Does Cultural Heritage Affect Job Satisfaction: The Divide between EU and Eastern Economies

The objective of this paper is to examine the factors influencing worker’s job satisfaction aside the conventional factors (personal background, individual labour market characteristics, organisational culture, and so on) and introduce the basic cultural values and beliefs, and then to put this into a comparative perspective for the South-East European (SEE) countries and for Macedonia, in particular. Cultural values have been grouped into traditional vs. secular-rational values and survival vs. self-expression values. The main result from the study is that cultural heritage exerts considerable effect on job satisfaction in SEE with some determinants – like the importance of work, religion and family – exerting stronger influence in SEE than in CEE and in Western Europe. The impact of cultural values on job satisfaction in Macedonia has been found to be only limited. Mainly the traditional cultural values have been found important, while only trust from the ‘survival’ group likely affects job satisfaction and likely with the effect being stronger than in the case of SEE, CEE and Western Europe

Does cultural heritage affect job satisfaction? The East-West divide

The objective of this paper is to examine the factors influencing workers’ job satisfaction aside from the conventional factors, in the light of basic cultural values and beliefs, and then to set this into a comparative perspective for three groups of countries: South-East European (SEE) countries, Central and Eastern European countries (CEE) and Western Europe. Cultural values are grouped into traditional vs. secular-rational values and survival vs. self-expression values. The main result of the study is that culture has a considerable effect on job satisfaction across all groups of countries under investigation. However, there are between-group differences in terms of the relative importance of specific cultural values for job satisfaction. We also find some evidence suggesting the persistency of cultures and slow-moving institutions

Increasing labour market activity of the poor and females: Let's make work pay in Macedonia

The objective of this paper is to simulate the effects of two alternative social policies - individual and family in-work benefits - on labour market choices in Macedonia, with special focus on the poor and females. To that end, we use ex-ante analysis relying on a combination of a tax and benefit micro-simulation model for Macedonia (MAKMOD) and a structural model for labour supply, both utilising the 2011 Survey of Income and Labour Conditions. Results suggest that the proposed reforms will have a considerable effect on the working choices of Macedonians. The family in-work benefit is found to be more effective for singles and would potentially increase employment by 6 percentage points. On the other hand, the individual in-work benefit works better for couples where employment would increase by 2.5 percentage points. In addition, the effects are found to be larger for the poor and for females, the categories that are most prone to inactivity in Macedonia

ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION FROM 400 KV TRANSMISSION LINE BITOLA 2 – MELITI

The main parts of the Macedonian transmission network are 400 kV transmission lines. They form the 400 kV ring consisting of three transmission lines that connect the largest energy consumption located in the northern part, with the largest production capacities located in the southwestern region. The electromagnetic field affects humans with a certain electromagnetic radiation, which we can freely say is a certain electro smog, i.e. electromagnetic pollution, with which we are constantly surrounded. What will be the biological response of the human organism exposed to electromagnetic waves, is conditioned by the energy that they carry with them and transfer to the cells, i.e. the human body. Field measurements were performed, using the 3D EMF TESTER instrument and results were obtained and analyzed

Factors Influencing the Earnings Expectations among Macedonian Students: A Comparative Perspective with the EU Students

The aim of this paper is to assess the earnings expectations of Macedonian students and the main factors that shape their expectations. Previous research has shown that earnings expectation is a major determinant that influences a decision on schooling (Williams and Gordon, 1981; Betts, 1996; Wolter and Zbinden, 2001). Given that the main pathway to developing individual human capital is schooling, learning about factors that affect individual’s decision on whether to acquire more education can contribute towards better educational policy. We employ similar empirical approach as Brunello et al. (2001, 2004). We use available information to regress: i) expected future earnings right after university graduation and ii) expected future earnings 10 years after graduation, on a set of variables: characteristics of the individual, socio-economic background, field of study, year of study, academic performance, sources of information for future earnings, etc. Our findings show that expected earnings are significantly correlated with the education of the father, year of study, sources of information on earnings in the labor market, gender, ethnicity, having a regular job during studies, perceived employability, field of study, and the country of future employment. In other words, Macedonian students form their earnings expectations in a similar vein as their European counterparts

STVARNE PLAĆE U PROIZVODNOJ INDUSTRIJI U MAKEDONIJI: ULOGA MAKROEKONOMSKIH FAKTORA S OSVRTOM NA RECESIJSKA VREMENA

In this paper we analyze the determinants of real wages in Macedonia’s manufacturing sector. We emphasize the macroeconomic aspects involved, and use econometric panel data techniques to model the behaviour of real wages for the period 2005-2010, using monthly data. We find non-negligible persistence of real wages. We further find a role for overall unemployment, real exchange rate and the tariff index in determining real wages.Ovaj rad analizira odrednice stvarnih plaća u makedonskom proizvodnom sektoru. Naglasak se stavlja na povezane makroekonomske aspekte te se koriste tehnike ekonometrijskih panelnih podataka kako bi se modeliralo ponašanje stvarnih plaća za period od 2005-2010, koristeći mjesečne podatke. Pronašli smo nezanemarivu dosljednost stvarnih plaća. Nadalje objašnjavamo ulogu ukupne nezaposlenosti, realnog tečaja i tarifnog indeksa u određivanju stvarnih plaća

THE CORRELATION BETWEEN EDUCATION AND HUMAN CAPITAL AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE CREATION OF A KNOWLEDGE-BASED ECONOMY

Education and scientific research are the main channels through which human capital and knowledge are generated. Human capital and knowledge are thus the basic determinants of economic growth and development in modern knowledgebased economies and are recognized as the key factor inputs which increase the assets of the entire economy. Nowadays, world economies are rapidly restructuring to be knowledge-based, and investment in human capital is a significant contributor to the economic growth. Competitiveness between knowledge-based economies conditions that comparative advantage of any economy be the cumulative human capital, knowledge and innovation. This paper, using the scientific methods of historical comparative analysis, trend linear analysis and the method of induction and deduction, explores the transmission channels of the impact of education on economic growth and development in N. Macedonia, draws comparisons with countries in the region and proposes measures for improvement

Breaking Up the Vicious Cycle of Poverty: How Can the School Performance of Children from Low-Income Households in Macedonia Be Improved?

The aim of the study is to examine the factors that affect educational achievements of children from low-income households in Macedonia. In addition, we compare the two distinctive social programs that provide assistance for children from poor households in the country. Our empirical strategy is based on the education production function, which is estimated using the ordinary least squares (OLS) and ordered probit approach. We regress an indicator for educational achievement on three groups of factors: i) individual characteristics; ii) household characteristics; and iii) school-related characteristics/variables. The findings suggest that all three sets of factors are significantly related with the school performance of young individuals. Individual- and family-related factors are more important than the school climate, although this finding may be related to the availability (and hence, the choice) of the school-related variables. Gender, father’s education, and ethnicity were found to be significantly related to the educational achievement of students. Among the family factors, we find that the number of rooms at home and household consumption are positively related to school performance. On the other hand, household size, conditional cash transfers (CCTs) acceptance and the measures of parental involvement are negatively related to achievement. We find that only one measure of school context, the average grade in school, is significant