Share:


Linking the government expenditures to the achievement of the Europe 2020 strategy indicators. Evidence from Central and Eastern European Countries

    Roxana Maria Bădîrcea   Affiliation
    ; Alina Georgiana Manta   Affiliation
    ; Nicoleta Mihaela (Florea) Doran   Affiliation
    ; Florin Liviu Manta Affiliation

Abstract

In order to evaluate the degree of sustainable development at CEEC (Central and Eastern European Countries) by means of an aggregate indicator and to determine if the government expenditures in the field of environment, environment protection, fuel, energy, education and social protection could influence the achievement of the Europa 2020 targets, a data panel of 10 CEEC for 2007–2018 period was analysed through Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS) method and a Vector Error Correction Model (VECM). To calculate the indicator, an algorithm that included six steps was used. The results of the study show, on long-term, statistically significant correlations between the target indicator and all the selected variables, except for the government expenditures with the education variable. However, on short-term, there were identified strong connections reflected in bidirectional causality between government expenditures with social protection and the target indicator. Also, on short-term, a strong causal relationship was identified from target indicator to the total government expenditures for education, from the environmental protection government expenditures to the government expenditures for social protection and from the total government expenditures for social protection to the total government expenditures for education.


First published online 17 March 2022

Keyword : research and development, climate change and energy, education, poverty and social exclusion, target indicator

How to Cite
Bădîrcea, R. M., Manta, A. G., (Florea) Doran, N. M., & Manta, F. L. (2022). Linking the government expenditures to the achievement of the Europe 2020 strategy indicators. Evidence from Central and Eastern European Countries. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 28(3), 694–715. https://doi.org/10.3846/tede.2022.16526
Published in Issue
Apr 21, 2022
Abstract Views
632
PDF Downloads
529
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Alexa, D., Cismas, L. M., Rus, A. V., & Pop Silaghi, M. I. (2019). Economic growth, competitiveness and convergence in the European regions. A spatial model estimation. Economic Computation & Economic Cybernetics Studies & Research, 53(1), 107–124. https://doi.org/10.24818/18423264/53.1.19.07

Badulescu, D., Badulescu, A., Simut, R., Bac, D., Iancu, E.-A., & Iancu, N. (2020). Exploring environmental Kuznets curve. An investigation on EU economies. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 26(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.3846/tede.2019.11261

Badulescu, D., Simut, R., Badulescu, A., & Badulescu, A.-V. (2019). The relative effects of economic growth, environmental pollution and non-communicable diseases on health expenditures in European Union countries. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(24), 5115. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16245115

Becker, W., Norlen, H., Dijkstra, L., & Athanasoglou, S. (2020). Wrapping up the Europe 2020 strategy: A multidimensional indicator analysis, Environmental and Sustainability Indicators, 8, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indic.2020.100075

Begg, I., Bongardt, A., Csaba, L., Egenhofer, C., Lannoo, K., Pochet, P., Soete, L., & Torres, F. (2010). Europe 2020 – A promising strategy? Intereconomics Review of European Economic Policy, 45(3), 136–170. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10272-010-0332-9

Bluszcz, A. (2016). Classification of the European Union member states according to the relative level of sustainable development. Quality and Quantity, 50(6), 2593. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-015-0278-x

Bossel, H. (1999). Indicators for sustainable development: Theory, method, applications. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www2.ulb.ac.be/ceese/STAFF/Tom/bossel.pdf

Bourgeais, V., & Gebhard, F. (2015). How is the European Union progressing towards its Europe 2020 targets? (News Release). Eurostat. http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/6664132/1-02032015-CP-EN.pdf/e339ff6c-ee5c-4385-9cbc-bce32fbdb8d7

Campagnolo, L., Carraro, C., Eboli, F., & Farnia, L. L. (2016). Assessing SDGs: A new methodology to measure sustainability (FEEM Working Paper No. 89). https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2715991

Cornescu, V., & Adam, R. (2014). Considerations regarding the role of indicators used in the analysis and assessment of sustainable development in the UE. Procedia Economics and Finance, 8, 10–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2212-5671(14)00056-2

Council of European Municipalities and Regions. (2014). Europe 2020 Strategy: Local and regional governments are essential for its shaping and implementation. https://www.ccre.org/img/uploads/piecesjointe/filename/CEMR_response_consultation_Europe_2020_Strategy_EN.pdf

Cuadrado-Roura, J. R., Martin, R., & Rodríguez-Pose, A. (2016). The economic crisis in Europe: Urban and regional consequences. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 9(1), 3–11. https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsv036

Dalal-Clayton, B., & Krikhaar, F. (2007). A new sustainable development strategy: An opportunity not to be missed (Report of a peer review of The Netherlands sustainable development strategy). RMNO. http://www.ps4sd.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/2007-SDS-NL-Peer-review-report-RMNO.pdf

Dijkstra, L., Garcilazo, E., & McCann, P. (2015). The effects of the global financial crisis on European regions and cities. Journal of Economic Geography, 15(5), 935–949. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbv032

European Commission. (2005). Communication from Mr Almunia to the members of the commission. Sustainable Development Indicators to monitor the implementation of the EU Sustainable Development Strategy. https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/rep/2/2005/EN/2-2005-161-EN-F1-1.PDF

European Commission. (2009). Economic crisis in Europe: Causes, consequences and responses. European Economy. Office for Official Publica-tions of the European Communities, Luxembourg. https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/747ea45f-25b2-432d-bdbc-9d667e59fd5f/language-en

European Commission. (2010). A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Brussels. https://ec.europa.eu/eu2020/pdf/COMPLET%20EN%20BARROSO%20%20%20007%20-%20Europe%202020%20-%20EN%20version.pdf

European Commission. (2019). Towards a Sustainable Europe by 2030 (Reflection Paper). https://ec.europa.eu/commission/files/factsheet-towards-sustainable-europe_en

European Institute of Romania. (2020). Strategia Europa 2020 și stadiul implementării în România. IER. http://europedirectbucuresti.ier.ro/wp-content/uploads/brosura_europa_2020_8mb.pdf

Eurostat. (2021). Eurostat statistical data. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/main/data/database

Fedajev, A., Nikolic, D., Radulescu, M., & Ileana Sinisi, C. (2019). Patterns of structural changes in CEE economies in new millennium. Techno-logical and Economic Development of Economy, 25(6), 1336–1362. https://doi.org/10.3846/tede.2019.11253

Florea, N. M., Bădîrcea, R. M., Pîrvu, R. C., Manta, A. G., Doran, M. D., & Jianu, E. (2020). The impact of agriculture and renewable energy on climate change in Central and East European Countries. Agricultural Economics – Czech, 66(10), 444–457. https://doi.org/10.17221/250/2020-AGRICECON

Fura, B., & Wang, Q. (2017). The level of socioeconomic development of EU countries and the state of ISO 14001 certification. Quality & Quantity, 51(1), 103–119. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-015-0297-7

Glass, L. M., & Newig, J. (2019). Governance for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals: How important are participation, policy coherence, reflexivity, adaptation and democratic institutions? Earth System Governance, 2, 100031. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esg.2019.100031

Hak, T., Janouskova, S., & Moldan, B. (2016). Sustainable Development Goals: A need for relevant indicators. Ecological Indicators, 60, 565–573. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2015.08.003

He, J., & Richard, P. (2010). Environmental Kuznets curve for CO2 in Canada. Ecological Economics, 69(5), 1083–1093. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2009.11.030

Hege, E., Brimont, L., & Pagnon, F. (2019). Sustainable development goals and indicators: Can they be tools to make national budgets more sus-tainable? Public Sector Economics, 43(4), 423–444. https://doi.org/10.3326/pse.43.4.5

Hoang, N. T. (2006). New tests for cointegration in heterogeneous panels (Working Paper No. 06-09). Center for Economic Analysis.

Iacobuta, A. O., Mursa, G. C., Mihai, C., Cautisanu, C., & Cismas, L. M. (2019). Institutions and sustainable development: A cross-country analysis. Transformations in Business & Economics, 18(2A), 628–647. http://www.transformations.knf.vu.lt/47a/article/inst

Iniestroy, I., Hege, E., Dirth, E., & Zondervan, R. (2019). Europe’s approach to implementing the Sustainable Development Goals. European Parliament, Directorate-General for External Policies. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EXPO_STU(2019)603473

Ionescu, Gh., Firoiu, D., Tănasie, A., Sorin, T., Pîrvu, R., & Manta, A. (2020). Assessing the achievement of the SDG targets for health and well-being at EU level by 2030. Sustainability, 12(14), 5829. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12145829

Kao, C. (1999). Spurious regression and residual-based tests for cointegration in panel data. Journal of Econometrics, 90(1), 1–44. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-4076(98)00023-2

Lee, J., C., Won, Y., J., & Jei, S. Y. (2019). Study of the relationship between government expenditures and economic growth for China and Korea. Sustainability, 11(22), 6344. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11226344

Levin, A., Lin, C. F., & Chu, C. (2002). Unit root tests in panel data: Asymptotic and finite-sample properties. Journal of Econometrics, 108(1), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-4076(01)00098-7

Manta, A. G., Florea, N. M., Badîrcea, R. M., Popescu, J., Cîrciumaru, D., & Doran, M. D. (2020). The nexus between carbon emissions, energy use, economic growth and financial development: Evidence from Central and Eastern European countries. Sustainability, 12(18), 7747. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12187747

Mathai, K., Duenwald, C., Guscina, A., Al-Farah, R., Bukhari, H., Chaudry, A., El-Said, M., Fareed, F., Gerling, K., Le, N.-P., Ricka, F., Serra, C., Sydorenko, T., Walker, S., & Zaher, M. (2020). Social spending for inclusive growth in the Middle East and Central Asia (Departmental Paper No. 2020/012).

IMF, Washington DC, USA. https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/Departmental-Papers-PolicyPapers/Issues/2020/09/25/Social-Spending-for-Inclusive-Growth-in-the-Middle-East-and-Central-Asia-49669

Noja, G. G., Cristea, M., Sirghi, N., Hategan, C.-D., & D’Anselmi, P. (2019). Promoting good public governance and environmental support for sustainable economic development. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(24), 4940. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16244940

Noja, G. G., Cristea, M., Thalassinos, E., & Kadłubek, M. (2021). Interlinkages between government resources management, environmental sup-port, and good public governance. Advanced Insights from the European Union. Resources, 10(5), 41. https://doi.org/10.3390/resources10050041

OECD. (2014). OECD environment indicators. Development, measurement and use. Paris. http://www.oecd.org/environment/indicators-modelling-outlooks/24993546.pdf

Ortiz, I., Cummins, M., & Karunanethy, M. (2017). Fiscal space for social protection and the SDGs: Options to expand social investments in 187 countries (ESS Working Paper No. 48). International Labour Office, Geneva. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_protect/---soc_sec/documents/publication/wcms_383871.pdf

Osuji, E., & Nwani, S. E. (2020). Achieving sustainable development goals: Does government expenditure framework matter? International Journal of Management, Economics and Social Sciences, 9(3), 131–160. https://doi.org/10.32327/IJMESS/9.3.2020.8

Palevičienė, A., & Dumčiuvienė, D. (2015). Socio-economic diversity of European regions: Finding the impact for regional performance. Procedia Economics and Finance, 23, 1096–1101. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2212-5671(15)00431-1

Paoli, A. D., & Addeo, F. (2016). Assessing SDGs: A methodology to measure sustainability. Athens Journal of Social Sciences, 6(3), 229–250. https://doi.org/10.30958/ajss.6-3-4

Pasimeni, P. (2013). The Europe 2020 index. Social Indicators Research, 110(2), 613–635. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-011-9948-9

Pasimeni, F., & Pasimeni, P. (2016). An institutional analysis of the Europe 2020 strategy. Social Indicators Research, 127(3), 1021–1038. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-015-1013-7

Pedroni, P. (2000). Fully modified OLS for heterogeneous cointegrated panels (Working Papers, Department of Economics). Williams College, Williamstown, MA, USA.

Pedroni, P. (2004). Panel cointegration: Asymptotic and finite sample properties of pooled time series tests with an application to the PPP hypothesis. Econometric Theory, 20(3), 597–625. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266466604203073

Pellerin-Carlin, T., Vinois, J. A., Rubio, E., & Fernandes, S. (2017). Making the energy transition a European success tackling the democratic, innovation, financing and social challenges of the Energy Union. Jaques Delors Institute. https://institutdelors.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/makingtheenergytransitionaeuropeansuccess-studypellerincarlinfernandesrubio-june2017-bd.pdf

Phillips, P., & Hansen, B. (1990). Statistical inference in instrumental variables regression with I (1) processes. The Review of Economic Studies, 57(1), 99–125. https://doi.org/10.2307/2297545

Pîrvu, R., Drăgan, C., Axinte, G., Dinulescu, S., Lupăncescu, M., & Găină, A. (2019). The impact of the implementation of cohesion policy on the sustainable development of EU countries. Sustainability, 11(15), 4173. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11154173

Radulescu, M., Fedajev, A., Sinisi, C. I., Popescu, C., & Iacob, S. E. (2018). Europe 2020 implementation as driver of economic performance and competitiveness. Panel analysis of CEE countries. Sustainability, 10(2), 566. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10020566

Rappai, G. (2016). Europe EN route to 2020: A new way of evaluating the overall fulfilment of the Europe 2020 strategic goals. Social Indicators Research, 129(1), 77–93. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-015-1092-5

Ravallion, M. (2012). Mashup indices of development. The World Bank Research Observer, 27(1), 1–32. https://doi.org/10.1093/wbro/lkr009

Simionescu, M., Popescu, J., & Caraba-Meita, N. L. (2019). The impact of some economic and monetary variables on the real GDP in CEE-5 countries. Transformations in Business & Economics, 18, 416–430.

Širá, E., Kotulic, R., Kravcáková Vozárová, I., & Danová, M. (2021). Sustainable development in EU countries in the framework of the Europe 2020 strategy. Processes, 9(3), 443. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9030443

Stec, M., & Grzebyk, M. (2018). The implementation of the Strategy Europe 2020 objectives in European Union countries: The concept analysis and statistical evaluation. Quality and Quantity, 52(1), 119–133. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-016-0454-7

Stec, M., Filip, P., Grzebyk, M., & Pierscieniak, A. (2014). Socio-economic development in the EU member states – Concept and classification. Engineering Economics, 25(5), 504–512. https://doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.25.5.6413

The Economist Intelligence Unit. (2020). The future of public expenditures: Why the way we spend is critical to the Sustainable Development Goals. https://content.unops.org/publications/Thefutureofpublicspending_EN.pdf

Welch, J. (2011). The financial crisis in the European Union: An impact assessment and response critique. European Journal of Risk Regulation, 2(4), 481–490. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24323295