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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ASSESSMENT OF INNOVATIVE POTENTIAL AS A CRITERION FOR EVOLUTION OF THE MESOECONOMIC SYSTEM

Olga MYZROVA

D.Sc. in Economics, Professor; Department of Economic Security and Innovation Development, Yuri Gagarin State Technical University of Saratov, Saratov, Russia

myzrova.stus@bk.ru

Larisa SERDYUKOVA

D.Sc. in Economics, Professor; Department of Economic Security and Innovation Development, Yuri Gagarin State Technical University of Saratov, Saratov, Russia

serdyukova.stus@ro.ru

Elena LABAZNOVA

Ph.D. in Economics, Associate Professor; Director of Institute of Social and Production Management, Yuri Gagarin State Technical University of Saratov, Saratov, Russia

labaznova.stus@ro.ru

Abstract

Under current conditions of economic development a constant and timely research into the ongoing internal and external changes, affecting the accumulation of innovative potential, as well as degree of its utilization, will speed up the processes connected with upgrading competitive advantages and economic growth rate. The aim of the work is offer methodological tools employed to estimate the innovative potential of the mesoeconomic system as a criterion which ensures development in a given direction. The results of research proved that the ability and determination to develop innovative activity is determined by the accumulated aggregate potential of the mesoeconomic system as a whole, which can be estimated across the sections including infrastructure and legal regulations, innovation and production, education and research, as well as finance and investment. The results of research were tested based on the analysis of innovation potential of Saratov region as a mesoeconomic system.

Keywords: Innovation potential, infrastructure and law, production and innovation, scientific and educational, investment and finance

JEL classification: O10, O52

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HOW CITIES IN INDIA CAN ATTRACT MORE RURAL POPULATION?

Sabyasachi TRIPATHI

Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge. National Research University Higher School of Economics, 11 Myasnitskaya St., 101000, Moscow, Russia

sabya.tripathi@gmail.com

Abstract

The low level of rural to urban migration needs to boost up for a higher rate of urbanization and economic development in India.  In this paper, we use cross-section data models to investigate the relevant determinants of rural to urban migration at the city level in India in 2001. City-level analyses show that employment opportunities and availability of infrastructure facilities pull people from rural areas to urban areas; however, a higher level of living cost, poverty, and inequality discourage migration. India’s abundant rural resources such as land and labor need to reallocate to the urban areas to increase productivity and economic growth. In this context, we suggest that management of poverty, inequality, job creation, provision of better infrastructural facilities are essential at the city level to promoting rural to urban migration in India.

Keywords: Urbanization, rural to urban migration, urban economic growth, India

JEL classification: R12, O10, O15

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