In the new issue of Public Sector Economics Petar Sorić provides an initial attempt to examine if there are direct causal effects of the 2023 euro changeover on inflation in Croatia. He examines the effects on aggregate inflation, plus on the wide set of 14 price categories to enable a granular perspective. The results reveal that the euro conversion did not have a robustly significant effect on aggregate inflation. The article was awarded as the best one in the regular category of the annual 2023 Prof. Dr. Marijan Hanžeković Trust Competition.

Enja Erker provides insights into the trend of medical inflation within the European Union. With accurate forecasts of medical inflation, policymakers can proactively address challenges, insurers can determine appropriate premiums and develop innovative models, and healthcare entities can allocate resources strategically to ensure financial stability and quality care. The article was awarded as the best one in the student category of the annual 2023 Prof. Dr. Marijan Hanžeković Trust Competition.

Ljubica Mežnarić and Ana Mežnarić analyse problems in the long-term care system in Croatia faced by private care homes, the outlook for the building of additional privately owned homes, and the interest of pension funds in investing in the long-term care system.

Van Bon Nguyen seeks answers for the public spending – CO2 emissions nexus in developing economies by employing the system GMM Arellano-Bond estimators to assess the impact of public spending, governance/institutional quality, and their interaction on CO2 emissions for a sample of 109 developing economies between 2002 and 2021. 

Sanele Stungwa tests whether the relationship between external debt and economic growth is symmetric or asymmetric in South Africa using annual time series data from 1985 to 2021.