Green Taxation in the Western Balkan Countries

Environmental taxation appeared as a reaction to the intense pollution of water, soil and air as a problem that has occupied humanity for centuries. The ultimate goal of green taxation is the protection of the environment and the prevention of environmental pollution, while its intense connection with economic growth and industrial activities of modern humanity can be observed. Green taxation is based on the Polluter-Pays Principle, which implies the requirement that the polluter must bear the costs of preventing, causing and controlling environmental pollution. The purpose of this article is to investigate the state, perspectives and problems of green taxation in the countries of the Western Balkans. While Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and North Macedonia have already made some significant steps towards the introduction of environmental taxation with the aim of accelerating their transition towards a green economy and faster adaptation to the announced Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), Serbia and Albania are still significantly behind them. Due to the lack of key empirical data on green taxation, the rest of the article focuses on North Macedonia and Serbia, where energy taxes play the largest role in environmental taxation, followed by transport and pollution taxes. In NorthMacedonia, a stronger negative correlation between total environmental taxes and registered pollution is observed than in Serbia, indicating that Serbia should pay more attention to these issues if it wants to converge towards EU environmental standards. In the future, the Western Balkan countries will also need to pay much more attention to keeping green statistics, as well as to their general commitment to green issues and problems

Epistemological shell of the econometric findings

The paper is a continuation of the dialogue relating to the study cited as the first item in the reference list to this article. It contains further comments on that study as well as responses to the authors’ reply to the previously given comments, published in a special issue of the Ekonomski anali cited as the second item of the reference list. The principal issue of this exchange is the treatment of previous non-econometric work in the field of macroeconomic interrelationships and of the corresponding changes in the economy of Serbia. The postulate advanced in this text is the same as the one in the previous critical review of the study by Arsić et al. (2005a) and consists in the statement that econometric analysis of empirical characteristics of the Serbian economy should respect and incorporate knowledge accumulated through the use of non-econometric techniques before the study was produced. Econometricians should do that by framing appropriately their maintained hypotheses, by selecting structural specification of the various relations in the model and through interpreting the results obtained in the form of econometric estimates. A number of critical observations are reiterated regarding the way some relations are structurally specified. Among such criticized relations are the model’s production function having imports as the only argument and the import function. Imports are judged as inappropriate in the role of the argument in the production function because they not only contribute to production through technological complementarities but also reduce it through the demand segment of the system, by capturing a good deal of domestic demand and stifling a number of sectors of domestic economy. Imports are financed, among other, by several ephemeral, short-lived sources such as donations, foreign indebtedness and privatization receipts. Imports are therefore not sustainable and their enormous increase within a limited time interval boils down to a destructive blow, to a dangerous shock to the domestic economy similar to the Dutch disease. Critical remarks are also given regarding the import function in which the sum of wages and salaries is adopted as a measure of the aggregate demand

Green Taxation in the Western Balkan Countries

Ultimate goal of environmental taxation is to prevent environmental pollution. Green taxation is based on the Polluter-Pays Principle. The purpose of this lecture is to present the main findings about the state, perspectives and problems of green taxation in the Western Balkan countries (WBCs). While Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and North Macedonia have already made some significant steps towards environmental taxation with the aim of faster adaptation to the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), Serbia and Albania are still significantly behind them. Due to the lack of key empirical data on green taxation, the lecture focuses on North Macedonia and Serbia, where energy taxes play the dominant role, followed by transport and pollution taxes. Unlike North Macedonia, Serbia should pay more attention to pollution problems if it really wants to converge towards EU environmental standards. In the future, the WBCs will also need to pay much more attention to keeping green statistics, as well as to their general commitment to green issues

ANALIZA ELEMENATA I PREPORUKE ZA UNAPRJEĐENJE RAZVOJA SEOSKOG TURIZMA NA PODRUČJU HERCEGOVINE

U radu se istražuje seoski turizam Hercegovine, postojeće stanje, kao i poticajni te ograničavajući elementi razvoja. Temeljni ciljevi istraživanja su identificirati ključne elemente vezane uz koncept razvoja seoskog turizma kao dijela ukupne turističke ponude. Hercegovina raspolaže prirodnim i društvenim atraktivnostima s kojima može razviti poseban, zanimljiv, prihvatljiv, konkurentan i održiv seoski turistički proizvod. Nepostojeća ili neusklađena zakonska regulativa odražava se kao ograničavajući element u razvoju ove vrste turizma na promatranom prostoru. S druge strane, sve veća potražnja za ovakvim oblikom odmora uvjetuje stihijsku i u kadrovskom smislu posebice, potpuno nepripremljenu ponudu domaćih iznajmljivača smještajnih jedinica uključenih u seoski turizam. U radu se kao polazišna osnova koriste sekundarni podatci, koji daju uvid u stvarno stanje seoskog turizma Hercegovine. U svrhu istraživanja glavnih elemenata koji utječu na razvoj seoskog turizma provedeno je anketiranje na području tri županije u Hercegovini. Nastojalo se steći uvid u trenutno stanje seoskog turističkog potencijala, s ciljem davanja prijedloga za razvoj postojećih resursa i stvaranja novih turističkih proizvoda u svrhu poboljšanja ponude

ANALIZA ELEMENATA I PREPORUKE ZA UNAPRJEĐENJE RAZVOJA SEOSKOG TURIZMA NA PODRUČJU HERCEGOVINE

U radu se istražuje seoski turizam Hercegovine, postojeće stanje, kao i poticajni te ograničavajući elementi razvoja. Temeljni ciljevi istraživanja su identificirati ključne elemente vezane uz koncept razvoja seoskog turizma kao dijela ukupne turističke ponude. Hercegovina raspolaže prirodnim i društvenim atraktivnostima s kojima može razviti poseban, zanimljiv, prihvatljiv, konkurentan i održiv seoski turistički proizvod. Nepostojeća ili neusklađena zakonska regulativa odražava se kao ograničavajući element u razvoju ove vrste turizma na promatranom prostoru. S druge strane, sve veća potražnja za ovakvim oblikom odmora uvjetuje stihijsku i u kadrovskom smislu posebice, potpuno nepripremljenu ponudu domaćih iznajmljivača smještajnih jedinica uključenih u seoski turizam. U radu se kao polazišna osnova koriste sekundarni podatci, koji daju uvid u stvarno stanje seoskog turizma Hercegovine. U svrhu istraživanja glavnih elemenata koji utječu na razvoj seoskog turizma provedeno je anketiranje na području tri županije u Hercegovini. Nastojalo se steći uvid u trenutno stanje seoskog turističkog potencijala, s ciljem davanja prijedloga za razvoj postojećih resursa i stvaranja novih turističkih proizvoda u svrhu poboljšanja ponude

IMPROVING BUSINESS COMPETITIVENESS BASED ON MANAGING CREATIVITY SYSTEM

Strong market competition is a prerequisite for new business approaches and the improvement of competitiveness based on the management system and a strategic framework while choosing the interventions which stimulate creativity. The aim of the paper is to point out the role and importance of managing organizational creativity. It is intended to answer the basic research question of whether organizations that successfully manage creativity have a competitive advantage. The creativity implementation in an organizational context depends on a wide range of elements and has a whole new dimension in business that is reflected in the readiness to take risks and apply different creative methods and techniques, especially how (and how successfully) an organization applies the methods of fostering creativity from the establishment of multidisciplinary or diverse teams, rotation of the employees, introducing financial and non-financial stimulations for development of the creativity, and training employees for the development and the interaction of creative ideas. The paper is based on a basic hypothesis that there is a statistically significant difference in achieving the competitive advantage of those companies that use the organizational creativity management system and those which do not. Research results suggest that successful creativity management positively influences the company\u27s competitive advantage. Organizations implementing the creativity management system have a higher level of profit per employee, as well as a higher level of their own profitability. Results of the research suggest that the surveyed companies mostly invest efforts in creativity management. Workplace satisfaction, feeling of job fulfilment and financial incentives all play an important role in encouraging individual creativity. On the other hand, diversity of work groups, sharing of ideas between team members and cooperation with the environment are factors that encourage individual creativity display

NAUTICAL TOURISM

Glavna tema ovog završnog rada je razvoj nautičkog turizma s osvrtom na Republiku Hrvatsku i na Šibensko-kninsku županiju. Svrha rada je definirati pojmove turizma, definirati selektivni turizam, nautički turizam općenito. Turizam je skup odnosa i pojava koje proizilaze iz putovanja i boravka posjetitelja nekog mjesta, ako se tim boravkom ne zasniva stalno prebivalište i ako sa takvim boravkom nije povezana nikakva njihova privredna djelatnost. Prirodni ili atraktivni uvjeti čine osnovnu i polaznu pretpostavku postojanja i razvoja maritimnog i nautičkog turizma određene regije i zemlje. Nautički turizam ima višestoljetnu tradiciju te je često pokretač regionalnog razvoja područja koja imaju visoku stopu depopulacije i nizak standard življenja.The main theme of this final paper is the development of nautical tourism with regard to the Republic of Croatia and the Sibenik region. The purpose of this paper is to define the terms of tourism, define selective tourism, nautical tourism in general. Tourism is a set of relationships and phenomena arising from travel and visit a place, if this area is not based permanent residence and if with such a room is not connected to any of their economic activity. Natural or attractive conditions make primary and the assumption of the existence and development of maritime and nautical certain regions and countries. Yachting has a centuries-old tradition and is often the driving force of regional development areas that have a high rate of depopulation and low standard of living

Dynamical models of phyllotaxis

Filotaksični uzorci javljaju se kod vaskularnih biljaka kada biljka na rastućem vrhu stvara niz sličnih botaničkih elemenata, kao što su listovi, sjemenke, latice ili ljuske. Najčešći ovakav uzorak je onaj u kojem su elementi organizirani u dvije obitelji spirala koje se rotiraju u suprotnim smjerovima. Broj spirala u svakoj od ovih ovitelji su uzastopni brojevi Fibonaccijeva niza u kojem je svaki član suma prethodna dva. U ovom istraživanju razviti ću teorijski dinamički model koji uključuje vremensku evoluciju filotaksičnog uzorka. Pomoću modela pokušati ću odgovoriti na sljedeća fundamentalna pitanja: Zašto je između svih mogućih regularnih spiralnih uzoraka, Fibonaccijeva spirala favorizirana? Koji su ostali uzorci teorijski mogući, te koji su mehanizmi tranzicije između različitih uzoraka?Phyllotaxic patters are generated whenever a vascular plant on its apex produces similar botanical elements like leaves, seeds, florets or shells. The most common pattern is the one in which the elements are organized in two spiral families which rotate in opposite directions. Number of spirals in each of those two families are successive numbers of Fibonacci series in which each number is the sum of the two previous ones. In this research I will develop a theoretical dynamical model which includes time evolution of a phyllotactic pattern. With this model I will try to answer these fundamental questions: Why is, among the all possible general spiral patterns, the one by Fibonacci most favorited? Which patterns are also theoreticaly possible, and what kind of mechanisms of transition are possible among the different patterns

Numerical Analysis of Long Cantilever Beams : Master's Thesis

Konzolne konstrukcije velikih duljina vrlo su vizualno efektne te sve traženije u izvedbi. U ovom radu analizirani su konzolni armirano-betonski nosači duljine 9,75 m. Predložena je roštiljna konstrukcija koja se sastoji od 13 upetih (konzolnih) nosača koji nose tanku tlačnu armirano-betonsku ploču. Radi smanjenja progiba zamišljen je kontrateret izrađen od šupljih sanduka ispunjenih kamenim materijalom. Analiziran je glavni nosač primjenjujući 1D, 2D i 3D diskretizaciju sustava, s osvrtom na utjecaj izbora numeričkih modela uključujući materijalnu nelinearnost te utjecaj dugotrajnih efekata kod betona (puzanje i skupljanje). Rezultati su prikazani kroz dijagrame koji prate ovisnost pomaka i opterećenja te stanje naprezanja u presjecima, a date su i preporuke analize i rješenja za izradu ovakvih nosača.Long cantilever constructions are visually very attractive and therefore more demanded. This Thesis analyses long reinforced cantilever beams length 9,75 m. Proposed structure is beam-and-stringer grid made out of 13 cantilever beams holding a thin slab. To neutralize the deflection we used the counter weight made of hollow crates filled with stone. The central beam has been analyzed through 1D, 2D and 3D system of discretization with special attention to choices of the numerical models, material nonlinearity and long–term effects in concrete (creep and shrinkage). The results are presented by diagrams that track the interrelation between deflections and loads and stresses in sections. Finally, the Thesis gives recommendations for further analysis and solution for building this type of cantilever beams