Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Yulia Gorbunova Author-Name: Davide Infante Author-Name: Janna Smirnova Title: New Evidence on FDI Determinants: An Appraisal Over the Transition Period Abstract: The aim of this work is to provide new evidence on the factors that determine the flow of FDI among transition countries. The analysis takes into consideration the period of most intense transition and post-transition (1994-2002) of 26 former socialist countries. The empirical estimates enable us to draw two main conclusions: first classical locational FDI factors maintain their role in the context of transition countries, and, second, that FDI are influenced by specific market and institutional factors. Among market variables, relatively higher labour costs surprisingly do not constitute an obstacle for foreign investment. We fi nd that variables reflecting market stabilising institutions play a more important role than those representing market creating institutions. Although, there is a certain tolerance of foreign investors towards weak institutional environment, we demonstrate that, to attract FDI, countries should reinforce their macroeconomic stability by focusing on market stabilising institutions. Keywords: transition countries, foreign direct investment, market institutions Classification-JEL: C33, F21, F23, P27 Pages: 129-149 Volume: 2012 Issue: 2 Year: 2012 File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/pep/download.php?jnl=pep&pdf=415.pdf File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/pep/415 File-Format: text/html Handle: RePEc:prg:jnlpep:v:2012:y:2012:i:2:id:415:p:129-149 X-File-Ref: http://www.vse.cz/RePEc/prg/jnlpep/references/415 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Ahmad Zafarullah Abdul Jalil Author-Name: Mukaramah Harun Author-Name: Siti Hadijah Che Mat Title: Macroeconomic Instability and Fiscal Decentralization: An Empirical Analysis Abstract: The main objective of this paper is to fill a critical gap in the literature by analyzing the effects of decentralization on the macroeconomic stability. A survey of the voluminous literature on decentralization suggests that the question of the links between decentralization and macroeconomic stability has been relatively scantily analyzed. Even though there is still a lot of room for analysis as far as the effects of decentralization on other aspects of the economy are concerned, we believe that it is in this area that a more thorough analyses are mostly called for. Through this paper, we will try to shed more light on the issue notably by looking at other dimension of macroeconomic stability than the ones usually employed in previous studies as well as by examining other factors that might accentuate or diminish the effects of decentralization on macroeconomic stability. Our results found that decentralization appears to lead to a decrease in inflation rate. However, we do not find any correlation between decentralization with the level of fiscal deficit. Our results also show that the impact of decentralization on inflation is conditional on the level of perceived corruption and political institutions. Keywords: macroeconomic stability, decentralization, fiscal federalism, institutional and political environment Classification-JEL: E31, H5, H6, H7 Pages: 150-165 Volume: 2012 Issue: 2 Year: 2012 File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/pep/download.php?jnl=pep&pdf=416.pdf File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/pep/416 File-Format: text/html Handle: RePEc:prg:jnlpep:v:2012:y:2012:i:2:id:416:p:150-165 X-File-Ref: http://www.vse.cz/RePEc/prg/jnlpep/references/416 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Ingrid Majerová Title: International Development Cooperation of the Czech Republic in the Context of European Development Abstract: The paper describes the development cooperation of the Czech Republic within the European Union. It has briefly analyzed the evolution of development cooperation until 2004 when Czech Republic joined the European Union and further the situation from 2004 to present. The paper also evaluated the financial resources for development cooperation, bilateral cooperation and the comparison with other EU Member States, background on the progress of Official Development Assistance in European Union. Keywords: development aid, Official Development Assistance, gross national income, European development policy, bilateral cooperation, multilateral cooperation, priority countries, development projects Classification-JEL: F35 Pages: 166-185 Volume: 2012 Issue: 2 Year: 2012 File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/pep/download.php?jnl=pep&pdf=417.pdf File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/pep/417 File-Format: text/html Handle: RePEc:prg:jnlpep:v:2012:y:2012:i:2:id:417:p:166-185 X-File-Ref: http://www.vse.cz/RePEc/prg/jnlpep/references/417 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Primož Pevcin Title: Analysis of Cross-Country Differences in the Non-Profit Sector Size Abstract: This paper theoretically and empirically investigates variations in the size of the non-profit sector among countries. Although the non-profit sector has experienced growth in relative socio-economic importance in recent decades, the available data on the size of the sector indicates substantial variations among countries. Existing literature provides several multi- and interdisciplinary theories, hypotheses and concepts that try to explain those differences, such as for instance the heterogeneity and failure theories, the resource dependence theory and interdependence theory. Empirical findings indicate that the selection of the measurement of sector size influences the ability to explain the differences in the size of the sector across countries. The results of a crosssection regression analysis indicate that almost three quarters of cross-national variation in the sector workforce could be explained, whereas pooled regression indicates that almost three fifths of variation in sector size, if workforce and expenditures are taken as dimensions of the sector, could be explained. Moreover, regression analysis tends to support the propositions of resource dependence and demand heterogeneity (government failure) theory, although there is also some ground for supporting the interdependence theory. Keywords: Non-profit sector workforce and expenditures, heterogeneity and failure theories, resource dependence theory, interdependence theory, correlation and regression analysis Classification-JEL: L30 Pages: 186-204 Volume: 2012 Issue: 2 Year: 2012 File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/pep/download.php?jnl=pep&pdf=418.pdf File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/pep/418 File-Format: text/html Handle: RePEc:prg:jnlpep:v:2012:y:2012:i:2:id:418:p:186-204 X-File-Ref: http://www.vse.cz/RePEc/prg/jnlpep/references/418 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Soo-Wah Low Title: Market Timing and Selectivity Performance: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Malaysian Unit Trust Funds Abstract: This study examines the extent to which fund characteristics contributes to explaining fund returns differentiated by managers´ stock picking and market timing abilities. The findings show that funds characterized by high exposures to broad market movements have good timing returns but show poor selectivity performance, suggesting the presence of activity specialization among fund managers. It is shown that large funds enhance managers´ timing returns, reflecting the efficiencies of large funds in responding to market-wide movements. However, as the size of the fund gets larger, managers find it more challenging to identify worthwhile investments and hence results in poor selectivity performance. Keywords: unit trust fund, market timing, security selection, fund characteristics, fund performance Classification-JEL: G11, G29 Pages: 205-219 Volume: 2012 Issue: 2 Year: 2012 File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/pep/download.php?jnl=pep&pdf=419.pdf File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/pep/419 File-Format: text/html Handle: RePEc:prg:jnlpep:v:2012:y:2012:i:2:id:419:p:205-219 X-File-Ref: http://www.vse.cz/RePEc/prg/jnlpep/references/419 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Filip Novotný Title: The Link Between the Brent Crude Oil Price and the US Dollar Exchange Rate Abstract: Growth in the intensity of the inverse relationship between the US dollar exchange rate and the Brent crude oil price has been observed over the last decade. This may be linked, among other things, to the growing role of commodities as an alternative investment instrument at times of excess liquidity and low interest rates on global markets. This analysis examines monthly data from January 1982 to September 2010. Since 2002 the direction of the relationship in the Granger causality sense has been from the dollar exchange rate to the oil price. A weakening of the dollar of 1% causes the Brent oil price to rise by 2.1%. The contrary movements in the Brent oil price and the dollar exchange rate are a factor dampening the impact of sharp fl uctuations in the dollar price of oil on "non-dollar" economies, including the Czech Republic. This dampening effect was clearly visible in the period of sharp oil price growth in 2007 and 2008. Keywords: interest rates, commodity prices, excess liquidity, exchange rate movements, financial markets, speculative demand Classification-JEL: F31, G15 Pages: 220-232 Volume: 2012 Issue: 2 Year: 2012 File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/pep/download.php?jnl=pep&pdf=420.pdf File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/pep/420 File-Format: text/html Handle: RePEc:prg:jnlpep:v:2012:y:2012:i:2:id:420:p:220-232 X-File-Ref: http://www.vse.cz/RePEc/prg/jnlpep/references/420 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Diana Bílková Title: Recent Development of the Wage and Income Distribution in the Czech Republic Abstract: The paper presents the development of monthly gross wages and wage distributions both by gender groups and for the total sample in the Czech Republic over the years 2002?2009. The first part deals with the development of sample characteristics of the level, differentiation and shape of the wage distribution in the research period, including characteristics of wage level forecasts for 2010 and 2011. Special attention is paid to the different behaviour of the wage distribution between men and women in the Czech Republic and the gender dependence of gross monthly wages. A comparison of the income level development in the Czech Republic with that of the other European Union countries in 2005-2009 is made in the final part of the paper. The comparison is drawn in relation to the income level development both in the original fifteen EU countries and the twelve newly-accepted EU member states. Keywords: income distribution, Wages in the Czech Republic, incomes in the European Union, wage distribution, wage level, wage differentiation, income level, development of wage distribution Classification-JEL: C16, C22, H31 Pages: 233-250 Volume: 2012 Issue: 2 Year: 2012 File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/pep/download.php?jnl=pep&pdf=421.pdf File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/pep/421 File-Format: text/html Handle: RePEc:prg:jnlpep:v:2012:y:2012:i:2:id:421:p:233-250 X-File-Ref: http://www.vse.cz/RePEc/prg/jnlpep/references/421 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Štefan Žák Title: New Trends in International Marketing Pages: 251-254 Volume: 2012 Issue: 2 Year: 2012 File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/pep/download.php?jnl=pep&pdf=422.pdf File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/pep/422 File-Format: text/html Handle: RePEc:prg:jnlpep:v:2012:y:2012:i:2:id:422:p:251-254