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The main goal of this policy paper is to provide an overview of the basic problems that have impact on healthcare in Croatia and tend to make it unsustainable. The paper points out that the COVID-19 crisis has deepened and exacerbated the already existing problems of financing the health system. The analysis shows that Croatia swept under the rug systemic problems in financing healthcare and ultimately paid the price through frequent financial bailouts. Thus, in the period from 1994-2021, a total of HRK 23.9 billion was spent on bailing out the health service. On the other hand, the COVID-19 crisis can be seen as a chance to start solving the problem and implement certain reforms, both on the revenue and expenditure side of the health system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes fiscal policy sustainability and cyclicality in Croatia. The main novelty of the paper is that our fiscal response function allows for asymmetric behavior over the business cycle. We allow fiscal policy sustainability and cyclicality to differ across the expansionary and recessionary regimes. The overall results suggest that fiscal policy in Croatia is both sustainable and countercyclical. We find evidence of asymmetric behavior of fiscal policy cyclicality. In the expansionary regime, fiscal policy is countercyclical, while in the recessionary regime, it varies between procyclical and acyclical. On the other hand, we find only limited evidence of asymmetric behavior of public debt sustainability. During good times, Croatian policymakers try to keep fiscal policy both sustainable and countercyclical, which is required fiscal policy behavior. In recessionary times, the characteristics of fiscal policy are not so clear, but tend to be procyclical or acyclical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coronavirus triggered a record fall of GDP in Croatia, 8.1% in 2020, one of the largest declines in the EU. The large macroeconomic shock stemming from the pandemic has affected both supply and demand. On the one hand, government measures have imposed unprecedented supply-side restrictions. On the other hand, growing uncertainty affected domestic and foreign demand. Croatia was particularly affected by a plunge in international tourism demand. Such a major macroeconomic shock poses a challenge for estimating potential GDP, which is difficult to estimate even in stable economic conditions. When estimating potential GDP in the context of the corona crisis, the main issue is the breakdown of the shock into a permanent and a temporary part (supply and demand shock). In this paper, we try to give the most logical breakdown of Croatian data and describe possible methodological approaches to the estimation of potential GDP during the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of insolvency is significantly present in countries undergoing transition. In Croatia, there has been significant research on the possibilities of using the existing models for determining the domestic companies’ ability to maintain solvency. Likewise, no model based on business enterprises’ financial data has yet been proposed, which leaves an open space for this research. The purpose of this paper is to calculate and analyse solvency indicators; total debt to assets ratio, total debt to equity ratio, Altman Z-score, and the Kralicek Quick Test. This paper analyses the financial data for the period 1996–2014 and provides evidence that the insolvency of Croatian companies increased with the global financial crisis. Multiple regression analysis is used in order to show the relation between total debt to assets ratio as the dependent variable, and current assets and liabilities ratio and dummy variables as independent variables. The conclusions and recommendations for mitigating the impact of insolvency in this paper would be useful for managers, public policy-makers and all stakeholders in companies with financial problems, as well as for financially still-healthy companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of fiscal austerity has been questioned for centuries, but a rapidly increasing deficit along with the financial crisis in 2007/2008 influenced a renewed debate on the economics of austerity. This paper analyzes the role of austerity versus the role of economic growth. It also attempts to highlight the role of the theoretical context of austerity policy and the economic history lesson learned during the transition from the Bretton Woods model to Washington's consensus. Despite numerous studies and polarized debate, no consensus on the implementation of fiscal austerity has been achieved because this complex subject has not been the subject of a sufficient methodological exploration. Emphasis should be placed on defining the methodology of austerity and gathering statistical data to influence the implementation of social transfer policies. In addition, it is necessary not only to take a hybrid approach to fiscal and monetary policy but also to adopt economic laws and quantitative economic relationships. The benchmarking country used in this paper is Croatia. The outcome of this research can serve as the basis for future decision-making and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to determinte whether or not certain questionnaire designs could lead to higher response rates compared to other questionnaire designs. To this end, the data from conducted business web survey on a sample of Croatian enterprises was used. In the survey nine different questionnaire designs were randomly distributed across the sample of enterprises. The difference between the questionnaire designs can be found in the number of questions that have been shown to respondents per questionnaire screen and in the kind of provided pictures. The conducted analyses have shown that, when all enterprises together are observed, questionnaire designs in which all questions were shown immediately to the respondents with "negative" pictures included and where questionnaire is divided into logical groups of questions with "positive" pictures, the highest response rates in the future business web surveys could be achieved. Thereby, the recommendation of questionnaire designs for enterprises stratified according to their size, legal form, main activity and location of their headquarters are also provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to quantify institutional (political and fiscal) and noninstitutional uncertainty (economic policy uncertainty, Economists' recession index, natural disasters-related uncertainty, and several disagreement measures). The stated indicators are based on articles from highly popular Croatian news portals, the repository of law amendments (Narodne novine), and Business and Consumer Surveys. We also introduce a composite uncertainty indicator, obtained by the principal components method. The analysis of a structural VAR model of the Croatian economy (both with fixed and time-varying parameters) has showed that a vast part of the analysed indicators are significant predictors of economic activity. It is demonstrated that their impact on industrial production is the strongest in the onset of a crisis. On the other hand, the influence of fiscal uncertainty exhibits just the opposite tendencies. It strengthens with the intensification of economic activity, which partially exculpates the possible utilization of fiscal expansion as a counter-crisis tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to research, theoretically and empirically, the impact of institutional reforms on economic growth in transition countries (new European Union members) and Croatia, in the period from 1996 to 2012. In order to prove the hypothesis, we will use panel analysis of transition economies and Croatia, namely the Arellano–Bond dynamic panel analysis. The analysis includes two dependent variables (gross domestic product per capita [G.D.P./p.c.]and the share of export in G.D.P.) and five independent variables (total Heritage Index of Economic Freedom, Worldwide Governance Indicators (W.G.I.) government effectiveness indicator, W.G.I. rule of law indicator, corruption perception index and the index of institutional reforms in transition countries). The results show that there is a significant positive impact of institutional reforms on the economic growth of transition countries and Croatia, which creates preconditions that are essential for the future growth rate of the Croatian economy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the relationship between financial development and international trade in Croatia over the period from the first quarter of 1997 and the last quarter of 2015. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to cointegration is applied to examine the long-run and short-run relationships among the series. The research hypothesis is accepted and the relationship between financial development and international trade in Croatia is established and confirmed. The research results reveal unidirectional Granger causality from financial development to international trade at the 10% significance level, and negative long-run and the positive short-run relationships between financial developments and international trade in Croatia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Industry / Industrija is the property of Economics Institute and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Zipf's law is a striking regularity in the field of urban economics that states that the sizes of cities should follow the rank-size distribution. Rank-size distribution, or the rank-size rule, is a commonly observed statistical relationship between the population size and population rank of a nations' cities. The goal of this paper is to test Zipf's law as applied to data for settlements and cities in Croatia using the Census of Population Survey for the year 2011. The results of the analysis have shown that Zipf's law for settlements in Croatia holds true for the majority of the settlement sizes. However, the rank-size distribution does not hold true for extremely small and extremely large settlement sizes. When city proper and urban agglomeration of 127 Croatian cities were examined, Zipf's law was found to hold true only for urban agglomerations. The results of the study are discussed in terms of regional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to analyse the inflation persistence phenomenon in the theory of economics and in Croatian economy. In the economic literature there are only few studies on the phenomenon of inflation persistence in Croatia. That is why we try to fill the gap in this area by analysing the phenomenon of inflation persistence in the Croatian economy, with particular emphasis of this phenomenon for different groups of goods and services. In this article we use a research method based on literature studies in the field of macroeconomics and international finance and econometric methods (Bayesian Vector Autoregression Model [BVAR]). All statistical data used in this article were monthly data and covered the period from January 2005 to December 2013 (108 months) and their source was United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Statistical Division Database. It provides detailed statistical information on countries in Europe, North America and Central Asia. The calculated inflation persistence coefficient in Croatia stood at 0.88 in the period 2005–2013, which apparently confirmed the occurrence of high inflation persistence in this economy. High inflation persistence means a slow return of inflation to its long-run value after a shock. A high degree of inflation persistence should be a signal for the economic authorities of a country to initiate indispensable institutional and labour market reforms which usually increase flexibility of domestic economy and lead to a reduced degree of inflation persistence. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The main purpose of this paper was to investigate and identify which transfer pricing methods are applied in related companies in Croatia, as well as to give certain recommendations that would improve the control of transfer pricing in Croatia. The primary data for this study were collected through the survey which was conducted on a sample of related companies from the real sector in Croatia in 2008, and again in 2012. Results obtained in this study indicated that the issues related to transfer pricing still are not significantly represented and understood in business practice in Croatia. The research results also showed that the majority of related companies in Croatia apply the cost method of determining the transfer prices. Furthermore, the research results showed that in 2008 the comparable uncontrolled price method was the most frequently used OECD method of determining transfer prices in related companies in Croatia, while in 2012 all OECD methods of determining transfer prices were equally applied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the extent of gross premium distributions inequality for life and non-life insurance in Croatia in the period 2000–2012. The number of companies for life insurance was the same in 2000 and 2012, at 17. The number of non-life insurance companies varied between 16 and 24, and was 20 at the end of 2012. The Lorenz curve and nine numerical concentration measures applied mostly show a slight decrease of a moderate concentration for both types of insurance over time, with only the Rosenbluth index being an exception, showing a mild increase of concentration. The concentration of gross premium is slightly stronger for non-life then for life insurance. The standard errors of the trend models for the entropy indexes are smaller, and coefficients of determination are higher for the quadratic compared to the linear trend models for both types of insurances, life and non-life. Since the forecasts’ quality measures for both types of insurance show that the quadratic trend is superior compared to the simple linear trend model, it was used for short-term forecasting of the entropy indexes. The quadratic trend model gave forecasts showing digressive-progressive dynamics for non-life, and progressive-digressive for life insurance entropy indexes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Management Cases is the property of Access Press UK and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Journal of Management Cases is the property of Access Press UK and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Journal of Management Cases is the property of Access Press UK and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The era of intense competition in all spheres of the global economy has forced companies to spare no effort to retain their market share and to compete successfully in the marketplace. This is particularly evident in the retail sector which is one of the fastest growing and most competitive sectors of the Croatian economy. Over the last decade, retailers have faced many challenges. On the one hand, there are ever more sophisticated and more demanding customers. On the other hand, there is intense competition in retailing: non-store retail formats, vertical integration, large store formats, to name a few. It requires retailers worldwide to define the manner in which they may differentiate themselves in the market and attract consumers in a way that is superior to their competitors. Although most retailers today use an overall cost leadership strategy to obtain a competitive advantage, thus reducing the personal element in service delivery, services remain critical for the competitiveness of a retail firm. The main objective of this paper is to investigate the influence of service level on store patronage. The paper reports the findings of a study conducted on a sample of 350 Croatian customers and points out the positive relation between customer service and retail firm success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores controlling developments in the particular environment of an economy involved in a transition process for almost two decades. The results presented in the paper were founded on the empirical analysis of the most successful Croatian companies, which were used as the sampling population. The presentation of controlling department existence in Croatian companies and the analysis of management perception of controlling importance were performed together with research on controlling information sources and users. All the information presented allowed us to make some conclusions about controlling development and to assess its future. Also, recent controlling developments were analyzed in the sample of Croatian SMEs to evaluate its implementation in this group of entities and to assess the factors of potential influence on its development level in a given enterprise, such as: size of the enterprise, management performance (owner-managers or managers), intensity of accounting information use and relation to the business abroad. The results were evaluated considering the controlling evolution in developed economies. Thus, the controlling evolution was monitored in the Croatian corporate sector, from its "registering" stage, still dominant on the scene, to its "innovation" stage. In addition to the current findings, future perspectives on controlling development flows in Croatia were also assessed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we explore the transitions of social assistance beneficiaries to employment in Croatia. Data was sourced from the social welfare register for 208 persons from the 2015 cohort of new, unemployed social assistance recipients in one Centre for Social Welfare, their outcomes tracked until June 2017. About a quarter of the recipients became employed within one year, in most cases with wages slightly higher than the statutory minimum. Out of them, about a quarter relapsed into social assistance status within a year. Following the World Bank Employment Barriers approach, we examine whether outcomes are associated with disincentives to work (inactivity trap), lack of work-related capabilities, or gendered engagement with in-household work. We found the average participation tax rate (PTR) for recipients to stand at 57%, yet no effect of PTR, benefit level, debt or PTR level on transition to employment was identified. With respect to capabilities, the role of human capital (vocational in particular), work experience and age turned out to be consistent with prior research. Substitution of inhouse work is consistent with the finding that women are less likely to get employed if living in a household with dependents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper models the effects of various macroeconomic and business indicators as well as environmental impacts for the period from January 2002 to December 2013 in order to explain the differences in the Croatian regional unemployment. The paper proposes use of relatively novel methodology for modelling regional unemployment. The applied methodology enables joint modelling of all Croatian counties in a single (global) model and employing a rich set of variables, as well as accounting for interactions among regional labor markets, economic activities and firms. The study indicates an absence of conventional market economies adjustment mechanisms on the regional labor markets. Low flexibility of the regional labor markets combined with strong dependence on national dynamics makes regions highly exposed to the occurrence of economic downturn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether there are significantly different characteristics of the demand for money in Croatia in the period before and during the recession. The paper applies error correction model (ECM) and autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach, estimating model 1 for the period of growth, and model 2 for the period of recession. Structural stability of these models was tested by cumulative sum and cumulative sum of square tests. Comparing the results of the models, the substantial changes in the function of the demand for money has been detected. Namely, the research shows that variables: interest rates (IR), real effective exchange rate (REER) and inflation (CPI) are significant in model 1, while the variable industrial production (IP) is not significant. In model 2 only industrial production (IP) and inflation (CPI) have been found to be statistically significant with the adequate sign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Dela is the property of University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Philosophy / Univerza v Ljubljani, Filozofska Fakulteta and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Ekonomski Vjesnik is the property of Ekonomski Vjesnik and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The main goal of this paper is to analyse socio-demographic processes in Eastern Croatia. We focus especially on the structure of particular economic activities as well as population, which should be the basis of regional development. We have used several demographic and economic indicators to determine the changes that have taken place in the region. Trends in population change in the last decades, the share of industrial and agricultural workers in legal entities, the share of employed and unemployed persons in cities and municipalities, as well as the inactive population in five Eastern Croatian counties are examined. Also, agricultural indicators have been analysed, as this is one of the most important economic activities in this area. Thereby, an overview of the main trends in regional development of this area has been given, although some of the data were unavailable at the local level. Altogether, the authors have analysed 126 local units (22 cities and 104 municipalities) within five counties of the Eastern Croatian region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivated by differences in the intensity of innovation across national economies, this paper presents an empirical examination of the determinants of a firm's likelihood to invest in different innovation intensity levels in both France and Croatia which represent developed and developing countries, respectively. We used a theoretical framework, which considers the firm's characteristics, internal strategic behaviours and external strategic features, to guide an empirical exploration into the determinants of innovation performance across two countries. The comparison between results from France and Croatia indicates that the incentives of the innovation activities differ between two countries mainly due to a firm's characteristics (size) and external strategic features (export and firm performance). On the other hand, firm's internal strategic behaviours (quality strategy, environmental strategy, R&D and training) have the same role in innovation performance improvement in both developed and developing countries. Consequently, we conclude that managers of firms should customise strategies which aim to improve innovation performance according to the specificities of national economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The way in which the professional community, the media and the political community in Croatia perceive the importance of tourism for the country's overall economy differs, depending on the momentary particular interests of specific segments within these communities. Most often than not, the interpretation of achievements in tourism comes down to presenting physical-traffic data (number of tourist arrivals and overnights) and, with the exception of overall tourism-generated foreign exchange inflows, only rarely are attempts made to provide an analytical interpretation of the financial effects of tourism. Because of the lack of other positive economic effects, tourism is often unjustifiably and undeservingly placed in the focus of the public. Althoughtourism generates very small financial assets, its contribution to the GDP is fairly significant, and this fact only adds to creating an incomplete picture of the actual role and importance of tourism in the Croatian economy. The need to set that picture straight was the primary motivation behind research in this paper, which set outs, by analysing physical and financial indicators, to debunk misconceptions and establish the truths about the real characteristics of the tourism offering and the effects of tourist demand in Croatia. The paper proceeds from the hypothesis that tourism, with all its complementary effects on employment, the exportation of services, the food industry, traffic, and intermediation activities in hospitality and tourism, is indeed important for Croatia's economy, but nowhere close to the level of importance attributed to tourism by media coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tests the predictive ability of the Business Excellence Model developed by Croatian researchers Željana Aljinović Barać and Vinko Belak in 2007. The model was tested on Croatian publicly listed companies from 2000 to 2006 and it showed 90% validity. Due to the similarities between Croatian and Serbian economies, we decided to test the predictive ability of this model, taking into consideration Serbian foreign investors, specifically those that used the Greenfield strategy or the M&A strategy when entering the Serbian market. We tested the model on the sample companies and their financial statements published in the period from 2008 to 2012. We tested the predictive value of the model through statistical measurement of its relationship with profitability expressed as return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE), and net income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Društvena Istraživanja is the property of Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Ekonomski Vjesnik is the property of Ekonomski Vjesnik and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Collected Papers of the Law Faculty of the University of Rijeka / Zbornik Pravnog Fakulteta Sveučilišta u Rijeci is the property of Pravni fakultet Sveucilista u Rijeci and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Journal of Management Cases is the property of Access Press UK and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Journal of Management Cases is the property of Access Press UK and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Journal of Management Cases is the property of Access Press UK and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Ekonomski Vjesnik is the property of Ekonomski Vjesnik and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The purpose of this paper is to analyze business cycle synchronization in the Croatian economy using various annualized growth rate variables over a period of eighteen years (1992-2010), de-trended by a Hodrick-Prescott filter, and following the Harding and Pagan methodological procedure in the determination of its turning points. Our conceptual analysis of synchronization is based on the technique of concordance indexes and correlation coefficients obtained by the HAC estimators. The main result of the research shows that there is a high degree of probability that dismissal of employees in the Croatian economy will coincide with the contraction phase in industry. The cyclic phase of growth in job creation in great measure coincides with the cyclic phase of growth in exports and the construction sector, as well as with tourist arrivals. There is an almost perfect synchronization between the cyclic phases of the construction sector and imports. The central conclusion of the paper is that this study can establish stylized facts about the dynamics of Croatian business cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global financial crisis has affected the Croatian local public sector. In such circumstances, local government units' debts and borrowing should be approached with caution. The highly interwoven financial operations of local government units and their utilities indicate the need for analysis of consolidated financial statements of local governments and utility companies in order to gain an insight into the real financial "health" of local units. Accordingly, the main aim of this paper is to analyze the size and the structure of the consolidated (local government and utility companies) local public debt in Croatia. Accordingly, the paper presents the financial position of local government units supplemented with information on the financial operations of utility companies, with particular emphasis on the size and structure of their liabilities and gross and net debt. Although the current Budget Law does not require formal preparation of consolidated financial statements by local governments and their utility firms, consolidation is stipulated by International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS). The application of IPSAS regulations would be helpful in determining overall direct and indirect exposure of local government units arising from the financial operations of their utilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ekonomski Vjesnik is the property of Ekonomski Vjesnik and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper compares the equity market in Croatia in bad (bear or turbulent) and good (bull, calm) market conditions. The two market regimes are formally identified under the Markov Regime Switching (MRS) framework. The analysis conducted suggests that correlations between equity prices are more than twice as high during bear than in bull markets. This result holds both for the shares included in the CROBEX and for the relationship among various European equity indices. In the context of international diversification the result suggests only a limited benefit that foreign investors can count on when diversifying their portfolios by expanding to developing European markets. In addition, by evaluating a portfolio optimization model that takes asymmetric correlations into account in an out-of-sample exercise, this paper also illustrates the losses that may occur if the asymmetry is ignored in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Radovi Zavod za povijesne znanosti HAZU u Zaru is the property of Zavod za Povijesne Znanosti HAZU and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Distributive trade of the Republic of Croatia is an important segment of the Croatian economy. This can be confirmed by the share of distributive trade in the creation of GDP, by the share of employed persons, by the share of the number of registered enterprises and by the share of the number of active enterprises. Crafts are a manifestation of the Croatian distributive trade which, to a certain extent, contributes to the overall increase in its importance, as shown by the mentioned indicators. Crafts form part of small enterprises. Their business position is extremely unfavorable. What makes the position of crafts in the segment of distributive trade even harder is the intensified process of its expansion and concentration, with one consequence being the increased importance of a limited, small number of biggest enterprises. Tradesmen in the segment of distributive trade are mainly small independent merchants who, as a rule, own one business unit such as a shop or a repair shop. The inadequate size of such a business unit prevents the introduction of a basic sales technology on which all contemporary sales formats from supermarkets to electronic sales are based. This basic sales technology includes self-selection and self-service which contribute to the rationalization of business costs, primarily by lowering operating costs and by increasing efficiency through the possibility of increase in permeability of shops. The economic status of merchants is significantly determined by the technological basis of sales. The fragmentation of sales capacities and their technological backwardness are important factors that determine the economic strength of small independent merchants as a whole, as well as the segment of tradesmen. As a rule, tradesmen operate small shops and do not have a diversified sales structure as regards shop formats. This paper looks into the importance of crafts in the distributive trade of the Republic of Croatia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revija za Sociologiju is the property of Revija za Sociologiju and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper tests the hypothesis that incentives for renewable energy sources contribute to economic development in Croatia. The aim of the paper is to quantify the total effects of wind power plant deployment on the Croatian economy in terms of employment and gross value. Indirect and induced effects are spread over the value added chain of producers of investment and intermediate goods and services required for wind power plant deployment and operation. The open input-output model is used for quantifying indirect effects. The closed input output model, which assumes endogenous personal consumption, is applied for quantifying total effects, which includes the effects of induced personal consumption. The gross value added and employment type I and type II multipliers related to wind power plants in Croatia were calculated separately for the investment and intermediate consumption channel. The results show positive indirect and induced effects relating to the deployment of wind power plants in Croatia. They are less pronounced in comparison to previous studies due to the undeveloped domestic production of equipment required for wind power plant deployment. Apart from the manufacturing sector, which produces equipment incorporated into wind power plants, the total effects were significant for construction, transport, and other supporting industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maritime domain is of great importance for the Republic of Croatia because it represents a developmental foundation of Croatian tourism, especially nautical tourism in which sports ports have not participated so far. In such proccess it should be noted that activities in sports ports are regulated by the Sports Act. Accordigly, the aim of this paper is to evaluate both positive and negative factors which reflect on the economic interests and finally on the economic effects. In this study we used methods of analysis and synthesis, and when we were analysing and comparing Croatia with other Mediterraen countries (Italy, Spain, France) we used the comparison method. The scienfifc contribution of this study is reflected in the latter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ekonomski Vjesnik is the property of Ekonomski Vjesnik and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

One of the sectors of the European economy affecting the effective implementation of the Europe 2020 Strategy is the textile industry sector. In the current financial perspective, the European Union is making a significant contribution to maintaining its growth with the aim of creating opportunities for job creation. Croatia's accession to the European Union (EU) gave new perspectives for future economic and social development of the country. Full integration of the country is also conducive to generating new challenges, especially for economic entities operating in the Croatian textile sector. The aim of this paper is to examine the competitive position of the textile sectorof the Croatian economy in the period 2005-2016. Preliminary analysis of the problem allowedto formulate the following research hypothesis: Croatia's accession to the European Unionhas a positive impact on improving the competitiveness of the Croatian textile sector in the contextof implementation of the Europe 2020 Strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The oil industry is historically burdened by different turbulences and tremors having the significant impact on the market. In order to anticipate unforeseen and potentially harmful situations, some firms as a part of their long-term strategic plans pay attention to scenario-based planning, which is a useful technique for preparation of appropriate strategy and responses to potential unforeseen emergencies. Scenario planning is used for a detailed analysis of the current situation in the market and potential future development, creating a research framework for creating development scenarios. Scenario planning is especially highlighted in the context of oil industry considering the technique actually originated in this business (it was also used in previous military doctrine), where, because of using a scenario-based planning, some oil companies profited and gained a privileged position. The aim of the paper is to provide an insight into the importance and various approaches in using scenario planning today and explain the potential long-term scenarios in the oil industry of Croatia and the region, obtained by means of qualitative research and in-depth interviews with a number of experts in the field of oil industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Port of Rijeka is an important transport hub of international importance for the Republic of Croatia. With its geostrategic predispositions and increasingly strong appearance in transport sector, the Rijeka gateway is gaining more and more significance. As a key hub between the maritime and inland traffic systems, the Port of Rijeka encompasses a whole range of active and passive participants in process of creating port services. Positive economic effects of the port's traffic on its regional area are manifested through multiplicative effects arising from participation in port services. By calculating different multiplicative effects, it is possible to get a better insight into commercial-economic interconnection of port services providers within the Rijeka port system. This paper confirms that the revenues generated by the traffic of cargo and passengers achieve 3 to 10 times greater effect on the overall market, and directly or indirectly influence at least 0.15 % to at most 1.55 % of the national GDP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inland terminals are becoming important objects (knots) in today's supply chain. This implies new methods to determine the location of inland terminal. Appropriate inland terminal location (ITL) decision depends on analyzing demand, employee's availability, investment capabilities and other factors. In this paper we present gravity center method and median method as quantitative ones and Analytic Hierarchical Process (AHP), ELECTRE and PROMETHEE as complex decision methods to determine inland terminal location. Given methods are implemented on the example of inland terminal location determination in Republic of Croatia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]