The Albanian-Speaking Economies

This inaugural issue examines the economic architecture of Albanian-speaking societies — Albania, Kosovo, and the Albanian diaspora communities of North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Southern Serbia — through the lens of remittance dependency, currency regime divergence, and structural vulnerability. Drawing on household survey data, central bank reporting, and diaspora financial flow analysis, we construct a comprehensive risk framework that maps the intersection of informal transfer networks, euro-anchored monetary systems, and demographic outmigration. Our findings reveal a paradox at the heart of these economies: remittance income simultaneously stabilises household consumption and undermines domestic capital formation, creating a structural dependency that inhibits the accumulation of productive investment. We further analyse how currency arrangements — Kosovo's unilateral euroisation versus Albania's managed float — create asymmetric exposure to European monetary policy, with particular implications for small and medium enterprise credit conditions. The paper concludes with a structural risk index for the Western Balkans diaspora corridor and policy recommendations for both host and origin governments.