This study evaluates the impact of digital systems and IT audit frameworks on tax performance and integrity within tax administrations. Using international data from organizations like the World Bank, OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), and IMF (International Monetary Fund), the research examines the relationship between tax revenue as a percentage of GDP, digital infrastructure, corruption perception, e-government development, and cybersecurity readiness. Quantitative analysis, including correlation, regression, and clustering methods, reveals a strong positive relationship between digital maturity, e-governance, and tax performance. Countries with advanced digital governance systems and robust IT audit frameworks, such as COBIT, tend to show higher tax revenues and lower corruption levels. The study finds that e-government development and anti-corruption measures explain over 40% of the variance in tax performance. Cluster analysis distinguishes between digitally advanced, high-compliance countries and those lagging in IT adoption. The findings suggest that digital transformation strengthens fiscal integrity by automating compliance and reducing human contact, which in turn mitigates bribery risks and enhances fraud detection. The study highlights the need for adopting international best practices to guide the digitalization of tax administrations, improving efficiency, transparency, and trust in public finance.

Research background: The study analyzes whether financial speculation destabilizes commodity prices in light of recent price volatility and spikes in agricultural commodities. The study delves deeper into the US dairy futures markets, which are less studied by other authors in their research and relatively new in comparison to other agricultural commodity markets. These dairy commodity futures contracts provide dairy businesses and farmers the chance to hedge against price risks, which are particularly crucial in uncertain economic times such as the post-2020 COVID-19 pandemic timeframe. The analysis makes use of the weekly returns on futures contracts for nonfat milk powder, butter, milk class III, and cheese that are obtained from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). Purpose of the article: Conduct an empirical study to evaluate the effect of financial speculation on dairy product prices on US commodity markets, including the post-2020 timeframe. Methods: Time series analysis is used in the investigation: the generalized auto-regressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) method, the Granger causality test, and the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test. Findings & value added: Our analysis's findings show that, even though most commodities experienced an increase in return volatility during the post-2020 period, there is no evidence for financial speculation being the cause of increased returns from dairy futures contracts. The research also suggests that financial speculation, in some cases, even lowers the volatility of dairy futures prices. Therefore, non-commercial market participants may help to distribute price risks, making these markets more liquid.

This study examines the impact of financial speculation on the returns and volatility of agricultural and other commodity futures before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, contributing to the debate on whether speculative trading amplifies or mitigates market instability in increasingly financialized commodity markets (Alaminos et al., 2024; Chiu & Chou, 2022). Using weekly data and applying Granger non-causality tests together with generalised autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) and threshold generalised autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (TGARCH) models, the analysis shows that commodity returns either lead speculative activity or exhibit no significant causal relationship, indicating that speculation does not drive price dynamics. Speculation affects return volatility only in crude oil and gold markets, where the effect is stabilizing, while agricultural commodities show no statistically significant volatility response. Macroeconomic variables, particularly the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index (GSCI) index, strongly shape returns across all commodities, and volatility increased notably during the post-2020 period. Overall, the findings suggest that commodity price behaviour is primarily driven by fundamental and macroeconomic conditions rather than speculative pressures, and that speculation does not amplify volatility in agricultural markets even during periods of heightened global uncertainty.

Aim: Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly shaping learning processes and work practices, with important implications for productivity and regional competitiveness. However, the benefits of AI adoption may not be evenly distributed across urban and rural contexts. This study examines how individuals living in large cities, small cities, and rural areas perceive and use AI in learning and professional activities, and how they evaluate its economic benefits and associated risks. Method: The study is based on an online survey conducted in 2025 in Lithuania, comprising 17 Likert-scale items measuring perceived productivity benefits, learning support,digital skills, the future relevance of AI, and perceived risks. The final sample comprised 120 valid and fully completed responses (N = 120). Descriptive statistics were used to summarize response patterns, and pairwise Welch’s t-tests were applied to explore differences across residential contexts. Results: The results indicate generally positive attitudes toward AI across all groups, particularly regarding overall time-saving, improved decision-making, and enhanced competitiveness. Statistically significant differences were observed only between respondents living in large cities and small cities, with greater concern about potential job displacement. Conclusions: Overall, the findings of the sample suggest that while AI is widely perceived as a generally productivity-enhancing tool across regions, place-based disparities in skills and perceptions persist, underscoring the need for targeted training, institutional support, and inclusive digital policies to strengthen balanced regional competitiveness.

Digital engagement is increasingly relevant to household financial resilience, yet comparative evidence on its relationship with financial vulnerability across European Union countries remains limited. This study examines the association between digital engagement and financial vulnerability and assesses whether this relationship differs between urban and rural populations. Using individual-level survey data from EU countries, financial vulnerability is analysed in relation to Internet use frequency, time spent online, online political participation, and a composite digital engagement index. The results show that more frequent Internet use is associated with lower financial vulnerability, whereas time spent online shows no robust association. Online political participation is associated with higher financial vulnerability. Counterintuitively, the composite digital engagement index is positively associated with financial vulnerability in the fully adjusted model, likely reflecting the multidimensional nature of the index and the differing relationships of its components with financial vulnerability. Urban–rural interaction effects are generally not statistically significant. These findings demonstrate that digital engagement should not be treated as uniformly protective and highlight the importance of distinguishing between specific forms of digital participation when assessing financial vulnerability in heterogeneous European contexts.

This study examines both the linear and nonlinear relationship between overall Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance and firm market value, while also comparing the effects of the Environmental, Social, and Governance dimensions in publicly listed companies from the European Union. The analysis is based on an unbalanced panel of 1706 non-financial listed firms covering the period 2011–2025. Firm value is primarily measured by Tobin’s Q, with the Price-to-Book ratio and Return on Assets (ROA) used for robustness analysis. The results indicate a significant U-shaped relationship between overall ESG performance and firm value, suggesting that the value-enhancing effects of ESG emerge only after firms achieve sufficiently high sustainability performance. In contrast, the individual Environmental, Social, and Governance dimensions in most cases do not exhibit significantly different effects on firm market value. Additional subsample analyses reveal that the nonlinear relationship is more pronounced among Western European firms and companies with lower greenhouse gas emissions intensity. The findings suggest that investors primarily evaluate firms based on their overall sustainability profile rather than individual ESG dimensions. The study contributes to the ESG literature by providing further evidence of the nonlinear nature of the ESG–firm value relationship and by comparing the explanatory power of aggregated and disaggregated ESG measures within the European Union’s harmonized sustainability reporting environment.