Prague Economic Papers, 2001 (vol. 10), issue 1

Original contributions, Original article, Research article

Ten years on (some lessons from the transition)

Josef Tošovský

Prague Economic Papers 2001, 10(1) | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.162

The article offers essential reflections on ten years of experience with the transformation of the former centrally planned economies into free market economies. Although there were large differences among individual transition countries, all of them faced similar challenges early in the 1990s. The unique initial conditions of the Central and Eastern European countries called for an approach fundamentally different from reforms applied in Latin America or Asia. CEE countries had to rebuild, from scratch, a private sector, create a market-compatible institutional environment, and correct the serious inherited deformations of the real economy. In addition,...

The role of the czech national bank monetary instruments in interest rates targeting during transition

Zdeněk Dvorný

Prague Economic Papers 2001, 10(1) | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.163

In this paper, the recent development of Czech interest rates during the Czech Republic's transition to a market economy is discussed. First, the situation in the economy and in the banking sector, as well as the monetary policy of the central bank during the period of 1990 - 1999 is presented. However, the main focus is on monetary policy instruments and their application during transition. The paper also describes the targeting of the central bank's policy by using direct limitations in banking during 1990 - 1991 and refinancing instruments exploited during the period of 1991 - 1992. Finally, the central bank's orientation towards free market operations,...

Regional reform in the czech republic and regional disparities in the extending european union

František Turnovec

Prague Economic Papers 2001, 10(1) | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.164

In this paper we try to describe a state of affairs related to regional reform and Government decentralization in the Czech Republic, taking into account a future European dimension of regional policies. Regional disparities in the European Union and in the Central and East European candidate states on NUTS-2 level of European statistics are studied in context of different extension scenarios. Implications of significantly different level of regional development in the recent member states of the EU and CEE candidate states for the European Union redistribution policies after extension are discussed.

The behavioral maladjustment of the communist managerial elites (the case of the czech republic)

Tomáš Cvrček

Prague Economic Papers 2001, 10(1) | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.165

The scarcity of educated and experienced managers and the path dependency influence the corporate governance of the post-communist enterprises. Using the standard microeconomic tools, the paper investigates the possible similarities between the old "command economy management" and the behavior of managers under the conditions of infant capitalism. It concludes that the standard microanalysis, supplemented with assumptions representing the management behavior under communism, may offer a viable theoretical explanation of management decision making as seen in the Czech Republic.

International monetary fund after the financial crises of the 1990s

Jiří Jonáš

Prague Economic Papers 2001, 10(1) | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.166

In this article, I would first discuss briefly what we know about the causes of the recent financial crises, and whether the International Monetary Fund (IMF) could have done more to prevent them. I will explain what policy strategies the IMF recommended to resolve these crises, why it recommended these policies, and to what extent is the criticism of these recommendations justified. In the second part, I will discuss the lessons which the IMF has drawn from these crises. I will explain how the experience of recent years has changed the thinking about the proper role of the IMF in supporting stable international monetary system. I will focus on two...

International portfolio diversification in the central european region

Milan Neubauer

Prague Economic Papers 2001, 10(1) | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.167

The aim of this paper is to investigate international portfolio diversification opportunities for German and the U.S. investors in the Central European region. We employ Johansen multivariate cointegration test to analyze long run relationships among the Czech, Slovak, Polish, Hungarian, German and the U.S. stock markets. In addition, we attempt to account for possible impact of the Czech capital market failure on the diversification opportunities in the region. As the cointegration tests bring evidence on long run relationships among the Central European and developed stock markets, expected diversification benefits indicated by the low values of...

Coalition formation and eastward expansion of the european union (implications for the council)

Peter Silárszky, René Levínský

Prague Economic Papers 2001, 10(1) | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.168

In this paper we study the distribution of power in the Council of the European Union. The goal of this paper is to evaluate the implications of coalition formation and the entry of some Central and Eastern European countries on the voting power of the member states. The analysis is based on the Shapley-Shubik power index of simple cooperative games. Modified versions of the Shapley-Shubik index are used to analyze the influence of sub-systems of the EU on the distribution of power in the decision making process.