Publication: Croatia : Social Impact of the Crisis and Building Resilience
Loading...
Date
2010-07-14
ISSN
Published
2010-07-14
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
This report analyzes the impact of the global economic crisis on the labor market and poverty in Croatia, and discusses the effectiveness of social safety net policies in response to the crisis. It also presents options to enhance the cost-effectiveness of social policy in Croatia in response to an economic downturn. It argues that the impact of the crisis on employment and poverty was substantial, but the policy response was limited. There is substantial room to enhance the efficiency of the social protection system in Croatia within the existing resource envelope, and build resilience against potential future economic shocks. The report is divided into five sections. Section one provides a backdrop for further analysis by presenting recent macroeconomic developments. Section two looks at the labor market effects of the crisis. Section three examines the impact of the crisis on poverty. Section four assesses the effectiveness of employment and social safety net programs in Croatia. The final section suggests options to enhance the effectiveness of employment and social safety net policies in responding to economic fluctuations.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2010. Croatia : Social Impact of the Crisis and Building Resilience. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/2903 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication The Jobs Crisis : Household and Government Responses to the Great Recession in Eastern Europe and Central Asia(World Bank, 2011-03-29)The financial crisis swiftly expanded into an economic crisis throughout America and Western Europe, from where it spread to developing countries that had depended on foreign direct investment, consumer and mortgage credit, trade, and remittances. By early 2009, it was clear that this economic downturn would be more severe than any crisis since the great depression, prompting some to it as the 'great recession.' Eastern European and Central Asian countries were hit particularly hard during 2009, global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted for the first time since Second World War. The financial crisis and the ensuing economic downturn, the worst since the Great Depression in the 1930s, went hand in hand with tightening of credit markets, bank failures, firm closures, and high demand for social safety nets. This report, The jobs crisis: household and Government responses to the great recession in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, brings together evidence that World Bank teams have collected on the impact of the crisis on households and families in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. This report shows how the crisis was felt by Eastern European and Central Asian households. Not only did unemployment rise sharply but it also lasted longer. The report also shows that the pain of the recession was broader, with workers taking home smaller paychecks as firms offered lower wage rates and fewer hours of work to their workers. The jobs crisis finds that households used a variety of ways to cope with the crisis. The jobs crisis presents an account of how governments reacted to the crisis through social policy reforms and initiatives and how such responses could be improved in the future. Unemployment insurance benefits played a particularly important cushioning role, but coverage of the unemployed tended to be limited.Publication Sri Lanka : Strengthening Social Protection(Washington, DC, 2007-01-16)This report reviews Sri Lanka's social protection programs and proposes strategic options for enhancing their role in promoting growth with equity. Well designed social protection (SP) systems can help address poverty and inequality through redistribution, and mitigate risks and facilitate employment opportunities, thus contributing to both growth and equity goals. The report first identifies the poor and vulnerable (chapter 1) and then reviews and evaluates employment protection and promotion policies and programs (chapter 2), social security/insurance schemes (chapter 3), and safety net programs (chapter 4) and proposes policy options The concluding chapter summarizes key analytical findings and presents a unified policy framework to improve social protection. The report relies mainly on extensive existing literature from Sri Lankan and international researchers. The remaining part of this section summarizes the main issues and policy options.Publication Croatia - Living Standards Assessment : Volume 1, Promoting Social Inclusion and Regional Equity(Washington, DC, 2006-11)The Croatian economy has performed moderately well in the past decade, enabling a gradual narrowing of the income gap with the European Union (EU). Using a cost-of-basic-needs poverty line, poverty in Croatia is found to be low, with only a small proportion of the poor facing hard-core deprivation. Looking ahead, the task of faster external income convergence with the EU will be challenging, and will require both faster job creation as well as flexibility in the allocation of jobs and workers in the economy. These will also help with more rapid improvement in living conditions in lagging regions. To these ends, the report highlights three sets of interrelated policy challenges and priorities: (1) sustaining high rates of growth to permit continued income convergence with Europe; (2) promoting greater labor mobility, including measures aimed at building human capital to improve workers' opportunities; and (3) improving the adequacy and effectiveness of social safety nets within a responsible fiscal framework. In examining regional disparities, several development indicators show that regional disparities in living conditions are significant (though on average no higher than in EU countries), and only partially explained by human capital and other such individual attributes. Building on local comparative advantages offers the best way forward to improve living conditions in lagging regions.Publication Ukraine : Poverty Assessment, Poverty and Inequality in a Growing Economy(Washington, DC, 2005-12)This Poverty report is aimed at improving the understanding of poverty in Ukraine, and providing linkages between growth, the evolution of economic sectors, and poverty. The main findings can be summed up as follows: An absolute poverty line and a revised consumption aggregate -- jointly developed with Ukraine experts -- indicate that around 19 percent of the population lived in poverty by 2003. While in 1999 Ukraine had a poverty incidence higher than Poland, Russia, Lithuania, or Bulgaria, by 2003 it was the lowest compared with these countries. The overall improvement, however, has been paralleled by an increasing poverty gap between rural and urban households, reflecting the fast but unbalanced economic growth: The growth experience has not changed the rather stagnant level of employment. The improvement in labor markets are associated to gains in productivity and efficiency with resulting wage gains. There is also increased differentiation within workers since the fraction of underemployment has also increased, reflecting partly the subsistence agriculture, and precarious labor markets in some small towns. The combined effects of higher productivity but lower employment in commercial farms left real incomes in agriculture lagging behind other sectors. Rural areas had a slower reduction in poverty due to the combined effect of weather shocks, and restructuring in agriculture. The government has played a critical role in reducing poverty by increasing substantially the social insurance transfers. Other government transfers have become better targeted but still have very limited coverage. The reduction of poverty, however, provides a window of opportunity to reform the safety net system in order to effectively target the poor.Publication Bulgaria : Household Welfare during the 2010 Recession and Recovery(Washington, DC, 2011-02)This report assesses the impact of the 2009 recession and the fragile recovery of 2010 on the welfare of Bulgarian households and the effectiveness of Government policies in mitigating its costs. By the beginning of 2009, the global economic crisis had affected much of Europe, including Bulgaria. The output decline lasted five quarters, followed by a modest increase during the rest of 2010. However, despite the large fluctuation in output during 2009-10, households preserved their 2008 income level throughout this period. What lies behind this example of successful income smoothing amid a large regional and national recession? Which were the key transmission channels through which the macro crisis filtered through to the household level? What population groups were most affected? What was the role played by public policy in mitigating the impact of the crisis? What lessons can be learned from the Bulgarian experience on protecting households during a crisis, while maintaining prudent fiscal and macroeconomic policies? To answer these questions, the report uses an exceptionally rich survey to assess how households were impacted, how they responded to the crisis and how/if they benefited from a comprehensive government policy package.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Lebanon Economic Monitor, Fall 2022(Washington, DC, 2022-11)The economy continues to contract, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. Public finances improved in 2021, but only because spending collapsed faster than revenue generation. Testament to the continued atrophy of Lebanon’s economy, the Lebanese Pound continues to depreciate sharply. The sharp deterioration in the currency continues to drive surging inflation, in triple digits since July 2020, impacting the poor and vulnerable the most. An unprecedented institutional vacuum will likely further delay any agreement on crisis resolution and much needed reforms; this includes prior actions as part of the April 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff-level agreement (SLA). Divergent views among key stakeholders on how to distribute the financial losses remains the main bottleneck for reaching an agreement on a comprehensive reform agenda. Lebanon needs to urgently adopt a domestic, equitable, and comprehensive solution that is predicated on: (i) addressing upfront the balance sheet impairments, (ii) restoring liquidity, and (iii) adhering to sound global practices of bail-in solutions based on a hierarchy of creditors (starting with banks’ shareholders) that protects small depositors.Publication The Journey Ahead(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-31)The Journey Ahead: Supporting Successful Migration in Europe and Central Asia provides an in-depth analysis of international migration in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) and the implications for policy making. By identifying challenges and opportunities associated with migration in the region, it aims to inform a more nuanced, evidencebased debate on the costs and benefits of cross-border mobility. Using data-driven insights and new analysis, the report shows that migration has been an engine of prosperity and has helped address some of ECA’s demographic and socioeconomic disparities. Yet, migration’s full economic potential remains untapped. The report identifies multiple barriers keeping migration from achieving its full potential. Crucially, it argues that policies in both origin and destination countries can help maximize the development impacts of migration and effectively manage the economic, social, and political costs. Drawing from a wide range of literature, country experiences, and novel analysis, The Journey Ahead presents actionable policy options to enhance the benefits of migration for destination and origin countries and migrants themselves. Some measures can be taken unilaterally by countries, whereas others require close bilateral or regional coordination. The recommendations are tailored to different types of migration— forced displacement as well as high-skilled and low-skilled economic migration—and from the perspectives of both sending and receiving countries. This report serves as a comprehensive resource for governments, development partners, and other stakeholders throughout Europe and Central Asia, where the richness and diversity of migration experiences provide valuable insights for policy makers in other regions of the world.Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.Publication Argentina Country Climate and Development Report(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11)The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.