U radu je provedena empirijska analiza čimbenika reformi poslovnog okruženja. Preciznije, primjenom analize panel podataka, u radu se istražuju učinci makroekonomskih uvjeta, političkih institucija i ...meðunarodnih čimbenika na reforme poslovnog okruženja. Ekonometrijska analiza provedena je na uzorku 28 država članica Europske unije za razdoblje od 1995. do 2017. godine. Osim toga, grupiranjem zemalja na nove i stare države članice EU provedena je posebna analiza za ta dva uzorka. Dobiveni rezultati pokazuju da su reforme poslovnog okruženja pod utjecajem niza čimbenika, ali i da se značajnost čimbenika razlikuje meðu starim i novim državama članicama EU.
The paper brings the analysis of the emigration effects on financial and political sustainability of pension systems in 11 new European Union member states: Bulgaria, Estonia, Croatia, Latvia, ...Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Hungary. The panel data analysis (fixed effects model) covers the crisis and post-crisis period from 2008 to 2017. The obtained results show that emigration growth is positively related to the pension expenditures (expressed as a share in GDP), thus having a negative impact on financial sustainability of pension system. On the other side, the emigration effect on social sustainability of pension system which is encompassed by the median relative income (65+) is not statistically significant. However, through including other socio-economic and political factors in econometric models besides the emigration (e.g. unemployment rate, education, political cycles, old-age dependency ratio, replacement ratio), the results have confirmed that there is a trade-off between the two goals of pension policies, i.e. between financial and political sustainability of pension system.
For the last two-three years, the disruptions of the GVC caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have forced the business sector to restructure and adjust, sometimes very costly and painful. Moreover, with ...the recent war in Ukraine foreseeable negative implications, it is very certain that large-scale disruptions in the global economic trade and investment flows, and ultimately in the GVC, will dictate the survival and sustainability of business in many economic sectors in the years to come. The main goal of this paper is twofold. First, to review the existing research on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on global trends affecting the current reconfiguring and reshaping of the GVC. Second, to analyse the characteristics of Croatian firms that recorded a decrease in their (indirect and direct) exports in the COVID-19 period by performing a logit model and utilising the World Bank’s Enterprise Survey 2019, backed up by the Enterprise Surveys Follow-Up on COVID-19 (3 rounds up to now).
The main objective of this article is to study the impact of trade liberalisation in Croatia as one of the first structural reforms being implemented, covering the period from 2000 to 2021. The panel ...data model was specified using a two-step system generalised method of moment estimator. The obtained results show that trade liberalisation measured through the specific indices encompassing a broader set of both tariff and non-tariff barriers, size of the trade sector, freedom of foreign exchange market, and capital controls positively impacted export performance. The results also showed a negative and statistically significant effect of remoteness on trade, confirming that geographical distance is an essential indicator of transportation costs. The coefficient for Schengen accession was positive and statistically significant, indicating that the Schengen agreement has boosted exports and that we can expect the same for Croatia, especially in the context of simultaneous accession to the Eurozone and the Schengen area on 1 January 2023.
The purpose of the paper is to analyse the effects of interpersonal trust in business relations (proxied by trade credit) and institutional trust (proxied by firms' trust in courts) on firms' ...performance. The analysis is performed on a specific sample of 1298 firms in Western Balkan countries which are usually characterized by negative social capital that is considered to hinder economic and social development at all levels. The methodological approach is based on the propensity score matching method and the obtained results show that firms' perception of courts as fair, impartial and uncorrupted, is connected with lower costs and with positive expectations of an increase in sales in the upcoming period. On the other side, trade credit as a trust variable has a statistically significant and positive effect on firm productivity measured as sales per employee and on expectations of an increase in sales in the upcoming period. The paper contributes to the existing literature in terms of the choice of the post-socialist groups of countries for the analysis, the method that is used (treatment-effects estimation), and in terms of performing firm-level analysis of the effects of two types of trust on selected variables of firm performance.
This paper analyses the effects of emigration on emigrant countries' unemployment rates (short-term effect) in selected EU emigrant countries. The panel data analysis (fixed-effects model) covers the ...period from 2004 to 2015, and a total of nine EU countries: Bulgaria; Estonia; Greece; Croatia; Latvia; Lithuania; Poland; Portugal; and Romania. The obtained results show that emigration increases the unemployment rate in emigrant countries confirming that, besides generally expected positive effects in terms of a fall in unemployment, emigration could also have an adverse effect on emigrant countries' labour markets. Such results point to structural issues in the labour market caused by emigration, i.e., an increase in the labour supply and demand mismatch, which is discussed in the paper through the descriptive analysis of Job Vacancy Rate (JVR) data.
The main objective of this paper is to explore the institutional convergence of Central and Eastern European Union member countries as a possible consequence of both the transfer of selected Western ...formal institutions to those countries and the adoption of acquis communautaire. This issue dates back to the beginning of the 1990s when the predominant expectation was that the successful formal institutions in Western countries would yield the same results in transition countries. In the meantime, mainly because of informal constraints, this has shown to be a misconception in most cases. The methodology used in the paper is twofold. First, by means of descriptive statistics, and using the varieties of capitalism approach, we show that, when analysing institutional quality using the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI), there are two divergent groups of EU countries. The first group consists of Liberal, Nordic, and Continental countries, and the second consists of Mediterranean and CEE member states that are further divided into liberal and coordinated market economies. Second, based on the calculation of the σ- and unconditional β-convergence of governance trends in the period 1996–2019, we empirically confirm that there are also variations within the CEE countries as well as within the specific dimensions of governance.
The Innovation Union flagship initiative, with its accompanying policies and actions, strives to ensure stronger involvement of SMEs in EU R&I programs. The main idea behind this paper is to review ...and discuss the impacts of SMEs' participation in EU R&D programs as a way of boosting their innovation activities. The paper addresses several research questions that help us to present the effects of increased availability of EU R&D funding on boosting innovation activities of SMEs across EU. We start by examining the current innovation performance of EU SMEs based on selected descriptive statistics and indicators. After that, we turn to elaborating the empirical and theoretical foundations and rationale for increased public funding through the EU R&D programs targeting SMEs. Then we discuss the impact of FP7, CIP, Eurostars, and Horizon 2020 funding on SME recipients. We briefly survey the results of available empirical studies that use both quantitative and qualitative evidence, and examine their outcomes in terms of direct and indirect impacts on innovation activities in EU member state SMEs. The examined empirical evidence points to several positive effects of participating in EU R&D programs on incentivizing innovation activities, output, and performance of recipient SMEs.
The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors affecting reform patterns in Croatia in order to identify the main reasons for the (missing) reform success so far. The focus is on the analysis of ...the political system, especially on government fragmentation as one of the main features of proportional electoral rule and clientelism. In addition to political variables, economic factors are analysed as well. The obtained results show that reforms in Croatia were implemented during crises, that coalition governments are not conducive to reforms and that clientelism and corruption present significant obstacles for reform implementation in Croatia. Moreover, the results show that political cycles also have a significant effect, with reform activity slowing down as elections approach. This article contributes to the burgeoning debate on reform implementation (in the post-socialist societies) from the political economy perspective.
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