Economics and culture

This essay explores the subject of the aversion of intellectuals to the market economy. It does so by studying a selection of Italian films of the early 1960s whose themes are centered upon the economic boom of those years. The films reviewed are Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita, Michelangelo Antonioni's L’Eclisse, Dino Risi’s Il Sorpasso, and Vittorio De Sica’s Il Boom. These films present a critical view of the market forces that are changing the economy suggesting that they favor the ascent of morally controversial human types. Nothing good for society can come out of an economy that rewards hollow or insensitive individuals, while the honest and the conscientious are dramatically left behind, the films seem to say. Comparing these films with the concomitant economic scenario reveals a contrast between the existential anxieties and moral corruption that the films emphasize, and the story that economic and statistical data tell us. This contrast may be taken to imply that the anti-market stance expressed by the films was contiguous with the radical political culture of the time, a culture that bred the film-makers themselves. However, the economic criticism that transpires from the films does not reflect a radical ideology. Instead, the films communicate a more conservative criticism of the market economy by depicting it as a threat to traditional forms of social cohesion, personal conduct, and economic stability.

In accordance with generally accepted accounting standards, most intangibles are not accounted for and not reflected in the traditional financial accounting. For this reason, most companies account intangible assets (IAs) as expenses. In the research, 57 sub-elements of IAs were applied, which are grouped into eight main elements of IAs. The classification of IAs consists in two parts of assets: accounting and non-accounting. This classification can be successfully applied in different branches of enterprises, to expand and supplement the theoretical and practical concepts of the company's financial management. The article proposes to evaluate not only the value of financial information for IAs (accounted) but also the value of non-financial information for IAs (non-accounted), thus revealing the true value of IAs that is available to the companies of Lithuania. It names a value of general IAs. The results of the research confirmed the IA valuation methodology, which allows companies to calculate the fair value of an IA. The obtained extended IAs valuation information may be valuable to both the owners of the company and investors, as this value plays an important practical role in assessing the impact of IAs on the market value of companies.

Research purpose. Traditionally used communication mix as a part of company’s marketing strategy, including advertising, sales promotion, personal sales and public relations, is gradually changing and expanding. Thanks to the development of new information-communication technologies, all these tools are constantly being transformed into the conditions of the Internet. This fact also affects consumer’s lifestyle, and thus, their buying behaviour. As a large part of consumers are almost always online via fixed internet, WIFI or within data, companies in various sectors, especially in service sector such as hotel industry, have a better opportunity to reach a specific target group with online marketing communication. The main goal of the article is to provide a literature review on online marketing communication from the viewpoint of several foreign and domestic authors, analyse its trends in hotel industry and propose measures for the efficient online marketing communication in Slovak...

Internationalisation of education and student mobility (incoming and outgoing) has become a significant factor in the sphere of higher education. These processes lead to interaction between local students and exchange students, as well as between exchange students and host universities. Being in the foreign country for a certain period (one or two semesters) requires some cultural and social adaptation that could or could not be problematic for various reasons. In order to maximise benefits for the exchange students and host universities, it is important to identify existing problems and to offer possible solutions. The aim of the current paper is to research the critical aspects of cultural adaptation process of ERASMUS students in Latvia. The international group that consists of a professor of the University College of Economics and Culture and three exchange students from Italy and Spain carried out the research. The empirical methods used were the following: a survey of ERASMUS ...

Research purpose. Currently, higher education institutions (HEIs) are faced with new challenges. They have to compete globally and take into account modern trends in education and science. Human capital becomes one of the most significant resources for HEI performance. The purpose of the study is to determine which factors influence human capital development at HEI. Design / Methodology / Approach. Selected human capital development factors were analyzed at Latvian HEIs. Factors including existing laws and conformity assessment procedures and requirements were considered. A survey was utilized to determine the most influential factors in human capital development at Latvian HEIs. The survey results were analyzed by implementing CATPCA to identify the most critical factors. Findings. The results show that essential elements of human capital at HEI are the pedagogical competence of the academic staff, their scientific competence, and the number of professionals from industry that are ...

Purpose. This study aimed to explore the relationship between organisational justice and commitment and how the combined influence of organisational justice and perceived organisational support (POS) impacts on commitment. Research Methodology. Data were obtained through questionnaires administered to 124 teaching and non-teaching staff, who were conveniently selected by the researchers from Ghanaian public universities. Descriptive survey design was adopted for this study. Findings. The results from regression analysis of data collected showed a significant positive relationship among the dimensions of organisational justice and affective commitment. Furthermore, POS was found to moderate the relationship between organisational justice and commitment, as the effect of justice on commitment increased when POS was added to the model. Practical Implications. The present study supported the expected relationship among justice, POS and organisational commitment and implied that higher l...

Brand value building and managing is an interdisciplinary issue with serious impact on company's effective market performance. Knowing this, more and more companies try to extract the competitive advantage of a valuable brand. But there are a lot of practical restrictions that result from universal application of formulated theory without respecting national specifics and which often lead to company's activities in scope of branding and brand value measuring not being successful. This is the reason for scepticism towards the implementation of brand management activities, especially in former socialistic countries where the tradition of brand is not so developed due to the long-term application of principles of planned economy. So, the undesirable spiral mechanism is evident – domestic companies apply inconvenient methods of branding and brand value evaluation – brand value decreases – companies rather do not build and manage theirs brands – brands lose their competitive pote...

Research purpose. Stocks as well as other securities are a crucial part of the financial market that helps to redistribute financial resources amongst market participants, which in a modern economy include not only professional stock players but also many common individuals seeking to increase their capital. Previous studies found a strong relationship between the macroeconomic variables and stock returns but often the explanatory power of those models seems to be limited in the applicable region. The aim of this article is to establish whether each region's stock indices have to be predicted based on a separate set of variables. Design / Methodology / Approach. The article uses correlation-regression analysis method to confirm the initial hypothesis regarding regional limitations of such prediction models. Findings. The same set of independent variables cannot be directly applied to different regions b ecause although the chosen Y2B model did provide an accurate relationship between macroeconomic variables and stock indices in the United Kingdom, it failed to provide accurate (usable) results in other regions (Estonia, European Union, France, Germany, Latvia and Lithuania), Originality / Value / Practical implications. The results are important in order to define the way that the smaller and less-researched economies should be examined because detailed researches of power economies such as the United States, the United Kingdom, China or Germany often cannot be directly applied outside the initial research region. Therefore, the need of separate studies for smaller regions such as Baltic States is confirmed.

The topic of organisational pathology is surprisingly absent in literature on management, especially when bearing in mind the theoretical and practical import of such questions. The intention of the author is to fill in this gap, at least partially. The paper is based on an analysis of literature and an empirical research conducted by the author. The research applied partially structured interviews as its method. These interviews were conducted with entrepreneurs and managers of various levels. They made possible the drawing of conclusions relating to conditions behind the genesis and growth of selected organisational pathologies in a situation of economic downswing. The article briefly presents the concept and influence of pathology on the functioning of an organisation. The author concentrates on the causes of the phenomenon and presents them from various perspectives. It is during times of economic downswing that an increase in unethical behaviour, including corruption, mobbing a...

This article demonstrates the size of the budget gap that arises in a household after the death of that member who was the breadwinner of the family. It also describes how this gap can be covered by motor vehicle liability insurance. One source of funding for this gap could be, for example, an annuity for indirect victims. In many EU countries, people who are members of the household of the deceased are considered to be affected as a result of his death. Those indirectly affected will include the family members and relatives of the deceased (spouse, parent, child, sibling, and cohabitant). The person responsible for the death should pay compensation to the family members of the deceased. One of the elements determining this compensation should be the loss of income to the family of the deceased. The second element is compensation for the lost personal contribution. This paper presents the study of literature as an introduction to the relevant issues. The problem of compensation for lost income will be illustrated by legal regulations and calculations based on the account actuarial-term annuity. The study focuses on the selected EU countries. This article is part of a broader study by the author on the material consequences of personal injury and sources of their financing.

In the contemporary situation of ever-growing market internationalisation, local and global competition different company leadership aspects, especially ethical leadership, gain a special importance. It is possible to say that in theoretical literature, there is more or less consensual agreement upon the meaning of ethical leadership still regarding the evaluation models there are many models. Therefore, the main challenge is to determine the case sensitive model(s) for the industry or the type of business organisation. The goal of the article is to delineate theoretically and to test empirically amongst Latvian retail traders one of the models of evaluation (the one of the Executive Servant Leadership Scale, ESLS). The research questions are (1) What is the ranking of the ESLS first-order factors? and (2) What are the possible problem areas in the ethical leadership as seen by the Latvian retail traders? The authors of the present paper aspire to identify the problem areas out the ...

Traditionally a large role has been attributed to the spread of clocks and watches in fostering a ‘modern’ awareness of time. Yet, little research is available that empirically enables signs of growing time awareness to be linked to the distribution of time-keeping devices. In this article both these phenomena are brought together using two independent sets of evidence that permit the hypothesis that clocks and watches contributed to a heightened consciousness of time to be tested. While the ownership of clocks and watches was socially skewed, highly gendered and unevenly distributed over time, time awareness – as exemplified throughout numerous court cases – was essentially none of these.

Research purpose. With the current and progressive ageing of the population globally, in Europe over the past three decades, the urgency of creating a specific theoretical and educational model for older adults, in which the professional purpose is not the most important, is rising. Senior digital up-skilling is one of the pathways to widen the horizon of senior citizens (aged 55 plus) to be socially included in both society and labour market. The research article reveals the results of the project ‘Digital Acquisition through Intergenerational Learning’ (DIAL No. 2017-1-LV01-KA204-035455, Erasmus Plus programme) senior survey on training needs of digital skills from Latvia. Design/Methodology/Approach. The research was carried out based on a quantitative survey conducted in four project partner countries in 2018, totally reaching out 1003 respondents. The sample of Latvia represents 236 adult learners, aged 55 plus. The survey was conducted based on two main scales: ‘skill self-ass...

This paper discusses paradigm shifts in economic geography, relevant aspects of the history of ideas (on relations between culture and economy particularly), and the study of entrepreneurship in geography. It advocates a "demographic" approach to studying entrepreneurship (i.e. a "demography of firms").

Borrowers default risk is one of the most relevant types of risk in commercial banking and its assessment is important to secure business profitability and avoid huge losses during economic turbulences. This leads to necessity to investigate topics related to assessment of borrowers’ default probability and applicability of factors, which would enable to capture the newest trends of borrowers’ markets. Leading economic indicators (in addition to financial and other economic indicators) are often suggested as forward-looking in scientific literature. However, there is still a discussion going on applicability of financial ratios and economic indicators. As the problem is relevant in theoretical view as well as for practitioners, this article aims to identify applicability of leading economic indicators for the estimation of default probability. Further, the qualitative criteria for factor selection were identified and used when using detailing, grouping and SWOT analysis methods. Bas...

Human knowledge and creative potential has become one of the most important driving forces of humanity progress. In the context of the twenty-first century, in order to create a high-quality culture environment, it requires a paradigm shift in education - the transition to education, which stimulates the imagination, intuition, emotions and creative ideas and develops critical thinking. Non-formal education and the skills and knowledge gained in it is still in evaluation and recognition phase in Latvia. It is still developing; therefore, it is important to create a clear understanding of the importance and social role of non-formal cultural education. The paper aims to explore the role of non-formal cultural education in strengthening social capital as well as to identify what social capital indicators can be attributed to non-formal cultural education programmes. The topicality of the study is determined by the fact that non-formal cultural education and social capital in the conte...

In this paper, the extended framework of the IS-MP-IA model has been tested. Since the appearance of the Romer’s (2000) model, a bulk of studies with its extensions have been published. Perhaps, the most notable amongst them were those proposed by Hsing (2004, 2013) and Giese and Wagner (2006) - which are integral part of this paper. The application of the extended Romer (2000) model to selected Central Eastern and South Eastern Europe (CESEE) countries (Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Ukraine) shows that on an average, higher world output and lower world interest rate and inflation have positive effect on real output. A lower government consumption to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio also increases the real output. However, the insignificant government consumption implies that the Ricardian equivalence might hold in these economies. Hence, fiscal prudence is needed, and th...

A brand is one way to distinguish products from each other, while simplifying consumers’ decisions in choosing an appropriate product. Brand building is not just about design but also strategy, which is even more important in the process. The result of brand building is the potential to represent a certain value for the company. However, sustaining and improving a brand’s position in the market is not a simple process in the current competitive environment. Therefore, there is scope for application of new marketing strategies such as sensory marketing. Sensory marketing represents a way for companies to influence consumers’ senses (sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste) and evoke the emotions affecting their buying behaviour and perceptions of the product or brand. The aim of the article is to provide a literature review on the issue from several foreign and domestic authors. It discusses the essence of a brand, brand value, sensory marketing and also analyses its use as a support too...

Teacher is a key figure in the implementation of reforms in higher education. Pedagogical research of the professional identity (PI) of teacher, her/his priority values, self-evaluation of performances and professional knowledge and the way how she/he conceptualises the profession at an individual level can lead to the most appropriate strategies to manage the educational reforms successfully. This article presents some results of the Latvian-Russian project ‘Professional Identity of Contemporary Pedagogue’ implemented in 2014-2016 by researchers of Riga (Latvia) and Smolensk (Russia). In the realisation of project, a hypothetical model of the content of Higher Education Institution (HEI) teacher’s PI was created, and HEI teachers’ survey was carried out. In total, 198 teachers were surveyed in Riga and Smolensk. The aim of this article is to examine the relevance of the proposed model and analyse the indicators of the first two components of the model: Philosophy of the Profession ...

Mit Hans C. Artmanns (fast) klassischer Frage 1 lässt sich ein Thema spielerisch erschließen, das die Grenzen eines Artikels oder die Kompetenz des Autors leicht überschreiten könnte. Denn die Suche nach dem Ort des Ökonomischen in der new cultural history -die Frage nach deren Verhältnis oder Nichtverhältnis -ist durch den Mangel an anerkannten Beispielstudien und gleichzeitig durch die Fülle von diffusen Bezügen und Erwartungen gekennzeichnet. Wenn man für einen Moment die Kategorien »Wirtschaft« und »Kultur« unbefragt und ungeteilt stehen lässt, dann könnte die Ökonomie mit der Frage »How much, schatzi?« gerichtet an die Kulturwissenschaft meinen: Wie hältst du es mit Preisen, Kosten, Produktionsfaktoren, mit der Allokation von knappen Mitteln? Aber sie könnte mit dieser Frage auch meinen: Wie weit bist du (Kultur) dir bewusst, dass hinter vielen deiner Begriffen nicht nur auf der metaphorischen Ebene, sondern im materiellen Sinne ökonomische Vorgänge versteckt sind? Verbergen sich nicht hinter »symbolischem« oder »sozialem« Kapital Humankapital und seine Akkumulation, liegen hinter »kulturellem Transfer« nicht Import-und Exportmärkte? Richtet ›die‹ Kulturgeschichte dieselbe Frage umgekehrt an ›die‹ Wirtschaftswissenschaft, könnte damit gemeint sein: Wieviel Kultur kannst du vertragen? Einen wie großen Raum kann die Ökonomie spannungsreichen Kategorien wie Deutung und Bedeutung, Normen und Praktiken, Hybridität und Subversion zugestehen, ohne ihren Allgemeinheitsanspruch aufzugeben? Die Kulturwissenschaft könnte mit »How much, schatzi?« nebenbei auch meinen: Für welchen Preis verkaufst du dich, Ökonomie? Unter welchen Umständen verwandelt sich akademische Wissensproduktion in instrumentelle und instrumentalisierbare Beratungsexpertise? Aber solche Fragen stellt nicht die Kulturgeschichte, sondern eher eine unorthodoxe Wirtschaftshistorikerin wie Deirdre McCloskey. 2 christoph conrad »how much, schatzi?«

Research purpose. The quality means a core attribute of the product. Based on empirical assessment of the consumer, it is ascertained if the products are of high quality. However, there may be considerable counterarguments against this assessment, because quality is a subjective characteristic. For this reason, a paradoxical situation arises – the same product that we consider to be a quality product someone else may regard as insufficient quality. What is considered standard quality level in some cases may be the assumed to have achieved world-class quality. This way the definition of quality product is very difficult. Brand is one of possible ways to differentiate products from one to another and at the same time it is one of possible ways to simplify consumer choices of choosing the best product. The brand can be the label for many consumers synonymous with quality. In this paper, the existence of difference between expected and delivered quality of brand products is analysed. De...

Tax reliefs are optional, but a very important element of the taxation system. This element is used for different purposes by a country’s government institutions. Tax reliefs are a form of tax expenditure that helps to reduce budget revenues. Tax reliefs influence individual and corporate financial behaviour and can have positive or negative effects on the economic and social factors. In the last few years, expansion of tax relief has attracted worldwide attention because of the fact that, after the global financial crisis, many countries are still suffering from fiscal deficits, and expansion of tax relief has not contributed to solving this problem. Tax reliefs are presupposed to be a fiscal policy tool of significance in various subsystems of public finances. The main aim of this article is to examine the impact of personal income tax reliefs on Lithuanian public finances. To achieve this aim, statistical information was systemized; Monte Carlo method was used to group data by ho...

The aim of the article is to present and compare the major sources of financing of physical investments in Poland and Latvia and to attempt to identify their determinants. The subject of the diagnosis is the corporate sector in Poland and i Latvia in the years 2005-2015.The article uses methodology, developed by C. Mayer, J. Corbett and T. Jenkinson, that is based on the net sources of finance. The financial data analysed in the article come from the capital and financial accounts, constituting the element of the integrated system of national accounts. Assuming that in a given period of time, the sources of finance (revenue) are equal to their use (expenditure), it is possible to estimate the structure of financing of physical investments in the corporate sector. The practical dimension of the analysis should be viewed as an indication for identifying changes in the area of financing of physical investments in enterprises in the two countries.

The performed scientific studies show that proper and skilful use of modern technologies can contribute to significant development of companies. Growth of technologies occurs rapidly, and the electronic environment continuously develops and improves along with it. The electronic environment now already offers companies practically all necessary marketing and communication tools for ensuring company development by creating competitive advantages; nevertheless, not all companies can employ the opportunities rendered by the e- environment, in order to increase company competitiveness and productivity. (Ščeulovs, Gaile-Sarkane 2014). The aim of the paper is to study and compare the enterprises communication in e-environment in two countries – Latvia and Kazakhstan. Study material – 130 enterprises of Latvia, 100 enterprises of Kazakhstan; method – survey. The study was conducted within the Erasmus+ project ‘Mobility between programme and partner countries (KA107)’. Using previous resear...

Constructive Episode. The Culture Development Fund 1983-1990 The main goal of the article is to present the first comprehensive and universal mechanism of financing of culture in Poland-state-earmarked fund, the Culture Development Fund. I present the circumstances of the birth of the idea, the creation and functioning of the Fund. This is one of the most interesting examples of cultural policy reforms in Poland-in the article I present the pros and cons of this solution. This text is part of institutional research on the organization and financing of theater in the People's Republic of Poland.

It has frequently been presumed that the ability of the Mondragón group of co-operatives to achieve a remarkable degree of trust and loyalty amongst its members while maintaining relatively bureaucratic workplaces is due to the uniquely solidaristic traits of Basque culture, implying that the same feat will be unattainable amidst less favourable cultural milieus. This article argues that, on the contrary, Mondragón’s organisational culture is embedded in its organisational structures — such as its systems of governance, education, ownership, remuneration, and inter-co-operation — and should therefore be widely applicable, even if not identically replicable, in other regions. To this effect, the article provides evidence that the key features of ‘the Mondragón Model’ have indeed been emulated elsewhere — namely in Valencia and the United States — and moreover has significant parallels around the world.