The conference Public Sector Economics 2018 – Fiscal Openness: Transparency, Participation and Accountability in Fiscal Policies was held in Zagreb on 26 October 2018. It addressed the current state and trends in fiscal openness at both national and sub-national levels. The main goal of the conference was to initiate and encourage discussions among scientists, public sector experts and general public to address the contemporary challenges faced by the public sector and foster more effective and efficient ways of collecting, allocating and spending public resources.
About twenty theoretical, empirical and policy papers were presented by researchers, practitioners, and policy experts from around the world. These covered a broad range of topics closely related to the fiscal openness, such as different fiscal transparency and public participation practices, audits and government accountability, causes and effects of fiscal transparency, and the role of technology in fiscal policy.
Keynote lectures were given by renowned professors James Alt (Harvard University) and Francisco Bastida (University of Murcia).
The conference was organised by the Institute of Public Finance, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and International Budget Partnership, with the support of several sponsors: the European Commission Representation in the Republic of Croatia, Croatian Science Foundation, Ministry of Science and Education, Association of Cities in Croatia, Croatian Chamber of Economy, Association of Municipalities in Croatia, Croatian County Association, Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Zagrebačka banka, OTP Bank, and Privredna banka Zagreb.