Overcoming the “European Paradox”: The role of Regional Innovation Systems (RIS) in translating R&D investments into economic and employment growth

The emergence of the so-called “European Paradox” shows that R&D investment is not maximally effective and that increasing the scale of public R&D expenditures is not sufficient to generate employment and sustained economic growth. Increasing Governmental R&D Investment is far from being a “panacea” for stagnant growth. It is worth noting that Government R&D Investment does not have a statistically significant impact on employment, indicating the need to assess the trade-offs of policies that could lead to significant increases in government expenditure. Surprisingly, Governmental R&D Employment does not contribute to “mass-market” employment, despite its quite important role in reducing Youth-Unemployment. Despite the negative side-effects of Governmental R&D Employment on both GVA and GDP, University R&D Employment appears to have a quite important role in reducing Unemployment, especially Youth-Unemployment, while it also does not have a downside in terms of economic growth. Technological Capacity enhancement is the most effective instrument for reducing Unemployment and is a policy without any downside regarding sustainable economical development. In terms of wider policy implications, the results reinforce the idea that European Commission Research and Innovation policies must be restructured, shifting from a transnational framework to a more localised, measurable and operational approach.

Paradox of choice: The influence of assortment size on customer satisfaction

Recently researchers showed that more choice is not always better. Choosing from large assortments can be overwhelming, raising expectations and decreasing overall level of consumer satisfaction. Author contributes to existing overchoice studies by using real assortment of online stores to find influence of assortment size on customer satisfaction. 90 students participated in the main experiment, where they chose a smartphone case for their friend. Results of the study show that large assortment size leads to higher expectations, higher choice difficulty and higher level of satisfaction. This research does not show overchoice presence and author suggests future studies could focus more on assortment variety and more personal characteristics of consumers, like preference uncertainty.

Ressocialização no meio prisional

This paper examine the purpose of rehabilitation while main purpose of imprisonment application, and the divergence between its central role assumed in legislation and what is being practiced in the institutional dimension. This study aims to determine the expected outcome of this dialectical opposition, in pursuit of preventive purposes that guide the criminal reactions of Portuguese criminal - legal system. To this end, the sentence of imprisonment shall be framed in the main politico- criminal traits of our country, analyzing the standards and principles that underlie and underpin our legal – criminal system. The guiding principles of the prison sentence and the respective legislation will be presented, such as the prison system and treatment provided to achieve the above desideratum. Finally material factors and legislative contradictions that oppose the rehabilitation in prisons will be presented. The dissertation does not intend to expose the solution to this paradox insurmountable, but rather present the main factors that hinder the achievement of the objectives intended to be achieved with the prison sentence.