Convergence of Competitiveness and Economic Efficiency Amongst Western Balkan Countries

Blerina Gjaci – Economics Department, Faculty of Economy, University of Tirana, Albania

Arjan Tushaj – Economics Department, Faculty of Economy, University of Tirana, Albania

Engjëll Pere – Economics Department, Faculty of Economy, University of Tirana, Albania

Albana Hashorva – Economics Department, Faculty of Economy, University of Tirana, Albania

Abstract: This paper investigated the economic cooperation amongst the Western Balkan countries referring to competitiveness and economic effi­ciency. Through this analysis, it would be able to respond if the competitive­ness and economic efficiency amongst Western Balkan countries will support the convergence to the Common Regional Market. Western Balkan countries should encourage innovation and knowledge transfer to contribute to eco­nomic growth and promote the facilitation of the creation of an intra-region­al single market in the medium term. A unified regional cooperation mecha­nism would likely be more efficient according to Western Balkan countries to converge towards the expected results – in order to accelerate them related to the European Union integration process. The results of this paper will demon­strate the evaluation of the Western Balkans initiative and the expectations for the future through static and dynamic analysis amongst countries using diverse indicators of competitiveness and economic efficiency.

LIMEN Conference

9th International Scientific-Business Conference – LIMEN 2023 – Leadership, Innovation, Management and Economics: Integrated Politics of Research – CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS, Hybrid (Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria), December 7, 2023

LIMEN Conference Proceedings published by the Association of Economists and Managers of the Balkans, Belgrade, Serbia

LIMEN Conference 2023 Conference Proceedings: ISBN 978-86-80194-78-3, ISSN 2683-6149, DOI: https://doi.org/10.31410/LIMEN.2023

Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission. 

References

Balassa, B. (1965). Trade liberalisation and revealed comparative advantage. The Manchester School of Economic and Social Studies, vol. 33, n° 2. 99-123.

Balkyte, A., & Tvaronavičiene, M. (2010). Perception of competitiveness in the context of sustainable development: facets of “sustainable competitiveness”. Journal of business economics and man­agement, 11(2), 341-365.

Bhawsar, P., & Chattopadhyay, U. (2015). Competitiveness: Review, Reflections and Direc­tions. Global Business Review, 16(4) 665–679, 2015 IMI. SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.1177/0972150915581115 

Gorodnichenko, Y., Svejnar, J., & Terrell, K. (2009). Globalization and Innovation in Emerging Mar­kets (January 1, 2009). World Bank Policy Research Working Paper: No. 4808. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1327277 

Kharlamova, G., & Vertelieva, O. (2013). The international competitiveness of countries: Econom­ic-mathematical approach. Economics & Sociology, 6(2), 39.

Matthews, A. (2003). Regional Integration and Food Security in Developing Countries. Conference on Food and Agriculture, Organization of the United Nations, Rome.

Moon, H. C., Rugman, A., & Verbeke, A. (1998). A generalized double diamond approach to the com­petitiveness of Korea and Singapore. International Business Review, 7, 135–150.

Pelkmans, J. (1997). A bond in search of more substance: reflections on the EU’s ASEAN policy. ASE­AN and EU: Forging New Linkages and Strategic Alliances, Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

Porter, M. E. (1990). The competitive advantage of nations. London: MacMillan.

Rusu, V. D., & Roman, A. (2018). An empirical analysis of factors affecting competitiveness of C.E.E. countries. Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, 31:1, 2044-2059. https://doi.org/10.1080/1331677X.2018.1480969 

Sadiku, M., Sadiku, L., & Selimi, N. (2019). Econometric analysis of competitiveness, innovation and trade openness of Western Balkan Countries. 27 August 2019. 12th Economics & Finance Con­ference, Dubrovnik. ISBN 978-80-87927 80-9, IISES. https://doi.org/10.20472/EFC.2019.012.019 

Trading Economics. (2023). https://tradingeconomics.com/ 

Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies – WIIW. (2022). https://wiiw.ac.at/ 

Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies – WIIW. (2023). https://wiiw.ac.at/ 

World Economic Forum. (2023). https://www.weforum.org/ 

WIPO. (2023). https://www.wipo.int/directory/en/ 

World Bank. (2022). World Development Indicators. https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-indicators 

World Economic Forum. (2013). Global competitiveness report. Retrieved from: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GlobalCompetitivenessReport_2012-13.pdf