Western Balkans countries income convergence in the context of EU membership: Opportunity or just a dream for increasing welfare?

Abstract

The Western Balkan countries face relatively low levels of income over a longer period of time, indicating insufficient dynamics and intensity of income convergence, compared to the developed EU economies. The issue of income convergence of Western Balkan countries is particularly important in the context of their EU membership. The paper tests the existence and dynamics of income convergence of the Western Balkan Economies using both sigma (σ) and the beta (β) measures of real convergence. The evaluation of the appropriateness of the income convergence dynamics of the Western Balkan Economies is derived on the basis of a comparative analysis with the achievements of the New Member States, Baltic countries and EU - 14 in the last 20 years. The results outline that Western Balkan countries are stagnating, they have the slowest convergence and are faced to structural problems. The conclusion is that the membership of the Western Balkans in EU will contribute to faster growth and income convergence of this region.