This project investigated the relationship between income inequality and different welfare state trajectories in four countries of the former Yugoslavia over the three decades since the breakup of the country. It looked at Slovenia, with one of the lowest income inequalities by Gini coefficient among European countries; Croatia, with an average EU level of inequality; and Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, which have the highest income inequality by Gini coefficient in Europe. In the Yugoslav period, these countries shared a generous and inclusive welfare system based on the principles of solidarity and equality.
After the dissolution of Yugoslavia, the welfare regimes of these four successor states evolved in different directions. The project examined the contribution of different welfare reforms on the divergent levels of income inequality in these four countries. The focus of the research was on the impact of reforms in education systems, labour markets and in tax and benefit policies on the evolution of inequality in the four countries.