Tom 57 (2021): Zeszyt 4 (December 2021)

The preference to receive benefits as early as possible and delay costs as much as possible is natural for people. That means a positive discount rate in the intertemporal choice, which is a common assumption in economics. However, as research in behavioral economics proves, in certain situations a negative discount rate occurs. The purpose of this paper is to show that the assumption of positive discounting is not always true. The presented experimental study shows how a decrease in probability increases the chances of negative discounting. According to the results, the expected large, uncertain profit is more likely to be deferred over time than a certain profit of the same value. On the other hand, the expected large, uncertain loss is more willingly experienced earlier than a certain loss of the same value. In both cases, it means an increase in the frequency of negative discounting due to increased uncertainty. The results of the study broaden the existing knowledge about the impact of probability on discounting in a situation of expected losses and the area of negative discounting.

Sales associates need emotional intelligence (EI) in dealing with job stress and perceived job satisfaction. So far, there has been no research that explains the effect of job stress on job satisfaction with EI as a mediating variable in the sales associate profession. This study examines EI's role in managing job stress allows sales associates to achieve job satisfaction. The population in this study is comprised of sales associates in Jakarta-Indonesia, who work in malls that target middle to upper-class level customers, with a sample size of 100 respondents. The sampling technique used was accidental sampling; the analysis uses the simple mediation model with the macro process through SPSS process 22.0 for Windows using ordinary least squares and logistic regression path analysis modeling. The finding reveals that the higher the level of EI, the stronger the extent to which the relationship between job stress and job satisfaction is mediated.

The purpose of the paper is to present an innovative business model, the SaHo Model, designed specifically to enable the Polish government to implement nuclear power development plans, which can be possibly used in other countries and in sectors requiring high capital expenditures. The SaHo Model solves the problems identified in the nuclear energy sector, which are related to high investment risk and high costs of capital at the investment stage, and ensures revenues after connection to the grid. Since the state is the investor at the initial stages, it takes over most of the risk in the short term. Selling the shares before connection to the grid, the state significantly reduces the financial involvement in the long term. From then on, the SaHo Model works similar to the Finnish Mankala or American electric cooperative models, producing and selling energy to their shareholders at production costs. None of the models used so far in nuclear energy provides such opportunities. The SaHo Model allows to enhance the competitiveness of the national industry and to increase public acceptance for nuclear power. Thus, it is not only a business model but also a concept for the functioning of the nuclear industry.

I analyze selected views of the well-known Swedish analyst of Nordic economies, Nima Sanandaji, on the reasons for the economic (and social) successes of Sweden and other Nordic countries in the 20th and 21st centuries. My aim is not to provide a detailed and full appraisal of these views but to confront them with the arguments of Sanandaji's critics. Only occasionally do I supplement the arguments of Sanandaji's commentators with additional comments of my own.

In particular, my interests include the following theses of Sanandaji: the thesis that Sweden's prosperity arose before the development of the welfare state, which contributed little to its creation; the thesis that other Swedish successes (health, small inequalities, equal opportunities) are wrongly attributed to the Swedish welfare state or are far from complete; the thesis that there is very limited scope for other countries to copy the Swedish (Nordic) experience.

In the Conclusion, I comment on the reception of Sanandaji's views in Poland.