DOES EUROPEAN UNION MEMBERSHIP RESULT IN QUALITY-OF-LIFE CONVERGENCE?

Joel I. DEICHMANN*¹

Professor of Global Studies

jdeichmann@bentley.edu

Dominique HAUGHTON¹

Professor of Mathematical Sciences

dhaughton@bentley.edu

Mingfei LI¹

Professor of Mathematical Sciences

mli@bentley.edu

Heyao WANG¹

Graduate Research Assistant

wang_heya@bentley.edu

*Corresponding Author

¹Members of the Data Analytic Research Team (DART)

Bentley University Waltham, MA 02452 USA

Abstract

This paper employs European Quality-of-life Survey (EQLS) responses from 2003, 2008, 2012, and 2016 to examine whether European Union (EU) enlargement helps meet the objectives of improved living standards and overall quality-of-life across the continent. The data set includes responses to forty questions across nine dimensions for all twenty-eight pre-Brexit EU member states, along with eight non-member states. Insights are captured through the systematic comparison of self-reported perceptions pooled at the country level before and after accession, as well as between member states and non-member states. Special attention is paid to the eleven post-communist countries that joined the EU in 2004, 2007, and 2013, which together represent the addition of one hundred million EU citizens. These include Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Croatia. Based upon these findings, the paper concludes with speculation upon popular support for further enlargement in the wake of the 2007-08 Global Financial Crisis, the 2016-2020 Brexit process, and ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: European Union, Central and Eastern Europe, economic integration, European convergence

JEL classification: O10, O47, P20, P48, R11

 pp. 31-46

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TECHNOLOGIZATION PROCESSES AND SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: MODELING THE IMPACT AND PRIORITIES FOR STRENGTHENING THE TECHNOLOGICAL COMPETITIVENESS OF THE ECONOMY

Taras VASYLTSIV

Professor at the Department of Social and Humanitarian Development of the Regions, Dolishniy Institute of Regional Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Lviv, Ukraine;

tgvas77@ukr.net

Olha MULSKA

Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Social and Humanitarian Development of the Regions, Dolishniy Institute of Regional Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Lviv, Ukraine

oliochka.mulska@gmail.com

Volodymyr PANCHENKO

Professor at the Department of Pedagogy and Management of Education, Volodymyr Vynnychenko Central Ukrainian State Pedagogical University, Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine

op_panchenko@ukr.net

Maryana KOHUT

Associate Professor at the Department of International Economic Relations and Marketing, Lviv National Agrarian University, Dubliany, Ukraine

maryana_kohut@i.ua

Volodymyr ZAYCHENKO

Associate Professor at the Faculty of Economics and Management, Central Ukrainian National Technical University, Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine

zaichenko.v78@gmail.com

Olha LEVYTSKA

Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Social and Humanitarian Development of the Regions, Dolishniy Institute of Regional Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Lviv, Ukraine

o.levytska@gmail.com

Abstract

The methodology of integral assessment of the technological competitiveness state of the economy has been developed, which includes a system of indicators in the areas of the country’s readiness for economy digitization, the quality of innovation activity institutions, the state of digital knowledge dissemination. The integral values of technological competitiveness of the economy for the countries of the European Union and Ukraine have been calculated. A dynamic grouping of countries according to the level of technological competitiveness of the economy has been carried out. Modelling the impact of the parameters of technological competitiveness of the national economy on the basic parameters of social and economic development such as GDP per capita, share of high-tech exports, capital investment and quality of life of population has been realized. The strategic priorities and means of introduction of the collective contractual organizational and institutional system for providing technologization in the processes of social and economic growth of the country (the casestudy of Ukraine) are substantiated.

Keywords: innovation and technological development, competitiveness of the social and economic system, economic integration, prerequisites, factors of technologization

JEL classification: O32, O38, O47, C18, C51

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