Generolo Jono Žemaičio Lietuvos karo akademija

The article aims to present financial analysis in determining the possibilities of human capital development, i.e., increase in the value of an enterprise through development of human capital. The market value of an enterprise is to a large extent dependent on its intellectual capital, including human capital. It may be said that human capital constitutes a ground for an enterprise’s development through work, creativity in operation, adjustment to a fast-evolving environment. Emphasizing the importance of the above content, as “hidden” assets of the enterprise, human capital is not fully included in the company’s financial reporting. Despite the often enormous intangible contribution into preparation, use of complex methods for selecting the right employees, implementation of an incentive system, performance evaluation and staff development, organizational procedures that absorb a series of activities to ensure growth of the company’s value and which should be included in its financial statements, are underestimated.

The article deals with the peculiarities of formation and enforcement of the national investment security in terms of distribution of investment flows and demand for investments. The global market for investment resources was analyzed and its impact on the investment needs and security of the individual countries was evaluated. At the methodical level, the interrelation and interdependence of components of national investment security were defined. Leading security indicators were identified and characterized taking into account investment risks factors. A Process model of the country’s investment security system was developed considering the risks and threats from the external environment and economic issues from the internal environment. The algorithm of complex assessment of the investment security of a country, based on the identification of stages and components of use of investments at the national level, was formed. A Model for evaluating the country’s individual investment security measures was developed.

This paper has aimed to consider how government expenditure contributes to economic growth by focusing on both the level and composition of government spending, in connection to the dynamics of GDP per capita growth. The investigation covers the period from 1997 to 2017. The authors have applied total expenditure approach analyzing interrelationships between government expenditure and economic growth and division approach examining and comparing the distributions of government expenditure in the selected European Union countries. The authors have applied descriptive statistics, the Pearson’s correlation, intensity rate of structural changes and Finger-Kreinin indicator. The findings have suggested the following: 1) there is no evidence on the relationship between general government expenditure and economic development in the European Union countries; 2) the countries with a greater proportion of productive spending, such as Cyprus, Greece, Lithuania, Hungary, Estonia, Slovakia have a low GDP per capita indicator. Economically strong countries, such as Denmark, France and Sweden have relatively low level of productive expenditure; 3) economically stronger countries have more stable compositions of government expenditure than economically weaker ones; 4) the countries with a similar real GDP per capita have been characterized by more similar government spending structures. As the economic gap between countries grows, divergence in allocation of government spending increases. The findings of this research could provide important guideline for the managing of government expenditure in the European Union countries. Moreover, it can serve as a guideline to a public budget management in the countries under consideration.

This paper has aimed to explore the inter-linkages of economic growth, poverty and inequality in the context of the European Union (EU) countries during the period of 2005 – 2016. Descriptive statistics analysis and econometric methods have been applied for this purpose. Research results have revealed statistically significant interrelationships between growth and poverty in half of the European Union countries. Moreover, in majority of these countries poverty has been elastic of economic growth. It should be noted, that the countries with higher level of economic development have relatively smaller share of population living below the national poverty lines. However, we cannot say the same about the growth – inequality relationships, which have varied across the EU countries. There are economically strong countries with relatively high income inequality and economically weaker countries with lower income distribution coefficients. However, in many cases poverty and income inequality tend to move in the same direction, i.e. as one increases, the other as well and vice versa. Finally, the insights of the research could be useful in developing a common strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and achieving the goals for Europe 2020.

Our paper tackles the issue of the European energy security and economic growth. Specifically, it evaluates the relationship between natural gas consumption and economic growth in the European Union (EU). Channels along which natural gas is supplied to the EU energy markets yield dependence from the Russian Federation which presents a threat to the European energy security. Our sample includes panel time series data over the period from 1997 to 2011 for a 26 EU countries. Based on neoclassical growth model, we create a multivariate model including gross fixed capital formation and total labor forces of a country as additional explanatory variables. Using panel cointegration tests, we found that there exists a long-run relationship between economic growth, natural gas consumption, labor and capital. In the short-run there is bidirectional causality between natural gas consumption and economic growth. The causality running from economic growth to natural gas consumption is positive. On the other hand, the causality, which runs from natural gas consumption to economic growth, is negative.

Globalization processes are widely discussed in scientific literature. In our research we adopt an approach, according which globalization; especially in form of inward foreign direct investment (FDI) is one of sources of innovative technologies and proxy of sustainable development of industries and countries’ economies. In order to design efficient government policies in the field of FDI attraction, such globalization drivers have to be revealed and their importance evaluated. In presented paper we raise and verify hypotheses about importance of the following globalization drivers: tax burden, institutional performance and market consumptive capacity. Regression analysis tool, we believe, allows revealing if those drivers are equally important for developed and less developed countries (LDC). Economic interpretation and generalization of obtain results, we believe, would allow indicating if consistent patterns can be traced. If so, more efficient government policies, allowing attract innovative technologies, especially to LDC can be suggested.

The article highlights the importance of the development of the society, as well as the measurement of this development, in the context of security, sustainability and competitiveness and goes much further by guiding to further research focus on the introduced new conception of “Secure and sustainable competitiveness” in the context of globalisation. The definition of “Sustainable competitiveness” was broadened by including new aspect of security. The development of the society was introduced as common output of the globalization which goes hand-in-hand with competitiveness, sustainability and security. The interrelation of certain facets between security, competitiveness and sustainability lead to the proposal to create the new index of “Secure and sustainable competitiveness” with possibility to evaluate the progress by looking back and provide prospects by looking forward. The research findings are in line with policy context and the development of the new index of “Secure and sustainable competitiveness” could be an important research contribution to the European Union Strategy Europe 2020 for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth (2010).

The aim of the paper is to review the international organizations’ approaches to the measurement of sustainable development and explore the system of indicators provided by the considered organizations. The systems of proposed indicators to measure sustainable development are being juxtaposed, specific features, advantages and disadvantages revealed. Organizations for sustainable development were founded to review progress at the international, regional and national levels in the implementation of sustainable development policy, to take part in legislative process, to control balance between economic development, social development, and environmental development.