Assist. Gunter Merdzan, MSc., was born in 1994 in Bitola. He completed his primary and secondary education in Resen. He graduated in 2017 from the Faculty of Economics – Skopje at the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, at the Department of Economics as the best student of the generation of graduates in the academic year 2016/2017 with an average grade of 9.94. He completed his master’s studies in 2020 at the Faculty of Economics – Skopje, studying Economic Development and International Finance with an average grade of 10.00. Currently, he is enrolled in doctoral studies (third cycle studies) in Economic Sciences at the University School for Doctoral Studies at the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje. He is working on his doctoral thesis entitled: “The Role of Institutions in the Process of Economic Growth in Post-Transition European Countries with Emphasis on the Republic of North Macedonia”.

During his university education, Gunter Merdzan has received awards for outstanding achievements in the educational process from the Faculty of Economics – Skopje. By the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje was awarded a “Gold Coin” for the best-graduated student in 2016/2017. In addition, he received the “July 26th” award for the best student in the academic year 2016/2017 from the funds of the Mur-Munning Trust at the Rectorate of the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje.

Gunter Merdzan has worked as a secondary school teacher of economic subjects at High School “Josip Broz – Tito” in Skopje. From 2017 to 2020, he worked as a teaching fellow at the Chair of Economics at the Faculty of Economics – Skopje, and in 2021 he was elected to the position of Teaching and Research Assistant at the Chair of Economics. He is responsible for the exercise preparation and performance, participation in teaching in the presence of a teacher, providing student consultations, participation in scientific research projects, publication of scientific and professional papers and a series of other activities. Primary areas of his scientific preoccupation are economics, macroeconomics, economic growth and development. He publishes scientific research papers and articles in his field of scientific interest and participates in various domestic and international projects, conferences, seminars and training.

• The Effects of Remittances on Poverty and Inequality Alleviation in Selected Central and South-East European Countries, in A. Praščević, M. Jakšić, M. Arandarenko и D. Trifunović (editors), Proceedings of the 3^rd International Interdepartmental Conference „Shaping Post-COVID World – Challenges for Economic Theory and Policy“, pp. 183-207, University in Belgrade, Faculty of Economics and Business, Serbia, 2023, link: http://www.ekof.bg.ac.rs/scientific-activities/conferences/international-conferences/miket-2022/book-of-proceedings/?lang=en&lang=en (co-authors: Biljana Tashevska and Daniela Bojadjieva);
• Do Wages Reflect Growth Productivity – Comparing the European East and West, c (ИФ = 0,990; CiteScore = 1,6), Taylor & Francis Online, 2023, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19448953.2023.2167167 (co-authors: Borce Trenovski, Dragan Gligorić and Kristijan Kozeski);
• The Economic Costs of Youth Unemployment in North Macedonia, Knowledge – International Journal, ISSN 2545-4439, E-ISSN 1857-923X, Institute of Knowledge Management, Vol. 55, No. 6, 2022 (co-authors: Daniela Bojadjieva and Predrag Trpeski);
• Labor Productivity and Labor Compensation in North Macedonia: Sectorial Approach, in Proceedings of 3rd International Scientific Conference „Economics and Business Trends Shaping the Future“, Faculty of Economics – Skopje, 2022 (published: November 11^th, 2022), http://doi.org/10.47063/EBTSF.2022.0021 (co-authors: Predrag Trpeski, Borce Trenovski and Kristijan Kozeski);
• Remittances, Institutions, and Economic Growth: The Case of the European Union, in Proceedings of 40^th EBES Conference (Eurasia Business and Economics Society), Vol. II, pp. 1103-1114, 2022 (co-author: Predrag Trpeski);
• What Drives the Digital Transformation in the Western Balkan Banking Sector? – The Case of North Macedonia (extended abstract), in European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Deliperev, B., Idrizi, B., Chukaliev, O. (editors), Enlargement and integration Workshop „Digital Transformation, Data and AI in the Western Balkans“, Publications Office of the European Union, ISBN 978-92-76-53599-7, 2022 (published: June 21th, 2022), https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2760/863985 (co-authors: Borce Trenovski and Ana Tomik);
• Municipal Revenue Determinants in the South-Eastern European Economy: Evidence from North Macedonia, Studia Regionalne i Lokalne (SJR = 0,17), No. 1(87)2022, pp. 23-36, ISSN: 1509-4995, E-ISSN: 2719-8049, https://doi.org/10.7366/1509499518702 (co-authors: Borce Trenovski and Filip Peovski);
• The Impact of Remittances on Economic Growth in Western Balkans – A Panel Approach, in Proceedings of 2^nd International Scientific Conference „Economics and Business Trends Shaping the Future“, Faculty of Economics – Skopje, 2021 (published: November 13^th, 2021), http://doi.org/10.47063/EBTSF.2021.0004 (co-authors: Predrag Trpeski, Borce Trenovski and Kristijan Kozeski);
• Public Debt and Economic Growth – The Case of the Republic of North Macedonia, in Proceedings of the Faculty of Economics in East Sarajevo – Journal of Economics and Business, No. 21, pp. 11-20, ISSN: 1840-3557, 2020 (published: June 15^th, 2021) https://doi.org/10.7251/ZREFIS2021011T (co-authors: Kristijan Kozeski, Predrag Trpeski and Marijana Cvetanoska);
• The Impact of ICT on Labour Productivity – Europe vs U.S., SHS Web Conf, Vol. 129, 08021, 2021 (published: January 13^th, 2021), https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/202112908021 (co-authors: Predrag Trpeski, Borce Trenovski and Kristijan Kozeski);
• The Effects of FDI on Domestic Investments in Western Balkans, SHS Web of Conf, Vol. 92, 07059, 2021 (published: December 16^th, 2020), https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20219207059 (co-authors: Bilal Sucubasi, Borce Trenovski and Berkan Imeri);
• Lessons Learned from the Fourth Industrial Revolution for the Global Economy, Knowledge – International Journal, Vol. 43, No. 1, pp. 89-95 2020 (published: December 16^th, 2020) (co-author: Borce Trenovski);
• The Impact of Macroeconomic Factors over the Performance of the Banking Sector in Republic of North Macedonia, in H. Karadal, M.N. Efe, M. Abubakar and K. Karadal (editors), Proceedings of 1^st International Congress on Social Sciences „Communication, Economics & Organization“, pp. 703-711, ISBN: 978-605-06656-4-2, 2020 (co-authors: Berkan Imeri and Bilal Sucubasi);
• The Link between Productivity and Labour Share – The Case of North Macedonia and Slovenia, in Proceedings of 1^st International Scientific Conference „Economics and Business Trends Shaping the Future“, Faculty of Economics – Skopje, 2020 (published: November 14^th, 2020), http://doi.org/10.47063/EBTSF.2020.0020 (co-authors: Borce Trenovski and Kristijan Kozeski);
• The Impact of Digitalization on European Economy and Society, Annual of the Faculty of Economics – Skopje, Vol. 55, ISSN 0459-0922, Faculty of Economics – Skopje, 2020;
• Analysis of the Relationship between Labour Productivity and Labour Income Share – A Comparative Analysis of the Western Balkan Countries, in G. Petreski (editor), Economic Meditations: Proceedings Dedicated to Academician Taki Fiti on the Occasion of the 70^th Anniversary of His Birth, 2020 (published: October 2020), pp. 355-371 (co-authors: Borce Trenovski and Kristijan Kozeski);
• Labour Productivity in terms of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Southeast European Review of Business and Economics (SERBE), Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 38-51, ISSN 2671-339X, 2020 (published: June 2020), DOI 10.20544/SERBE.02.01.20.P03 (co-authors: Borce Trenovski, Marija Trpkova-Nestorovska and Kristijan Kozeski);
• Effects of Automation on Labour Markets in the Emerging Countries, in A. Stefanov (editor), Proceedings of International Conference of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Mathematics, organized by International Balkan University, pp. 37-50, 2020 (published: June 2020) (co-authors: Ervin Domazet, Bilal Sucubasi and Berkan Imeri).

Projects

• Supporting in conducting training on the topic „Municipal Budget Planning“ and mentoring in implementing the budget planning process in 16 municipalitites for the needs of the USAID Project for Strenghtening Resource Mobilization Activity (September 27^th – December 31^st, 2021).

Conferences

• 39^th International Scientific Conference „Knowledge in Practice“, organized by the Institute of Knowledge Management, held in Bansko, Bulgaria (December 15-18^th, 2022);
• 3^rd International Scientific Conference „Economics and Business Trends Shaping the Future“, organized by the Faculty of Economics – Skopje, North Macedonia (November 10-11^th, 2022);
• 14^th International SCF (Scientific Cooperation for Future) Conference on the topic „Economic, Social and Environmental Sustainability“, held in Bandirma Onyedi Eylul University and SCF Community in Antalya, Turkey (October 13-16^th, 2022);
• 3^rd International Interdepartmental Conference „Shaping Post-COVID World – Challenges for Economic Theory and Policy“, held in University of Belgrade, Faculty of Economics and Business, Serbia (September 14-15^th, 2022);
• 40^th EBES (Eurasia Business and Economics Society) Conference, held online from Ticaret University in Istanbul, Turkey (July 6-8^th, 2022);
• 7^th International Congress on Social Sciences INCSOS KARABAG, Karabakh, Azerbaijan (June 2-3-4^th, 2022);
• 2^nd International Scientific Conference „Economics and Business Trends Shaping the Future“, held online from Faculty of Economics – Skopje, North Macedonia (November 11-12^th, 2021);
• International Scientific Conference Globalization and its Socio-Economic Consequences 2021, held online from University of Zilina, The Faculty of Operation and Economics of Transport and Communications, Department of Economics, Rajecke Teplice, Slovak Republic (October 13-14^th, 2021);
• 1^st International Congress on Social Sciences „Communication, Economics & Organization“, held online from Gorazde, Bosnia and Herzegovina (December 18-20^th, 2020);
• 29 International Scientific Conference „Knowledge in Practice“, held from the Institute of Knowledge Management, held online from Bansko, Bulgaria (December 18-19^th, 2020);
• 1^st International Scientific Conference „Economics and Business Trends Shaping the Future“, held online from the Faculty of Economics – Skopje, North Macedonia (November 12-13^th, 2020);
• International Scientific Conference Globalization and its Socio-Economic Consequences 2020, held online from University of Zilina, the Faculty of Operation and Economics of Transport and Communications, Department of Economics, Rajecke Teplice, Slovak Republic (October 21-22th, 2020);
• A letter of appreciation for outstanding contributions to the First Scientific Conference of the Faculty of Economics and Law, hosted online by USS-UKIM, Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia (October 20^th, 2020);
• 4^th Annual International Conference on Social Sciences „Identity, Economics, and Politics“, held online from Yildiz Teknik University, Istanbul, Turkey (September 10-11^th, 2020);
• IXth Scientific Conference with International Participation – Jahorina Business Forum „Real and Financial Sector in the Light of New Technologies, New World Trends, and New Challenges“, held online from Jahorina, Bosnia and Herzegovina (July 14^th, 2020);
• International Conference on Applied Sciences, Engineering and Mathematics, held online from International Balkan University, Skopje, North Macedonia (June 4-5^th, 2020).

Seminars and trainings

• Participation in the workshop „Digital Transformation, Data and AI in the Western Balkans“, hosted by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Initiative for Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) and Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje on December 9^th, 2021, link: https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/d65da0de-f1d9-11ec-a534-01aa75ed71a1/language-en;
• Participation in the HEInnovate online training based on the concept of circular economy conducted by EIT RawMaterials through the HEI Capacity Building on Circular Economy program, held online in the period 22-24 September, 2021.

Initiatives

• Co-founder of the Young Economic Minds (YEM) portal. Through YEM, young economists share their ideas and thoughts, which are translated into scientific articles, analyses, and research that are shared with the public, link: https://youngeconomicminds.com/en/.

Courses

• Realized participation in the online Winter Doctoral School 2022, in the course “Applied Time Series Analysis and Forecasting using Stata and R”, organized by the School of Economics and Business at the University of Ljubljana in the period 14-18 February 2022;
• Completed a 4-month Business Intelligence Analyst Course at the Brainster CBC Collective LLC Educational Centre, Skopje, North Macedonia, in the period December-April 2021. Received a certificate of knowledge of:
  • SQL, Data WareHouse and Power BI.