International Capital Flows and Economic Growth in CESEE: A Structural Break in the Great Recession

This paper deals with real effects of bank-intermediated international capital flows to 11 CESEE coun-tries 1997-2012. The purpose is to check for structural breaks in the short-run relationship between bank-intermediated capital flows and output growth since 2008. The relationship is investigated in dynamic panel growth regression framework. Results show that there was no systematic relationship between international banks\u27 exposures and countries\u27 growth rates at normal times. The relationship turned negative at times of crisis, implying that international banks did not cause or propagate negative output shocks in the period of great recession. Moreover, banks may have alleviated intensity of nega-tive shocks by resisting reduction of country exposures in line with contracting GDP. Asset and liability side of local banks\u27 balance sheets are separated by different kinds of capital and liquidity buffers. So, effects of lending in local credit markets on GDP growth should be looked at separately from international component on the liability side of banks’ balance sheets. When interna-tional banks\u27 exposures are replaced by local credit portfolios in panel growth regressions, the results change: (1) there is a positive relationship between credit to households and output growth: moreover, strength of positive relationship is magnified at times of crisis; (2) positive relationship between cor-porate credit and output growth does not change at times of crisis. Thus, crisis-related household sec-tor deleveraging may be much more costly in terms of output loss, than corporate sector deleveraging. Key policy implication is that maintaining the flow of credit to households has higher importance in combating the crisis in the short run than stimulating the flow of credit to non-financial corporations. Also, crisis-related household sector deleveraging may be much more costly in terms of output loss, than corporate sector deleveraging

Efficiency of public expenditure on education: comparing Croatia with other NMS

Modern economies are becoming more knowledge-intensive and service-oriented, which makes human capital more important than ever for mid-term and long-term growth. Therefore, education, the main channel of governments’ influence on human capital formation, became important research subject in the field of economic growth. This paper examines efficiency of public expenditure on secondary and tertiary education in the New Member States (NMS) in EU ; only efficient government spending can generate adequate returns in terms of contribution to economic growth. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is applied to assess relative technical efficiency of public expenditure on secondary and tertiary education in NMS, with a particular focus on Croatia. Input variables are public expenditure on education per student and as % of total education expenditure, while output variables for secondary education are PISA results and for tertiary education share of unemployed with a tertiary education and Shanghai ranking of leading national universities. The results show high inefficiency of public spending on education in Croatia

Importance of Selection a Method of Reconstruction of Digestive Continuity After Gastrectomy

Introduction: Gastrectomy is one of the most common surgical methods for the treatment of gastric cancer, which basically destroys the mechanism and digestion chemistry. Reconstruction after gastrectomy attempts to optimize the antireflux and nutritive component of the postgastrectomic syndrome.Objective: To determine which reconstructive method after gastrectomy has the optimal synthesis of antireflux and nutritional components.Patients and Methods: 111 patients were treated for gastric malignancies at the Surgical Clinic of the University Clinical Center in Banja Luka, which were operated with the intention of achieving curability.Results: Based on Fisher’s exact probability test there is no statistically significant difference (p> 0.05) in mortality compared to the restoration of digestive continuity after gastrectomy. Reflux oesophagitis is the dominant modality of morbidity in omega-loop reconstruction (p <0.05). There is no statistically significant difference (p> 0.05) in late dumping syndrome in patients relative to individual gastric substitution options. In the Hunt-Lawrence-Rodino pouch reconstruction option, there is no statistically significant difference (p> 0.05) in the participation of individual modalities of meal quantity in relation to the condition before the disease or the modality of the nutritional status. .Conclusion: The results indicate the antireflux component of reconstruction Roux en Y and the advantage of the nutritive component in the loop modification (the creation of the Hunt-Lawrence-Rodino pouch)