Egalitarianism and redistributive reform in Serbia after 2000

Abstract

We investigate post-communist redistributive policies in Serbia, focusing particularly on the period after 2000. Our main argument is that market fundamentalism, which posits that the market is the most efficient solution for the postcommunist transition, has failed to deliver on its promises. The expectation was that, after a temporary transitional sacrifice, the worse-off would benefit equally with the better-off by reaping the rewards of market economic reforms. The anticipated faster growth was supposed to generate more quality jobs as the most effective means to alleviate poverty. Unfortunately, growth has been sluggish, while inequalities in Serbia have experienced rapid and persistent growth since 2000. We look into redistributive reform measures to understand the reasons behind this outcome. Our approach combines applied political philosophy with economic policy analysis - a unique intersection of two social science disciplines. Firstly, our research explores the implicit and explicit normative foundations of postcommunist economic reforms. Secondly, we identify and analyse a pivotal juncture of policy reform in the early 2000s. During this period, the newly-adopted neoliberal taxation and social policies were combined with class- and ethnic-based discriminatory approaches inherited from the pre-1990s socialist era and the post-socialist 1990s, respectively. This combination resulted in distinct, notably pro-rich redistributive patterns in Serbia.