Disentangling water usage in the European Union: A decomposition analysis

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) defines common objectives for water resources throughout the European Union (EU). Given this general approach to water preservation and water policy, the objective of this paper is to analyse whether common patterns of water consumption exist within Europe. In particular, our study uses two methods to reveal the reasons behind sectoral water use in all EU countries. The first method is based on an accounting indicator that calculates the water intensity of an economy as the sum of sectoral water intensities. The second method is a subsystem input‐output model that divides total water use into different income channels within the production system. The application uses data for the years 2005 and 2009 on water consumption in the production system of the 27 countries of the EU. From our analysis it emerges that EU countries are characterized by very different patterns of water consumption. In particular water consumption by the agriculture sector is extremely high in Central/Eastern Europe, relative to the rest of Europe. In most countries, the water used by the fuel, power and water sector is consumed to satisfy domestic final demand. However, our analysis shows that for some countries exports from this sector are an important driver of water consumption. Focusing on the agricultural sector, the decomposition analysis suggests that water usage in Mediterranean countries is mainly driven by final demand for, and exports of, agricultural products. In Central/Eastern Europe domestic final demand is the main driver of water consumption, but in this region the proportion of water use driven by demand for exports is increasing over time. Given these heterogeneous water consumption patterns, our analysis suggests that Mediterranean and Central/Eastern European countries should adopt specific water policies in order to achieve efficient levels of water consumption in the European Union. JEL codes: N5; C67 Keywords: Water use, Subsystem input–output model; Water intensity, European Union.

Broadband prices in the European Union : competition and commercial strategies

This paper analyses the determinants of broadband Internet access prices in a group of 15 EU countries between 2008 and 2011. Using a rich panel dataset of broadband plans, we show the positive effect of downstream speed on prices, and report that cable and fibre-to-the-home technologies are available at lower prices per Mbps than x DSL technology. Operators’marketing strategies are also analysed as we show how much prices rise when the broadband service is offered in a bundle with voice telephony and/or television, and how much they fall when download volume caps are included. The most insightful results of this study are provided by a group of metrics that represent the situation of competition and entry patterns in the broadband market. We show that consumer segmentation positively affects prices. On the other hand, broadband prices are higher in countries where entrants make greater use of bitstream access and lower when they use more intensively direct access -local loop unbundling-. However, we do not find a significant effect of inter-platform competition on prices.

FDI from European Union to Western Balkan Countires: is the economic development being intensified in the region?

La inversió estrangera directa és important a causa dels seus avantatges per al país d'acollida, per exemple augmentarà la competitivitat i s’intensifica el desenvolupament. Els avantatges són significatives als països dels Balcans occidentals que s'enfronten a les dificultats de la competència i el creixement més baix de la UE-27. El treball analitza el tipus dominant de la IED de la UE-27 a la regió dels Balcans Occidentals a escala nacional i sectorial per formar les implicacions sobre el futur creixement de la competitivitat i la intensitat del desenvolupament econòmic. Es troba que la IED horitzontal domina als Balcans occidentals, per tant, el creixement de la competitivitat i el desenvolupament econòmic es va intensificar a la regió.

Creating and organizing an "English class" in primary education: The role of teacher talk in the EFL amd CLIL Classes

Catalonia is a bilingual country where the presence of English in the social context is small; the amount of input received by the primary education pupils is very little and this input mainly comes from the English lessons at school. Consequently, this situation combined with the increasing demand for English and the fact that the new generations want to become communicatively competent in English place the role of English teachers in a relevant position. This research project analyses the role of the English teacher talk; in particular, the study focuses on the teacher’s oral productions in foreign language lessons (EFL) and in content-based lessons (CLIL).

Smoking behaviour, involuntary smoking, attitudes towards smoke-free legislations, and tobacco control activities in the European Union

The six most important cost-effective policies on tobacco control can be measured by the Tobacco Control Scale (TCS). The objective of our study was to describe the correlation between the TCS and smoking prevalence, self-reported exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) and attitudes towards smoking restrictions in the 27 countries of the European Union (EU27).

EU-15 sovereign governments’ cost of borrowing after seven years of monetary union

Yield spreads over 10-year German government securities of the EU-15 countries converged dramatically in the seven years after the beginning of Monetary Integration. In this paper, we investigate the relative influence of systemic and idiosyncratic risk factors on their behaviour. Our conclusions suggest that in EMU-countries the relative importance of domestic risk factors (both credit and liquidity risk factors) is higher than that of international factors, which appear to play a secondary but significant role in non-EMU countries.

European payment system and monetary union

We make a comparative study of payment systems for E.U. -fifteen countries for the 1996-2002 period. Special attention is paid to the introduction of the new European single currency. The overall trend in payments is for a move from cash to noncash payment instruments, although electronic instruments are not widely used yet. We find a significant impact from the introduction of the new banknotes and coins on card use