Poverty and Exclusion in the Western Balkans

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-viii

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2. Overview: Poverty and Exclusion in the Western Balkans: New Directions in Policy and Analysis

   • Caterina Ruggeri Laderchi, Sara Savastano

   Pages 1-11

3. The European Context: Measuring Social Inclusion in the European Union

   • Isabelle Maquet Engsted

   Pages 13-27

4. Measuring Poverty in the Western Balkans: Recent Trends and New Challenges

   • Calogero Carletto, Caterina Ruggeri Laderchi, Sara Savastano

   Pages 29-38

5. Qualitative Research to Support the Analysis of Social Inclusion in the Western Balkans

   • Carrie Turk

   Pages 39-54

6. Updating Poverty Maps Between Censuses: A Case Study of Albania

   • Gianni Betti, Andrew Dabalen, Céline Ferré, Laura Neri

   Pages 55-70

7. Social Exclusion in Bosnia and Herzegovina

   • Alexandru Cojocaru, Caterina Ruggeri Laderchi

   Pages 71-98

8. On Measuring Social Exclusion: A New Approach with an Application to FYR Macedonia

   • Joseph Deutsch, Jacques Silber, Paolo Verme

   Pages 99-116

9. Subjective Well-Being, Activation Policies, and the Inclusion Agenda

   • Marina Petrovic

   Pages 117-131

10. Does Formal Work Pay in Serbia? The Role of Labor Taxes and Social Benefit Design in Providing Disincentives for Formal Work

    • Johannes Koettl

    Pages 133-154

11. Not Just Education: The Gender Wage Gap in the Albanian Labor Markets Through Occupational Segregation, Work Experience, and Child Care

    • Juna Miluka

    Pages 155-176

12. Internal Migration in Albania and the Changes in Transfers Received from Family and Friends: A Study of Internal Migrants in Peri-Urban Tirana

    • Florian Tomini, Jessica Hagen-Zanker

    Pages 177-202

13. Together or Apart? Attitudes Towards Multi-ethnic State and Ethnically Mixed Communities in Post-independence Kosovo

    • Artjoms Ivļevs, Roswitha M. King

    Pages 203-219

14. Social Safety Nets in the Western Balkans: Design, Implementation, and Performance

    • Boryana Gotcheva, Ramya Sundaram

    Pages 221-243

15. The Political Economy of Welfare Reform in the Western Balkans

    • Will Bartlett

    Pages 245-259

16. Simulating Policy Reform: Distributional and Poverty Outcomes of the New Social Welfare Law in Serbia

    • Mihail Arandarenko, Sonja Avlijas, Sasa Randjelovic, Marko Vladisavljevic, Jelena Zarkovic Rakic

    Pages 261-281

17. Improving the Targeting of Social Assistance in Albania: Evidence from Micro-simulations

    • Caterina Ruggeri Laderchi, Ramya Sundaram, Alexandru Cojocaru, Natsuko Kiso Nozaki

    Pages 283-298

​This book maps the latest developments in the policy relevant analysis on poverty, inclusion and the social agenda in the Western Balkans. It does so by presenting a selection of recent papers which explore from a methodological and analytical point of view how the inclusion agenda can be monitored and adapted to understand the challenges in the region. The volume includes an overview and four sections, covering respectively: (1) innovations in terms of measurement of poverty and inclusion in the region (the concept of inclusion as elaborated at the EU level, innovations in survey design to suit the measurement of inclusion, methodological insights from qualitative work); (2) innovative country level analysis (updating poverty mapping in inter-censual years, the analysis of material deprivation, the analysis of determinants of social inclusion, subjective wellbeing of public work programs participants); (3) examples of country level analysis of drivers of exclusion (barriers to formalization in the labour market, gender disparities in the labour market, disruption in social networks following urbanizations, attitudes towards multi-ethnic states); (4) building inclusive safety nets (an assessment of safety nets in the region, the political economy of welfare reform, micro-simulations of social assistance reform, the adoption of better tools to improve targeting performance).   The chapters combine sophisticated techniques which are at the frontiers of poverty analysis (small area estimation, efficiency analysis applied to household welfare, micro-simulations) with less ground-breaking papers which take advantage of innovative datasets or perspectives deeply grounded in the policy dialogue in the countries of the region. By providing a wide spectrum of innovative and policy relevant analytical contributions this book will be of broader interest than for observers of the region. ​

• Distributional Analysis
• European Union
• Poverty
• Welfare
• Western Balkans
• acquis xommunautaire

• The World Bank, Washington, DC, USA

  Caterina Ruggeri Laderchi

• University of Rome, Rome, Italy

  Sara Savastano

Sara Savastano is an Assistant Professor in Economics at the University of Rome Tor Vergata – Italy. In addition to her academic activities she collaborates with the Development Research Group of the World Bank, the FAO, and other international organizations and private institutions. Her research spans from option value theory and investment analysis to agricultural efficiency and productivity analysis, on which she published a number of papers, including on the Western Balkans. Recently, Sara started to explore innovative topics in Neuroeconomics and Behavioral Economics.

Caterina Ruggeri Laderchi is a Senior Poverty Economist in the Europe and Central Asia division of the World Bank. Prior to joining the World Bank she worked on poverty, employment and social issues for the Human Development Report Office of UNDP, DFID and the European Commission. Her research has mostly focused on the measurement of alternative concepts of poverty and deprivation, labour market analysis in low income settings, and the distributional and gender impacts of reforms, particularly tariff reforms.

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