The purpose of this empirical study is to find the relationship between economic growth and foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) using endogenous technological change model. First, we combine the CIS and CEECs into one group to test our hypothesis, and then we test each group separately to account for heterogeneity and draw a conclusion whether FDI is indeed a driving force of the economy. Panel data have been used from 2003 to 2014 and different panel estimation methods have been applied. Additionally, we use the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) panel estimator to control for endogeneity problem. The present study finds that FDI is an important factor explaining economic growth in the pooled group and CEECs, although it is not significant in the case of CIS.

Contemporary changes of socio-economic development factors. The aim of the work is to determine the scope of contemporary changes of socio-economic development factors, paying attention to the consequences for their interpretation and mechanism of impact relating to the regional and local level. The main goal is specified by formulating the following research questions: (1) What major megatrends shape contemporary developmental transformations? (2) What is the direction and scope of changes in socio-economic development factors? (3) How are the conditions of development processes changing as a result of these changes and how they differentiate the processes of development in space? The article is a synthesis of the results of two research projects of the National Science Center: NN 306 79 19 40: Socio-economic development and the development of areas of growth and areas of economic stagnation (2011–2014) and OPUS 10 – 2015/19/B/HS5/00012: New challenges of regional policy in shaping the factors of socio-economic development of less developed regions (2016–2019) and the results of own authors’ research – employees of the Regional Analysis Department at the Institute of Socio-Economic Geography and Spatial Management of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań.

For development of the knowledge-based economy, potential and quality of university education are an important factors to increase a competitiveness of local, regional, national and international scales. To shape the modern economy, the development of university education and studies corresponding with contemporary socio-economic challenges play an important role. As a result, the formation of scientific and academic centres, which are the basic elements of knowledge-based of economy, determines the improvement of the human resources quality and the increase in innovativeness of spatial systems on various scales. The author has discussed the issue of changes in university education in Poland and its role in socio-economic activation of regional systems, and also defined the structure of major studies in regional (voivodship) systems. This paper research has initiated wider investigations which aim will be to answer to what extent the actual university education structure corresponds to contemporary and future socio-economic needs and competences. this level of education in Poland has to face with the growing globalization processes and increasing spatial competitiveness, not only in a regional scale, but also in the national and international ones, and actual reforms of Polish education and science system.

This article analyses the strategies of adaptation used by highly skilled Latvian migrants to make the best of their situation abroad. As empirical data, 26 semi-structured in-depth interviews with highly skilled Latvian nationals in finances, management, IT and the health sector are analysed. The study reveals how migrants negotiate the value of their cultural capital in the new country’s labour market. Different adaptation strategies are typical for the pre-migration phase, the phase of transition and initial settlement and of establishment in the host country. The main conclusion of the study is that pre-migration cultural capital (education, work experience, language knowledge and general and specific skills) is important but not sufficient to be successful in new country’s labour market – in the UK, Germany, Norway and the USA. The labour-market outcomes are a result of the interplay between migrants’ individual resources and decisions on extensive investments in country-specific human capital and structural constraints – such as typical recruitment patterns in a particular occupation and host country.

This paper investigates the linkages between economic growth and fiscal policy under perfect capital mobility. The model incorporates wide range of fiscal policy instruments: the budget deficit, the structure of public debt, public expenditures on education, public consumption, and four tax rates. We prove that two tax rates - on consumption and interest on government bonds held by domestic lenders - are neutral for economic growth: both for the balanced growth path (BGP), and for transitory dynamics. All other parameters of fiscal policy are not neutral. Theoretical results are illustrated with an empirical analysis for Poland based on post-global financial crisis data for the Polish economy (2009-2018). Numerical simulations show that if fiscal policy remains unchanged, Polish economy will converge to the BGP with GDP growing at 2.3%. The best way to accelerate growth is to increase public investment in education. The other budgetary policy instruments are less effective in shaping economic growth.