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Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are considered to be the engine of the European economy. In EU SMEs make up more than 99% of all companies and provide around 75 million jobs. They are a key source of job creation and stimulation of entrepreneurial spirit and innovation and are therefore essential for fostering competitiveness and maintaining employment in the EU. Yet SMEs often have problems in raising funds to finance fixed investments and inventory and working capital. SMEs mostly use internal sources while the most important external sources of SMEs are bank loans, which are not easily accessible. Hence, one of the priorities of the European Commission is stimulating SMEs through EU funds and programs in order to enable SMEs development and finally to contribute to economic growth. SMEs sector also dominates the economic structure of Croatian economy and they have similar financing problems. However, Croatia in period 2014 -2020 have at disposal a total amount of 10.676 billion of euros from European structural and investment funds, of which 8.397 billion are aimed for cohesion policy objectives and 470 million euros are aimed for the development and competitiveness of SMEs. Besides, EU programs COSME and HORIZON 2020 are intended to provide direct support to SMEs and to create a favorable environment for their development. However, even though the number of successful project applications for small and medium-sized enterprises in the total share of Croatian project applications is relatively high, fund absorption has not reached satisfactory levels. Using the sample of Split-Dalmatia County's SMEs, this study finds out reasons for low absorption capacity from SMEs point of view: SMEs are interested in funds from European Union, but are not sufficiently familiar with their availability i.e. funds at their disposal, especially programs COSME and HORIZON 2020; SMEs state that they know how to apply for EU funds but considered the procedure as complicated and demanding regarding documentation, and that the needed knowledge and know-how for proposal is beyond their scope; SMEs are not satisfied with the cooperation with state institutions, especially Ministry of Regional Development and EU funds and Croatian Chamber of Economy. We point out four main conclusions: (1) SMEs are not enough aware of EU financing possibilities; (2) additional promotion of EU programs directly to SMEs is required; (3) additional education of SMEs regarding project proposal and documentation is needed and (4) more proactive policy of state institutions and cooperation with local authorities is expected. Finally, greater awareness and professional help might be a key in strengthening the SMEs, whose entrepreneurial spirit and innovation process is a prerequisite for economic growth and development.

This paper, using panel data analysis, tries to identify factors regarding the different convergence rates of CESEE EU member countries’ real income between 2002 and 2018. Stylized convergence facts are identified and the drivers of economic growth based on production function, i.e. the accumulation of labour and capital and total factor productivity (TFP) growth have been analysed. Moreover, paper takes into account other variables that have been recognized as growth determining factors - trade openness, FDI, labour market and integration level, as well as TFP determining factors - institutional quality, innovation and human capital. Based on the research results trade openness and gross capital formation have been identified as key factors regarding real income growth of analysed countries. Also, it has been confirmed that growth of CESEE countries is strongly affected by the growth of Eurozone. Finally, the authors’ conclusion is that several CESEE countries are facing institutional convergence challenges.

Tržište dionica značajan je indikator rasta i razvoja neke države te njenog gospodarstva, posebno Sjedinjenih Amričkih Država (SAD) kao tržišnocentričnog financijskog sustava. Dodatan značaj ovog tržišta kapitala je značaj gospodarstva SAD-a za svijet te je stoga bitno razumjeti odrednice promjena na američkom tržištu dionica, kako bi se razumjela očekivanja budućih gospodarskih kretanja. Stoga ovaj rad proučava utjecaja makroekonomskih varijabli na tržište dionica u SAD-u. Pri istraživanju se koristi prošireni Dickey-Fuller test (ADF test), Johansen test kointegracije te Vektorski model korekcije pogreške (VECM). Korišteni su mjesečni podaci od siječnja 1995. godine do prosinca 2019. Istraživanje je utvrdilo statistički značajan pozitivan utjecaj indeksa industrijske proizvodnje, uske novčane mase M1 te dugoročnih kamatnih stopa na vrijednost indeksa S&P 500, te statistički značajan negativan utjecaj indeksa potrošačkih cijena. Utjecaj kratkoročne kamatne stope nije se pokazao statistički značajnim.

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