Purpose – Environmental degradation resulting from human activities may adversely affect human health in multiple ways. Until now, policies aimed at mitigating environmental problems such as climate change, environmental pollution and damage to biodiversity have failed to clearly identify and drive the potential benefits of these policies on health. The conducted study assesses and demonstrates how specific environmental policies and instruments influence perceived human health in order to ensure input for a data-driven decision process.
Design/methodology/approach – The study was conducted for the 2004–2020 period in European Union (EU) countries with the use of dynamic panel data modeling. Verification of specific policies’ impact on dependent variables allows to indicate this their effectiveness and importance. As a result of the computed dynamic panel data models, it has been confirmed that a number of significant and meaningful relationships between the self-perceived health index and environmental variables can be identified.
Findings – There is a strong positive impact of environmental taxation on the health index, and the strength of this relationship causes effects to be observed in the very short term, even the following year. In addition, the development of renewable energy sources (RES) and the elimination of fossil fuels from the energy mix exert positive, although milder, effects on health. The reduction of ammonia emissions from agriculture and reducing noise pollution are other health-supporting factors that have been shown to be statistically valid. Results allow to identify the most efficient policies in the analyzed area in order to introduce those with the best results or a mix of such measures.
Originality/value – The results of the authors’ research clearly indicate the health benefits of measures primarily aimed at improving environmental factors, such as environmental taxes in general. The authors have also discovered an unexpected negative impact of an increase in the share of energy taxes in total taxes on the health index. The presented study opens several possibilities for further investigation, especially in the context of the rapidly changing geopolitical environment and global efforts to respond to environmental and health challenges. The authors believe that the outcome of the authors’ study may provide new arguments to policymakers pursuing solutions that are not always easily acceptable by the public.

Introduction: Crowd logistics is a widely accepted concept in times of the growing popularity of
sharing economy solutions. The popularity of e-commerce and a tendency to provide same-day
delivery are the main reasons for their development. Developing those trends requires new products
and services, now available on the market, known in the transport area as crowd logistics solutions.

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to provide a tool for assessing crowd-logistics solutions, taking
into consideration customers’ requirements. The text includes groups of environmental, economic,
and social criteria to facilitate the choice of the best crowd logistics solution for freight transport.

Methodology: The research is based on the critical analysis of different sources (literature, European
Commission reports, other reports and analyses) and practical solutions in the field of crowd logistics.
The main data analysis method is the Analytic Hierarchy Process, usually used to evaluate variants
in decision-making processes. This method was chosen because of the variety of data types (quantitative and qualitative) and formats, its popularity, universality, and replicability.

Results: This paper contains ready-to-use weights for the assessment of crowd logistics solutions.
The proposed set of criteria and weights can be a useful tool for customers to evaluate the sharing-
-economy services landscape in the areas they manage.

Purpose: Assuming a duopoly industry with pollution producing processes, the aim of this work
is to study the firms’ choice to engage in Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility (ECSR)
by means of “green” managerial delegation, i.e. hiring managers with preferences for environ mental
concerns to whom owners delegate both sales and decisions to adopt green technology.

Methodology: Depending on the firms’ strategic choices, a two/three-stage game takes place solved
by the backward induction method to obtain sub-game perfect Nash equilibria.

Results: When the market structure is a Cournot duopoly, and the environmental sensitivity of
“green” managers is extremely low, then the engagement in ECSR is the firms’ dominant strategy,
regardless of the efficiency level of the available abatement technology. Nonetheless, firms are cast
into a prisoner’s dilemma. On the other hand, if “green” managers have low-intermediate to intermediate
environmental sensitivity, then either no ECSR, multiple symmetric equilibria, or ECSR
engagement can emerge as a result in equilibrium. Finally, if managers’ environmental sensitivity
is adequately high, then firms do not engage in ECSR. When a market entry game is considered
with the Stackelberg competition in which the incumbent adopts ECSR while the entrant does not,
socially responsible behaviors cause the market to be more contestable. However, the incumbent’s
owners can use ECSR to secure a dominant position in the market, provided that they hire “green”
managers with adequate environmental concerns.
Implications: In the case of entry, non-trivial policy implications arise. Due to increased competition,
the welfare of consumers improves (lower prices for the goods). However, the entry of a polluting
firm increases emissions. Higher emissions damage consumers and lower the overall social welfare
of an environmentally concerned government. Thus, a complete welfare analysis is required prior
to the design of a government’s regulatory intervention.

Originality/Value: This paper is the first that introduces the figure of the “green” manager who
shows, in its utility function, an environmental concern.

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to examine shareholders’ reaction to the decision of the supervisory board to appoint a CEO in companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

Methodology: An event study and the mean-adjusted model were applied. The abnormal returns were measured as the CAAR in the entire (-60, + 60) window and selected sub-windows.

Findings: The obtained values of abnormal returns indicate the shareholder’s negative reaction. Throughout the observation window, they oscillate slightly below zero, and in the window (0, +20) they are negative at -1.566%. Irrespective of the observation window, negative abnormal returns were obtained for over half of the observation (52–57%). Therefore, preliminary results indicate the predominance of the information effect over the real one. The decrease in market value as a result of the event may result from an increase in investors’ uncertainty as to the effects of changes in strategy and skills of the new CEO.

Originality: The research is a unique one. To date, no one has carried out research into shareholders’ reaction to a CEO appointment in either the Polish or Central and Eastern European capital markets. They primarily bring the value of cognition of shareholders’ behaviour in the analysed event, which is reflected in share prices. They extend the literature on the signalization instruments, i.e. the activities that boards can undertake due to the new information transmitted to the capital market participants and stakeholders. The market reaction to a CEO appointment will without a doubt interest investors; the institutions responsible for supervision (which in the case of Poland is the Financial Oversight Commission) and the legislator in charge of regulations that prevent insider trading while promoting corporate disclosure transparency.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of market structure and market conduct characteristics (such as market concentration, presence of networks operated by global corporations, presence of vertically integrated companies, presence of hypermarket gasoline stations and consumption level) on price-cost margin levels, based on an example of the European Union retail gasoline market.

Methodology: The research applied regression analysis on a panel data set comprising of average monthly price-cost margins for 2012 to 2015, based on the data published in the European Commission Oil Bulletin, and on a set of variables characterizing market structure and market conduct of 24 European Union member state countries.

Findings: The results showed that in the case of retail gasoline markets, higher industrial concentration yields higher price-cost margins with a statistically significant influence of other market structure and conduct factors.

Objective: The aim of the present study is to examine whether the European Union budget comprises significant resources for financing measures relating to social cohesion. The analysis is based on the contents of the Europe 2020 Strategy.
Given the constraints of space and for the sake of clarity of the argument, the author focuses on the role of the EU budget rather than all measures aimed at social cohesion undertaken by EU institutions or targeted by policies of individual Member States.

Methodology: Documents, studies and reports published by the European Commission constitute the main source of information. In addition, the author has taken into account macroeconomic data demonstrating the deterioration of the social situation since 2009, as well as the instruments that the European Commission has deployed since 2013 in order to respond to post-crisis challenges.

Conclusions: It can be roughly estimated that more than 40 percent of total resources within the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020 shall be allocated to the social cohesion policy. Opportunities afforded by the implementation of the Europe 2020 Strategy include primarily the definition of objectives whose priority is indisputable and the introduction of the hitherto neglected analysis of certain socio-economic indicators, classified by country or region and, in certain cases, examined in more detail than required by the European Commission. The monitoring of objectives is conducive to the introduction of new solutions and implementation tools, as exemplified by the new instruments within the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020, as well as the adjustment of available funds in light of the most pressing challenges. The European Semester has facilitated the task of comparing progress in strategy implementation by individual Member States, as well as the provision of recommendations for each of them and an individualized approach.

Research implications: This article contributes to the discussion on further integration of the European Union's social dimension, with particular emphasis on the need to work out a common approach to immigration policy.

Originality: The author presents her own opinions regarding current events in terms of the post-crisis social cohesion policies of the European Union, taking into account the European Commission’s financial instruments.

Purpose: The aim of the paper is to test whether and to what extent the concept of CSV can be utilized in the marketing strategy of companies, and more precisely, whether and to what extent it can be used as a criterion for positioning the company in the market.

Methodology: The authors analysed the case of the Partnership for Health from the perspective of one partner, grocery retailer Biedronka. In addition, we have conducted consumer research among students to fi nd out if consumers have a positive perception of products with a social mission.

Findings: The research fi ndings indicate that, according to the respondents’ perception, products with a social mission could comprise a basis for a positioning strategy for Biedronka, but for now, many customers do not even know that Biedronka offers such products in cooperation with its partners. The lack of a promotional campaign aimed at educating buyers had a negative impact on project awareness. It can even be stated that its potential wasn’t exploited from a marketing viewpoint.

Research limitations/implications: The major limitation of the conducted research is the sampling procedure. The authors introduced their own scale for measuring the consumers’ approach to products with social missions. This scale can also be used for implementation of similar projects.

Originality: In the subject literature there is a cognitive gap connected with the use of CSV concept in corporate marketing strategies. The authors determined how this concept could be used in marketing with special regard to the positioning strategy. Additionally a special scale was designed for measuring consumers’ approaches to products with a social mission

Purpose: The purpose of the article is to find an answer to the question whether the European Union, and especially the countries that are full members of the Economic and Monetary Union, are able to reach a common solution in fiscal policy, which may result in a further deepening of integration processes.

Methodology: The article is based on literature, legislation and documents, reports and accounts of the institutions and bodies of the EU. The paper presents an analysis of the current situation within the European Union on fiscal consolidation, the theoretical format of the fiscal union and the range of possible functions of common bonds and consequences of the issue (in the context of sharing risk between the issuers, and thus – the impact on
fiscal discipline), and finally, the role of the disintegrative processes in the context of public finance.

Findings: So far, the common legislation to restore budgetary balance was broadly implemented, however, it is too early to say whether specific rules will translate into action of public authorities. When it comes to issues indicating the deepening of integration, it is difficult to note the political consensus in this regard. The proposal for creating a new budget only for the eurozone countries seems to be far-reaching.

Research implications: This paper may be a contribution to the further discussion on the future of the European Union, especially in the context of fiscal policy.

Originality: The author presents her findings and thoughts on current events in the financial integration within the European Union on the basis of documents of the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, the President of the European Council and the European Economic and Social Committee.

Purpose: The essay aims at identifying the role of local government in supporting R&D efforts and knowledge transfer mechanisms and diffusion practices within the biotechnology clusters in the Flanders and Wallonia regions (local knowledge exchange and learning), as well as the role of informal interaction between the cluster actors.

Methodology: The main research method chosen for this study was qualitative analysis,
based on interviews with a series of researchers, academic scientists and technology
transfer officers from the Flanders and Wallonia regions. This was undertaken in September-October 2011 as a part of the COST/STRIKE initiative of the European Commission.

Findings: The high patent dynamics within the biotechnology sector is explained
by growing investments into R&D, highly qualified human capital, and geographical
factors such as cluster development. The answers of interviewed experts confirm
the view that the importance of geography should differ by technology type. The importance grows quickly for technologies undergoing radical innovations. Regional policy should therefore focus on promoting innovation through R&D support, improving the quality of human capital and the overall business environment (cluster).