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Project updates
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Life expectancy inequalities in Hungary: The role of avoidable deaths
Anikó Bíró, Gábor Hajdu, Gábor Kertesi (Institute of Economics, IE) and Dániel Princz show in their recent study in Population Studies that avoidable deaths play a large role in life expectancy inequalities in Hungary. At least half of the inequality is due to avoidable causes of death such as excess consumption of alcohol or smoking. Furthermore, the inequality is larger among male than female population. The economists argue that a well formulated policy could mitigate the inequalities by encouraging improvements in health behaviors (e.g. via education and information campaigns), ensuring better access to care (e.g. filling vacant general practitioner (GP) posts; providing better transport to healthcare units), and ensuring timely use of diagnostic and curative healthcare services among the poor. Read more
Health and population ─ Momentum Grant of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 2018—2023
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Into the unknown: The extent and boldness of firms’ international footprint
Does a larger management team or a non-owner CEO engage firms in a broader international activity? Gábor Bekes (IE) and co-authors go beyond the traditional measures of firm’s international footprint and develop a new methodology for a more nuanced characterization on firms’ strategic decisions on stepping into international markets. How do different managerial attributes translate into expansion decisions? Using a unique data set of 14.000 firms from EU countries, they test a number of hypothesis in their current paper in Global Strategy Journal. The article is also discussed in the blog of Strategic Management Society. Read more
Firm, Strategy and Performance Research Unit,Institute of Economics, Momentum Grant of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
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Impact of urban design on social segregation
Balázs Lengyel (IE) and his research team found a connection between the outlay of a city and the fragmentation of social networks. Segmentation is significantly higher in towns in which residential neighborhoods are divided by physical barriers such as rivers and/or railroads or where residential neighborhoods are relatively distant from the center where services are concentrated. Using a two-stage model, they show that these urban geography features have significant relationships with income inequality via social network fragmentation. In other words, the geographic features of a place can compound economic inequalities via social networks. Read more
Agglomeration and Social Network Research Lab, Institute of Economics – Momentum Grant of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 2017-2022
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Waste management and circularity transition in Hungary
Based on the research carried out in the frame of REPAiR project, Viktor Varjú, Cecília Mezei (Institute for Regional Studies, IRS) and their co-author present possibilities for a transition to a circular economy for the city of Pécs (Hungary). Regarding waste as a potential resource, the researchers elaborate on how power can become a barrier in the transformation of waste to a resource, and hamper local resource-based development. After introducing the case study of Pécs, they offer an overview of the sustainability issues of the city, and describe recent waste treatment in the area as well as discuss governance challenges. Read more
REPAiR – REsource Management in Peri-urban AReas: Going Beyond Urban Metabolism (2016-2020) EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme
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Corruption, institutions and convergence
Does EU membership facilitate convergence? In a recently publishedstudy, researchers and policy experts address how EU membership influenced the convergence process of member states in the Baltics, Central-Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. In chapter 9 of the volume, István J. Tóth (IE) and his co-author introduce a pioneer methodology based on objective micro data – 3.6 million public procurement tender documents – and analyze institutional convergence by comparing to what extent different countries control corruption risks across Europe. Read more
Institutional convergence, economic growth and development at regional level, Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA) (2020-2022)
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Left behind industrial regions in Europe
ACORE is an international joint research project funded by the Volkswagen Foundation through Challenges for Europe funding scheme. The main focus of the project is the agency of change in old industrial regions. Many old industrial regions in Europe have been „left behind“ and became places of discontent. Erika Nagy and Melinda Mihály (IRS) and their research associates introduce the main research questions and aims of the project. Case studies from Sweden, Czech, Hungary, UK and Germany are discussed in a recent publication in the blog of Leibniz-Institut für Länderkunde (IfL). Read more
ACORE – Agents of Change in Old-industrial Regions in Europe (2019-2021), Volkswagen Foundation through Challenges for Europe, Lead Partner: Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography
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A success story: Eden project
The EdEn Twinning project connected three top ranked research institute from the EU-15 to our centre and stimulated extensive collaboration and knowledge-sharing on education economics. Throughout the 3 years (2016-2018) of the project, over a dozen researchers and assistants participated in training sessions and international workshops in Budapest, Leuven or Milan. The cooperation contributed to a larger networking, further research opportunities by joint applications and sustained collaborations between the organizations. The project was selected to the 15 showcases of successful Widening projects under H2020 (Spreading Excellence and Widening Participation Success Stories guide p. 27.). Read more
EdEN – Education Economics Network (2016—2018) supported by the European Union’s H2020 programme, Partners: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Universiteit Maastricht, Politecnico Milano
Publication highlights
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Artner Annamária: Samir Amin and Eastern Europe. Review of African Political Economy Vol. 48. No. 167. pp. 142-152. (2021)
This debate discusses four aspects of Samir Amin’s thoughts regarding Eastern Europe: Amin’s overall evaluation of the Soviet bloc; the relevance of his concepts on the centrality of the periphery; the ‘long transition to socialism’; and the role of nationalism and Eurocentrism in Eastern Europe. The author concludes that Eastern Europe does not fit into the historical role of the periphery as understood by Amin, and that the Eurocentric nationalism of the region serves to promote global capitalism instead of helping to further the anti-capitalist struggle. Read more
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Farkas Jenő Zsolt, Kovács András Donát: Nature conservation versus agriculture in the light of socio-economic changes over the last half-century–Case study from a Hungarian National Park. Land Use Policy, 101, Paper: 105131. (2021)
National parks and other forms of protection ensure the natural values in the European Union. However, a significant part of protected areas is under agricultural cultivation, and the two sectors have been kind of opponents to each other for a long time. In the last 50 years, because of various socio-economic changes, the European and Hungarian agricultural policies had opposing concepts and goals, even related to protected areas. In our work, we identified the policy and institutional changes, examined their effects, and the conflicts that accompanied them by exploring the area of Kiskunság National Park (KNP) in Hungary. Based on literature and document review, in-depth interviews, GIS, and statistical analysis, we present the main reasons and symptoms of the two sectors’ counter-interest. We found that farming objectives and agricultural subsidies have an essential influence on nature conservation. Read more
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Hajdu Tamás, Hajdu Gábor: Post-conception heat exposure increases clinically unobserved pregnancy losses. Scientific Reports Vol. 11. No. 1. Paper 1987. 11 p. (2021)
Evidence of the relationship between temperature during pregnancy and human embryo mortality is limited. Most importantly, the literature lacks causal estimations and studies on early pregnancy losses. Here, we estimate the impact of early pregnancy temperature exposure on the clinically unobserved pregnancy loss rate. We use administrative data of clinically observed pregnancies from more than three decades for Hungary. We apply an empirical approach that allows us to infer the impact of temperature on the clinically unobserved pregnancy loss rate from the estimated effects on the clinically observed conception rate. The results show that exposure to hot temperatures during the first few weeks after the conception week increases the clinically unobserved pregnancy loss rate, whereas exposure to colder temperatures seems to decrease it. Read more
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Ongena Steven, Schindele Ibolya, Vonnák Dzsamila: In lands of foreign currency credit, bank lending channels run through? Journal of International Economics Vol. 129. Paper 103435. 31 p. (2021)
We study the impact of monetary policy on the supply of bank credit when bank lending is denominated in foreign currencies. Accessing a comprehensive supervisory dataset from Hungary, we find that the supply of bank credit in a foreign currency is less sensitive to changes in domestic monetary conditions than the equivalent supply in the domestic currency. Changes in foreign monetary conditions similarly affect bank lending more in the foreign than in the domestic currency. Hence when banks lend in multiple currencies the domestic bank lending channel is weakened and international bank lending channels become operational. Read more
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Sziklai Balázs: Ranking institutions within a discipline: the steep mountain of academic excellence. Journal of Informetrics Vol. 15. No. 2. Paper 101133. 11 p. (2021)
We present a novel algorithm to rank smaller academic entities such as university departments or research groups within a research discipline. The Weighted Top Candidate (WTC) algorithm is a generalisation of an expert identification method. The axiomatic characterisation of WTC shows why it is especially suitable for scientometric purposes. The key axiom is stability – the selected institutions support each other’s membership. The WTC algorithm, upon receiving an institution citation matrix, produces a list of institutions that can be deemed experts of the field. Read more
More selected publications >>>
Recent conference presentation
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Judit Keller, Tünde Virág (IRS): A drop in the sea or catalyst for change: diverse effects of the place-based approach in Europe
Drawing on selected case studies – from Hungary, Netherland and Romania – of the RELOCAL research project, this presentation interrogates whether or not and how place-based mechanisms can provide local agents with institutional resources to fight locally spatial injustice. The research team assumes that counteracting spatial injustice is dependent on localized actions and the policy regimes within which they are embedded. Read more
Relocal policy conference “Empowering the Local for Enhancing Cohesion and Spatial Justice in Europe”, 15 March 2021, online, Program
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Upcoming events
16 April 10.00-11.00 CET Rafał Kucharski (TU Delft): Two sided-mobility platforms: supply-demand interactions and ride-pooling shareability networks, ANET Lab Online Seminar series
19 April 9.00-12.00 CET Infrastructure Connectivity in Europe with Chinese characteristics I. – Energy and climate issues, Online thematic workshop of the Institute of World Economics and the University College Cork, Ireland in the frame of China in Europe Research Network Cost Action.
23 April 10.00-11.00 CET Rafiazka Hilman (CEU Department of Network and Data Science): Stratified Mobility, Segregated Boundary, and Socioeconomic Mixing in Cities, ANET Lab Online Seminar series
30 April 10.00-11.00 CET Laura Alessandretti Laura Alessandretti (Technical University of Denmark): The Scales of Human Mobility, ANET Lab Online Seminar series
Editor: Zsuzsa Balaban
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