The Relationship Between Innovation, Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Growth in the Selected EU and EU Candidate Countries

The aim of this paper is to investigate the cause and effect relationship between economic growth, innovation (R&D expenditure) and foreign direct investment (FDI) for the selected EU members (Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia) and EU candidates (North Macedonia, Serbia, and Turkey) for the period 2000 - 2017. Additionally, we analysed innovation by using Summary innovation index, Capacity innovation index, and Global innovation index. All three indexes show that Slovenia is best ranked by innovation. According to Summary innovation index countries such as Bulgaria, Romania and North Macedonia are “modest innovator” countries, while Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Turkey, and Croatia belong to “moderate innovator” group of countries. According to Capacity for innovation index, Serbia shows the lowest capacity for innovation, although a considerable growth of this index has been recorded since 2012. Global innovation index shows that Serbia and North Macedonia have the lowest values of this index. The results obtained by using Granger causality test reveal that a two-way relationship exists between economic growth and FDI, economic growth and innovation, and FDI and innovation

A comparative analysis of development in Southeast European countries

There are different kinds of indicators which measure levels of development. The use of varying methods could alter the ranking of a particular country. In this paper, Southeast European countries are ranked according to the World Bank, the UNDP and the I-distance method. The aim of the paper is to provide a comparison between the ranking results obtained with those methods for the period 2007–2012. The principal objective of the study is the ranking of SEE countries using the I-distance technique – a multivariate statistical method for ranking entities – and to discover whether this method gives a better ranking of countries than income per capita and the HDI. To answer this question, similar variables of economic development are used within the research methods. Due to the observed period, some government finance variables are also included. Despite certain limitations, such as lack of data for SEE countries, the results show that the ranks of countries are highly similar regardless of the method used. Nevertheless, there are some differences in the countries’ rankings in some years: there are small differences from year to year both in terms of HDI and GNI per capita. However, the I-distance method shows greater differences between countries. First published online 26 January 2017

The Role of Foreign Direct Investment, Energy and Pollution in Obtaining Sustainable Economic Development

Developing countries have encountered the issues of economic development and reducing pollution that need to be resolved to achieve sustainable development. However, this topic has not been widely explored. Since obtaining sustainable economic development is a priority, the nexus between foreign direct investment (FDI), trade openness (TO), final energy consumption (FEC), capital (K), income, and pollution (carbon emission) has been investigated in this paper. The research questions deal with the existence of the long-run, short-run and causality relationship between the selected variables. The paper aims to investigate these relations in Serbia during 1995-2018 by applying the autoregressive distributed lag model as the most commonly used and suitable co-integration model. The results present that FDI and TO will increase gross domestic product (GDP), while pollution will decrease it in the long-run. The existence of a short-run causality from FDI and TO to GDP is confirmed. The Granger causality test reveals that FDI has a unidirectional relationship to GDP, carbon emission, TO, and FEC. Furthermore, GDP, carbon emission and FEC have a unidirectional relation to TO. These results indicate that policies should combine FDI promotion and TO, with supervision of FDI effects on carbon emission to obtain sustainable economic development

Scrutinizing the Smart City Index: a multivariate statistical approach

Koncept pametnog grada često se obrađuje, ali još nije postignuta konzistentna definicija. Ipak, svaki je opis gotovo uvijek usmjeren na njegovu tehnološku komponentu, politike održivog razvoja i omogućavanje visokih kapaciteta za učenje i inovacije. Osim toga, pametni grad ima za cilj povezivanje ljudi, informacija i drugih gradskih elemenata koristeći najsuvremenije tehnologije. Kao rezultat, stvara se održivi, zeleniji grad, potiče konkurentna i inovativna trgovina i povećava opća kvaliteta života.Integriranim prikazom pametnog grada ističe se da ne djeluje izolirano, te stoga, svaki podsustav grada treba razvijati svoju pametnu komponentu. Širok raspon rangiranja koristi se za određivanje pametnosti gradova mapiranjem prednosti i nedostataka svakog analiziranog grada. Kao način integriranja različitih pokazatelja u jednu vrijednost koja će predstavljati rang, najčešće se koristi složeni indeksni pristup.Ipak, složeni indeksi najčešće se formiraju primjenom pristupa jednakih pondera, što se u trenutnoj literaturi žestoko kritizira. U ovom radu pokušavamo pružiti dodanu vrijednost indeksu Smart City primjenom statističkog post-hoc I-distance pristupa. Postupak nam omogućuje osvjetljavanje pitanja osjetljivosti ranga gradova. Primjena post-hoc I-distance definira pokazatelje koji su najvažniji za postupak rangiranja što gradskim donositeljima odluka omogućava da poboljšaju svoje poslovanje, s naglaskom na upravo te pokazatelje.The smart city represents a frequently elaborated concept which however comes short in delivering a consistent definition. Nevertheless, almost every description has always been oriented to its technological component, sustainable development policies, and enabling high capacities for learning and innovation. Moreover, the smart city aims at connecting people, information and other city elements using state-of-the-art technologies. As a result, it creates a sustainable, greener city, pushes forward competitive and innovative commerce, and increases overall life quality. The integrated view of a smart city underlines it does not operate in isolation, which is why every subsystem of a city needs to develop its smart component. A wide range of rankings is used to determine the smartness of cities by mapping out the pros and cons of each analysed city. As the way to integrate various indicators into one value which will represent the rank, a composite index approach is most frequently used. Still, composite indexes are usually formed using the equal weight approach, which is heavily criticised in current literature. In this paper, we try to provide added value to the Smart City Index by implementing the statistical post hoc I-distance approach. The procedure enables us to shed some additional light on the issue of sensitivity of cities’ rank. The application of post hoc I-distance defines indicators which are most significant for the ranking process. It consequently empowers city decision-makers to improve their performance, with a focus on those particular indicators

Digitalizacija i održivo poslovanje u zemljama JIE

U radu se razmatra značaj digitalizacije i održivog poslovanja za povećanje konkurentosti preduzeća. Ova dva faktora predstavljaju novu paradigmu poslovanja od koje sve više preduzeća ima brojne koristi. U zemljama Jugoistočne Evrope, preduzeća inteziviraju upotrebu novih tehnologija. Ovo se posebno može uočiti u učešću preduzeća koje vrše prodaju putem e-trgovine i koja zapošljavaju IKT stručnjake. Ovaj trend nije prisutan u svim posmatranim zemljama. Srbija i Hrvatska ostvaruju veoma dobre rezultate po pitanju ostvarene prodaje putem interneta i učešća IKT stručnjaka u preduzećima, dok Severna Makedonija i Bugarska zaostaju. Za posmatrane zemlje izuzetno je važno da povećaju učešće vrednosti prodaje putem e-trgovine u ukupnom prometu. Slovenija i Hrvatska ostvaruju odlične rezultate po pitanju učešća preduzeća koja primenjuju nove tehnologije i to bolje od prosečnih vrednosti za EU kao celinu. Ključne reči: Digitalizacija, održivo poslovanje, konkurentnost, Jugoistočna Evropa

Book review of: Who Gets What ― and Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design by Alvin E. Roth

Book review of: Who Gets What ― and Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design by Alvin E. Rot

Sustainable Economic Development and Digital Progress of EU Countries

Global economic trends are shifting steadily in the direction of digital and sustainable economy, so countries throughout the world strive to achieve sustainable development along with digital change. Like the rest of the world, the EU economies face significant challenges related to new technologies, digital and sustainable economic development. The relationship between digitalization and sustainable development has been the subject of recent research. This paper’s objective is to demonstrate the success of the European Union in digitalization and sustainable economic development. The paper uses regression to analyze the link between the DESI index and the variables of sustainable economic development in the EU countries for the period 2016–2020. The results show that all the variables are positive and statistically significant at the 1% level, except adjusted net savings (ANS) which is insignificant. Additionally, the DESI index will rise by 0.794%, 0.264%, and 9.602% respectively if income per capita, renewable energy, and urbanization grow by 1%. The variables of sustainable economic development have influence on digital performance of the EU economies

Achieving Sustainable Development and Knowledge-Based Economy in Serbia

Sustainable development and knowledge-based economy are the two concepts that are being conducted by the majority of countries in the world, including the EU member countries and the EU candidates. The aim of this paper is to analyse the progress in achieving sustainable development and knowledge-based economy in Serbia, a EU candidate country. A comparative analysis of conducting sustainable development and knowledge- based economy has been performed between Serbia and the EU(28). The focus is on economic aspects of these two concepts. The results differ. The goals that were initially set for achieving sustainable development and knowledge-based economy were either not reached or were hindered due to the global economic crisis and redirected towards solving more urgent economic issues. This is particularly noticeable in Serbia, which is carrying out economic reforms in order to achieve economic progress and meet the requirements for getting access to the EU

СТАЊЕ И ПЕРСПЕКТИВЕ ЕЛЕКТРОПРИВРЕДЕ СРБИЈЕ

Conduction and implementation of reforms in the energy sector are prerequisites for the achievement and increase of economic growth and development of R.Serbia. Electric power industry has a significant role in the achievement of economic development. Serbia is considered for the leader in this area in the Balkans, therefore it is necessary to make the transformation and changes in this sector. The reform process is focused on the price policy, investments in new and reconstruction of old capacities, as well as development and liberalisation of electricity market. Due to this reason assessment of the state and further perspectives of development Electric power industry of Serbia is of special importance

A Review of Economic and Environment Indicators and Energy Efficiency: Evidence from the EU and Serbia

Energy is a globally important factor of production - the growth of population and income increase energy consumption, so there is an urge to decrease it. However, there are different ways to reduce energy consumption, and one of them is energy efficiency. The aim of the paper is to give a theoretical review of energy efficiency and its benefits. The purpose of the paper is the analysis of economic and environmental indicators and energy efficiency in EU27 (after 2020) and Serbia. The trends of energy efficiency, GDP per capita and GHG emission are shown for the observed countries. The European and Serbian policies and targets for energy efficiency are presented and also the level these countries have reached the set targets. In order to see the relationship between energy efficiency, GDP per capita and GHG emission, the correlation among all variables is applied. The results show that energy efficiency is higher in EU27 than in Serbia. Even though Serbia had energy efficiency increase during the observed period (1995-2018), it lags behind the EU27. However, there is a positive correlation between energy efficiency and GDP and GHG emission in both EU27 and Serbia