Forgotten status of many: Kosovo's economy under the UN and the EU administration

After eight years of the United Nations (UN) administration, Kosovo again is returned to the international centre of attention - this time about her future political status. The document presented by the UN Special Envoy for Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari, proposed an ambiguous status settlement that is portrayed and understood as a supervised independence. Whatever expectations from political perspective will be, that is of secondary importance for this paper - the aim is in Kosovo's aggregate uncertainty about her economic sustainability, namely to investigate the relationship between fragile institutions, poor governance and weak economic performance. With a foreign aid since the second half of 1999 amounting to 22 billion, Kosovo still has massive unemployment and widespread poverty. How the UN's largest experiment ever undertaken, involving considerable resources and long time, left the economy in such a poor state? --Kosovo,UNMIK,Provisional Institutions of Self-government,poverty,political status settlement

Tax reform in emerging transition: Is Kosovo’s Government and NGOs mathematical economics rational?

Tax reform in small emerging democracies is difficult to measure what effects is likely to produce due to countries’ aggregate political and economic vulnerabilities. If both are taken as remaining relatively stable, then it is easier to discuss what impact the reform introduced may have in the economy and her stakeholders. In absence of a monetary policy, the Government of Kosovo in mid-2008 adopted the changes in tax rates taking effect from January 2009, with the aim to foster economic growth and improve business competitiveness at least in the regional market of the Balkans. This article critically assesses the proposed and approved changes by the Government that were in line with the proposals made by business community Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), and concludes that this tax reform is not well thought-out and properly analyzed to expect the benefits for which it was too optimistically hoped for, especially in relation to key stakeholders such as the Government’s budget, business development, and consumers.Kosovo, Ministry of Economy and Finance, tax reform, business associations, value added tax

Self-management socialism compared to social market economy in transition: Are there convergent paths?

Despite considerable and miscellaneous research in transition economics, some of its aspects have yet to evolve and come up with a more standard theory. After the initial systemic change in two versions of socialist systems - centralist in the former Soviet Union (FSU), and self-management in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), and rush towards a market-based system, setbacks in economic performance were marked by a sharp decline in living standards for the majority of population. A soar in socio-economic trauma during economic transformation from self-management to a (full) market economy along with civil wars, has mostly hit the middle class bringing them around the poverty line. Although economic recovery and growth picked up after a decade of downturn to reach the pre-transition level, the rise in income differentiation has not changed much the situation of poverty which in the former SFRY countries (except Slovenia) remains widespread, whereas it has made a tiny minority better-off, namely private entrepreneurs, politicians and professionals. Yet, this polarisation may be natural after ownership transformation and privatisation in the short to medium run. But among majority who slide towards poverty, there were, and still are, nostalgic attitudes about economic welfare in the previous system. The pressure for more socially-oriented economic reforms has mainly come from this group, though policy makers too, were aware that this approach which is necessary to fix structural-adjustment problems, is more likely to be successful at aggregate level for sustainable and long term development, ceteris paribus. By looking back at the previous system and exploring current social and economic reforms in the former SFRY, this paper aims at investigating common points and theoretical convergences between self-management socialism and social market economy (SMEC) in line with the challenge of economic development. --SFRY,self-management socialism,transition,social market economy,development

Self-management socialism compared to social market economy in transition: Are there convergent paths?

Despite considerable and miscellaneous research in transition economics, some of its aspects have yet to evolve and come up with a more standard theory. After the initial systemic change in two versions of socialist systems - centralist in the former Soviet Union (FSU), and self-management in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), and rush towards a market-based system, setbacks in economic performance were marked by a sharp decline in living standards for the majority of population. A soar in socio-economic trauma during economic transformation from self-management to a (full) market economy along with civil wars, has mostly hit the middle class bringing them around the poverty line. Although economic recovery and growth picked up after a decade of downturn to reach the pre-transition level, the rise in income differentiation has not changed much the situation of poverty which in the former SFRY countries (except Slovenia) remains widespread, whereas it has made a tiny minority better-off, namely private entrepreneurs, politicians and professionals. Yet, this polarisation may be natural after ownership transformation and privatisation in the short to medium run. But among majority who slide towards poverty, there were, and still are, nostalgic attitudes about economic welfare in the previous system. The pressure for more socially-oriented economic reforms has mainly come from this group, though policy makers too, were aware that this approach which is necessary to fix structural-adjustment problems, is more likely to be successful at aggregate level for sustainable and long term development, ceteris paribus. By looking back at the previous system and exploring current social and economic reforms in the former SFRY, this paper aims at investigating common points and theoretical convergences between self-management socialism and social market economy (SMEC) in line with the challenge of economic development

Forgotten status of many: Kosovo's economy under the UN and the EU administration

After eight years of the United Nations (UN) administration, Kosovo again is returned to the international centre of attention - this time about her future political status. The document presented by the UN Special Envoy for Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari, proposed an ambiguous status settlement that is portrayed and understood as a supervised independence. Whatever expectations from political perspective will be, that is of secondary importance for this paper - the aim is in Kosovo's aggregate uncertainty about her economic sustainability, namely to investigate the relationship between fragile institutions, poor governance and weak economic performance. With a foreign aid since the second half of 1999 amounting to €22 billion, Kosovo still has massive unemployment and widespread poverty. How the UN's largest experiment ever undertaken, involving considerable resources and long time, left the economy in such a poor state

What Marketing Strategy for Sacred Geometry to Make Archaeotourism Work?

Archaeotourism can take place in two main forms i on site or locations of discoveries and ii assembling the discoveries into museums or exhibitions Given that the first option in Kosovo has not proven viable a marketing strategy went on to be explored for the latter in broad terms by taking into account Bronze Age artifacts with engravings from the sacred geometry discovered by the Author of this paper during 2013-14 which were the work of ancient Illyrians Yet the results suggesta third alternative of archaeotourism development and that is the interest by respective foreign scholars institutions and foundations by using Long Tail marketing approach The paper interprets some astrological metaphors of sacred geometry in literature review but draws conclusions from archeological discoverie

The geopolitics in the spheres of influence, domination, and overrule: towards a new world order or disorder?

The term New World Order (NWO) appears to get a more comprehensive meaning from the most recent evolution of dramatic events in various parts of the world. Officially, there is still no any unified approach how it may look like, upon which pillars it will be built, and how it would operate. More assumptions can be heard by ordinary people than by those who are believed to have considerable impact on the flows of this outspoken order. Unlike great revolutionary changes of the past, e.g. the beginning of Industrial Revolution, the rise and fall of Communism, the emerge and the end of the Cold War, among others, that had a starting and ending point ranging from dates to years and at least decades, there is no any consensual answer to the question about NWO neither when, how, by what it has begun, nor if it is in the process and what its expectations are. The reason behind this uncertainty may be found in complex international circumstances that are difficult to be controlled, just as the two world wars were unpredictable in their course and outcomes. Large scale revolutionary experiments worldwide intended for an order often involve a great disorder. The Axis Powers had their own expectations at the beginning of World War Two (WWII) based on the plans they were implementing and got something very disappointing in the end. That is what may turn later to the current euphoria on the NWO. If in this article we are unable to prophesize what this order will bring about, the aim is to critically review the events in world geopolitics to show that it is a matter of the spheres of influence and struggle for domination, which many wrongly consider to be an agenda of the NWO

Social Market Economy as an Alternative to the Washington Consensus in the Western Balkans

Nearly three decades after the beginning of transition from communism to democracy and open market economy in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), the Washington Consensus in general received the mark as a failure. While the experience from the CEE apart from common results showed considerable variations, the package of reforms is questioned even in the long-term perspective, especially for producing high social costs. Recent mass emigrations from the Western Balkans due to poor economic conditions and from the Middle East, have brought to attention the credibility of exporting or imposing the American type of democracy, and with it, the Washington Consensus as a model of economic transformation and development. But is there an alternative? It already existed even before the systemic changes in CEE began, and can be more preferable even now to the countries that have to undergo a considerable economic transformation. That is the social market economy, which still can be applied in some countries that have lagged behind in transition. This paper explores the perspective of introducing and implementing such a model in the Western Balkan countries, with a reference to the role by the state, taxes, income distribution, and business development

A Nation’s Mission Of Housing and Consumption: An Analysis of Household Budget Survey Expenditures in Kosovo

In digital and artificial intelligence intensification era where up to 2/3 of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is generated from the service sector, nearly ¾ of household budget is spent by the Kosovo families in food and accomodation. This is a larger and greater share than in the neighboring countries to which Kosovo approximately has the same level of incomes per capita. At the same time, for some years in a row, spending for education until the recent available data has not exceded 1%, showing another difference with the neighbring countries in volume as well as in total share of household budget expenditures. Using the secondary data from the Statistical Office of Kosovo on household survey of family economies, this paper finds that the ongoing high share of income spending in food and accomodation at the expense of other sectors becomes a source of innefficiency in social and state organization, plunges the households into unnafordable debts, and may even give rise to corruptive behvior. In addition, the paper goes beoynd numerical economic indicators by interpreting the mentality of the families and the population in large scale, which consider much of their life mission only through available incomes for food and housing (contruction of houses and buildings) as a wealth. Furthermore, this mentality of perceived wealth is often used as a comparative indicator of pride while ridiculing the others who are not at a similar level with them, regardless that the latter may have a different view of their own life style and mission. Another specific of this paper making it different from the buld of studies in this respect (on household budget surveys) is that, while the rest of the studies usually address economic recommendations to the government, the recommedantions from the findings of this study address recommendations to the population, because the government, state and public institutions are a product of this people whose primary life objective is in buildings and consumption on individual, family and clanish bases