Suchergebnisse

The aim of this paper is to discuss the main tenets of industrial policy. Industrial policy, as a conscious effort on the part of government to encourage and promote activities specific, industry or sector with an array of policies, through the process of cooperation and coordination with the private sector, is an indispensable tool for steering economic development. It is needed both for developing and developed countries. Due to the information and coordination externalities, the productive forces cannot be developed through the market mechanism itself and the intervention on the part of government is needed. The programmes of an industrial policy need to be tailor made and country specific. However, some of the programmes have been historically shown as effective. Those programmes are: Subsidizing costs of "self-discovery", Developing mechanisms for higher risk finance, Internalizing coordination externalities, Public R&D, Subsidizing general technical training, Taking advantage of nationals abroad (Rodrik 2004). Serbia as a country that has experienced the process of deindustrialisation needs an industrial policy that will take into account the main tenets of the concept of industrial policy.

Serbia had, when started its process of European integration in 2000, relatively high level of external debt amounting to 132% of GDP. All liabilities were practically inherited Government external debt since private sector during the period before 2000 even did not have the opportunity to take credits abroad. After the regime was changed, significant part of the liabilities was written off. In that position, country was thirsty for new capital resources and private sector indebtedness rise was not surprising. Moreover, it was one of the preconditions for future economic development. Even Central Government was in position to take credits under relatively favourable conditions in order to finance infrastructure projects and support structural economic reforms. Unfortunately, after ten years of transition structural reforms did not performed and external debt continued to increase dynamically reaching at the end of 2010 disturbing 84.9% of GDP and 236.2% of total annual export. After the slight stagnation during the crisis, external debt continued its rise dominantly as a consequence of rising Government debt. Current situation should attract the attention of the economic policy makers. Further external debt increase may jeopardize macroeconomic stability as well as the process of economic integration since it is expected that European Union will carefully observe macroeconomic situation in potential member states, especially after the PIGS countries phenomenon.

The paper analyses the challenges of modern commercial diplomacy (CD), which became more relevant than it was in the pre crisis period. In this context, the authors analyzed the chronology of implementation of CD in Serbia, scope and efficiency of its activities, and the areas for improvement. Some of their findings, related to the efficiency and challenges in CDs activities, are based on the questionnaire conducted among 25 Serbian CDs. The paper concludes that in order to increase the efficiency of commercial diplomacy, coordination of the activities of the responsible institutions should be improved, to avoid overlapping in their work and to rationalize use of limited resources. However, the authors emphasised that the space for contribution of commercial diplomacy to the increase of export and FDI is insufficient, due to limited export potential and poor investment climate in Serbia. The authors conclude that in order to increase the efficiency of commercial diplomacy in export promotion area, it is important to implement the necessary reforms, which will result in the restructuring of Serbian economy, make it more competitive and export oriented. To increase the inflow of FDI to Serbia, it is necessary to create a business friendly investment climate.

Background and objective Numerous studies have indicated that tobacco taxation is one of the most important policies to reduce tobacco consumption. However, its effectiveness crucially depends on consumer responses to price increases, that is, tobacco price elasticities. This paper analyses tobacco price elasticity in six Western Balkan countries. Data and methods We estimate own-price and crossprice elasticities of manufactured cigarettes (MCs) and roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco by using the methodological framework of the two-part model, regional variation in prices and 2019 Survey on Tobacco Consumption in Southeastern European countries (STC-SEE). STC-SEE provides a uniquely comparable nationally representative data on smoking behaviour for adult (18–85 years old) population for each country. Results Results suggest that higher prices of MCs are associated with lower prevalence of MC use, while higher prices of RYO are associated with lower intensity of RYO use. Furthermore, regions with higher MC prices have a higher likelihood of using RYO over MC, suggesting that RYO is used as a cheaper alternative to MC. Lastly, lower smoking prevalence and intensity are associated with more smoking restrictions and support for tobacco price increases. Conclusion Results suggest that, aiming to decrease smoking prevalence and intensity, governments should increase excises on all tobacco products. Since RYO is a cheaper alternative to MC, the increase of excises on RYO should be higher, so that after excise increase, the prices of the two products are approximately the same. To further reduce tobacco consumption, governments should combine increasing taxes on tobacco products with non-price measures, such as stricter smoking restrictions and smoke-free regulations.

Consumption of cigarettes and other tobacco products in the Republic of Serbia as well as in the other countries in the Southeastern Europe region imposes a significant economic burden on households and society in general. The aim of this paper is to estimate the effects of the cigarette price increase through tobacco excise increases and their associated impacts on tobacco consumption, household expenditures, and tax burdens among different income groups as well as the impact of these increases on government revenues. Lack of the research and evidence-based findings about tobacco taxation in Serbia makes excise system less effective and cigarettes more affordable. Strong evidence-based research findings can help policymakers to bring new laws and protect the population from the harmful and unhealthy effects of tobacco consumption. Using individual data from Household Budget Survey for years 2006 to 2017 and implementing Two-Part model, we estimated the cigarette prevalence and conditional elasticities. Our results show that increasing excises and prices of cigarettes in Serbia would result in lower cigarette consumption, while at the same time an increase of the government revenues would occur. Further positive fiscal effects could be expected since the decrease of cigarette consumption would likely lower health expenditures related to the harmful effects of cigarettes. Considering these divergent consumer responses to cigarette price increases, increasing excises would actually be a pro-poor policy that has the potential to lower the consumption inequality in the country. Lower expenditures on cigarettes for lowincome households would likely be coupled with lower health expenditures related to harmful effects of cigarettes.

Background and objective Tobacco tax evasion undermines the goal of tobacco taxes as a tobacco control measure to make tobacco products less affordable, increases the health risks for those who smoke and decreases the government revenue. This paper analyses the tobacco tax evasion in six Western Balkan (WB) countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. The aim of this research is to estimate the size of the illicit market and identify the main determinants of tax evasion activities in the Southeastern European region. Data and methods Data from 2019 Survey on Tobacco Consumption in Southeastern Europe (STCSEE) are used. STC-SEE provides uniquely comparable nationally representative data on smoking behaviour for adult (18–85 years old) population for each country. Tax evasion is defined on the basis of available information on tax stamps, health warnings, price and the place of purchase, in accordance with the previous research on tax evasion. In order to estimate the determinants of illicit purchases we use binary choice model of tax evasion. Results The study finds that 20.4% of all current smokers in WB countries evade taxes on tobacco products, with evasion being much more frequent for hand-rolled (HR) tobacco (86.7%) than for the manufactured cigarettes (MC) (8.6%). While HR is predominantly illicit in all six countries, MC evasion varies significantly, with evasion being significantly higher in Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Results further suggest that tax evasion is higher in the statistical regions where institutional capacities to tackle illicit trade are lower, in municipalities bordering countries with high MC evasion, as well as among smokers with low income, women and elderly. We also provide evidence that higher tobacco taxes and prices do not increase illicit consumption. Conclusion The findings from the research suggest that in order to decrease tax evasion, governments should put additional effort to strengthen institutional capacities to tackle illicit tobacco markets. Furthermore, improving regional coordination in development and implementation of tobacco control policies, including the prevention of illicit market, is essential in lowering evasion in all WB countries. Finally, WB countries should regulate and enforce excise tax stamp requirements on the HR tobacco market to a much higher degree.