This study examines the link between selected indicators of a circular economy, including essential components of environmental and economic growth. Developed economies are continuously innovating to promote growth and giving governmental support to the producers to move from linear economies to circular ones. Hence, waste materials in industrial systems are recycled or re-used, improving the efficiency of using finite resources with the no-waste approach. The aim of this paper is the following: (1) to identify the main components of a circular economy, which are also supportive of sustainability and development; (2) to check the impact of these variables in the economic growth of European Union countries; (3) to find out if the three components of sustainable development adopted to circular economy (CE) indicators (environmental–social–economic) are significant to economic growth. We used a fixed effect panel data analysis to identify the circular economy’s impact on the economic growth of European countries. Additionally, to support the results of the regression analysis, we employed a second method—generalized methods of moments—computing the Arellano–Bond dynamic panel data estimation method. The model included five independent variables, such as environmental tax rate, a recycling rate of waste, private investment and jobs in a circular economy, patents related to recycling, and trade of recyclable raw materials. The identification of each variable was made based on a deep search through literature. The results of both econometric models showed a strong and positive correlation between a circular economy to economic growth, highlighting the crucial role of sustainability, innovation, and investment in no-waste initiatives to promote wealth.

During the last few decades, economists have tried to find a solution to eradicate poverty, especially since the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals were launched. The target of Goal 1 is to end poverty in all its forms everywhere. While income inequality and unemployment have played a major part in contributing to poor wellbeing in the world, other factors such as political instability, a lack of good investment opportunities, and living conditions have contributed to it as well. Thus, in this work, the authors analyze the factors that impact poverty and compare these results between countries within the European Union and post-communist countries that include the Western Balkan (WB) countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia. The method used consists of both descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis using the fixed effect model where poverty is taken as the dependent variable. The data used in this study are gathered from the World Bank and Legatum Prosperity, during the period between 2009 and 2018. The results show that income inequality does indeed impact the further progress of poverty for both the EU and WB, while economic development in terms of GDP is shown to have a more significant impact on EU than in WB, where the most significant impact was through income per capita. Other factors such as education, investment environment, and especially unemployment also significantly impacted on decreasing the poverty rate in both economic zones.

The exchange rate is a key macroeconomic factor that affects international trade and the real economy of each country. The development of international trade creates conditions where volatility comes with the exchange rate. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of real effective exchange rate volatility on economic growth in the Central and Eastern European countries. Additionally, the effect, through three channels of influence on economic growth which vary on the measurement of exchange rate volatility, is examined. The study uses annual data for fourteen CEE countries for the period 2002–2018 to examine the nature and extends the impact of such movements on growth. The empirical findings using the fixed effects estimation for panel data reveal that the volatility of the exchange rate has a significant negative effect on real economic growth. The results appear robust with alternative measures of exchange rate volatility such as standard deviation and z-score. This paper suggests that policymakers should adopt different policies to keep the exchange rate stable in order to foster economic growth.

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.

The topic of economic development has been addressed in recent decades from more and more points of view in order to identify the factors with significant impact on this phenomenon. Identifying the factors and measuring their impact on economic development are essential starting points for adopting the necessary public policies. Similar types of research for the Western Balkan countries and comparative analyses between the Western Balkans and the European Union countries are limited in number. Hence, the main purpose of this paper is to empirically test the impact of corruption, economic freedom, and urbanization on the economic development for both the Western Balkan countries and the EU countries for the period 2009–2018 to provide a comparative analysis for these two groups. The corruption perception index, economic freedom index, and urban population growth are chosen as independent variables, whereas the dependent variable of the human development index (HDI) represents economic development. Using the Random Effects model, which falls under the Panel Generalized Least Square method, the empirical analysis suggests that corruption has a negative impact on economic development, while economic freedom and urbanization have a positive impact on the economic development for both groups of countries. However, the impact of corruption is more destructive in the Western Balkans, and they appear to benefit more from economic freedom and urbanization as compared to the EU countries. Whether the impact of the chosen independent variables is restricted to any component of the HDI in particular is left open for further studies in the future, though the results of this paper are highly significant and in accordance with the reviewed literature.

Research and development expenditure (R&D) generate innovation and contribute significantly to the economic development. Previous studies emphasized the role of public R&D to encourage the technological innovation in the private sector. However, the effect of global economic crisis with respect to the public and private R&D link has been somewhat neglected in the empirical literature. Based on system GMM estimation, we found that public R&D complements private R&D in pre and post economic crisis. However, the strength of their complementary association is found strong in pre-economic crisis. In sum, the results indicate that continuous support to public R&D in pre and post economic crisis accelerate the technological innovation in the private sector. This study implies that public support to R&D is a good strategy for an economy to confront economic crisis effectively by increasing the technological innovation in the private sector. For policy makers, it is suggested that care must be taken while investing in the R&D, the investment is to be based on the ratio between R&D expenditure to number of R&D workers.

Economic growth is a major goal pursued by public authorities but can be achieved with the involvement of several categories of stakeholders given the complexity of the phenomenon and the many influencing factors. In this research paper, the authors analyze specific current issues that are representative as influencers of economic growth. This study brings into focus the importance of education, particularly tertiary education, entrepreneurship skills, and innovation capacities of businesses. The objectives are (1) to find out if tertiary education leads to economic growth; (2) to examine if innovation is one of the promotors of economic growth; and (3) to discuss the impact of the dynamic of businesses (enterprise birth) on economic growth. The methodology used in this research is panel regression (static model) for a sample consisting of 30 European countries for the period 2003–2020. The main findings are associated with a positive influence of tertiary education on economic growth, whereas the two other variables, that of entrepreneurship and innovation, are found to be insignificant for this time period.

In 2005 the relations of EU and Western Balkan countries were passed from “External Relations” to “Enlargement” policy. As WB countries make steps forward in the future membership of the EU, the diversity in society within the WB is expected to further increase. The aim of this paper is to find out the relationship between cultural diversity and ethnic fractionalization from one side and governance, competitiveness and human development from the other side. The paper opted to explore the ethnic diversity within the Western Balkan countries based on the latest data of census for each country and on the Distance Adjusted Ethno-Linguistic Fractionalization Index proposed by Kolo (2012). Furthermore, it compared the economic performance of these countries with the indicators of the ethnic diversity. Even though the literature argues that cultural diversity has negative impact on countries’ performance, the study finds out that highly homogenous societies in WB are no more prone to good governance, global competitiveness and human development than highly heterogeneous societies within the region. In other words, countries with lower fractionalization index (such as Kosovo and Serbia) do not show a significantly higher performance than countries with higher fractionalization index (such as Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina). To sum up, the influence of regional geographic distance seems to be much more significant compared to cultural diversity because the economic capacity and performance of WB countries are found to be positive but still modest. The Western Balkan countries are having a considerable mixture of ethnicities, languages and religions. These varieties can push this group of countries to have a consensus among them in the economic aspects or to increase the gap among each other.