Vladimir Mihajlović
On behalf of the Editorial Board of the scientific journal Economic Horizons, and on my own behalf, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the reviewers whose professional, impartial, and well-reasoned evaluations made a significant contribution to the assessment of manuscripts submitted to the Journal during 2025.
The manuscripts encompass research in the fields of economics, business economics, management, and related academic disciplines. Through their expertise and critical approach, the reviewers listed herein provided invaluable support to the Editorial Board in conducting the double-blind peer review process, thereby contributing to the maintenance and enhancement of the Journal’s overall scholarly quality.
The editorial policy of Economic Horizons is firmly committed to the continuous improvement of the quality of published papers, a commitment that relies to a great extent on the expertise and dedication of its reviewers. Their well-substantiated evaluations and constructive comments constituted an important basis for editorial decisions regarding the acceptance of manuscripts for publication and their categorization. At the same time, their specific suggestions and insightful recommendations enabled authors to further improve the quality of their manuscripts, thereby making a substantial contribution to the continued development and strengthening of the Journal’s academic reputation.
Vladimir Mihajlović
Editor-in-Chief
Radmila Bjekić, Maja Strugar Jelača, Slobodan Marić and Marko Aleksić
Trust is an essential feature of leadership that can often go unrecognized until it weakens. The study aims to investigate the relationship between trust in leadership and leadership outcomes, as well as the mediating role of psychological empowerment in this relationship. The sample consists of 351 employees from organizations operating in Serbia. The hypotheses are tested using the PLS-SEM and the results show that there is a statistically significant positive relationship between trust in the leader and leadership outcomes, and that the psychological empowerment of employees also has a significant mediating role in this relationship. Motivated by the insufficiently explored concepts of trust and psychological empowerment in the sphere of leadership within the business environment of developing countries, including Serbia, the authors contribute to the field by examining the mediating role of psychological empowerment, while also advancing the understanding of trust and highlighting their importance in achieving positive leadership outcomes.
Jadranka Đurović Todorović1, Marina Đorđević1, Milica Ristić Cakić1 and Branimir Kalaš2
This study examines the gap between statutory and effective corporate income tax rates, with tax incentives identified as a key factor in this divergence. The objective is to quantify the gap and analyze the relationship between statutory and effective rates in the OECD countries in the period from 2000 to 2022. The methodological framework is based on the Devereux–Griffith model and employs descriptive statistics, t-tests, and correlation analysis. The empirical results demonstrate that tax incentives significantly shape the effective tax rate, thereby contributing to its deviation from the statutory rate. The analysis confirms a positive correlation between the two rates and identifies statistically significant differences in certain years. The findings contribute to the literature on tax policy and provide practical guidelines for policymakers aimed at reducing the gap between rates and improving the transparency of tax incentives.
Nikolaos Kalantzopoulos, Athanasios Mandilas, Stavros Valsamidis and Dimitrios Kourtidis
This study investigates the key factors influencing the evolution of non-performing loans (NPLs) in Greece, during and after the financial crisis, which severely affected the Greek banking sector. Greece documented the highest NPL ratio among the European countries, reflecting the economic effects of the crisis. Using data pertaining to the period from 2004 to 2018, regression analysis was applied to assess the influence of the macroeconomic and banking variables. The data were mainly derived from the Bank of Greece and the Hellenic Statistical Authority. The findings highlight a strong correlation between NPLs and the macroeconomic factors which significantly affected the Greek banking system. Addressing NPLs is a challenge, and effective resolution requires reversing the impact of the crisis and restoring growth in order to support the recovery of the banking sector. While focused on Greece, a broader Eurozone data analysis is suggested due to the fact that the EU economies are interlinked. While several studies have examined the determinants of non-performing loans in Greece so far, this study contributes to the topic by applying an extensive regression model and incorporating a broad range of variables.
Velimir Lukić and Svetlana Popović
Since the financial system in Serbia is characterized by a high level of euroization, there are two distinct deposit interest rate pass-through processes at work: the domestic interest rate pass-through and the imported (cross-border) interest rate pass-through. The findings for the domestic interest rate pass-through imply that the long-term pass-through varies within a range below unity, so the pass-through from the interbank (money) market rate to deposit rates is incomplete; the evidence on the short-term pass-through is weak, and the speed of adjustment to the long-term equilibrium is relatively high. The imported interest rate pass-through shows the stronger evidence of cointegrating relationships across interest rates in comparison to the domestic interest rate pass-through, and very closely mimics the interest rate pass-through in the euro area in all relevant criteria. In effect, the findings show that the monetary policy in the euro area is integrated well with the domestic monetary policy in Serbia in terms of the cost adjustment of the deposit portion of banks’ liabilities. Overall, the findings show that the monetary policy in the euro area is integrated well with the domestic monetary policy in Serbia in terms of the cost adjustment of the deposit side of banks’ balance sheets stemming from the monetary policy decisions.
Olha Mulska, Iryna Leshchukh, Mariana Bil and Ihor Baranyak
This paper aims to assess the socio-economic resilience of Ukraine’s regions in the face of shocks, including the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine, territorial annexation, the 2014 socio-political crisis, and the 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic. The comprehensive methodological approach applied in this paper combines the construction of temporal and spatial composite indicators of the labor market, and social, demographic, and economic development, with the identification of shock-related losses, the recovery capacity, and the dynamics of vulnerability and recovery. The framework distinguishes between immediate losses and the long-term adaptive capacity. The empirical results show that the two major shocks (the 2014 crisis and the 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic) caused significant regional losses, with the deepest labor market decline in Donetska Oblast and Luhanska Oblast and higher resilience in the western and central regions. Vulnerability lasted for two to three years, while recovery exceeded four years. Overall, resilience depends not only on overcoming immediate shocks but also on strengthening demographic stability, the institutional capacity, and adaptive mechanisms to ensure sustainable postwar recovery.
Saša Obradović
The Western Balkan countries have invested considerable resources in order to achieve peace, establish political stability and sustain economic growth. This study aims to empirically assess the impact of military expenditure on economic growth in a panel of five Western Balkan countries from 2001 to 2022. The research uses a panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL-PMG) model to estimate the short-run and long-run relationships between the variables of interest. In addition, the fully modified least squares method is applied to ensure the reliability of the findings. A positive relationship was identified between military spending, and economic growth. The results strongly indicate that military expenditure is beneficial for economic growth. The empirical findings of the study provide support for the view that policymakers should increase investment in the military defense sector so as to contribute to economic growth.
Vladimir Mihajlović
After conducting the double-blind peer review process, Issue 2 Volume 28 Year 2026 of the scientific journal Economic Horizons contains six original scientific papers and the Acknowledgement to the reviewers of the manuscripts submitted to the Editorial Board of the Journal in the year 2025.
The thematic variety of the papers published in this issue of the Journal confirms that modern economic research studies are increasingly surpassing the boundaries of individual disciplines, linking macroeconomic, financial, institutional, and organizational perspectives with the intention to provide answers to complex development challenges. The authors of the contributions analyze the issues of special significance for economic policymakers, financial institutions, business organizations and the academic community, simultaneously relying on contemporary methodological approaches and relevant empirical evidence.