The paper deals with the evaluation of the impact of capital investments on the value added in Latvian dairy specialization farms on the basis of FADN data. The evaluation is carried out through analysing the current level of capital investments in Latvia and the link between capital and the net value added and its main components, based on the comparison with the EU leading milk producing countries. The analysis shows that the current level of capital investments is low in Latvia, especially in buildings and fixed equipment. Insufficient capital investments result in high intermediate costs, lower labour productivity due to large labour contribution in the total output, and also in considerably lower level of the value added, especially per AWU in Latvia.

Energy transition from the fossil fuel dominating to the one based on renewable energy sources (RES) takes acceleration with the internationally recognised need to stabilise the global warming. Therefore, there is a general consensus that the initiative of the wide use of RES is manifold in its nature making an impact not only on the environmental issues, but also adding to the so desired customer involvement and rural development as well. Rural dimension in reaching the EU targets should arguably be a priority as RES utilisation is decentralised in its nature. Despite the fact that EU with its main strategic documents gives a clear direction on RES utilisation through wider involvement of citizens, especially in rural places, there are certain grounds for stating that a current situation and future insights among EU Member States still differ. Lithuanian case was chosen to explore the sustainability gaps regarding the RES utilisation development in rural places. Literature review is employed to choose the most suitable way aiming to explore and evaluate the RES utilisation development in rural places regarding the sustainability issues. This article adds to understanding and evaluating the main obstacles of the well balanced RES utilisation development in rural places.

The concept of polycentric development at multinational, national and regional level is broadly used in academic research of regional development and spatial planning. It is also reflected in the normative agenda by the European Union. However, polycentricity has been considered a fuzzy concept, and it still lacks commonly accepted definition or measurement methods. Albeit a plethora of researchers and policy makers favours polycentric development as a tool for reduction of regional disparities, these statements are not based on empirical foundations. The research objectives are twofold and consecutive. The first objective is to define the morphological measures of polycentricity and apply these measures at country level. The second objective is to empirically test the following hypotheses: regional disparities in countries with polycentric urban system are less pronounced than in countries with monocentric urban system; income distribution in countries with polycentric urban system is more equal than in countries with monocentric urban system. The hypotheses stated by the objective of the study can be rejected: regional disparities in countries with polycentric urban system are not less pronounced than in countries with monocentric urban system; income distribution in countries with polycentric urban system is not more equal than in countries with monocentric urban system. The research results clearly suggest the polycentric development cannot be considered a tool for diminishing regional disparities and providing more cohesion between regions.

Today technological progress is reshaping global economic development and changing the overall welfare of societies. Therefore, it is important to assess challenges and readiness of the European Union to use its capacity to ensure that technologies benefit people and bring them towards more inclusive societies enhancing opportunities to use artificial intellect for making health, education, agriculture, services and manufacturing industries more efficient and user friendly. The Digital Economy and Society Index analyses the digital performance of the EU Member States across five main dimensions: connectivity, human capital, use of internet, integration of digital technology, digital public services. However, despite intention to jointly develop Digital Single Market, the gap between the EU top digital countries and less digitally advanced countries remains large. The aim of this paper was to evaluate the digital performance indicators of the EU countries, in particular focusing to Poland and Latvia to assess their progress and potential of their human capital’s digital skills. The research is based on theoretical literature studies on industrial revolution stages, European Union Commission documents, indexes and publications available in relevant public institutions such as ministries and industry reports. The research employed monographic method, analysis and synthesis methods as well as graphical data analysis. The research results give evidence that currently Poland’s human capital is significantly better prepared for making use of future digital economy challenges than Latvia’s human capital, and there is a close link between countries’ R and D expenditures proportion of GDP and their human capital’s readiness to integrate in digital economy.

Social benefits are essential in providing support to families with children, especially in the first years of the child’s life as well as to families at risk of poverty (large families, parents raising a child alone). Social insurance benefits ensure parents with income while taking care of a child. Latvia’s strategic planning documents have defined social protection for families with children as one of the priority areas for several planning periods simultaneously emphasising the need to increase social security and promote the birth rate in the country. The research aim is to assess the social benefits system for families with children in Latvia. The research results allow concluding that the expenditure for social support for families with children as percentage of GDP in Latvia is lower than the average EU Member States indicator as well as it is the lowest one among the Baltic States. Support for families with children in Latvia is gradually growing; however, it is necessary to regularly increase the childbirth allowance taking into account inflation in order not to worsen the financial situation of these families as well as to allocate a larger proportion of GDP to support families with children in Latvia.