A B S T R A C T Objective:The objective of this article is to demonstrate an option of quantitative assessment of the status of an isolated complex target object. Research Design & Methods: Review of scientific literature, an analysis of statistical data and methods applied in the theory of multiple criteria have been used for the purpose of this research. Findings: The calculations have revealed that the proposed methodology is suitable for addressing real tasks. This methodology allowed the identification of unused potential of economic development in each region. Implications & Recommendations:The proposed methodology can be applied to determine the current situation of regional economic development of a country. This could help plan the investment for country regional development . Contribution & Value Added:Up to now the goal of multi-criteria valuation was to determine the priority of analysed variants. In order to determine the economic development of separate regions during the period in question, a different method of normalisation of values was employed than the one normally used in multi-criteria valuations. The originality of this work lies in the assessment of the status of an isolated process at a given moment of time. Article type:research article

An inherent characteristic of socioeconomic systems (SES) is their development, which is a prerequisite for their existence. Analysing the development, as well as comparing the subjects at a variety of levels (companies, countries, regions, etc.) for other purposes requires the development process to be measured in a quantitative manner. The development process is characterised by its dynamics, which in turn may be measured using two indicators: the intensity of the development; and its consistency over the reference period. The former measurement is represented as a ratio between the development values at the beginning of the period and those at the end, while the consistency of the SES economic development will be demonstrated as a ratio of the length of the reference period to the sum of the lengths of the trajectories representing the development over individual time periods. The calculations of the economic development of a number of countries carried out through this research have confirmed that the proposed methodology is appropriate. The methodology has been named, with certain qualifications, the MDDSS (Measuring of the Dynamic of the Development of a Socioeconomic System).

The welfare of a country depends on its economic development. In order to have the impact on it, we should have a possibility to quantitatively assess its situation at the desired point in time. Economic development, as a multifaceted and complex phenomenon, is reflected in two dimensions – intensity and uniformity. These mentioned above can be viewed as partial indicators of dynamics. Two main approaches to measuring development uniformity can be distinguished. In one of the cases, it is measured on the basis of an index that includes the main results of the country's economic development. In the other case, the values of the indicators reflecting all the essential development actions are combined in one appropriate way. From a scientific point of view, the second approach is more accurate as it allows for a better assessment of the complex nature of a country’s economic development. On the other hand, its application today is still problematic due to the fact that the models for this differ in terms of both the number and composition of indicators. For this reason, it is not possible to compare countries. Therefore, in international practice, the economic development of countries is measured by gross domestic product per capita (GDP). Based on GDP indicator, the method for the measurement of uniformity is proposed and the essence of which is the ratio of the length of the ideal trajectory of the development during the period under review to the length of the actual trajectory. Without ruling out the appropriateness of such an approach for assessing development uniformity, it makes sense to look for alternative methods. In this sense, methods that allow assessment of the extent of fluctuations of the phenomenon under consideration as an essential feature of development dynamics are suitable. These include the Gini coefficient, which is determined from the Lorenz curve.

To this date, insufficient number of reasoned methods for assessing the industrial composition in the country or in the region in an integrated and quantitative manner is on offer. The existing proposals are basically intended for explaining the drivers of change in the industrial composition as well as the reasons thereof. Following this analysis, the most export-oriented industries are determined. Hence, the focus is not on assessing the industrial composition of a country or a region itself in a quantitative manner, but rather the impact of the changes thereof on economic indicators, i.e. derivative measures of industrial composition. The industrial composition of a country or a region can be described through indicators that reflect three key aspects, i.e. the variety of active economic entities by their number, size and types of economic activities. The proposed methodology is suitable for assessing the industrial composition of a country’s region.

ABSTRACT.A permanent property applicable to every socioeconomic system (SES) is its development. SES development is an integrated process with two sides that can be distinguished, i.e. quantitative and qualitative ones. The quantitative side reflects its static aspect, i.e. the state of the development at a certain point in time. The qualitative side of development reflects its dynamics, i.e. the scope of development changes. In order to make an integrated assessment of the standing of SES development, both these aspects above have to be assessed in a quantitative manner and be further combined into one generalised value. These days, assessment of the standing of SES development is limited to evaluation of the achieved level only, i.e. its quantitative assessment. Due to the fact that all socioeconomic systems are always large and complex systems, they tend to have a multitude of aspects. The indicators that reflect such aspects form a system thereof. It is thus the basis for further multicriteria assessment of the development state. In order to reduce the number of indicators to be assessed simultaneously so that experts could establish the weights thereof in a sufficiently accurate manner, a hierarchically structured system of indicators is developed and presented here. Following this methodology, the level of economic development across Lithuanian regions has been determined. When the scope of development changes was established on that basis, the integrated indicator of the regional development state was calculated following the proposed formula. On the basis of the correlation-regression analysis, it has been determined that the scope of development changes is larger in the regions with lower level of development achieved.

The debate on the presence of economic benefits in the European Union (EU) is not over. The study responds unequivocally to this question, with the intensity of economic development in the countries that joined the European Union in 2004 and beyond twice as high as that of the countries that joined it this year, i.e. the EU’s old ones compared to the new ones; smoothness – 1.1 times and dynamics – 1.6 times. Another important trend for further development is that, as the level of economic development increases, its smoothness is diminishing. In respect of the context of the EP of all EU Members, it turned out that the higher intensity of enlargement was characterised by higher economic levels, with similar homogeneity and almost identical values for the dynamic indicator. The introduction to the article presents the context of the studies, i.e. two groups of EU Community countries are formed according to their level of economic development and the year of their accession to the Community, as well as a survey scheme. The literature review reveals the methods used to analyse the convergence of economic development in these countries, as members of the Community. The research methodology introduces the indicator of economic development of countries and provides a methodology for assessing its dynamics. The empirical part assesses the dynamics of economic development of both groups of countries and identifies trends in terms of convergence. The discussion section summarises the consolidation and destabilising factors in the EU and the importance of the study carried out in this context. The conclusions present the main results of the studies and outline their further directions. The results of the study can be used both in the EU and for the purpose-oriented decisions of its members on further economic development.

Ecological development is one of the three components of sustainable development. To be able to analyse the impact of economic and social development on the ecological situation of the region, ecological development has to be assessed using quantitative methods. The ecological development of a region can be seen as a complex integrated phenomenon observed in many aspects. After formalizing them, i. e. converting them into criteria, we can form a system that upon applying multi-criteria methods will allow us to carry out a complex assessment of the ecological development of a region. The objective of this article is to provide methods for the quantitative assessment of the ecological state of a country’s regions. Review of scientific literature, analysis of statistical data and the methods applied in the theory multiple criteria have been used for the research.

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