In the new thematic issue of Public Sector Economics dedicated to the Economics and governance for sustainability, guest editors Louis Meuleman and Ingeborg Niestroy are introducing readers to articles that are trying to find the balance among the environmental, social and economic dimensions of our societies: planet, people and prosperity. Florian Flachenecker and Jun Rentschler in the article From barriers to opportunities: Enabling investments in resource efficiency for sustainable development are examining the role of resource efficiency in reconciling environmental and economic objectives. How to deal with losers and achieve 'win-win' package deals are the topics dealt with by David Horan in the article on Compensation strategies to enact new governance frameworks for SDG transformations. In the article Post-growth perspectives: Sustainable development based on efficiency and on sufficiencyRudi Kurz is exploring available strategies for achieving ambitious environmental goals. Elisabeth Hege, Laura Brimont and Félicien Pagnon in the article Sustainable development goals and indicators: can they be tools to make national budgets more sustainable? are analyzing the added value of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and indicators in the budgeting process. Luigi Ferrata in Digital financial inclusion – an engine for “leaving no one behind” highlights how financial inclusion - the access to financial services - allows the weakest members of society to contribute to the achievement of the SDGs and to improve their life. In the article Implementing Agenda 2030 in the Arab world: Contextualization, action areas and policy planning Lamia Moubayed Bissat and Carl Rihan assess the implementation of Agenda 2030 in the Arab region and conclude with “roadmap” for the improvements. Dagmar Radin is reviewing the Sustainable Development Goal 16: Focus on public institutions, World Public Sector Report 2019 published by the United Nations, Division for Public Institutions and Digital Government, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. 

At the Institute of Public Finance (IPF) International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission met with representatives of the Ministry of Finance, Croatian National Bank and IPF. The IMF mission visited Croatia from 3 – 12 December holding regular consultations (based on IMF Article IV) and at the IPF discussed various topics like pension reform, tax measures aimed at containing emigration, budget transparency, efficient use of the EU structural and investment funds, effects of the fiscal multipliers and the status of public enterprises.

 The Prof. Dr. Marijan Hanžeković Trust awarded the best scientific papers. In the regular category, the 50,000 kuna award, the diploma and the medal was awarded to Iva Tomić from the Institute of Economics, Zagreb for the paper Employment protection reforms and labour market outcomes in the aftermath of the recession: Evidence from Croatia. In the student category, the 15,000 kuna award, the diploma and the medal was awarded to Ivan Tomaš, student from the Zagreb School of Economics and Management for the paper A stochastic forecast for the Croatian pension system.

The awarded paper will be published in the journal Public Sector Economics no. 1/2020 and at the Prof. Dr. Marijan Hanžeković Trust’s web site.