Search
Search Results
-
Estimating the economic potential of rural microregions
71-79Views:288Experts have been involved in the problems of determining microregions in Hungary since their establishment. In Hungary, the microregions (NUTS17 IV) were established by top-down method. This system cut through existing economic and cultural connections. The villages set up their own bottom-up microregions, which have tighter connections than the official regions. In my article, I estimate the economic potential of two regions, the regions Erdôspuszta (Hungary) and Hohenlohe (Germany), after analyzing the relevant literature on determining economic potential. Projects realized by enterprises and civil organizations have strategic significance in the economies of settlements, and it is true that their developers are not members of the formal management of the settlement. The local governments, however, should conduct realization and topdown of projects, and they have to have an image of the future and strategic plans. The present Hungarian practice, which appears in supply oriented applications, is not expedient over the long-run.The projects of settlements are run parallel to each other; they therefore fail to reach any synergic effect. The aim is harmonizing and building projects onto each other.
-
Optimal crop plan of cooperative farmers in Osun state, Nigeria: a linear programming approach
Views:464Optimal level of production requires better use of existing resources at the lowest possible cost. Despite the inherent advantage of cooperatives to the agricultural sector, the question of how farmers under cooperative umbrella use farm resource for optimal outcome remains unanswered. This study investigates optimal crop mix for cooperative farmers in rural communities in Southwest Nigeria. Primary data were collected for the study through structured questionnaire. The data were fitted to Linear Programming Model. Three different cropping patterns are identified among the cooperative farmers. Based on the results from linear programming model, only maize, cassava and yam are admitted in the final plan and this combination is to be produced at 2.23 hectares. The gross margin value associated with the plan is ₦156, 235.781 (1$ = N365). Input resources such as land, labour, fertilizer, and chemicals are not fully utilized. The slack values for these inputs are 0.31, 651.20, 1929.6 and 140.76 respectively. The sensitivity analysis shows that seed/seedling is the only binding resource in the final plan with a shadow price which suggests that proper allocation of seed and seedlings would improve returns to cooperative farmers. There is need for appropriate farm management strategies to ensure optimal return for farmers. More education and training is suggested to boost cooperative farmers understanding of optimum strategy that is needed to improve production and earnings.
JEL code: Q10, Q13
-
Multifunctional agriculture: An engine of regional economic growth?
7-15Views:319The historical role of agriculture in economic geography and recent conceptual developments – including multifunctional agriculture (MFA), the new economic geography, amenity-driven growth, and the “world is flat” and “creative class” hypotheses – are examined, and recent empirical research in NorthAmerica and Europe is reviewed, in order to assess the potential for MFA as an engine of regional economic growth. Ideal MFA policy corrects market failures and is mostly amenity-augmenting. It has the capacity to enhance opportunities for farmers on urban fringe; stimulate growth in high-amenity rural regions accessible to cities that offer opportunities for high-value work; and generate growth in relatively remote high-amenity regions. The scope for market-failure-correcting MFA policy to propel economic growth in lessfavored regions is limited – remoteness is non-responsive to policy in the short to medium term, and amenities that attract in-migration (e.g. proximity to sea, lakes, mountains, pleasant climate) are givens for favored locations but can at best be complemented by pro-active policy – but not trivial. While this paper focuses on regional economic growth, it well to rememberthat growth is not everything. Regions unlikely to experience growth need to create satisfying futures. Market-failure-correcting MFA policy has the potential to improve quality of life, well-being, and perhaps incomes in many if not all rural places regardless of location. This accomplishment would not be trivial – economic growth for all regions regardless of resources, amenities, and remoteness is not a serious prospect, and regions in decline face daunting problems maintaining essential services and quality of life.
-
An investigation on the international tourists’ expenditures in Thailand: a modelling approach
15-18Views:334As a result of the increase in both the international tourists’ expenditures and tourist arrivals to Thailand, there is a growing interest in determining the trend of international tourists’ expenditures based on time-series modelling. In our article secondary data were used to produce forecasts of the international tourists’ expenditures in Thailand between 2009 and 2010. The forecasting method is based on the ARFIMAX (0, 0.197, 0, 0.033) model. Furthermore, this method predicted that international tourists’ expenditures in Thailand between 2009 and 2010 will have to contract and slow down. This paper seeks to determine whether the international tourists’ expenditures are affected by other circumstances. The results of this study revealed that the international tourist arrivals to Thailand will also have to slow down. However, from the results, there is solid evidence to support such a claim.
-
Impact of economic globalization on the human trafficking in the Greater Mekong Sub-region countries
123-130Views:708This study examines the impact of economic globalization on the human trafficking inflows into the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) countries. The paper empirically tests for a cross-section of six countries, including Cambodia, the Yunnan Province of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PRD), Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. Employing the Pooled OLS estimator, as the theory predicts, the economic globalization increases trafficking inflow into the GMS. However, only foreign direct investment (FDI) affects the degree of trafficking of persons, while the effect of trade is insignificant. Moreover, Exchange rate, Migration, Population and Democracy induce higher rates of trafficked persons, whereas Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and other factors, such as education, vocational training and micro-finance through village development funds decrease this problem in the region. Gross National Income per capita (GNI per capita) and rule of law do not have any significant effect on human trafficking.
-
Civic organizations and citizens-an alternative approach to understanding civic engagement
137-141Views:288The importance of nonprofit, and inside classic civic sector is usually approached on the basis of figures of the Statistical Office. Based on these, we may assume these to have a slight or intermediate role in the greater economy regarding economic capacity and human resources. Actually, we cannot have a closer look into local conditions and circumstances which would contribute to a better understanding of how civic organizations are connected to citizens. It is difficult to estimate the background, effect, personal movements behind the civic sector; international literature discusses this issue in the framework of civic engagement. In a private examination, I may also contribute to the alternative approach to the importance of the civic organization sector by studying and measuring the complex indicator termed “civic involvement”. Additionally, a small scale pilot examination has revealed a better, more precise description of the connection between citizens and civic organizations, which may also enable the better planning of local municipal interventions.
-
Integration Efforts in Agriculture
91-96Views:339The economic and political transition brought many challenges for the Hungarian agricultural sector. The break-up of large agricultural holdings had serious negative impacts on food production and on the export of agricultural products. Capital intensive profit-seeking intermediaries dominate the trading of agricultural goods that has injurious effects in terms of downward pressure on production prices and an increase in consumer prices. Cooperatives have a key role in effectively tackling the common challenges that small-scale producers have to face. More vertical integration along the food chain could contribute to providing rural employment and to an increase in living standards in rural areas. This study reviews the development, the specific features and the driving forces of modern cooperatives in Central Europe in general, and in Hungary in particular. The focus is on the integrator role of cooperatives and their future role in our globalised world.
JEL Classification: Q10, Q13
-
Risk and risk management in Hungarian sheep production
61-65Views:510The aim of this paper is to give an overview of the risk attitudes of Hungarian sheep producers regarding the changes they have had to go through since the political changes of 1989–1990. Moreover, the objective of this study is to strengthen the empirical basis for risk analysis by identifying the importance of farmers’ risk attitudes. The results of a nationwide survey of over 500 sheep farmers presented a framework of risk attitudes, risk sources and applied risk management techniques of livestock producers.
-
On tests for long-term dependence: India ’s international tourism market
109-113Views:372There have been growing interest in studying behavior of long memory process in tourism market. In this research examine the behavior of India’s international tourism market based on long-memory analysis. The international tourism market of India combined with nine countries: USA, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Japan, Malaysia, Australia and Sri Lanka. Moreover, three statistical tests for longmemory process such as R/S test, Modified R/S test and GPH-test are employed to test in these market. The empirical findings in general provide more support for no long memory process or no long-term dependence in international tourism market of India.
-
The effects of global real economic crisis on the markets for fossil and renewable fuels
51-56Views:368The 2008/2009 world economic crisis had significant impact on the oil and fuel markets. The crisis developed from the meltdown of American and European mortgage and financial markets and rapidly involved the global real economy. As each country reacted differently to the crisis, the changes in the fuel market also showed significant geographic variation. In our present research, the actions of the US, German and Hungarian fuel markets were analysed for the answer to the reasons for the differences in crisis reactions. We examined the tendency of fuel consumption, the changes of price elasticity for gasoline and diesel and the possible effects of the crisis on the regulatory system.
-
Cross border co-operation in rural areas giving the example of Bihar region
39-45Views:303After the political changes in 1990-ies in Hungary and in East-Central Europe the process of forming cross-border regional cooperations reached a new period. The border regions of the different national states join to encourage co-operation. The most remarkably connected system in our region is the Carpathian Euroregion. This paper deals with one of the most successful initiatives started between Hungary and Romania. The most outstanding co-operation of the past few years exists between the settlements of the former Bihar County which territory today belongs to two countries. The aims of the paper are to research the development of the border region; to reveal the factors of the cooperation and to observe the possibilities for the development. To obtain the goals desktop research, cluster analysis and data analysis were used, as statistic methods. The results emphasize that the development and renewal of the cross-border co-operations were supported by historical factors and good practices adapted from Western Europe. Although economic backwardness or the administrative problems are against the cooperation, historical economic connections facilitate the common work in the Hungarian-Romanian border region.
-
On tests for long-term dependence: India’s international tourism market
77-81Views:300There have been growing interest in studying behavior of long memory process in tourism market. In this research examine the behavior of India’s international tourism market based on long-memory analysis. The international tourism market of India combined with nine countries: USA, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Japan, Malaysia, Australia and Sri Lanka. Moreover, three statistical tests for longmemory process such as R/S test, Modified R/S test and GPH-test are employed to test in these market. The empirical findings in general provide more support for no long memory process or no long-term dependence in international tourism market of India.
-
Problem analysis of the Hungarian tobacco sector
161-166Views:453The Hungarian tobacco sector went through significant changes in the last decades. The reason of the changes were our accession to the EU, then the changes in subsidiary system, the effect of the world and within the EU’s strict tobacco policy. The number of tobacco farms declined and the future became uncertain for the farmers. Size of the farms increased and there were a concentration in the sector, so the smaller scale farmers’ activity ceased. It causes several problems in rural areas, because one of the main strengths of the sector was its significant role in rural development, as the tobacco in small scales was able to produce an acceptable income in such areas where due to the poor soil quality economically successfully growing for other plants are not suitable. The main goal of this paper is to present the Hungarian tobacco sector and its main strengths, weaknesses, possibilities and threats compared to the European Union’s situation.
-
The assessment of intellectual capital in Polish regions
101-105Views:464In a knowledge-based economy intangible assets are indispensable to achieve competitive advantages. Resources like intellectual capital are perceived as crucial factors especially for regional growth. Intellectual capital is comprehended as a multidimensional concept, defined and explained in many various ways, depending on the context and further application. The purposes of this article is to consider the role and importance of the intellectual capital for regional development and competitiveness and to try to use it for an estimation of regional advance progress. On the basis of literature review the article provides a framework to analyse the intellectual capital and its main components. The central attention of the paper focuses on the evaluation of the intellectual capital in Polish regions and its influence on regional performance. The paper surveys the empirical examination of 16 Polish regions in terms of intellectual capital and simultaneously assesses the level of intellectual capital in rural areas. The article provides the insight into the role and value of the intellectual capital in Polish regions.
-
Examining some fields within human resources management
49-52Views:377Human resources management is one of the management functions, dealing with people as the essential resource of the organization. This function aims at the most efficient usage of employees in order to realize both organizational and individual goals. Nowadays high significance is attributed to human resources management, since the human factor is the resource that determines the success of an organization. The results of a company are in proportion with the knowledge and talent of the people on its payroll. Human talent and knowledge can be utilized to the greatest extent in case management is able to motivate employees to meet not only the necessary requirements but also to achieve the highest possible results. Human resources management consists of several fields of activities, among which the following are the most important: analysis, planning and assessment of the scope of activities, human resources planning, workforce supply, performance assessment, motivation, developing human resources, labour relations, labour safety, HEM information system. Our studies cover a few fields within human resources management. Our research has been carried out at organizations in Hajdú-Bihar County. The study is based on questionnaires, which have been processed by computers and evaluated using statistical methods.
-
Consumption habits of “Free range chicken” in Hungary
69-73Views:411Poultry is highly ranked in theWorld meat production and consumption (it accounted for 32% in 2007), and, in the past 20 years it was growing with an annual rate of 3–6%, higher than in case of any other meat-types. This tendency is also valid for Hungary: poultry has the largest share (29.8 kg/person/year, 47%) in the domestic meat consumption since 2000, which is among the EU top (KSH, 2007). As the result of the animal health and nutrition scandals, the EU animal welfare and quality requirements and the advancements in health consciousness the Master-Good group launched the production, processing and trade of free-range poultry under the brand “Free-range chicken”. The new products had good consumer responses, because at present 1.5% of the processed chicken in Hungary (25 tons/week) is under this brand. As it regards the future of this product, we can expect the decrease of the current 1.5 times higher production price over broiler chicken, due to the increasing energy, labour and other cost items, thus the increase of the domestic consumption by 25–30% per annum can be foreseen. Besides the growth in domestic demand, increasing foreign consumer demand can also be expected because of the space requirement of the production. Summarising the above mentioned: „Free range chicken” can be one of the most successful products of the Hungarian poultry industry. In order to realise the prognosis mentioned above, it is inevitable to learn the consumer attitudes towards the brand. A primary market research programme supported by the Master Good group has been launched to study the main features of the domestic chicken meat consumption – including the „Free-range chicken” as highlighted brand. The primary aim of the research was the complete assessment and evaluation of the Hungarian chicken consumption habits and the identification of the possible take-off points. The research undertaken resulted basic information concerning the internal structure of the Hungarian poultry consumption (including that of the „Free-range chicken”), the potential consumer groups and their requirements, provided information on the consumers’knowledge of the products and identified the elements of the consumers’ judgements. This will serve as basis for a marketing communication programme to increase the domestic „Free-range chicken” consumption.
-
The effects of the global economic crisis on the markets for fossil and renewable fuels
131-136Views:357The 2008/2009 world economic crisis had significant impact on oil and fuel markets. This crisis has been developed from the meltdown of the American mortgage and financial market and spread throughout the global economy. As each country reacted differently to the crisis, the changes in the fuel market have also shown significant geographic variation. In our present research, the changes of the US, German and Hungarian fuel markets were analysed, looking for answers to the reasons behind different crisis reactions. We examined the tendency of fuel consumption, the changes of gasoline and diesel price elasticity and the possible effects of the crisis on the regulatory system.
-
World importance and present tendencies of dairy sector
119-123Views:436The general objective of this paper is to present the world importance of dairy sector and to illustrate present tendency of milk production, consumption, trade and prices mainly based on FAO data base. World milk production was 711 million tonnes in 2010 and it is expected to increase in the future. The most significant milk producers are the EU(27), the United States and from the Asian countries, India and China. Developed countries give one-third of world milk production, while more than two-third of world dairy herd can be found in developing countries. Milk production growth is a future tendency mainly in China, India, Pakistan, Argentina and Brazil. The average level of consumption of milk and milk products is 103,6 kg/capita/year and it will increase in developing and developed countries as well. The ratio of international trade of milk and milk products to production is 6 percent and itmay expand in the future. New Zealand, the EU(27), theUnited States andAustralia are themajor exporters. There is a strong demand formilk andmilk products among others from the Asian countries, the Russian Federation,Algeria,Mexico, Saudi Arabia and the United States.Analysis of world market price of the most important dairy products it represents a strong recovery from last year, but it still remains 20 percent below its peak value in early 2008. However prices have doubled compared with prices of period of 2002–2004.
-
Touristic Motivation and Lifestyles of Hungarian Domestic Tourists Correlation Study
47-54Views:364Motivations are closely interwoven with personality theories. According to researchers the object of motivation theory is primarily to describe what is common in people, whereas lifestyle theories highlight the individual differences among people. Tourism travel decisions constitute a special type of consumer decisions in which case the tourist has to make a choice among the personal tourism services on offer according to his/ her individual needs, but still as a segment specific product corresponding to common motivations. Consequently, certain elements of lifestyle and motivation theory appear in touristic decisions as well. Having perused the relevant trade literature, I came to the realisation that there have been very little research done in the area of travel motives in recent years. The examination of the correlation between motivation and lifestyle complemented with model application is a field belonging to applied marketing science which can be regarded as uncharted territory in tourism research. Domestic tourism accounts for a significant portion among the national income sectors. That is why it is of key importance to be aware of the correlation between the habits and needs of the local population and the factors influencing travel decisions. Applying the results of my research I endeavoured to define and model the lifestyle, needs and motivations of domestic tourists as the factors influencing their decisions. With the results of the investigation, I also wished to provide some guidelines for the creation of tourism supply in view of product development and communication.
JEL Classification: Z32 tourism and development
-
Land regulation in the European Union and Hungary
57-58Views:395Land, as it constitutes one of the bases of agricultural production, has a special position in the economic-judiciary surroundings of states. In Hungarian history, land ownership has undergone many radical transitions. The decade starting from the political and land regulation reform is a short time in land tenure. In spite of it, there have been several important changes in land ownership structure. In the 1970s and 80s, large agricultural firms, especially co-operatives and state farms, were common in Hungary. State hegemony was typical of land ownership and use, with rather small, privately owned parcels. Since privatization began after 1989, this tendency has changed, with land owned by farmers. In the following article, I am going to review the laws regulating land ownership and land use in Hungary and in the European Union.
-
Agrarian budget as an instrument of agrarian development policy of Serbia
Views:299Purpose of the research is to emphasize the role of agrarian budget in development of Serbian agrarian economy and to examine the problem of agricultural and rural development financingsupport.Furthermore, in this research initial reforms of economic measures have been analyzed concerning Serbian agrarian policy. The goal of this paper is to provide an insight into the role of agricultural budget in agrarian policy of Serbia.The first part of the study gives an overview of macroeconomic situation in Serbia and impact of the financial crisis on Serbia’s economy. Second part includes analysis of the topic item, i.e. agrarian budget role in Serbian agrarian sector. It includes review of relevant literature and researches already conducted on legislation and practice of Serbian agrarian policy as well as examination of statistical data regarding present agrarian budget for 2009.The research focuses at the Serbian agrarian budget for 2009 and agrarian policy of the present Serbian government administration.
-
Bicycle tourism in Hungary
67-71Views:790Side by side with the revaluation of a health-oriented lifestyle various kinds of axtive leisure activities and active tourism in particular have been gaining ground. Cycling, which is popular not only as a leisure time tourism activity but mainly within settlements, also as an environmentally-friendly and up to a certain extent, a highly practicable means of transport mainly in towns and cities in WesternEurope, has a privileged position within active tourism (SALAMIN, 2010). This article wishes to present the situation of bicycle tourism, the factors influencing the demand for it and the opportunities for and possibilities of improving it within Hungary by providing an evaluative analysis of the relevant sources of the technical literature. The most important finding of this secondary research-based study is that there is an increasing contention both internationally and within certain regions of tourist interest within Hungary although there is no detailed information available as regards the latter. Success on the market can only be achieved by following the good practices of internationally developed tourist destinations and by a concerted development and improvement of the infrastructure, services and target-group oriented marketing activities as well as attractions.
-
Trends in agriculture and food production
99-110Views:328Agricultural reform resulted a shift from collective farming to small-scale production in China. This reform also has resulted a strong increase in gross agricultural output, which coincides with a slower increase in labour productivity. At the beginning of the reforms, agriculture accounted for 70 percent of total employment in China and still employs more than 50%. As a result of these reforms, China has undergone impressive economic growth also in the agriculture; the country has become one of the world’s top exporters and is attracting record amounts of foreign investment. The government has also stepped up investments in rural areas to meet the market demand for agricultural products. Results are very competitive compared to Central and Eastern European countries, where agriculture accounted for only 15 percent of total employment, but agricultural reform resulted a strong decline in gross agricultural output, which coincides with a similarly strong decline in employment. When approaching the issue of sustainable agriculture, we have to take into consideration, which China and India feed the largest populations in the world and both countries have had its own agricultural successes in the past 50 years. China has used land far more efficiently than many developed countries. With nine percent of the world’s arable land, China is responsible for the greatest share of agricultural production worldwide. Volume of produced pork, eggs, wheat, cotton, tobacco, and rice has increased and China exports an increasing amount of product each year. China has opened his borders, but do not expose food consumers to price shocks and producers to risks and disincentives. In this paper, the land-tenure system and the trends of agricultural developments are analysed in China and selected countries of EU.
-
Health factor in soft drink consumption, German example
41-44Views:339Consumer lifestyle and health are relevant factors to understanding consumption preferences.The number of lifestyle diseases has dramatically increased worldwide. The main cause for these diseases is the change in lifestyle; including a lack of attention to physical activity and good nutrition. Health and lifestyle are important factors by purchase decision process. In accordance with these, I examine the consumer behaviour toward soft drinks with special regards to healthy lifestyle and the state of health. My examinations can be considered mainly as a qualitative research among German students, which can serve as a basis for further analyses and research, however, the conclusions and experience gained from it are worthy of consideration. I differentiated five categories: ice tea, carbonated soft drinks, fruit juices, mineral waters, sport and energy drinks and studied the consumer behaviour toward them. The study focuses on the consumption of these and the factors influencing their purchase with special regards to lifestyle.
-
The statistical analysis for the theoretical bio-methane market based on the opinion of car-owners of Hajdú-Bihar county in Hungary
27-30Views:301The more expensive fuels and the health-threatening air pollution make even necessary the spread of such a fuel, which serves as a solution to these problems. In our country at present there are three public CNG filling stations, two of them are located in Gyôr and Szeged and the third one was opened at the end of October in Budapest. The lack of infrastructure obstructs the spread of the methane gas powered cars in Hungary. During my research getting information by means of a test questionnaire I measured the fuel selection of the drivers and their opinion about alternative fuels. Then on the basis of the results I determined the potential target audience of the bio-CNG. As it is also typical in our country, the most of the respondents use gasoline-powered vehicle and drive less than 12 000 km/year on an average. 55% of the respondents would have their car converted in order to refuel cheaper and to protect the environment, consequently there would be demand for CNG. The potential target audience is the urban population below the age of 41 with higher education degree and average salary. One of my future objectives is to design a CNG filling station network in Hajdú-Bihar county considering the demand of car owners.
Keywords
