The debate on the presence of economic benefits in the European Union (EU) is not over. The study responds unequivocally to this question, with the intensity of economic development in the countries that joined the European Union in 2004 and beyond twice as high as that of the countries that joined it this year, i.e. the EU’s old ones compared to the new ones; smoothness – 1.1 times and dynamics – 1.6 times. Another important trend for further development is that, as the level of economic development increases, its smoothness is diminishing. In respect of the context of the EP of all EU Members, it turned out that the higher intensity of enlargement was characterised by higher economic levels, with similar homogeneity and almost identical values for the dynamic indicator. The introduction to the article presents the context of the studies, i.e. two groups of EU Community countries are formed according to their level of economic development and the year of their accession to the Community, as well as a survey scheme. The literature review reveals the methods used to analyse the convergence of economic development in these countries, as members of the Community. The research methodology introduces the indicator of economic development of countries and provides a methodology for assessing its dynamics. The empirical part assesses the dynamics of economic development of both groups of countries and identifies trends in terms of convergence. The discussion section summarises the consolidation and destabilising factors in the EU and the importance of the study carried out in this context. The conclusions present the main results of the studies and outline their further directions. The results of the study can be used both in the EU and for the purpose-oriented decisions of its members on further economic development.

The stream of scientific articles on sustainability, financial literacy, and sustainability literacy shows their importance in the transformation process. New financial instruments with sustainable or green features have been introduced in the financial market. As a result, financial literacy is becoming more complex and the need for sustainability literacy is also increasing. Financial literacy now includes not only the knowledges, attitudes, and behavior of financial well-being but also positive impacts on environmental and social development. This article presupposes financial literacy and sustainability literacy are key instruments for the sustainable development of society. The aim of this article is to analyze the scientific literature on sustainability literacy and financial literacy and investigate the level of sustainability literacy and financial literacy among young people aged 15–30 years in the Baltic states. A systematic review of the literature was carried out followed by a survey, which revealed some differences between Estonia and Latvia and Lithuania in terms of sustainability and financial literacy levels.

An inherent characteristic of socioeconomic systems (SES) is their development, which is a prerequisite for their existence. Analysing the development, as well as comparing the subjects at a variety of levels (companies, countries, regions, etc.) for other purposes requires the development process to be measured in a quantitative manner. The development process is characterised by its dynamics, which in turn may be measured using two indicators: the intensity of the development; and its consistency over the reference period. The former measurement is represented as a ratio between the development values at the begining of the period and those at the end, while the consistency of the SES economic development will be demonstrated as a ratio of the length of the reference period to the sum of the lengths of the trajectories representing the development over individual time periods. The calculations of the economic development of number of countries carried out through this research have confirmed that the proposed methodology has been named, with certain qualifications, the MDDSS (Measuring of the Dynamic of the Development of a Socioeconomic System).DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.29.3.20444

In recent decades, attention to environmental resource management has increased worldwide. Circular economy (CE) is a concept that is increasingly being considered as a solution to this range of challenges. Therefore, it is important to monitor the development of CE. This research is an attempt to contribute to the CE surveillance literature by providing a framework for comparing the positions of states and their classifications. The main goal of the article is to assess the level of circular economy development in EU countries according to the chosen methodology. The indicators used in this study are sourced from the European Commission Monitoring Framework database, which includes data from 27 European Union (EU) countries over the time frame from 2016 to 2020. The analysis was carried out using Multi-Criteria Decision Methods (MCDM), such as Simple Additive Weighing (SAW), and the objective method of estimating weights in accordance with proportional differences (APROD), which helped to assess the state of CE. The results showed that EU countries can be divided into three groups based on the level of performance of the CE, and their level of development in relation to the circular economy is different. The level of circular economy development in most EU countries is low. Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Italy demonstrated the best positions. The study findings were derived from the combination of two MCDMs, thus increasing the refinement of the overall methodology. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2024-08-02-013 Full Text: PDF

The welfare of a country depends on its economic development. In order to have the impact on it, we should have a possibility to quantitatively assess its situation at the desired point in time. Economic development, as a multifaceted and complex phenomenon, is reflected in two dimensions – intensity and uniformity. These mentioned above can be viewed as partial indicators of dynamics. Two main approaches to measuring development uniformity can be distinguished. In one of the cases, it is measured on the basis of an index that includes the main results of the country's economic development. In the other case, the values of the indicators reflecting all the essential development actions are combined in one appropriate way. From a scientific point of view, the second approach is more accurate as it allows for a better assessment of the complex nature of a country’s economic development. On the other hand, its application today is still problematic due to the fact that the models for this differ in terms of both the number and composition of indicators. For this reason, it is not possible to compare countries. Therefore, in international practice, the economic development of countries is measured by gross domestic product per capita (GDP). Based on GDP indicator, the method for the measurement of uniformity is proposed and the essence of which is the ratio of the length of the ideal trajectory of the development during the period under review to the length of the actual trajectory. Without ruling out the appropriateness of such an approach for assessing development uniformity, it makes sense to look for alternative methods. In this sense, methods that allow assessment of the extent of fluctuations of the phenomenon under consideration as an essential feature of development dynamics are suitable. These include the Gini coefficient, which is determined from the Lorenz curve.

As a major challenge of a social, economic, and institutional nature, the phenomenon of population ageing is the basis for concern in terms of the direction of further socio-economic development. By the year 2050, the number of older people around the world will amount to more than 2 billion, constituting 22% of the total population. Over 75, people are faced with increased risk of disability (physical and mental), which can deprive of independent existence. The welfare system will not only have to meet the growing demand for nursing homes, but also the increasing requirements for the safety and quality of services. The innovation of nursing homes will be conditional on the learning of the units of this sector. The scientific goal of the pursued study was to evaluate the influence of learning orientation on the innovation of nursing homes in Poland. Learning orientation has been the subject of the Author’s interest in the context of four constructs: (i) commitment to learning, (ii) shared vision, (iii) open-mindedness, and (iv) intra-organisational knowledge sharing. The article presents the results of a quantitative research conducted on a sample of 169 nursing homes in Poland. The study aimed to examine relationships between the four constructs of learning orientation and organisational innovativeness of nursing homes in Poland. The regression model confirmed the existing statistically significant positive relationship between open-mindedness and organisational innovativeness.