The aim of the paper is to assess changes in mobility in public transport in Poland, as a consequence of the development of the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyse the problem from the country and regional (voivodeships) perspective. The data come from Google COVID19 Community Mobility Reports, the Ministry of Health of Poland, and the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker. The research covers the period between 2 March and 19 July 2020. The obtained results show that there is negative but insignificant relationship between human mobility changes in public transport and the number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases in Poland. The strength and statistical significance of the correlation varies substantially across voivodeships. As far as the relationship between changes in mobility in public transport and the stringency of Polish government’s anti-COVID-19 policy is concerned, the results confirm a strong, negative and significant correlation between analysed variables at the national and regional level. Moreover, based on one factor variance analysis (ANOVA) and the Tukey’s honest significance test (Tukey’s HSD test) we indicate that there are significant differences observed regarding the changes in mobility in public transport depending on the level of stringency of anti-COVID-19 regulation policy both in Poland and all voivodeships. The results might indicate that the forced lockdown to contain the development of the COVID-19 pandemic has effectively contributed to social distancing in public transport in Poland and that government restrictions, rather than a local epidemic status, induce a greater decrease in mobility.

The aim of the paper was to present health care systems and assess the recent trend in health care expenditure in the European Union countries. The data source was the World Bank and European Statistical Office (Eurostat). The adopted research period covered the years 2000–2016, due to data availability. The methodology of the study was based on an analysis of data indicator series related to health care expenditure, which evaluate the national health care system performance. The research results were presented using primarily Japanese candlestick charting. The study showed that health care expenditure represented an ever-increasing burden for all the EU economies, both in absolute values and in relation to GDP. However, substantial differentiations in the amount and structure of health care expenditure were observed at the country level, having roots in the level of a country’s economic development and diverse post-war economic and political evolution. The analysis of health care expenditure structure confirmed that all three types of health care systems (Beveridge, Bismarck and mixed one) were observed in the EU, but the last one had a marginal importance. The form of system did not determine its effectiveness. On average, more than three-fourths of health care expenses were financed by general government expenditure. Out-of-pocket spending varied widely among the analysed EU member states.

The objective of the article is to identify the groups of regions characterised by a similar level of human capital determinants and investigate the relationship between cluster-based human capital determinants and economic development. Research Design & Methods:We analyse key demographic, health, educational, labour, technological, and cultural determinants of human capital and the level of regional economic development. The research covers the period 2004-2019 for 14 Czech and 16 Polish regions. We apply k-means clustering improved by PCA using data for human capital determinants. To verify significant differences between distinguished clusters, we apply the Kruskal-Wallis test. To assess the interdependence between human capital determinants and regional economic development, we use Spearman rank correlation. Findings: We distinguish three clusters for Czechia and four clusters for Poland that differ significantly in terms of human capital determinants level. Moreover, we show that both Czech and Polish clusters significantly differ in the median level of GDP per capita. It implies the existence of interdependence between human capital determinants and economic development. We reveal a positive and significant relationship between GDP per capita and life expectancy, higher education rate, economic activity rate, and Internet access, and a negative and significant relationship between the number of library users and the regional economic development. The results are consistent for Czechia and Poland.Implications & Recommendations: Our study could create a new perspective for discussing similarities and differences in regional human capital development. The results could help decision-makers to identify the regions that need the most to stimulate the human capital determinants to reduce the differences in human capital, and in the long-term perspective, it might contribute to the regional economic development growth. Contribution & Value Added: Most studies analyse the relationship between human capital and economic growth and development using data for given regions or countries separately. Our contribution is that we first distinguish clusters representing regions with similar human capital levels. Then, based on cluster data, we assess the relationship between the human capital determinants and economic development. To the best of our knowledge, there have been no similar regional research studies conducted to daye, including Czechia and Poland. Article type:research article

Celem artykułu jest ocena wahań wydatków z krajowych budżetów centralnych na rolnictwo, udziału wartości dodanej rolnictwa w PKB oraz poziomu zorientowania gospodarek narodowych na rolnictwo w krajach Unii Europejskiej w podziale na dojrzałe demokracje oraz postkomunistyczne państwa członkowskie UE. W badaniu został obliczony wskaźnik orientacji rolniczej (AOI). Wykorzystano dane pochodzące z Organizacji Narodów Zjednoczonych ds. Wyżywienia i Rolnictwa (FAO) oraz Banku Światowego. Badaniem został objęty okres 2001–2017 ze względu na dostępność danych. Wyniki zostały przedstawione głównie z wykorzystaniem metody świec japońskich. W większości krajów UE zaobserwowano zmniejszenie poziomu wydatków na rolnictwo w stosunku do innych kategorii krajowych wydatków publicznych. Spadek ten był dwukrotnie większy w dojrzałych demokracjach UE niż w krajach postkomunistycznych UE, chociaż pierwsza grupa krajów wydawała na rolnictwo cztery razy mniej. W prawie wszystkich państwach UE zaobserwowano zmniejszenie udziału rolnictwa w tworzeniu PKB, przeciętnie o ponad 20%. Postkomunistyczne kraje UE były bardziej zorientowane na rolnictwo niż dojrzałe demokracje UE. Biorąc pod uwagę poziomy AOI, rolnictwo nie należało do priorytetowej kategorii wydatków rządów krajowych UE. Widoczne różnice między dwiema analizowanymi grupami krajów mają swoje źródło w powojennym zróżnicowanym rozwoju gospodarczym będącym konsekwencją politycznej spuścizny. Przeprowadzone badanie ma charakter porównawczy i może stanowić przyczynek przyszłych badań

Celem artykułu jest ocena wahań wydatków z krajowych budżetów centralnych na rolnictwo, udziału wartości dodanej rolnictwa w PKB oraz poziomu zorientowania gospodarek narodowych na rolnictwo w krajach Unii Europejskiej w podziale na dojrzałe demokracje oraz postkomunistyczne państwa członkowskie UE. W badaniu został obliczony wskaźnik orientacji rolniczej (AOI). Wykorzystano dane pochodzące z Organizacji Narodów Zjednoczonych ds. Wyżywienia i Rolnictwa (FAO) oraz Banku Światowego. Badaniem został objęty okres 2001–2017 ze względu na dostępność danych. Wyniki zostały przedstawione głównie z wykorzystaniem metody świec japońskich. W większości krajów UE zaobserwowano zmniejszenie poziomu wydatków na rolnictwo w stosunku do innych kategorii krajowych wydatków publicznych. Spadek ten był dwukrotnie większy w dojrzałych demokracjach UE niż w krajach postkomunistycznych UE, chociaż pierwsza grupa krajów wydawała na rolnictwo cztery razy mniej. W prawie wszystkich państwach UE zaobserwowano zmniejszenie udziału rolnictwa w tworzeniu PKB, przeciętnie o ponad 20%. Postkomunistyczne kraje UE były bardziej zorientowane na rolnictwo niż dojrzałe demokracje UE. Biorąc pod uwagę poziomy AOI, rolnictwo nie należało do priorytetowej kategorii wydatków rządów krajowych UE. Widoczne różnice między dwiema analizowanymi grupami krajów mają swoje źródło w powojennym zróżnicowanym rozwoju gospodarczym będącym konsekwencją politycznej spuścizny. Przeprowadzone badanie ma charakter porównawczy i może stanowić przyczynek przyszłych badań

SummarySubject and purpose of work: The article presents a quantitative change of endogenous factors affecting the development of the Mazowieckie Voivodeship in 2004-2017.Materials and methods: The research uses a comparative analysis based on the data of the Central Statistical Office included in the Local Data Bank and the Statistical Yearbooks of the Mazowieckie Voivodeship.Results: The results of the research show that in 2004-2017 the economic state of the Mazowieckie Voivodeship have significantly improved due to, the expansion of the transportation infrastructure and significant resources of well-educated human capital of the society.Conclusions: To a large extent, the pace of development of the Mazowieckie Voivodeship is impacted by the capital of Poland located there. Other factors favouring the dynamic development of the voivodeship are high density of roads and railway, along with well-educated human capital.

The goal of the study is to examine the impact of small enterprise activity on the regional economic growth on the example of counties in the Podkarpackie voivodeship. The research has shown that both, the increase in the number of already operating and the number of newly registered small enterprises positively contribute to the economic development of the county measured by the total value of sales and the per capita value sales of production manufactured in a given county, as well as the number of employees employed there. The research also indicates that the volume of production of enterprises located in a given county is positively affected by the increase in realized investment outlays as well as the upward trend in GDP of a given voivodeship. The research is based on the data from the CSO Local Data Bank for the years 2005-2016. Estimation of the models was carried out using panel regression.

The aim of the article is to assess the impact of the development of technological capacity on the labour market in Poland, in voivodships with significantly different GDP levels: the Dolnośląskie and nearly four times smaller the Lubuskie. Data for the years 2002-2017 were obtained from the CSO Local Data Bank. The research used linear regression analysis and the OLS estimation method. The results have shown that the expenditure on R&D are not a positive factor of employment growth in both voivodships, which may be due to their low values in relation to GDP (on average around 0.5%). The number of students and universities had a positive impact on the labour market in both regions. The catch-up effect and accelerated development recorded in the second part of the examined period in the Lubuskie could have had an impact on better absorption of university graduates and registered patents by businesses and their positive impact on employment levels, in contrast to the Dolnośląskie. Improvement in the economic situation in both voivodships and in the whole country also had a positive impact on the improvement of conditions on the labour market.