This paper deals with parenthood induced inequalities in the labour market outcomes of men and women in Poland. It extends the existing framework of research by providing a joint analysis of parenthood impact on working hours and wages for men and women for a transition economy. Using propensity score matching and fixed effects estimation this paper reveals that parenthood is associated with longer working hours and greater wages for men and shorter working hours and lower wages for women. The gaps in working hours may be however partially attributed to unobserved differences between parents and childless individuals. For men, unobserved heterogeneity also explains their greater wages. Mothers are however found to receive significantly lower wages even if their unobserved characteristics and self-selection into employment are accounted for.

The use of the potential of economic convergence is one of the key challenges of economic policy in the case of the European Union. Due to structural changes that have led to the growing role of knowledgebased economy (KBE), the analysis made in the paper is based on the assumption that the convergence process of the EU countries takes place in the reality of the KBE, thus in order to facilitate it, all the EU members should concentrate on building institutions that are adequate to the conditions of the KBE. In this context, the aim of the study is to verify the potential impact of the quality of institutional system of the EU countries on the convergence process. In this regard, the analytical framework of conditional ß-convergence was used with econometric dynamic panel modeling. To measure the quality of institutional system the authors proposed an indicator, designed with TOPSIS method. For this purpose the data were obtained from the Fraser Institute database. Dynamic panel econometric analysis carried out for the European Union countries in the years 2004–2010 confirms that the high quality and adequacy of the institutional system to the conditions of the KBE supports convergence process in the EU.

This study investigates the determinants of corruption in Ukrainian regions and applies spatial analysis to examine the relationship between corruption perception index and economic, political and cultural factors. The results of the study show that economic growth decreases corruption in the regions. The paper also challenges the existing academic studies, as it shows positive impact of the number of civil organizations in Ukrainian regions on corruption. The implications of the empirical research are, therefore, a valuable asset to the existing literature on corruption. They indicate that dealing with corruption in Ukraine requires consideration of the influence of regionspecific corruption determinants.