Milka Grbić
Balaam, D. N., & Veseth, M. (Eds.). (2008). New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. ISBN 978-0-13-514322-3, XVIII+509
Boban Stojanović, Vladimir Radivojević and Tanja Stanišić
An adequate normative regulation isa prerequisite for a successful implementation of the competition policy as a fundament of a market economy is. With current legal solutions in the field of the competition policy, Serbia has provided the necessary institutional framework for the efficient functioning of the market and the establishment of effective competition on it. The effectiveness of this framework is necessary to evaluate through a market analysis, based on the results achieved in creating a climate that encourages the development of competition. The compatibility of legislation with the European Union standards and its practical application are the basic assumptions of the purposeful operating of institutions. The modest results of the competition policy in Serbia impose the need to increase institutional capacity, upgrade the regulation and its conceiving in a manner that will ensure the construction of an efficient market economy. In this sense, the paper analyzes the key elements of the institutional framework that determine the effectiveness of the competition policy. Special attention will be paid to the practical application of this framework, which will be illustrated by a critical review of the manner and method of decision-making by the Serbian Commission for the Protection of Competition in its procedures in monopolized markets.
Slavica Manić and Dragan Azdejković
In the latest report of the World Economic Forum, it is pointed out that the global competitiveness index does not cover the analysis of the drivers of sustainable competitiveness, and that neglecting them can cause the vulnerability of economies to the negative effects of all future “shocks”. Potentially the most problematic ones are demographic questions, especially those concerning changes in the population age structure. Recognizing the importance of demographic trends for “shaping” future competitiveness is the key motive for writing this paper. The main objectives are twofold: a) to review theoretical considerations about the economic consequences of changes in the population age structure; and b) to analyze the characteristics of demographic transition in different regions, as well as its potential effects on the sustainable competitiveness of the economy.
Ljiljana Maksimović
The paper analyzes the ways for measuring competitiveness as well as the Global Competitiveness Index which, pursuant to the methodology of the World Economic Forum, ranks countries’ competitiveness within global frameworks. The analysis begins with a hypothesis that the macroeconomic performances of national economies are positively correlated with their global competitiveness index, which has been shown on the examples of Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Slovakia. The other hypothesis is that the bad macroeconomic performances of the Serbian economy and its bad ranking according to the Global Competitiveness Index are the result of the systemic limitations in the Serbian economy. The analysis presented in the paper shows that systemic limitations such as the concept of transition (privatization) and its realization, the concept of macroeconomic stabilization, the concept of institutional reforms and the concept of restructuring economy are the main originators of the non-competitiveness of Serbia’s economy.
Ljubinka Joksimović
The financial crisis in several European countries has turned into a full blown sovereign debt crisis. The current trends of public debt burdens per capita could be averted, but not by relying primarily on economic growth, for which the outlook is bleak in the near term. The best approach to solving the crisis is not through growth, but through a serious – and undoubtedly painful – process of fiscal consolidation to reduce government deficits and debts accumulation. After the short consideration of the recent fiscal and debt positions of six South-Eastern European (SEE) countries, placing an emphasis on the Republic of Serbia, the paper analyzes which institutional and political factors can lend credibility to consolidation efforts and underpin the commitment to financial sustainability.
Edvard Jakopin
The global recession has once again confi rmed the economic principle stating that economic growth is not a” ainable unless there are continuous structural changes. The transition models of the reallocation of growth factors have demonstrated how ineffi cient they were when the recession struck. A research into the transitional growth of productivity has shown that productivity has primarily been based on an “intrasectoral profit”, not on the so-called “reallocation effect”. The entire area of SEE is faced with systemic macroeconomic imbalances primarily of a structural character. On the other hand, a comparative analysis of the reform experiences shows that transitional scores depend both on the speed of the undertaken reforms and the starting position. Studies have clearly demonstrated that sustainable economic growth was higher in those transition economies in which reforms were pursued faster than in those that pursued the strategy of incremental development. The crisis brought to the fore the signifi cance of industrial policies that had been sidelined both in theoretical and practical terms. The focus of the post-crisis reallocation of growth factors in the new model of economic growth should be on structural changes steered towards the productive export sectors of the manufacturing industry.
Vlastimir Leković
Trust, as an important traditional informal institution of a society, has in recent decades come into focus of many social sciences and the economic science as well. Namely, trust is one of the key factors that determine the character of both human and social relations. There is a growing realization that, among other key factors of the market system eff ectiveness and effi ciency, economic impacts are also determined by the appropriate level of trust that exists between economic actors. This paper analyzes the role of trust as a facilitating factor that enables a more successful development of economic activities in such an environment where economic actors deal with the problems of information asymmetry, incomplete contracts, an underdeveloped institutional framework, uncertainty etc. It is suggested that trust, both personal and institutional one, is a significant factor in economic success and development. At the same time, trust plays an important role in the successful implementation of a socio-economic transformation, which is especially relevant in transition countries.
Slavica P. Petrović
Number 2 Volume 14 of the Economic Horizons scientific journal has a thematic character. It encompasses the double-blind reviewed, revised versions of the manuscripts preliminarily presented at the Scientific Meeting: The Institutional Changes as a Determinant of the Serbian Economy Development in 2012, which was organized by the Faculty of Economics, University of Kragujevac, and the Association of Economists of Serbia, and held at the Faculty on the 6th April 2012. The important theoretical, methodological and applicative issues and problems of the complex, dynamic, ambiguous and interactive relationships between the developed/underdeveloped institutional framework and the successful/unsuccessful functioning of the economy, with a particular focus on the implications on the Serbian economy, are identified and explored in the two original scientific and four review papers in detail and critically. The insights and findings acquired by the authors of these published papers through their own research processes can represent a scientifically grounded and practically useful basis for making creative decisions in the respective spheres of the economic policy. Also, the different issues that can be relevant for a future theoretically-methodologically valid, socially responsible and practically effective research have been highlighted.