ECONOMIES DEVELOPMENT AND INSTITUTIONAL TRANSITION OF THE WESTERN BALKAN COUNTRIESDragana Milenković, Tanja Vujović |
Published 11/20/2020 |
ABSTRACT
The West Balkan countries have a decade of the collaps of their economies and two decades (eighteen years) of slow recovery behind them. Whatever the historic heritage of the West Balkan countries may be (the disintegratioun of a common Yugoslavian market, military conflicts, hyperinflation, economic sanctions, NATO bombing), the efficiency of economic policies of these countries and the construction of a healthy institutional environment that will support economic growth is the number one priority.The hypothesis that is currently being tested is that without stable institutions high economic growth rates which will lead to sustainable growth and efficient education system are not possible, and likewise without high economic growth rates it is not possible to develop stable institutions. We look at the economic growth of these countries throughout two periods, from 2000 to 2008, and the period after the world financial crisis, from 2009 to 2019. We have concluded that extractive institutions have hindered the economic growth of the West Balkan countries. The institutional underdevelopment and corruption of the West Balkan countries are tied to lower levels of education, healthcare, soicioeconomic development, and „brain drain“.
Keywords: institutions, transition, development, education, West Balkan.