Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Balkan and Eastern European Countries in the Midst of the Global Economic Crisis pp 23–33Cite as

Balkan Area and EU-15: An Empirical Investigation of Income Convergence

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Contributions to Economics ((CE))

Abstract

This paper empirically explores the issue of income convergence of the Balkan economies with the European Union’s-15 average (EU-15) over the period 1989–2009. The adopted econometric methodology has been suggested by Nahar and Inder (2002) and is considered more efficient in detecting possible catching up effects compared to the relevant conventional methods. The findings of this paper point out the existence of dissimilarities among the examined Balkan economies in the process to catch up with the EU-15. In particular, the results support income convergence with the EU-15 only for Greece and Slovenia.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    A union of the former Communist states of Eastern and Central Europe.

  2. 2.

    It has to be mentioned that in 1974 Greece retired its military participation to NATO in order to protest against the Turkish advance in Cyprus and rejoined in 1980.

References

  • Amplatz C (2004) The economic convergence performance of Central and Eastern European countries. Econ Plan 36:273–295

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baldwin R, Francois JF, Portes R (1997) The costs and benefits of enlargement: the impact on the EU and Central Europe. Econ Policy 24:127–176

    Google Scholar 

  • Baumol W (1986) Productivity growth, convergence and welfare: what the long-run data show. Am Econ Rev 76:1071–1085, European Economic Review 40, no. 6: 1325–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Bjorksten NJ (2000) Real convergence in the enlarged Euro area: a coming challenge for monetary policy. Bank of Finland Economics Department. Working paper no. 1/2000. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=233888 or doi:10.2139/ssrn.233888

  • Bonetto F, Srdjan R, Tykhonenko A (2009) Balkan countries: catching up and their integration in the European financial system. Panoeconomicus 4:475–489

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brada J, Kutan AM (2002) Balkan and Mediterranean candidates for European Union membership: the convergence of their monetary policy with that of the European Central Bank. Eastern Eur Econ 40(4):31–44

    Google Scholar 

  • Breuss F (2001) Macroeconomic effects of EU enlargement for old and new members. WIFO working paper 143

    Google Scholar 

  • Cavenaile L, Dubois D (2011) An empirical analysis of income convergence in the European Union. Appl Econ Lett 18:1705

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Del Bo C, Florio M, Manzi G (2010) Regional infrastructure and convergence: growth implications in a spatial framework. Transit Stud Rev 17:475–493

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doyle P, Kuis L, Jiang G (2001) Real convergence to EU income levels: Central Europe from 1990 to the long term. IMF working paper 01/146

    Google Scholar 

  • EEAG (2004) Report on the European economy 2004. CESifo, Munich

    Google Scholar 

  • European Commission (2001) The economic impact of enlargement. Enlargement paper 4

    Google Scholar 

  • Fidrmuc J, Korhonen I (2004) The euro goes East: implications of the 2000–2002 economic slowdown for synchronisation of business cycles between the euro area and CEEs. Comp Econ Stud 46:45–62

    Google Scholar 

  • Figuet JM, Nenovsky N (2006) Convergence and shocks in the road to EU: empirical investigations for Bulgaria and Romania. William Davidson Institute Working Paper, No. 810

    Google Scholar 

  • Gros D, Steinherr A (2001) The first ten years of transition: planting the seeds of economic reform in Central and Eastern Europe. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • El Ouardighi J, Somun-Kapetanovic R (2007) Do Balkan countries have a European future? An analysis of real economic convergence 1989–2005. South East Eur J Econ Bus 2:23–30, ISSN:1840-118X

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • El Ouardighi J, Somun-Kapetanovic R (2009) Convergence and inequality of income: the case of Western Balkan countries. Eur J Comp Econ 6(2): 207–225, ISSN 1722–4667. Available online at http://eaces.liuc.it

    Google Scholar 

  • Estrin S, Urga G (1997) Convergence in output in transition economies central & Eastern Europe 1970–1995. CEPR Discussion Papers, 1616

    Google Scholar 

  • Kutan AM, Yigit TM (2004) Nominal and real stochastic convergence of transition economies. J Comp Econ 32:23–36

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lejour AM, De Mooij RA, Nahuis R (2001) EU enlargement: economic implications for countries and industries. CBP document no. 011

    Google Scholar 

  • Marini M (2003) Convergence of candidate countries to European Union: an analysis on industrial production index using dynamic factor model. Paper presented at the Eurostat Colloquium on modern tools for business cycle analysis, Luxembourg

    Google Scholar 

  • Martín C, Velazquez FJ, Funck B (2001) European integration and income convergence. Lessons for Central and Eastern European countries. World Bank technical paper 514

    Google Scholar 

  • Maddison A (2001) The world economy: a millennial perspective. OECD, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Nahar S, Inder B (2002) Testing convergence in economic growth for OECD countries. Appl Econ 34:2011–2022

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson C, Plosser C (1982) Trends and random walks in macroeconomic time series: some evidence and implications. J Monet Econ 10:139–162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Papasotiriou H (1994) The Balkans after the cold war. Library of the International Relations’ Institution/Papazisi, Athens

    Google Scholar 

  • Petratos G (2009) Regional growth and inequalities in the European Union. Discussion paper series, 15(2):23–44. Available online at: http://www.prd.uth.gr/research/DP/2009/uth-prd-dp-2009-2_en.pdf

  • Szeles MR, Marinescu N (2010) Real convergence in the CEECs, euro area accession and the role of Romania. Eur J Comp Econ 7(1):181–202, ISSN 1722–4667

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenberg D (2000) Eastern enlargement of the European Union: problems of convergence. Massachusetts Institute for Social and Economic/University of Massachusetts-Amherst/Institute for International Economic and Political Studies/Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow

    Google Scholar 

  • Sala-i-Martin X (1996) Regional cohesion: evidence and theories of regional growth and convergence. Europ Econ Rev 40(6):1325–1352

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sarajevs V (2001) Convergence of European transition economies and the EU: what do the data show. Bank of Finland, Institute for Economies in Transition. Discussion paper no. 13 (all opinions expressed are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect bank’s opinion)

    Google Scholar 

  • Sideris D (2010) The Western Balkans on the road to the EU: an assessment of their integration with the euro zone using the generalized purchasing power parity approach. Bank of Greece. http://economics.soc.uoc.gr/macro/docs/Year/2010/papers/paper_1_67.doc

  • Solow RM (1956) A contribution to the theory of economic growth. Q J Econ 70:65–94

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zbigniew M, Prochniak M (2004) Economic convergence between the CEE-8 and the European Union. East Eur Econ 45:59–76

    Google Scholar 

  • Zbigniew M, Prochniak M (2007) Real economic convergence in the EU accession countries. Int J Appl Econ Quant Stud 1–3 www.europa.eu

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, School of Law, Economics and Political Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Eftychia Tsanana & Constantinos Katrakilidis

  2. Department of Business Administration, School of Economics and Business Administration, Serres, TEI of Serres, Serres, Greece

    Panagiotis Pantelidis

Authors
  1. Eftychia Tsanana
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Constantinos Katrakilidis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Panagiotis Pantelidis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eftychia Tsanana .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Business and Economy, Accountancy Department, Kavala Institute of Technology, Agios Loukas, Kavala, 65404, Greece

    Anastasios Karasavvoglou

  2. School of Business and Economy, Accountancy Department, Kavala Institute of Technology, Agios Loukas, Kavala, 65404, Greece

    Persefoni Polychronidou

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Tsanana, E., Katrakilidis, C., Pantelidis, P. (2013). Balkan Area and EU-15: An Empirical Investigation of Income Convergence. In: Karasavvoglou, A., Polychronidou, P. (eds) Balkan and Eastern European Countries in the Midst of the Global Economic Crisis. Contributions to Economics. Physica, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7908-2873-3_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation