The task of every government, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, is to provide services and goods for citizens and to maintain economic order. Therefore, the combination of legislation, the judiciary and administration is inevitable. Moreover, public administrations must transform the way they function by using more information and communication technology in order to remain responsive and efficient. This challenge was further revealed during lockdowns in individual countries, which affected their social and economic development. The solution to that challenge is the implementation of e-government in the public sector. It also increases innovation in governance processes as well as efficiency and effectiveness by offering more participative opportunities to citizens. Hence, a mature level of e-government development also arises. Nevertheless, there are significant differences among the levels of e-government development in the EU-28. The aim of this article is to assess the influence of e-government maturity on government effectiveness and efficiency in the EU-28. In order to obtain empirical results, a two-stage least square regression (2SLS) was applied. The empirical results show that e-government maturity positively and significantly contributes to enhancing government effectiveness and efficiency in the EU-28. In addition, the rule of law plays an important role in each stage regression model. Based on the empirical results, we can conclude that e-government is inevitable and should ensure the proper functioning of public administration during the Covid-19 pandemic.

A very important pillar of democracy is the involvement of citizens in the political decision-making process. The change from "government" to "governance", which has been also noticed in the literature, implies a greater involvement of...

We investigate the impact of a decade-long, large public entrepreneurial infrastructure investment programme in an emerging European economy. Using a unique data set, we examine the short-run firm city and inter-city effects of entrepreneurial zones (EZs). EZs have a positive impact on business investment, sales and especially the export revenues of firms located within them. The positive economic effects of EZs are limited to host and neighbouring towns and cities, decrease with distance, and eventually become negative. This points to the localized nature of the effects of EZs and their potential for spatial redistribution and clustering of economic activity.

Institutions and institutional trust can be marked as important determinants of (regional) growth and development in contemporary literature. Aim of this paper is to analyse institutional trust in two Croatian counties and to compare those results with earlier theoretical findings. The methodology consists of in-depth interviews made by survey of counsellors or some of leading functions in two Croatian counties. The results are mostly in accordance with earlier theory findings of institutional trust for Croatian level, i.e. the highest level of institutional trust was related with traditional values, for instance in family, while in some institutions trust varied and had a gap in level of respondents trust, depending of their own experience, for instance in self-government and educational system. At very low level of institutional trust were for instance, political parties and Government. As singled out, some of the main obstacles in achieving high levels of institutional trust were corruption, inconsistency in decision-making and enforcement, non- compliance, slow and complicated procedures, non-transparency, politization. Trust in institutions according to the results, impacts reduction and regulation of uncertainty in the economy. These results could be very worth and a certain guide for policy makers and their future decision-making.

This article presents a comparative analysis of local tax policies in the 24 largest municipalities in Bulgaria and the 24 “large cities” in Croatia (those with more than 30,000 inhabitants or serving as county seats), with a focus on property-related taxes and other significant sources of local revenue. Since 2007, Bulgarian municipalities have had the authority to set tax rates within centrally defined minimum and maximum thresholds. In contrast, Croatian local self-government units operate under a national legislative framework that allows them to adjust tax rates and introduce various local fees. The study explores three key questions: (i) to what extent local tax policy features prominently on municipal political agendas; (ii) the relative influence of mayors versus municipal or city councils in shaping tax policy; and (iii) the extent to which municipalities utilise maximum allowable tax rates compared to adopting alternative revenue-enhancing measures. The findings offer empirical evidence and comparative insights, highlighting both the strengths and limitations of current local tax policy practices in Bulgaria and Croatia. The article concludes with policy recommendations to improve the effectiveness and autonomy of local fiscal governance in both countries.