Browsing by Author "Čižo, Edmunds"

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    Assessing the transport development of the European Union countries
    (2022-12-01) Balodis, Janis; Komarova, Vera; Čižo, Edmunds; Ruza, Oksana; Kokarevica, Anita; Rīga Stradiņš University
    In their previous publication, the authors proposed to assess the transport development of any territory (but mainly the territories of the world’s countries) according to the following three components: transportization level of a territory, transport internationalization level of a territory and quality of transport in a territory. The authors assessed three components of the transport development of a territory each separately, including them in further empirical analysis. In the course of the authors’ empirical research, it became necessary to improve the methodology for assessing the transport development of a territory. The purpose of this study is to develop a single tool for measuring the transport development of a territory – an index – and to test it on the example of the European Union countries. Methods used in the study: monographic method, logical analysis and synthesis of the conceptual essence of the phenomenon ‘transport development of a territory’, index method – a quantitative technique for assessing the transport development of a territory based on the minimum and maximum values. The information base of the study is the data of the Global Competitiveness Report, as well as data from GlobalEconomy.com and the World Factbook for the EU countries. As a result of the study, the authors developed a new Territory Transport Development Index (TTDI), which includes not three, but four components: transportization level of a territory, transport internationalization level of a territory, quality of the transport infrastructure in a territory, efficiency of the transport services in a territory. These four components of the Index developed by the authors differ from the previously proposed components of the transport development of a territory. This difference is determined by the results of study carried out by researchers of the Riga Technical University (RTU), which confirm the importance of transport infrastructure in the use of a territory’s resources, as well as the results of other comparative studies on the transport infrastructure of the EU countries. Thus, the third component (quality of transport in a territory) was divided into two separate components: quality of the transport infrastructure in a territory and efficiency of the transport services in a territory, including additional indicators in the first of them. The authors tested the new Index by assessing the European Union countries and comparing them both in general transport development and separately in its different aspects
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    Changes in wealth inequality in the modern European-American civilization
    (2023) Čižo, Edmunds; Mietule, Iveta; Kokarevica, Anita; Ostrovska, Inta; Komarova, Vera; Department of Public Health and Epidemiology
    This article aims to analyze changes in wealth inequality in the modern Euro-American civilization (EAC). The research object includes the USA, Western Europe, Latvia, Ukraine, and Russia. A tool for measuring and comparing wealth inequality is through statistical deciles: the top 10% (including the top 1%), the middle 40%, and the bottom 50% of the population. The time points used for diachronic analysis are: 1995 and 2021. The data source is the World Inequality Database. The results of this study show that in different parts of the modern EAC, there are different trends of changes in wealth inequality: from rapid concentrating to deconcentrating. The USA and Russia are vivid examples of similar (rapidly increasing) wealth inequality, with a very strong wealth concentration, although the average per adult national wealth in the USA is 4-5 times higher than in Russia. Latvia and Ukraine represent an intermediate option between Western Europe and the USA/Russia, which differ from each other in the cultural dimensions of Hofstede. The authors see the multipolarity of the modern EAC, split into the original, European, civilization and two peripheral ones – American and Russian, which are similar in terms of wealth inequality in society, but different in cultural values.
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    Is It Possible to Increase Fertility in Latvia in the Near Future?
    (2024) Komarova, Vera; Sondore, Anita; Čižo, Edmunds; Kokarēviča, Anita; Rīga Stradiņš University
    This article aims to study the medium-term fertility trend in Latvia answering the following research question: is it possible to increase fertility in the near future, as planned in the "Population Reproduction Strategy FAMILY - LATVIA - 2030 (2050)"? The authors analyzed the total fertility rate (TFR) in Latvia for the period of 1970-2022 (53 years). This interdisciplinary (demography, mathematics, economics, sociology) study applies mathematical analysis for investigating socio-demographic trends, as well as the theory of economic cycles for identifying demographic cycles and their phases in Latvia and forecasting fertility rate in the near future. Furthermore, the analysis of data from comparative sociological surveys helped the authors to understand the main reason for the decline in fertility in Latvia. This reason is value changes in society, in which the child is no longer at the center of the value system of men and especially women in Latvia. In turn, short-term ups and downs in fertility are determined mainly by socio-economic and political factors. Based on the results of differentiating the function of the total fertility rate (TFR) it can be expected that the decline in fertility in Latvia will continue for several more years before the bottom of the next demographic cycle is reached and there will be an upturn in a linearly declining fertility trend. Although, the upcoming bottom will be lower than the previous one, i.e. below 1.22-1.25 children on average per woman and the next peak will most likely be below 1.74. Thus, the increase in TFR in Latvia to 1.77 by 2027, planned in the "Population Reproduction Strategy," is considered by the authors of this study to be absolutely unattainable.
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    Latvian Municipal Budget Expenditures on Transport Infrastructure and Production in the Context of Improving the Local Economy
    (2024) Komarova, Vera; Ignatjeva, Svetlana; Kudiņš, Jānis; Kokarēviča, Anita; Ostrovska, Inta; Čižo, Edmunds; Rīga Stradiņš University
    This article aims to study Latvian municipal budget expenditures on transport infrastructure and production in the context of improving the local economy. The authors hypothesize that the state of the local economy determines the comparative priority of municipal budget expenditures on two items. In municipalities with a more developed economy, it is 'transport' rather than 'production' budget expenses that are more likely to improve the local economy, and in municipalities with a less developed economy – vice versa. The authors tested the hypothesis based on data for 2021 and 2022 (the time after the reform of the territorial-administrative structure of Latvia) for 43 Latvian municipalities using various methods of statistical analysis. The results show that the comparative priorities in budget expenditures of Latvian municipalities are determined not by the state of the local economy but rather by the geographical (or geopolitical/geoeconomic) location of the municipality. As a result, Latvian municipalities are grouped into territorial clusters using the agglomeration effect from the concentration of transport infrastructure or production. Over the past year, there has been a tendency towards 'transport-production' economic restructuring of the territory of Latvia, the reasons for which may be the geopolitical situation in Eastern Europe