A Comparative Analysis of Current Economic Development in the Balkan Countries

Welcome to the Special Issue of Journal of Economic and Social Studies (JECOSS). While JECOSS aims to embody interdisciplinary areas such as economics, business administration, public administration, political studies, international relations, labor economics and industrial relations, econometrics, sociology and psychology, this Special Issue focuses on contemporary economic issues in the Balkans and is titled as "A Comparative Analysis of Current Economic Development in the Balkan Countries".. The Balkan Peninsula (South Eastern Europe) is an important area where both important historical and political events are taken place for the centuries. It has also recently experienced an unprecedented transformation. Over the past two decades, the Balkan Countries have gone through very important economic, social and political changes. Some former socialist countries (Bulgaria-2007, Slovenia-2004 and Romania-2007) and Greece (1981) have become full members of the EU. Some other Balkan countries (Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo and Macedonia) have experienced fierce political conflicts which ended up with the wars in the region in 1990s. Following the turmoil, these countries have started to struggle for economic, social and political reconstruction process. In the war and during economic and politicaltransformation, many of the Balkan countries had economically declined. Their welfare levels had gone down.