Politická ekonomie, 2008 (vol. 56), issue 5

Articles

Corporate social responsibility (CSR): Proklamace nebo ekonomická nutnost?

Corporate social responsibility (CSR): Only a proclamation or economic necessity?

Jiří Hlaváček, Michal Hlaváček

Politická ekonomie 2008, 56(5):579-597 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.653  

The theory "corporate social responsibility" (CSR) is characterized in the paper. The paper expresses the authors' opinion, that CSR as a mere proclamation of necessity of the firms' ethic behavior does not enforce this into praxis. The internal economic motivation to CSR is the necessary condition for firms to invest in CSR. The necessary conditions for such motivation are than formulated.

Stanovení náchylnosti ekonomiky k nadměrným tlakům na měnový kurs

Vulnerabilities in an economy to extensive pressures on the exchange rate

Michal Pazour

Politická ekonomie 2008, 56(5):598-620 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.654  

The article aims at introducing new methodology for recognizing suitable indicators to monitor the potential risk of extensive pressure on the exchange rate (early warning indicators) and for identifying vulnerabilities in an economy to this pressure reflected by simultaneous negative development of the observed early warning indicators. The construction of the empirical model is based on the combination of the signal approach and the binary model of behaviour. This model focuses on both strong and increased pressure on exchange rate and the parameters are adjusted to the Czech environment. The results indicate that the most significant early warning...

Institucionální aspekty fungování trhu práce

Institutional aspects of labour market

Michal Tvrdoň

Politická ekonomie 2008, 56(5):621-642 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.655  

The main objective of this article is to analyse the institutional framework of labour market function. Theoretical literature has created a set of institutional aspects such as employment protection legislation, structure of wage bargaining, taxation of labour, active labour market policies, the system of unemployment benefits. On the basis of these institutional aspects and their setting we can judge general labour market setting or we can determine the dimension of labour market flexibility. Attention is also paid to influence of these institutional aspects on employment or unemployment.

Altruismus a sociální podnikatelství - příspěvek k teorii netržních organizací

Altruism and social entrepreneurship - towards a theory of non-market organizations

Pavel Chalupníček

Politická ekonomie 2008, 56(5):643-655 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.656  

Almost all of us sometimes voluntarily give up some scarce resources to make someone else better. Not only the amount of resources used for such purposes, but also other wider concerns (implications for private and government sector) have drawn the attention of economists in recent decades. In this paper I develop a theoretical framework underlying such activities, which can be in short termed as "altruistic". To do so, I first explain the notion of "altruism", as can be found in the works of Adam Smith, Gary Becker and Ludwig von Mises. On these grounds, we can say that by voluntary altruistic transactions the utility of both sides of the transaction...

K daňové uznatelnosti nákladů z úvěrů: Analýza pomocí opčního modelu

Investigating a thin-capitalization rule: An option-based analysis

Jan Vlachý

Politická ekonomie 2008, 56(5):656-668 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.657  

The Czech tax system is undergoing radical transformation. Among the many forthcoming changes, several features can be identified, which alter the structure of tax asymmetries. This paper uses an option-based model of direct taxation to examine a controversial new thin-capitalization rule, stipulating a mandatory benchmark for deductible unrelated-party loan expenses. We estimate the costs of debt under various risk-related scenarios, focusing on particular situations where the new regulation may result in distortions of business incentives and investment behaviour. We find that the measure can disproportionally increase the marginal cost of debt for...

Consultations

Teorie podnikatelského objevování

Theory of entrepreneurial discovery

Tomáš Otáhal

Politická ekonomie 2008, 56(5):669-683 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.658  

The aim of the paper is to introduce Kirzner's theory of entrepreneurial discovery as a complement and an alternative to the mainstream theory. In the first and the second sections, the author explains the main influences of Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich August von Hayek's works on entrepreneurial theory. Section three analyzes pure entrepreneurial profit and logical construction of theory as a complement to mainstream theory. To introduce the entrepreneurial market process as an alternative to mainstream theory, the fourth section begins by explaining Kirzner's approach to the critique of the possibilities for economic calculation in the system of...

Prostorová ekonomie a prostorové externality: Přehled teorie a empirické evidence

Spatial economics and spatial externalities: A survey of theory and emprics

Bořek Vašíček

Politická ekonomie 2008, 56(5):684-708 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.659  

The spatial and regional analysis has a long tradition but until very recently the mainstream economics has not given careful attention to space. This article surveys recent contributions on the spatial or regional economics, which often overlaps with urban economics. As this literature is very heterogeneous, we use the concept of spatial externalities as the common criterion for the basic classification of the studies. The pecuniary externalities, which are by-product of the market transactions, became the cornerstone of the New Economic Geography (NEG) introduced by Krugman. NEG is presently the dominant theory in the economics of space as it builds...