Acta Universitatis Danubius. Œconomica, Vol 11, No 3 (2015)

Abstract

The effects of the economic crisis continue to impact the world economy even if the most difficult period of the crisis seems to have passed. In this context, the analysis of the economic performance becomes stringent in that it not only allows for the identification of the economic environment, but also due to the fact that it brings value by determining the automated correction of any decision or direction in the difficult economic context of today. The paper represents a study of some of the main macroeconomic performance indicators for the European Union countries, such as: economic growth, current account balance, labour productivity, employment and average net earnings. Based on a cluster analysis we identified the position of each E.U. member state via an economic performance view and a country level particularization was then achieved. After grouping the countries into two clusters based on their economic performances, we built two distinct equations using panel data models that could explain the economic growth variations for both the case of highly performing and less performing E.U. countries. The results of the analysis actually incorporate some main components that will help formulate economic growth measures, employment and labour productivity.