The present state of the human resource development system in Lithuania and other Baltic countries, as well as the major problems facing the labor market and the educational system, were analyzed. Results of SWOT analyses of the labor market and of educational system development in Lithuania and other Baltic countries (especially the system of university studies) are described. The potential for upgrading university studies is evaluated, taking into account processes associated with integration into the European Union. Moreover, the prospects of educational development are analyzed in the context of transition characteristics of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
The paper is devoted on the wage differences between men and women in Baltic countries. It aims to estimate the unexplained gender pay gap cleaned at least partially by effect of intra household specialization on wage. To estimate the unexplained gender pay gap, we use European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) data and apply the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition accompanied by matching procedure. The results show that to take intra-household specialization into account led to a decrease in the unexplained gender wage differences however wage differences between men and women persists. The unexplained gender pay gap, which could be due to wage discrimination against women reaches approximately 11 percent in Latvia and Lithuania. It is significantly higher in Estonia where it amounts about 21 percent to disadvantage of women.
The Czech interest in the Baltic countries, including Latvia, brought about the creation of the Czechoslovak-Latvian Society in 1925. The Society, in spite of being a sort of relic of the 19th century love for clubs and associations, was also a response to the new organization of Europe after World War I. The emergence of a number of independent countries in 1918, including Czechoslovakia and Latvia, made it possible to establish direct contacts between these two countries. Czechoslovak diplomacy was well aware of Latvia's strategic position in the Baltic Region because of its most advanced industry in that area. The possibility of close military contacts was also discussed. Czechoslovakia, in turn, appeared to be Latvia's useful ally in the heart of Europe due to its highly advanced economy, respectable level of education and abundant cultural life. Such contacts were also favored in view of Czechoslovakia's close alliance with the victorious Entente Powers, particularly with France, which is what Latvia also strived for. Therefore, the emergence of an association or club to develop non-political, purely cultural and social contacts between the two countries seems almost natural. The idea of Czechoslovak-Latvian Society was supported by a number of political and business groups, which helped its development. The Society was created on the initiative of Eduards Krasts, Latvia's consul in Prague, and helped develop cultural and economic relations between the two countries, particularly during the first decade of its existence. Then, its activities declined as a result of the political development in Latvia and of the aggravating international position of Czechoslovakia. The occupation of Bohemia and Moravia, the outbreak of World War II and the occupation of Latvia by the Soviet Army put an end to the Society's existence at the turn of the year 1940. In spite of its short life the Society could significantly contribute to the mutual understanding and relations between Czechoslovakia and Latvia.
This paper researches the size of volatility transmission from Brent oil market to six stock markets of Central and Eastern European countries, with a distinction between the short-term and long-term effect. We create the transitory and permanent parts of volatilities by using the component GARCH model with the optimal density function and inserted dummy variables. Created volatilities are subsequently embedded in the robust quantile regression framework. The results indicate that the transitory volatility shocks are higher than the permanent ones, which means that investors who operate in the short-term horizons need to be more careful for volatility spillovers from oil market than long-term investors. We find that Polish and Czech stock markets receive the strongest volatility impact from oil. On the other hand, Hungarian and Lithuanian stock markets suffer the lowest volatility effect, in both short and long terms, which favours combining these indices with oil. All the findings can be explained very well by the weight of industry sector in GDP and the net-import of oil. Results of weekly data serve as robustness check for the main findings.
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