Preface

Dear Readers, I have the pleasure of presenting to you the second issue of the research journal entitled “Research Papers in Economics and Finance” (REF), published by the Faculty of Economics at Poznań University of Economics and Business.  The first and the second paper were presented during the 10thEnvironmental PhD Candidates’ Conference “Economy. Technology. Society.” (GTS), organised by the Heads of Doctoral Studies together with the PhD Council of the Poznań University of Economics and Business. Five research papers were published in this issue of the journal. The first one focuses on changes in the employment structure caused by the development of automation technologies. The second article presents the role of the social responsibility of the state in shaping the reputation of the largest donors of official development assistance. The third article describes the theoretical background of motivation and market statistics of distressed investments on global mergers and the acquisitions market. Another article focuses onthe efficiency of the R&D sector in the European Union countries. The final article presents the interactions between tax sheltering and other instruments of fiscal policy in Nigeria. Yours faithfully, Katarzyna Woźniak, M.Sc. – Chair of the PhD Council PUEB