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Byline: Timotej Jagric, Sebastjan Strasek, Natasa Spes, Vita Jagric In the last decade, the financial industry in Slovenia developed rapidly. Nevertheless, the capital market is, according to our findings, still not efficient. However, the dynamic analysis in our study shows that the market is rapidly approaching the properties of developed markets. By adopting these properties, the Slovenian market will give additional boost to the economic activity and also make it more attractive for small firms. The main challenge for small business is to use these favourable trends and to represent an additional stimulation for further concentration of ownership in the companies listed on the stock exchange.

Economic imbalances in euro area are a cause for serious concern. The key question is how the periphery countries will adjust. Today's debt crisis in the PIIGS countries is competitiveness and growth crisis and not merely a debt crisis. This article reviews key drivers of the euro area imbalances. A great proportion of the imbalances are due to structural lack of competitiveness, not price competitiveness. Currently, individual countries within the eurozone are seriously afflicted by both internal and external imbalances. The stylized facts and the empirical evidence suggest that both the fiscal fragility of the south, and the north-south divide of external imbalances, contribute to the ongoing eurozone crisis. We show that structural imbalances, like the ones that generate global financial crisis, might have been the underlying triggers of the euro area crisis. We find that current emphasis on fiscal austerity risks is counterproductive and stress the importance of adequate adjustment between surplus and deficit countries in the eurozone. Unless there is a change in industrial policies of periphery countries, which will require a change in the macroeconomic policies the underlying situation will not change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic imbalances in euro area are a cause for serious concern. The key question is how the periphery countries will adjust. Today's debt crisis in the PIIGS countries is competitiveness and growth crisis and not merely a debt crisis. This article reviews key drivers of the euro area imbalances. A great proportion of the imbalances are due to structural lack of competitiveness, not price competitiveness. Currently, individual countries within the eurozone are seriously afflicted by both internal and external imbalances. The stylized facts and the empirical evidence suggest that both the fiscal fragility of the south, and the north-south divide of external imbalances, contribute to the ongoing eurozone crisis. We show that structural imbalances, like the ones that generate global financial crisis, might have been the underlying triggers of the euro area crisis. We find that current emphasis on fiscal austerity risks is counterproductive and stress the importance of adequate adjustment between surplus and deficit countries in the eurozone. Unless there is a change in industrial policies of periphery countries, which will require a change in the macroeconomic policies the underlying situation will not change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]