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CHAPTER1.PRACTICALDIMENSIONOFRESEARCHONPUBLICFINANCES
valuesincreaseataccelerated(exponentialcurve)ordecelerated(logarithmiccurve)
rate,which,nonetheless,meansareturntotheconvergencetrend0Anotherdifficulty
liesinthefactthatforacertaingrouptheconvergenceindexshowshighstability
inlongperiods0Duetotheabove-mentioneddifficultiesinmeasuringconvergence,
empiricalstudieswereprecededbytheevaluationofvariouspossiblemethods0
Intheresearchpresentedinthefurtherpartsofthework,anattemptwasmadeto
assessthedirectionsofchangesinGDPpercapitaintheyears1950–2015,takinginto
account28Europeancountries(OptionI)0Thisstudyaimedtodeterminetheextent
towhichpoliticalandsocialprocessesinEurope,suchasitsdivisionintotwopolitical
blocs,thecreationoftheEEC,theEuropeanUnion,thefallofcommunism,theenlar-
gementoftheEU,thefinancialcrisisinfluencedtheconvergenceordivergenceofeco-
nomies0Thecollapseofcommunismwasconsideredalandmarkevent,whichiswhythe
convergenceprocessesofEuropeancountriesintheyears1993–2015(OptionII)were
analysed0TheanalysisexcludedLuxembourg,witharadicallyhigherGDPpercapita
ratio,becauseitsinclusionintheanalysiswoulddistorttheresultsoftheconductedre-
search0ThedivisionofEuropeancountriesintocountriesofWesternEurope(13coun-
tries)andcountriesofCentralandEasternEurope(11countries)wasapplied0Non-EU
countriessuchasNorway,SwitzerlandandIcelandhavebeenincludedinWesternEu-
ropeancountries0ThecountriesofCentralandEasternEuropearemostlycountries
thatjoinedtheEuropeanUnionin2004andinsubsequentyears0Theresultsofthese
analysisandtheirinterpretationarepresentedinthefinalpartofthework(Chapter11)0
5.Timescopeofthestudy
Thebasicperiodofempiricalresearchclosesin1999–20150Theyear1999astheini-
tialonewasdeterminedbythecreationoftheMonetaryUnion(theeurozone)0The
researchendsin2015accordingtothelatestavailableempiricaldata0Therewereex-
ceptionstosodefinedtimeframes,butthesewereresultingeitherfromtheneedto
objectifytheresultsofanalysesandextendtheobservationperiod,aswasthecaseof
theconvergenceprocess,orfromtheneedtoshortentheobservationperiodinthe
absenceofavailableempiricaldata0
Researchiscarriedout,asalreadyindicated,intwodimensions:a)qualitative,
b)quantitative0Thisdistinctionisimportantduetothefurtherperiodizationofthe
timesinwhichtheanalysesarecarriedout0Inthecaseofqualitativeresearchinvolving
thestudyofEUlegalacts,especiallyinthefieldoffiscalsurveillanceandneweconom-
icgovernance,andfurtherstudyofthedocumentsforindividualcountriesregarding
reforms(programmes)aimedatdiscipliningpublicfinances,theperiod1999–2015
wasdividedintotwosub-periods;
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