Researchers and assistants from the Institute of Public Finance took part in several international conferences in September where they presented their papers, exchanged experiences with colleagues, and explored new opportunities for collaboration.

Ivica Urban and Slavko Bezeredi, as members of the Croatian national team, participated in the EUROMOD annual meeting and the Research Workshop 2025, held at the School of Economics and Business in Ljubljana. The annual meeting gathered researchers involved in the development and maintenance of EUROMOD, while the workshop featured twelve scientific papers and a roundtable discussion on the effective design of child benefits. At the annual meeting, Urban gave a presentation EUROMOD vs. MODPOD: a comparison of personal income tax expenditures, in which he compared results on tax expenditures obtained using EUROMOD and MODPOD – the personal income tax and social contributions microsimulation model developed by the Institute of Public Finance.

At the CEE-Loc: Local Government Studies in Central and Eastern Europe conference, held at Corvinus University of Budapest, Branko Stanić presented his paper Does local ownership matter? Evaluating the efficiency of waste management provision in a fragmented local government system. The paper analyses the impact of municipal ownership on the efficiency of waste collection in Croatia. Findings show that outsourced providers are, on average, more efficient than municipally owned companies, although managerial and institutional factors play a key role. Participation in the conference was funded by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan 2021-2026 – NextGenerationEU.

At the same conference, Romario Marijanović presented his paper Analysis of cost, system and overall efficiency of general hospitals in Croatia. The analysis indicates that general hospitals can reduce costs and resource utilization while maintaining the same level of health outcomes. The conference brought together researchers and experts in multilevel governance, local development, and public policy in Central and Eastern Europe. Participation in the conference was funded by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan 2021-2026 – NextGenerationEU.

Luka Draganić participated in the 29th Young Statisticians Meeting, held in Basovizza, Italy. As an invited speaker, he presented a working paper Effects of natural disasters on public debt sustainability in Croatia, which analyses the fiscal response capacity to a hypothetical earthquake that would shock the Croatian economy in 2025. The paper highlights the complex relationship between natural disasters and fiscal sustainability, emphasising the importance of including such risks in standard debt sustainability analyses. The conference brought together young researchers and experts in both applied and theoretical statistics.

Matea Cvjetković, Jasmina Mašović, and Zoran Bubaš participated in the WINIR 2025 Conference in Prague, where they presented the paper Enhancing Public Sector Innovation: A Nationwide Study of Croatia, based on a national study of the innovation capacities of local government units. The paper introduces a model for testing the determinants of innovation capacity in local government units and in companies owned by them. Participation in the conference was funded by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan 2021-2026 – NextGenerationEU.

The same researchers – Zoran Bubaš, Jasmina Mašović, and Matea Cvjetković – also participated in the 11th Enterprise Research Innovation Conference in Opatija, where they presented the paper Exploring innovation activities in the Croatian public sector: a national survey. The paper analyses the types and scope of innovations, as well as the drivers and barriers to innovation in public organizations. The results indicate a dominance of incremental innovations and emphasize the need to strengthen evaluation practices. Participation in the conference was funded by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan 2021-2026 – NextGenerationEU.