States of the Former Yugoslavia – A Different Look at Convergence with the EU Core
States of the Former Yugoslavia – A Different Look at Convergence with the EU Core

Summary/Abstract: The feud between the leaderships of the republics of the Yugoslav federation was portrayed as mostly about development, with some political elites making explicit claims that living standards would catch up with Western Europe after independence and transition. A quarter of a century later, it seems appropriate to see how these former republics have fared in terms of GDP per capita convergence with the EU core countries, defined as the EU member states before the enlargement of 2004. Bearing in mind the deep structural and historical discontinuities, the data set was divided into two sub-periods (‘socialist’ and ‘transition to market economy’). The panel unit root and club convergence approaches were used for both sub-periods The results suggest that during the ‘socialist ’period, a larger part of the Yugoslav federation was converging to the EU core than following the breakup of the country and the transition to a market economy.

• Details
• Contents