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This paper analyzes the effect of the fiscal deficit on the current account deficit in the European Union during the period 1995-2018. The purpose is to examine to what extent an increase in government spending affects the deterioration of terms of trade and contributes to increasing external imbalances. Econometric methods for heterogeneous panel data models are used to analyse the existence of a long-run relationship between the fiscal deficit and the current account. The empirical findings indicate that the twin deficits hypothesis is not confirmed for the whole European Union, but only for a certain number of member states, where a long-run relationship still exists, confirming the impact of the fiscal deficit on the current account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to point out the limitations of conventional approaches, articulated via political processes, in reducing income inequality. Using the panel data methods, on the sample of 21 affluent OECD countries in the period from 1980 to 2011, it is observed that the increase in labour productivity as well as preferences of voters to parties that advocate greater redistribution, contrary to common perception, not necessarily lead to reduction in income inequality. Increasing dominance of big capital in the field of technological progress changes the conventions about contribution of workers to labour productivity. The result is a weakening of workers' bargaining power in relation to employers as well as increase in gap between labour productivity growth and real wage growth, which both lead to increase in income inequality. In comparison with the other political parties, it seems that the right-wing parties are more efficient in using voters' support to implement their concept of the welfare state, which contributes to maintaining the high market-generated income inequality. Such situation could be explained that de jure power of the government depends on election results, whereas de facto power depends on the support of so-called globally-oriented super elites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper explores the heterogeneity of growth in the Western Balkan and Emerging European economies. For that purpose, growth determinants are estimated in the period 1997-2009 by dynamic panel data models. The chosen period provides a comparison for the model results with those estimated for the period up to 2007 in order to analyze changes caused by the global instability. According to the main findings of the paper, macroeconomic stabilisation and structural reforms still matter in determining economic growth, but foreign direct investments and economic integrations seem to have the most important role in stimulating growth in the observed countries. Moreover, significant positive effects of foreign direct investments and economic integrations produce differences in growth paths between Emerging European and Western Balkan economies. Sharp decrease of foreign inflows in 2008 determined contractions of growth rates firstly in Emerging European economies with subsequent spill-over on the Western Balkan economies during 2009. Consequently, in the period of global instability, differences between two groups of economies become even more obvious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]