F47 – Regional Science Inquiry

Panagiota DIONYSOPOULOU

Director of General Directorate of Tertiary Education, Ministry of Education, Greece

yoldi63@gmail.com

Abstract

As technical efficiency enhancement becomes an increasingly important issue within Europe and worldwide, policy planning should draw attention towards a wide range of production ideas, component technologies and complementary socio-economic capabilities. Within this framework, it is rather difficult for any single economy to incorporate and take advantage of the relevant technological advances in economy, as well as the underlying conditions in innovation and education investments. This means that the actions of policy planning involve the targeted development of specialized knowledge assets, which are integrated from a wider range of investment areas. This paper analyses, through a benchmarking approach, investment in innovation and education in Europe, creating a spectrum of policy implications.

Keywords: Productive Efficiency, Innovation, Education, Investments

JEL classification: F13, F47, F15, R15
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Lucie COUFALOVÁ

Specialist, Faculty of Business and Administration, Masaryk University, Czech Republic

174064@mail.muni.cz

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to identify the main determinants of Scotland’s foreign trade and, above all, the EU’s role in the volume of the country’s exports, as its EU membership is one of the key arguments in the political discourse about independence. The article highlights the results of opinion polls in the country, as well as the relationship between economic integration and political disintegration. The methodological approach adopted is the gravity model of international trade. Given the large number of zero flows present in the data sample, the Tobit model proved to be a more suitable technique for the estimation. The Random effects model estimates are also provided in order to prove the robustness of the estimates. The results of the study allow for more substantiated conclusions about the main determinants of Scotland’s foreign trade, as well as they provide arguments for discussing the implications of Scottish independence.

Keywords: Scotland, independence, European Union, international trade, gravity model

JEL classification: F13, F47, F15, R15

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Aikaterini KOKKINOU

Higher Hellenic Military Academy

aikaterinikokkinou@gmail.com

George KORRES

Department of Geography, University of the Aegean

gkorres@geo.aegean.gr