Purpose Western Balkans countries (WBCs) have a great potential for growth and among the main focuses of entrepreneurial activity is small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) sector. Moreover, SMEs are believed to contribute in the economy by stimulating employment, increasing production, transferring new technologies and so forth. Due to this crucial importance the purpose of this paper is to analyze the barriers that hinder labor productivity (LP) of SMEs in WBCs. Design/methodology/approach The research method employed to discover solution to this research problem is quantitative analysis by using survey data of World Bank. Research methodology applied in this paper found it correctly to use cross-sectional data and conducts a factor analysis and ordinary least square (OLS) regression as the best procedure for this type of data. Findings The results show variability for different countries access to finance, tax rates, tax administration, corruption, inadequately educated labor force, competition in informal sector and political instability appear to be some of the main obstacles that are negatively affecting LP of SMEs in WBC. Research limitations/implications Although this study is the first to analyze all the possible obstacles for the six WBCs using factor analysis better results could be obtained with larger samples and panel data. Practical implications The policy implications of this study suggest that in order to boost productivity of these firms there must be a reduction of the barriers and improvement of business environment. Although, this study is the first to analyze all the possible obstacles for the six WBCs using factor analysis and contributes as insight to policy makers, better results could be obtained with larger samples using panel data. Originality/value Differently from previous studies this work uses explanatory factor analysis and method OLS to estimate regressions for all barriers in each country of Western Balkan region.

The ultimate goal of central banks, worldwide, is to promote the foundations for sustainable economic growth. In the case of developing economies, in particular, such objective requires time, huge efforts, attention, and plenty of resources in order to be accomplished to the fullest degree. This paper thoroughly investigates key factors affecting Balkan countries’ economic development (as measured by gross domestic product (GDP) growth), focusing especially on the impact of remittances. The analysis was done over an 18-year time interval (2000–2017) and builds on 144 observations. The data figures were retrieved from the World Bank database while two dummies were created to test the impact of the last financial crisis (2008–2012). Econometric tools were employed to carry out a broad analysis on the interdependencies that exist and, in particular, to determine the role of remittance income on growth. The vector auto regressive model was estimated using EViews software, and was used to come up with relevant insights. Empirical findings suggest the following: population growth, remittances, and labor force participation are insignificant factors for sustainable growth. On the other hand, previous levels of GDP, trade, and foreign direct investments (FDIs) appear to be relevant for the predictor. This research provides up-to-date conclusions, which can be considered during the decision-making process of central banks, as well as by government policymakers.

With rapid globalization, firm internationalization has become an important corporate strategy as well as the necessity for the survival and growth of the business. In the last decade, there has been a growth in literature that studies this field, especially in emerging countries. However, there exists a gap in the literature in CEE countries. This study aims to fill that gap by conducting an analysis and providing insight regarding the factors that lead to an increase in firm internationalization in this region. This research paper studies the main determinants that have an impact on the firm internationalization of large companies in CEE countries using panel data empirical methods, such as the random effect model and generalized method of moments (GMM) model for a panel of 50 firms from 11 CEE countries and a time duration of 14 years. This study determines the main factors that positively influence firm internationalization in selected countries. These countries have experienced a radical transition from centrally planned economies to market economies, and although they have experienced economic growth and a rise in productivity, they are still facing several challenges. Therefore, it is important to know what facilitates and helps firms to expand in international markets. The main findings derived from this study show that firm characteristics, such as age, size and corporate performance, have a positive effect on the internationalization process. An increase in age, size and firm performance leads to higher levels of internationalization. Larger and relatively older firms have access to more resources and are more experienced in dealing with the environmental difficulties characteristic of these countries.

This aim of this work is to study the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and trade. FDI is a driving force for economic growth for host countries. The positive effects of FDI are seen in many aspects of the economy. However, the implications of FDI on foreign trade are questionable. Therefore, this study uses a Granger causality technique to test whether the relationship between FDI and foreign trade is complementary or substitutive. The findings of this study indicate that this relationship appears to be complementary, and FDI investment does cause an increase in trade flow in the countries that are taken into consideration. This research aims to make a comparison between the relations of FDI flows of three groups of countries from the European Union (EU)—Romania and Bulgaria, the Visegrád Group and the Euro area—for the period of 2005 to 2019. However, the results indicate that this link between the variables is not yet found for the three group of countries, and further research is required in this aspect. This leads to the conclusion that the FDI impact on foreign trade of the host country depends on the type of investment and absorptive capacity of the receiver, the economic development of host and home countries, and not every type of FDI leads to more trade.

In these last decades, especially after the Russia–Ukraine war, the impact of energy related to issues, such as energy poverty, energy transition, and energy security have been heavily debated. To comprehend the conceptual development of this subject in the academic literature, few studies tackle the problems above by reviewing earlier research on the subject. Inspired by this interest and literature ago in this field, this study aimed to address the past, present, and future advancements of critical issues in this regard. Thus, in this review paper performed during February–April 2023, we employed the PRISMA method selecting and checking the review papers articles indexed in the three databases of Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, and JSTOR. Then, the research was followed by extending it and adding some other articles discovered on the gray literature. After a detailed classification of articles, a total of 2615 review articles were deemed valid for this analysis. The study’s key contributions is the classification of the some cluster themes for the metasynthesis analyses, which point to potential future directions with a special focus on governmental policies to pursue some macrolevel goals concerning energy poverty, energy transition, and energy security in our daily lives.

сPolitical instability is often considered to have a negative influence on economic growth. Hence, the study aims to examine whether instability of the political environment (measured by the political stability in- dex and duration of the chief executive in the office) significantly influences economic growth in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. The methodology used is a fixed effects model for panel data analysis where the dependent variable is the real growth of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. The data covers the period from 2006 to 2016 for 13 CEE countries. Additionally, the study considered other macroeconomic variables, such as investment, inflation, human capital, trade openness, etc. The research findings indicate that the political stability index has a positive effect on economic growth, as expected and predicted in the literature. However, the indicator of the years the chief executive has been in the office has shown a negative effect. This effect appears to be weakly significant only for the second variable. These findings allowed us to conclude that the political stability index positively influences economic growth, while the years the chief executive stays in the office has a negative effect. Frequent changes in the cabinet can actually have a positive impact in transition countries characterised by corruption, meaning that the long stay of a chief executive in the office can lead to power abuse.

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This study aims to investigate some of the main macroeconomic determinants that have influenced the economic growth in 6 Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia). Data are taken for 18 years (2000-2017) from the World Bank database. Determinants included are inflation, foreign direct investment, interest rate, unemployment (percentage of the total labor force) and government spending (as a percentage of GDP). In the early 2000s, the region experienced rapid growth and faced many economic challenges but it still suffers from weak institutional reforms that prevent the region to reach high living standards of European countries. Because of previous studies by different authors, it is obvious that FDI is positively and significantly correlated with economic growth while in the other hand most of the studies found a negative but significant relationship between inflation, unemployment and government spending with GDP. As the results from VAR model indicate, macroeconomic determinants affects in different ways economic growth.