Liliana Pintilia (liliana.pintilia@insse.ro)
National Institute of Statistics Romania, National Accounts Directorate
Livia Marineta Drăgușin, PhD (livia.dragusin@insse.ro)
National Institute of Statistics Romania, National Accounts Directorate
Radu Alin Păunescu PhD (radu.paunescu@insse.ro)
National Institute of Statistics Romania, National Accounts Directorate
Adi Eleonor Trifu, PhD (adi.trifu@insse.ro)
National Institute of Statistics Romania, National Accounts Directorate
Florentina Sîrodoev, PhD (florentina.sirodoev@insse.ro)
National Institute of Statistics Romania, National Accounts Directorate
ABSTRACT
National account’s real assets are officially estimated based on the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010) for all member states. The aim of the paper is to highlight the importance of the national accounts statistics for macroeconomic empirical analysis in general, and for investments and growth rates at regional level in this particular case. Five emerging European countries (BG, CZ, HU, PL and RO) were investigated at both the national and regional levels by using a methodology based on panel data econometric regressions (OLS, Robust least square, Quartile regression), combined with PCA analysis and graphical evolution over time. The link between GDP and investments in real assets (gross fixed capital formation, GFCF) recorded an unexpected negative sign in all regressions, which can be the evidence for many phenomena that necessitate further investigation. Potential reasons were offered for this, but the “regional” influence is the most probable. Regions with the capital of each country, which are the most developed, absorb the regional investments from poorer regions. Also, it can be a sign of less productive investments, like the ones from the public sector and the fact that Eastern economies rely more on consumption than on investment. When analyzing GFCF by activities, then in all cases the link with economic growth was positive, in line with the academic literature. A dummy variable and different charts evidence the fact that ascension to the EU was beneficial for all emerging countries.
Keywords: real assets, gross domestic product, gross fixed capital formation
JEL Classification: R1; E1; H1
Corresponding author: Radu Păunescu, radupaunescu696@gmail.com, radu.paunescu@insse.ro
