This paper summarizes a research project devoted to analyzing the development of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) and emerging multinational companies from Visegrád countries: The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. After several years of foreign direct investment inflows to central and eastern European countries in recent decades, OFDI has appeared and grown dynamically from these economies. The Visegrád countries are among the leaders in that respect. This type of internationalization is affecting mainly Visegrád neighboring countries and other countries in the region. The concentration of investing companies and transactions is quite high in all four countries, and this determines both the sector and target country composition of OFDI. Intra-Visegrád investments, mainly by pairs of countries, are especially significant.

The aim of this paper is to shed light on the Polish outward foreign direct investments (OFDIs) with special attention on the growing interest of many Polish companies to expand abroad utilizing equity-based modes of entry. The paper shows that the increase of Polish OFDI in recent years reflects the growing ability and willingness of Polish companies to expand mainly to European markets. It is also observed that the emerging Polish multinationals primarily expand to regional markets of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe as well as Germany. The major motivation for the expansion was to increase market power and access to the market. The current economic crisis resulted in a deceleration of OFDI flows. However, in the case of Polish companies, the deceleration is not as high as one might expect and in 2008 and 2009, Polish companies made a relatively high number of cross-border deals. The paper also analyzes three cases of companies built from scratch in the transition period that now belong to the group of emerging Polish multinationals. When analyzing these cases, it can be seen that there were two stages in their development: during the first stage (approximately one decade), these companies focused on the development of their position in their home market; after they acquired a relatively strong position in the home market, they decided to expand abroad. Their first choice when expanding abroad was to build a strong position in regional markets of the Central and East European countries.

The paper aims to investigate the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic through the prism of local finances in the Mazovia region. The rationale for this research comes from the observation that lockdown and a reduced economic activity affect revenues of local budgets. Thus, a question arises about the effect of decreased local budgets on local expenditure and the implementation of development strategies. The method applied was a survey carried out on a sample consisting of all the local administrative units (LAU) in the region. The results show that the "scissors effect" of rising expenditure and falling revenues applies to all the LAU. The analysis provides evidence that the characteristics of urban and rural LAU have consequences not only for their resilience against the COVID-19 pandemic but influence their strategies and actions adopted in response to the crisis.

The study aims to assess the relationship between governance effectiveness, measured by the Worldwide Governance Indicators, and the use of green bonds worldwide. We apply panel data models with random effects and a robust linear regression model that allows us to identify the impact of the family of variables on green bonds. We found a statistically significant correlation between the quality of a government, measured as government effectiveness, and the value of green bond issuances. Thus, it is advised under New Public Governance to increase the effectiveness of their functioning, which may contribute to greater investor interest in environmental projects.

The smart city concept, together with the growing importance of sustainable development goals, has a significant impact on city management. For this reason, our research aim is to explore the relationship between the areas of impact and tools specific to both approaches, in the context of creating and implementing urban policy. We map the academic research of smart cities and sustainable development and present key research areas, authors, publications, institutions, and countries by conducting a bibliometric analysis based on the data from the Scopus database. Our methodology includes the established tools of network analysis of scientific collaborations such as co-authorship and keyword co-occurrence networks. The research findings may help navigate the literature on the smart and sustainable city and provide a systematic basis for developing urban management in Asia and Europe.

Przestrzenna koncentracja dobrobytu i nierównomierny wzrost gospodarczy z jednej strony oraz dążenie do wspierania rozwoju obszarów zmarginalizowanych z drugiej strony to jeden z głównych i wciąż nierozwiązanych dylematów regionalnej polityki rozwojowej. Ogniskują się w nim również jedne z największych wyzwań, stojących dziś przed rozwojem Mazowsza, w którym polaryzacja między centrum a peryferiami wciąż narasta. Książka ta stanowi jeden z elementów realizacji projektu Gospostrateg Mazovia 2.0 pt. Zrównoważony rozwój województwa mazowieckiego w nowym układzie jednostek NUTS2 i NUTS3. Poziom metropolitalny, regionalny i podregionalny, którego głównym celem jest znalezienie sposobów na zrównoważenie dobrobytu i dyfuzję procesów rozwojowych na terenie Mazowsza. Opracowanie to nie przynosi wprawdzie konkretnych rozwiązań, ale buduje teoretyczne podstawy do dalszych badań, postawienia pytań i hipotez badawczych dotyczących przebiegu procesów rozwojowych na obszarze Mazowsza, które są przedmiotem kolejnych faz realizacji wspomnianego projektu. Autorzy analizują rozumienie dobrobytu w układzie terytorialnym, jego części składowych oraz związków ze wzrostem gospodarczym. Prezentują oni teorie wyjaśniające rozprzestrzenianie się lub koncentrowanie procesów rozwojowych w wymiarze całej gospodarki, a także jej regionów i subregionów. W swoich badaniach poruszają zagadnienia takie jak: modele i czynniki wzrostu, teorie wyjaśniające nierównomierny wzrost gospodarczy, mechanizmy koncentracji i rozprzestrzeniania się wzrostu na poziomie regionalnym czy wreszcie nowe podejścia do regionalnej polityki rozwojowej, zorientowane na łańcuchy wartości i inteligentne specjalizacje. W powyższej perspektywie opracowanie to ma charakter uniwersalny i można je polecić nie tylko badaczom gospodarki Mazowsza, ale także wszystkich innych regionów, które borykają się ze skutkami nierównomiernego wzrostu