The challenges of new rural technological possibilities in the 21st century resonate with agriculture. These represent, in particularly the improving availability of ICT infrastructure and the ...digitisation of socioeconomic processes. This paper focuses on exploring issues related to the potential change in the business behaviour of agricultural holdings and farmers following digitization and the use of ICT. The empirical research was carried out in the territory of the Local Action Group (LAS) Železnohorský region, which is a typical inner rural periphery with a strong agricultural base. The paper presents both the results of an exploratory survey and also develops a specific empirical model according to the improved Cobb-Douglas production function with specifics of the agrarian sector (i.e., including the role of agricultural subsidies and also the application of advanced ICT). The results in the selected rural micro-region showed that the process of digitisation has been very marginal in the models of functioning of the relevant agricultural entities. The current prevailing “techno-optimist approach” in EU strategic planning needs to be overcome by more intensive and comprehensive support for the digitisation process in rural peripheral areas. Particularly, this involves a necessary combination of support for investment in ICT infrastructure and new technologies with more intensive support for digital literacy and knowledge empowerment, which will enable more intensive exploitation of the potential and possibilities of digital technologies and virtual environments.
The paper describes the opportunity for using machine learning technologies (MLT) for estimating corruption by clustering. We used the enhanced BEEPS data (The Business Environment and Enterprise ...Performance Survey (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, 2014)). It contains 1672 variables and 59619 observations produced by well-respected agencies like Nielsen for the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development. The analysis of different indicators with the MLT allows us to cluster the countries by the types of potential corruption patterns. We suggested this method could overcome the shortcomings of the classical survey surveillance approach because we can estimate countries with some distortion or insufficiencies in the data (for example, when the business units may want to lie about the corruption due to some reasons). This gives us an additional measurement that can be used for analyzing the true corruption field. This can be useful for business units, scientific people, and policymakers for analyzing the patterns of corruption in different countries.
The objective of this paper is to analyse the impact on consumption and employment of state-level stay-at-home orders (SHO) in the USA at the state and county levels. Moreover, it answers the ...following research question: Can SHO have non-negative effects on consumption (heterogeneity across sectors) and some elements of employment (heterogeneity across wages and sectors)? The data contain proxy variables (high-frequency data on credit and debit card spending and job positions). This research utilises the data on the pandemic and public stay-at-home orders for all US states in 2020,applying the fixed effects (LSDV) difference-in-differences approach to answer the research question and obtain the empirical results. The overall findings indicate that the non-negative outcomes of stay-at-home orders on consumption, and some elements of employment, are possible. In addition, thisresearch justifies the possibility of applying depersonalised high-frequency data for economic analysis. Furthermore, the empirical evidence supports the hypothesis that SHO can be an economic factor influencing both consumption and employment. Thus, certain regions can pursue independent policiesto counter the pandemic and similar threats, while not fearing that such orders will necessarily affect the unemployment rate and citizens’ consumption (hence, fulfilling the precautions and measures that are suggested in the present paper).
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