

State enterprise behavior and reform have emerged as key issues in the emerging market economies of Eastern Europe because of the size of the state manufacturing sector as measured by its share in GDP, exports, and tax revenues. The difficulties experienced by Polish state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in adjusting and responding to the new economic environment have led to fiscal imbalance, deteriorating portfolios of commercial banks, and burgeoning interfirm payment arrears. The authors examine the economic and behavioral reactions of a significant sample of Poland's largest SOEs to the macroeconomic reforms introduced as part of the"big bang"in January 1990. They track the evolution of output, costs, and profits, and examine wage setting behavior, enterprise debt dynamics, and enforcement of the"micro"hard budget constraint by banks. They conduct a firm-level analysis of the export boom and its causes and document the evolving tax burden on enterprises. Their findings are based on a survey of 75 large SOEs in manufacturing during June 1989 - March 1991 - six months prior to and 15 months following the big bang. Some of the main quantitative conclusions were: (1) The high nominal interest rate on working capital (from 50 to 72 percent of the month of January 1990 alone) inhibited borrowing and motivated firms to pay off zloty loans, leading to a squeeze on working capital. The huge decline in real wages led to a demand shock, witnessed by rising finished goods inventories. Consequently, the initial, unexpectedly large, decline in output could be explained by a combination of nominal interest rate shock and standard demand considerations. (2) High profits in 1990 were temporary, stemming from inflationary gains on once-off inventory sales, devaluation gains on enterprise dollar accounts, and implicit input subsidies from CMEA trade. (3) Banks were lax in enforcing creditworthiness, leading to an adverse selection problem marked by loans going mainly to"bad"firms. (4) State-owned enterprises tend to be myopic, with considerable short-run pressure on wages that works to the detriment of restructuring investments essential for reducing energy and material intensity and product redesign. (5) Nominal and real wages both displayed remarkable flexibility. Employment reduction has lagged output reduction partly because partial indexation of wages to inflation has kept real wages low and partly because of the natural reluctance of worker-controlled SOEs to shed labor. So, there is clear possibility of much higher transitional unemployment once privatization and commercialization get underway on large scale. (6) The hard-currency export boom in 1990 was motivated more by slack domestic demand than higher export profitability. The main qualitative change is a definite attitudinal shift in favor of profits and marketing in contrast to the old exclusive emphasis on production targets. But there is a serious principal-agent problem with managers serving at the pleasure of the workers'council and no obvious owner stressing long-term viability considerations in decision-making. The paper concludes by discussing the microeconomic transformation needed to complete the largely economic big bang. The importance of addressing firm-level managerial incentives and empowering managers is emphasized in the transition to eventual privatization.Markets and Market Access,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Financial Intermediation

Transforming state enterprises in Poland : macroeconomic evidence on adjustment

Basing their report on repeat visits in late 1992 to 75 large state-owned manufacturing enterprises (which had been earlier surveyed in mid-1991), the authors present optimistic new evidence about the transformation of state-owned enterprises in Poland. This evidence shows state-owned enterprises in a much more favorable light than the stereotype of myopic, decapitalizing companies that dominates discussion of Poland's state manufacturing sector. Success stories are emerging, and the state sector is far from a write-off. Moreover, favorable evidence is drawn from all manufacturing sectors, attesting to thepotential for a diversified manufacturing base. The state-owned enterprises'operations are largely autonomous, so the positive adjustments indicate that decentralized approaches to transformation could work - if bolstered by appropriate managerial incentives. But several problems remain, and many issues have yet to be addressed. The authors examine various adjustment indicators (labor shedding, material and energy costs, bank borrowings, and export performance) and correlate these with firms classified by 1992 financial performance. (By 1992, presumably, the transitional measurement distortions of 1990 and 1991 had disappeared.) They show that significant differences exist between successful and unsuccessful firms. Managers in successful firms have tended to stress a change in product mix, have generally become more efficient in the use of materials and energy, have maintained labor productivity, and have shown restraint in setting wages and in borrowing from banks. The authors discuss key transformation issues: the disappearance of such safety valves as easy bank loans and interfirm credit, hardening of the microeconomic budget constraint, excess-wage tax reform, and, most important, managerial attitudes and incentives. To complete the picture, they correlate the results of manager interviews with the quantitative performance of firms. Essentially, firms have learned a good deal about operating in a market economy in the past three years, and managers have matured. The industrial revival showing up in economywide statistics can be regarded as a sustainable trend borne of genuine microeconomic adjustment.Small Scale Enterprise,Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Municipal Financial Management

Transforming State Enterprises in Poland: Evidence on Adjustment by Manufacturing Firms

macroeconomics, state enterprises, Poland, manufacturing firms

Wstęp

Zadanie pt. Digitalizacja i udostępnienie w Cyfrowym Repozytorium Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego kolekcji czasopism naukowych wydawanych przez Uniwersytet Łódzki nr 885/P-DUN/2014 zostało dofinansowane ze środków MNiSW w ramach działalności upowszechniającej naukę

Software Defined Networking Topology Service

Project Specification Through the openlab collaboration with Brocade, CERN is investigating the potential of Software Defined Networking (SDN) [1] for improving the programmability and agility of its network services. The underlying network topology (physical and logical) information is a key prerequisite for providing flexible and resilient SDN-enabled network services. The aim of the project is to investigate the network topology services offered by the OpenDaylight [2] controller and to implement a software module for fetching and tracking network topology information in real-time. Abstract Traditional networks, while using stable and proven technology, don’t always provide enough agility for modern computing environments. Software Defined Networking is a new paradigm meant to improve this shortcoming, decoupling the control plane (the logic deciding about where traffic is sent) from the data plane (the network devices that forward traffic to the intended destination). The openlab collaboration with Brocade gives CERN the opportunity to experiment and investigate the potential of the SDN technology for improving its network services. To take the correct decisions, the control plane logic (also denoted as SDN controller) must be aware of the paths that are available in the network. The outcome of the project is a good understanding of the topology services offered by the OpenDaylight controller and their reactivity to network changes, complemented by a software module that maintains an up to date network topology graph. This graph can then be used by higher level SDN applications (such as Brocade’s BFO) to make optimal routing decisions

Wprowadzenie

Zadanie pt. „Digitalizacja i udostępnienie w Cyfrowym Repozytorium Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego kolekcji czasopism naukowych wydawanych przez Uniwersytet Łódzki” nr 885/P-DUN/2014 zostało dofinansowane ze środków MNiSW w ramach działalności upowszechniającej naukę

Fatigue, reduced sleep quality and restless legs syndrome in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease: a web-based survey

To investigate the prevalence of fatigue, daytime sleepiness, reduced sleep quality, and restless legs syndrome (RLS) in a large cohort of patients with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) and their impact on health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Participants of a web-based survey answered the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory, and, if the diagnostic criteria of RLS were met, the International RLS Severity Scale. Diagnosis of RLS was affirmed in screen-positive patients by means of a standardized telephone interview. HRQoL was assessed by using the SF-36 questionnaire. Age- and sex-matched control subjects were recruited from waiting relatives of surgical outpatients. 227 adult self-reported CMT patients answered the above questionnaires, 42.9% were male, and 57.1% were female. Age ranged from 18 to 78 years. Compared to controls (n = 234), CMT patients reported significantly higher fatigue, a higher extent and prevalence of daytime sleepiness and worse sleep quality. Prevalence of RLS was 18.1% in CMT patients and 5.6% in controls (p = 0.001). RLS severity was correlated with worse sleep quality and reduced HRQoL. Women with CMT were affected more often and more severely by RLS than male patients. With regard to fatigue, sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, RLS prevalence, RLS severity, and HRQoL, we did not find significant differences between genetically distinct subtypes of CMT. HRQoL is reduced in CMT patients which may be due to fatigue, sleep-related symptoms, and RLS in particular. Since causative treatment for CMT is not available, sleep-related symptoms should be recognized and treated in order to improve quality of life