Title: Development of the insurance sector in the Western Balkan countries: the drive towards the European Union insurance system

Authors: Safet Kozarevic, Emira Kozarevic, Edina Siljegovic

Addresses: Faculty of Economics, University of Tuzla, Univerzitetska 8, 75000 Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina. ' Faculty of Economics, University of Tuzla, Univerzitetska 8, 75000 Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina. ' Faculty of Economics, University of Tuzla, Univerzitetska 8, 75000 Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract: The Western Balkan countries are characterised by a long period of transition to the market economy followed by their intention to integrate into the European Union. There are many benefits encouraging them to integrate and, in this paper, we are going to show the impact of the integration into the European Union on their financial services market, with the focus on the insurance market. Building the higher level of competitiveness through the legal and institutional standardisation will result in development of the insurance markets of these countries in many aspects. The best way to see it is to look at correlation between their level of integration into the European Union and the level of the insurance market development they reached.

Keywords: European Union; EU integration; Western Balkans; insurance market development; rank correlation; insurance industry; emerging economies; transition economies; financial services.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEPEE.2011.040919

International Journal of Economic Policy in Emerging Economies, 2011 Vol.4 No.3, pp.287 - 302

Received: 22 Oct 2010
Accepted: 17 Jan 2011
Published online: 11 Jan 2015 *

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