Comparative Assessment of the Income and Productivity Convergence of Albania and Western Balkans to the European Union

Ermelinda Xhaja () and Ermelinda Meksi ()
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Ermelinda Xhaja: University of Tirana
Ermelinda Meksi: University of Tirana

Chapter Chapter 35 in Emerging Issues in the Global Economy, 2018, pp 395-405 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This paper aims to look into the convergence model of Albania within the Western Balkans and toward the European Union. The Western Balkan countries are stuck in transition as their rate of economic growth has slowed substantially compared to the pre-global crisis period. Thus the economic convergence evidenced in the convergence of incomes and productivity is put into question. The variables that are used in the study are the income per capita, growth rate, and income per worker in the Western Balkan countries and EU. The data are measured for the period 1995–2015 in order to build a sound data series for trend analysis. In the paper, it is concluded that the Balkan countries are converging among themselves and toward the EU, but the speed of convergence is moderated with the hit of global crises, and the recovery seems still difficult to the rate of precrises. The main question remains on promoting productivity of their growth factors for sustainable growth and competitiveness in the wider European market. The region has a number of political and geographical advantages and unexploited potentials to stimulate further investments and thus growth.

Keywords: Economic convergence; Economic growth; Structural convergence; Productivity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:prbchp:978-3-319-71876-7_35

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-71876-7_35

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