This article determines the effect of crisis changes on the structure of household expenditures in the following different regions of Ukraine: Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Odesa, and Vinnytsia. The study covers the period before the full-scale Russian invasion (2017–2022) and after its onset (2022–2024). We analysed the data through correlation analysis and the Cobb–Douglas consumption function model to determine the structure of expenditures depending on two factors: the cost of housing rental and consumer goods prices. Before the full-scale invasion, we observed a stable positive correlation in most cities between the cost of housing and prices of goods, with changes in one indicator being reflected in the other. After the invasion began in the affected regions (Kharkiv and Odesa), the correlation between prices of goods and the cost of housing rental changed from positive to negative. In the regions that were less affected (Lviv, Vinnytsia, and Kyiv), the correlation remained or grew stronger due to increased demand. This article therefore contributes to understanding consumer behaviour in times of crisis.
The main purpose of the paper is to recognise the impact of statutory Sunday trading restrictions on consumer behaviours (shopping time) and mobility (activeness, motivation, modal division) of residents in Łódź, one of the largest Polish cities. An additional aim is to determine the independence of the indicated elements for selected features of the surveyed residents and their households, for which purpose a two-stage questionnaire survey was conducted among the residents/dwellers of Łódź. The first stage was performed during a week following a non-trading Sunday, and the respondents were asked to refer specifically to the previous Sunday. The second phase was carried out during a week immediately following a trading Sunday, with the questions focused on that particular Sunday. The returned results showed that the main factor determining the time when people do their shopping to make up for a non-trading Sunday is their professional Sunday activity. The answers also revealed that the residents of Łódź chose an inactive and rather a “couch-potato” lifestyle on the analysed Sundays, whether trading or non-trading.
The article discusses the financialisation of housing while examining its economic, social, and political determinants as well as the consequences of its development. The conceptual perspective is not limited to the macroeconomic mechanisms of the process. The impact of marketisation and, consequently, the financialisation of housing was analysed in detail using the city of Gdańsk as an example. The mechanisms of financialisation in the neoliberal market economy and its impact on housing markets were discussed, as well as the financialisation of households through their inclusion in financial operations was considered. Additionally, the phenomena of touristification, studentification, and the increasing number of vacant dwellings were analysed as processes that transform urban spaces, which have a close relationship with the financialisation of housing markets. The importance of legal regulations and active housing policy in counteracting the negative effects of financialisation was pointed out.
The main purpose of this article is to determine whether there is gender discrimination in access to the local authority housing stock in Poland. The study focused on 26 cities from which data were obtained through access to public information. In the qualitative part, an analysis of resolutions regulating the rules of renting premises from the local authority housing stock was conducted, focusing on identifying provisions that could lead to gender discrimination. The quantitative analysis was based on data showing the number of households that either had signed rental agreements or were waiting to obtain them in the examined cities. The conducted research provided no evidence to conclude that gender discrimination exists in the allocation of local authority housing in Poland.
Academic research indicates that total or current expenditures have been most commonly used in sub-central or local government’s efficiency analysis as dependent variables, and a proxy for the cost of service provision. Our research applied in the case of Polish districts for 2019 and 2020 indicates two important results: firstly, regardless of whether total or current expenditures have been used, the determinants indicate the same direction of impact, and, secondly, the COVID-19 pandemic did not change the direction of the impact. The regression results confirm the positive direction that the administrative, educational, protection, and safety variables have on dependent variables.
Local governments in the Western Balkan countries are dependent on central governments’ transfers, with low fiscal autonomy and limited efforts for own-source revenue mobilisation. The paper identifies that besides central government transfers, other significant factors in determining municipal own-source revenues include central and local public investment, current expenditures, human development index, and population density. Municipal own-source revenue is adversely affected by intergovernmental transfers, implying their de-incentivising effect in collecting local revenues. Local capital expenditure is a significant and strong determinant with a higher strength than central government investments, suggesting their importance for local fiscal autonomy. The human development index as a composite measure, unlike GDP per capita, positively affects the municipal fiscal autonomy.
The accident at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant was one of the largest in human history. It is often referred to as a global event because its effects were felt not only by Ukrainians but also by the populations of Belarus, Russia, Central Europe, the Balkans and the Scandinavian Peninsula. 2022 marked the 36th anniversary of this terrible occurrence, when the history of Ukraine in the late twentieth century was divided into two parts: before the tragedy of 26 April 1986, and after it.
Today, it is important for Ukrainian society not only to recognise the significance of the catastrophe and remember its victims but also to find ways to overcome its grave consequences. This requires comprehensive research useful for developing new approaches to minimising the environmental and socio-demographic problems caused by the Chornobyl tragedy. Thus, this research has practical scientific, humanitarian and socio-political significance. The novelty of the obtained results lies in the study’s critical rethinking of the achievements of predecessors and its analysis of historical sources concerning the environmental and socio-demographic consequences of the accident at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant as they manifested from 1986 to 2022.
The methodological basis of the work is empirical cognition. The use of logical-analytical methods of grouping and typology allows us to classify homogeneous events and coherently present the material of the article. The study additionally uses comparative judgment, historical-statistical and problem-chronological methods. The principles of objectivity and impartiality also play an important role in the work.
The purpose of the study is to investigate the consequences of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident on the environmental and socio-demographic aspects of the population of Ukraine from 1986 to 2022 based on the identified set of sources. From a historical perspective, the level of pollution in the territories of Ukraine is traced, the demographic situation is monitored, and parallels are drawn between the Chornobyl disaster and the increase in incurable diseases and mortality.
In conclusion, the authors note that although 36 years have passed, the echo of this catastrophe remains tangible for the population of Ukraine. Several issues still must be solved. The first is the return to life, namely, the safe living and management of areas that have been exposed to radiation contamination, as well as the continuation of work aimed at restoring agricultural soils. Second, purposeful work must be conducted by the state to minimise social and demographic problems resulting from the Chornobyl catastrophe. In our opinion, the government should increase expenditures aimed at providing quality medical services to the population of Ukraine, as well as conduct constant monitoring of the health of those people who are at high risk in order to better detect diseases in their early stages.
These groups of people include liquidators of the consequences of the accident and migrants. Such measures can stabilise the demographic situation by increasing birth rates and reducing mortality, as well as improve the health and living standards of the population of Ukraine.
Sustainability of municipal finance implies steady revenue generation. Pinpointing their determinants creates the necessary background in their management and policy creation. Great municipal dependence on central government finance remains a serious challenge in the process of fiscal decentralisation. So far, studies have been focusing on the expenditure side, while revenues were treated mostly marginally. A random-effects Generalized Least Squares (GLS) panel regression for the period of 2015–2019 is estimated for targeting revenue determinants of municipalities in North Macedonia. Own and total tax revenues are modelled separately through the impact of capital expenditures, salary expenditures, active transparency index, municipality type, and local government’s ideology. The general results indicate that capital expenditure, municipal transparency, and the level of development are significant determinants of municipal revenues in both estimated models. Using such knowledge on municipal revenue reactions can help governments formulate policies that provide sustainable and effective fiscal decentralisation, lowering the pressure on central governments in developing economies.
The primary study objective is to verify the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis for greenhouse gas emissions in Poland at the disaggregated Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS)-3 level, accounting for spatial dependencies. The analysis employs a balanced panel of 73 subregions (2005 to 2022) based on the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research and Statistics Poland data. Spatial dependencies were determined using Moran’s and Lagrange multiplier tests, justifying the application of a spatial autoregressive panel model with individual fixed effects. The results offer robust evidence of an inverted U-shaped relationship between economic growth and emissions. The estimated turning point is about 73,035 PLN (16,592 USD) at the NUTS-3 level in 2022 prices. Urbanisation exerts a positive, statistically significant influence on per capita emissions, whereas household energy consumption indicates a positive, weakly significant influence (p < 0.10). Robustness checks performed at NUTS-2 confirmed the findings, yielding a turning point of 59,704 PLN (13,564 USD), although energy consumption proved statistically insignificant at this aggregated scale. These findings highlight the importance of incorporating spatial spillovers, as neighbouring dynamics shape regional emissions. The results underscore the need for differentiated regional climate policies reflecting spatial and structural disparities across Polish regions.