Политике усмерене на смањење економске цене родитељства у Србији
Policies Aimed at Reducing the Economic Cost of Parenthood in Serbia

Author(s): Gordana Matković, Boško Mijatović, Katarina Stanić
Subject(s): Family and social welfare, Public Finances, Socio-Economic Research
Published by: Институт друштвених наука
Keywords: financial social assistance; child allowance; maternity/parental benefits; birth grant; policies reducing the cost of parenthood
Summary/Abstract: The analysis of the cost of parenthood is based on the economic approach to fertility – a theory developed by Gary Becker, which assumes that individuals make rational choices about giving birth in order to maximize their well-being under the constraints of scarce resources, limited capacities, limited budgets, limited information and, ultimately, limited time. Public policies aimed at reducing the individual/private cost of raising children, therefore, influence fertility. There are a number of family/child cash benefits in Serbia aimed at reducing the direct and indirect cost of raising children – financial social assistance for families with children (FSA) and child allowance (CA) with the primary goal of poverty reduction; birth grant (BG) as a birth promotion policy measure; attendance allowance (AA) that aims to compensate the cost of the care for children with disabilities, and birth-related leave pay (BRLP) aiming to facilitate the work-family balance. Around 400 thousand children in Serbia are covered by cash benefits targeting poor children, who accounted for around 30% of the total number of children in 2016. Additionally, around 60 thousand families receive birth grants, which corresponds to more than 90% of the newly born. When it comes to childbirth related leaves, there were around 40 thousand beneficiaries in 2016, i.e. around 50% of the newly born children's parents were covered by maternity/parental leave. The total expenditures for cash benefits related to children amount to 1.2% of the GDP. Compared to the EU levels, the total expenditure is below the EU average, with the birth-related expenditures being higher and child allowance lower than the EU average. Both the coverage and the adequacy of cash benefits targeting poor children, from the perspective of meeting the basic needs, can be considered inadequate, the financial social assistance (FSA) in particular. However, when compared to the minimum wage and the disincentives for work, the scope for improvement is rather small. As regards BRLP, this program is adequate in terms of helping to achieve the work – family life balance, and it ranks among the more generous programs of this kind at the EU level. Its main weakness is the lack of flexibility, both in terms of the eligibility requirements and flexibility in use. BRLP should also be considered and analyzed vis-à-vis early childhood education and care (ECEC), and in Serbia these are only nominally appropriately linked, while in reality it is not always the case. Consequently, it is important to analyze the overall child and social protection system, including the relationship between cash and in-kind benefits. Finally, if the fertility of employed women is increasingly important for the overall fertility, then the policies aimed at facilitating work and family life balance are gaining relevance, as well. Hence, only the policies that achieve positive outcomes in all spheres, such as employment, poverty reduction and fertility, are desirable.

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