An Overview of Digital Entrepreneurship in Central and Eastern European Countries

Digital Entrepreneurship

The aim of the study is to explore and present an overview of digital entrepreneurship in Central and Eastern European countries and to examine how certain components of the DESI index affect GDP per capita in CEE countries and in what way modern information technologies affect their economies. The paper uses secondary data sources, mostly scientific and professional journals from the studied area, DESI reports, Eurostat data, and other Internet sources. The first part of the paper presents a short introduction on digitization digital entrepreneurship and digital technologies. The second part provides a descriptive analysis of digital entrepreneurship indicators and explores business demography in the ICT sector while the third part refers to the analysis of the DESI index. The panel method on data from 2015 to 2019 was used to show the influence of the different DESI index components on the observed countries’ GDP per capita. The hypothesis that the components of the DESI index have a positive impact on GDP per capita has been partially confirmed. DESI rank, Connectivity and Human capital did not prove to be significant, while Use of internet services, Integration of digital technology, and Digital public services proved their significant positive effect.

Patterns of Interrelationships between Inflation, R&D, Innovation, and Economic Growth: Evidence from Central and Eastern European Countries

10.15179/ces.22.2.1 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 22 (2) ◽

pp. 5-33

Author(s):

Ljubivoje Radonjić ◽

◽

Nevena Veselinović ◽

Keyword(s):

Economic Growth ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Primary Objective ◽

Output Growth ◽

European Countries ◽

Eastern European ◽

Innovation Activities ◽

Private And Public ◽

The Impact

The primary objective of the article is to examine the nexus between inflation, R&D, patents, and economic growth within a group of Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs). The examination is conducted in two parts. First, the impact of total R&D expenditures on economic growth is observed, as well as the influence of growth on private and public R&D investments. Second, the conversion from private and public R&D investment to innovation, measured by the number of patents, is observed. Throughout the analysis, economic growth and inflation are representative of macroeconomic stability. The outcomes of the panel auto-regressive distributed lag estimation indicate that total R&D expenditures are essential and positively significant for economic growth in the observed countries. The results also show that output growth has a remarkably positive impact on generating private R&D expenditures. Such an influence is also found, but at a weaker level, in the case of public R&D expenditures. In this part of the analysis, inflation has demonstrated a harmful influence on R&D expenditures. The results of the second part indicate that public and private R&D expenditures, at a significant level, generate innovation activities, while the impact of inflation has proven to be unimportant.

Is Per Capita Real GDP Stationary in Central and Eastern European Countries?

Eastern European Economics ◽

10.2753/eee0012-8775490303 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 49 (3) ◽

pp. 54-65 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Chi-Wei Su ◽

Hsu-Ling Chang

Keyword(s):

European Countries ◽

Eastern European ◽

Real Gdp ◽

Per Capita ◽

The Slovene Economy

Nationalities Papers ◽

10.1080/00905999308408258 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

pp. 81-89 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jože Mencinger

Keyword(s):

European Countries ◽

Eastern European ◽

Active Population ◽

National Productivity ◽

Per Capita ◽

The Rich ◽

With 20,251 square kilometers, Slovenia has a little less than two million inhabitants. In the last thirty-five years, national productivity has risen on average by 5.2% annually (though it stagnated in the eighties and diminished fast in 1990 and 1991), and per inhabitant, rose 0.7% annually. At approximately 6,000 dollars, per capita productivity is twice as high as the Yugoslav average and eight times higher than per capita productivity in less developed Kosovo. With a 47% economically active population, 9% agricultural population, more than 99% literacy, 30% expenditure on food, and 0.28 vehicles and 0.32 telephones per inhabitant, Slovenia ranks among the rich Eastern European countries.

Public Finance Sectors Central and Eastern European Countries and in Developed Countries

Central European Review of Economics & Finance ◽

10.24136/ceref.2017.007 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 31-48

Author(s):

Renata Małkowska

Keyword(s):

Public Finance ◽

Eastern Europe ◽

Central And Eastern Europe ◽

Developed Countries ◽

European Countries ◽

Social Spending ◽

Eastern European ◽

The Public ◽

Per Capita ◽

This paper analyses the interdependencies between state debt and the volume of the public sector’s expenditure, focusing particularly on pro-social spending. These phenomena have been studied in relative values (versus GDP) and in absolute values (per capita). This served as the grounds for an attempt to identify general directions of the public finance policies followed by countries in the Central and Eastern Europe and in selected highly developed countries.

Job Polarization in Europe: Evidence from Central and Eastern European Countries

DANUBE Law and Economics Review ◽

10.2478/danb-2020-0004 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 52-74

Author(s):

Dennis Nchor ◽

Petr Rozmahel

Keyword(s):

Positive Impact ◽

European Countries ◽

Eastern European ◽

Distributed Lag ◽

Distributed Lag Model ◽

Job Polarization ◽

Impact Of Technology ◽

The Impact ◽

High Skill

Abstract Job polarization simply refers to the decline or disappearance of employment in middle skill occupations. Recent literature focuses on this phenomenon as a source of rising income inequality in countries. The hypothesis is that growth in employment over the last decades has favoured jobs at the low and high skill occupations with declines in employment shares in the middle of the distribution. First, this paper seeks to investigate whether labour polarization occurs in Central and Eastern European countries. Secondly, the paper assesses the role of technology on employment in the Central and Eastern European countries. Using employment shares and a cointegrated panel autoregressive distributed lag model, the paper presents comprehensive results on labour polarization and the impact of technology on employment in the labour markets of the Central and Eastern European countries. The results show positive impact of technology on high skill employment while negative on low and middle skill employment in the long-run. The study finds that though middle skill employment shares declined, there is no clear case of a U-shape employment distribution to indicate labour polarization.

Institutional competitiveness of Central and Eastern European countries and the inflow of foreign direct investments

Catallaxy ◽

10.24136/cxy.2020.008 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 87-96

Author(s):

Magdalena Owczarczuk

Keyword(s):

Quality Assessment ◽

Western Europe ◽

Recipient Country ◽

Developed Countries ◽

European Countries ◽

Foreign Direct Investments ◽

Eastern European ◽

Global Competitiveness ◽

Per Capita ◽

Motivation: Central and Eastern European countries (CEE) in spite of a long period of European Union membership and integration with the developed economies of Western Europe are still on the path of convergence, i.e. pursuing the highly developed countries in terms of, among others, GDP per capita. Assuming that the FDI inflow carries numerous benefits for the economic growth of the recipient country, those economies still compete against one another for foreign capital. One of the factors that attracts FDI is high quality of institutional surrounding. Aim: assessment of institutional competitiveness of the selected CEE countries (Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary) as well as verification of the relationship between institutional competitiveness and the FDI inflow to the analyzed economies. Materials and methods: The article reviews positions obtained by the selected CEE countries in the ranking of competitiveness published by Global Economic Forum (Global Competitiveness Report). The analysis and assessment of CEE countries competitiveness focused around the institutional quality assessment. Quantitatively, the connection was revealed between competitiveness ranking in the field of institutions and FDI inflow per capita and FDI as % of GDP to the economies under consideration. Results: the analysis of the global competitiveness index (GCI) allows to notice that among the CEE countries, Estonia is characterized with the highest institutional competitiveness. The detailed analysis indicated that low social capital quality decreases institutional competitiveness in case of all analyzed economies. The conducted quantitative analysis of the potential link between the GCI?Pillar 1. Institutions index and the inflow of foreign direct investments to CEE countries indicates the positive correlation of those variables. Higher index values (institution quality assessment) corresponds to the higher FDI per capita level and FDI calculated as GDP percentage.

Retail Evolution in Eastern European Countries: An Overview

KnE Social Sciences ◽

10.18502/kss.v4i1.5994 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Alma Pentescu ◽

Cosmin Paștiu

Keyword(s):

Eastern Europe ◽

Supply And Demand ◽

Retail Trade ◽

European Countries ◽

Purchasing Power ◽

Positive Trend ◽

Eastern European ◽

The European Union ◽

Per Capita ◽

Retail has evolved a lot in the last years. Still, compared to more mature markets (such as US, UK, Germany, France, Sweden, the Netherlands), retail in Eastern European countries is less developed, with more balanced supply and demand. According to GfK’s report on European Retail in 2018, in 2017 there was a slight increase (+1.9 percent) in the purchasing power within the European Union (EU28) countries, Romania having the biggest increase (+7.8 percent) [1]. However, Romania’s low per capita purchasing power shows a gap in wealth levels across Europe. Huge differences between Western and Eastern Europe are visible also in terms of per capita values for retail space. Thus, the purpose of this descriptive research study is to analyze and compare how retail has evolved during recent years in Eastern European countries, with the help of several indicators. Data was collected from Eurostat and other industry reports. Results show that in EU28 countries the turnover in wholesale and retail trade has constantly grown (between 2011-2016), trend visible also in Bulgaria and North Macedonia. Per capita sales area increased too (between 2014-2017) in most Eastern European countries. This positive trend is visible also for retail turnover per m2 of sales area in all countries considered, although there are differences among them (with Bulgaria and Romania ranked the lowest and Cyprus and Greece the highest). Keywords: Retail, Eastern Europe, secondary data, indicators

Technical Efficiency of Banks in Central and Eastern Europe

International Journal of Financial Studies ◽

10.3390/ijfs6030066 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 6 (3) ◽

pp. 66

Author(s):

Eva Horvatova

Keyword(s):

Financial Crisis ◽

Eastern Europe ◽

Technical Efficiency ◽

Central And Eastern Europe ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Strong Association ◽

European Countries ◽

Eastern European ◽

Balkan Countries ◽

The purpose of this article is to examine what affected the technical efficiency of banks in Central and Eastern European countries during the financial crisis. Firstly, this article analyzes the technical efficiency of banks in the selected countries in Central and Eastern Europe during the period 2006–2013. In this article, the technical efficiency of Central and Eastern European banks is explored in respect to the size of the banks (large or small) and their belonging in a specific group of countries. The results of the analysis show a strong association between the numbers of efficient banks and belonging of banks in the group of V4 countries (Visegrad countries are the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia). The banks in Balkan countries have a negative association with the number of efficient banks in the group; the banks in this group of countries have the highest average efficiency (when the output was net interest margin). There is a weak association between the number of efficient banks and their belonging in the group of Baltic countries. The bank efficiency and the size of the bank’s assets are also weakly associated. Secondly, the results of panel regression models for the specific groups of countries (V4, Baltic, and Balkan countries), as well as for the whole group of Central and Eastern European countries show that the customer deposits had a positive impact on the technical efficiency of banks during the financial crisis.

Determinants of Shadow Economy in Eastern European Countries

Scientific Annals of Economics and Business ◽

10.2478/saeb-2019-0002 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 66 (1) ◽

pp. 1-14 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mykolas Navickas ◽

Vytautas Juščius ◽

Valentinas Navickas

Keyword(s):

Regression Models ◽

Shadow Economy ◽

Scientific Literature ◽

European Countries ◽

Eastern European ◽

Per Capita ◽

The Relationship ◽

The Eu ◽

Business Freedom

Abstract In this article the relationship between shadow economy and its’ determinants has been examined. Ten Eastern countries from European Union were chosen due to specific particularities, which may cause higher shadow economy levels in the investigated countries compared with the EU average. Time span of 2003-2016 was selected, as 2017 data has yet to be released at the time of the analysis. Article consists of examination of the current situation and shadow economy trends in Eastern European countries; overview of shadow economy scientific literature followed by hypothesis, which are examined by constructing regression models. Models aim to distinguish the relationship between selected determinants and shadow economy size. Scientific literature analysis revealed that increase of tax burden on labor is seen as a primary reason for the increase of shadow economy, however, such relation has not been identified. Furthermore, results show that unemployment and self-employed people ratio affect shadow economy insignificantly. This suggests that further analysis is needed. Nonetheless, regression model has not rejected the hypotheses of corruption level, income inequality, business freedom and GDP per capita effect on shadow economy. Thus, it can be stated that these variables are determinants of shadow economy in Eastern European countries.

The Profile of the Foreign Investor in the Romanian Chemical Industry

Processes ◽

10.3390/pr8030348 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

pp. 348

Author(s):

Iulia Iuga ◽

Aniela Danciu ◽

Imola Drigă

Keyword(s):

Labor Force ◽

Chemical Industry ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Reference Group ◽

European Countries ◽

Foreign Investor ◽

Eastern European ◽

Foreign Companies ◽

Cost Factors

The main aim of this study is to build the investor’s profile in the Romanian chemical industry and to highlight the factors that influenced the decision of investing in Romania rather than other Central Eastern European countries. The data collection was performed in June 2019 and the list of the 150 foreign companies from the chemical industry was obtained from The National Trade Register Office. Data used in this research were collected using a questionnaire. Dependent variable represents the probability of investing in Romania, with the option of the other Central and Eastern European countries as reference group. The main part of our analysis focus on this question: “Which were the reasons that made you decide invest in Romania?” For analysis, a number of six main classes are used: Infrastructure, labor force, Agglomeration factors, Knowledge, Market Size and Cost factors (as independent variables). Main results consist in the presence of three factors with a positive impact. The paper also highlights that the main advantage considered by a foreign investor in Romania is represented by the cheap labor force. As a secondary conclusion, companies are also interested in other factors that are mentioned in the paper.