Institutional and economic drivers of GNI growth in the context of income inequality: Evidence from Southeast Europe

Evaluation of economic well-being, influenced by current advances, is characterized as a multifaceted process designed to evaluate and analyze the determinants affecting a nation's quality of life and economic development. Therefore, the research explores institutional and macroeconomic aspects as contributing factors to gross national income (GNI) in Southeast European Economies, including the period 2017 to 2023 through the dynamic GMM system approach. The defined dependent variable is GNI, which in our case is used to assess economic well-being, whereas the dependent variables are judicial effectiveness, employment male rate, employment female rate, export-to-GDP, poverty rights, and government integrity. The variables selected in our analysis were chosen to provide a comprehensive perspective on key institutional and macroeconomic factors influencing GNI. Based on the in-depth econometric analysis, the outputs display that the judicial effectiveness, employment rate of males, export, and government integrity have a positive and important effect on GNI, on the contrary, poverty rights show a significant negative effect on GNI. The female employment rate has turned out not to have any important statistical effect. The constructed approach of the study aims to enrich academic discourse by introducing an innovative framework for evaluating economic well-being, integrating institutional and macroeconomic determinants. In doing so, it offers valuable insights into the interplay between governance, economic policies, and income levels. The study aspires to contribute in terms of adding value to the academic context by involving innovation in the inclusion of institutional and macroeconomic determining factors. The innovative approach used to evaluate the impression of the economic well-being of these countries aims to initiate space for the enhancement of productive discussions among researchers, academics, and policy-making structures in the respective economies.