Download Economic Training for Journalists in Serbia

U.S. Grantee:
“Economic Training for Journalists in Serbia”
Belgrade, Serbia
CIPE
Foreign Recipient:
Center for Liberal-Democratic Studies (CLDS)
Dates of Project:
May 1, 2005 – April 30, 2006
Budget Summary:
Direct Costs (NED Funds)
Match
Total Costs
$
$ 20,000
$
CIPE Indirect Costs (NED)
Total Project Costs
$
$
Total NED Amount Requested: Direct + Indirect
$
SUMMARY
In Serbia, the struggle for improved democratic governance and meaningful local policy
dialogue is driven by a need for better understanding between the business and policy
communities. Policymakers and businessmen share a mutual interest in accurate and timely
economic information. How their actions and ideas are reported in the press is decisive for both
the prosperity and democratic development in Serbia. Yet, economic issues are scarcely touched
by the Serbian press, and when covered, are infused with emotion and inaccuracies, but often
lack inquiry or analysis. Business decisions, the conduct of policy-making, and competing views
are rarely put on display, inhibiting public debate and understanding of those issues critical to a
healthy market-oriented democracy.
A vigorous, independent news media is one of the key pillars of a democracy. It takes on
particular importance in Serbia. This proposal focuses on providing a media training program
designed to equip journalists in Serbia with the ability to critically assess the progress of reform
and the accuracy of both governmental and private information on economic and business topics.
Many of the journalists lack training, while the others bear the burden of Soviet traditions. The
project will address the key needs of journalism in Serbia: the lack of qualified journalists and
their isolation from other parts of the country. The project will accomplish these objectives
through journalism training seminars and the establishment of a network among journalists from
different regions.
CLDS is a leading Serbian think tank in the area of economic and democratic reform. In
previous years, CLDS’ programs on corruption in Serbia have gained popular support, a number
of partners in government and the private sector, and have accomplished actual change in the
way that the business of government and civil society is carried out. CLDS now turns its
attention to teaching journalists how to report responsibly on economic reform in the continuous
attempt to root out the problems of corruption and benefit the Serbian business and civil
communities as a whole.
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I. BACKGROUND
In Serbia, the struggle for improved democratic governance and meaningful local policy
dialogue is driven by a need for better understanding between the business and policy
communities. Policymakers and businessmen share a mutual interest in accurate and timely
economic information. How their actions and ideas are reported in the press is decisive for both
the prosperity and democratic development in Serbia. Yet, economic issues are scarcely touched
by the Serbian press, and when covered, are infused with emotion and inaccuracies, but often
lack inquiry or analysis. Business decisions, the conduct of policy-making, and competing views
are rarely put on display, inhibiting public debate and understanding of those issues critical to a
healthy market-oriented democracy.
Business journalism has no tradition in Serbia. The first reason for this is the legacy of
communism and the state-owned economy from the previous regime. The second is that the new
generation of local journalists has had no opportunity to learn business journalism and do not
fully understand the dynamics of the market economy. Identifying young journalists who have an
interest and the potential to cover business issues is important to the emerging market-oriented
democracy in Serbia.
Following the collapse of communism and disintegration of its institutions, Serbia
experienced a political crisis. The collapse of communism was quickly trailed by the
disintegration of Yugoslavia, pushing issues of economy and democracy to the backburner.
Furthermore, in the environment of international sanctions and domestic disorder, a huge chunk
of the economy retreated underground into the informal sector with inherently hidden
information – there was no way to report on this sector. Finally, relevant market institutions were
missing, so it was impossible to introduce reporting from the stock exchange, regarding
movement of the stock values, or reporting on mergers and acquisitions as no formal takeovers
occurred. However, this problem is a two-way street: The business community and
policymakers in Serbia also have no connection with local business journalists.
There are 11 independent daily newspaper with nation-wide coverage and 6 local and regional
newspapers. The circulation goes from 200,000+ for the newspapers with the nation-wide
coverage and goes to around 5,000 for some of the local newspapers. Apart for the specialized
daily newspaper “Privredni pregled” (Serbian version of Wall Stree Journal), other daily
newspapers devote up to 15% of the content to business topics. There are no reliable data on the
number of economic journalist in Serbia. The wild guess would be between 200 and 300. There
is no Serbian educational institution that offers coursework on economic/business journalism
whatsoever.
How many independent local and regional daily newspapers are there in Serbia? What
are the most influential ones? How much of their content is devoted to business? How many
economic journalists are there in Serbia? Do any Serbian educational institutions offer
coursework on economic/business journalism?
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Therefore, it is understandable that business journalists in Serbia make fundamental
mistakes in their stories about the privatization process, enterprise governance, financial market
activities, macroeconomic reform, monetary policy, etc. They lack access to competent experts
who can provide accurate information on the issues they are writing about, and consequently
there are substantial misunderstandings about numerous economic issues in their articles. Even
with the lack of competent experts and bureaucrats to answer the media’s questions, properly
trained economic journalists with an understanding of economics and business will be able to
apply their journalist skills to probe for answers that they require, at any level of government.
All of this contributes to the failure of the primary task of journalism: To inform society
about important issues on a timely and accurate basis. Since Serbia is a transitional country,
independent and professional reporting on all relevant economic and business issues is crucial
for the continued development of the country. The local business community has to understand
and play an important role in that process, and business journalists have to take the initiative to
properly inform the public about business activities. In order to achieve this, there has to be trust
and regular communication between the business community and economic journalists. The best
way to achieve this is to connect both communities so that they can network and communicate
directly.
An effective media aware of the principles of market-oriented democracy is also a key
link between the business community and policymakers. Business people understand practical
issues that make the business environment more effective, but they often find it impossible to
communicate their ideas and experience to the government. A crucial way to do this is through
the media. If journalists are familiar with and have close ties to both the business community and
policymakers, the media can serve as a valuable information conduit. Unfortunately, this is rarely
the case in Serbia, and many local journalists complain that policymakers and government
representatives are often unwilling to provide information, especially if they do not know the
journalist personally.
By building the capacity of Serbian economic journalists and a relationship of trust and
open communication with the business and policy communities, the channel of a free flow of
essential information will be opened. The broader public will also benefit by being informed
about economic reforms, tax laws, and others issues that effect their lives.
II. PROJECT OBJECTIVES

To strengthen the quality of economic reporting and institutionalize the free flow of
information concerning economic developments to the business community and the
general public in Serbia;

To develop journalists’ understanding of critical economic issues by providing them with
educational materials, training programs, and information sources.
III. PROJECT ACTIVITIES
Outreach and Student Selection
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CLDS will select the students and thereby establish the Economic School for Journalists
through a thorough balanced regional approach. Students will represent all regions in Serbia,
including Belgrade, Vojvodina and Central Serbia. Students from local, regional and national
media outlets will benefit from the courses.
Journalists will be invited to participate, i.e. being selected for the participationin the
training via two distinct processes. The first one is applied to those journalists (from both
printed and electronic media) who are already well-known for their skills, contribution and
motivation, and whose contribution is widely accepted , as they will be directly invited to
participate The second will appled to the other group of students that will be selected through a
public selection process, that will be trigged, by a cicular letter to all the media companies (i.e.
their management) and via public advertisement published in the most influential newspapers
Some other channels of dissemination of the advertisement will be considered (Journalist
Association, Chamber of Commerce, Internet etc.) Each applicant will be personally
interviewed by CLDS staff with a specific focus on the candidate’s knowledge, capacity to learn
and motivation to attend the courses. Quotas for regional proportions (Belgrade, Vojvodina and
Central Serbia will be established as the framework for the selection.
Establishment of the Economic School for Journalists
Under the auspices of this project, CLDS is seeking to establish an Economic School for
Journalists in order to provide Serbian journalists with basic economic education, especially in
the area of economic transition. The Economic School for Journalists will begin under this
project, however its work will extend well into the future, as CLDS envisions developing a
distance-learning program as a follow-up to this project, utilizing the website that will also be
established during this project.
All courses envisioned under this project will take place at CLDS offices in Belgrade.
CLDS has a sizeable conference room to accommodate the students, as well as the necessary
technical equipment, including computers, internet access and a photocopier.
Economic Journalist Training Coursework
In the efforts of establishing an Economic School for Journalists in Serbia, CLDS will
undertake an extensive training series that will gather 30 students per class in two parallel and
identical programs, therefore 60 students in totally will be trained by this project. All classes
will be offered on Saturdays as full-day sessions with 90-minute lectures that will break twice a
day for 30-minute coffee breaks and once a day for lunch for 10 consecutive Saturdays.
All lectures will be interactive, with the active participation of all students being
constantly encouraged by the lecturers, so there will be no need for separate workshops and/or
Q&A sessions. Each lecturer will determine his/her own way of encouraging student
participation. CLDS will develop all reading materials, such as papers, pamphlets and book
chapters to all the students, requiring them to be read prior to each class. All students will receive
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written instruction on what is expected from each of them. (In what language will classes be
taught and materials distributed?) Comment: the question is not relevant. All lectures will be in
Serbian, because even national minorities in Serbia are very fluent in Serbian.
Students will be tested both orally and in writing upon completion of the coursework and
students who pass the exam will be awarded a certificate.
The school curriculum will be based on the existing contemporary economic courses
taught in Western universities, which CLDS will obtain and tailor for journalists. The Economic
School for Journalists’ curriculum have developed by the CLDS in the period of the project
proposal development, but based on the previous considerations of the main CLDS economist.
The Economic School for Journalists’ curriculum will consist of the following five modules:
(When and how did CLDS already develop these modules? Have you taught them in the past?)

“Markets and prices” – Introduction to Microeconomic Analysis: Market and its basic
institutions; Consumer behavior (utility issues); Producer behavior (costs); Demand,
supply and transaction costs; Market equilibrium (partial and general); Goods and
factors’ markets; Market failures; Government intervention: rationales, mechanisms and
consequences.
Lecturer: Professor Boris Begovic.

“Money and stabilization” – Introduction to Macroeconomic Analysis: Real
macroeconomics (four key macroeconomic variables: GDP, Inflation, BOP,
unemployment, growth); Stylized facts, stabile states and real life; Money, inflation,
interest rates and intertemporality; Macroeconomic equilibrium; Macroeconomic policy;
Real exchange rate and indebtness; Financial markets and macroeconomics; Unresolved
debates in macroeconomics.
Lecturer: Professor Danica Popovic.

“Basic facts and figures” – Introduction to Economic Statistics: GDP and its
computation; Relation of Gross Domestic Product, Gross National Product, Net National
Product, National Income, and Personal Income; Growth statistics – indices, growth rates
and caveats; Prices and exchange rates; Balance of Payments; Government budgets’
statistics; Census and employment statistics; Reading an IMF report on Serbia.
Lecturer: Professor Danica Popovic.

“Where does money come from and where does it go?” – Corporate and Public
Finances: Capital as production factor, stock and returns; Stock market: basic concepts
and how it operates; Investment decisions and investment funding; banking financial
institutions and financial capital market; Direct taxation and its implementation; Indirect
taxation and its implementation; Public expenditures; Budget and budgeting.
Lecturer: Dr Bosko Mijatovic.

“Where are we going?” – The most important segments of transition in Serbia:
Liberalization and macroeconomic stabilization; Privatization and restructuring of the
real sector; Restructuring of public utilities and public enterprises; Restructuring of the
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financial sector; Taxation reform – Public finance reform (revenue side); Budgetary
reform – Public finance reform (expenditure side); Pension and social protection system
reform. Political economy of transition.
Lecturers: Dr Bosko Mijatovic, Dr Gordana Matković, Professor Danica Popovic,
Professor Boris Begovic and guest lecturers (if needed).
Textbook
Under this project, CLDS will develop a textbook for students of the Economic School
for Journalists, entitled “Glossary: Economic Textbook for Journalists.” This publication will
serve as a textbook and will contain a well-developed glossary of economic terms and the most
important concepts of economics (economic analysis) and economic transition. The
glossary/textbook will be developed to parallel the syllabus and will cover all the modules
described above. It structure will be structured similarly to the MIT Dictionary of Economics.
The language of the textbook and glossary will be adapted to the students’ level of knowledge
and will be much more user-friendly than standard economic glossaries. The glossary will also
highlight the most frequent mistakes and economic fallacies that have been recently observed in
the media coverage of economic reform in Serbia, hence the glossary will be Serbia-specific.
The book will be approximately 120 pages. 1,000 copies of this book will be printed and
distributed free of charge to electronic and printed media outfits in Serbia, not only to the
students who attended the school. An electronic (PDF) version of the book will be available for
downloading free of change on the School’s and CLDS’ web site.
Project Implementation Timeline
Project duration is 9 months from kick-off date. General schedule of activities is as follows:

First three months (first project quarter) will be used for the selection of the candidates,
preparation of the glossary and initial web site design.

Second project quarter will be used for the fist course at the School.

Third project quarter will be used for the second course at the School.
Day
1st
Saturday
1st
Saturday
1st
Saturday
1st
Saturday
2nd
Lecture
10:00 –
11:30
12:00 –
13:30
15:00 –
16:30
17:00 –
18:30
10:00 –
Module
Introduction to
microeconomics
Introduction to
microeconomics
Introduction to
microeconomics
Introduction to
microeconomics
Introduction to
Topic
Market and its basic institutions
Lecturer
Boris Begovic
Consumer behavior (utility issues)
Boris Begovic
Producer behavior (costs)
Boris Begovic
Demand, supply and transaction costs;
Boris Begovic
Market equilibrium (partial and
Boris Begovic
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Saturday
2nd
Saturday
2nd
Saturday
2nd
Saturday
3rd
Saturday
11:30
12:00 –
13:30
15:00 –
16:30
17:00 –
18:30
10:00 –
11:30
3rd
Saturday
3rd
Saturday
3rd
Saturday
4th
Saturday
4th
Saturday
4th
Saturday
4th
Saturday
5th
Saturday
12:00 –
13:30
15:00 –
16:30
17:00 –
18:30
10:00 –
11:30
12:00 –
13:30
15:00 –
16:30
17:00 –
18:30
10:00 –
11:30
5th
Saturday
5th
Saturday
5th
Saturday
6th
Saturday
6th
Saturday
6th
Saturday
microeconomics
Introduction to
microeconomics
Introduction to
microeconomics
Introduction to
microeconomics
Introduction to
macroeconomics
Introduction to
macroeconomics
Introduction to
macroeconomics
Introduction to
macroeconomics
Introduction to
macroeconomics
Introduction to
macroeconomics
Introduction to
macroeconomics
Introduction to
macroeconomics
Introduction to
economic
statistics
12:00 – Introduction to
13:30
economic
statistics
15:00 – Introduction to
16:30
economic
statistics
17:00 – Introduction to
18:30
economic
statistics
10:00 – Introduction to
11:30
economic
statistics
12:00 – Introduction to
13:30
economic
statistics
15:00 – Introduction to
16:30
economic
general)
Goods and factors’ markets
Boris Begovic
Market failures
Boris Begovic
Government intervention: rationales,
mechanisms and consequences
Real macroeconomics (four key
macroeconomic variables: GDP,
Inflation, BOP, unemployment,
growth)
Stylized facts, stabile states and real
life
Money, inflation, interest rates and
intertemporality
Macroeconomic equilibrium;
Boris Begovic
Macroeconomic policy;
Real exchange rate and indebtness;
Financial markets and
macroeconomics
Unresolved debates in
macroeconomics
GDP and its computation
Danica
Popovic
Danica
Popovic
Danica
Popovic
Danica
Popovic
Danica
Popovic
Danica
Popovic
Danica
Popovic
Danica
Popovic
Danica
Popovic
Relation of Gross Domestic Product,
Gross National Product, Net National
Product, National Income, and
Personal Income
Growth statistics – indices, growth
rates and caveats
Danica
Popovic
Balance of Payments
Danica
Popovic
Prices and exchange rates
Danica
Popovic
Government budgets’ statistics
Danica
Popovic
Census and employment statistics
Danica
Popovic
7
Danica
Popovic
6
Saturday
17:00 –
18:30
7th
Saturday
7th
Saturday
7th
Saturday
7th
Saturday
8th
Saturday
8th
Saturday
8th
Saturday
8th
Saturday
9th
Saturday
10:00 –
11:30
12:00 –
13:30
15:00 –
16:30
17:00 –
18:30
10:00 –
11:30
12:00 –
13:30
15:00 –
16:30
17:00 –
18:30
10:00 –
11:30
9th
Saturday
12:00 –
13:30
9th
Saturday
15:00 –
16:30
9th
Saturday
17:00 –
18:30
10th
Saturday
10:00 –
11:30
10th
Saturday
12:00 –
13:30
10th
Saturday
15:00 –
16:30
10th
Saturday
17:00 –
18:30
th
statistics
Introduction to
economic
statistics
Corporate and
public finances
Corporate and
public finances
Corporate and
public finances
Corporate and
public finances
Corporate and
public finances
Corporate and
public finances
Corporate and
public finances
Corporate and
public finances
Economic
transition in
Serbia
Economic
transition in
Serbia
Economic
transition in
Serbia
Economic
transition in
Serbia
Economic
transition in
Serbia
Economic
transition in
Serbia
Economic
transition in
Serbia
Economic
transition in
Serbia
Reading an IMF report on Serbia
Danica
Popovic
Capital as production factor, stock and
returns
Stock market: basic concepts and how
it operates
Investment decisions and investment
funding
Banking financial institutions and
financial capital market
Direct taxation and its implementation
Bosko
Mijatovic
Bosko
Mijatovic
Bosko
Mijatovic
Bosko
Mijatovic
Bosko
Mijatovic
Bosko
Mijatovic
Bosko
Mijatovic
Bosko
Mijatovic
Gordana
Matkovic et
al.
Gordana
Matkovic et
al.
Gordana
Matkovic et
al.
Gordana
Matkovic et
al.
Gordana
Matkovic et
al.
Gordana
Matkovic et
al.
Gordana
Matkovic et
al.
Gordana
Matkovic et
al.
Indirect taxation and its
implementation
Public expenditures
Budget and budgeting
Liberalization and macroeconomic
stabilization
Privatization and restructuring of the
real sector;
Restructuring of public utilities and
public enterprises;
Restructuring of the financial sector;
Taxation reform – Public finance
reform (revenue side);
Budgetary reform – Public finance
reform (expenditure side);
Pension and social protection system
reform.
Political economy of transition in
Serbia.
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Networking and Website
In order to create a specialized group of economic journalists, CLDS will provide not
only the basic economic education, but also foster a strong sustainable network among the
students during the 10-week course cycle, enabling and encouraging both horizontal linkages
(economic journalist among themselves) and vertical linkages (economic journalist with the
lecturers). The Economic School website will be a central platform for facilitating this
networking. CLDS will also closely monitor and follow up with students on their journalistic
work outside the classroom, primarily by through analysis of the number and the content of
specialized contributions (outputs) of the journalist who attended the school. The idea is to
monitor the impact of the school to the improvement of the journalist way of thinking, skills and
products, i.e. overall performance.
(monitor their attendance of press conferences, quality of questions and quantity/quality
of articles?).
CLDS will establish a website that will contain all working material and useful resources
related to the Economic School for Journalists and the materials used and developed under this
project. The website will be regularly updated and act as a resource for the students. This
website will also be developed with the prospects of its future utilization as the distance-learning
tool of the Economic School for Journalists.
As a multi purpose tool, it will serve as an interactive platform for students-journalists,
other journalists and any interested member of civil society who wish to enhance their
knowledge of economic issues. While the site will be developed as part of CLDS’s current
website and launched early in the project (will also be used for recruitment purposes), its
contents will evolve and become fully independent and developed with time. CLDS hopes that a
professional journalist organization will evolve as a result of this project.
CLDS will maintain service of the site during the time span of the project and after the
project and following the project will secure alternate sources of funding either from CLDS or a
professional association of economic journalists, if it proves to be viable.
Project Team
Project Director: Zoran Vacic, president of CLDS. His research is mainly focused on heath
insurance policies and social policies. He was a Member of Serbian Parliament 1993/97 as a
member of the Democratic Party. Dr Vacic is editor of Pavilion 38 edition of books in political
theory and philosophy) ) edition. He has published articles in the field of health insurance
policies, pensions and life insurance policies and political philosophy, as well as the book What
is the Purpose of This Parliament? (1999).
Lecturer: Danica Popovic, a senior economist and CLDS and professor of macroeconomics of
open economy at the School of Economics, University of Belgrade. Her professional interest is
macroeconomic stabilization, foreign trade and exchange rate policies and monetary policy. She
received her education at the University in Belgrade and the London School of Economics. She
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published numerous articles in international and domestic journals and several books including:
Theorems in International Trade (1991) and Serbian translation of Burda and Wyplosz:
Macroeconomics: A European text (2004).
Lecturer: Boris Begovic, Vice President of CLDS and professor of economics at the School of
Law, University of Belgrade. He received his education at the University in Belgrade, London
School of Economic and JFK School of Government, Harvard University. His field of expertise
includes industrial organization, economics of regulation/antitrust, economics of public utilities,
urban economics and economic analysis of law. He maintains intensive academic contacts with
the leading UK and USA universities. Dr Begovic was a chief economic adviser of the Federal
Government of FR Yugoslavia 2000-2002, mainly involved in negotiations with IFIs, WTO
accession and foreign trade liberalization, and foreign debt rescheduling. He took an active part
in governmental task forces on new legislation on privatization and telecommunications in
Serbia. As a consultant he has been involved in numerous consulting projects in Serbia and
surrounding countries in various real sector industries, including public utilities. He published
numerous articles in international and domestic journals and two books: Economic Approach to
Optimal City Size (1991) and Economic of Town Planning (1995).
Lecturer: Bosko Mijatovic, has over 20 years’ professional experience in economic research.
His professional interest covers different fields such as public policy, transition and privatization,
macroeconomic analysis, social insurance, labor economics etc. He has worked on several
projects for The World Bank, Yugoslav and Serbian government, UNDP, UNICEF and other
domestic and international clients. He works as privatization consultant. Dr. Mijatovic is the
author of two books: Privatization (1993) and Economics, Politics and Transition (1998).
Lecturer: Gordana Matkovic is former Minister of social affaires, Government of Serbia
(2000-2004), where she managed to reform social institutions and to improve social security of
the people. She has more then fifteen years of professional experience in social sciences
research. Her professional interest covers different fields such as demography, labor economics,
human development, social insurance, and social policy. She has worked on several projects for
The World Bank, Yugoslav and Serbian government, UNDP, UNICEF and other domestic and
international clients. Until 1998, she was a team leader for the production of the National Human
Development Reports. Dr Matkovic is the author of the book "Demographic Factors and Labor
Supply" and several studies and papers. She is Visiting professor – Masters program on
Demography at the School of Economics, Belgrade University.
IV.
EVALUATION PLAN
CIPE will evaluate the accomplishments of the stated objectives through the following
mechanisms:
To strengthen the quality of economic reporting and institutionalize the free flow of information
concerning economic developments to the business community and the general public in Serbia
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

The development of a cadre of journalists, through the training program, who understand
the role and nature of economics and business and are able to accurately report on those
issues as evidenced by their ability to incorporate the newly acquired skills in their
reporting.
Increased number of articles and news reports on issues dealing with economics,
business, and economic reform and development in Serbian newspapers, magazines,
television, radio, and the Internet, as compared to before the project based on baseline
data.
To develop journalists’ understanding of critical economic issues by providing them with
educational materials, training programs, and information sources


V.
Provide questionnaires to workshop and roundtable participants in order to gauge their
feedback on their increase in knowledge and ability to provide quality economic
reporting.
Track comments and feedback received by CIPE and the news media from readers and
the viewing audiences on the improved quality of economic reporting.
ORGANIZATIONAL BACKGROUND
Center for Liberal-Democratic Studies (CLDS)
The Center for Liberal-Democratic Studies (CLDS), Belgrade, Serbia, is an independent
NGO/think tank based on the cooperation of several leading experts in social sciences in Serbia
(economics, law, political science, sociology, etc). CLDS was founded to promote democracy,
individual liberty, free market economy and economic development, the rule of law, and
responsible and limited government. To achieve these goals activities of the CLDS are oriented
toward reforms of the political system, economic transition, building civil society, cooperation
between individuals, local communities, and states, protection of human and minority rights,
education of all citizens, research and publishing of the liberal thought. The main lines of
activity include research, public opinion and policy, and education.
CLDS has won the 2002 Sir Anthony Fisher International Memorial Award and 2004 Templeton
Freedom Award Grant for Institute Excellence.
A list of some recent CLDS’ Projects (* stands for work in progress):








Education and Professional Support to the National Parliament Staff*
Operationalization of Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper at the local level*
Forum on Job Creation in Serbia: Key Obstacles for Employment Growth*
Combating Corruption in the Judiciary
Taxation Reform – the Implementation Blueprint
New Draft of the Judicial Enforcement Procedures Act
Media Ethics and Independence
Poverty and Reform of Financial Support to the Poor
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














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


New Competition Policy for Serbia
Reform of Taxation System
Improving Corporate Governance in Serbia
Transportation Economic Policies for Serbia
Competition policy in FR Yugoslavia
Corruption in the Customs Administration
Reform and Public Support: Consensus Building for the Reform
Serbia as a Regional State
Reform of Social Assistance in Serbia
Parliamentary Control of the Federal and Serbian Government
Corruption in Serbia (winner of the 2002 Sir Anthony Fisher International memorial
Award)
The Prism – monthly political analyses
Educating Citizens for Participation in Local Government
New Model of Privatization in Serbia
Introduction of Labor Market in Serbia
School Freedom and Development
School Economy and Democracy: A public choice theory approach
Modernization of Local Administration
Serbia & Montenegro: Constitutional Reconstruction of FR Yugoslavia
CLDS members are frequent commentators in the Serbian media.

Who’s who in CLDS:
President
Dr. Zoran Vacic
Vice-President
Professor Boris Begovic
Director of Political Studies
Dr. Slobodan Samardzic
Slobodan Samardzic is Professor at Department of Political Science, Belgrade University, and
Political Adviser to the President of the FRY. Area of his studies includes political ideas and
institutions, contemporary federalism, political theory and practice of constitutionalism, political
system of Yugoslavia, and European Union. His long-term study visits include Göttingen,
Frankfurt/M, Fribourg and Brussels. He has published several books: Ideology and Rationalism
(1984), Council Democracy (1987), Yugoslavia and the Challenge of Federalism (1990),
Coercive Community and Democracy (1994), European Union as a Model of the Supranational
Community (1998).
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Director of Legal Studies
Professor Dragor Hiber
Dragor Hiber is professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade. Fields of his
professional interest encompass civil law and various topics on the fringe of law and economics.
He is President of Judiciary Committee of the Serbian parliament and President of Board of
Directors of Telekom Srbija. He has been a consultant with Deloitte & Touche and currently
works as a legal counselor. Dr Hiber published Disintegration of the Socialist Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia - Legal Consequences (co-author, 1995) and Property in Transition (1998).
Director of Economic Studies
Dr. Bosko Mijatovic
Director of Social Policy Studies
Dr. Gordana Matkovic
Secretary General
Smaragda Kranik-Vacic, lawyer
Advisory Board
President
Dr. Bosko Mijatovic
Honorary Fellows:
Professor William Baumol, New York University; Director, C.V. Starr Center for Applied
Economics, USA
Professor James Dorn, Towson University; Vice President, Cato Institute, USA
Professor Mladen Ivanic, President, Government of Republic Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Professor Leonard Liggio, George Mason University, USA; Executive Vice President, Atlas
Economic Research Foundation, USA
Professor John Moore, President, Grove City College, USA
Professor Charles Wyplosz, Graduate Institute of International Studies in the University of
Geneva, Switzerland
Members of the CLDS:
Professor Aleksandra Jovanovic, Department of Law, University of Belgrade
Professor Branko Milanovic, Principal Economist, The World Bank, Washington; John Hopkins
University, USA
Professor Milica Bisic, Department of Economics, University of Belgrade
Professor Danica Popovic, Department of Economics, University of Belgrade
Dr. Bozo Stojanovic, Institute for European Studies, Belgrade
Dr. Mirjana Vasovic, Department of Political Science, University of Belgrade
Professor Ilija Vujacic, Department of Political Science, University of Belgrade;
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Professor Ivan Vujacic, Department of Economics, University of Belgrade, currently
Ambassador of Serbia & Montenegro to the USA;
Dr. Slobodan Vukovic, Institute for Social Sciences, Belgrade
Professor Bosko Zivkovic, Department of Economics, University of Belgrade
More information on CLDS is available on www.clds.org.yu.
Prior Funding History
NED Grant 2000-029 - $59,000 Corruption in Serbia
NED Grant 2001-046 - $53,691 Combating Corruption in the Customs Administration
NED Grant 2003-026 $86,474 Combating Corruption in the Judicial System
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