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The hypercompetitive global economy of the 21st century is a hub of innovation, technology, talent, skills, speed, efficiency, productivity, and satisfaction. Within this context, the organizations are looking intensely for people with skills and talents that can differentiate themselves in all that noise. The human capital became slowly but surely a mean of efficiency and growth, especially through the premises of digitization, and a key issue of sustainability. The current research is meant to identify and highlight any correlations that might appear between the population’s welfare of 11 Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) which are members of the European Union (EU), and the components of the digitization trend, including the new human cloud industry, ICT, and the connectivity to the Internet of Things. In order to achieve the needed insights, the multiple regression analysis was employed, and the latter tested the panel models with fixed effects, both from a temporal and country perspective. The results showcased a positive connection between the dependent and independent variables, confirming that the digitization of the economy and the developed human capital will ultimately lead to the increase of population’s welfare. Moreover, the findings are consistent with specific insights for each of the 11 CEECs, showing that digitization and the influence of human capital is differentiated across the latter in terms of their overall effect and amplitude. The research is limited by the timeframe and countries included in the study, and it can be furthered by determining the impact of digitization on the economies of the EU28 countries grouped by level of development, and by using other significant indicators for analysis.

The global financial crisis was decisive in reanalyzing the role of corporate governance based on the accountability and ethics of governance practices and its impact on sustainable development. The study aims to analyze the relevance of and the interdependencies between financial governance assessment indicators and income efficiency with synergetic effects on sustainable development and social cohesion, offering a distinct contemplation on errors in governance and financial reporting. Deviations concerning the accuracy of financial statements, flaws in the process of budget creation and budgetary execution, poor implementation of internal control systems, non-compliance with procedures of public procurement contracts, and ineffectiveness in sound financial management represent barometers for assessing managerial accountability in the public sector. This study is based on data reported by the Romanian Court of Accounts processed with the principal component analysis and proposes a global efficiency index as a benchmark indicator barometer in order to analyze the influence of managerial accountability and sustainable reporting compliance on revenue reported by public institutions in Romania. The results of the study are of empirical importance and explore the constant need to evaluate managerial accountability and ethics, with an emphasis on error, in order to improve public governance and enhance corporate accountability.

During the past few decades, globalization has dramatically changed the context of competitiveness around the world. Considering the role of competitiveness in the development of the digital economy, this paper aims to highlight the role of innovation, foreign direct investment (FDI), and human capital in supporting competitive European economies. The research hypothesis is that FDI, innovation, and human capital contribute to competitiveness growth. The paper extends the Cobb-Douglas function by including other competitiveness factors in a panel data framework based on the EU-28 countries in the period 2004-2018. The results indicate that GDP per capita variation is explained by human and physical capital, FDI, and R&D expenditure. Human capital plays a crucial role in economic development due to the innovation skills of individuals, which improve the productivity of these factors. Capital formation also makes a positive contribution to economic growth. The empirical evidence suggests that the changes in the GDP per capita are explained by modifications in the labor force and capital formation, as is described in the traditional framework of the Cobb-Douglas function. R&D expenditure and FDI stock, however, also play a significant role. Moreover, human capital could determine the adoption of external technology by absorbing new equipment and ideas. On the other hand, the education index and capital formation showed a positive impact on GCI.

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The paper examines the recent developments in the high-technology manufacturing sectors in the EU28 countries, focusing on the β-convergence of gross value added in the Manufacture of computers, electronic, and optical products, and the Manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations. We employ two dynamic panel models estimated using the system of generalized method of moments (GMM) to address the risk of an endogeneity bias. The panel data analysis indicates a higher convergence for the Manufacture of computer, electronic, and optical products at 16.4% compared to 2.2% for the Manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations, which is consistent with the existence of fewer barriers and higher exposure to competition in the case of the first analyzed sector. In the context of the role of the high-technology manufacturing industries as an engine of growth and the existing performance differences between the EU28 countries in terms of gross value added in the analyzed sectors, we investigated the β-convergence for two groupings EU15 and the new EU member states. We found that the new EU member states display a higher β-convergence rate than EU15, but also that they have a lower capital intensity. The result highlights the potential risk of some of the new EU member states becoming laggers in terms of the underlying factors behind gross value added as investment and labour force.

Objective: The main purpose of this research is to analyze and reveal if the recent policy measures in higher education carried in European Union member countries have had a significant impact on the labour market integration of university graduates. Methodology: We selected a set of indicators that were common in the 2015 and 2016 editions of Structural Indicators for Monitoring Education and Training Systems in Europe and could offer an image of intensity of higher education policies in relation with labour market at European level. We further used these measures to test for any significant effects of the policies on the integration of graduates in the labour market. Findings: We found significant effects of various policy measures in high education in the European countries. We estimate a positive role for factors like monitoring of completion rates, requirements for the staff to have higher education, presence of educational guidelines, and recognition of formal and informal learning for entry in higher education. Value Added: This is the first study to address the impact of high education policies carried in European countries on the integration of college graduates. The study is distinct through both the design of new measures of higher education policy in Europe as well through testing whether the intensity of policies carried for higher education has affected the employability of young graduates or not. Recommendations: The results of this empirical research allow us to make some recommendations for improving the insertion of young graduates on European labour market.

The paper builds a general dynamic intersectoral model with structural characteristics and tests the change in the behavior of inflation in the presence of a symmetry breaking. Two hypotheses are tested relating the symmetry groups of the model described by the geometric transformations that leave unchanged the offer variation graph with the symmetry group of the price variation graph. The results suggest that a change in the pattern of inflation is associated with the change in the symmetry groups.