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Income convergence is an issue that has occupied the attention of economists for a long time, especially as the main goal of poorer and less developed countries is to catch up with rich ones. Income convergence is the situation when, due to difference in development level, income gap between less developed and developed countries is decreasing. The faster growth of less developed countries is a consequence of reduced return on capital, which is the basic premise of the neoclassical growth model. The subject of this paper is to test the eff ECT of international trade on income convergence, in the European Union member states and in the Western Balkan states. Regression model was used to test whether international trade affects income convergence. Observed period is from 1995 to 2019. Research results showed that higher volume of international trade leads to income convergence.

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 common and main strategic goal of all Western Balkan States is integration into the European Union. Therefore, the transition of the Western Balkan region, as in the case with other Central European transition countries, must be seen as a part of the European integration process. The aim of this research is to tests whether income convergence exists between Western Balkan States and the developed European Union countries, with a comparison with New Member States. In order to test this assumption, regression analysis is used. The results did not confirm that income convergence existed from 1995 to 2019. However, the results indicate a strong impact of the Global Economic Crisis on income convergence, so it existed in the years before and after the Global Economic Crisis. Results also showed faster growth of the New Member States than the Western Balkan States.

Structural changes in agriculture, rural areas and regions, as well as in economic activities related to the production and trade of agricultural products, most often occur as a response to periodic changes in general economic and social conditions. In order to formulate effective policies and strategies, policy makers need adequate information about the main structural changes in agriculture. Therefore, based on the information framework of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, the article primarily focuses on changes of agricultural output in Serbia, respectively changes in crop and animal production, and agricultural services. The research aims to analyze changes in the structure of agricultural output in the period from 2007 to 2019 in order to identify its future trend by applying the forecast function. The research results show that the agricultural production of goods and services will keep the positive trend with a dominant share of crop production.

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.

Although it originated from the Slow Food and Cittaslow movements, slow tourism has spread to many spheres of tourism. The purpose of the paper is to investigate what people associate with slow tourism, and how and where they engage in slow tourism. Social media content analysis on Instagram, using hashtag #slowtourism, was performed in the research. The general conclusion is that people mostly associate slow tourism with different forms of architecture and landscape, and to lesser extent with transport and food. Also, there was significant content variation within the architecture and landscape categories, suggesting that people associate different types of architecture and tourism destinations with slow tourism. When it comes to location, the majority of photos were taken in Italy, which is not surprising, considering that Slow Food and Cittaslow movements originated in this country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the influence of globalization and mass settlement of cities and urban areas, nostalgia for traditional and rural is increasingly felt. All this supports the development of manifestation and gastronomic tourism and the promotion of autochthonous products and traditions. Serbia is a country where a large number of national minorities lives, each of which has an impact on the gastronomy of the some area. The combination of all the cuisines and the diversity of tradition made Serbian dishes unique. There are a large number of events in the tourism offer of Serbia, which themes are gastronomic products. Manifestations, as a kind of promotion of a particular area, are becoming more and more popular. The paper analyses gastronomic manifestations as an important segment of Serbia's tourism offer. The methods applied in the paper are the method of correlation and comparative analysis. The results of the research indicate a positive interdependence between the number of manifestations and tourist traffic during the year, while the existence of an interdependence between the number of manifestations and tourist traffic in the regions was not recorded.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the development of organic agriculture in the member states of the European Union. The aim is ranking the member states of the European Union according to the degree of development of organic agriculture using the proper methodology, or using multi-criteria analysis, in order to determine which member state has made the most significant development of the observed agricultural production. This is realized by using the VIKOR and ENTROPY methods. The research results suggest that there is a difference in the level of development of organic agriculture in the member states of the European Union. Results of regression and correlation analysis indicate significant positive correlation between the levels of development of organic agricultural production and economic growth in the European Union countries. Economic growth is one of the conditions of improving the development of organic agriculture.

Competition intensity is an important factor of social welfare in all market economies. The purpose of this paper is to establish a methodological framework for measuring and analyzing competition intensity in the sugar market in Serbia. There are several indicators of competition intensity that are used in market analysis. Results obtained by these indicators provide a good basis for objective, unbiased, and to some extent standardized reasoning and identification of anti-competitive behavior. The study is made by using descriptive statistics, comparative and correlation analysis. The results of the measurement of competition intensity in the sugar market in Serbia show significant problems in the process of establishing an efficient market economy in the Republic of Serbia. The paper is useful to the competition authority, providing significant findings of competitive conditions in the sugar market in Serbia, but also to the researchers in the field of market analysis, by providing them with an applicable methodological framework for measuring and analyzing competition intensity in the markets of other products in complex process industries.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of innovativeness factors in the European Union (EU) member states on the level of their national economy competitiveness (global competitiveness of each country in the EU). The aim of the research is to identify the vital factors of innovativeness, innovative activity and innovation capital in the EU member states. The research is realized by the method of correlation, regression and cluster analysis. The research results point to the existence of differences in the level of innovativeness of the EU countries, a high correlation level between competitiveness and innovativeness, as well as segments of innovation activities (innovativeness factors) which require necessary actions for increasing the competitiveness level of the EU countries. The study gives recommendations to the innovation policy makers in the European Union countries for formulating national innovation strategy.

The purpose of this research is analysis and forecasting of the most important trends on the international wine market, as well as identifying opportunities for wine export from Serbia. The aim of the research is to analyse the movement of the wine production and trade on the international market by applying the appropriate methodology. The paper is structured in the following segments: 1) examining the impact of number of vines and yields per vine on the acheved volume of grape production in the Republic of Serbia in the observed period; 2) examining the competitive position of the Republic of Serbia on the international wine market; and 3) analysis of the value and structure of foreign trade of wine between the Republic of Serbia and other countries. Comparative analysis, correlation analysis and regression analysis are used in the paper. The results of this paper indicate: 1) higher impact of yields per vine on the volume of grape production in relation to the impact of the number of vines on the volume of grape production; 2) increasing deficit of foreign trade of wine between Serbia and other world countries; and 3) that Serbia reduced coverage of import of wine by export of wine in the observed period.

By the generic benchmarking, cluster organizations can reduce risk, and allow better use of own development potentials. The purpose of this paper is to establish a methodological framework for benchmarking of cluster organizations in Serbia. The examination of the formation, functioning and development process of cluster organizations, as well as the existing benchmarking methodologies in European clusters, was used to set up a customized methodological framework for benchmarking in this paper. The applicability of the recommended methodology is verified by the realization of a comparative study between two cluster organizations in Serbia. The result of this benchmarking of clusters' performances represents, among others, determined set of measures and actions to improve the business performances of the Medical Start up Cluster. The research is useful not only to creators of regional development policies, providing a useful benchmarking methodology, but also to the management of cluster organizations in Serbia, by providing them with a tool which if continuously applied may improve the performances of cluster members and cluster organizations as a whole.

Natural resources are the base of tourism development and competitive position in the tourism market of many tourist destinations. At the same time, the issue of their use in the function of tourism development is very complex and must be based on the idea of sustainability. The paper examines the importance of natural resources for the competitiveness of tourism in the European Union (EU). The aim of this paper is to consider the relationship of natural resources and tourism competitiveness in the EU countries, as well as to identify countries of good practice, but also countries that require improvement of natural tourism attractions and their activation in function of competitive and sustainable tourism development. In accordance with the defined aim of the research, correlation and cluster analysis are applied in the paper. The results of the research can benefit the creators of tourism development policy, because they enable the selection of indicators of availability and attractiveness of natural resources that can be improved, as well as countries in which special attention should be paid to more successful tourism valorization of natural resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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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.)

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]

Copyright of Knowledge: International Journal is the property of Institute for Knowledge Management 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 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.)

The purpose of this research is to analyze the competitiveness determinants of the travel & tourism sector in Central and East Europe (CEE) countries. The aim is to find the critical competitiveness determinants of the travel & tourism sector in the CEE countries that is being improved by efficient development strategies in the future. The framework for analysis is a methodology of the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness, created by the World Economic Forum, and its classification of competitiveness factors - pillars and necessary information basis for this research. The benchmarking study on CEE countries' tourism competitiveness was conducted using the descriptive statistics, comparative analysis and benchmarking. The research results are related to relevant moments for the CEE group of countries and show the critical pillars for each country in the CEE group. The conclusions of this research give the directions for tourism policy makers in the CEE countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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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.)

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of state aid as a tool of state action in the last global economic crisis. The aim of the paper is to evaluate the extent and effects of anti-crisis state aid in the real sector of the economy. The effectiveness of the use of state aid as an instrument of crisis response and an instrument of revival of activity in the real sector is assessed based on the research. There is an intention to lower the level of state aid in a normal business and economic conditions, with the aim that its uncontrolled granting would not distort competition in the market. But, state aid has been used in increasing volume and as an important anti-crisis instrument during the latest global economic crisis. The paper evaluates the effect of this compromise. [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.)