SMALL FARMS IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE: IS THERE A FUTURE FOR THEM?

Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Land Economics/Use,

Economics of the new member states: A post-crisis perspective

This essay addresses four major issues confronting the Central and Eastern European new members of the European Union in the decade to come. First: what to think of the financial meltdown of 2008-2009. Second, what have they learned from the tremors, having shaken the previous star performers of the EU? Third we ask if we can expect a return to ‘normalcy' as forecast by most models of financial rating agencies and international financial institutions? Fourth the question is raised what did the new members benefit from their EU membership? Some conclusions on the future of EU reforms and policies close the overview

First occurrence of the eel parasite Paraquimperia tenerrima in lake Balaton, Hungary

The parasite fauna of the eel has been studied regularly since the first imported eels were introduced to Lake Balaton in 1963. Over a long period of time no important parasitic infections were recorded. However, the importance of nematode infections has increased since 1991, when the pathogenic nematode Anguillicola crassus was first detected and intensive eel mortalities started to occur. This paper reports on the first occurrence of Paraquimperia tenerrima, a small nematode infecting the gut of the eel. Paraquimperia tenerrima is a common parasite in rivers of several European countries. Due to the small size and the low prevalence of the worm its pathogenic effect upon eels seems to be negligible in Lake Balaton

Az élhetőbb Magyarország esélye

A tanulmány azt a kérdést vizsgálja, hogy társadalmi értelemben mennyire volt sikeres Magyarország átalakulása az elmúlt két évtizedben. Megállapítja, hogy a gazdasági siker és a társadalmi deficit kettőssége mellett az első másfél évtized tartalékai kifulladóban vannak. Az uniós tagság csak esélyt, de nem biztosítékot jelent az új szakasz véghezvitelére. 2007-ben egészen más kihívások előtt áll az ország, mint 1995-ben állt. Ebből is adódóan ezúttal a fenntartható növekedés és az eddigieknél eredményesebb társadalompolitika kettősére, illetőleg a mindezt megalapozó irányok fölvázolására teszünk kísérletet

Small derived quotients in finite p-groups

More than 70 years ago, P. Hall showed that if $G$ is a finite $p$-group such that a term \der G{d+1} of the derived series is non-trivial, then the order of the quotient \der Gd/\der G{d+1} is at least $p^{2^d+1}$. Recently Mann proved that, in a finite $p$-group, Hall's lower bound can be taken for at most two distinct $d$. We improve this result and show that if $p$ is odd, then it can only be taken for two distinct $d$ in a group with order $p^6$.Comment: Two related papers have been submitted. The material have been reorganised for Versions 2 and results migrated between paper

The alaas: the interplay between environment and Sakhas in Central-Yakutia

Alaases, thermokarst depressions formed in the permafrost environment of Yakutia (north-eastern Siberia) provide fertile hayfields for the Sakha cattle economy. At this northern latitude, cattle breeding is in particular demand of nutritious fodder, because cows spend an average of nine months in winter-stables. Therefore, alaases are in the focus of Sakha environmental perception. Sakhas not only dwell at alaases, but through their economic activities, they modify and maintain them as well. This process is based on control and domination rather than on procurement of the environment. Villagers in Tobuluk (central Yakutia) consider the areas surrounding their village as controlled islands of alaases (hayfields) in a sea of uncontrolled forest. In this paper, I examine Sakha environmental perception in which landscapes and cardinal directions evoke and define each other and characterise those who reside there. Due to the subsequent transformations of Sakha economy and lifestyle by the Soviet and Russian state administration in the last 100 years (collectivisation, centralisation, and decollectivisation), the way Sakhas interact with their surroundings has transformed radically within the past four generations, causing profound differences in the way generations relate to, interact with, and understand alaases

Social change in Central and Eastern Europe: General trends and national patterns

The paper addresses five issue areas. First it describes the plurality of trajectories in central and eastern European transformations, offering a broad typology. Then it addresses the drift between acceptance of democracy and the market, owing to growing inequalities. Third, problems of poverty and exclusion are addressed. Fourth, it is addressed if any known model of redistribution emerged in the post-transition economies. Fifth, consequences of the populist turn in European policies are being analyzed. Influences of the EU practices will be dealt with and some preliminary conclusions drawn. These suggest a strong intertwining between social and economic performance that limit theoretically conceivable – neoliberal, social democratic, postmodern or conservative - policy choices

Lazy orbits: an optimization problem on the sphere

Non-transitive subgroups of the orthogonal group play an important role in the non-Euclidean geometry. If $G$ is a closed subgroup in the orthogonal group such that the orbit of a single Euclidean unit vector does not cover the (Euclidean) unit sphere centered at the origin then there always exists a non-Euclidean Minkowski functional such that the elements of $G$ preserve the Minkowskian length of vectors. In other words the Minkowski geometry is an alternative of the Euclidean geometry for the subgroup $G$. It is rich of isometries if $G$ is "close enough" to the orthogonal group or at least to one of its transitive subgroups. The measure of non-transitivity is related to the Hausdorff distances of the orbits under the elements of $G$ to the Euclidean sphere. Its maximum/minimum belongs to the so-called lazy/busy orbits, i.e. they are the solutions of an optimization problem on the Euclidean sphere. The extremal distances allow us to characterize the reducible/irreducible subgroups. We also formulate an upper and a lower bound for the ratio of the extremal distances. As another application of the analytic tools we introduce the rank of a closed non-transitive group $G$. We shall see that if $G$ is of maximal rank then it is finite or reducible. Since the reducible and the finite subgroups form two natural prototypes of non-transitive subgroups, the rank seems to be a fundamental notion in their characterization. Closed, non-transitive groups of rank $n-1$ will be also characterized. Using the general results we classify all their possible types in lower dimensional cases $n=2, 3$ and $4$. Finally we present some applications of the results to the holonomy group of a metric linear connection on a connected Riemannian manifold