Income convergence between Southeast Europe and the European Union

Goran Radosavljeviæ (), Mihajlo Babin (), Miloš Eriæ () and Jelisaveta Lazareviæ ()
Additional contact information
Goran Radosavljeviæ: University Metropolitan, FEFA Faculty, Bulevar Zorana Djindjica 44, 11070 Belgrade, Serbia
Mihajlo Babin: University Metropolitan, FEFA Faculty, Bulevar Zorana Djindjica 44, 11070 Belgrade, Serbia
Miloš Eriæ: University Metropolitan, FEFA Faculty, Bulevar Zorana Djindjica 44, 11070 Belgrade, Serbia
Jelisaveta Lazareviæ: University Metropolitan, FEFA Faculty, Bulevar Zorana Djindjica 44, 11070 Belgrade, Serbia

Zbornik radova Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci/Proceedings of Rijeka Faculty of Economics, 2020, vol. 38, issue 2, 499-519

Abstract: This paper investigates the average gross per capita income convergence of eight Southeast European economies towards the EU average. Our goal is to analyse which factors have driven that convergence in the SEE region and describe convergence paths in the 2000-2018 period, concerning two sub-periods, before and after the economic crisis. We use a combination of parametric and nonparametric methods and a fixed effects linear panel regression with robust standard errors. Results suggest that the EU integration process drove convergence, education level, investment (FDI, private domestic and public investments), and private sector lending, as well as by government expenditures. Economic crisis, unemployment, and inflation were the main factors which have influenced the divergence process. We also concluded that the post-transition growth model dominant in the SEE region, based on an FDI inflow, has not sufficient for income convergence in this region. Private domestic investments are a critical missing factor for faster income convergence.

Keywords: Gross income convergence; Southeast Europe; economic growth; EU integration; panel data analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F43 O11 O47 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.efri.uniri.hr/upload/Zbornik%202_2020/ ... vic_et_al-2020-2.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:rfe:zbefri:v:38:y:2020:i:2:p:499-519

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Zbornik radova Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci/Proceedings of Rijeka Faculty of Economics from University of Rijeka, Faculty of Economics and Business Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Danijela Ujcic ().