The article analyses the joint determinants of inequality and growth with a special emphasis on public spending structures in transition. The mutual benefit of low real interest rates, to both equity and economic development is a major result of this paper. In terms of public spending items we...

The article analyses the issue of economic inequality in the transition economies of Central, East and Southeast Europe. It consists of a literature review and a descriptive analysis as well as an econometric modelling exercise. In the fi rst part we point at the fact that the rise in income...

This paper aims to identify formal and informal institutional factors in customs procedures and their impact on the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) involved in international trade in Kosovo based on a questionnaire conducted in 2009. The econometric findings show that...

In this paper, first we investigate to which extent the real exchange rate is distorted in the 7 Southeast European countries (SEECs), and compare the findings with other countries in Europe. Second, we shed light into possible determinants and effects of the real exchange rate distortions....

Based on the theoretical foundations as described in Bhagwati (1974), illegal trade can be defined to consist of faked invoicing on the one hand and smuggling on the other hand. While in the first case at least one of the trading partner countries has recorded a trade flow either as an export or...

In this paper, the global simulation model (GSIM) by Francois and Hall (2003) for the analysis of global, regional and unilateral trade policy changes was applied to the countries of Southeast Europe in order to measure the costs of protection in the region. The model is a multiregion, imperfect...

This paper presents and applies a new indicator of the size of the shadow economy based on the estimation of tax compliance in the household sector. These estimates are performed for the countries of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe using 2001 data. Estimates of income declaration rates...

This paper looks at the experience of South East Europe which – for the purposes of this paper – includes the former states of Yugoslavia except for Slovenia (i.e. Croatia, Serbia-Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Macedonia), Albania, and the two EU candidate countries, Bulgaria and...

Similar to other countries in the European periphery, Kosovo lacks competitiveness, has adopted the euro as its national currency and started an integration process with the EU. The next milestone in this process is the signing of an FTA with the EU. We simulate full trade liberalization vis...

This paper seeks to analyse the state of rail and road transport infrastructure in the Southeast European Countries (SEECs). The paper is structured in four parts. Part one summarises theoretical findings and international empirical evidence on the theory of the ‘Big Push’, on the issues of...