Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Josef Arlt Author-Name: Milan Bašta Title: The Problem of the Yearly Inflation Rate and Its Implications for the Monetary Policy of the Czech National Bank Abstract: The yearly inflation rate might not always be an appropriate measure of inflation, mainly due to the fact that it does not provide up-to-date information on the level of inflation. The harmonic analysis shows that the yearly inflation rate deforms and delays the information with respect to the monthly inflation rate and is thus delayed behind the true inflation at yearly levels. This conclusion can be extremely important in the forecasting of the inflation rate at yearly levels and in the process of economic decision making. The problem of the yearly inflation rate is illustrated on the example of the monetary policy of the Czech National Bank. The cointegration analysis revealed the presence of the long-run relationship of the repo rate, the yearly adjusted inflation rate and the euro area repo rate in the analyzed period. Keywords: monetary policy, forecasting, inflation rate, harmonic analysis, linear filtration Classification-JEL: C22, C52, E31, E43 Pages: 99-117 Volume: 2010 Issue: 2 Year: 2010 File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/pep/download.php?jnl=pep&pdf=366.pdf File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/pep/366 File-Format: text/html Handle: RePEc:prg:jnlpep:v:2010:y:2010:i:2:id:366:p:99-117 X-File-Ref: http://www.vse.cz/RePEc/prg/jnlpep/references/366 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Mohd Zaini Abd Karim Author-Name: Sok-Gee Chan Author-Name: Sallahudin Hassan Title: Bank Efficiency and Non-Performing Loans: Evidence from Malaysia and Singapore Abstract: The objective of this paper is to investigate the relationship between non-performing loans and bank efficiency in Malaysia and Singapore. To achieve the objective, cost efficiency was estimated using the stochastic cost frontier approach assuming normal-gamma efficiency distribution model proposed by Greene (1990). The cost efficiency scores were then used in the second stage Tobit simultaneous equation regression to determine the effect of non-performing loans on bank efficiency. The results indicate that there is no significant difference in cost efficiency between banks in Singapore and Malaysia although banks in Singapore exhibit a higher average cost efficiency score. The Tobit simultaneous equation regression results clearly indicate that higher non-performing loan reduces cost efficiency. Likewise, lower cost efficiency increases non-performing loans. The result also support the hypothesis of bad management proposed by Berger and DeYoung (1992) that poor management in the banking institutions results in bad quality loans, and therefore, escalates the level of non-performing loans. Keywords: bank efficiency, problem loans, stochastic cost frontier, tobit regression Classification-JEL: G21 Pages: 118-132 Volume: 2010 Issue: 2 Year: 2010 File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/pep/download.php?jnl=pep&pdf=367.pdf File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/pep/367 File-Format: text/html Handle: RePEc:prg:jnlpep:v:2010:y:2010:i:2:id:367:p:118-132 X-File-Ref: http://www.vse.cz/RePEc/prg/jnlpep/references/367 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Barbora Slintáková Author-Name: Stanislav Klazar Title: Impact of Harmonisation on Distribution of VAT in the Czech Republic Abstract: The aim of this paper is to analyse progressivity of value added tax in the Czech Republic under the framework of both annual incidence and lifetime incidence. Moreover, impact of the harmonisation of VAT rates connected with the accession of the Czech Republic to the EU on the income distribution is examined. The burden table serves to show the distribution of the VAT burden among households by income categories; the generalised entropy measures and the Gini coefficient are used for measurement of inequality of income. Results show that the Czech VAT is regressive when annual income is analysed while the lifetime income analysis indicated that VAT is progressive. Furthermore, the results suggest that the distribution of income (annual as well as lifetime) after taxation was more equal before the harmonisation, and that impact of the changes in VAT rates in 2004 was likely larger on the lower-income households. Keywords: value added tax, tax incidence, progressivity, redistributive effect, inequality measures, tax harmonisation Classification-JEL: H22, H23 Pages: 133-149 Volume: 2010 Issue: 2 Year: 2010 File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/pep/download.php?jnl=pep&pdf=368.pdf File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/pep/368 File-Format: text/html Handle: RePEc:prg:jnlpep:v:2010:y:2010:i:2:id:368:p:133-149 X-File-Ref: http://www.vse.cz/RePEc/prg/jnlpep/references/368 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Aydin Çelen Author-Name: Burak Gunalp Title: Do Investigations of Competition Authorities Really Increase the Degree of Competition? An Answer From Turkish Cement Market Abstract: In this paper, we assess the effects of the investigations carried by the Turkish Competition Board in 1997, 2002 and 2003 on the degree competition in the Turkish cement market. For this aim, we used proverbial Bresnahan-Lau framework with alternative definitions for the supply relation. Our first finding is that cement producers had a considerable amount of market power at the period prior to the first investigation in 1997. In addition, this study shows that, parallel to our initial expectation, competition in the cement market increased thanks to the investigations. The positive effect of the first investigation is found to be especially significant. Hence, this study witnesses that the enforcement of the competition law by the Turkish Competition Board has produced the desired effects in the most problematic sector with respect to competition law. Keywords: market power, market performance, cement market, Bresnahan-Lau methodology, degree of competition, competition policy Classification-JEL: D43, L13, L40, L61 Pages: 150-168 Volume: 2010 Issue: 2 Year: 2010 File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/pep/download.php?jnl=pep&pdf=369.pdf File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/pep/369 File-Format: text/html Handle: RePEc:prg:jnlpep:v:2010:y:2010:i:2:id:369:p:150-168 X-File-Ref: http://www.vse.cz/RePEc/prg/jnlpep/references/369 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Lukáš Čechura Author-Name: Heinrich Hockmann Title: Sources of Economical Growth in the Czech Food Processing Abstract: The paper attempts to assess the development path of the Czech food processing and to identify the presence of idiosyncratic developments in industries. We elaborate it by using a fi tted production function for the construction of TFP and by decomposing TFP into a scale effect, a technical change effect and an efficiency effect for total food processing and its selected branches. The results suggest that despite more than one decade of transition, serious adjustment problems exist, including problems on the capital market. Furthermore, contrary to the large differences among firms in the whole sample, the various sectors are rather homogeneous. TFP shows that although individual sectors have a few frontrunners, the majority of companies perform quite poorly. The scale effect is relatively small in food processing. Technical change has contributed positively to TFP in recent years, and the efficiency effect varies rather strongly. Whereas scale effect and technical change have a similar pattern across industries, the efficiency effect differs significantly. There is also some indication that the efficiency effect is affected by different sources. Finally, in addition to systemic effects, industry developments are characterized by idiosyncratic factors, especially in the Dairy industry. Keywords: transition, Czech Republic, efficiency, food processing, TFP (Total Factor Productivity), SFA (Stochastic Frontier Analysis) Classification-JEL: D24, O12, P27 Pages: 169-182 Volume: 2010 Issue: 2 Year: 2010 File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/pep/download.php?jnl=pep&pdf=370.pdf File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/pep/370 File-Format: text/html Handle: RePEc:prg:jnlpep:v:2010:y:2010:i:2:id:370:p:169-182 X-File-Ref: http://www.vse.cz/RePEc/prg/jnlpep/references/370 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Vladimír Tomšík Title: Looking Back to Reforms, Looking Back to the Conference Twenty Years of Financial and Bank Reforms in the Czech Republic Pages: 183-190 Volume: 2010 Issue: 2 Year: 2010 File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/pep/download.php?jnl=pep&pdf=371.pdf File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/pep/371 File-Format: text/html Handle: RePEc:prg:jnlpep:v:2010:y:2010:i:2:id:371:p:183-190