Prague Economic Papers, 1999 (vol. 8), issue 2

Original contributions, Original article, Research article

Czech economy in 1999: struggling for revival

Kamil Janáček, Martin Čihák, Marie Frýdmanová, Tomáš Holub, Eva Zamrazilová

Prague Economic Papers 1999, 8(2) | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.42

Sluggish growth of GDP in 1997 was replaced by a decline of roughly 2 % in 1998. The main factor of the recession was a depression of almost all the components of domestic demand, mostly as a consequence of 1997 restrictive policy measures. One of the few positive developments was consolidation of the current account. While the external imbalance had been the most pressing problem in 1996 and 1997, the revival of economic growth represents macroeconomic priority for 1999 and for 2000 probably as well. Slight recovery of domestic demand and GDP cannot be expected before the second half of 1999. At the same time, the deficit of consolidated budgets,...

The effects of tariff structure changes on comparative advantage after the accession of the czech republic to the european union

Marie Vavrejnová

Prague Economic Papers 1999, 8(2) | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.43

Preparations for the accession of the Czech Republic to the European Union involve also the analysis of changes in the level and structure of customs duty tariffs.In this study, the possible tariff structure changes were calculated using the comparison of the present Czech tariffs and the German tariffs, which include only common external EU tariffs. The concept of Balassa's and Corden's effective protection rate was used to express more precisely the burden on production by customs duty tariffs, in comparison with nominal tariffs. The effect of tariff structure changes on the structure of comparative advantage and resource allocation was estimated....

Czech enterprises: the barriers to restructuring

Martin Myant

Prague Economic Papers 1999, 8(2) | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.44

Much of the literature on changes in Czech enterprises has been developed around a neo-classical framework with the emphasis on the effects of hard budget constraints and privatization. That, however, provides a limited view of the choices available to enterprises and of the constraints that have been imposed by a weak institutional environment, an often inappropriate policy framework and an approach to privatization that has, in a number of different ways, made subsequent rationalization and modernization more difficult. The effects on, and changes in, enterprises are analysed around experience in four different sectors; light industry, engineering...

International business transformation patteerns of czech enterprises since the velvet revolution and the velvet divorce

James D. Goodnow

Prague Economic Papers 1999, 8(2) | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.45

From a macroeconomic standpoint, the Czech Republic has been viewed as a leading example of successful transformation from a state owned to a privatized economy. Yet at the firm and industry levels, the transformation process is still in its early stages. This article focuses on the transformation of outbound international business activities of the country and offers statistical and case study evidence to support four propositions describing the transformation process to date. First, most Czech international business activity is oriented toward its European neighbors. Second, globalization is beginning in a few selected firm and industries. Third,...