scholarly journals Twenty Years of Economic Transition in the Balkans: Transition Failures and Development Challenges

2010 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Petrakos ◽  
Vassilis Monastiriotis

AbstractThis paper seeks to review and evaluate a series of theoretical and policy issues with regards to the process of transition and European accession of the Balkan countries. We begin by reviewing some key aspects of economic structure and performance relating to the processes of transition and integration. We then examine in turn what these aspects imply for the assumptions of theory and policy concerning the speed of transition, the benefits of integration, and the process of convergence, as well as for the policy approach to transition, accession and development that was followed in the Balkans. We conclude that this stock-taking, twenty years since the advent of transition in the Balkans and at a time when the region starts to slowly recover from the effects of the global economic crisis, highlights the need for a radical revision of the growth model of the region and the design of a concrete Development Plan for its future.

2021 ◽  
pp. 097215092110457
Author(s):  
Dusko Ranisavljevic ◽  
Darko B. Vukovic ◽  
Moinak Maiti

In this study, we analysed the income structure of the 30 largest banks in seven Balkan countries in the period before, during and after the global economic crisis. Considering that the structure of income primarily consists of interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing income, we analysed whether the crisis has affected the change in the structure of banks’ income in the Balkans. To analyse this, we used panel and quantile regressions models. The study additionally implemented quantile regression for checking the robustness. The results show that there is a more significant correlation between non-interest-bearing and interest-bearing income, while the correlation with net profit is more moderate. According to our results, the interest income grew in the period when reference interest rates fell and when the negative effects of the economic crisis were most pronounced. The banks in the region of the Balkans built their profits more on interest-incomes in the period before and after the economic crisis.


1981 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 735-743 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leon Hollerman

Among the various issues surrounding Japan's economy, three types are prominent in recent literature: issues concerning the magnitude and measurement of Japan's economic growth; issues concerning Japan's economic structure, behavior, and performance; and issues concerning the nature of Japan's relations with the United States. In the second and third categories, many of the issues, directly or indirectly, have to do with the liberalization of the Japanese economy—in either its internal or external sectors. With regard to policy issues, adversary positions are typically adopted. However, they also emerge in discussions of nonpolicy issues, such as those regarding quantification and measurement. The disagreements among the experts provide a useful point of departure for further research and analysis.


Author(s):  
Ulf Brunnbauer

This chapter analyzes historiography in several Balkan countries, paying particular attention to the communist era on the one hand, and the post-1989–91 period on the other. When communists took power in Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, and Yugoslavia in 1944–5, the discipline of history in these countries—with the exception of Albania—had already been institutionalized. The communists initially set about radically changing the way history was written in order to construct a more ideologically suitable past. In 1989–91, communist dictatorships came to an end in Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Albania. Years of war and ethnic cleansing would ensue in the former Yugoslavia. These upheavals impacted on historiography in different ways: on the one hand, the end of communist dictatorship brought freedom of expression; on the other hand, the region faced economic displacement.


Data ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 60
Author(s):  
Miguel A. Becerra ◽  
Catalina Tobón ◽  
Andrés Eduardo Castro-Ospina ◽  
Diego H. Peluffo-Ordóñez

This paper provides a comprehensive description of the current literature on data fusion, with an emphasis on Information Quality (IQ) and performance evaluation. This literature review highlights recent studies that reveal existing gaps, the need to find a synergy between data fusion and IQ, several research issues, and the challenges and pitfalls in this field. First, the main models, frameworks, architectures, algorithms, solutions, problems, and requirements are analyzed. Second, a general data fusion engineering process is presented to show how complex it is to design a framework for a specific application. Third, an IQ approach, as well as the different methodologies and frameworks used to assess IQ in information systems are addressed; in addition, data fusion systems are presented along with their related criteria. Furthermore, information on the context in data fusion systems and its IQ assessment are discussed. Subsequently, the issue of data fusion systems’ performance is reviewed. Finally, some key aspects and concluding remarks are outlined, and some future lines of work are gathered.


Author(s):  
Ljupcho Stevkovski

It is a fact that in the European Union there is a strengthening of right-wing extremism, radical right movement, populism and nationalism. The consequences of the economic crisis, such as a decline in living standards, losing of jobs, rising unemployment especially among young people, undoubtedly goes in favor of strengthening the right-wing extremism. In the research, forms of manifestation will be covered of this dangerous phenomenon and response of the institutions. Western Balkan countries, as a result of right-wing extremism, are especially sensitive region on possible consequences that might occur, since there are several unresolved political problems, which can very easily turn into a new cycle of conflicts, if European integration processes get delayed indefinitely.


2007 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 245-247
Author(s):  
Petros Karkalousos

The Schemes of External Quality Control in Laboratory Medicine in the Balkans There are many differences between the national External Quality Control Schemes all around Europe, but the most important ones are certainly those between the countries of the Balkan region. These differences are due to these countries' different political and financial development, as well as to their tradition and the development of clinical chemistry science in each one. Therefore, there are Balkan countries with very developed EQAS and others where there is no such a scheme. Undoubtedly, the scientific community in these countries wants to develop EQAS despite of the financial and other difficulties.


2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentina Ndou ◽  
Giovanni Schiuma ◽  
Giuseppina Passiante

PurposeThe creative process through which the territorial resources, knowledge and culture are used, exploited and configured to match needs and to achieve congruence with the changing business environment has become a crucial process for competitiveness. This is even more relevant for economies of developing countries which are continuously struggling to reap the benefits of globalisation, as well as to grasp the new opportunities for competitiveness. As such, this paper aims to try to concentrate on the dynamic perspectives of the creative economy of countries by distinguishing between the potentialities and performance. The paper tackles the influence that creativity capacities might have on performance of countries.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology consists in identifying creative economy indicators from a diverse data set of the World Economic Forum and distinguish them between potential and performance indicators.FindingsData reveal as good progress and emphasis is being devoted to increasing the level of creativity; however, the Balkan countries still holdup in their capacity to boost innovation.Practical implicationsThe paper provide a new focus of research on creativity measurement that is significant for understanding what creative capacities territories possess and the ability to make proficient use for growth and innovation.Originality/valueThis paper proposes a new operational framework for measuring and interpreting the creative economy indicators by identifying not only indicators that gauge the potentialities of a country, but also indicators that are linked with the performance dimension, as well as the relationship amongst them.


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