The paper analyzes determinants of demand for life insurance products in thirteen countries of the European Union. The expected demand determinants cover sixteen factors divided into macroeconomic, demographic, social and institutional variables. The main aim of the paper is to identify the variables that best explain variations in demand for life insurance and to draw a conclusion as to whether policy makers can contribute to the development of the life insurance market. For this purpose, an unbalanced panel model with a fixed effect for the period from 1995 to 2014 was estimated. The most important variables were macroeconomic ones, especially gross domestic product per capita. Insurance companies need to take into account demographic trends and existing economic situations in the respective economies when developing their products, and as analysis indicates, they have to make efforts in educating the population concerning the benefits of life insurance and the need for long-term savings.

Debt-based financial instruments are specific due to the maturity component and conventional approaches in estimating their volatility may not be applicable. This paper focuses on modeling and forecasting price volatility of sovereign debt instruments while taking into account their maturity. In doing so we propose a simple and useful technique for obtaining the desired confidence of volatility estimates. The proposed approach provides price volatility estimates for debt instruments issued by Croatian government denominated in HRK and in EUR.

The aim of this paper is to perform statistical analyses and identify the impact of volatility in crude oil prices with respect to the value and number of M&A in the oil industry and to identify the extent to which M&A market lags in responding to changing oil prices. Given the limited public access to data on M&A in the oil industry, the study focused on the upstream and global oil industry in general. Nonetheless, the results of the study remain indicative. Ongoing future research should also research other business segments to measure the exposure of oil industry segments to changing oil prices.

The environmental Kuznets curve is a relationship between various indicators of environmental degradation and income per capita. The EKC hypothesis states that environmental degradation worsens as economic development increases, however after reaching a certain level of GDP per capita, it begins to decrease. The aim of the paper is to test the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve in Croatia in the period from 1990 to 2013. This paper required constructing and testing linear, quadratic and cubic models using a linear regression model. The results of the analysis have shown that economic growth affects CO2 emissions in Croatia, indicated however by a very weak linear relationship and applying only to short-term model dynamics. Furthermore, the measured carbon intensity of GDP for Croatia indicates that Croatia uses its anthropogenic resources relatively efficiently.

The goal of this paper is to identify advantages of traffic systems on economic development at a national level, and to address undesirable factors of traffic systems with respect to sustainable development. The methods used in this research include the historical method, comparative method, analysis and synthesis, inductive and deductive methods. Research results indicate the extremely negative influence of traffic on the environment and the fact that existing traffic systems are not sustainable with respect to the environment. The fundamental conclusion in the paper is the need to achieve a balance between the advantages provided by transport for economic development and the disadvantages caused by such growth. This balance also guarantees the long-term existence and transport success. One of the most significant challenges in the development of future transport systems is the integration of ecological and environmental goals.

Free trade is an important factor in economic development and the creation of new jobs. Transatlantic relations and trade have a global impact, and their significance has increased after the establishment of the European Community. The EU and the United States have been undergone different development models and phases which have in turn determined the nature of their cooperation. The aim of this paper is to give an overview of key features of the new Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and its potential impact on members, as well as on the third countries. The expected effects are not equal or evenly distributed and will depend upon the type of goods exchanged, regulation divergence and the overall scope of the agreement. The conclusion is that the elimination of tariff barriers will not have the same significant effects as elimination or reduction of non-tariff barriers on trade and investments.