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Export Performance of Southeastern European Countries

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Economy, Finance and Business in Southeastern and Central Europe

Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics ((SPBE))

Abstract

Over the last decades, the European Union (EU) member states have been subject to intensive globalization and international competition, a fact that poses both challenges and opportunities. Additionally, the recent global financial crisis implied a fall in output across economies that was accompanied by a severe contraction in international trade. As a result, countries and firms have had to adjust and actively participate in this new market environment. This paper examines the export dynamics of four Balkan EU member states over the period 1999–2014. The results revealed that there is a tendency for an increase in exports, that persistent trade deficits have decreased since 2008 and that the share of high and medium-high technology manufactured goods has increased, particularly in the case of Romania. The results also indicate some specificities of export performance of Greece, Croatia and Bulgaria, which have had a trade surplus for services throughout the period, suggesting the importance of the tourism sector. We further discuss the main factor that could contribute to enhancing the competitiveness of European countries. Higher foreign demand is found to lead to more exports as is a depreciation in the real foreign exchange rate, although price and income elasticities vary across studies and according to the estimation technique adopted. The evidence also suggests that non-price factors (such as quality, variety, innovation and institutions) are value drivers of exports.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    First developed by Mundell (1961) and enriched with contribution from McKinnon (1963) and Kenen (1969), amongst others. For an empirical application of the theory of OCA to the Balkan countries, see Gouveia (2014).

  2. 2.

    In January 2007, Bulgaria and Romania joined EU and in July 2013, Croatia. Greece joined EU in 1981 and is an EMU member since 2001.

  3. 3.

    For a discussion of advantages and shortcomings of each deflator for the measurement of a country’s external competitiveness, see Giordano and Zollino (2015).

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Acknowledgement

This work is supported by European Structural and Investment Funds in the FEDER component, through the Operational Competitiveness and Internationalization Programme (COMPETE 2020) [Project No. 006971 (UID/SOC/04011)], and national funds, through the FCT—Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under the project UID/SOC/04011/2013.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, Sociology and Management (DESG), Centre for Transdisciplinary Development Studies (CETRAD), University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), Vila Real, Portugal

    Sofia Gouveia

  2. University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), Vila Real, Portugal

    Micael Santos

Authors
  1. Sofia Gouveia
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  2. Micael Santos
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Correspondence to Sofia Gouveia .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Institute of Technology, Kavala, Greece

    Anastasios Karasavvoglou

  2. Faculty of Economics, University of Split, Split, Croatia

    Srećko Goić

  3. Central Macedonia, Institute of Technology, Serres, Greece

    Persefoni Polychronidou

  4. Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Institute of Technology, Kavala, Greece

    Pavlos Delias

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Gouveia, S., Santos, M. (2018). Export Performance of Southeastern European Countries. In: Karasavvoglou, A., Goić, S., Polychronidou, P., Delias, P. (eds) Economy, Finance and Business in Southeastern and Central Europe. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70377-0_14

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