World Development Indicators: Discovering high-weighting factors for the economic growth of Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Romania
Abstract
Background: Economists have created various measures to assess the development of a nation or a country. The ability of people to make extended democratic choices, having variety of employment opportunities, access to high quality education and healthcare facilities, as well as clean and safe physical environment defines the level of economic progress in different countries.
Objectives: The aim of this paper is to discover the key determinants of economic growth of part of the lower developed territorial district, namely for the three countries Bulgaria, Romania and Czech Republic.
Methods: In this research we use data from the World Bank representing a set of the world development indicators. Three Eastern European countries, part of the European union, including Bulgaria, Romania and Czech Republic are investigated in the study. Random forest technique is used to identify the features’ importance. Linear regression is applied next to select the most relevant factors related to the GDP growth among the selected countries.
Results: The results point out that the most important indicators for the economic development differ on country level. Some of the strongest predictors are level of employment, production, level of urbanization, communication and computer service import, percentage of merchandise import and commercial service export.
Conclusion: The conducted analysis reveals that the three countries should use their strengths and pay more attention on improving work and operational environment, using new technologies and ensuring high-quality of goods and services. Working together with the other European countries, they might lend each other a hand and grow economically as part of the European union.
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