South-East Europe: Economic performance, perspectives and policy challenges

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Assessing regional integration and business potential in the Western Balkans

This paper extrapolates the patterns and volume of business development within the Western Balkans region. This is a war-torn area with social, cultural, religious and political specificities. Despite noticeable institutional and growth progress of the individual countries, regional business is still lagging as persistent state rigidities create trade distortions. We argue that intra-regional business clusters, embedded in shared socio-cultural characteristics, can be the alternative to underdevelopment. Political willingness is the prerequisite, as market forces in transitional areas seem to be of secondary importance to regional business development and integration. New analytical approaches are needed to capture the complex reality.Regional development; business clusters; transition economies

REVIEW OF THE GOAT SECTOR IN THE REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA: DISTRIBUTION, FARM SIZE, BREED STRUCTURE AND MILK PRODUCTION CAPACITIES

Goat sector is livestock branch that has its own specific unique history. Еxtensive to semi-extensive breeding system is the most prevalent in the country with moderate level of milk production. Recognition of the importance of goat breeding can be noted by continuous state support in the goat breeding. Variation of national goat flock is present with appearance of ascending and descending trends. There is a decrease in the number of farms, especially farms that breed from 1 to 5 and from 6 to10 heads, but also an increase in the number of heads per farm, especially on farms with size from 25 to 50 and from 51 to 100. Most prevalent goat breeds in the country is Balkan goat (47.51 %). Different distribution of goat breeds is recorded in the country regions, East and Southeast region are leading regions in goat breeding. Raw milk production is in the range from 13584 t in 2015 up to 22864 t in 2018. Moderate milk yield per goat is present, the highest in 2011 (298 litres) and the lowest in 2015 (243 litres). Average purchase price of raw goat milk ranged between 0.29 and 0.31 euros/per litre in the period 2013-2019, which istwice less than the purchase price in EU countries. The improvement and utilization of the genetic capacity of the goat breeds, improvement of farming and feeding practices and continuous state support, education and research, as well as better organization of the farmers can be pointed out as general recommendations for improvement of the sector

Stabilization and association process in the Banlkans : integration options and their assessment

The stabilization and association process launched by the European Union in the aftermath of the Kosovo war in 1999 has created a new policy environment for five South East European countries (SEE-5). In exchange for EU assistance, the prospect of EU accession, and the continuation of preferential access to EU markets, SEE-5 governments have to upgrade their institutions and governance by European standards and engage in mutual regional cooperation, including stability pact member-countries. The authors examine the benefits to SEE-5 of trade liberalization along two dimensions and suggest conditions under which these could be maximized. They argue that the process of regional trade liberalization should be extended to multilateral liberalization, aligning SEE-5 most-favored-nation (MFN) applied tariffs on industrial products with EU MFN tariffs, and that priority be given to structural reforms and regional cooperation aimed at trade facilitation. As inter-industry trade rather than intra-industry trade dominates intra-SEE-5 trade, the potential for expansion in intra-SEE-5 trade is limited at least within the confines of the existing production structures and transportation infrastructure. Therefore SEE-5 free trade agreements are unlikely to contribute to economic growth without concurrent efforts to improve infrastructure, trade facilitation, business, and investment climate, as well as to increase competition from MFN imports to external preferential suppliers through multilateral liberalization.Rules of Origin,Environmental Economics&Policies,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Economic Theory&Research,Trade Policy,TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT,Environmental Economics&Policies,Trade and Regional Integration,Economic Theory&Research,Rules of Origin

Regional development-core-periphery relations: The Greek case

[Δε διατίθεται περίληψη / no abstract available]An attempt was made in this paper to demonstratethe process by which regional polarization and developmentoccur in industrializing countries. The caseof Greece was presented and analyzed as an exampleof highly polarized regional development.In Greece the polarization process actually startedin the 1830s with the emergence of the new modernGreek nation-state. It was the social change and «institutional» innovations injected into the system thattransformed the «traditional» socio-economic spatialstructure of the country by attracting innovative personalities;the country’s élites; and consequently alleconomic activities; science; education; and cultureinto the enclave of accelerated change, the new capitalAthens, which later became the core region while therest of the country was left in a backwater. The coreregion started organizing the periphery into dependencyby the gradual neutralization and co-option ofthe periphery’s élites; by the creation of an adaptivesystem characterized by authority-dependency relations;and by the penetration and transformation ofthe periphery’s social values and institutions in thedirection of greater acceptance and conformity withits own value system.The polarization process that started in the 1830swas later reinforced by the «technical» and «economic» innovations introduced in the 1950s into thesystem. The industrialization of the country was onceagain focused around the core region, Athens. Butdue to fundamental structural weaknesses in thecountry’s economy, the so-called economic «miracle»of the core region was not based on modern dynamicindustry and productive investment but rather on the«spread effects» of invisible receipts which in turnstimulated consumption and construction in the coreregion. At the same time the periphery sank deeperand deeper in backwater and stagnation and neverparticipated in the core region’s «miracle.»It is believed that the above process of regionalpolarization and development is characteristic of mostindustrializing countries where core-periphery relationsare still predominant influences

Italian FDI integration with Southeast Europe: country and firm-level evidence

Southeast European countries have experienced significant economic integration into the world economy since 2000, through international capital flows and especially foreign direct investment (FDI). The present work sheds light on recent trends in Italy-Western Balkans economic integration through FDI. The methodology is based on a country level analysis and on case studies, designed to ascertain Italian firms’ underlying motives for investment in the area. Evidence suggests that the phenomenon is broader than official statistics would indicate: Italian firms often set up subsidiaries without formal or direct capital control. As integration in the area is a recent phenomenon, it is not surprising that the main determinants of Italian investments are cost reductions and new market opportunities, typical of initial stages of penetration in a foreign country. What is interesting in this context is that local entrepreneurs regard efficiency-seeking investments as profitable only if they are connected to market-seeking goals. We find evidence also of localized industrial development stimulated by the entry of Italian firms which is activating subcontracting relationships with existing firms in the host region.Southeast Europe-Italy integration,case study,foreign direct investment