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The Covid-19 pandemic has brought numerous economic challenges to countries around the world. The specificities of certain economy sectors determined the character and intensity of the impact of this health crisis on their results. The purpose of the paper is to analyse the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the economic results of agriculture in the European Union countries. Comparative analysis and cluster analysis are used in the research. The general conclusion of the paper is that the Covid-19 pandemic did not change the economic importance and role of agriculture in the individual European Union countries. In addition, the European Union countries differ significantly according to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the contribution of agriculture to gross domestic product, while a significant difference between the countries has not been determined according to the impact of the pandemic on the contribution of agriculture to employment.

The Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) makes a significant contribution to understanding the relationship between return and risk and valuing assets in the capital market. The basic idea of the CAPM model is that assets exposed to the same level of systemic risk should have the same level of expected return. Therefore, the CAPM model values the asset, ie. determines its price at a level that ensures that the expected return corresponds to the assumed systemic risk. In addition to the positive aspects of the CAPM model, the paper pays equal attention to understanding the problems and taking into account the shortcomings and limitations that this model faces. The aim of the research is to find an answer to the question of whether the CAPM model is the correct model for valuing financial assets. In this regard, the paper presents numerous pieces of evidence for and against the validity of the CAPM model, concluding that, even after more than half a century of research, no consensus has been reached in the financial literature on the presence or absence of its validity.

Portfolio theory occupies an essential place in modern finance, while portfolio management grounded on its achievements has been recognized as one of the main tasks of financial experts worldwide. Taking into account the previous, the research aims to understand the development process of portfolio theory profoundly and to familiarize the investment community with the basic features of each of its phases: traditional, modern, and post-modern portfolio theory, with inevitable comparative analysis of these theories and presentation of their positive and negative aspects. The rationale of implementing an analysis of the evolutionary process of portfolio theory lies in the intention to provide a systematic overview of the development of theoretical thought within this area and grounded on the belief that accumulated knowledge in the field of portfolio theory and portfolio management is one of the most valuable knowledge assets of contemporary society.

The development of academic thought is a slow but unquestionable process that leads to a more advanced intellectual structure of the research area. The global growth of tourism demand in rural areas has conditioned the accelerated development of rural tourism, and thus the growing interest of the academic community in this tourism specialism. In this regard, the paper aims to provide insight into recent trends in rural tourism literature and examine the intellectual structure of this discipline. A detailed review of relevant literature published in the Web of Science (WoS) tourism journals and the application of evaluative bibliometric analysis identified the predominant interests of authors and dominant research niches, the most common research regions, the most frequently used research methods, papers that had the highest impact on modelling scientific thought within the subject area, the most productive and influential journals, as well as the authors who have left the most profound trace in the analyzed discipline in the past ten years. It is expected that the paper stimulates academic discussion on the relatively steady interest of researchers and the need for further and more dynamic intellectual development in the field of rural tourism.

Moving the standard finance theory further away from practice has led to an increased criticism of standard finance. Much evidence in favor of the absence of perfect investor rationality have called for the need of a new approach and a new point of view offered by behavioral finance. Behavioral finance relies on standard finance, supplements its theory and, according to behavioral economists, gradually substitutes it; however, behavioral finance also faces a number of limitations. The aim of this research is to find answers to the question of whether preference should be given to standard or behavioral finance, in terms of finance theory and investment practice. By applying the methods of qualitative economic analysis, it has been concluded that we should strive towards the integrated application of these theoretical frameworks in order to achieve their synergy, exploit the positive and concurrently eliminate the negative aspects. An example of a theoretical approach that reconciles the differences between standard and behavioral finance is Adaptive Markets Hypothesis (AMH), which is given particular attention in the paper and has not been discussed in the literature in the Republic of Serbia thus far.

Since agriculture is the highly important economic activity in the Republic of Serbia, it is necessary to create an environment in which competitive agricultural enterprises will develop. However, regions in the Republic of Serbia considerably differ regarding the intensity of agricultural activity. This paper examines the impact of agricultural enterprises on the region's contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country in the period between 2010 and 2018. Activity of agricultural enterprises was observed using number of agricultural enterprises, number of employees in them, their turnover and gross value added. Random-Effects GLS regression showed that regions with higher agricultural activity contribute to the lesser extent to the GDP of the country. Research results are robust to changing sampling period and lagging independent variables. In this regard, several proposals have been recommended.

An important element of the positive portfolio theory which in addition to the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) provides an important contribution in terms of understanding the relationship between return and risk and pricing of assets in the capital market is the Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT). This theory has been in focus of the economists for decades and is gaining advantage over the CAPM model in theory; however, not in practical terms. The paper aims to search for an answer to the question whether, after the four decades since the APT model has been introduced, there is a consensus in the financial literature on the validity and feasibility of this model in practice. The method of qualitative economic analysis, which allows us to draw valid conclusions on the researched issue based on studying the relevant literature, was applied in this paper. The general conclusion of the research is that the consensus on the key factors of the systematic risk has not yet been reached among economic theorists, researchers and practitioners, which would have eliminated the main deficiency of the APT model, ensured its validity and improved the applicability in practice. The lack of consensus on the most important systematic risk factors has been identified, thus indicating the limited scope of the APT model, which at the same time represents the main result of the research.

In this paper we evaluate the performance of nine mutual funds in the Republic of Serbia in the period 2011-2013 by integrating traditional approaches for measuring absolute efficiency and the selected multi-criteria decision-making methods for measuring relative efficiency. The aim of our research is to test selection abilities of Serbian portfolio managers. Performance evaluation of mutual funds, being by its nature a complex problem of multi-criteria decision-making, must be solved by the methods that have, at least, the same level of complexity. Research results indicate that mutual funds have inferior performance, which on the other hand, confirms that the national portfolio managers lack selection abilities.

In addition to the well-established and most commonly used portfolio performance measures, both in theory and practice - the Sharpe ratio, the Treynor ratio and the Jensen's or alpha index, the financial literature also includes other alternative portfolio measures, such as: two modified versions of the Sharpe ratio - the information ratio and the M2 portfolio performance measure, one modified version of the Treynor ratio - the T2 portfolio performance measure, models that measure the market timing abilities of fund managers - the Treynor-Mazuy and the Henriksson-Merton model and a ratio based on the downside risk and the downside deviation as its measure - the Sortino ratio. The paper aims to inform the investors in the Republic of Serbia about the basic features of the aforementioned portfolio performance measures, as well as to point to the importance of understanding the decomposition of the actual portfolio performance of mutual funds.

The modern era has brought the need for the establishment of farmland real estate investment trusts. The establishment of these trusts positively affects growth and development of agricultural sector and ultimately contributes to global poverty reduction and sustainable development of the world economy and society. The research objective is to highlight the importance of these institutional investors as a new mechanism for investing in farmland and an additional source of financing for the agricultural sector. No studies on this issue in domestic and insufficient number of them in foreign literature have been a motive for the conducted research. The intention is to introduce investment community with the basic characteristics of farmland real estate investment trusts, as well as the key factors that arouse interest and lead to investment in farmland as new asset class.

Central Securities Depositories (CSDs) are special financial institutions crucial for the successful functioning of financial markets. Initially, these institutions were limited to performing the tasks related solely to the registration of issued securities, however, over time their scope of activities has grown and today these institutions also act as clearing houses and provide clearing and settlement services. In order to achieve their core functions efficiently, Central Securities Depositories follow the prescribed international standards and principles. It is vital to network these institutions and have them join international organizations and associations focusing on the development of mutual cooperation and stronger integration. Integration processes involve the harmonization of regulations relating to the functioning of this particular segment of the financial market. By undergoing a process of consolidation, the Central Securities Depository and Clearing House of Serbia (a joint stock company) managed to harmonize its operations with the relevant EU, as well as the international standards and regulations, and is actively involved in a number of European and international organizations and associations that are relevant for its operations.

Portfolio performance evaluation is an integral part of a continuous portfolio management process aimed at improving its efficiency. The importance of being familiar with the evaluation models of mutual fund portfolio performance is reflected in the fact that such models inform individual and institutional investors about the success of portfolio management, as well as about the performance of individual mutual funds; moreover, the portfolio managers identify strengths and weaknesses of the created portfolios based on the mentioned models. In this respect, this paper looks at the methods that are most widely used, both in theory and in practice, to measure portfolio performance: Sharpe index, Treynor index and Jensen's alpha or index. Bearing in mind that none of these methods of portfolio performance measurement is perfect, the author focuses on identifying and understanding the disadvantages and limitations of these models. By identifying and understanding these disadvantages and limitations, their importance and effects are being reduced, while at the same time, the importance and accuracy of the results are being improved.

The paper looks at tourism as an essential component of sustainable development of rural areas belonging to Rudnička Morava territory. The aim of the paper is to point to the role of tourism in the integration of rural areas into the national and international economy based on the analysis of the relevant rural development model and in terms of more efficient endogenous development. The main hypothesis is that rural areas belonging to Rudnička Morava territory have significant natural and anthropogenic resources for tourism development. However, what lacks is an integrated strategy that would contribute to sustainability and strengthening of the competitiveness of the rural economy. In accordance with the subject of the paper, its aim and the set hypotheses, qualitative, quantitative and SWOT analysis were applied during the research. A survey was conducted in order to obtain positions and feedback from the key actors involved in tourism development. The paper is organized in eight sections. The main result of the research points to the necessity of giving priority to rural tourism development as an essential component of the revitalization of villages and local communities.

In this paper we evaluate the performance of eight open-end mutual funds in the Republic of Serbia for the period 2009-2012, with the aim of testing the justification of active portfolio management of mutual funds, and determining the selection capability of Serbian portfolio managers. Risk-weighted returns of mutual funds are compared with the risk-weighted return of the leading Belgrade Stock Exchange index, Belex15, whereas the following are used as performance measures: Sharpe ratio (Si), Treynor ratio (Ti), and Jensen's or Alpha index (αi). The results suggest that the portfolio of Serbian mutual funds has inferior performance compared to the market portfolio, which indicates the lack of selection capabilities of domestic portfolio managers.

Investment risk is the principal threat to the assets side of the balance sheets of financial institutions. It is evident that investors who concentrate their wealth on one type of securities can rarely be found. Instead, they tend to invest diversified portfolio of securities. This reduces the degree of risk of the expected return, which depends both on the absolute risk of each investment in the portfolio, and the relationship that exists between individual investments within the portfolio. The paper analyzes the investment risk management by using modern portfolio theory in both national and global financial f lows. At the same time, the paper considers the risk management models that ensures efficient portfolio diversification, aiming at investment risk reduction. It is pointed out that the investment risk management in modern financial f lows is a complex process, and that the development of financial theory goes towards improving, soft risk management method.

The economic impact of sporting events continues to attract the interest of academics and marketers globally. This paper aims to identify the issues concerning methodological rigour within the data collection process in relation to contemporary sporting event impact assessment studies. A critical review of tourism and sports literature was undertaken to propose an integrated data collection framework and scenario-driven research agenda. The paper contributes to existing knowledge in the field by systemising common methodological challenges and revealing alternative research paths with the aim of ensuring a methodologically reliable data collection process. The rationale for conducting the research is reflected in the fact that methodological issues related to data collection represent a common obstacle to accurate assessment of the economic impact of sporting events. The framework and research agenda could prove to be a valuable guideline for authors interested in researching the subject matter and thus would contribute to the progression of academic knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work, through comparative analysis, shows the differences in the degree of development of the Serbian and Croat investment funds sectors, but also points out at some of the important similarities. The comparison subjects are the types, number and structure of investments funds, and their assets value. Comparison is also made of the share of the open-end investment funds in the GDP of Serbia and Croatia respectively over the last ten years in order to provide the best illustration of the importance that this sector bears on the economies of the observed countries. The paper finds that Croatia, thanks to its earlier adoption of appropriate legal framework, better development of the capital market, voucher privatisation and privatisation investments funds, had gained advantage over Serbia when speaking of the importance and development level of the investment funds sector.

This study examines the performativity of contemporary knowledge in a tourism specialism – sporting event economic impact research – through a relational bibliometric analysis of articles within tourism journals indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) from 2000 until 2018. The paper aims to propose a novel methodological approach using social network analysis (SNA) to evaluate and visualize a performativity citation network of the most influential papers in the specialism with a reference to a 'tribes and territories' framework. The findings suggest that performativity – based on funding comments within the acknowledgements and the main text – is an insightful input that has a novel quality in the interpretation of tourism academic citation networks. Therefore, the common interpretation of citation-based knowledge networks on quantitative academic outputs, such as papers citations, has been supplemented with a performativity perspective focused on practical solutions to industry-related problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ekonomika is the property of Society of Economists 'Ekonomika' 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 Bankarstvo Magazine is the property of Association of Serbian Banks 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.)

Rural development is largely determined by the available resources and competitiveness of agriculture. The results achieved in agriculture are a significant factor that affects the improvement of the life quality in rural areas and the efficiency of the rural economy. Hence the indicators of agriculture and rural development are common and inseparable. The main purpose of the paper is systemic analysis of indicators of agriculture and rural development in the East Central and South-East European countries. The heterogeneous structure of the analysed group of countries enables their further division into the European Union (EU) Member States and non-EU countries and consideration of differences in the results achieved in these two subgroups. The methods applied in the paper are descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, cluster analysis and correlation analysis. The results of the research enable evaluation of the relative position of the countries according to the analysed indicators, identification of the countries with relatively better performance, but also the direction and intensity of the link between selected indicators of agricultural and rural development in the analysed group of countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Satisfaction with the business is the current topic of global research, as one of the most important factors in the successful and quality business in tourist companies. The results of these surveys confirm that customer satisfaction and company profit can only be achieved through a quality service provided by satisfied employees. The authors of the research carried out research in accommodation in rural areas in Serbia in the period from March to May 2017, in order to examine the level of satisfaction of employees in these tourist accommodations. The results that the authors have come up with by survey research, undoubtedly indicate that there are segments in the business that the employees are really dissatisfied with, and that education does not have much connection with the chance of changing the job. Research is just a part of the entire research and aims at pointing out the employees' attitudes about working conditions and improving the quality of services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Bankarstvo Magazine is the property of Association of Serbian Banks 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 Bankarstvo Magazine is the property of Association of Serbian Banks 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 Bankarstvo Magazine is the property of Association of Serbian Banks 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 Bankarstvo Magazine is the property of Association of Serbian Banks 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.)