Yang Wangping and Lu Xiaolu
In this paper, we construct the six criterion layers evaluation index system of new urbanization, including population urbanization, land urbanization, economic urbanization, social urbanization, ecological civilization and overall planning of urban and rural areas. We use the horizontal and vertical levels of the grade method in order to determine the weight of each index, and then calculate the quality of the urbanization process at the provincial level in 2004-2013. The result shows that the overall comprehensive
evaluation index of China has a trend of rising volatility. The quality of new urbanization has continuously been improving since 2004; the new urbanization process, however, shows significant differences between the regions and specific performances: eastern urbanization level is the highest, whereas the western is the lowest. The evaluation index, however, increases steadily during the studied period and the gap with other regions gradually narrows.
Gulfen Tuna1 and Vedat Ender Tuna2
The aim of this study is to examine the long-term relationship between each pair of the countries separate from those in the Stock Markets of Fragile Five Countries and determine the optimal portfolio options for each of the BIITS countries according to the pieces of evidence obtained. Thus, the reflection of the concertedness among financial markets to the optimal portfolio options has been studied. Accordingly, long term relationships between each pair of BIITS countries have been investigated with monthly price value between June 2006 and July 2015 by means of Maki Cointegration Test. Optimal portfolio options have been established according to the Markowitz Model considering the long-term relationships between the markets. The pieces of evidence obtained show that lower-risk portfolios than the ones in their own national markets can be established in BIITS countries by applying international diversification.
Liu Bolong and Li Danni
This paper chooses pollutant discharge as the study object and utilizes a modified scatter degree comprehensive evaluation method to establish the pollutant discharge comprehensive evaluation index. Then, using the convergence test model and from the perspective of intensity and gross, this paper respectively studies the convergence of the pollutant discharge at the nationwide level and in the three major regions. The result shows that the pollutant discharge level of the middle region is the highest, whereas in the western one, it is the lowest; that of the eastern region is higher than the national average. The σ convergence, based on the Theil index, shows that only the middle region shows a feeble σ convergence tendency, whereas the other two ones show a different tendency. Besides, considering the differences of the per capita GDP, the industrial structure, the structure of energy consumption and pollution regulation, the β convergence shows that the two variables of all the regions are conditional β convergence, not absolute β convergence.
Yuan Xiaoling and Chen Ali
In this article, the urban efficiency factors of 285 Chinese prefecture-level cities in the period from 2003 to 2012 are analyzed by using the spatial econometric model. The result shows that the development of urban efficiency between the cities positively correlates with space. And we conclude that the Industrial Structure, Openness and the Infrastructure can promote the development of such urban efficiency. The Urban Agglomeration Scale, Government Control, Fixed Asset Investment and other factors can inhibit the development of urban efficiency to a certain degree. Therefore, we come to a conclusion that, in the new urbanization construction process, the cities need to achieve cross-regional coordination from the perspective of urban agglomerations and metropolitan development. The efficiency of the city together with the scientific and rational flow of the factors should also be improved.
Dejana Zlatanović
The limitations of the individual use of systems methodologies in creative dealing with complex, dynamic and ambiguous problems, i.e. problem situations, caused by the increasing complexity and diversity of problem situations, indicate the necessity of a combined, i.e. synergistic use of systems methodologies. The aim of the research is to show how some limitations of the individual using of the interpretive systems methodology of Strategic Assumptions Surfacing and Testing (SAST) and Organizational Cybernetics (OC), as a functionalist systems methodology, can be eliminated by their combining. After identifying Critical Systems Thinking as a relevant conceptual framework for combining systems methodologies, the key features and limitations of SAST and OC are specified, and the assumptions, the conditions, the potential way, as well as the limitations of their combined, i.e. synergistic use are then determined. Despite the limitations, the methodologically appropriate combined use of these systems methodologies enables the improvement of managing problem situations in enterprises.
Nenad Stanišić
One of the main expectations in European transition economies is that the processes of building the market economy and European integrations lead to a significant increase in the living standard, as well as to catching up with the level of the income per capita achieved in developed European economies. A quarter century after the beginning of transition, many of the former socialist countries joined the EU and significantly increased their GDP per capita. On the other hand, transition in the countries of the so-called Western Balkans has disappointed in this sense. The paper tests the existence and speed of income convergence in the Western Balkan states and developed EU countries, in comparison with the so-called „New Member States”. The results indicate that, despite the achieved income convergence in the pre-crisis years, the outbreak of the global economic crisis has revealed many structural and reform problems that the countries of the region have been facing for a long time. Catching up with developed EU members’ average GDP per capita stopped in the Western Balkan states after the beginning of the crisis, with a simultaneous increase in the income gap between the Western Balkan states and the new EU member states.
Nataša Golubović and Marija Džunić
The design and implementation of the measures aimed at incorporating informal economic activities into the existing formal regulatory framework assume the knowledge of the causes and structure of the informal activity. The influence of the institutional factors that encourage the development of the shadow economy (the tax burden, the degree of the regulation of the economy, the capacity of the state administration) were the subject of extensive theoretical and empirical research. In contrast, the impact of social capital, i.e. the characteristics of social ties and relations, on the shadow economy has been investigated to a much lesser extent. Starting from the fact that the informal sector of the Serbian economy is so widespread that it represents a serious obstacle to the business activities of Serbian enterprises, the aim of this study is to investigate whether the characteristics of social ties and relations, or social capital in the Republic of Serbia (RS), represent a fertile ground for the growth of the shadow economy. In this context, the characteristics and frequency of social contacts, particularized trust and institutional trust will be separately analyzed as the determinants of the shadow economy in RS.
Nenad Janković
The concept of a twin deficit relates to a budget deficit and a current account deficit. In the literature, there is no unique answer to the question of what the causal relationship between these deficits is. In any case, the existence of these deficits indicates that the spending of a country is higher than its production and investments are greater than savings. The form of financing could be a potential problem, as well as the manner of the use of these funds. Crisis situations contribute to the increasing importance of the issue. In these situations, those countries where a budget deficit chronically appears and which do not have enough domestic savings to finance excessive government spending will be in a worse position. The Republic of Serbia (RS) belongs to the group of countries where a budget deficit is a chronic phenomenon financed by external sources; therefore, the paper will analyze the issue of a twin deficit.
Yuan Xiaoling and He Bin
Given the fact that the existing evaluation and analysis of urban efficiency are negligent of external negative effects on the environment in the medium and long term, this paper constructs an SBM – an undesirable model containing an undesirable output, measures the urban efficiency of 285 cities in China at or above the prefecture level during 2003-2012, decomposes it into urban pure technical efficiency and urban scale efficiency and makes a comparative analysis of them separately. The results show that, when the environmental factors are taken into account, the level of urban efficiency in China is low, but is a large room for it to improve. The impact of the decomposition of urban scale efficiency on urban efficiency is continuously enhancing. From a regional perspective, urban pure technical efficiency is the highest in the eastern region, only to be followed by the western region, whereas it is the lowest in the middle region. From the point of view of the scale, urban pure technical efficiency represents a „U-type” change and urban scale efficiency represents an „inverted U” change. Therefore, this paper suggests that in order to improve urban efficiency, we should adopt different urban development policies for cities located in different regions and on different scales.
Vlastimir Leković
The research, focusing on the specific key aspects of economic inequality as well as economic equality, by analyzing numerous theoretical, methodological and empirical views concerning the mentioned socioeconomic phenomena, aims to identify the following related and relevant aspects that affect the efficiency of the functioning of a modern economy: a) economic inequality that has a stimulating effect on the creative, productive and innovative use of all production factors positively affects the functioning of the economy and is socially justifiable; b) a high level of economic inequality, which shows a tendency to further increase, has a negative effect on the economic system indicators as well as the stability of the society and the political environment, therefore resulting in a weaker economic performance and a lower economic growth rate; c) economic equality (certainly not egalitarianism), by contributing to greater social and political stability, which in turn reflects positively on economic stability and efficiency, is the basis for a greater success of the modern economy and dynamic economic growth rates. The main result of this study is assessing the basic factors of high and rising economic inequality and its implications for the functioning of modern economies, and accordingly, pointing to the need to implement economic policies that would lower economic inequality and mitigate its adverse consequences for the economy and the society.