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Main characteristics of trade of the Hungarian cereals and oil crops between 2000 and 2010 and the effects of changes in intervention rules to the Hungarian cop sector from 2004 to 2010
47-54Views:390In this paper the trade of the Hungarian cereal and oil crops from 2000 and 2010 are introduced. The general attributes of the Hungarian crop sector are analyzed and a specific picture from aspect of the trade in Hungarian cereal and oilseed sector, with a focus on the quantity of the export and import of wheat, maize, rapeseed, sunflower and other crops and their main target countries. This article also aims to show the impacts of the changes in the EU’s intervention rules and provide analysis.
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New tools and opportunities in growth and climate friendly greening for small and medium enterprises in the European Union
25-31Views:423The role of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is unquestionable in the European economies, while financial opportunities are still inadequate for them. The more than 20 million SMEs play a significant role in European economic growth, innovation and job creation. According to the latest EC Annual Report , SMEs are accounting for 99% of all non-financial enterprises, employing 88.8 million people and generating almost EUR 3.7 tn in added value for our economy. Despite the fact that there is plenty of EU funding available for these SMEs, for certain reasons these funds hardly reach them. But we have to see that the EU supports SMEs by various way, e.g. by grants, regulatory changes, financial instrument, direct funds. On the other hand, SMEs and decision makers realised that the environmental sustainability has to be attached to the economic growth, therefore more and more tools are available for these enterprises. Over the last few years, public institutions, the market, the financial community and non-governmental associations have explicitly demanded that firms improve their environmental performance. One of the greatest opportunities might lay in the Climate- and Energy Strategy till 2030 as 20% of the EU budget is allocated to climate-related actions, however the easy access to finance is still a key question. Does the EU recognise the actual difficulties? Is there a systemic reason behind the absorption problems? Is the EU creating a more businessfriendly environment for SMEs, facilitating access to finance, stimulates the green and sustainable growth and improving access to new markets? The paper analyses the current European situation of the SMEs and the effectiveness of some new tools, which are specially targeting SMEs.
JEL classification: Q18
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Management issues of cropping with sorghum in the production structure - a case study of Hungary
Views:668One of the goals of the developments is to improve the efficiency of the activity by making the currently used traditional production structure more flexible and by making the necessary changes to the technology in the case of farmers with large agricultural land, having necessary machinery and equipments required. Farms with larger arables land are able to offset the effects of changes affecting efficacy and profitability. The main sector of Hungarian agriculture is crop production, so performance is largely determined by the annual output of the crop production sector and the price development of crop products. In the course of our analytical work, we defined a farm of 2100 hectares, for which we examined crop production, crop machinery and economic aspects. From the enterprise data, farm level results compiled according to the crop structure were calculated. Sorghum is suitable for replacing corn in the crop rotation in areas with unfavorable conditions, so a stably growing crop can be added to the crop rotation of autumn ears of corn, rape, and sunflower, instead of corn. It does not hinder the machinery modernization efforts either, since the precision tools and developments already started in corn production can be used well, and it does not require a special equipment park. At the same time, in light of the increasingly frequent negative climatic effects, sorghum’s integration into the plant production structure is encouraging, because we have to count on 3-4 drought years in a decade. Based on our analysis, the inclusion of sorghum in the crop structure does not significantly reduce the available income, which is acceptable in the given economic environment. However, its stability can significantly contribute to improving the resilience of farming, especially in comparison with corn.
JEL Code: Q12
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Using DEA to evaluate efficiency of higher education
79-82Views:869The aim of the higher education reform process both in Hungary and in the European countries is establishing a competitive, qualitative higher education with efficiently operating institutions. The question of efficiency needs increased attention not only because of the decline of the state support but also the rapid raise of the student mass. In the educationsystemit’snot easy to measurethe output of the services.The situation is more complicated if an organisation or a sector has multiple inputs and outputs. In this case a possible method of determining efficiency is Data Envelopment Analysis. In my paper I’d like to introduce this method and use it to compare the efficiency of higher education systems. urthermore I am examining whether their efficiency is influenced by the extent of the contribution of the state and the private sector or socio-economic factors like GDP per capita and education level of parents.
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Multifunctionality of agriculture, public policies and scientific evidences: Some critical issues of contemporary controversies
53-58Views:320Various theoretical models of public policy analysis are used to treat situations of decision-making in which public deciders have to take into account the multifunctionality of agriculture. For some, science-society relations are not really problematical. Others acknowledge the current attempts of these policy-makers to find adequate scientific knowledge, and the difficulties they encounter. These difficulties stem partly from the very content of knowledge produced by research. Could other modes of production be more efficient? The status of the knowledge produced by these approaches is a subject of debate. Bridging the divide between science and policy more effectively is not only a question of knowledge brokerage.Accessibility and reliability of the existing evidences are also problems to be addressed. The debates around evidence-based practices may provide some landmarks in this new situation although they also emphasize the limits of the tools that can be built for this purpose.
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The economic efficiency of apple production in terms of post‑harvest technology
99-106Views:367This study analyses how the level of postharvest technology’s development influences the economic efficiency of apple production with the help of a deterministic simulation model based on primary data gathering in producer undertakings. To accomplish our objectives and to support our hypotheses three processing plant types are included in the model: firstly apple production with no postharvest and prompt sale after the harvest, secondly parallel production and storage combined with an extended selling period and thirdly production and entire postharvest infrastructure (storage, sorting-ranking, packing) with the highest level of goods production and continuous sales. Based on our results it can be stated that the parallel production (plantation) and cold storage, so the second case is proved to be totally inefficient, considering that the establishment of a cold storage carries enormously high costs with resulting a relative low plus profit compared to the first type of processing plant. The reason for this is that this type is selling bulk goods without sorting-grading or packaging; storage itself – as a means of continuously servicing the market – is not covered properly by the consumers. Absolute efficiency ranking cannot be established regarding the other two processing plants: plantation without post-harvest infrastructure resulting lower NPV, but a more favourable IRR, DPP and PI as developing a plantation and a whole post-harvest infrastructure.
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Food and nutrition security as gendered social practice
59-66Views:595In many parts of the world, the food security of households and the nutrition security of individual household members, in particular that of children, are still at risk, in spite of the progress made in combatting hunger at the global level. The prevailing opinion among scientists and development practioners alike is that women’s empowerment is the key to household food security and good nutrition of children. Similarly, it is thought that gender inequalities manifest themselves in dietary discrimination of women resulting in their lesser access to sufficient and nutritious food. To investigate the credibility of these ‘common truths’, empirical evidence on women’s roles in the social practices that aim at realizing household food security and good family nutrition was reviewed. It can be concluded that women definitely yield and wield power through their involvement in and responsibility for these practices, but that – at the same time – enhancing women’s capabilities by improved access to critical resources would benefit their household’s food security and their children’s nutrition. Furthermore, except for the region of South Asia, gender inequalities do not visibly result in a gender gap in nutrition, although women’s specific dietary needs in relation to pregnancy and motherhood are not always recognized.
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Estimating the economic potential of rural microregions
71-79Views:307Experts 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.
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New types of tourism and tourism marketing in the post-industrial world
33-37Views:516At the end of the 20th century in the most developed countries economy and society went through profound transformation. The emerging post-industrial society can be characterised by the dominance of service industry, more leisure time of the population, higher disposable income and more conscious consumers. These conscious consumers are more and more quality orientated and reject undifferentiated mass products. New customers of tourism and hospitality industry are not only more affluent – so less price conscious – and more quality orientated but they are also seeking activity, participation, fantasy, and experience. These new types of tourists are interested rather in aesthetic aspects of life and are seeking highly differentiated, personalised experience. In the following article the authors, professors of the French ESSCA business school overview theoretical aspects of new, post-Fordist tourism demand and present examples of the new tourism and hospitality products having emerged in the developed countries during the last years.
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Cognitive dimensions of subjective quality of life in Hajdú-Bihar county
131-135Views:355The objective of the present study is an investigation of the objective and subjective factors of life quality. Researchers and political leaders show increasing interest in the question: on what grounds do people judge their quality of life, what satisfies or makes them happy? Do we subconsciously make some kinds of mathematical calculations weighing our results achieved in certain areas of life to assess how we are getting on? Or rather we use one “indicator” (e.g. money, number of friends, professional recognition) and we assess our situation accordingly? These issues necessarily emerge when it comes to the consideration of the quality of life. Among factors determining life satisfaction, earnings, employment, health and relationships play significant roles. Therefore, on the leading edge of this research are primarily the cognitive factors of life quality, i.e. external factors influencing satisfaction. The present study also seeks to identify the role of health tourism in the assessment of the quality of life. Questionnaires were completed in one of the most popular tourist destinations of Hajdú-Bihar County. The 805 local respondents expressed their views primarily about factors determining their well-being and about the impacts of the dominant presence of health tourism on their lives.
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Financing and operating questions of sports facilities
5-8Views:559This paper tends to present financing and operating questions of sports facilities. Infrastructure is very important for the sport businesses. Sports facilities and sports institutions, infrastructure development, and their legal, financial, accounting conditionality can be defined by the investors and the government (subsidies, taxes, etc.). Financial questions and IT background of facility management can be crucial for the enterprises interested in operating sports businesses. The paper focuses on these kinds of aspects of facility management based on practical examples.
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What differentiates the entrepreneurs from non-entrepreneurs on nature and nurture?
45-52Views:1035Based on the importance and contribution of entrepreneurship in economic development, it is vital to know that what underlying factors may promote the spirit of entrepreneurship? The entrepreneurship literature suggests two kinds of broader influencers or predictors for entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs “nature” and “nurture”. In this study “nature” includes the psychological or personality related factors; self-confidence, locus of control, risk-taking propensity and trust levels. The “nurture” is explained by the effects from society in general and friends and family in particular. To answer the question “What differentiates the entrepreneurs from non-entrepreneurs on nature and nurture?” we collected data through questionnaire from 155 respondents. The 70 respondents were entrepreneurs and 85 were non-entrepreneurs. Step-wise discriminant analysis was used to determine the discriminating factors for entrepreneurs from non-entrepreneurs. Results indicate that societal impacts, risk taking propensity and trust levels were significantly discriminating the two groups; entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs. The study has important implications for policy makers, academicians, researchers and potential entrepreneurs.
JEL Code: L26, M13
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DECENT WORK AND COFFEE SECTOR: ARE THE COFFEE ESTATES IN KENYA COMPLYING WITH DECENT WORK IN PRODUCTION AND PRIMARY PROCESSING?
Views:436Coffee plays a big role in Kenya, it contributes to 30 percent of agricultural jobs and country’s exports. However, casual workers within coffee estates still get challenging employment conditions including long working hours, unfair wages, limited social capacity, and lack of collective bargaining that results in poor living standards and job insecurity. And also, no research shows compliance with decent work in the Kenyan coffee sector. This study sought to provide new literature about decent work compliance in production and primary processing within Coffee estates in Kiambu county. Snowballing sampling method was used to collect data among 385 casual workers from EAAGADS, Fairview, Maakiou, and Magumu coffee estates. Descriptive statistics and inductive logic were used to generate decent work indices from statistical indicators explaining each decent work pillar. Decent work indices 0.41 and 0.44 show the low compliance of social dialogue and safety at workplace dimensions respectively. Results, also show that effort has been done under productive employment and social protection dimension as shown by indices of 0.65 and 0.51 respectively. Moreover, there is a need for ILO inspection to ensure whether there is a promotion of decent work practices within coffee production to promote the living standards of coffee casual workers and also the stimulation of sustainable development of the County as well as the Country.
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Less favoured area measure in the Netherlands: a welcome or negligible addition?
23-28Views:468The Less Favoured Areas (LFAs) Directive (75/268) which was introduced in 1975, was the first common European instrument of regional agricultural structural policy. LFAs are areas where agriculture is hampered by permanent natural handicaps. The major objectives were to ensure the continuation of farming, thereby maintaining a minimum population level and preserving scenic landscapes and environmentally valuable habitats. In the Netherlands, the LFA measure is used as an additional payment, to compensate farmers for negative economic effects due to the conservation of these natural handicaps. It was not implemented as a stand alone policy, but is linked to measures aiming at active nature and landscape conservation management. In this paper, the effects will be examined of the regulations aiming at the conservation of natural handicaps on farm businesses within LFAs, when comparing them to farm businesses outside LFAs, where these regulations and handicaps do not exist. The main data source that was used is the Farm Accountancy Data Network. Reference groups of farms were compiled with the use of the simple and multiple imputation approach in Stars (Statistics for Regional Studies). Both analyses were tested with the use of a parametric and a nonparametric test. When comparing the results of both analyses, it can be concluded that there is no evidence that there is a statistical difference in family farm income corrected for and not corrected for LFA payment between the LFA farm businesses and the reference groups. Based on these findings it can be concluded that the size of the compensatory allowances is small and there is no evidence that it has a significant effect on the family farm income of LFA farm businesses. The main purpose of the Dutch LFA policy is to compensate farm businesses for negative economic effects due to the conservation of natural handicaps. Although this may be true for some individual farms, based on the methods used in this paper, it appears not to be the case for the collectivity of LFA premium beneficiaries as a whole.
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The economic aspects of innovation in sheep breeding
97-104Views:337During my investigations, I highlighted three innovations, all of which serve the production of a final product, sheep kefir. This product contains a unique added value and involves several innovational opportunities. I examined the complex economic analysis of the innovations and technological elements investigated with respect to revenues from the sale of sheep milk, sheep cheese (kashkaval) and sheep kefir. The kashkaval-type sheep cheese does not contain sufficient added value to cover the costs of innovational investments. Investigating the innovational activity for developing sheep kefir and for its market introduction, its cash flow balance becomes positive already in the second year after realization, and is able to generate significant profit.
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Significance of wheat production in world economy and position of Hungary in it
115-119Views:547This article intends to introduce the significance of wheat production in world economy and role of Hungary in it on the basis of statistic database of FAO. Importance of wheat production in world economy is proven by its share of 15% from 1500 million hectares arable land in the world. This rate is equivalent to 225 million hectares of wheat area based on FAO figures for 2009. From its world economy significance view point, on the basis of some significant features it sets order of ranks among wheat producing countries, accompanied by Hungary too. Setting of rank orders is based on the quantity of wheat produced by countries, cultivated area and exported, imported wheat quantity. As regards wheat export in 2008, Hungary was placed as 11. in the world while on the basis of produced quantity and cultivated area it did not achieve any of top 20 countries. Wheat import of Hungary is negligible since its wheat production is greatly over the self-sufficiency level in one production year. Our logistics disadvantages indicate one of considerable difficulties of market access for primary materials in domestic plant production.
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Performance indicators in CSR and sustainability reports in Hungary
137-142Views:673Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or Corporate Sustainability reporting is a relatively new phenomenon in Hungary. As the external pressure from the civil society, public authorities and the media has so far been fairly low, this important corporate activity emerged only at the beginning of the last decade. In spite of this, several pioneering companies have started to publish information on its environmental and social performance in recent years. CSR and sustainability reports are seen increasingly as strategic documents that offer a balanced, objective, and comprehensive assessment of a firm’s non-financial performance. In 2008 and 2009, more than a third of the 100 largest companies reported on their non-financial results (most of them were GRI based reports). In 2010, sixty-one organisations published a report about their non- financial performance, and 22 of these for only the first time. The aim of this paper is to present recent attempts to use indicators in CSR and sustainability reports. On the basis of a detailed review of 70 CSR/sustainability reports published during the last 9 years in Hungary, an analysis was made on the performance indicators appearing in the reports. The motivations of indicator selection processes was analysed and the intended roles of indicator set in communication and strategy design was presented. The significance of and limits to the proposed indicators was discussed.
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Automated valuation model for livestock appraisal in loaning practice
37-42Views:275Actualization of loan security (mortgage) value is of major importance in Hungarian loaning practice. Due to the recession in economics, the value of agricultural portfolio of banks has decreased a great deal, though not to such a great extent as other branches of the economy. Depreciation of estate stock is compensated with additional collateral security. Besides other stock, often temporarily and out of necessity, livestock is presented as additional collateral security. From the loaners’ point of view, however, the registered inventory value does not guarantee security. The authors have set up an appraisal method giving professional guidance through automated valuation as to how dairy stock can be used as mortgage for loan security. Hereby we are to present the details of both the theory and the methodology of a model that is appropriate for the valuation of dairy livestock on an MS Excel basis. Thus, the process is fast and has more prospects for all parties in the loaning or leasing business. The method involves the features of livestock technology, the expected realized profit, and breed stock value. By the implementation of this method, the loaners can calculate the value of loan recovery (loan to value) with acceptable security.
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The analysis of absorption capacity of project beneficiaries contributing to cross-border programmes based on the most fundamental criteria
93-100Views:291Subsequent to the experience with the international aid programmes of the 1990’s, from the very beginning of the accession negotiations and since 2004 in particular, the notion of absorption capacity of using EU funds has gradually been in focus. The subject of early scientific investigations concentrated mainly on the analysis of the macro-economic conditions of individual countries; furthermore, on increasing absorption capacities as well as how to develop the institutional system of cohesion policy further. After 2004, however, succeeding further rounds of the enlargement as well as after the programming period 2007-2013 in particular – meaning as well the conclusion of the EU budgetary period – the analysis of absorption capacities could be produced at the level of project beneficiaries. The aim of this study is to examine the most prominent determinants influencing successful outcomes and the quality of vigorous projects managed by potent beneficiaries and consortia participating in the European Territorial Co-operation Programmes with the contribution of Hungary. In the course of research correlations between determinants have been subject to econometric analysis revealing the fact that the implementation capacities of state-owned project beneficiaries and those of the non-governmental sector diverge significantly. Moreover, the study aims to show how the institutional system distributing EU funds tends to be rather lax towards the beneficiaries with weak absorption capacities, thus sacrificing the efficiency of developments for pure statistics.
JEL code: R58
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