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Neravnomjeran gospodarski rast hrvatskih županija ukazuje na potrebu analize njihove usporedne (relativne) efikasnosti. Pritom bi, između ostaloga, istraživanje bilo zanimljivo usmjeriti na pokazatelje pod dominantnim utjecajem fi skalne politike. Upravo je to tema ovoga rada, a istraživanjem je obuhvaćeno razdoblje od 2002. do 2015. godine i uključeno šest pokazatelja u većem ili manjem opsegu povezanih s mjerama fiskalne politike. Dinamička je analiza provedena empirijski, korištenjem neparametarske metode analize omeđivanja podataka (AOMP), i to na županijskoj razini na kojoj su dane i smjernice za potrebna poboljšanja, što predstavlja novinu u odnosu na dosadašnje radove. Dobiveni rezultati efikasnosti 21 županije potvrdili su postavljene hipoteze o značajnim međužupanijskim nejednakostima i vodećoj poziciji Grada Zagreba u svjetlu odabranih pokazatelja, ukazujući ujedno na generatore neefikasnosti, među kojima je najizraženiji broj zaposlenih u jedinicama lokalnih i područnih samouprava. Rezultati bi trebali poslužiti kreatorima ekonomske politike u nastojanjima unapređenja fiskalnih odluka s ciljem smanjenja regionalnih razlika., The uneven economic growth of Croatian counties points to the need for an analysis of their relative efficiency. Among other things, it would be interesting to focus the research on indicators under the dominant influence of fiscal policy. This is exactly the subject of this paper, and the research covers the period from 2002 to 2015 and includes six indicators which are to a greater or lesser extent related to fiscal policy measures. The dynamic analysis is conducted empirically, using the nonparametric method of data envelopment analysis (DEA), at the county level at which are also given the guidelines for necessary improvements, which is novel in comparison to previous literature. The obtained results of 21 counties’ efficiency confirmed the hypothesis of significant inter-county disparities and the leading position of the City of Zagreb in the sense of selected indicators, also pointing to inefficiency sources among which the most prominent is the number of employees of local and regional self-government units. The results should serve the economic policy makers in the efforts to improve fiscal decisions with the aim of reducing regional differences.

Ukidanjem ureda državne uprave u siječnju 2020., poslovi koje su obavljali uredi kao prvostupanjska tijela državne uprave povjereni su na obavljanje županijama u njihov preneseni djelokrug čime je model dekoncentriranog obavljanja poslova državne uprave u Hrvatskoj zamijenjen modelom upravne decentralizacije. U radu se stoga prikazuju obilježja prenesenog djelokruga kao modela organizacije obavljanja poslova državne uprave u teritorijalnim jedinicama te upravne decentralizacije čiji je preneseni djelokrug institucijski rezultat. Pregled znanstvene literature o prenesenom djelokrugu i efektima provođenja upravne decentralizacije dopunjen je komparativnim prikazom efekata primjene prenesenog djelokruga u češkoj i njemačkoj lokalnoj samoupravi. Na temelju teorijskih razmatranja i komparativnih iskustava, raspravlja se o mogućim učincima primjene prenesenog djelokruga u hrvatskim županijama na njihov institucionalni razvoj i obavljanje prenesenih poslova., After the abolition of the county administrative offices in January 2020, the tasks performed by the county administrative offices as first-instance state administration bodies were delegated to the counties, as the second level self-government units in Croatia. By this organizational change, the model of deconcentrated performance of state administration tasks was replaced by the model of administrative decentralization. In this context, the paper presents the features of the delegated scope of competence as an organizational performance model of state administration tasks in territorial units and administrative decentralization with a delegated scope of competence as an institutional result. The review of the scholarly literature on the delegated scope of competence and the effects of administrative decentralization is supported by a comparative review of the delegated scope of competence in the Czech and German local self-government. Based on theoretical considerations and comparative practices, the paper discusses the possible effects of the application of the delegated scope of competence in Croatian counties on their institutional development and performance of the delegated tasks.

The main purpose of this paper is to examine different indicators that explain the growing differences between counties in Croatia, based on which counties are further compared and ranked. The ranking of 21 counties in Croatia is performed using 14 different indicators so this process can be viewed as multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) problem. Many MCDM methods have been developed and widely used in empirical research. However, these methods often rank the alternatives using different approach which can sometimes lead to divergent results. Therefore, in this paper the goal is to resolve these possible divergent rankings of the alternatives obtained from ten MCDM methods using a hybrid MCDM approach based on Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient.

Tourism is currently one of the largest and most dynamically developing sectors of the world. In many countries, including Croatia, has an extremely important role in the economy. The aim of this paper is to analyse complex links that exist between the tourism industry and processes of economic growth and development on regional level. Croatia has been divided into 20 counties and the capital city of Zagreb. The purpose is to investigate the impact of tourism on the economic growth of Croatian counties. In the research, two variables have been used, GDP as one of the main tools for measuring the economic growth, and overnight stays as a proxy variable for tourism. The obtained results show positive correlation between economic growth and tourist overnight stays. Panel model shows that regional economic growth is influenced by tourism. But research shows also the differences between the counties. Based on conducted analysis, authors suggest that the investment and development should be encourage and in other Croatian counties. Local and regional authorities have to create conditions for increasing competitiveness in tourism, that will in ultimately stimulate economic growth and development. Empirical findings in this study may provide guidance for private, local and government tourism policy makers and authorities in Croatia.

There are many global and national analyses that provide conclusive scientific support to various theses which stress the importance of entrepreneurship. In this article, based on the relevant data from Croatian counties, we specifically examine the mutual dependence and dual causality of the concepts of regional development and entrepreneurial activity. We apply correlation and dynamic panel data analysis on the set of data from Croatian counties with levels and relative changes of the selected regional growth indicators (GDP per capita, registered unemployment rate, development index) and the indicators of entrepreneurial activity (the number of entrepreneurs per 100 residents). The results of these analyses show the complexity and ambiguity of impact of level of regional development and economic growth on the growth of entrepreneurial activity Croatian counties, depending on the studied indices and the manner of observing them either through their particular levels or their relative changes in time. Results of testing the impact of level and growth of entrepreneurial activity on economic growth are however consistent and robust to different indicators reflecting economic growth. Showing that there exists a significant positive impact of entrepreneurial activity on economic growth.

In the focus of this paper is a multivariate analysis of Croatian Counties entrepreneurship. Complete data base available by official statistic institutions at national and regional level is used. Modern econometric methodology starting from a comparative analysis via multiple regression to multivariate cluster analysis is carried out as well as the analysis of successful or inefficacious entrepreneurship measured by indicators of efficiency, profitability and productivity. Time horizons of the comparative analysis are in 2004 and 2010. Accelerators of socio-economic development - number of entrepreneur investors, investment in fixed assets and current assets ratio in multiple regression model are analytically filtered between twenty-six independent variables as variables of the dominant influence on GDP per capita in 2010 as dependent variable. Results of multivariate cluster analysis of twenty-one Croatian Counties are interpreted also in the sense of three Croatian NUTS 2 regions according to European nomenclature of regional territorial division of Croatia.

A regional disparity is becoming increasingly important growth constraint. Using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methodology in this paper, the efficiency of Croatian counties is compared over the time period 2005-2010. Basing on seven socio-economic indicators and using models with assumption of constant and variable returns-to-scale, DEA identifies efficient counties as benchmark members. Moreover, inefficient counties are analyzed in detail to determine which resources and to what extent are inefficiently distributed and/or used. To enable longitudinal monitoring of development dynamics, window analysis is applied. The overall technical efficiency is decomposed into pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency. The findings show large disparities among counties and the results suggest that on average all the counties have some degree of inefficiency which is less due to pure technical than to the scale effects. By identifying regional disparity determinants, the results obtained should assist policy makers in formulating the most beneficial regional policy decisions.

The main precondition for e-Government and e-services development in Croatian counties is to have a certain level of ICT resources. This article will present the state of available ICT resources, in accordance with the survey conducted in Croatian counties in 2013. A very important subject, in the context of e-Government and e-services, is law regulation which has to be applied in the process of development. The Ministry of Public Administration is the competent body for strategic planning and implementation of e-Government and e-services at the state level. The Ministry provides e-services for citizens at the state level, and businesses and counties use these services. It is G2G connectivity. The autonomous scope of Croatian counties is regulated by the Law on Local and Regional government. The areas for establishing new e-services will be determined by the number of requests of citizens or other stakeholders noted in official evidence in two of Croatian counties in the period from2010 to 2012. Frequently asked requests will be recommended for further consideration as new e-services G2G, G2C and G2B, in accordance with law regulation. At the end, the authors will present state of ICT infrastructure as a precondition and possible counties’ services which could be transferred to e-services for establishing G2G, G2B and G2C.

The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the importance of the regional portfolio model for the regional tourism development. Therefore research was carried out interviewing experts by survey questionnaire. Regional portfolio model of tourism product development starts from the thesis that tourism region can be something like enterprise that offers several tourism products. For the perceived tourism products strategic options can realize certain benefits that must be identified. In this context, by region, tourism products vary according to their attractiveness, relevance and contribution to the development of the region. The importance of development of individual tourism products by region in Croatia is in this way evaluated. The advantage of this method is relatively quick and cheap determination of the opportunity of considering qualitative moments which are important for the future development of priority products by region.

Croatia as EU accession country is divided into three Nomenclature des unites territoriales statistiques (NUTS 2) regions which are quite different from twenty one official administrative Croatian Counties. Furthermore, Croatian Counties show significant economic and social disproportions. These disproportions are in the focus of the extended on-going scientific research. The focus of this paper is regional multimethodological approach and its results comparative analysis. After Croatian Counties classification by hierarchical Cluster analysis, multicriterial comparative approach is used. Weighting process within Croatian Counties ranking is based on statistical linkage of a set of regional variables (regional GDP per capita, employment, gross investment, production of more important agricultural products, GVA per person employed, construction works value, exports, imports, foreign tourists arrivals, foreign tourists nights, ecology…). Subsequently, comparative rank analysis is realized by rank correlation coefficient hypothesis testing and Friedman test. At the end of this research phase all multimethodological approach results are compared with existing regional administrative division of Croatian territory.

This paper as a part of an extensive research about the Croatian economic challenges within global recession environment has focused on the estimation of integral Croatian counties GDP per capita model. The main intention is to quantify each partial influence of a set of independent regional variables on regional GDP per capita. Stepwise variable selection method points out that regional GDP per capita is well explained only by two regional variables: Exports and Foreign tourist arrival. Namely, correlation analysis indicated existence of strong multicolinearity effects between Exports and all other regressors variables. Regional Croatian counties GDP per capita model is estimated by classical multiple regression approach and then by multiple Monte Carlo simulations. The comparative analysis of the results confirms the advantage of Monte Carlo simulation in evaluation of interdependence especially regarding Gauss-Markov conditions on the stochastic part of econometric model. For this regional analysis multiple Monte Carlo simulation of regression model is used for the first time to measure individual average influence of each regressor variable on the GDP per capita. The comparative analysis is enriched by Cluster analysis of the same set of Croatian counties according to appropriate indicators. Complete set of the comparative analysis results confirms the general conclusion that EU regional Croatian NUTS 2 spacing has been done according to a set of administrative geographic and demographic criteria neglecting the socio-economic one. That is why the legal Croatian counties administrative spacing into 21 counties is currently the best reflection of the Croatian socio-economic and geographic status by relevant development and economic indicators. That is why the new methodology for spatial-economic entities' classification is a more useful characterisation of the territory for policy-making purposes.

Croats started forming counties as soon as they had settled in their present homeland, roughly in the 7th century. As the counties were responsible for defence, their armed units carried flags into battles often ensigned with the county emblems. Toward the 18th century with the liberation of territories from Ottomans, counties were re-established, and granted coats of arms. Flags were made for representation. Some of them are preserved, mainly in the Croatian Historical Museum in Zagreb. The counties were established only on the territories of the crown-lands of Croatia and Slavonia. With the breakup of Austria-Hungary and formation of a new country of Southern Slavs, the concept of counties was abandoned and not re-established until after Croatia gained independence in 1991. The modern counties are entitled to have their coat of arms and their flags. Those counties that have historical coats of arms, in principle, (re)adopt these arms, whereas the other counties adopted newly designed ones. All the counties adopted new flags, according to the requirement of the centralised regulations. These flags consist of a two-coloured field in various geometric divisions, with the coat of arms. Beside the ordinary flag, some of the counties also use richly embroidered ceremonial flags that are produced in one example only.