Strategic privatisation: Its achievements and challenges

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Albania, financial management in the education system: Higher education

Recently, in Albania, the debate on the autonomy of higher education is growing. The debate is twofold; one is related with the problems of financing the higher education and the other in the choice of financial management system. The main resource of financing education and also higher education in Albania is the government, which means taxpayers, and a small part of the financing is coming by the tuition fees. In the case of Albania, when the GDP per capita is still low, the level of poverty is reasonable high; it is difficult for the students to afford the cost of higher education service. In the mean time the pressure from universities to increase the share of expenditures in higher education is pushing policymakers to think about the philosophy of the management of higher education in Albania. This paper is a thought-provoking paper that will try to help the stakeholders to find the best philosophy of financing and management of higher education. We agree that financial autonomy of universities is a superior system of the management of higher education but jumping to this system with the existing infrastructure, it is likely to fail. --Albania,Higher Education Management

Threshold effect of public debt on economic growth: An empirical analysis in the European transition countries

U radu se empirijski ispituje i procjenjuje odnos između javnog duga i gospodarskog rasta u europskim tranzicijskim zemljama od 1995. do 2017. (uključujući obje godine). Cilj ovog istraživanja je identificirati i odrediti granične vrijednosti ili opseg u kojem udio javnog duga u BDP-u ima pozitivan učinak na gospodarski rast, a nakon kojeg udio duga u BDP-u negativno utječe na gospodarski rast u tranzicijskim zemljama Europe. U tu svrhu primjenjujemo različite ekonometrijske modele i tehnike kao što su objedinjeni OLS (metoda najmanjih kvadrata), modeli fiksnih i slučajnih učinaka, GMM (generalizirana metoda momenata) i bootstrap metoda kako bismo odredili granične vrijednosti udjela javnog duga u BDP-u. Nalazi dokazuju opću teoretsku pretpostavku da na niskoj razini udio javnog duga u BDP-u pozitivno utječe na gospodarski rast, dok nakon određene prekretnice prevladava negativan učinak na rast u tranzicijskim zemljama Europe. Uz to, rezultati pokazuju različite razine graničnih vrijednosti udjela javnog duga u BDP-u među europskim tranzicijskim zemljama. Do sada je potvrđeno da su granične vrijednosti duga prema BDP-u za manje razvijene tranzicijske zemlje niže u odnosu na razvijenije zemlje Europe. Stoga rezultati pružaju dodatne informacije europskim tranzicijskim zemljama, čija je razina duga iznad praga vrijednosti, kako bi smanjile svoj javni dug i poduprle dugoročne izglede gospodarskog rasta.The paper empirically examines and assess the relationship between public debt and economic growth in the European transition countries from 1995 to 2017 (both years inclusive). The study attempts to identify and determine the threshold values or the extent to which public debt-to-GDP ratio has a positive effect on economic growth, and beyond which point debt-to-GDP ratio has a negative effect on the economic growth in European transition countries. For this purpose, we employ different econometric models and techniques such as pooled OLS, fixed and random effects models, GMM (Generalized Method of Moments), and bootstrap method in order to determine threshold values of public debt-to-GDP ratio. The findings prove the general theoretical assumption that at low level of public debt- to-GDP ratio has a positive effect on economic growth, whereas beyond a certain turning point a negative effect on growth prevails in the European transition countries. In addition, the results show different levels of threshold values of public debt-to-GDP ratio among European transition countries. So far, it is confirmed that for less developed European transition countries the threshold values of the debt-to-GDP is lower than for more developed ones in the sample. Therefore, the findings provide additional information for European transition countries, which have debt levels above the threshold values, as to reduce their public debt and to support long-term economic growth prospects