This paper aims to: a) analyse the environmental disclosure practice in the Serbian banking sector, b) determine whether the degree of disclosure is higher in the case of big, i.e. systemically important banks, and c) examine if there is a positive r...

Background Although smoking prevalence and intensity in Serbia have decreased in recent years, expenditures on tobacco products still represent a significant portion of household budgets. As households have limited resources at their disposal, consuming tobacco means that they spend less on other items such as food, clothing, education and healthcare. This is particularly true for low-income households, for whom the pressure on the household budget is even higher. Objectives In this research we estimate the effect of tobacco consumption on other consumption items in Serbia, which is the first estimation of this type for the countries in Eastern Europe. Methods We use microdata from the Household Budget Survey and estimation approach that includes the combination of seemingly unrelated regression and instrumental variables. Besides estimating the overall effect we analyse the differences in effects between low-income, medium-income and high-income households. Results Expenditures on tobacco reduce consumption on food, clothing and education and increase the budget shares spent on complementary consumption items such as alcohol, hotels, bars and restaurants. In most cases, the effects are more pronounced for low-income households than for other groups. These results suggest that aside from the negative effects of tobacco consumption on health, it also distorts household consumption structure, while affecting intrahousehold allocation and future health and development of other household members. Conclusions The results from this research underline the negative effect that tobacco expenditures have on consumption of other products. The only way for households to decrease expenditures on tobacco is to stop smoking, as the consumption of those who continue smoking changes less than cigarettes prices. To ensure that households stop smoking and instead direct their expenditures towards more productive purposes, the Serbian government should adopt new policies and strengthen enforcement of existing tobacco control measures.

Subsidies for the development of agriculture of the Republic of Serbia are an important instrument of agricultural policy that enables improving the position of agricultural holdings in the modern agribusiness environment, but also the business performances of small and medium-sized enterprises that have fulfilled the conditions for their use. As the needs and interests of primary farmers are different in relation to the needs and interests of other entities in the agrarian sector, the emergence of conflicting interests within the sector is not uncommon in lowand middle-income countries. The fact that business entities have different interests and different models of organizational structure implies a focus on the realization of different and uneven business goals. Accordingly, the subjects of research in this paper are subsidies for agricultural development as one of the current forms of institutional support. The subsidies are considered by analyzing their importance for the agrarian sector, aimed at enhancing the business performance of profit-oriented family farms registered as micro, small and medium-sized companies. The aim of the research is to review the types, planned and realized amounts of subsidies that are important for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises in the agricultural sector in the period from 2015 to 2019.

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 (STC-SEE) 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.

In this paper, we use Deaton’s demand model and Household Budget Survey data from 2006 to 2017 to provide a first robust and reliable estimate of cigarettes price elasticity for Serbia. The case of Serbia is particularly interesting and important as it provides evidence for a country in which tobacco market is characterised by the high tobacco consumption, low prices and large perceived impact of multinational tobacco companies on public revenues, export and employment, given their considerable cigarette production in Serbia. The price elasticity of cigarettes is estimated at −0.639, in line with the previous estimates for the low-income and middle-income countries. Estimated negative cigarettes price elasticity for Serbia suggests that tobacco tax policy could be used effectively to reduce cigarette consumption in Serbia, which could lower the harmful health effects of cigarettes. Furthermore, a calculation based on the estimated elasticity suggests that increasing tobacco taxes could also have positive fiscal effects, as the expected revenue from the taxes would increase.

We aimed to assess the efficiency of the selected national innovation policy programs in the Republic of Serbia. We analyzed the impact of the Innovation Fund’s Mini-Grants and Matching Grants programs on the operating revenue growth of beneficiary micro, small, and medium enterprises. An econometric analysis of panel data was conducted. Because of the small number of periods observed, a model of individual effects was applied. Conclusions and recommendations were based on the results of random effects models. The findings indicate that program funding increased business revenues compared to the period before and that there was a direct link between indebtedness and revenue growth, which confirmed the positive impact of financing on the sustainable development prospects of beneficiaries through facilitating access to funding and innovation capacity improvement. These findings can have important policy implications as they provide guidelines for designing future actions and empirically confirm the need to increase public expenditures for innovation policy.