The post-2008 recession and the countercyclical responses by European governments that followed triggered an extensive wave of fiscal adjustments. Although underpinned by widespread consensus, the implementation of such measures has also been severely criticised. While their effect on output and employment has been extensively investigated, their impact on wage inequality has received less attention. In this paper, we focus on the consequences of fiscal consolidation measures for gender inequality. After describing the literature-based conceptual framework of our analysis, we provide empirical evidence of the effect of fiscal consolidation on: (i) the adjusted gender wage gap, and (ii) the patterns of gender horizontal segregation. The analysis covers EU-28 countries in the years 2010-13. Results show that austerity measures (both tax-based and expenditure-based) impacted significantly on various aspects of gender wage inequality, putting at risk the relatively little progress achieved in Europe so far.

Inactivity and unemployment rates as well as informal employment rates in Serbia are particularly high among low-paid workers. Several studies argued that one of main reasons for high entry costs in the labour market in Serbia is the existence of the mandatory minimum base for social security contributions (SSC). Our paper is the first one to provide empirical evidence about the incentive and distributional effects of the abolishment of the mandatory minimum SSC base. Using the tax and benefit micro-simulation model for Serbia (SRMOD), which is based on EUROMOD platform, we found that this policy reform would reduce effective average tax rates by more than it would reduce effective marginal tax rate. This implies a larger participation response than hours-of-work response. A decrease in both of these indicators is most pronounced for lower income groups. At the same time, the reform would trigger positive distributional effects since the number of individuals in low-income groups, whose disposable income would increase after the reform by more than 2%, is ranging from 3.3% to 5.8%. However, the impact of the reform on the overall level of inequality, measured by the Gini coefficient, would be small.

In Serbia the inactivity rate of the working-age population is close to 40%, among the highest in Europe. The country also faces a high informal employment rate of 24%. Previous research has argued that high levels of informality and inactivity are mostly due to a high effective tax wedge at low wage levels caused by a minimum base for calculation of social security contributions (SSC), sudden withdrawal of means-tested benefits once formal income is earned, and low progressivity of income tax. This paper evaluates the impact of the minimum SSC base reform scenarios on labour supply and employment formalization using tax and benefit micro-simulation models together with the structural discrete choice labour supply model based on the Survey on Income and Living Conditions Data. Although we do not find positive employment effects of the reform, it would be premature to deduce that abolishment of the minimum SSC base is not needed. At this stage in our research, until alternative labour-supply modelling is applied, with both sector and hours of work choice alternatives, it is only safe to conclude that the proposed reform will not significantly contribute to the transformation of informal full-time to formal full-time jobs.

Low labour market participation, together with the high effective tax wedge at low wage levels, create a fertile ground for the introduction of the in-work benefits (IWB) in Serbia. Our paper provides an ex-ante evaluation of the two IWB schemes, directed at stimulating the labour supply and more equal income distribution. The methodological approach combines the tax-and-benefit microsimulation model with the discrete labour supply model. Our results show that both individual and family-based IWB schemes would considerably boost labour market participation, although family-based benefits would have disincentivizing effects for the secondary earners in couples. Most of the behavioural changes take place among the poorest individuals, with significant redistributive effects.

This paper analyses welfare regime changes in Serbia and their impact on social enterprise development in the last two decades. We cover the period of significant transition-related reforms within the welfare state, with important implications on the position of these enterprises. Using data gathered from the qualitative field research, our study shows that there are two broad groups of factors that are important for development of the new generation of social enterprises, those that emerged in the last decade with an idea to foster entrepreneurial spirit and expanded into new domains other than those providing assistance to the marginalized groups. First, their decision to enter the social economy sector still depends on the environment created by the state. Secondly, their sustainability is affected by the factors typically found in any other enterprise of comparable scale like business skills, capacity to form networks and partner with relevant stakeholders.Résumé Le présent article analyse les changements survenus dans le régime de protection sociale de la Serbie et leurs incidences sur le développement des & Jelena Ž arković Rakić entreprises sociales au cours des deux dernières décennies. Nous traitons des réformes associées à l'importante transition de l'É tat providence et de ses implications majeures sur le positionnement desdites entreprises. À l'aide de données recueillies dans le cadre de recherches quantitatives sur le terrain, notre étude démontre que deux vastes groupes de facteurs sont essentiels au développement de la nouvelle génération d'entreprises sociales, soit celles ayant vu le jour durant la dernière décennie dans le but de favoriser l'esprit entrepreneurial et ayant pris de l'expansion dans des domaines autres que celui de la prestation d'aide aux groupes marginalisés. En premier lieu, leur décision de percer le secteur de l'économie sociale dépend toujours de l'environnement créé par l'É tat. En second lieu, leur durabilité est influencée par les facteurs typiquement présents dans toute autre entreprise d'échelle comparable, dont les compétences commerciales et la capacité de créer des réseaux et d'établir des partenariats avec des intervenants pertinents.Zusammenfassung Diese Arbeit untersucht die Ä nderungen am serbischen Wohlfahrtssystem und ihre Auswirkungen auf die Entwicklung sozialer Unternehmen in den vergangenen zwei Jahrzehnten. Man betrachtet den Zeitraum bedeutender wandelsbezogener Reformen innerhalb des Sozialstaates mit wichtigen Folgen für die Stellung dieser Unternehmen. Unter Verwendung von Daten aus der qualitativen Feldforschung zeigt unsere Studie, dass es zwei umfangreiche Faktorengruppen gibt, die für die Entwicklung der neuen Generation sozialer Unternehmen wichtig ist, d. h. die Unternehmen, die in den vergangenen zehn Jahren mit der Idee entstanden sind, den Unternehmergeist zu fördern, und die in neue Bereiche vorgedrungen sind, welche nicht die Unterstützung von Randgruppen beinhalten. Erstens ist ihre Entscheidung, in den Sozialwirtschaftssektor einzudringen...