The 2008 economic crisis made apparent the existence of deep, mutually exclusive contradictions in the development of the global economy. It also highlighted the need for a concept for exiting the crisis based on a vision for a future long-term sustainable economic development. Foreign trade has thus far been the main driver for growth. This is why the future of structural changes in the world trade is an important element of the concept of the development of the global economy. The following article deals with this issue in the framework of 2030.

The study is aimed at answering the question of whether, and if so how much, world and Polish gross trade differ from value-added trade. Gross trade and value-added trade are similar up to a point, but there are also some crucial differences between them. On the one hand, world top three exporters and importers are the same despite of different measures (gross and valueadded); on the other hand, there are differences in the order among these groups of exporters and importers – for example the ranking of China. During period of 1995–2011, world and Polish trade grew by several times and the increase of gross trade was higher than the growth of value-added trade. Due to the world crisis, there were falls in gross and value-added trade in 2009 and the decrease in gross trade was stronger than in the case of value-added trade. Additionally, the proportion between value-added trade and gross trade during the period of 1995–2011 dropped. In the case of Poland this fall was higher than in the case of world trade.

The purpose of this article is to present the results of an analysis of the changes of the share of foreign value added in the European Union’s exports by group of products and to identify its countries of origin. The literature study was conducted and the analysis of the statistical data of OECD was performed. The calculations show that the share of the foreign value added in the European Union’s exports increased from 20% in 1995 to 27% in 2011. The highest level was recorded in manufactured products (36% in 2011). It was also established that the share was higher in the case of the new member states. The foreign value added in the exports of the EU-15 originated mainly from within this group (France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain), while in the case of the EU-13 its dominant sources were the other new member states (Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary). The analysis shows that the foreign value added in the EU’s exports originated principally from the neighbouring (European) countries, big developed countries (USA), or big, quickly developing countries (China). The most important results from the performed analysis have been compiled in the conclusions section.

‘A rising tide lifts all boats’ – the quote from the speech by J.F. Kennedy in September 1960 has been widely used to describe the idea that when an economy is performing well, all people will benefit from it. The theory assuming that economic growth will finally bring about greater justice and prosperity for all still attracts supporters from different backgrounds. There is little doubt, however, that it doesn’t work that way. Economic data show increasing income and wealth disparities in the majority of countries, leaving no doubt that wealth creation mechanisms do not work equally for all. This paper examines key contemporary wealth drivers in an attempt to evaluate their influence on creating wealth inequalities. The analysis is based on vast literature studies, including the latest discussion on Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Looking at the issue from a historical perspective, we come to the conclusion that private ownership rights and capital resources play a decisive role as wealth creation factors. Policy changes, such as deregulation, privatization, and financial secrecy, make the distribution of wealth skewed towards the wealthy, contributing to growing wealth inequalities. The aim of this paper is to highlight the fact that the underlying cause of income and wealth inequalities lies in the uneven access to private ownership of different assets. Further, it aims at provoking a discussion on the right remedies to be undertaken to tackle this problem.

The direction of the development of contemporary trade policy and the criticism of the traditional concept of protectionism together with the economic crisis that began in 2008 resulted in a significant change in the global approach to the problem of protectionism. The aim of this article is to determine the main motives of protectionist practices in contemporary international trade, as well as to identify the desired direction of their development. To achieve this aim the author explained the consequences of the process of globalization for the international environment and analysed the arguments for protectionism, i.e., strategic trade policy and industrial policy. The author studied both Polish and foreign literature and official documents regarding protectionist practices.

The revised protocol to the agreement on trade facilitation signed on November 27, 2014, amended the Marrakesh Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization and introduced significant facilitation of international trade which, generally speaking, does not constitute revolutionary changes for the customs environment of the EU, as most of the proposed facilitators have already been operating in the EU for a long time. The article aims to analyse the proposed facilitation of international trade in the context of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) and its impact on customs service of companies within the provided customs services. The changes are ultimately to contribute to increasing the competitiveness of international customs services, strengthening the competitive position of the EU, creating development opportunities for international trade and improving the quality of customs services companies.

The aim of the article is to concisely present changes in the trade policy of the European Union and the United States leading to joint bilateral negotiations to liberalize trade. The basic research methods applied included a critical analysis of the literature and an analysis of source documents. The article describes the evolution of trade policy of the European Union and the United States from multilateralism to bilateralism and its major causes, as well as its culmination point – the negotiations of the Transatlantic Partnership in Trade and Investment (TTIP). Despite the differences in the past, commercial policies of the European Union and the United States are currently quite similar.

Negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) between the United States and eleven countries located on four continents were concluded in October 2015. It can therefore be assumed that the agreement reached will be ratified by each of the countries it concerns, so that in 2017 it could be fully applied. Thus, it is worth to try to determine the potential of the agreement based on the latest available statistical data and, at the same time, to show the existing diversity. To achieve this goal, an analysis of data obtained from IMF and UNCTAD online databases has been carried out. In addition, a review of literature and press reports from the course of the negotiations process has been conducted. Selected macroeconomic indicators revealed the existence of significant disparities of development, whereas the analysis of commodity exports of the TPP members showed that only products originating from Brunei, Canada, and Mexico are mostly being sold within the area, which demonstrates the existence of a reservoir and proves that this agreement could help to increase mutual exchange.

The aim of the article is to define the genesis of the emerging economies and their development mechanism. In this light, their increasing role in the world economy will be shown, highlighting that a number of these economies is catching up with developed nations, in many areas reaching a comparative advantage. However, in the aftermath of the world financial crisis, the development perspectives of the emerging economies may worsen, which in turn could cause a significant impact on the basic processes undergone by the world economy, such as globalisation, regionalisation, and market transformation. In this light, arguments have been presented pointing towards the surplus emerging economies as the source of the collapse of the international payment equilibrium. Further, it is assumed that this is one of the most important reasons behind the world financial crisis. The TTIP is thought to mitigate the international disequilibrium as it seeks to increase the international exchange between Western Europe and the United States of America by boosting trade flows thanks to trade creation and diversion effects which should be significantly affected by the abolishment of non-tariff trade barriers.

Regionalism, in addition to integration and globalization, is the dominant process in the contemporary world economy, affecting the shape of the interstate relations in the context of economic, social, political, and security sphere. Simultaneously, the growing importance of East Asian countries is conducive to intensifying the regional cooperation. This process was significantly affected by the Asian financial crisis of 1997–1998 and the 2008–2009 global crisis. The aim of the article is to present and analyse the structure of East Asian regionalism, taking into account all of its geospatial dimensions: microregionalism, subregionalism, macroregionalism, transregionalism, and the widest one: interregionalism. Research methods applied include the analysis of scientific publications and the comparative approach. The results of the analyses indicate that there are different determinants of the cooperation, with a particularly significant role of geopolitics.

The processes of regional economic integration are one of the most important trends in the contemporary world economy. In the area of East Asia, these kind of activities are also present, but they are essentially bottom-up in nature, based on spontaneously developing economic ties. However, there are also initiatives which increasingly involve East Asian countries at the institutional level. The aim of the article is to present the evolution of East Asian regionalism, evaluate it and indicate the prospects for its development. The author concludes that contemporary East Asian countries are engaged in the development of the process of regionalism, which shows characteristics that distinguish it from the initiatives undertaken in other geographical areas. The author underlines the key importance of China in this process – its involvement will influence the further development of East Asian regionalism. The research methods used in the paper included mainly a critical review of the literature, descriptive method and, to a limited extent, method of statistical analysis.

The paper is an analysis of China’s New Silk Road (‘one belt, one road’, OBOR) cooperation strategy and its implications for the global world order. It discusses whether the OBOR project may be a win-win concept for all the parties engaged in the economic aspect, yet unequally beneficial in geopolitical sense, giving China primacy in the Eastern hemisphere. In the absence of scientific studies due to the initial phase of the project, the article analyses the available press releases in English. The first part provides the genesis of the OBOR project and China’s insofar achievements. Then, the expected benefits for both China and its partner countries are enumerated altogether with their consequences for the world order. The final part contains conclusion remarks and references.

This article aims to evaluate the integration of Tunisian firms into global value chains (GVC), to offer a prognosis of their future prospects in this area, and to offer policy recommendations to improve GVC participation. Based on the OECD data on trade in value added, indicators for the current status and the previous dynamics of backward integration as well as the previous increase in GVC participation have been calculated. The data shows that the integration of the Tunisian economy into GVCs is relatively strong in only two industries: electrical machinery and textiles. It can be shown that an increase inGVCparticipation goes hand in hand with a strengthening of the position in GVCs. However, most industries relevant for employment generation (especially food and textiles) show only weak improvements in GVC participation. One reason can be seen in an inappropriate investment promotion policy. As the forecast shows a delinking of Tunisia from international capital flows, this situation is not likely to change for the better in the near future without changes in the country’s investment policies. It is recommended to concentrate on the promotion of the local transformation of agricultural products that are usually exported untreated (deepening GVC participation) and to create niche products from other traditional sectors, such as technical textiles (broadening GVC participation). It is also suggested to increase the links of local small and medium enterprises to GVCs to allow for larger employment effects of GVC participation and for a more socially and regionally balanced economic growth.

The main objective of this paper is to present poverty in Sudan in its various dimensions. The paper consists of three sections, not counting the introduction and conclusions. In the first section, Sudan’s economy is described. In the second section, changing approaches to defining poverty are presented. The last section contains the analysis of various dimensions and main determinants of poverty in Sudan. The author uses mainly descriptive and statistical methods of analysis. The paper is based mostly on literature studies and the latest available statistics provided mainly by various international organizations. The author concludes that determinants of poverty in Sudan do not differ significantly from the determinants of this phenomenon in other countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. Post-secession Sudan needs to adopt economic and development policies which would put its economy on the sustainable growth path. Internal conflict resolution and national reconciliation are the key issues and should be the starting point towards reducing poverty in the country.

The article aims at analysing the interrelations between the functioning of regional economic integration arrangements in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) signed with the region by the European Union as well as their consequences. Initially, an integration approach (based on the existent integration arrangements) was dominating in the EPA negotiations. The negotiation process, however, covers four regions in Africa, whose scope does not necessarily overlap with integration arrangements on the Continent. These are: Central Africa, Western Africa, Eastern and Southern Africa, South African Development Community (SADC) as well as two extra-African regions: CARIFORUM (the Caribbean) and the Pacific. It seems that the way of leading the negotiations is debatable and bears many significant consequences for the SSA region, where many overlapping integration arrangements exist. The article, based on Polish and international literature, utilizes analytical-descriptive method of the secondary legislation of the EU (regulations) as well as the statistical data provided by the UNCTAD.

The multilateral trade negotiations, based on a broad Doha Development Agenda, failed to bring concrete results despite more than a decade of talks. To break the deadlock, country members decided to limit the scope of negotiating issues to be discussed during the 9th and 10th Ministerial Conferences on Bali and in Nairobi. The new, more selective approach resulted in the adoption of small packages of decisions, known as the „Bali Package” and the „Nairobi Package”. This article aims to analyse the decisions included in these packages, which are related to agriculture. It also attempts to evaluate their importance for the process of agricultural trade liberalisation in the WTO. The study, based on the analysis of literature, legal WTO texts and statistical data from the database WITS-Comtrade, showed that the new approach led to the adoption of several significant, legally binding commitments in the areas of agriculture, out of which the highest value has the commitment to eliminate agricultural export subsidies. Although the talks did not address many controversial issues, the gradual expansion of the scope of negotiations may contribute to the successful conclusion of the Doha Round of the WTO.

The paper presents merchandise trade between the North and Africa’s 34 least developed countries (LDCs), and between the South and Africa’s LDCs over the period from 2000 to 2014. The North is represented by the European Union and the United States. The South denotes four emerging economies: Brazil, South Africa, India, and China (BASIC). The analysis is based on the data retrieved from the UN Comtrade Database. The EU is a major trading partner for Africa, and the US was the second important trading partner for the African continent until 2008. However, their role in the trade with all African countries, and specially with Africa’s LDCs, has been declining since the beginning of the global crisis. On the other hand, a significant increase in BASIC–Africa trade has been observed in the recent years. Since 2010, the value of bilateral trade of the BASIC countries with Africa’s LDCs has been surpassing the EU and US’s trade with those African countries. In the years 2009–2014, the BASIC countries dominated the bilateral trade with 16 of Africa’s least developed countries.

The aim of this paper is to define the trends of the trade between Poland and African countries and the potential of exports in Poland’s trade with Africa. The first part of the work outlines the scale, the dynamics, and the account balance of the trade, the second part discusses its commodity structure, the third one presents its geographical structure, and the fourth is an attempt to evaluate the potential of the exports from Poland to Africa. The statistical analysis tools – such as the community structure analysis and dynamic phenomenon analysis – were used in order to define the development trends of the trade between Poland and Africa. The evaluation of the exports potential was obtained by means of the indicative trade potential index. On the basis of the conducted analysis it may be stated that the development trend of Polish trade with Turkey in the years 2000–2014 was favourable to Poland. Estimates of Polish export potential show that opportunities for exports to the African market are also favourable, in terms of both size of exports as well as their commodity structure.

This paper investigates the renewed interest in competitiveness which can be witnessed in the EU once the acute phase of 2008+ crisis abated. This revival is expressed in several initiatives, such as the idea to set up national competitiveness boards, the Euro Plus Pact or the ECB research network CompNet. By reviewing the recent literature and experts’ opinions as well as drawing on the new theoretical approach and the insight from the German reunification, this papers identifies main promises and pitfalls of selected European proposals. In particular, it stresses the need of a more nuanced approach to competitiveness, which goes beyond the narrow perspective centred on the synchronisation of cost developments. The evolution of salaries and productivity must be aligned and certain level of convergence among the European Monetary Union members is necessary. Nevertheless, reducing competitiveness to such an issue seems inadequate, as it ignores the ‘high-road’ and ‘beyond GDP’ competitiveness which is the reality for the mature European economies.

The aim of the paper is to present changes in Polish foreign trade (in goods and services) in the period of 1995–2011 using trade statistics in value added terms, which will allow to estimate how much Polish value added embodied in final products is consumed in other countries and how much foreign value added originating in other countries is consumed in Poland. The calculations were made using the World Input-Output Database (WIOD), based on the input-output approach. The research results show that the balance (and thus the benefits) of Poland’s foreign trade with its trading partners computed on the basis of traditional statistics in gross terms differed from trade balance calculated in value added terms. The difference resulted from different shares of intermediate goods in trade. At the sectoral level, trade balance in gross terms also differed from that in value added terms.

This paper focuses on the emerging trends in global sourcing of innovation driven by the unbundling of innovation activities. The author presents the phenomenon of global sourcing of innovation and then discusses the recent trends in the global flow of R&D services. The article argues that dynamics of offshoring in innovation in general, and R&D services in particular, is driven by market, production, technology, knowledge, costs and political issues. The author analyzes China and India as the most important service providers worldwide and describes their advantages.

he paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of innovation policies pursued in selected Eastern European countries (Belarus, Russia, Ukraine) with view to their economies’ competitiveness in international trade. A general assumption has been made that the existence of a given country’s long-term competitive advantages in international trade with respect to technologically advanced goods, and in particular the improvement of such advantages over the long-run, are the result of how effective its innovation policy has been. To assess that competitiveness, the method of Relative Comparative Advantages put forth by Béla Balassa has been applied. The analysis seems to confirm that the low international competitiveness of the Eastern European countries under investigation, as exemplified by lack of any (or very limited) long-term competitive advantages of their economies in international trade with respect to technologically advanced goods, testifies to the low effectiveness of their innovation policies as well as to the presence of serious structural weaknesses in their economic, social and political systems.

The main goal of the paper is to analyse the role of the social factor in the context of economy’s innovativeness. In the subject literature, innovativeness is usually examined with respect to the expenditure (input) measures and to the effects of R+D activities, but the importance of the social factor is rather rarely taken under consideration. Such a factor can contribute to the valuable domestic environment creation process, which facilitates knowledge absorption and diffusion, innovation process intensification, and commercialization of R+D results. In the following paper, comparative analysis and data normalization methods have been used. The results have shown that the social factor, analysed based on Human Development Index, Corruption Perception Index, and Interpersonal Safety and Trust Index, has evidently positive impact on innovation economy; possible exceptions are attributable to the specific features of the given economy.

The analysis presented in the following paper has been carried out for 234 trade partners of Poland in the period 1999–2013. We have selected the largest available dataset to obtain the most precise estimates possible. The technology gap has been measured by TFP and relative patentingperformance controlling for quality of institutions as well as technology and innovation indices of the Global Competitiveness Report. To obtain unbiased results, we utilize semi-mixed effects model using the Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood (PPML) estimator. The gravity framework proves to be robust. The coefficients on technology gap indicators differ significantly between different groups of trade partners by the level of income and the level of technological sophistication. The role of the technology gap is evident and supports the principal theoretical postulates.

This article aims to identify the changes in Poland’s intra-industry trade (IIT) in the period 1995–2014 in comparison with the other 9 Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) – the EU Member States (also referred to as the EU-9) – and to assess the resulting changes in the competitiveness of Polish foreign trade. We analyse the changes in Poland’s trade in the context of IIT for several reasons: (a) IIT is considered to be more beneficial than inter-industry specialisation,
(b) IIT intensity is an important indication of the degree of convergence of the trading partners,
(c) changes in IIT illustrate the evolution of trade competitiveness. The analysis covered Poland’s trade with 3 groups of trading partners: the EU-15, the EU-9 and other countries. In order to show the changes in the intensity and nature of intra-industry specialisation, the Grubel-Lloyd index was computed on the basis of the Comtrade database. The main conclusions are as follows: IIT was a vital driver of Poland’s trade integration with all three groups of trading partners under examination. Its development indicated a significant improvement in the commodity structure of trade, reflected in a marked rise in the share of vertical intra-industry trade in high-quality products in total trade.

The volatility and instability of the global economy and the international financial markets in the last decade have contributed to the growth of interest in the evolution of indicators of external balance of individual countries. The aim of the article is an analysis of selected indicators of the external stability of Poland. In comparison with the previously conducted research (covering the period from 2000 to 2012), the situation has improved; Poland now exceeds one of the indicators – IIP net/GDP. The other one, the balance of current account/GDP, meets the required EU standards. Yet the question arises: is this change a consequence of the real changes taking place in the Polish economy, or is it the result of a temporary, positive coincidence of internal and external factors?

This article aims to examine changes in the foreign trade of Lithuania. The article analyses the export and import of Lithuania in the period between 2005 and 2014. The research of the structure of foreign trade, which has been carried out on the basis of the international classification of goods SITC, helped to identify the most important sections of the export and import of Lithuania and the dynamics of their changes. The largest sectors of export and import of Lithuania during this period were 33 Crude oil and its products and 78 Means of transport. The Lithuania’s accession to the EU affected the foreign trade of the country. The structure of export and import of Lithuania followed the patterns of the EU-15 export and import structure. In the analysed period new sections of goods and new destination directions were established in foreign trade. Russia, Germany, Poland, and Latvia were the main export and import partners of Lithuania during this period.

The issue of international competitiveness became one of the most often investigated problems in the economic research due to its special importance for the economic practice. International competitiveness characterizes not only companies, but regions and countries as well. International competitiveness of countries is often studied multidimensionally. One of such dimensions is energy management. The following study is an attempt to determine the theoretical relationship between energy security and country’s competitiveness. To achieve this purpose, a critical review of the literature has been conducted using analysis and logic synthesis. The leading research topic concerns energy security. Theoretical analysis shows the multifarious relationship between energy security and international competitiveness. Additionaly, a preliminary empirical study which confirms theoretical assumptions has also been included.

The aim of this paper is to identify the main factors which influence the gold price in the international market. According to the main hypothesis, the gold price is determined by the following factors: US$ to EUR exchange rate, log return on S&P 500, brent crude oil prices, yield to maturity of US 10-year Treasury bonds, and gold price history. Econometric methods have been applied and an econometric model has been built and estimated. An econometric analysis has confirmed our hypothesis.

The main subject of the paper is an analysis of the functioning of the global economy with special attention paid to the transport and logistics factors influencing the efficiency and the effectiveness of the international commodity flows. The key research purpose is to identify substantial barriers regarding transport and logistics in technical infrastructure and regulatory system within the global economy which might hamper the smooth commodity flows. The author’s main aim was to assess the results of such inconsistences between the international trade requirements and transport system borne by the trade and transport sector. The supplementary objective was to assess the effects resulting from the existing global barriers for the leading, in terms of world trade, market economies. The main hypotheses were that further activities and investments in global transport and logistics system are needed to avoid losses in the global economy, and that the rank of the many countries on the global trade market usually differs from their rank on the list of global competitiveness, logistics performance as well as trade enabling solutions. The hypotheses have been verified and accepted. Economic analysis and qualitative method have been used as useful tools to carry out the main research goals and to verify both hypotheses. The findings and conclusions are presented in the final part of the paper.

The subject of the discussion is the striving for unification of the property valuation, understood both as a process and as a result of this process. The article attempts to assess the effectiveness of the efforts of international organizations to develop and promote a single model of the property valuation and to indicate the causes and consequences of the failure of this effort. The methods used include an analysis of the relevant literature, International and European Valuation Standards as well as European Union legislation. The analysis reveals that the process of unification of valuation through standardization has failed. It is visible at the stage of defining the value of the property and its interpretation as well as the principles of drawing up the valuation report. The process of unification takes the form of harmonization of valuation, which, mainly due to different legal regulations and ambitions of national institutions, also has little chance of success. This has an adverse effect on the comparability of estimates, understood as the outcome of the process of achieving the value. For the sake of the recipients of valuations, there is an urgent need for international research on differences in national legal systems in order to explain their impact on the estimated value.

In the article, we compare the process of German unification (more generally, of defining the German unity and, more broadly, the unity of German-speaking territories) after WWI and WWII. A search for similarities and differences between these processes allows us to analyse the present stage of the European integration, as a part of which the unification of two German states was accomplished at the cost of Germany’s acceptance for the creation of the European monetary union, and so – for the deepening of the integration. We analyse various consequences of the unification of Germany and the creation of the eurozone, which, in our opinion, go far beyond the economic or political ones and are connected with the EU Eastern enlargement.

In the recent years, the academic literature has repeatedly expressed its doubts with regard to the advantages of the relocation of production to low-cost Asian countries, drawing attention to the significant differences between the initially estimated and the actually achieved savings. As a result, some MNCs have undertaken activities which resulted in the decrease of the engagement in international operations (de-internationalisation) or in the transfer of business processes back to the home countries (reshoring). The current debate regarding the necessity of reindustrialisation of the EU member states, which has been taking place among scientists, business practitioners and politicians, is largely based on the expectations that the return of the production companies will contribute to the restoration of the competitiveness of the EU economies. The goal of the article is to evaluate the possibility of reindustrialisation of the EU in the context of its long-term industrial strategy and the reshoring trend, perceived as one of the main chances to strengthen the European industrial potential. The research was based on the conclusions drawn from the indepth and critical literature review.

This article presents a part of the results of a broader analysis aimed to examine the impact of intra-industry trade flows of the new EU member states (the EU-10) on their adjustments to the requirements of the single European market. For the purpose of the analysis, the period covered was broken down into two stages, i.e., the years 1995–2003 (the period before the accession of the countries concerned to the EU) and 2004–2014 (the post-accession period). The stage 2004–2014 was further divided into the years 2004–2008 (before the crisis) and 2009–2014 (after the outbreak of the world crisis). An important factor taken into account were the differences in trade conditions resulting from the liberalisation agreements signed by the countries concerned and, after 2004, from their adoption of the EU common commercial policy rules. The countries under examination were divided into two groups: the EU-15 and the EU-10. The analysis of the intensity of intra-industry trade was based on the aggregate multilateral IIT index computed at the 6-digitCN code level in accordance with the Grubel-Lloyd formula. The article ends with a summary of the most important conclusions from the presented analysis.

The aim of the article is to assess the specialization of Polish exports to the European Union in terms of food and non-food products. The paper analyses the results of Polish foreign trade (intra-m EU and total) in food and non-food products in the years 2003–2014. Changes in the level of specialization in Polish exports to the EU were assessed on the basis of two indicators of international competitiveness: specialization indicator (SI) and trade coverage index (TC). That assessment was made for the sections covering food products (4 sections) and non-food products (17 sections). The analysis used global trade data from the WITS-Comtrade database and showed that in the period of Polish membership in the EU, Polish foreign trade in food products developed. Polish specialization in export of these products to the EU against non-food products increased as well. These phenomena indicate an improvement of competitiveness and a growing importance of Polish food sector to the national economy.

The aim of this paper is to present the changes in the EU framework for the evaluation of the progress made by the countries aspiring for the eurozone in order to respond to two main questions: first, what is the nature of these changes and do they reflect the optimum currency area (OCA) theory better than before? And secondly, have these changes made the accession into the eurozone more difficult? First of all, we present the main elements of the new European governance that impact a country’s accession into the eurozone and the consequent evolution of the concept of a ‘high degree of sustainable economic convergence’. Then, we show whether the current conditions for sharing the euro satisfy the OCA theory to a higher degree than before. We observe that although theOCAcriteria can hardly be found in the modified framework for the assessment of economic convergence in the EMU, the efforts that have been made so far towards fiscal integration make the euro membership less challenging. When considering the changes in the entry conditions from the eurozone enlargement perspective, an ambiguous picture emerges.

Starting with the assumption that migration will be a long-term issue, the paper offers five global causes of this phenomenon: military conflicts with a geostrategic background, diminishing resources, countries remaining in the first demographic transition, climate change, and access to information and mobility. The introduction provides a short interim summary of the recent European debate. The first section then illustrates the economic consequences of various scenarios, based on the German example. The main focus of the paper is the analysis of regional migration outcomes for growing metropolitan regions. During the last decades, these regions where faced by suburbanization, growing internal competition for inhabitants, and an unequal distribution of infrastructure burdens and public debt. Without regional cooperation, migration will be a driving force for accelerated conflicts. This pessimistic outlook seems to be valid if strategies for housing do not reflect the local labour market conditions and manpower demand (Bronx Scenario or Banlieue Scenario). On the other hand, migration can be an advantage for both an aging metropolitan core and an aging region in general. This optimistic outlook implies an integrated strategy for housing, education, infrastructure, and labour market (Vancouver or Ruhr Scenario). The strategy offers a win-win perspective for the problems of migrant integration.

This paper, which draws on monthly data from 2002–2011, aims to prove that Polish emigration proceeds in spurts – it is, in other words, characterized by relatively long spells of stability that are followed by sudden outflows triggered by such factors as changes in unemployment or currency exchange rates. In doing so, it first seeks to find out whether SETAR (threshold) models are better-placed than ARMA/ARIMA models to estimate the pace and rate of emigration. It transpires from our econometric analysis that this is indeed the case, which, in turn, allowed us to estimate the threshold values of selected transition variables – emigration, unemployment, purchasing power parity, wages, GDP and the PLN/EUR exchange rate – that set off the outflows. These findings per se merit recognition due to their socio-economic and demographic implications. The study contributes to the literature by proposing an original approach to analyzing the dynamics of migratory processes.

The labour market is an indivisible component of each and every market economy. Manifestations of disproportions between the demand for work and its availability over the long-term – recurrent in certain sectors – are a problem for every market-oriented society. In recent years, the public debate in the Czech Republic has been increasingly turning to the deteriorating situation of young adults on the labour market. This article is focused on secondary school students and their personal attitude toward employment. It was prepared using both primary and secondary research methods. The primary data was obtained through external research carried out among secondary school students in the form of a survey in 2013. The research was focused on their attitude toward their future job prospects and expectations regarding their future professional lives. The data so acquired was processed using statistical methods. The secondary data was used to track the developmental trends on the Czech labour market in the recent past and, especially in the area of unemployment, as well as the problems involved in the employability of graduates of schools of different levels of education. The research results showed that the majority of secondary school students do not have a clear idea of how to achieve success in the labour market. For most of them, the studied field does not play a significant role in their future expectations about the labour market. The majority of them have most unrealistic ideas about the real needs of the Czech labour market. Their expectations of success in the labour market are mainly based on the simple fact that they are economically supported by other people and they would rather be doing work that they find entertaining. The research results can be used for the purpose of further comparison with the results of similar research in other countries in Europe as well as in the world.

An increasing number of trade agreements contains regulations on geographical indications (GIs). The European Union is one of the main proponents of including them in such agreements. It also aims to raise the protection to the level guaranteed in the EU. Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), under negotiation since July 2013, resulted in a return to the discussion of the desired scope and level of protection of GIs. The aim of the article is to assess whether the current level of GI protection in the EU and US is sufficient to secure the rights of GI holders and to indicate the roots of tensions in this area between the two parties. The research was carriedn out through the studies of literature and the critical analysis of the legal systems of the two parties of TTIP as compared to the multilateral system of GI protection guaranteed by the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The results show that the European system gives the producers of GI much greater protection than other countries, including the US and other WTO members. As a result, the EU desires to raise the international standards to the EU levels. One of the reasons of stronger protection of GI holders’ rights in the EU is the economic significance of the market for GI products. Other reasons include political, social and cultural differences – and these are especially difficult to overcome in the course of trade negotiations.

From 2008, we have been witnessing an economic phenomenon which has been shaking capitalism and which has serious economic, political, and social consequences. Some of the problems that occurred included a panic on financial markets, media hysteria, rising unemployment, loss of homes by millions of people, chain bankruptcies, anti-Wall Street demonstrations in the United States of America, anti-government protests and anti-EU street protests in many European countries, and a debt crisis in some of the Southern European and Central Eastern European economies. What is the effect of this major economic event on the subjective well-being of Southern and Central Eastern Europeans? The ‘Easterlin paradox’ suggests that there is no link between society’s economic development and its average level of happiness. I re-assessed this paradox by analysing multiple rich datasets from the European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS 2007–2008 and EQLS 2011–2012). I selected several countries both from Southern and Central Eastern Europe: Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Using a multiple linear regression analysis, I tested the influence of different economic indicators (GDP per capita in PPS, long-term unemployment rate, Corruption Perceptions Index, Gini coefficient, absolute and relative income), social indicators (religious participation and self-perceived health) and socio-demographic variables (gender, age, marital status, education, size of place of residence) on both the cognitive (satisfaction with life) and the hedonic (happiness) component of subjective well-being. My conclusion is that GDP per capita is not a significant predictor of neither life satisfaction nor happiness. The main predictors of satisfaction with life are the perceived standard of living, health, marital status, education level, and religious church attendance. The main predictors of happiness are the perceived standard of living, health, marital status, and education level.