Теоретичні та прикладні питання економіки. Збірник наукових праць.

Випуск 2 (51)

УДК 331. 005.95/.96, 331.5   338.2

JEL Е61, J1, N3, N44,  P52  

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8840-3119

DOI https://doi.org/10.17721/tppe.2025.51.10

Krasota O.,

Doctor of Science (Economics), Associate Professor,

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv

helena555@knu.ua

THE WESTERN BALKANS EXPERIENCE IN HUMAN CAPITAL RECOVERY:

LESSONS FOR UKRAINE

The article is devoted to an in-depth study of the international experience of restoring human capital, which is one of the main, long-term, and most difficult challenges of Ukraine's post-war reconstruction. The relevance of the study is emphasized by the fact that financial investments or the reconstruction of physical infrastructure cannot compensate for the catastrophic demographic losses and destruction of the intellectual potential of the state caused by large-scale military aggression. Since February 2022, Ukraine has faced an unprecedented scale and intensity of "brain drain" and profound social, psychological, and educational trauma, posing a direct threat to its future economic competitiveness and national security. It is emphasized that, given the systemic nature of war losses, traditional strategies for restoring human capital that were used in peacetime are not very suitable for the war and post-war period. They are unable to counteract the devastating consequences of war, such as demographic catastrophe, psychological trauma, and massive destruction of educational infrastructure. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to conduct a comparative analysis and systematize human capital restoration strategies tested by the Western Balkan countries. The choice of the Western Balkan countries is due to their unique history. They have gone through protracted armed conflicts and have addressed acute issues of restoring human capital after the end of hostilities. It is stated that studying this invaluable experience is extremely important for developing recommendations adapted for Ukrainian state policy in the field of overcoming indirect losses of human capital, in particular, effectively counteracting the mass emigration of qualified specialists, scientists and youth.

The article uses a lot of general scientific and special methods, in particular, the method of analysis and synthesis, generalization, and the historical method.

Keywords: human capital, macroeconomic stability, socio-economic recovery, "brain drain", repatriation, inclusion, economic policy, circular migration.

Full Text: PDF

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/tppe.2025.51.10