Towards Economic Inclusion in the Western Balkans

ISBN-13: 9783031061141 / Angielski / Miękka / 2023

Opis

The countries in the Western Balkans have been severely affected by the wars and conflicts that led to the breakup of former Yugoslavia, by political instability and the effort of creating new states, weak economies and high levels of unemployment, poverty and social exclusion, and inequality. As revealed by recent surveys, such as EBRD’s Life in Transition Survey and Eurofound’s European Quality of Life Survey, life satisfaction in the region is far below that elsewhere in Europe. In recent years they had achieved a strong impetus of economic growth with falling rates of unemployment and increasing optimism for the future. However, the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 has brought about a sudden reversal of these trends and a renewed deterioration in the economic outlook, and an increase in social hardships that heralds a repeat of past failures in economic inclusion policies. This book identifies the key challenges in the areas of economic inclusion, focusing on the themes of labour markets, vocational education and skills, female entrepreneurship and the integration of migrants. It considers the opportunities for solutions to “build back better” once the recovery from the COVID-19 crisis begins, and offers proposals for more acceptable, equitable and effective economic inclusion policies.

Spis treści

Chapter 1: Introduction: Key Challenges for Economic Inclusion in the Western Balkans
Part I: Labour Market Inclusion
Chapter 2: A Low-Wage, High-Tax Trap in the Western Balkans
Chapter 3: Envelope Wages in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Incidence and Distributional Implications
Chapter 4: Horizontal Job-Education Mismatch in Kosovo: Is There a Gender Gap?
Chapter 5: Cross-national Comparison of Job Types: Analysis Using the EU LFS and Albanian LFS
Part II: Vocational Training and Skills
Chapter 6: The Professional Training Programme in Montenegro: An Active Labour Market Policy or a Way to Fill the Structural Gap?
Chapter 7: The Quality of Vocational Training and the Position of the Individual in the Labour market in Serbia
Chapter 8: The Apprenticeship System in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Myth or Reality?
Part III: Female Entrepreneurship
Chapter 9: Case Study on Female Entrepreneurship in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Chapter 10: Female Entrepreneurship in Albania: Financial Incentives and Disincentives
Chapter 11: Economic Inclusion of Women Entrepreneurs During Covid-19 in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina
Part IV: Integrating Returning Migrants
Chapter 12: The Relationship between Migration and Pensions Policy: The Case of Albania
Chapter 13: The Role of Voluntary Return Migration in Supporting Economic Development in Albania 
Chapter 14: Immigrant Entrepreneurship and Resilience during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Case of Croatia Part V: Conclusions
Chapter 15: Towards an Inclusive Model of Development in the Western Balkans

O autorze

William Bartlett is Deputy Director of the LSEE Research Unit of the European Institute at the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK.

Milica Uvalić is Professor of Economics at the University of Perugia, Italy.