The aim of the paper is to determine the place of Poland in global value chains and to indicate the role played in them by Polish enterprises. This was achieved using traditional indicators of GVC links, i.e., the share of foreign value added in domestic exports (FVA) and the domestic value added embodied in the export of other countries (IVA). Other data available in the OECD TiVA database as well as the results of surveys of Polish enterprises were also taken into account. The study shows that Poland has slightly weaker connections inGVCcompared to the other countries in our region. Foreign value added accounts for only one third of Polish exports, and Polish added value used in the export of our trading partners is a quarter of Polish exports.

The aim  of the  paper is to assess  the  conditions of international technology transfer in low- developed economies and the possibility  of its dynamism through the use of appropriate institu- tional factors. The implementation of this objective  required critical analysis  of the subject litera- ture and a number of studies carried  out in low-developed countries. The conducted assessment indicated that  the ability of enterprises to transfer technology is one of the indicators of innova- tion in the aspect  of a faster process  of technological convergence. Thus, the creation and  use of conditions for technology transfer is of special importance through the increase  in R&D outlays, the development of institutional infrastructure, and the creation of cooperation networks includ- ing international economic entities.  Abandoning this type of activities, especially  in the era of in- creasing    openness  and   economic  liberalization,  may   slow   down  the   reduction  in   the development gap  of the  low-developed countries.

The paper analyses and evaluates the activities currently undertaken by the EU institutions and member states in the area of migration and asylum. Domestic and foreign scientific papers and press materials, reports of international organizations dealing with migration and refugees, and statistical data from the Eurostat, Frontex, and International Organization for Migration data- bases were used for the research. Has Europe in fact become besieged (by migrants), becoming “Fortress Europe”, or has the so-called “Open Door Policy” towards the refugees and migrants coming to Europe from the Middle East and North Africa succeeded? How did the EU institutions and member states react to the crisis? Searching for answers to these questions leads to a reflection that the current migration movements show the extent to which the basic European ideas and values are (not) respected in the time of the greatest migration wave since the turn of the 1930s and 1940s.

The aim of the theoretical part of the paper is to determine the role of institutions in shaping the competitiveness of natural resource-based economies in international trade. The aim of its empirical part is to discuss this issue on the example of Azerbaijan, while analysing its economy’s competitive position in contemporary international trade. To this end, two indicators were applied: Balassa’s Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) Index and the Lafay Index (LFI) of international trade specialization. A general conclusion to be drawn from the analysis is that in countries with natural resource-based economies, institutions sensu largo have a considerable, and mostly negative, impact on their international trade competitiveness. In the case of Azerbaijan, the existing institutional environment, despite the changes undertaken, does not allow to expect any significant improvement of the country’s present low international competitiveness in the near future. This, in turn, will further reinforce the natural resource-based character of Azerbaijan’s economy, making its future growth highly dependent on price developments in international natural resource markets.

The unprecedented rise of China attracts worldwide attention due to the scale of changes as well as the speed at which they occur. Growing economic power has allowed China to undertake economic and financial cooperation with many countries on all continents, Africa included. The Chinese engagement in Africa covers extensive trade relations, outward direct investment of private and public companies, as well as development assistance and a rising number of contracted projects. Beijing’s drive for African natural resources remains a key determinant factor accompanied by other drivers of political or social provenience. The paper presents the China–Africa economic partnership in different sectors based on an analysis of available datasets.

The Pacific region is confronted with many challenges that determine its importance in international relations. The aim of the study is to analyse the possibilities of cooperation of countries in this region – geographically close but with different historical experiences and differing in terms of socio-political and economic systems at the time of instability of US politics. Changes in this pol- icy are a source of turbulence in the region and transregional relations. In interdisciplinary economic and legal research we use methods of economic qualitative and quantitative analysis as well as legal methods of studies on international institutions. We positively verify the thesis that lasting and deep regional and transregional cooperation is determined by the representation of common values, and geographic proximity alone is not enough for such cooperation to take place. The barrier for the cooperation may be the inability to work through the past experience and in- stability, resulting from the changes in US policy.

The study concerned the assessment of the diversity of the level of social order in the context of sustainable development in the districts of Lithuania in 2006–2016. The use of the linear ordering method allowed to present the dynamics and the trend of changes in the examined period. By constructing synthetic measures of social order for Lithuania’s districts, the Hellwig method compared the positions of districts due to the level of social order achieved. Overall, the level of sustainable development in the social dimension for Lithuania’s districts in 2006–2016 increased. There was also an increase in the diversity of the level of sustainable development between the districts. The lowest level of sustainable development in the social dimension for the majority of districts was recorded in 2009–2010 and 2014–2015. The highest development of the social sphere in the analysed period was recorded in the Vilniaus district, and a medium-high level in districts Kauno and Klaipedos. The study uses data from the Lithuanian Statistics Department.

So far, broadly-understood economic diplomacy has rarely been addressed in Polish literature. Considering that at least for several decades the organisation of diplomacy has played an increasingly important role in the development of international economic links, it seems justified to view the issue from the perspective of Poland. The article attempts to give structure to a certain chaos in definitions. Its significant contribution seems to be the presentation of major findings from the analysis aimed at outlining the origin and evolution of the organisational model of economic diplomacy in Poland, with a special focus on the period of transition. The study is based on the hypothesis that, in spite of various efforts to adjust the organisational model, tasks, and functions of economic diplomacy to the requirements of the modern economic environment, it is still difficult to speak of its organisational consistency and measurable business-oriented effectiveness. The article ends with a summary of the most important conclusions from the analysis performed.

The aim of the study is to verify the existence of spatial autocorrelation among the EU NUTS 2 regions in the case of R&D intensity. Three research methods were used, namely literature studies, analysis of data on the share of expenditure on R&D in regional GDP, and Moran I statistics which is the basic measure of spatial dependencies between observations in the geographical space. The study showed that there exists neither global nor local spatial autocorrelation based on the inverse geographical distance among NUTS 2. However, it was found that there is a weak positive spatial autocorrelation based on having a common border both globally and locally. Two clusters have been identified in the European space (covering three regions in Belgium and five regions in Germany). In view of the significant spatial disparities between EU regions, the occurrence of clusters is a rare phenomenon. For the establishment of a cluster of regions with high R&D intensity, it is necessary to have metropolitan centers with extensive academic and research infrastructure, developed business strongly involved in R&D, and regional specialization in similar highly knowledge-intensive industries.

The aim of the paper is to reveal the impact of digitization on the scope of non-equity modes (NEMs) in the internationalization process, its barriers and benefits. The study uses a descriptive method and the results of a survey conducted in the group of Polish IT producers. The research shows that NEMs do not affect the internationalization of Polish IT producers significantly. This is due to the fact that enterprises do not see the benefits of business digitization in foreign expan- sion, but also to the specificity of the sector (low capital opportunities and little international experience). Business relationship networks created through indirect export (the leading form of expansion among the surveyed companies) together with the use of digital environment can provide conditions for the development of non-equity forms in their foreign expansion.

The main aim of the paper is to identify trade policy measures and barriers in e-commerce. The analysis took account of the actions and regulations typical of traditional trade policy and new barriers related to the technology on which cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) is based. The addi- tional objective is to illustrate the coordination activities undertaken by governments at the international level and the contribution of international organizations to the harmonization of CBEC regulations. The study reviews literature form the Scopus, Ebsco, ProQest, and Web of Knowledge databases. The actions of international organizations were studied and legislative acts and other documents issued by them were analysed. All information and research results were syn- thesized and numerous detailed findings provided. The overall conclusion is that still much has to be done to establish a system of rules conducive to long-standing CBEC growth, which requires much further research and is very complicated as it requires not only introducing free trade rules in traditional meaning but also providing open and safe use of ICT.

The aim of the paper is to evaluate the proliferation of protectionist policies after the economic crisis of 2008–2009. The spread of protectionism is to be expected in times of recession. The paper presents the use of both traditional trade barriers (tariffs and other border measures) as well as regulatory barriers (behind-the-border measures) in 2009–2017. The lack of progress in multilateral trade negotiations and stagnation in the development of regional trade agreements are also indicated as specific manifestations of a protectionist approach to trade policy. The impact of protectionism on trade seems vague, but what is obvious is a gradual increase in protectionism, in particular during the past 3 years. This is accompanied by a spreading of non-tariff barriers, in particular subsidies (export and domestic), trade remedies, and localization requirements.

The paper analyses the feasibility of a common currency for the East African Community (EAC), which comprises Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. The paper discusses theoretical insights on the benefits and costs of a common currency. It then uses the introduction of the common European currency, the euro, as a potential yardstick to assess the feasibility of a common currency in East Africa. The paper analyses the readiness of the EAC’s economies for a common currency as measured by relevant indicators. It concludes that some caveats are in order with regard to the feasibility of a common East African currency at the present point in time. It also warns that expectations of the development impact of a common currency should not be too high, as the example of the euro shows that the real outcome in terms of trade facilitation and consumer welfare is much lower than expected.

The main goal of the paper is to evaluate the extent of production de-fragmentation and its impact on the world trade flows slowdown in 2008–2015. Financial and economic crisis of 2008–2009 resulted in a deepest breakdown of world trade after World War II. The subsequent economic boom was not reflected in the growth rates of world exports. One of the mentioned reasons of trade stagnation is the weakening of the connections within the global value chains. The results of the analysis conclude that the biggest impact on the declining share of foreign value added in global trade and, as a consequence, decreasing income elasticity of exports stems from changes in Chinese specialization and, in particular, the growing share of domestic input in Chinese exports

Factors which attract international capital flows are highlighted in the world literature in particular for foreign direct investment. For portfolio investment, these factors are considered to be more difficult to define and less binding because of the speculative character of the capital. The paper attempts to define the factors attracting capital in the form of portfolio investments to Poland in the years 2000–2015, with particular emphasis on the period of the international financial crisis. It is important to compare the effects of the inflow of portfolio investments to the Polish market to foreign direct investment in order to specify what actions should be undertaken to increase the attractiveness of the Polish market for portfolio investment.

The aim of the paper was to assess the competitiveness of Lithuanian trade with non-EU countries during the years 2005–2016. This assessment was based on three outcome measures determining the position of a country in foreign trade: revealed comparative advantage, import coverage, and the intensity of intra-industry trade. Indicators were estimated for all commodity sections. The analysis used data from the Lithuanian Statistics Department and Eurostat. The study shows that Lithuania has a weak competitive position in trade with third countries only in two groups of commodities: raw materials and mineral fuels.

The paper examines the size and structure of global trade in services and their share in Poland’s balance of payments. Particular attention was paid to export and import of transport services. The main purpose of the paper was to prove the importance of transport services in Polish foreign trade. Statistical data on Polish and world trade were analysed to achieve this goal. In addition, descriptive methods (analysis of literature) as well as general research methods and principles of scientific reasoning were used. The conducted research allowed to state that both in world trade and in Polish foreign trade the share of services increases, while the share of services in the Polish foreign trade turnover is by a few percent lower than the world average. It was also indicated that, in contrast to the trends in world trade, there was an increase in export and import of transport services in Poland. The balance of transport services in the Polish balance of payments is positive. The surplus of export over the import of road transport services constitutes a major contribution to the good result. This proves that Polish road transport is highly competitive.

For almost seven decades, the rules determining the dividend policy of companies have been the subject of interest of researchers worldwide. Due to the variety of factors influencing managers’ decisions on dividend payouts, the issue has been named “the dividend puzzle”. The following research focuses on two determinants of dividend policy – research and development activity and government ownership of companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange over the period 1992–2016. We utilize a non-parametric statistical approach to financial data obtained from 296 companies to verify how both factors are related to the dividend policy of companies. We find that both R&D activity and government ownership have an adverse impact on dividend payouts. The first section of the paper presents the literature review and research hypotheses. The second section presents utilized methods and the data sample. Section three shows the obtained results, and finally, the last section summarizes the research.

Changes in the global economy, including the extension of production chains, influenced the size and commercial structure of EU countries. The aim of the paper is to analyse the changes in trade measured in traditional and value added way in EU countries by selected industrial sectors in the years 1995–2014. The study used data from the TiVA database to show changes in value added trade. The analysis showed increasing differences in trade data measured in traditional and value added way and the growing role of global value chains.

The aim of the paper is to identify the differences in international students’ perception of sources of private wealth resulting from their country-specific experience. In particular, it was interesting to see whether there would be significant differences in the opinions of students representing well- established economies and those from post-socialist or transition economies. The results of this study are based on the qualitative directed content analysis of 106 essays titled What are the main private wealth drivers in your country? written by students from Poland, Austria, Russia, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, and Ukraine. The most significant discrepancies referred to the role of inheritance and the importance of labour income in the process of private wealth accumulation. Inheritance was indicated as a strong wealth driver by all students from developed economies while being almost totally ignored by others. The significance of income from employment was also seen differently by the two groups. Country-specific opinions referred to private business areas and the way business should be conducted. Insightful impact was brought by numerous critical observations of local market dys- functions, expressed spontaneously by students from post-socialist countries.

The main objective of the paper is an evaluation of the usefulness of comprehensive income for finance management of Polish and German public companies. An important element of the research was a comparative analysis of the form of presentation of comprehensive income and its components and an analysis of the scale and diversity of other comprehensive income in comparison to net profit from the point of view of its share in equity and total capital. The research covers joint-stock companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (included in the WIG30 index) and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (included in the DAX index) (data for 15 January 2018). Empirical data was obtained from annual financial statements (from 2009 to 2016) from Thomson Reuters database. Diversified variants of presentation and terminology of comprehensive income and its components have been identified. The results of the research indicate that the importance of other comprehensive income in comparison to net profit, as part of equity and total capital, was insignificant. However, significantly higher usefulness of comprehensive income in German companies has been observed.

The internationalization of the Chinese currency remains one of the most vital characteristics of the contemporary international monetary system. The objective of the paper is to analyse the role of state in the internationalization of the renminbi. The paper assumes that this process is to a sig nificant extent a government-led, as opposed to the market-led internationalization characteristic for most key international currencies. It demonstrates the criteria of national currency internationalization and evaluates their fulfilment in the case of China. It also discusses the benefits of currency internationalization and their role in determining the Chinese strategy aimed at making the renminbi an international currency. The methods applied include, in particular, comparative analysis, descriptive statistics, and literature study. The article indicates that the Chinese state plays an important role in the internationalization of the renminbi. The strategy of renminbi inter nationalization includes promoting trade settlement and foreign direct investment settlement in renminbi as well as establishing offshore centres for renminbi and bilateral swap agreements with central banks of other countries.

Companies conducting IPO in European countries make a voluntary decision regarding the disclosure of earnings forecast in prospectus. Using a sample of 651 companies that conducted IPO on EU-regulated markets between 2010 and 2016, we investigate the popularity of decisions on revealing financial forecasts in prospectus and address the questions regarding the type and accuracy of such forecasts. We find that only 12.58% of companies voluntarily included their financial forecasts in the IPO prospectus, and the scope of the disclosed information is diversified. Most commonly prospectuses include projections of sales revenues, net profits, and EBITDA. Our results give evidence that financial projections are over-optimistic and not accurate.

The expansion of business activity outside the domestic market is connected to an increasing risk and uncertainty of the undertaken actions, hence the need to collect and process information on the new markets in a professional way. Cultural intelligence provides an interesting perspective into how one can perceive international marketing research. The paper is an attempt to answer the question of what is the meaning of particular components of cultural intelligence regarding different stages of marketing research in the international context. The concept of CQ is presented as a structure of interrelated components and assumptions have been formulated on the significance of applying those components in the process of international marketing research.

The aim of the paper is to study empirically the determinants of the activity of multinational OECD enterprises in Poland in the period 1990–2015 using the negative binomial model without and with accounting for individual fixed and random effects for particular home countries. The research is conducted with reference to the so-called new theory of the multinational enterprise (NTME) that allows to derive a number of empirically testable hypotheses and distinguish between horizontal and vertical motives for undertaking foreign direct investment (FDI). The assembled empirical evidence shows that Poland attracts both horizontal and vertical investment motivated by host country market access and cost reduction motives, respectively. In addition, empirical evidence shows that multinational enterprises from the EU are more involved in production activity in Poland compared to investors from other OECD countries.

The aim of the paper is to identify the problems faced by students when writing different types of texts in professional life. The study is based on a qualitative 5-question survey conducted at the Turku University of Applied Sciences and on the analysis of the results of a writing course. The survey revealed that students have difficulties in distinguishing various types of texts. They were mostly familiar with literary genres and texts which they were required to write in the course of their studies, such as reports and blogposts. They knew that they needed good writing skills and were aware of their difficulties in producing different types of texts. Few students realized that they would need the ability to write several types of texts in professional life. The major writing problems included inaccuracy of the idea, unaddressed message, incoherence of style, and failure to take the reader into account. Many students seemed to lack planning, writing, and editing skills. They need to improve their style, knowledge of the different types of texts, and ability to evaluate the information sources. Discussing the subsequent versions of texts helped the students to find their personal voice as authors, which, if it corresponds to the company values, could serve to enhance the company brand.

The paper aims to present recent trends in global trade and investment in advanced business services (ABS). Special attention is given to the position of Visegrád countries in international movements of services and associated activities. The research method applied in the study is the statistical analysis of aggregate data on trade and foreign direct investment (FDI). The data were extracted from the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) databases. The main finding is that services are still less traded than merchandise. Still, knowledge-intensive services are gaining importance as their share in trade of services reaches 15%. As a result of the study, major problems with data regarding services were identified. The results confirm the global importance of the services based on knowledge. This is significant, as ABS create a narrow group of specialized services. Importantly, ABS are quite inclusive and many emerging economies become global providers of such services.

Given the challenges of the present day, the importance of knowledge about ecologisation of consumption and the possibilities of stimulating its development is increasing. Although a lot of studies have been conducted in this area, there is a need to intensify and extend them to new contexts in order to explain the behaviour of consumers of green products and identify barriers to ecologisation of consumption. The goal of the paper is to present the determinants that shape and differentiate the behaviour of the consumers of eco-products as well as to identify the resulting implications for further marketing research on ecologisation of consumption. The paper is based on in-depth literature studies and the authors’ own empirical research of qualitative and quantita- tive nature, which allowed to identify the types of consumers of green products in Poland. Inte- grating the results of other research and the authors’ own case studies allowed to develop a proposal for a model approach to the studies of stimulants and destimulants of ecologisation of consumption that applies triangulation of approaches and research methods in order to provide a more detailed explanation of inconsistencies in the behaviour of consumers of green products.

The aim of the paper is to present the impact of innovations on the competitiveness of Polish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and to analyse the trends in implementing innovations in the sector of Polish SMEs in 2012–2015 in eight areas of operation: new products or services, new approach to customer service, expansion into new geographic markets, significant changes of the existing offer, significant organizational changes, changes in technology or method of production of goods or services, marketing innovations, and changes in distribution methods. The method of direct interview was used to collect data from the respondents representing the SME sector. Data have been analysed using correspondence analysis which allowed to build a model summarizing the results of the correspondence between groups of enterprises and types of innovations.

The developing process of globalization causes increasing migration of people which in turn leads to greater cultural diversity of societies. The most mobile generations include those named Y and Z, that is, people born in the 1980s and 1990s. Representatives of the latter, undertaking studies in other countries within the framework of the Erasmus program, are the subject of research con- ducted in the paper. Due to the fact that cultural intelligence is a dynamic category and can be de- veloped, it was considered worth examining whether the Erasmus program has an impact on the level of students’ CQ. The aim of the paper is to verify the research hypothesis assuming that even one semester spent in another country and additionally in the group of other Erasmus program participants can contribute to the development of cultural intelligence. It was assumed that if the hypothesis is true, the level of their CQ, measured by Expanded Cultural Intelligence Scale, should be higher at the end of their stay than it was at the beginning. In addition to the presenta- tion of the results of the empirical study, source literature was analysed and descriptive method was used. The examined population included students of the Erasmus program studying at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Gdańsk in the winter semester 2017/2018. The obtained results showed an increase in their CQ level and thus enabled a positive verification of the re- search hypothesis.

The aim of this study is to enrich the understanding of the role of organizational learning from international experience in developing company’s relational competence (RC) and achieving desired outcomes of IORs. The research is qualitative, performed on a sample of 253 companies with diverse cooperative experience in non-capital IORs. Statistica and SPSS.22 software was used for Spearman correlation, mediation, and dominance analyses with bootstrapping. The results reveal positive impact of relational experience on company’s outcomes in IORs and the mediating role of relational competence. Experience in IORs affects relational competence, but companies should pay attention to the value of the gathered experience. Contrary to expectations, experience in international cooperation, although significant, is not the strongest predictor of RC. This implies the need for cautiousness and strategic thinking when building company’s portfolio of relationships in search for valuable knowledge and development opportunities.

The aim of the paper is to present the correlations between relational capital and internationalization of SMEs. Empirical research was conducted in Poland on a stratified, randomly selected sample of 1,346 SMEs. The research results show that a positive, statistically significant correlation exists between the size and the quality of relational capital on the one hand, and export and import activities of SMEs on the other. Larger volume and higher quality of relational capital increases the probability of SME internationalization. The research findings could be used in government export promotion activities.

The competitiveness of a nation is associated with a set of characteristics that enable structural adjustments to global technological trends and improvement of living standards. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the competitiveness of Poland and Slovakia (in the EU since 2004) versus Bulgaria and Romania (in the EU since 2007) through the prism of their exports structure convergence to Germany, the strongest EU economy, in the years 2000–2014. The empirical analysis is based on Balassa’s [1965] concept of Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) and conducted in a dynamic perspective. We use the UN trade statistics in the International Trade Classification (SITC), Rev. 3, with the exported goods grouped along their factor-intensities, following the methodology developed by Wysokińska [1997]. Within the analysed period, the catching-up economies have, to some extent, evolved towards knowledge-based economies, but not all of them with the same intensity and for the same commodity groups. Their competitive position in the exports of low-tech goods (i.e., resource- and labour-intensive) has not changed. The hypothesis that countries most lagging behind Germany at the beginning of the analysed period have undergone the largest adjustment (exports specialization convergence) appears true only in the case of Romania.

Countries forming an integration grouping set different objectives. The leading goals include accelerating economic growth, ensuring further socio-economic development of the member states, creating welfare, and increasing the standard of living. The aim of the paper is to discuss the impact of the functioning of NAFTA on socio-economic disparities within this group and to indicate changes taking place in the field of cohesion after the financial and economic crisis. The development of the regions of the NAFTA countries was also affected by the crisis. In the case of functioning in a given integration grouping, it is necessary to strengthen economic policies of individual member states to ensure cohesion, especially its social dimension. The following research methods have been used in the paper: critical analysis of source literature and analysis of statistical data.

The creation of the eurozone is the implementation of one of the most important challenges of the European economic integration. From the very beginning, the project of creating a monetary union of the European Union countries aroused much controversy. It intensified after the outbreak of the debt crisis in the eurozone. The objective of this study is to evaluate the role of the euro as an international currency and assess selected proposals that focus on improving the functioning of the single European currency area. The study is based on the analysis of relevant reports of the European Central Bank and research by foreign specialists. Despite the sovereign debt crisis in the euro area, the euro remains the second most important currency in international economic relations. The authors are convinced that the euro area needs to be repaired, but none of the ideas al- ready submitted has a chance to be implemented. Therefore, the search for compromise solutions is needed. The authors reject the proposal to return to the national currencies of both indebted eurozone countries and Germany with huge balance of payments surplus.

Taking into account that the UK is a net payer to the EU budget, the implications of Brexit will be far reaching. The objective of this paper is to assess the possible level of Brexit gap and types of its implications for the EU budget, with particular emphasis on its effects for Poland. The analysis covers mainly the period after 2020, when the new Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021–2027 will come into force. The basis for the analysis is the data on the EU budget, the prelimi- nary agreement between the EU and the UK of the end of 2017, and the documents proposed for the MFF 2021–2027 as presented by the European Commission in the middle of 2018. Brexit creates a risk of structural reduction of the EU budget revenue after 2020 because of the decrease of the absolute size of GNI of EU-27 (in a situation when there is a ceiling of own resources expressed as a percent of EU GNI) and the opposition of net payers to increase the budget. In order to pre- vent such a situation, the set of legal proposals covering the MFF 2021–2027 provides for both new resources of financing the EU budget and cuts of expenditures in two areas: cohesion and agricultural policies, that is, in two areas in which Poland is at present a big beneficiary.

The aim of this study is to review selected effects of regional market integration in theoretical terms. In contemporary conditions, when the processes of regional integration are increasingly challenged, this study will be a kind of return to the roots of regional economic integration. It covers a free trade area, a customs union, and a common market, for which selected effects of economic integration are presented. The literature indicates various, but not always positive, effects of market integration. As a set of factors motivates decisions concerning engagement in integration processes, it is worth pointing out objective economic effects as the basis for rational political decisions. In order to achieve the aim of the study, a critical review of literature published since the mid-20th century and a descriptive method have been used.

A distinctive feature of the integration processes taking place in the modern economy is the growing function of expanded free trade areas (FTA+). The aim of the paper is to characterise their nature and framework, with the starting point being the definition of a free trade area created by Balassa. In this context, the author examines the difference between the traditional definition of a free trade area and the features of FTA+. In doing so, he uses selected TTIP issues that go beyond the classical definition of a free trade area. This also applies to the flow of capital and financial services, as well as the potential impact of TTIP on international payment imbalance.

The basic goal of European integration is to even out the development level of member states and regions. The aim of the paper is to examine the economic and social cohesion of Lithuania's districts (apskritis) in the period after joining the EU. To achieve this goal, the following methods were used: descriptive statistics and analysis of the volatility index and convergence indicators. The survey is based on statistical data of the Department of Statistics of Lithuania and includes such variables as GDP per capita for districts, employment and unemployment rate, FDI per capita, income disparities, and demographic situation. The research shows that for most economic and social indicators the coefficient of variation had an increasing trend, which means worsening cohesion. This was confirmed by studies on beta and sigma convergence, which showed the minimal values of both convergences. These results testify to the erroneous principles of establishing the districts. As of 1 January 2018, Lithuania transformed this structure into two regions: the Capi- tal Region and the Region of Central and Western Lithuania.

The aim of the paper is to determine the place of Poland in global value chains and to indicate the role played in them by Polish enterprises. This was achieved using traditional indicators of GVC links, i.e., the share of foreign value added in domestic exports (FVA) and the domestic value added embodied in the export of other countries (IVA). Other data available in the OECD TiVA database as well as the results of surveys of Polish enterprises were also taken into account. The study shows that Poland has slightly weaker connections inGVCcompared to the other countries in our region. Foreign value added accounts for only one third of Polish exports, and Polish added value used in the export of our trading partners is a quarter of Polish exports.

The aim  of the  paper is to assess  the  conditions of international technology transfer in low- developed economies and the possibility  of its dynamism through the use of appropriate institu- tional factors. The implementation of this objective  required critical analysis  of the subject litera- ture and a number of studies carried  out in low-developed countries. The conducted assessment indicated that  the ability of enterprises to transfer technology is one of the indicators of innova- tion in the aspect  of a faster process  of technological convergence. Thus, the creation and  use of conditions for technology transfer is of special importance through the increase  in R&D outlays, the development of institutional infrastructure, and the creation of cooperation networks includ- ing international economic entities.  Abandoning this type of activities, especially  in the era of in- creasing    openness  and   economic  liberalization,  may   slow   down  the   reduction  in   the development gap  of the  low-developed countries.

The paper analyses and evaluates the activities currently undertaken by the EU institutions and member states in the area of migration and asylum. Domestic and foreign scientific papers and press materials, reports of international organizations dealing with migration and refugees, and statistical data from the Eurostat, Frontex, and International Organization for Migration data- bases were used for the research. Has Europe in fact become besieged (by migrants), becoming “Fortress Europe”, or has the so-called “Open Door Policy” towards the refugees and migrants coming to Europe from the Middle East and North Africa succeeded? How did the EU institutions and member states react to the crisis? Searching for answers to these questions leads to a reflection that the current migration movements show the extent to which the basic European ideas and values are (not) respected in the time of the greatest migration wave since the turn of the 1930s and 1940s.

The aim of the theoretical part of the paper is to determine the role of institutions in shaping the competitiveness of natural resource-based economies in international trade. The aim of its empirical part is to discuss this issue on the example of Azerbaijan, while analysing its economy’s competitive position in contemporary international trade. To this end, two indicators were applied: Balassa’s Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) Index and the Lafay Index (LFI) of international trade specialization. A general conclusion to be drawn from the analysis is that in countries with natural resource-based economies, institutions sensu largo have a considerable, and mostly negative, impact on their international trade competitiveness. In the case of Azerbaijan, the existing institutional environment, despite the changes undertaken, does not allow to expect any significant improvement of the country’s present low international competitiveness in the near future. This, in turn, will further reinforce the natural resource-based character of Azerbaijan’s economy, making its future growth highly dependent on price developments in international natural resource markets.

The unprecedented rise of China attracts worldwide attention due to the scale of changes as well as the speed at which they occur. Growing economic power has allowed China to undertake economic and financial cooperation with many countries on all continents, Africa included. The Chinese engagement in Africa covers extensive trade relations, outward direct investment of private and public companies, as well as development assistance and a rising number of contracted projects. Beijing’s drive for African natural resources remains a key determinant factor accompanied by other drivers of political or social provenience. The paper presents the China–Africa economic partnership in different sectors based on an analysis of available datasets.

The Pacific region is confronted with many challenges that determine its importance in international relations. The aim of the study is to analyse the possibilities of cooperation of countries in this region – geographically close but with different historical experiences and differing in terms of socio-political and economic systems at the time of instability of US politics. Changes in this pol- icy are a source of turbulence in the region and transregional relations. In interdisciplinary economic and legal research we use methods of economic qualitative and quantitative analysis as well as legal methods of studies on international institutions. We positively verify the thesis that lasting and deep regional and transregional cooperation is determined by the representation of common values, and geographic proximity alone is not enough for such cooperation to take place. The barrier for the cooperation may be the inability to work through the past experience and in- stability, resulting from the changes in US policy.

The study concerned the assessment of the diversity of the level of social order in the context of sustainable development in the districts of Lithuania in 2006–2016. The use of the linear ordering method allowed to present the dynamics and the trend of changes in the examined period. By constructing synthetic measures of social order for Lithuania’s districts, the Hellwig method compared the positions of districts due to the level of social order achieved. Overall, the level of sustainable development in the social dimension for Lithuania’s districts in 2006–2016 increased. There was also an increase in the diversity of the level of sustainable development between the districts. The lowest level of sustainable development in the social dimension for the majority of districts was recorded in 2009–2010 and 2014–2015. The highest development of the social sphere in the analysed period was recorded in the Vilniaus district, and a medium-high level in districts Kauno and Klaipedos. The study uses data from the Lithuanian Statistics Department.

So far, broadly-understood economic diplomacy has rarely been addressed in Polish literature. Considering that at least for several decades the organisation of diplomacy has played an increasingly important role in the development of international economic links, it seems justified to view the issue from the perspective of Poland. The article attempts to give structure to a certain chaos in definitions. Its significant contribution seems to be the presentation of major findings from the analysis aimed at outlining the origin and evolution of the organisational model of economic diplomacy in Poland, with a special focus on the period of transition. The study is based on the hypothesis that, in spite of various efforts to adjust the organisational model, tasks, and functions of economic diplomacy to the requirements of the modern economic environment, it is still difficult to speak of its organisational consistency and measurable business-oriented effectiveness. The article ends with a summary of the most important conclusions from the analysis performed.

The aim of the study is to verify the existence of spatial autocorrelation among the EU NUTS 2 regions in the case of R&D intensity. Three research methods were used, namely literature studies, analysis of data on the share of expenditure on R&D in regional GDP, and Moran I statistics which is the basic measure of spatial dependencies between observations in the geographical space. The study showed that there exists neither global nor local spatial autocorrelation based on the inverse geographical distance among NUTS 2. However, it was found that there is a weak positive spatial autocorrelation based on having a common border both globally and locally. Two clusters have been identified in the European space (covering three regions in Belgium and five regions in Germany). In view of the significant spatial disparities between EU regions, the occurrence of clusters is a rare phenomenon. For the establishment of a cluster of regions with high R&D intensity, it is necessary to have metropolitan centers with extensive academic and research infrastructure, developed business strongly involved in R&D, and regional specialization in similar highly knowledge-intensive industries.

The aim of the paper is to reveal the impact of digitization on the scope of non-equity modes (NEMs) in the internationalization process, its barriers and benefits. The study uses a descriptive method and the results of a survey conducted in the group of Polish IT producers. The research shows that NEMs do not affect the internationalization of Polish IT producers significantly. This is due to the fact that enterprises do not see the benefits of business digitization in foreign expan- sion, but also to the specificity of the sector (low capital opportunities and little international experience). Business relationship networks created through indirect export (the leading form of expansion among the surveyed companies) together with the use of digital environment can provide conditions for the development of non-equity forms in their foreign expansion.

The main aim of the paper is to identify trade policy measures and barriers in e-commerce. The analysis took account of the actions and regulations typical of traditional trade policy and new barriers related to the technology on which cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) is based. The addi- tional objective is to illustrate the coordination activities undertaken by governments at the international level and the contribution of international organizations to the harmonization of CBEC regulations. The study reviews literature form the Scopus, Ebsco, ProQest, and Web of Knowledge databases. The actions of international organizations were studied and legislative acts and other documents issued by them were analysed. All information and research results were syn- thesized and numerous detailed findings provided. The overall conclusion is that still much has to be done to establish a system of rules conducive to long-standing CBEC growth, which requires much further research and is very complicated as it requires not only introducing free trade rules in traditional meaning but also providing open and safe use of ICT.

The aim of the paper is to evaluate the proliferation of protectionist policies after the economic crisis of 2008–2009. The spread of protectionism is to be expected in times of recession. The paper presents the use of both traditional trade barriers (tariffs and other border measures) as well as regulatory barriers (behind-the-border measures) in 2009–2017. The lack of progress in multilateral trade negotiations and stagnation in the development of regional trade agreements are also indicated as specific manifestations of a protectionist approach to trade policy. The impact of protectionism on trade seems vague, but what is obvious is a gradual increase in protectionism, in particular during the past 3 years. This is accompanied by a spreading of non-tariff barriers, in particular subsidies (export and domestic), trade remedies, and localization requirements.

The paper analyses the feasibility of a common currency for the East African Community (EAC), which comprises Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. The paper discusses theoretical insights on the benefits and costs of a common currency. It then uses the introduction of the common European currency, the euro, as a potential yardstick to assess the feasibility of a common currency in East Africa. The paper analyses the readiness of the EAC’s economies for a common currency as measured by relevant indicators. It concludes that some caveats are in order with regard to the feasibility of a common East African currency at the present point in time. It also warns that expectations of the development impact of a common currency should not be too high, as the example of the euro shows that the real outcome in terms of trade facilitation and consumer welfare is much lower than expected.

The main goal of the paper is to evaluate the extent of production de-fragmentation and its impact on the world trade flows slowdown in 2008–2015. Financial and economic crisis of 2008–2009 resulted in a deepest breakdown of world trade after World War II. The subsequent economic boom was not reflected in the growth rates of world exports. One of the mentioned reasons of trade stagnation is the weakening of the connections within the global value chains. The results of the analysis conclude that the biggest impact on the declining share of foreign value added in global trade and, as a consequence, decreasing income elasticity of exports stems from changes in Chinese specialization and, in particular, the growing share of domestic input in Chinese exports

Factors which attract international capital flows are highlighted in the world literature in particular for foreign direct investment. For portfolio investment, these factors are considered to be more difficult to define and less binding because of the speculative character of the capital. The paper attempts to define the factors attracting capital in the form of portfolio investments to Poland in the years 2000–2015, with particular emphasis on the period of the international financial crisis. It is important to compare the effects of the inflow of portfolio investments to the Polish market to foreign direct investment in order to specify what actions should be undertaken to increase the attractiveness of the Polish market for portfolio investment.

The aim of the paper was to assess the competitiveness of Lithuanian trade with non-EU countries during the years 2005–2016. This assessment was based on three outcome measures determining the position of a country in foreign trade: revealed comparative advantage, import coverage, and the intensity of intra-industry trade. Indicators were estimated for all commodity sections. The analysis used data from the Lithuanian Statistics Department and Eurostat. The study shows that Lithuania has a weak competitive position in trade with third countries only in two groups of commodities: raw materials and mineral fuels.

The paper examines the size and structure of global trade in services and their share in Poland’s balance of payments. Particular attention was paid to export and import of transport services. The main purpose of the paper was to prove the importance of transport services in Polish foreign trade. Statistical data on Polish and world trade were analysed to achieve this goal. In addition, descriptive methods (analysis of literature) as well as general research methods and principles of scientific reasoning were used. The conducted research allowed to state that both in world trade and in Polish foreign trade the share of services increases, while the share of services in the Polish foreign trade turnover is by a few percent lower than the world average. It was also indicated that, in contrast to the trends in world trade, there was an increase in export and import of transport services in Poland. The balance of transport services in the Polish balance of payments is positive. The surplus of export over the import of road transport services constitutes a major contribution to the good result. This proves that Polish road transport is highly competitive.

For almost seven decades, the rules determining the dividend policy of companies have been the subject of interest of researchers worldwide. Due to the variety of factors influencing managers’ decisions on dividend payouts, the issue has been named “the dividend puzzle”. The following research focuses on two determinants of dividend policy – research and development activity and government ownership of companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange over the period 1992–2016. We utilize a non-parametric statistical approach to financial data obtained from 296 companies to verify how both factors are related to the dividend policy of companies. We find that both R&D activity and government ownership have an adverse impact on dividend payouts. The first section of the paper presents the literature review and research hypotheses. The second section presents utilized methods and the data sample. Section three shows the obtained results, and finally, the last section summarizes the research.

Changes in the global economy, including the extension of production chains, influenced the size and commercial structure of EU countries. The aim of the paper is to analyse the changes in trade measured in traditional and value added way in EU countries by selected industrial sectors in the years 1995–2014. The study used data from the TiVA database to show changes in value added trade. The analysis showed increasing differences in trade data measured in traditional and value added way and the growing role of global value chains.

The aim of the paper is to identify the differences in international students’ perception of sources of private wealth resulting from their country-specific experience. In particular, it was interesting to see whether there would be significant differences in the opinions of students representing well- established economies and those from post-socialist or transition economies. The results of this study are based on the qualitative directed content analysis of 106 essays titled What are the main private wealth drivers in your country? written by students from Poland, Austria, Russia, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, and Ukraine. The most significant discrepancies referred to the role of inheritance and the importance of labour income in the process of private wealth accumulation. Inheritance was indicated as a strong wealth driver by all students from developed economies while being almost totally ignored by others. The significance of income from employment was also seen differently by the two groups. Country-specific opinions referred to private business areas and the way business should be conducted. Insightful impact was brought by numerous critical observations of local market dys- functions, expressed spontaneously by students from post-socialist countries.

The main objective of the paper is an evaluation of the usefulness of comprehensive income for finance management of Polish and German public companies. An important element of the research was a comparative analysis of the form of presentation of comprehensive income and its components and an analysis of the scale and diversity of other comprehensive income in comparison to net profit from the point of view of its share in equity and total capital. The research covers joint-stock companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (included in the WIG30 index) and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (included in the DAX index) (data for 15 January 2018). Empirical data was obtained from annual financial statements (from 2009 to 2016) from Thomson Reuters database. Diversified variants of presentation and terminology of comprehensive income and its components have been identified. The results of the research indicate that the importance of other comprehensive income in comparison to net profit, as part of equity and total capital, was insignificant. However, significantly higher usefulness of comprehensive income in German companies has been observed.

The internationalization of the Chinese currency remains one of the most vital characteristics of the contemporary international monetary system. The objective of the paper is to analyse the role of state in the internationalization of the renminbi. The paper assumes that this process is to a sig nificant extent a government-led, as opposed to the market-led internationalization characteristic for most key international currencies. It demonstrates the criteria of national currency internationalization and evaluates their fulfilment in the case of China. It also discusses the benefits of currency internationalization and their role in determining the Chinese strategy aimed at making the renminbi an international currency. The methods applied include, in particular, comparative analysis, descriptive statistics, and literature study. The article indicates that the Chinese state plays an important role in the internationalization of the renminbi. The strategy of renminbi inter nationalization includes promoting trade settlement and foreign direct investment settlement in renminbi as well as establishing offshore centres for renminbi and bilateral swap agreements with central banks of other countries.

Companies conducting IPO in European countries make a voluntary decision regarding the disclosure of earnings forecast in prospectus. Using a sample of 651 companies that conducted IPO on EU-regulated markets between 2010 and 2016, we investigate the popularity of decisions on revealing financial forecasts in prospectus and address the questions regarding the type and accuracy of such forecasts. We find that only 12.58% of companies voluntarily included their financial forecasts in the IPO prospectus, and the scope of the disclosed information is diversified. Most commonly prospectuses include projections of sales revenues, net profits, and EBITDA. Our results give evidence that financial projections are over-optimistic and not accurate.

The expansion of business activity outside the domestic market is connected to an increasing risk and uncertainty of the undertaken actions, hence the need to collect and process information on the new markets in a professional way. Cultural intelligence provides an interesting perspective into how one can perceive international marketing research. The paper is an attempt to answer the question of what is the meaning of particular components of cultural intelligence regarding different stages of marketing research in the international context. The concept of CQ is presented as a structure of interrelated components and assumptions have been formulated on the significance of applying those components in the process of international marketing research.

The aim of the paper is to study empirically the determinants of the activity of multinational OECD enterprises in Poland in the period 1990–2015 using the negative binomial model without and with accounting for individual fixed and random effects for particular home countries. The research is conducted with reference to the so-called new theory of the multinational enterprise (NTME) that allows to derive a number of empirically testable hypotheses and distinguish between horizontal and vertical motives for undertaking foreign direct investment (FDI). The assembled empirical evidence shows that Poland attracts both horizontal and vertical investment motivated by host country market access and cost reduction motives, respectively. In addition, empirical evidence shows that multinational enterprises from the EU are more involved in production activity in Poland compared to investors from other OECD countries.

The aim of the paper is to identify the problems faced by students when writing different types of texts in professional life. The study is based on a qualitative 5-question survey conducted at the Turku University of Applied Sciences and on the analysis of the results of a writing course. The survey revealed that students have difficulties in distinguishing various types of texts. They were mostly familiar with literary genres and texts which they were required to write in the course of their studies, such as reports and blogposts. They knew that they needed good writing skills and were aware of their difficulties in producing different types of texts. Few students realized that they would need the ability to write several types of texts in professional life. The major writing problems included inaccuracy of the idea, unaddressed message, incoherence of style, and failure to take the reader into account. Many students seemed to lack planning, writing, and editing skills. They need to improve their style, knowledge of the different types of texts, and ability to evaluate the information sources. Discussing the subsequent versions of texts helped the students to find their personal voice as authors, which, if it corresponds to the company values, could serve to enhance the company brand.

The paper aims to present recent trends in global trade and investment in advanced business services (ABS). Special attention is given to the position of Visegrád countries in international movements of services and associated activities. The research method applied in the study is the statistical analysis of aggregate data on trade and foreign direct investment (FDI). The data were extracted from the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) databases. The main finding is that services are still less traded than merchandise. Still, knowledge-intensive services are gaining importance as their share in trade of services reaches 15%. As a result of the study, major problems with data regarding services were identified. The results confirm the global importance of the services based on knowledge. This is significant, as ABS create a narrow group of specialized services. Importantly, ABS are quite inclusive and many emerging economies become global providers of such services.

Given the challenges of the present day, the importance of knowledge about ecologisation of consumption and the possibilities of stimulating its development is increasing. Although a lot of studies have been conducted in this area, there is a need to intensify and extend them to new contexts in order to explain the behaviour of consumers of green products and identify barriers to ecologisation of consumption. The goal of the paper is to present the determinants that shape and differentiate the behaviour of the consumers of eco-products as well as to identify the resulting implications for further marketing research on ecologisation of consumption. The paper is based on in-depth literature studies and the authors’ own empirical research of qualitative and quantita- tive nature, which allowed to identify the types of consumers of green products in Poland. Inte- grating the results of other research and the authors’ own case studies allowed to develop a proposal for a model approach to the studies of stimulants and destimulants of ecologisation of consumption that applies triangulation of approaches and research methods in order to provide a more detailed explanation of inconsistencies in the behaviour of consumers of green products.

The aim of the paper is to present the impact of innovations on the competitiveness of Polish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and to analyse the trends in implementing innovations in the sector of Polish SMEs in 2012–2015 in eight areas of operation: new products or services, new approach to customer service, expansion into new geographic markets, significant changes of the existing offer, significant organizational changes, changes in technology or method of production of goods or services, marketing innovations, and changes in distribution methods. The method of direct interview was used to collect data from the respondents representing the SME sector. Data have been analysed using correspondence analysis which allowed to build a model summarizing the results of the correspondence between groups of enterprises and types of innovations.

The developing process of globalization causes increasing migration of people which in turn leads to greater cultural diversity of societies. The most mobile generations include those named Y and Z, that is, people born in the 1980s and 1990s. Representatives of the latter, undertaking studies in other countries within the framework of the Erasmus program, are the subject of research con- ducted in the paper. Due to the fact that cultural intelligence is a dynamic category and can be de- veloped, it was considered worth examining whether the Erasmus program has an impact on the level of students’ CQ. The aim of the paper is to verify the research hypothesis assuming that even one semester spent in another country and additionally in the group of other Erasmus program participants can contribute to the development of cultural intelligence. It was assumed that if the hypothesis is true, the level of their CQ, measured by Expanded Cultural Intelligence Scale, should be higher at the end of their stay than it was at the beginning. In addition to the presenta- tion of the results of the empirical study, source literature was analysed and descriptive method was used. The examined population included students of the Erasmus program studying at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Gdańsk in the winter semester 2017/2018. The obtained results showed an increase in their CQ level and thus enabled a positive verification of the re- search hypothesis.

The aim of this study is to enrich the understanding of the role of organizational learning from international experience in developing company’s relational competence (RC) and achieving desired outcomes of IORs. The research is qualitative, performed on a sample of 253 companies with diverse cooperative experience in non-capital IORs. Statistica and SPSS.22 software was used for Spearman correlation, mediation, and dominance analyses with bootstrapping. The results reveal positive impact of relational experience on company’s outcomes in IORs and the mediating role of relational competence. Experience in IORs affects relational competence, but companies should pay attention to the value of the gathered experience. Contrary to expectations, experience in international cooperation, although significant, is not the strongest predictor of RC. This implies the need for cautiousness and strategic thinking when building company’s portfolio of relationships in search for valuable knowledge and development opportunities.

The aim of the paper is to present the correlations between relational capital and internationalization of SMEs. Empirical research was conducted in Poland on a stratified, randomly selected sample of 1,346 SMEs. The research results show that a positive, statistically significant correlation exists between the size and the quality of relational capital on the one hand, and export and import activities of SMEs on the other. Larger volume and higher quality of relational capital increases the probability of SME internationalization. The research findings could be used in government export promotion activities.

The competitiveness of a nation is associated with a set of characteristics that enable structural adjustments to global technological trends and improvement of living standards. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the competitiveness of Poland and Slovakia (in the EU since 2004) versus Bulgaria and Romania (in the EU since 2007) through the prism of their exports structure convergence to Germany, the strongest EU economy, in the years 2000–2014. The empirical analysis is based on Balassa’s [1965] concept of Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) and conducted in a dynamic perspective. We use the UN trade statistics in the International Trade Classification (SITC), Rev. 3, with the exported goods grouped along their factor-intensities, following the methodology developed by Wysokińska [1997]. Within the analysed period, the catching-up economies have, to some extent, evolved towards knowledge-based economies, but not all of them with the same intensity and for the same commodity groups. Their competitive position in the exports of low-tech goods (i.e., resource- and labour-intensive) has not changed. The hypothesis that countries most lagging behind Germany at the beginning of the analysed period have undergone the largest adjustment (exports specialization convergence) appears true only in the case of Romania.

Countries forming an integration grouping set different objectives. The leading goals include accelerating economic growth, ensuring further socio-economic development of the member states, creating welfare, and increasing the standard of living. The aim of the paper is to discuss the impact of the functioning of NAFTA on socio-economic disparities within this group and to indicate changes taking place in the field of cohesion after the financial and economic crisis. The development of the regions of the NAFTA countries was also affected by the crisis. In the case of functioning in a given integration grouping, it is necessary to strengthen economic policies of individual member states to ensure cohesion, especially its social dimension. The following research methods have been used in the paper: critical analysis of source literature and analysis of statistical data.

The creation of the eurozone is the implementation of one of the most important challenges of the European economic integration. From the very beginning, the project of creating a monetary union of the European Union countries aroused much controversy. It intensified after the outbreak of the debt crisis in the eurozone. The objective of this study is to evaluate the role of the euro as an international currency and assess selected proposals that focus on improving the functioning of the single European currency area. The study is based on the analysis of relevant reports of the European Central Bank and research by foreign specialists. Despite the sovereign debt crisis in the euro area, the euro remains the second most important currency in international economic relations. The authors are convinced that the euro area needs to be repaired, but none of the ideas al- ready submitted has a chance to be implemented. Therefore, the search for compromise solutions is needed. The authors reject the proposal to return to the national currencies of both indebted eurozone countries and Germany with huge balance of payments surplus.

Taking into account that the UK is a net payer to the EU budget, the implications of Brexit will be far reaching. The objective of this paper is to assess the possible level of Brexit gap and types of its implications for the EU budget, with particular emphasis on its effects for Poland. The analysis covers mainly the period after 2020, when the new Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021–2027 will come into force. The basis for the analysis is the data on the EU budget, the prelimi- nary agreement between the EU and the UK of the end of 2017, and the documents proposed for the MFF 2021–2027 as presented by the European Commission in the middle of 2018. Brexit creates a risk of structural reduction of the EU budget revenue after 2020 because of the decrease of the absolute size of GNI of EU-27 (in a situation when there is a ceiling of own resources expressed as a percent of EU GNI) and the opposition of net payers to increase the budget. In order to pre- vent such a situation, the set of legal proposals covering the MFF 2021–2027 provides for both new resources of financing the EU budget and cuts of expenditures in two areas: cohesion and agricultural policies, that is, in two areas in which Poland is at present a big beneficiary.

The aim of this study is to review selected effects of regional market integration in theoretical terms. In contemporary conditions, when the processes of regional integration are increasingly challenged, this study will be a kind of return to the roots of regional economic integration. It covers a free trade area, a customs union, and a common market, for which selected effects of economic integration are presented. The literature indicates various, but not always positive, effects of market integration. As a set of factors motivates decisions concerning engagement in integration processes, it is worth pointing out objective economic effects as the basis for rational political decisions. In order to achieve the aim of the study, a critical review of literature published since the mid-20th century and a descriptive method have been used.

A distinctive feature of the integration processes taking place in the modern economy is the growing function of expanded free trade areas (FTA+). The aim of the paper is to characterise their nature and framework, with the starting point being the definition of a free trade area created by Balassa. In this context, the author examines the difference between the traditional definition of a free trade area and the features of FTA+. In doing so, he uses selected TTIP issues that go beyond the classical definition of a free trade area. This also applies to the flow of capital and financial services, as well as the potential impact of TTIP on international payment imbalance.

The basic goal of European integration is to even out the development level of member states and regions. The aim of the paper is to examine the economic and social cohesion of Lithuania's districts (apskritis) in the period after joining the EU. To achieve this goal, the following methods were used: descriptive statistics and analysis of the volatility index and convergence indicators. The survey is based on statistical data of the Department of Statistics of Lithuania and includes such variables as GDP per capita for districts, employment and unemployment rate, FDI per capita, income disparities, and demographic situation. The research shows that for most economic and social indicators the coefficient of variation had an increasing trend, which means worsening cohesion. This was confirmed by studies on beta and sigma convergence, which showed the minimal values of both convergences. These results testify to the erroneous principles of establishing the districts. As of 1 January 2018, Lithuania transformed this structure into two regions: the Capi- tal Region and the Region of Central and Western Lithuania.