What is it about?

This paper analyses the Western Balkan economies within a wider perspective of the European economy as a whole. It first defines four groups of European countries comprising the inner and outer Cores, and the inner, outer and super Peripheries. As Peripheral economies have adopted austerity policies they have been less able than before the crisis to provide a source of demand for exports from the Core economies, leading to secular stagnation in the Core. The paper analyses the dependence of the economies of the European super-periphery, mainly composed of Western Balkan economies, on the economic fortunes of the wider European economic area. It also identifies the latent economic potential of the region. The paper proposes that a coordinated fiscal expansion to stimulate domestic and Europe-wide demand would provide a solution to the problems of secular stagnation in the European economic area.

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Why is it important?

The paper provides a new analysis of the development prospects for the Western Balkan economies and provides new evidence that while the region is dependent on the economic fortunes of the wider European economic area, the region also has its own source of latent economic dynamism that could be activated by appropriate economic policies.

Perspectives

This paper develops a new perspective on the problems facing the economies of the Western Balkans and how they are inter-related to the problems of the European economic area as a whole. It was first presented at a conference on the eurozone crisis at the University of Pavia in April 2015 organised by Gioacchino Garofoli.

Dr William John Bartlett
London School of Economics and Political Science

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This page is a summary of: Interdependence between Core and Peripheries of the European Economy: Secular Stagnation and Growth in the Western Balkans, SSRN Electronic Journal, January 2016, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.2729882.
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