Međuzavisnost ekonomskog rasta i zagađenja životne sredine zemalja Jugoistočne Evrope

А global desire to achieve prosperity and economic growth has been especially heightened in recent decades, which has led to an increase in the use of natural resources and an increase in GHG emissions, especially carbon dioxide. Consequently, a decrease in energy security, growth and price volatility of natural resources and climate change has occurred. The academy, policymakers, industry and civil society representatives accept that economic well-being and human well-being must be an objective that is achieved without escalating the use of natural resources and negative environmental impacts. Although developed countries are well on their way to achieving these goals, great uncertainty lies with developing countries, as they do not have all the mechanisms and instruments that are needed. Research on the interdependence of environmental quality and economic growth is significant because it provides policymakers with a better understanding of environmental and economic interactions. All of the above provides context and additional information for policymakers to facilitate the selection, creation, and adoption of appropriate policies, pointing to economic and environmental relationships that are often not obvious or intuitive. With a comprehensive theoretical overview of the theories and factors of economic growth and development, as well as an analysis of the integration and interdependence of the economy and the environment, one of the most significant contributions of this doctoral dissertation is a detailed description of the methodology and results of the econometric analysis of the panel causality of the nine Southeast European countries from 1995 to 2015. Panel unit root testing and Johansen-Fisher and Pedroni cointegration tests preceded Granger's causality analysis based on the vector error correction model and the Wald test. The results of the research unequivocally point to the existence of a two-way long-run causal link between real gross domestic product, carbon dioxide emissions, energy use, electricity consumption, and gross fixed capital formation. The results of short-term causality analysis are that gross domestic product and gross fixed capital formation in the short run cause changes in all other variables. On the other hand, carbon dioxide emissions, electricity consumption, and energy use do not cause changes in other variables in the short term. Based on all the results, it can be concluded that economic variables in the short run affect all environmental pollution variables, while environmental variables in the short run do not cause changes in the economic variables of the model.