The costs and benefits of Slovenian independence

One year is not enough time to draw conclusions about independent Slovenia's prospects, and it may not be easy for other countries to copy Slovenia's model. Slovenia is ethnically homogeneous, culturally and historically compatible with the West, and near (and somewhat protected from)friendly Western neighbors. And despite sharp political divisions, it has shown a political will to fight counterproductive redistribution. Still, Slovenia's experience may offer insights for other new post-Communist economies. Despite the obvious short-run costs of the brutal breakup of Yogoslavia's federal structure, Slovenia's medium- and long-run economic prospects are fairly good. Declining trade with the rest of Yugoslavia dims Slovenia's short-run prospects. But in the long run it may benefit from greater macroeconomic stability, freedom from subsidizing less-developed regions of Yugoslavia, and speedier integration with Western Europe. What has happened to Slovenia does not prove that separation necessarily improves welfare. In fact, had forces amenable to rational debate and compromise prevailed in Yogoslavia, Slovenia's secession might have decreased welfare. Slovenia's experience suggests that secession from a larger entity that is wrecked by political instability may produce economic benefits. Local autonomy gives Slovenia a chance to introduce a new currency and achieve macroeconomic stability, for example. This can work only if the local political constellation is not controlled by coalitions bent on preserving the old system of redistribution and is not hampered by major political divisions that paralyze decisionmaking. In short, secession can be beneficial if the new state is more homogeneous and functions more coherently than the old state. Not all newly independent states would face the costs Slovenia has faced. In the Czech-Slovak breakup, for example, political risk and refugee costs (or rather, the costs of migration) were much smaller than in Slovenia. Indeed, the Czech republic may also expect short-term costs but long-term gains.Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Stabilization,Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Theory&Research,National Governance

Uporaba programskega okolja R v prostorskih analizah

R is a powerful and increasingly popular programming language with strong graphical and presentation features and large expanŽdability. Although primarily intended for statistical computing, R has paved its way to the field of GIS through the development of specialized extension packages. It offers a wide range of functions at all GIS levels: data acquisition, data manipulation, graphical reŽpresentation and quantitative analysis. The paper presents R as an open source alternative to the existing commercial GIS software. It proves especially well when advanced quantitative methods on spatial data are needed (e.g. spatial modelling). We demonstrate R capabilities through spatial analysis of forest area in Snežnik (South Slovenia), where the possibilities of data import, conversion and export into various GIS formats and possibilities of geostatistics, spatial modelling and spatial visualization are demonstrated.R je zmogljiv in vse bolj priljubljen programski jezik s poudarjenimi grafičnimi in predstavitvenimi funkcijami ter veliko možnostjo razširitve. Čeprav primarno namenjen statističnemu računanju, si je R z razvojem specialnih razširitvenih knjižnic utrl pot tudi na področje GIS. Omogoča široknabor funkcij na vseh ravneh GIS: na nivoju zajemanja podatkov, na nivoju manipulacije podatkov ter na nivoju grafičnih predstavitev in kvantitativnih analiz. V prispevku predstavljamo R kot odprtokodno alternativoobstoječim komercialnim GIS- orodjem, ki se izkaže še posebno tedaj, kadar želimo na prostorskih podatkih upoŽrabiti zahtevnejše kvantitativne metode (npr. prostorska modeliranja). Prikazujemo ga na primeru prostorskih analiz gozdŽnega območja na Snežniku (južna Slovenija), kjer demonstriramo možnosti vnosa podatkov, transformiranja in shranjevanja različnih GIS-podlag, možnosti geostatistike, prostorskega modeliranja in prostorske vizualizacije

On the use of R programming language in the analyses of spatial data

R is a powerful and increasingly popular programming language with strong graphical and presentation features and large expanŽdability. Although primarily intended for statistical computing, R has paved its way to the field of GIS through the development of specialized extension packages. It offers a wide range of functions at all GIS levels: data acquisition, data manipulation, graphical reŽpresentation and quantitative analysis. The paper presents R as an open source alternative to the existing commercial GIS software. It proves especially well when advanced quantitative methods on spatial data are needed (e.g. spatial modelling). We demonstrate R capabilities through spatial analysis of forest area in Snežnik (South Slovenia), where the possibilities of data import, conversion and export into various GIS formats and possibilities of geostatistics, spatial modelling and spatial visualization are demonstrated

Uporaba programskega okolja R v prostorskih analizah

R is a powerful and increasingly popular programming language with strong graphical and presentation features and large expanŽdability. Although primarily intended for statistical computing, R has paved its way to the field of GIS through the development of specialized extension packages. It offers a wide range of functions at all GIS levels: data acquisition, data manipulation, graphical reŽpresentation and quantitative analysis. The paper presents R as an open source alternative to the existing commercial GIS software. It proves especially well when advanced quantitative methods on spatial data are needed (e.g. spatial modelling). We demonstrate R capabilities through spatial analysis of forest area in Snežnik (South Slovenia), where the possibilities of data import, conversion and export into various GIS formats and possibilities of geostatistics, spatial modelling and spatial visualization are demonstrated.R je zmogljiv in vse bolj priljubljen programski jezik s poudarjenimi grafičnimi in predstavitvenimi funkcijami ter veliko možnostjo razširitve. Čeprav primarno namenjen statističnemu računanju, si je R z razvojem specialnih razširitvenih knjižnic utrl pot tudi na področje GIS. Omogoča široknabor funkcij na vseh ravneh GIS: na nivoju zajemanja podatkov, na nivoju manipulacije podatkov ter na nivoju grafičnih predstavitev in kvantitativnih analiz. V prispevku predstavljamo R kot odprtokodno alternativoobstoječim komercialnim GIS- orodjem, ki se izkaže še posebno tedaj, kadar želimo na prostorskih podatkih upoŽrabiti zahtevnejše kvantitativne metode (npr. prostorska modeliranja). Prikazujemo ga na primeru prostorskih analiz gozdŽnega območja na Snežniku (južna Slovenija), kjer demonstriramo možnosti vnosa podatkov, transformiranja in shranjevanja različnih GIS-podlag, možnosti geostatistike, prostorskega modeliranja in prostorske vizualizacije