Article investigates the issue of terms of trade in energy products. The goal of this paper is to check how the terms of trade in energy fluctuate. The analysis is carried out on the example of Poland as a country which offers an interesting energy imports and exports structure. The time horizon covers the period from 2005–2015 and is extended to give the broader picture of the phenomenon wherever possible. In the research, the author uses the barter terms of trade concept. The paper has been organized in four sections. The study opens with introductory remarks presenting Polish energy situation, which is followed by a description of the terms of trade concept on the grounds of international economics. The results of the research are discussed in section three which ends with a summary and conclusions. The last part includes an additional description of study constraints and suggestions the next research steps. The statistical data used in the paper comes from national databases of the Polish Central Statistical Office and international sources such as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Additional information on energy prices was derived from recognized branch sources such as BP Statistical Review of World Energy.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the welfare consequences of the processes of liberalisation of trade between asymmetric states in terms of the various size sand effectiveness of their economies and the type of international exchange. These characteristics ultimately define the distribution of benefits from the liberalisation of international trade. When it is inter-industry or vertical intra-industry and barriers in trade are smaller than the difference in the effectiveness of the economies, the trade liberalisation undoubtedly contributes to improved social welfare, regardless of the level of effectiveness and the size of the economy. In the situation, however, of horizontal intra-industry trade, changes in the welfares of asymmetric countries, caused by their progressing trade liberalisation, depend on the sizes and effectiveness of their economies. The welfare of society in either a very big and ineffective or in a small and very ineffective country could even decrease in such a situation. This is the case when the increase in consumers’ surplus is not sufficient to compensate for the decreasing profits of firms.

The article analyzes trends in steam coal flows (exports and imports) linked to production and consumption volumes. The analysis carried out in the article took the years from 2000 to 2019 into consideration. Coal is the second most important energy carrier. Its share in the structure of global consumption amounts to 27% and its production has an upward trend despite its decreasing share. The overall global upward trend of steam coal flows was disrupted twice over the period 2000–2019: by the effects of the 2007–2009 global financial crisis and the ongoing uncertainty of the global economy, as well as by the significant slowdown in the economic growth of developing countries (2014–2016). The European Union has seen large decreases in coal consumption over recent years, reflecting an accelerating decarbonization policy. The main area of coal trade is the Asia-Pacific basin. The Atlantic market currently accounts for about 20% of global steam coal trade, with seaborne trade covering about 95%. The volume of world trade (exports, imports) in steam coal is approximately one billion (bn) tons per year. The analysis carried out showed the following trend: decreasing coal exports to economically developed countries (mainly concentrated in Europe) and increasing exports to economies of developing countries, concentrated in the Asian part of the world. International Energy Agency (IE A) projections show that by 2040 the global coal production will fall from 5.6bn tons of coal equivalent (3.9bn tons of oil equivalent in 2019) to 5bn tce (3.5bn toe) at an average annual rate of –1.1%. Steam coal production is expected to decline by 10% to 4bn tce (2.8bn toe). Due to the fact that China is the largest producer, user and importer of steam coal in the world, all economic and political decisions taken by its government have strongly influenced international coal trade for years. For the Asia-Pacific basin alone, the IE A’s long-term forecasts predict an increase in coal-fired power generation over 2019. Forecasts regarding the coal’s share in global demand are not optimistic for many regions of the world (Europe, Africa, the Americas), predicting a significant decline in its demand. Yet, new markets for coal are emerging, especially in Asia and the Mediterranean basin, which may contribute to maintaining at least the current level of coal trade.

A significant part of hard coal production (15–19% in the years 2010–2017, i.e. 1.0–1.3 billion

tons per year) is traded on the international market. The majority of coal trade takes place by sea,

accounting for 91–94% of the total coal trade. The article discusses the share of coal in international

seaborne trade and the largest coal ports. Coal is one the five major bulk commodities (in addition

to iron ore, grain, bauxite, alumina, and phosphate rock). In the years 2010–2016, the share of coal

in international seaborne trade and major bulk commodities was 36–41% and 11–12%, respectively.

Based on the analysis of coal throughput in different ports worldwide, the ports with the

largest throughput include the ports of Qinhuangdao (China), Newcastle (Australia), and Richards

Bay (South Africa). For 2013–2017, their throughput amounted to a total of 411–476 million tons

of coal. The largest coal exporting countries were: Australia, Indonesia, Russia, Colombia, South

Africa, and the US (a total of 85% share in global coal exports), while the largest importers are

Asian countries: China, India, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan (a 64% share in global imports). In

Europe, Germany is the largest importer of coal (54 million tons imported in 2016). The article also

discusses the freight costs and the bulk carrier fleet. Taking the price of coal at the recipient’s (i.e.

at the importer’s port) into account, the share of freight costs in the CIF price of steam coal (the

price of a good delivered at the frontier of the importing country) was at the level of 10–14%. In

the years 2010–2016, the share of bulk carriers in the world fleet was in the range of 11–15%. In

terms of tonnage, bulk carriers accounted for 31–35% of the total tonnage of all types of ships in

the world. The share of new (1–4 years) bulk carriers in the total number of ships on a global scale

in the years 2010–2016 was 29–46%.

Poland’s economy is closely connected with European markets, particularly within the European Union: almost 90% of Polish commodity export goes to European countries and 80% is absorbed by other EU countries. The common European market is absorptive, safe and stabile, and goods and services sold there are duty free. But the high concentration of exports in this market implies a strong dependence on the modest growth dynamics and local fluctuations of demand, while reducing the gains that could be obtained from the presence in emerging markets which include several large and rapidly growing developing economies. The paper gives a general characteristics of those markets, including the information on their economic and population potential, and their place in the world economy – at present and in the future (according to current statistical data and long-run forecasts). The statistics of Polish foreign trade indicates a very small share of emerging countries in the geographical structure of Poland’s exports. The author describes the chances and threats combined with export expansion to these markets, emphasizing that the net balance of benefits and risks is clearly positive, which should encourage Polish enterprises to take a more active part in trade and cooperation with those countries and regions.

This paper presents data on the management of dimension stones in Poland in the period 2011– –2021. The domestic production of rocks suitable for the production of slabs, pitcher and curbs, etc. is estimated and the major varieties of rocks utilized for these purposes are indicated. Data on raw and processed products with regard to imports and exports are presented for crude and roughly worked blocks and slabs, worked dimension stones as well as pitcher, curbs and other road stones. In the first two groups, data is reported separately for:
- marbles, limestones and other carbonate rocks,
- granites,
- sandstones (distinguished as separate category in crude blocks and slabs group),
- other rocks.
Data on the volume of production, imports and exports is utilized for the calculation of the apparent consumption of dimension stone in Poland. The conducted analyses revealed that its volume has been ranging from 1.4 to 1.9 million tons/year in 2013–2021 with the exception of the years 2011–2012 when it reached ca. 2.7 million tons/year. The most important group of rocks utilized in Poland as dimension stones are granites. These originated primarily from domestic deposits but they are also imported from various directions, primarily from the Republic of South Africa and India (crude blocks and slabs), China (worked dimension stones) as well as from Sweden and Norway in 2011–2012 (significant amounts of hydrotechnical stones). A nother significant group of rocks utilized in Poland as dimension stones are sandstones (with a share of imports in total domestic consumption not exceeding 1%) while marbles, limestones and other carbonate rocks are of marginal importance (primarily imported in the form of worked dimension stones from China, the Czech Republic, Italy and Turkey).

The first record of an oriental, alien aphid species belonging to the genus Takecallis, associated with the cold hardy bamboo Fargesia rufa T.P.Yi, collected in Słupsk, Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland, is provided. The increase in worldwide trade of new frost-resistant ornamental bamboo varieties as a source of introducing alien species of insects in Europe and the role of garden centers as potential dispersal sites for these species is discussed.

Approximately 95% of international trade in steam coal is concentrated in two areas: Asia-Pacific and Atlantic. Prices on the international market depend on the largest exporters and users of coal. The aim of the article is to characterize the price trends that took place in the international trade of energy coal in the years 2000–2020 and to distinguish price indices which, in the opinion of the authors, currently play an important role in this trade. The analysis of steam coal prices in international markets in 2000–2020 made it possible to highlight five periods of rising prices, four periods of falling prices, and one period of the stabilisation of prices. A detailed analysis of the highlighted periods of steam coal price fluctuations in 2000–2020 made it possible to identify groups of factors that significantly affect the level of prices of the analyzed coal in the long term. International steam coal markets are interlinked despite periodic volatility. A very important factor influencing world steam coal prices is the situation in China as it is the largest producer, user and importer of steam coal. A small change in coal production in China significantly affects the volume of trade on the international market. Therefore, the level of freight prices is an important factor influencing the price level for the customer. FOB Australia prices are also correlated with coal suppliers to the European market and Asia-Pacific market in this paper. The very high correlation coefficients obtained confirm the close relationship between the prices of these coals. For many years, the European market has no longer been a trendsetter in international coal markets but has instead been affected by general trends.

The aim of this article is to provide an overview of other alternative directions of coal supply to Poland following the February 2022 embargo on coal imports from Russia. Due to the dominant role of steam coal in imports to Poland, the authors focused on this type of coal. Analysis of the share of Russian steam coal imported into Poland in domestic consumption and production suggests that this commodity has played a relatively important role in the Polish market. In 2010–2021, between 4.8 and 12.9 million tonnes were imported annually from Russia to Poland, accounting for 8–25% of domestic steam-coal consumption. In 2018–2021, steam coal imported into Poland accounted for 22–29% of the volume of coal shipped by Russia to all EU -27 countries. In order to fill the gap left by Russian coal, this article considers alternative routes of coal supply to Poland, namely from Australia, Indonesia, Colombia, South Africa and the US, and presents the qualitative characteristics of the coal offered by these alternative routes of coal supply and traded on the international market. Between 2010 and 2021, steam-coal-price offers from these countries followed a consistent trend, with the difference between the minimum and maximum offer ranging from USD 5–32/tonne. As the steam coal supply of each of the analyzed routes of supply is fraught with some risk, the authors have also identified in the article those directions that may present some difficulties. It was found that coal offerings from Australia, South Africa, Indonesia and Colombia have low sulphur content (less than 1%), while coals from Australia and South Africa have relatively high ash content (from 12% to nearly 25%). Towards the end, the article also addresses issues related to the transport of coal to Poland and its dispatching within the country. As the analyzed alternative directions of coal imports involve importing this commodity by sea, the authors also analyzed the reloading capacity of Polish seaports and the rail transport fleet.

The article has presented the assumptions underlying the organization of emissions trading of greenhouse gases with a particular emphasis on CO2 emission allowances. Through the analysis of the literature, international activities were undertaken aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, starting from the First World Climate Conference organized in 1979. The origins and guidelines of the Kyoto Protocol were also given considerable attention. In addition to the description of the key assumptions of the Protocol and its main components, the characteristics of international trade in Kyoto units were also included. The mechanisms involved in international trade and the types of units traded in a detailed manner are described. In the next part of the article, emission trading systems operating in the world are characterized. In the second part of the paper special attention was paid to the conditionings of the European market, i.e. European Emissions Trading System – EU ETS. Historical events were presented that gave rise to the creation of the EU ETS. In the next steps, the types of units that are tradable were described. Furthermore, the trade commodity exchanges on which trade is conducted, the key factors determining the price of individual allowances are also indicated. In the last part of the article, relatively recent issues – the IED Directive and the BAT conclusions have been pointed out. Referring to the applicable regulations, the impact of their implementation on the situation of entities obliged to limit greenhouse gas emissions was analyzed. In the final phase, an attempt was made to assess the impact of IED and BAT to electricity prices.

In this study, effects of political stability, economic freedom and trade freedom of above-stated Fragile Five Countries consisting of Brazil, Indonesia,India, Turkey, and South Africa on the performance of FDI appeal was analyzed with first generation panel data analysis method for the 1996-2017 period. The cointegration analysis between series was conducted by means of Kao (1999) and Pedroni (2004) test. The analyses showed that political stability and trade freedom have a significant positive coefficient on the Fragile Five Countries’FDI. It was also determined that the impact of economic freedom on FDI was statistically insignificant. Thus, it was concluded that the most important determinant of FDI entry into countries is political stability. Error correction mechanisms of models have been working well. In addition, it was found that political stability, economic freedom, and trade freedom are the cause of foreign direct investment in the long-run.

The lithium market has experienced an unprecedented boom in recent years like a “golden age” and is one of the fastest growing raw material markets in the world. The fast growing demand for lithium is mainly related to the increase in the production of lithium-ion batteries used in electric or hybrid vehicles and portable electronic equipment, and to a lesser extent, in other strategic fields (military, nuclear technologies). This was reflected in a significant change in the structure of consumption, an increase in international trade and in the price of lithium raw materials. Moreover, in 2018 lithium was listed as a critical element for the national security and economy of the United States, and in 2020 it was also listed as a critical raw material for the European Union economy. It is also a time of increased exploration for new deposits, as well as mining processing and recycling. As a result, global lithium reserves have doubled in the last six years. All this prompted the authors to prepare an article in which the sources of lithium minerals and their resources, the basic factors determining the economic situation on the market, their prices and the possibilities of recycling and substitution are presented and assessed. Attention is also paid to the role of companies operating in Poland as significant partners on the European market of lithium-ion batteries. Lithium oxide and hydroxide and lithium carbonate are the main lithium raw materials used in Poland. In the absence of the country having its own deposits, they are imported, and the main suppliers are Chile, Western European countries and Russia.

Mineral-resource mining is a pillar of many state economies and, in many cases, it determines the welfare of the society. The mining of mineral resources provides the market with the raw materials that are traded and drives the economic and social development of countries, although it can also be a source of tensions and crises (e.g. the “curse of wealth”, “Dutch disease”). The trade of raw materials is conducted by exchanges, bilateral deals and other forms of transactions, and is regulated by trade regulations and contract agreements, and in most cases, constitutes a source of income for exporters. In this paper, the use of game-theory modelling for creating the selling price of mineral products on the basis of Polish export quotas for refined copper raw materials is proposed. Using a characteristic function created on the basis of reported export values, possible cooperation arrangements are defined and solutions are calculated for an n-person game of hypothetical coalitions of the major (in terms of volume) recipients of refined Polish copper, i.e. Germany, Italy and France. Alternative markets and possible supplies of cheaper raw material are excluded from the analyses, while the price spread between the rates paid by the buyers is taken into consideration. Among the many possibilities, the game core, the Shapley imputation and the Gately point are arbitrarily adopted as permissible solutions to the defined system. The obtained results are used for a speculative analysis relating to the possibility of renegotiating prices between the producer and recipients of the raw material. Marginal contributions resulting from Shapley’s solution are taken into account as is the power of individual trading-participant coalitions. The paper demonstrates that the recognition and adoption of solutions based on the n-personnel game model as impartial would require the redefinition of contracts and the rates paid for the raw material.

On fifth-generation wireless networks, a potential massive MIMO system is used to meet the ever-increasing request for high-traffic data rates, high-resolution streaming media, and cognitive communication. In order to boost the trade-off between energy efficiency (EE), spectral efficiency (SE), and throughput in wireless 5G networks, massive MIMO systems are essential. This paper proposes a strategy for EE 5G optimization utilizing massive MIMO technology. The massive MIMO system architecture would enhance the trade-off between throughput and EE at the optimum number of working antennas. Moreover, the EE-SE tradeoff is adjusted for downlink and uplink massive MIMO systems employing linear precoding techniques such as Multiple -Minimum Mean Square Error (M-MMSE), Regularized Zero Forcing (RZF), Zero Forcing (ZF), and Maximum Ratio (MR). Throughput is increased by adding more antennas at the optimum EE, according to the analysis of simulation findings. Next, utilizing M MMSE instead of RZF and ZF, the suggested trading strategy is enhanced and optimized. The results indicate that M-MMSE provides the best tradeoff between EE and throughput at the determined optimal ratio between active antennas and active users equipment’s (UE).

The Ways of the Diaspora in the narrative of Claudio Magris – One of the themes in the works of Claudio Magris is that of the frontiers between nations which have been divided by arbitrary political decisions. This is the case with Central Europe, which forms a sort of transnational melting pot and which has hosted the Hebrew Diaspora. The theme of the Diaspora plays a key role in many of Magris books, in particular Lontano da dove. In his recent novel, Non luogo a procedere, one of the topics is the slave trade, a sort of African Diaspora.

Cash is one of the most critical resources of a construction company that determines survival. Cash-flow management is essential for contractors, as lack of cash resources is one of the leading causes of bankruptcy in the construction industry, compared to most other sectors. The purpose of this paper is to identify factors affecting time and cost trade-off in multiple construction projects in Iraq. After reviewing a wide range of literature to determine the most common elements, a questionnaire is distributed to owners, consultants, supervising engineers, and contractors engaged in construction projects. The results of the questionnaire were analyzed using the relative importance index, arithmetic mean and standard deviation. The respondents namely assured Seventeen most essential factors; payments delay from client, progress payment due period, payment conditions, advanced payment, project delay, inaccurate project scheduling, variation orders, project duration, inaccurate project duration, profit, risk margin, project cost, cash flow forecasts, retentions percentage, estimating errors, materials cost, equipment cost, and labour cost.

Most favoured nation (MFN) treatment and national treatment (NT) are two standards usually related to the general principle of non-discrimination. However, while the MFN treatment was undoubtedly and clearly defined already during the negotiation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in previous works and judgements of various international bodies, the NT standard needed to be clarified. An additional reason to concentrate on NT rules is that their content and scope may influence trade more than the scope of MFN granted. The concept of NT is also subject to relatively rare analysis in comparison with other aspects of regional trade agreements’ (RTA) rules which overlap with WTO law. The aim of this article is to analyse the scope and wording of the NT standard in various RTAs concluded by the European Union. In particular, it inquiries into the extent to which the NT clause remains universal across its different regional trade agreements, and examines the reasons (and consequences) for the differences, if any, in its formulation.

This article aims to investigate the phenomenon of the rule of law promotion exercised by the EU through the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements (DCFTAs). First, the article emphasizes the unique combination of normative and market power the EU uses to diffuse its norms through trade liberalization. Next, it provides an insight into the particularities of the European Neighbourhood Policy as a policy context for the conclusion and implementation of the Association Agreements, including the DCFTAs with Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, as well as the conceptual problematic and scope of the rule of law as a value the EU seeks to externalize. Using the DCFTAs with Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia) as a single group case study of the transparency dimension of the rule of law, the central part of the article analyzes the DCFTAs substantive requirements, directed toward promoting transparency in the partner states (while categorizing the requirements into the most general ones; cooperation-related; and discipline-specific) and the legal mechanisms that make these clauses operational (e.g., the institutional framework of the AAs, gradual approximation and monitoring clauses, and the Dispute Settlement Mechanism). In concluding, the article summarizes the state-of-the-art of the rule of law promotion through the DCFTAs, distinguishes the major challenges the respective phenomenon faces, and emphasizes the prospects for and difficulties of using the DCFTAs as an instrument of rule of law promotion.

A project scheduling problem investigates a set of activities that have to be scheduled

due to precedence priority and resource constraints in order to optimize project-related

objective functions. This paper focuses on the multi-mode project scheduling problem concerning

resource constraints (MRCPSP). Resource allocation and leveling, renewable and

non-renewable resources, and time-cost trade-off are some essential characteristics which are

considered in the proposed multi-objective scheduling problem. In this paper, a novel hybrid

algorithm is proposed based on non-dominated sorting ant colony optimization and genetic

algorithm (NSACO-GA). It uses the genetic algorithm as a local search strategy in order to

improve the efficiency of the ant colony algorithm. The test problems are generated based on

the project scheduling problem library (PSPLIB) to compare the efficiency of the proposed

algorithm with the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II). The numerical result

verifies the efficiency of the proposed hybrid algorithm in comparison to the NSGA-II

algorithm.

The objective of the milk-run design problem considered in this paper is to minimize transportation

and inventory costs by manipulating fleet size and the capacity of vehicles and

storage areas. Just as in the case of an inventory routing problem, the goal is to find a periodic

distribution policy with a plan on whom to serve, and how much to deliver by what

fleet of tugger trains travelling regularly on which routes. This problem boils down to determining

the trade-off between fleet size and storage capacity, i.e. the size of replenishment

batches that can minimize fleet size and storage capacity. A solution obtained in the declarative

model of the milk-run system under discussion allows to determine the routes for each

tugger train and the associated delivery times. In this context, the main contribution of

the present study is the identification of the relationship between takt time and the size

of replenishment batches, which allows to determine the delivery time windows for milkrun

delivery and, ultimately, the positioning of trade-off points. The results show that this

relationship is non-linear.

As far as the Polish People’s Republic (PRL) and the communist years are concerned, support from professional organizations, society members, authorities and Polish emigration in Sweden to the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union (NSZZ) Solidarity (“Solidarność”) and democratic opposition took a number of forms. Before the first independent trade union was established, activists of the Swedish Social Democratic Labour Party had supported the creation of such structures in the Polish People’s Republic (PRL). Furthermore, the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (Landsorganisationen and Sverige – LO), whose members were mainly social democrats, already during the 1980 strikes got in touch with the structures organizing public speeches of Polish workers. Consequently, the Swedish party supported striking workers on an international arena. This help was provided among others by Olof Palme, chairman of the Swedish Social Democratic Labour Party, as well as in the form of financial assistance for organizational purposes and the purchase of printing machines. When martial law was imposed in the Polish People’s Republic and Solidarity together with other opposition groups were declared illegal, Social Democratic and other Swedish trade unions supported the Polish underground democratic opposition in a number of ways. Money and gifts were collected and sent to PRL, and numerous propaganda and information activities were undertaken in Scandinavia, Europe and all over the world. Apart from the assistance provided by the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO), support from the Swedish officials and Swedish society was of profound importance to the opposition groups established in the Polish People’s Republic. After martial law had been imposed in PRL, minister Ole Ullsten together with Danish and Norwegian ministers of foreign affairs unanimously criticized restricting civil liberties in the Polish People’s Republic as well as detaining (arresting) of Solidarity leaders and activists. Strong support for the then illegal structures of Solidarity and Polish people was offered by Swedish non-governmental and charity organizations such as the Swedish Red Cross, organization “Save the Children”, Lutheran Help, Free Evangelic Church and Individual Relief. Attention should also be paid to help provided by Swedish people and Swedish educational institutions. Special emphasis should also be placed on support that the democratic opposition groups in the Polish People’s Republic received from their compatriots in Sweden. Two organizations, namely Polish Emigration Council (RUP), consisting of 16 pro-independence organizations, and Polish Emigration Federation (FUP), coordinated aid programmes launched in Sweden to give a hand to Solidarity and the democratic opposition. Last but not least, one mustn’t neglect support from Denmark-based Scandinavian Committee for Independent Poland headed by professor Eugeniusz S. Kruszewski. By the time it was transformed into Polish-Scandinavian Institute in December 1984, the aforementioned Committee had been leading a propaganda campaign, among other things in Sweden, to provide reliable information about political goings-on, the persecuted oppositionists, steps taken by the communist regime and actions taken internationally to help Polish people.

The aim of the article to assess the functioning of the NewConnect market over 10 years from the organizer’s and participants’ perspective. This helps to diagnose the most important organizational advantages and problems of the Polish MTF, determine further development prospects and propose potential changes to neutralize the negative factors. To illustrate the problem, a comprehensive analysis will be made of aggregated statistical data from 2007–2017, which show the changes and trends on this market, and additionally include the data comparing the current state of the NewConnect market with other alternative markets organized by European stock exchanges.

The conducted research does not allow to view the NewConnect market as an organizational success. The analysis identified a number of problems in the functioning of the Polish MTF, ranging from the inappropriate organization of the primary market, resulting in the admittance of too high a number of issuers of dubious credibility, to the consequences appearing on the secondary shares market. It does not give unambiguous grounds to expect positive prospects for the market development in the future. In order to stop unfavorable trends and to improve the issuers’ quality, a discussion on the regulations regarding issuers’ admission, i.e. the size of the minimum equity, IPO, capitalization and the issue price of the debuting company, should be initiated.

This paper investigates the relationship between energy use and economic development in five South-Asian countries using national-level panel data from 1990 to 2014. Although many studies have already addressed the nexus between energy consumption and economic growth, there is a mixed finding. According to many researchers, South Asian countries have expanded energy consumption since the 1990s. Therefore, energy consumption as a variable for a specific period is considered for the countries of Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Furthermore, foreign direct investment (FDI) and international trade (IT) are also considered to be related variables in this study. Pooled ordinary least squares, random effects, and fixed effects estimation techniques are used to provide a reliable estimation, offsetting the country fixed effects. The fixed effect model is the most effective model that reveals the association between electricity usage and growth factors, as per the specification test and Hausman test. A statistically significant correlation was found between international trade, FDI, economic growth, and power usage. FDI has the highest impact on the rising power demand, followed by global commerce and per capita GDP (gross domestic product). More specifically, the study findings reveal that increased power consumption causes more investment, which results in increased economic growth in South Asian countries. The findings of the study further show that FDI significantly impacted upon power consumption and the area of SAARC’s energy demand, resulting in the entry of new technology and an increase in both economic growth and energy consumption. Future policies may focus on investment in the energy sector to promote economic development.

Whilst the extant scholarship offers a detailed exploration of why return migrants enter self-employment or engage in business initiatives in general, we know relatively little about their involvement in transnational economic activities which connect the previous destination coun-try with the origin one and how they compare to other kinds of entrepreneurial venture in this vein. This article aims to understand these motivations by using insights from 50 semi-structured interviews conducted with traders of used cars imported in Romania, a mass phe-nomenon in the Central and Eastern European area and beyond. An important result of this research is that entrepreneurs have to consider a multitude of factors in multiple locations when entering the used-car business. The article also suggests that entrepreneurial motivations among used-car traders are not fixed but, rather, can and do change over time.