EU ACCESSION AND TRADE INTEGRATION: THE GRAVITY MODEL OF TRADE IN THE CASE OF THE EU CANDIDATE COUNTRIES
In the majority of the EU potential members agricultural sector is playing a prominent role. Such an outcome is based on the high contribution of the agricultural sector on GDP, employment and trade accounts. EU initiated bilateral trade liberalization with the Western Balkans through the establishment of the ATPs. Furthermore, trade liberalization is extended in the regional level through the establishment of renewed CEFTA 2006. Despite the significant improvement, their export competitiveness remains weak. In the long run, agricultural exports might contribute on improvement of the export performance of the EU candidates. Main findings of the gravity model employed in this paper suggest that exports are positively affected by product size (GDP), and to lesser extent by the GDP of trading partners. Exports fall with the increase of the distance, and the fall in the value of exports is greater as larger is the distance between the trading partners. Therefore, the marginal fall in exports increases as far as the geographical distance between the trading partners increase. Initial assumptions that PTAs and cultural ties facilities the trade flows were affirmatively confirmed. Trade liberalization had a positive implication on improving export performance of the EU candidate countries.
Liberalization of Trade with the European Union and its Impact on the Reduction in Central European Free Trade Agreement 2006 Trade Balance Deficit
This paper’s main objective is to research the effect of liberalization of trade with the European Union and its impact on the reduction in trade balance deficit of Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) 2006. It utilizes panel data (PD) time-series in the interval from 2007 to 2013. It applies economical gravity model and econometric dynamic PD techniques: PD models, fixed effects models and random effects models (RE). It has been concluded that trade liberalization positively impacts the reduction in trade balance deficit of CEFTA 2006 countries, i.e. that export and import between the exporting country i and the importing country j within time period t, gross domestic product (GDP) of the country j, GDP per capita of the country j within time period t, distance between the country i and country j, dummy variables (free trade agreements and sharing a common border) are statistically significant. Additionally, it has been determined that FE is more favorable than RE when it comes to achieving better assessment of the effects of independent variables on a dependent variable.
An assessment of the Impact of Devolution on Women Empowerment in Nakuru County
-Women have been grossly marginalized in organs of decision-making and governance structures. The Constitution of Kenya has sought to bridge this gap by providing both women and men the right to equal treatment, including the right to equal opportunities in political, economic, cultural and social spheres. However, gender equality has not been achieved and women are still lagging in terms of decision making processes. The main objective of the study was to detemine the impact of devolution on women empowerment in Nakuru County. The study found that substantive women representation, development of programs and accessibility of services had a positive effect on the women empowerment in Nakuru County. The study also found out that increased accessibility of Services by women influenced women empowerment, this study also concludes that the introduction of development programs had the greatest impact on women empowerment in Nakuru County. The study recommends that more programs targeting women should be introduced as these have the greatest impact on women empowerment. The findings may be used to make conclusions and recommendations.