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The paper analyses the determinants of green development in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries pointing out the influence of the sophistication of productive structure and exported goods (economic complexity). The study uses OECD data regarding green development, World Bank Indicators, World Penn Table Data, and MIT Harvard data covering the period of 1996 to 2020, in a heterogeneous panel approach. Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS) and Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) models are estimated in order to express the influence on green development of the economic complexity index, KOF globalization index, renewable energy consumption, human capital index, and a constructed institutional quality index (computed by using the Principal Component Analysis based on data from World Governance Indicators). All considered variables have a validated statistical influence on green growth in both models. The Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality test revealed a bidirectional causal relationship between institutional quality and green growth and unidirectional ones from economic complexity, human capital and renewable energy to green development and from green development to globalization. Policy implications are also provided.

Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries are struggling with internal and external macroeconomic and social factors in their catching-up strategies to be closer, as economic wealth, to the Western developed European countries. In these ex-communist countries, institutional factors could be seen as critical for success in narrowing the income gap. The paper proposes an analysis of the impact of economic and financial development and globalization on the income gap in 11 Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia) for the period of 1996 to 2019, taking into consideration institutional factors. The study analyses the variables: transition coefficient as a proxy for income gap, GDP per capita, KOF Financial Globalisation Index, Financial Development Index and World Bank Institutional Indicators in a panel approach methodology and estimation of FMOLS and DOLS equations. The paper’s findings show that all considered factors have a significant contribution to the income gap in the examined period of time. Economic and financial development, as well as institutional quality, is positively associated with the closing income gap, while globalization has a negative influence. It is also revealed the direction of the causality relationship between the considered variables: from economic and financial development, globalization and institutional quality to the income gap. These findings suggest some policy recommendations in support of the continuation of the European integration process.

The paper examines the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) model in the panel of the most complex economies in the world by considering the ecological footprint as an indicator of environmental degradation and economic complexity - as a variable of interest and expression of structural changes in the economy. The study includes the first 48 complex economies in the world, with positive averages of the Economic Complexity Index (ECI) for 1995-2017. The model of cointegrating polynomial regression (CPR) includes also variables with impact on ecological footprints such as globalization, energy intensity and urbanization. The EKC model is validated in the panel of the 48 complex economies, suggesting that these countries have already reached a development stage enabling them to curb the increasing pollution expressed by ecological footprint. Globalization has a mitigating effect while urbanization and energy intensity have an extension effect on ecological footprint. Policy implications are also included.

The larger context of our research is the impact of the Romanian transportation infrastructure development on the nation's economy. In this paper we focus on presenting the inland waterways, canals and maritime transportation infrastructure, the volume of goods transported and some economic implications. The scope of the present study is to analyze data regarding the volume of goods transported on the inland waterways and maritime transportation infrastructure. The considered time-frame for this paper is from 1990 to 2019 and the data was collected from sources such as annual reports of Governmental Agencies, Eurostat and the National Institute of Statistics. We found that there is severe lack of reported data or even data inconsistency between authorities. As economic policy implications we mention the need for investments in maintenance, development, and modernization of infrastructure to stimulate the positive trend in volumes of goods transported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]