Suchergebnisse

This book contains collection of articles which provide policy implications related to the problem of achieving substantive reform on the basis of harmonising legislation in Western Balkan (WB) countries with the standards of the European Union (EU). While WB states have generally been successful in adopting legal reforms that make up a part of EU conditionality, many laws remain unenforced, amounting to "empty shells." In the space between law, as it is written, and practices as they are engaged in everyday life, exists a gap, characterized by informality, clientelism, and exchange often based on strong tie relationships. Some instances of informality undermine the goal of establishing rule law and contribute to corruption. Others offer valuable solutions to persistent social problems or represent traditional vehicles of social cohesion that should be promoted. The recommendations in this book seek to address both constructive and damaging instances of informality, and to identify policy measures that can help to harmonise not only legislation, but existing informal practices on the ground.

This research focuses on the relationship between public spending and income distribution in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). In our empirical strategy we rely on a unique survey data used to establish a proxy for inequality over the observed period 2000-2010. In addition, we investigate the consequences of contemporary global economic and financial crisis on income distribution. We find indications that the global economic crisis, with its BiH onset in 2009-2010, has increased income inequality in BiH. Our findings also imply that increased public spending and improvement in the quality of institutions in BiH were supportive in reducing income inequality over the observed period. After examining several institutional indicators, we identify a particular importance of political stability in BiH as a determinant of income distribution. Disaggregated analysis of public spending by functional and economic categories revealed that higher expenditures for social protection and capital spending are associated with lower income inequality. Contrary, higher expenditures for education are linked with higher income inequality.

We investigate the long-term relationship between conflict-related migration and individual socioeconomic inequality. Looking at the post-conflict environment of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), a former Yugoslav state most heavily impacted by the conflicts of the early 1990s, the paper focuses on differences in educational performance and income between four groups: migrants, internally displaced persons, former external migrants, and those who did not move. The analysis leverages a municipality-representative survey (n≈6,000) that captured self-reported education and income outcomes as well as migration histories. We find that individuals with greater exposure to conflict had systematically worse educational performance and lower earnings two decades after the war. Former external migrants now living in BiH have better educational and economic outcomes than those who did not migrate, but these advantages are smaller for individuals who were forced to move. We recommend that policies intended to address migration-related discrepancies should be targeted on the basis of individual and family experiences caused by conflict.