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The article is focused on the issue of trade exchange between European Union member states. The trade exchange volume noted an increase after the new members had joined the European Union. That may be observed while analysing statistical data on the trade exchange volume in speci fi c states as well as in the whole of the European Union. A simple index analysis of the trade volume enables researchers to observe changes over time; however, it neglects the causes of these changes. With a view to identifying theses causes, an econometric tool – the panel gravity model – was used for the purposes of the present paper. The research objective of the paper is to evaluate the impact of selected factors on the development of bilateral trade in the European Union in the years 1999–2010. The group of potential factors describing the size of trade exchange includes the following: the Gross Domestic Product per capita, foreign direct investment per capita and the geographical distance between trading partners. The research outcome enabled us to draw a conclusion on a positive dependence between a member state's GDP and its export and import volume. In the case of foreign direct investments, their positive impact on the improvement of member states' exporting potential was identi fi ed. Moreover, a negative dependence between the geographical distance and the size of their trade exchange was proved. Also, the paper discussed the impact of EU membership on increasing trade exchange volume. The research found an essential increase in exports from the new EU-12 countries to the EU-15 countries and inversely.

The abilities of countries to take advantage of global technological progress is currently the main growth determinant. It is especially important in the case of developed economies and the countries that concentrate on closing a development gap. As a result, there is a scientific need to make an international comparisons of countries' technological potential, which can be useful in pointing the economies that can be considered as the leaders and the economies that make especially quick progress in the field. Thus, the main purpose of the research is the identification of the variables that influence countries' technological potential at macroeconomic level, which can be used in its measuring. The second aim of the article is the evaluation of progress obtained by "new" European Union member states. It is assumed that technological potential can be treated as a latent variable. Thus, it can be measured with application of Structural Equation Models (SEM). In the research, the hypothetic SEM model was proposed for the European Union countries in the years 2008-2012. The model was estimated with application of seven variables sugested by Eurostat as the potential measures of technological potential of the EU economies. The research confirmed significant influence of five of the given variables. Additionally, the research showed some progress in the field obtained by Central European countries that joined the EU after the year 2004.

Implementation of a concept of sustainable development is currently considered as a dominant paradigm for plans and programs of economic policy at regional, national and international levels. It can be seen in the case of most significant documents that are used as the guidelines for strategic planning in the European Union such as a Europe 2020 plan. This implies the need for constant monitoring of the progress achieved in this area by the European Union countries with application of quantitative tools. The main objective of the research is to assess the progress achieved by the new member states in the field of implementing the concept of sustainability. The analysis is focused on the socio-economic sphere at a macroeconomic level in the years 2004, 2008 and 2012. In the analysis Eurostat data is used. Sustainable development should be treated as a multi-dimensional phenomena. As a result, a concept of taxonomic measure of development was applied here. This method, proposed by Zdzislaw Hellwig, is a useful tool for economic research. The main value of the Hellwig's proposals relates to its cognitive values in explaining economic reality, methodological simplicity and flexibility in its application. The tool can be used to analyze most of economic complex phenomena.

EU policy guidelines point out that improvement of quality of human capital (QHC) should be treated as an important factor supporting convergence process. Thus, the aim of the research is the identification of the variables that determine changes in QHC. It is assumed that QHC should be considered as a latent variable, which can be measured with application of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). SEM includes confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis used in econometrics. In the research, the hypothetic SEM model was proposed for the years 2004-2013. Four subsets of observable variables were used: a) macroeconomic and labour market effectiveness, b) quality of education, c) national innovation system, d) health and social cohesion. The research confirmed significant influence of the proposed variables on the level of QHC and positive tendencies in changes of QHS in the EU countries.

The improvement of people's quality of life is currently considered as the main respon-sibility of every government. Due to the emergence of knowledge-based economy, it is commonly believed that investments in research and development (R&D) at a given level are a necessary condition for creating growth-based on innovations, thus support-ing welfare in developed countries. In this context, the article is devoted to the analysis of influence of R&D expenditures on the quality of life in the European Union coun-tries. As the main measure of the quality of life Human Development Index was uti-lized. Thus, the article can be considered as a contribution to the discussion on the po-tential of HDI index for measuring the quality of life in the case of narrow group of relatively developed countries. In the empirical part of the paper, panel data modeling fulfilling the postulates of dynamic estimation was used. The research was done for EU countries for the period 2004-2010. The empirical part takes into consideration the structural diversity between "old" and "new" members of the EU. First of all, the results can be treated as a voice confirming the usefulness of HDI as a measure of quality of life also from the perspective of narrow group of highly developed countries. Then, the research confirms the positive influence of R&D on European welfare only in the case of highly developed "old member".

The use of the potential of economic convergence is one of the key challenges of economic policy in case of European Union. Due to structural changes that have led to the growing role of knowledge-based economy (KBE), the analysis made in the paper is based on the assumption that the convergences process of the EU countries takes place in the reality of the KBE, thus in order to facilitate it, all the EU members should concentrate on building institutions that are adequate to the conditions of the KBE. In this context, the aim of the study is to verify the potential impact of the quality of institutional system of the EU countries on the process of convergence. In this regard, the analytical framework of conditional β-convergence was used with econometric dynamic panel modeling. To measure the quality of institutional system the authors proposed original synthetic indicator, which was designed with TOPSIS method. For this purpose the data was obtained from the Fraser Institute database. Dynamic panel econometric analysis carried out for the European Union countries in the years 2004-2010 confirms that the high quality and adequacy of the institutional system to the conditions of the KBE supports convergence process in the EU.

The article concentrates on the problem of influence of quality of institutional system in the context of utilizing the potential of knowledge-based economy on the human development in highly developed countries. In order to measure the quality of institutional system the proposed synthetic measure with multivariate analysis - TOPSIS method based on the data available from Fraser Institute was obtained. As diagnostic variables of quality of institutions 29 variables qualified to four aspects of quality of national institutional systems were used: a) formal regulations influencing entrepreneurship; b) effectiveness of juridical system in keeping low level of transaction costs and supporting effectiveness of market mechanism; c) competitive pressure and effectiveness of labour markets; d) financial markets institutions as a stimulator of development of enterprises with high growth potential. Human Development Index proposed within United Nations Development Programme was used for measuring the quality of life. The estimation of relation between institutions and human development was made with econometric dynamic panel model. The estimation was made for 24 European Union countries for the years 2004-2010. The econometric analysis shows the positive influence of quality of institutions on human development in the context of knowledge-based economy in highly developed countries.

The key challenge for medium- and long-term policy in European Union countries is to use the potential of knowledge-based economy (KBE), which is a condition for maintaining high total factor productivity in Europe. For this reason, the relationship between quality of institutional system and total factor productivity in the EU countries has been examined. The quality of institutional system is defined here from the perspective of incentives that influence the use of the potential of KBE. In order to determine the level of effectiveness of the institutional system in the analyzed countries the method for linear ordering of objects was applied based on data from Fraser Institute. The main hypothesis of the article was formed as follow: the quality of institutional system in the context of KBE has significant influence on the level of total factor productivity in the EU. In order to verify the hypothesis, the parameters of the Cobb-Douglas production function were estimated, which allowed to evaluate TFP for EU countries. The calculation made in the article was based on Eurostat data. Then, the identification of the relationship between the quality of institutional system and the level of TFP was made with the application of panel model. The research made for the years 2000-2010 allowed to verify the hypothesis.

The improvement of people's quality of life is currently considered as the main responsibility of every government. Due to the emergence of knowledge-based economy, it is commonly believed that investments in research and development (R&D) at a given level are a necessary condition for creating growth-based on innovations, thus supporting welfare in developed countries. In this context, the article is devoted to the analysis of influence of R&D expenditures on the quality of life in the European Union countries. As the main measure of the quality of life Human Development Index was utilized. Thus, the article can be considered as a contribution to the discussion on the potential of HDI index for measuring the quality of life in the case of narrow group of relatively developed countries. In the empirical part of the paper, panel data modeling fulfilling the postulates of dynamic estimation was used. The research was done for EU countries for the period 2004–2010. The empirical part takes into consideration the structural diversity between "old" and "new" members of the EU. First of all, the results can be treated as a voice confirming the usefulness of HDI as a measure of quality of life also from the perspective of narrow group of highly developed countries. Then, the research confirms the positive influence of R&D on European welfare only in the case of highly developed "old" member. ; The improvement of people's quality of life is currently considered as the main responsibility of every government. Due to the emergence of knowledge-based economy, it is commonly believed that investments in research and development (R&D) at a given level are a necessary condition for creating growth-based on innovations, thus supporting welfare in developed countries. In this context, the article is devoted to the analysis of influence of R&D expenditures on the quality of life in the European Union countries. As the main measure of the quality of life Human Development Index was utilized. Thus, the article can be considered as a contribution to the discussion on the potential of HDI index for measuring the quality of life in the case of narrow group of relatively developed countries. In the empirical part of the paper, panel data modeling fulfilling the postulates of dynamic estimation was used. The research was done for EU countries for the period 2004–2010. The empirical part takes into consideration the structural diversity between "old" and "new" members of the EU. First of all, the results can be treated as a voice confirming the usefulness of HDI as a measure of quality of life also from the perspective of narrow group of highly developed countries. Then, the research confirms the positive influence of R&D on European welfare only in the case of highly developed "old" member.

The improvement of people's quality of life is currently considered as the main responsibility of every government. Due to the emergence of knowledge-based economy, it is commonly believed that investments in research and development (R&D) at a given level are a necessary condition for creating growth-based on innovations, thus supporting welfare in developed countries. In this context, the article is devoted to the analysis of influence of R&D expenditures on the quality of life in the European Union countries. As the main measure of the quality of life Human Development Index was utilized. Thus, the article can be considered as a contribution to the discussion on the potential of HDI index for measuring the quality of life in the case of narrow group of relatively developed countries. In the empirical part of the paper, panel data modeling fulfilling the postulates of dynamic estimation was used. The research was done for EU countries for the period 2004–2010. The empirical part takes into consideration the structural diversity between "old" and "new" members of the EU. First of all, the results can be treated as a voice confirming the usefulness of HDI as a measure of quality of life also from the perspective of narrow group of highly developed countries. Then, the research confirms the positive influence of R&D on European welfare only in the case of highly developed "old" member. ; The improvement of people's quality of life is currently considered as the main responsibility of every government. Due to the emergence of knowledge-based economy, it is commonly believed that investments in research and development (R&D) at a given level are a necessary condition for creating growth-based on innovations, thus supporting welfare in developed countries. In this context, the article is devoted to the analysis of influence of R&D expenditures on the quality of life in the European Union countries. As the main measure of the quality of life Human Development Index was utilized. Thus, the article can be considered as a contribution to the discussion on the potential of HDI index for measuring the quality of life in the case of narrow group of relatively developed countries. In the empirical part of the paper, panel data modeling fulfilling the postulates of dynamic estimation was used. The research was done for EU countries for the period 2004–2010. The empirical part takes into consideration the structural diversity between "old" and "new" members of the EU. First of all, the results can be treated as a voice confirming the usefulness of HDI as a measure of quality of life also from the perspective of narrow group of highly developed countries. Then, the research confirms the positive influence of R&D on European welfare only in the case of highly developed "old" member.

The improvement of people's quality of life is currently considered as the main responsibility of every government. Due to the emergence of knowledge-based economy, it is commonly believed that investments in research and development (R&D) at a given level are a necessary condition for creating growth-based on innovations, thus supporting welfare in developed countries. In this context, the article is devoted to the analysis of influence of R&D expenditures on the quality of life in the European Union countries. As the main measure of the quality of life Human Development Index was utilized. Thus, the article can be considered as a contribution to the discussion on the potential of HDI index for measuring the quality of life in the case of narrow group of relatively developed countries. In the empirical part of the paper, panel data modeling fulfilling the postulates of dynamic estimation was used. The research was done for EU countries for the period 2004–2010. The empirical part takes into consideration the structural diversity between "old" and "new" members of the EU. First of all, the results can be treated as a voice confirming the usefulness of HDI as a measure of quality of life also from the perspective of narrow group of highly developed countries. Then, the research confirms the positive influence of R&D on European welfare only in the case of highly developed "old" member.

AbstractThis paper presents empirical research on the livelihood resources of Ukrainian households that fled to Poland due to the Russian invasion and reside there long term. Using a nationwide sample of these households and an accurate econometric framework, we investigate the factors influencing the role of income from work, other private resources and public assistance in covering their living costs in exile. Our findings confirm the importance of public assistance addressed to professional activation and childcare for households' self‐reliance. Assistance from employers, housing conditions, intentions to settle permanently in Poland and financial responsibility for relatives in Ukraine are also among the decisive factors. However, sufficient monetary aid hinders households' self‐reliance, along with health problems, language barriers and a lack of professional qualifications. Household composition is also significant, as those with children face the most adverse outcomes. Based on our results, we provide recommendations for public authorities responsible for migration policy.

Last global financial crisis has led to massive fiscal stimulation actions in most of developed countries which resulted in significant increase of their public debt. For many economists current level of debt in case of many highly developed countries is coming up to unsustainable level or at least level that has negative consequences on the long term growth. This can be also said about Eurozone or wider EU economies. This factors in near future will force many EU countries to adopt much stricter middle and long term fiscal policy that will be necessary for deleveraging process. In this context the aim of the research is to check whether can one find non-Keynesian effects of fiscal consolidations in Eurozone countries in last decade. If the answer is positive, then could these non-Keynesian effects be significant developing factor in case of Eurozone countries. The third scientific question concentrates on the ways the fiscal consolidations were implemented and the potential influence of consolidations strategies on short term growth. The research is based on European Commission and Eurostat fiscal and macroeconomic data for Eurozone countries for the years 1995-2013. In the research the econometric dynamic panel model based on the concept of conditional convergence was applied. As a complementary method qualitative analysis of cases of significant contractions was made with the concentration on the differences between expansionary thus non-Keynesian cases and conventional Keynesian cases of fiscal contractions. The research results give some arguments for existence of fiscal transitions channels leading to non-Keynesian effects of fiscal policy, which in the same time can be a factor of conditional convergence. Thus in case of proper construction of fiscal consolidations polices these factors can be helpful in future deleverage process.