ABSTRACT The paper deals with the population decline in Balkan countries in the last three decades, since 1990. It researches the scale of depopulation in the Balkans and analyses the causes and possible consequences of the population decline. It argues that the failure of imposed neoliberal economic policies in the Balkan countries in the 1990s caused deindustrialization, GDP stagnation and high unemployment rates, especially of young people. Together with the shift in values from traditional to neo-liberal ones which promote materialism, hedonism, consumerism and liberal middle-class feminism, it caused dramatic reduction in fertility (live births per woman) as well as a significant brain drain and economic emigration from the Balkan countries in the last 30 years. Depopulation is becoming a limiting factor for sustainability of Balkan societies. It imposes a long-term danger for demographic survival of these societies, and generates an array of other negative economic, social and political consequences.

Energoinvest, a state-owned enterprise established in Sarajevo in the 1950s, was one of the largest Yugoslav exporters for years (during the 1970s and 1980s), accounting for 5% of the total exports of the Yugoslav economy, or 35% of the total exports of Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to the same source, the company exported complex engineering products, knowledge and technology. It exported complete power plants to many countries around the world, built thermal power plants in India and Indonesia, power plants and facilities in a number of African countries, equipped oil pipelines and power plants in Iraq and the Soviet Union, competing with world-leading companies in related sectors. In addition to offices in many countries worldwide, Energoinvest had formed joint ventures in Mexico, Libya and Pakistan, amongst other countries. Interestingly, Energoinvest, like many other large and high-tech companies in the former Yugoslavia, including the electronics company Ei Nis[AQ1] established in 1948 (once an electronics hub, employing 28,000 workers including thousands of engineers, who developed and produced TV and radio receivers, computers, telephones and household appliances), existed in a communist/socialist state. Indeed, like in other post-communist/post-socialist countries, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were an integral part of the Yugoslav economic structure, thus providing a greater level of economic independence as measured by the value of economic transactions between countries. Most SOEs vanished due to failed or controversial privatization by a new generation of opportunistic ‘entrepreneurs’. For instance, in 2016 Ei Nis had only one employee, remaining assets and infrastructure having been sold or rented to small firms or entrepreneurs. A long-lasting and promising transition of the ex-Yugoslavian states' economies saved almost none of those global firms. An ultimate aim was to liberalize markets in developing countries by reducing state intervention in the economy. Orthodox Keynesian economics with a high level of social welfare and employment protection has been replaced by a neoliberal policy model that assumed comprehensive structural adjustments. Structural adjustment programmes by individual states centred on a number of key fundamentals: liberalization of domestic markets and trade, monetary policy, labour market deregulation, reduction in the size and scope of the state, fiscal restraint through broadening the taxation base and reducing state spending and social support. In this process, new-breed politicians blindly followed the Washington Consensus principles that were supposed to help developing countries to speed up structural reforms in order to get financial ‘support’ from international financial institutions such as International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB). One

In this paper, based on the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis, a matrix of Threats, Opportunities, Weaknesses and Strengths (TOWS) was formed. It represents possible business strategies of the transport company. To choose the right plan, a model based on the integration of Fuzzy PIvot Pairwise RElative Criteria Importance Assessment (fuzzy PIPRECIA), Full Consistency Method (FUCOM) and Measurement Alternatives and Ranking according to COmpromise Solution (MARCOS) methods, has been formed. A case study was conducted in the transport company from Bosnia and Herzegovina which provides services on the domestic and the European Union market for 20 years and belongs to a group of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The SWOT analysis in this transport company was the basis for forming the TOWS matrix, which represents a set of possible business strategies. These strategies are the basis for developing five basic alternatives. The transport company should choose the best one of them for future business. The research focuses on forming a model for choosing the best strategy by which the transport company seeks to improve its business. Decision-making (DM) is not a straightforward sequence of operations, so the harmonization of methods as well as the verification of their results, are essential in the research. This model is applicable in SMEs that make these and similar decisions. Using this model, companies can adjust their business policies to the results of the model and achieve better business results. This research is the first that allows the use of such a model in making strategic decisions.

On the question: how to react in a particular situation, the management of the company must have a quick answer. In the time of fast and huge changes in production, the management must know what resources are available in the company and what kind of environment it faces. To respond promptly to the requirements of the environment, the company must define a clear strategy for its business. To define a strategy, management must know the state of the company. From these reasons, in this research it was conducted SWOT analysis of specific company, and after that the elements of the SWOT matrix were ranked using fuzzy PIPRECIA method. This ranking shows on which element company should pay the most attention.

ABSTRACT As a main input for economic growth and competitiveness, foreign direct investments (FDI) remain one of the most important sources in both emerging and developing countries. This study emphasizes the importance of FDI into Serbia’s economy by analysing the forecasts between FDI, GDP, the unemployment rate and global competitive index (GCI). In this paper, authors focussed on a comparison of FDI inflows from China, Russia and the EU countries. According to the multiplicative and seasonal aspects of trend analysis considered, projections show a gradual increase in GDP, FDI, competitive ranks and a decrease in the unemployment rate for the following 5 years. These results shed light on the future potential directions under which investment and other public policies should be created. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.

Background Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) is among the top 10 countries in the world in terms of number of smokers. The cigarette prices in B&H are under a direct impact of state excise tax policy. The specific excise on cigarettes was introduced in B&H in 2009. Since then it has been increasing every year thus being the main driver of cigarette prices growth. Methods In this paper we estimate price elasticity of demand for cigarettes following Deaton demand model and apply it on microdata obtained from the Household Budget Surveys in B&H conducted in 2011 and 2015. Deaton model uses within-cluster information to estimate total expenditure elasticities and then uses between-cluster information to estimate price elasticities. For B&H, the cluster is defined as a municipality × in the year t. Our sample contains 14 252 households, divided into 267 clusters. Results Our results show that the price elasticity is statistically significant and amounts to −1.366. This means that if cigarette prices in B&H are increased by 10%, the demand for cigarettes would decrease by 13.66%. Conclusions We found a negative price elasticity of demand for cigarettes of −1.366. These results of the econometric estimate of elasticity of demand are more elastic compared with the results of similar surveys carried out on the sample of low and middle-income countries. It demonstrates that the demand for cigarettes responds strongly to the price increase.

Tobacco consumption continues to be behavior engaged in by a large percentage of Bosnia & Herzegovina (BiH) citizens. According to the official statistics, nearly half of the state’s adults, that is about 1,200,600 people, consume tobacco products on a daily bases. The state excise policy is one of the main available tools for reducing smoking prevalence because cigarette prices are under the direct impact of this policy. The specific excise on cigarettes introduced in BiH in 2009 and has increased every year so it was the main driver of cigarette price growth. In order to provide research-based evidence for more effective tobacco taxation policies in BIH, in this paper we estimate the price elasticity of demand for cigarettes using the macro-level data for the period 2008 to 2017, on a semi-annual basis. The results have shown that the increase in prices of cigarettes has a statistically significant impact on cigarette consumption, at a significance level of 1%. The estimated price elasticity coefficient is in the range from -0.71 to -0.83, depends on the selected control variables used in the model. It means that the increase in real cigarette prices for 10% led to a decrease in cigarette consumption in the range from 7.1% to 8.3%.

Tobacco consumption continues to be behavior engaged in by a large percentage of Bosnia&Herzegovina (BiH) citizens. According to the official statistics, nearly half of the state’s adults, that is about 1,200,600 people, consume tobacco product on a daily bases. The state excise policy is one of the main available tool for reducing smoking prevalence because the cigarette prices are under direct impact of this policy. The specific excise on cigarettes introduced in BiH in 2009 and have increased every year so it was the main driver of cigarettes price growth. In order to provide research-based evidence for more effective tobacco taxation policies in BIH, in this paper we estimate price elasticity of demand for cigarettes using the macro level data for the period 2008 to 2017, on a semi-annual basis. The results have shown that increase in prices of cigarettes have statistically significant impact on cigarettes consumption, at significance level of 1%. The estimated price elasticity coefficient is in the range from -0.71 to -0.83, depends on the selected control variables used in the model. It means that increase in real cigarettes prices for 10% led to the decrease in cigarettes consumption in the range from 7.1% to 8.3%.