Rapid economic development has resulted in the more frequent use of renewable energy technologies. On the other hand, the production and use of renewables fosters the development of new technologies, creating many new opportunities for entrepreneurial-minded individuals and, consequently, the economy in general. Renewable energy technologies have a multiplier effect in spurring the economy and the development of not only the energy sector but also all the supporting activities related to such industry. The purpose of this research is to analyse both the positive and the negative economic effects of investing in various renewable technologies, as well as to confirm, by means of the energy-economy model, the benefit of such technologies in boosting the economy.

The aim of this paper is to examine performance of pension funds in Croatia, or more precisely, to measure the technical efficiency of mandatory pension funds. The main role of the pension funds is to collect and invest the money contributed by the employer or the employee during working years until retirement. Therefore, development of pension funds as institutional investors is especially important for capital markets as well as for the whole economy. By applying the methodology of data envelopment analysis on a sample of 12 DMUs, i.e. four mandatory pension funds divided into three categories (A, B or C) for 2015-2018 period, we provide further evidence on their efficiency level. The results have shown very small differences among relative inefficient pension funds.

Considering environmental issues such as greenhouse gas emissions associated with climate change and the depletion of fossil fuels, one of the possible solutions is the use of renewable energy sources. Wind energy is one of the most competitive and resilient energy sources in the world, which can play an important role in accelerating the global transition to green energy. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the allocative efficiency of 47 offshore wind energy companies in 9 European countries using the input-oriented BCC DEA model. The basic hypothesis is that by evaluating the relative efficiency of offshore wind energy companies in European countries, it is possible to determine a correlation between the results of efficiency between the two observed periods with slight deviations. The empirical results show no significant correlation between the score of relative efficiency and the country where the offshore wind energy company is located. On the other hand, the results are consistent with the basic hypothesis of this study. From the management perspective, significant improvements in all financial variables, i.e., tangible fixed assets, cash and cash equivalents, and current assets, are required to achieve relative efficiency. The model variables refer to the economic characteristics of offshore wind energy companies, indicating that only allocative efficiency was analysed, which is in contrast to previous studies.