Agriculture is of great importance in developing countries, and in the Western Balkans it has a large share in economic development and employment, but with a tendency to decline. The subject of the paper refers to the review of the current state of agriculture in the Western Balkans, while the goal is to point out the possibilities of improvement and development of both agriculture and other non-agricultural activities in rural areas, with the aim of diversifying activities and reducing dependence on the primary sector. OLS panel regression showed a negative impact of dependence on agriculture, in terms of participation in GDP and employment, on economic development, while a positive impact was established for agricultural production and export of agricultural products. The Kruskall-Wallis' test showed that the Republic of Serbia is still highly dependent on agriculture compared to other countries of Western Balkans, which is why multifunctional agriculture and diversification of activities should be developed in order to reduce the share of agriculture in GDP and employment. On the other hand, the Republic of Serbia is the leader in the region in terms of agricultural production and export, so it is necessary to work on improving production through the introduction of modern technologies and production methods, so that agricultural products become more competitive on the international market, which would encourage export growth and economic development.

With the latest global economic crisis (2007-2009) the importance of fiscal policy as a part of economic policy is growing. Its significance extends from the experience of the Great Depression of the 1930s. In this paper, with the help of the ARIMA model, the influence of fiscal policy instruments on macroeconomic fiscal indicators and some selected indicators of economic development in the context of countries of Southeast Europe have been explored. Friedman's test has shown that the countries have not yet recovered from the global economic crisis. The results shows that fiscal policy can act on the individual's standard of living, but only responsible implementation will have the same effect on public finances and the overall sustainable development of a country. Also, fiscal policy is an important measure of agricultural policy and is increasingly being used as a directional development factor.

The economy of the Republic of Serbia is at an important turning point now. The first phase of the implementation of the transition process is completed, the reform processes are gaining a new momentum and entering the European Union is becoming more certain. In order to successfully finalize the transition processes, the reform of the public sector's system of functioning is inevitable, among other reforms. The public sector in Serbia is low-productive and inefficient, irrationally set, with a multitude of problems that for many years have constantly been growing and becoming more complicated. The high rate of employment and average salaries in the public sector, on the one hand, and the poorly-formulated operational systems, on the other, are so designed that the public sector has a bad influence on economic development in general. The paper will analyze the situation in the public sector of the Republic of Serbia, with a special emphasis on creating a realistic basis for its reform, as a key determinant of the successful completion of the transition process, taking into account the specifics of the Republic of Serbia's economy.

Foreign direct investment, in terms of globalization and the new economic order, give the important role of the engine of economic development. Technology, management skills, access to foreign markets are just some of the advantages to foreign direct investment. The economy of the Republic of Serbia at the beginning of the new millennium, faced a major problem of economic development, which is reflected in the lack of capital, without which it cannot solve the key developmental issues. Deep economic crisis, as a result of ten years of war and isolation, outdated technology and a lack of domestic capital, impose the need to attract foreign investment in order to ensure economic development. Such a state of Serbian economy suggests that foreign capital is an important means of its recovery.

Empirical research of intellectual capital in term of regional development of the Republic of Serbia aims to show and explain the function of intellectual capital in the regional development of the Republic of Serbia, and point out the disparities of national regions in terms of economic development and intellectual capital resources. Intellectual capital today is one of the most important social subsystems, which, by its scope and influence, is gaining an increasing importance in the development of modern society. As a complex, dynamic human process of knowledge use, intellectual capital is tied to the notion of “new knowledge-based economy”. Intellectual capital at the macroeconomic level is a new area of research that focuses on understanding, measuring, and reporting on intangible assets that may have an impact on the creation of national wealth. The concept of intellectual capital is abstract, unambiguous and complex, which leads to numerous differences in the interpretation of this economic category. The results of empirical research confirmed that intellectual capital is in a significant linear functional relationship with economic growth in the Republic of Serbia - in 63.5% of cases, economic growth is explained by intellectual capital resources in the period 2012-2018. Also, the research confirmed significant inequalities in the development and available resources of intellectual capital in the regions of the Republic of Serbia.

The subject of the analysis is the importance of new education policy of Republic of Serbia, as one of the key factors for economic development, whose dynamics depends on the degree of its realization and capacity of state to implement New Strategy for development of education in Serbia until 2020 (Law on government RS, 2005). In long term, the biggest importance's in the process have investments into human capital and education, and research and development. The goal of the paper is to demonstrate that New Strategy for development of education in Serbia until 2020. has responded to requests that educational system should correspond to needs of the economy, to establish active institutional system of linking between science and industry; and that policy of incentives should be focused towards innovation in entrepreneurial sector. The paper starts with hypothesis that level of development of the economy depends on the results of conducted reform in education system, as well as that education system of Republic of Serbia, whose standards lag behind the outstanding legislation standards of European Union, does not satisfy immediate needs of the current economic structure. Defined hypothesis is confirmed in the paper, by the use of comparative legislation analysis of educational policy in European countries and surrounding countries. Basic message of the paper is that establishment of economic development of Republic of Serbia in post-crisis period is closely linked to implementation of education policy whose priorities are given in the New Strategy for educational development in Serbia until 2020, because without reform of education system is impossible to implement structural reforms in the economy.