Suchergebnisse

Abstract
The competitiveness of the national economy, its sectors and companies is essential for economic growth and development in the conditions of the global market. This importance is especially expressed for small open economies, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H). Bosnia and Herzegovina must strengthen its export position in the most competitive sectors, so that it can develop under conditions of increasingly liberalized world trade, with growing competition. The aim of this paper is to investigate the sectora structure of B&H exports, the competitiveness, significance and performance of certain sectors, in order to identify weaknesses and possible ways o improvement. For the purposes of this analysis, the Trade Competitiveness Map analysis methodology was used to assess the competitiveness of the sector, using the Trade Performance Index (TPI). The main aim of the methodology is to determine sectoral export performance, in order to facilitate strategic market research and monitoring of national foreign trade performance. B&H has the poor export sector structure, with the low level o international competitiveness, reflected in the large share of resource intensive products and low-value processing products with low added value Improving competitiveness could be achieved by strengthening the most competitive sectors, as well as by changing the economic structure towards the development of technologically intensive and highly profitable sectors o the economy.

Why does the number of interest groups vary across economic sectors? Interest groups are an important channel through which companies can transmit their policy preferences to decision-makers. However, empirical research shows that the number of interest groups varies considerably across sectors. We argue that the size and the wealth of the potential constituency as well as government activity positively affect interest group density. We test our theoretical expectations based on an unprecedented longitudinal analysis of interest groups that registered at the German Bundestag from 1978 until 2013 and show that the number of firms, the wealth of an economic sector, and government activity positively influence interest group density. However, we also find that the relationship between interest groups and legislative activity is reciprocal as legislative activity positively impacts the number of interest groups in an economic sector, but at the same time interest group density also positively affects legislative activity.

Production processes are becoming increasingly fragmented and dispersed for producers in different geographical areas as a result of international integration and trade liberalisation. The aim of this paper is to estimate direct and indirect import content of Croatian industries and final demand and to compare the results with previous studies for European economies. Direct and indirect import content of final demand is estimated by an input-output model. The updated 2013 input-output table based on the bi-proportional adjustment of the rows and columns of the base technology matrix A (RAS method) is applied in order to account for changes in technical coefficients for domestic output and imports after European Union (EU) accession. The highest import content is estimated for sectors applying production technology that requires raw materials which are not available in sufficient quantities domestically, and sectors that produce high-tech or medium high-tech goods. The import content of public and personal services is low. The highest import content of domestic final demand is recorded for exports and gross fixed capital formation. In comparison to other new member-states, the Croatian economy is less internationally integrated and import dependence is more similar to results found for larger self-sufficient economies. Empirical results on the import content of different economic sectors could enhance the effectiveness of macroeconomic policies.

The relevance of the study is due to the need to study economic growth, taking in-to account the interaction of macroeconomic parameters under the influence of internal and external conditions, the development of new theoretical and method-ological foundations for research and solving the problems faced by the Kyrgyz Republic in the context of the globalization of the world economy. The purpose of the study is to develop the methodology of econometric modelling of the econom-ic dynamics of the interaction of macroeconomic parameters and to create eco-nomic and mathematical tools for analysis, forecasting and making recommenda-tions for the economic policy of the government of the country aimed at creating conditions for sustainable growth of the Kyrgyz economy. For the sustainable de-velopment of Kyrgyzstan with a transitional economy, it is necessary to identify existing trends in the development of production factors and compliance with global trends and requirements of the scientific and technological revolution to en-sure the well-being of the state. It is necessary to answer the question of how to identify positive trends and overcome negative ones, how the globalisation of the development of the world economy affects the development of Kyrgyzstan and the productivity of production factors. On the basis of the proposed research methodology, the development of economic sectors is analysed, which allows ob-taining quantitative estimates of the impact of macroeconomic parameters of economic growth, taking into account interchangeability and complementarity in the sustainable development of the state.

This fourth article in a series of six focuses on mega‐material technologies. Offering the ability to deconstruct and reconstruct matter at atomic and sub‐atomic levels to achieve desired properties, mega‐materials are set to radically transform the physical sciences, realising an alchemist's wildest dreams. Advanced understanding of the bio‐chemistry of life's instructional genetic codes will be followed by parallel developments in physics and chemistry involving mastery over quantum mechanics, to enable the construction of "designer" materials. Harnessing nanotechnologies will introduce new and novel types of artefact that were previously the stuff of science fiction. Fully understanding and adroitly manipulating sub‐atomic matter will take time, but these technologies are expected to move to a dominant position in the economy between 2200 and 2300.