Risk Assessment of Transitional Economies by Multivariate and Multicriteria Approaches

Abstract

This article assesses country-risk of sixteen Central, Baltic and South-East European transition countries, for 2005 and 2007, using multivariate cluster analysis. It was aided by the appropriate ANOVA (analysis of variance) testing and the multicriteria PROMETHEE method. The combination of methods makes for more accurate and efficient country-risk assessment. Country risk classifications and ratings involve evaluating the performance of countries while considering their economic and socio-political characteristics. The purpose of the article is to classify, and then find the comparative position of each individual country in the group of analyzed countries, in order to find out to which extent development of market economy and democratic society has been achieved.

Key words: Country-risk, Transition countries, Multivariate cluster analysis, PROMETHEE method.
JEL: O57, P52, C10, C60.