Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Vojtěch Spěváček Author-Name: Růžena Vintrová Author-Name: Mojmír Hájek Author-Name: Václav Žďárek Title: Makroekonomický vývoj České republiky v letech 1996-2004 Title: Macroeconomic development of the Czech republic in the years 1996-2004 Abstract: Economic growth of the Czech Republic differed strongly in two periods: 1996-1999 and 2000-2004. While in the first period the economy was hit by the recession and the average annual rate of growth of GDP reached only 0,9 %, in the second period the growth accelerated to 3,2 %. The economic growth measured by the indicators of real income (namely of real gross domestic income) was faster. This was caused by positive contribution of the terms of trade. On the supply side the main contributing factors were labour and total factor productivity. On the demand side the growth was pulled by domestic demand which grew even faster than GDP. The contribution of foreign trade becomes positive in the year 2004 and mainly in 2005. Macroeconomic stability of the Czech economy improved substantially in the fields of inflation, monetary development and foreign trade. Imbalances persist in general government budget and on the current account of the balance of payment. The process of real convergence accelerated in the years 2000-2004 and was based on the growth of labour and total factor productivity. In 2004 the GDP per capita in purchasing power standards surpassed 70 % of the average level in EU-25. The comparative price level of the Czech Republic in this year reached only 53 % despite accelerated process of catching-up. Keywords: economic growth, inflation, gross domestic product, total factor productivity, real gross domestic income, domestic demand, foreign trade and trade balance, national savings, gross capital formation, general government budget Classification-JEL: E22, E24, J30, O11, P24 Pages: 147-169 Volume: 2006 Issue: 2 Year: 2006 File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/polek/download.php?jnl=polek&pdf=550.pdf File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/polek/550 File-Format: text/html Handle: RePEc:prg:jnlpol:v:2006:y:2006:i:2:id:550:p:147-169 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Mojmír Hájek Title: Zdroje růstu, souhrnná produktivita faktorů a struktura v České republice Title: Sources of economic growth, total factor productivity and structure in the Czech republic Abstract: The study examines the resources of economic growth in the Czech Republic in the course of years from 1992 until 2004. Using the growth accounting method, it analyses the contribution of individual factors to economic growth. Special attention is given to total factor productivity, which, apart from labour, also includes a fixed capital stock at constant prices. Compared to the previous period, the acceleration of the growth of total factor productivity decisively contributed to the speeding up of economic growth in the years 1999-2004. Furthermore, the study examines growth resources in six national economy sectors and analyses the contribution of individual sectors to the growth of macroeconomic total factor productivity. The analysis has shown that namely industry, transport, communications, and other services were involved in the speeding up of the growth of macroeconomic total factor productivity. A comparison of the dynamics of total factor productivity of the CR and EU-15 at the macroeconomic level has shown that while in 1992-1998, the growth of total factor productivity was slower in the CR, after 1998, it was faster (in 1999-2004, the average annual growth rate in the CR was 2.2% and 0.6% in EU-15). In the years 1996-2004, for which revised data are available for the CR, the average annual growth rate of total factor productivity in the CR was 1.5%, compared to 0.7% in EU-15. The analysis indicated that since 1999, total factor productivity in the CR has been converging to the EU-15 level, accelerating in 2003 and 2004, thereby achieving 63% of the EU-15 level in 2004. Keywords: economic growth, total factor productivity, sources of economic growth, growth accounting, sectoral growth Classification-JEL: D24, O47 Pages: 170-189 Volume: 2006 Issue: 2 Year: 2006 File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/polek/download.php?jnl=polek&pdf=551.pdf File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/polek/551 File-Format: text/html Handle: RePEc:prg:jnlpol:v:2006:y:2006:i:2:id:551:p:170-189 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Jan Hanousek Author-Name: Filip Palda Title: Předem odsouzeno k neúspěchu: měření šedé ekonomiky tranzitivních zemí pomocí makroekonomických metod Title: Mission impossible: measuring the informal sector in a transition economy using macro methods Abstract: An easy and popular method for measuring the size of the underground economy is to use macro-data such as money demand or electricity demand to infer what the legitimate economy needs, and then to attribute the remaining consumption to the underground economy. Such inferences rely on the stability of parameters of the demand equations, or at very least on knowledge of how these parameters are changing. We show that the pace of change of these parameters (such as velocity) is too variable in transition economies for the above methods of estimating the size of the underground economy to be applicable. Keywords: transition, Informal economy, shadow economy, underground economy, macro estimates of shadow economy Classification-JEL: H26, H43, K42, O17 Pages: 190-203 Volume: 2006 Issue: 2 Year: 2006 File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/polek/download.php?jnl=polek&pdf=552.pdf File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/polek/552 File-Format: text/html Handle: RePEc:prg:jnlpol:v:2006:y:2006:i:2:id:552:p:190-203 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Alena Zemplinerová Title: Efekty státní podpory podniků Title: Effects of state aid to enterprises Abstract: The aim of the article is to describe theoretical concepts related to the effects of state subsidies on enterprises and to discuss the magnitude and effect of state aid on enterprises during the transformation of the Czech economy. Subsidies to enterprises during transformation were high, often transparent, and above the European Union average. During 1997-2003 registered state aid reached 362 bn. CZK. More than 90 percent of the total registered state aid went to awards the rescue and restructuring of enterprises. It can be roughly estimated that during 1997-2000 state aid was twice as high as officially registered. Share of state aid to enterprises in public debt increased and reached 70 percent by 2003. Non-transparent channels of state aid distribution decrease the efficiency of state aid, as they distort market signals and decrease motivation for fair competition. Keywords: market failure, competition, state aid, restructuring Classification-JEL: F13, G38, H20 Pages: 204-213 Volume: 2006 Issue: 2 Year: 2006 File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/polek/download.php?jnl=polek&pdf=553.pdf File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/polek/553 File-Format: text/html Handle: RePEc:prg:jnlpol:v:2006:y:2006:i:2:id:553:p:204-213 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Václav Nešvera Title: Ceny v obchodě České republiky se zeměmi Evropské unie Title: Prices in trade of the Czech republic with member countries of the European union Abstract: Empirical research on the differences between unit values in the EU's trade with the Czech Republic and the intra-EU average has shown a significant changes. The comparative level of manufacturing products imported from the Czech republic has increased, the comparative level of products exported to the Czech republic has decreased. The price-gaps, inherited from the communist regime have been substantially reduced. Most remarkable changes of the comparative prices took place in trade with products of metalworking industries. The favourable development of price relations in the Czech foreign trade has been an important element underlying balance of payments performance, it has contributed to the nominal and real improvements of Czech krown and shoud play an importent role in the process of convergence. The analysis is based on Eurostat Comext Database. Keywords: convergence, competitiveness, integration, terms of trade, prices in international trade, unit values, international trade, comparative price level Classification-JEL: E30, F10, F14, F15, F19, F21, L6, O10, O14, O57 Pages: 214-226 Volume: 2006 Issue: 2 Year: 2006 File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/polek/download.php?jnl=polek&pdf=554.pdf File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/polek/554 File-Format: text/html Handle: RePEc:prg:jnlpol:v:2006:y:2006:i:2:id:554:p:214-226 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Mikuláš Luptáčik Author-Name: Viliam Páleník Author-Name: Vladimír Kvetan Author-Name: Ján Ďuraš Author-Name: Jana Hrivnáková Author-Name: Peter Ondko Title: Formalizovaný model tranzitívnej ekonomiky - prípad SR Title: Formal model of economy in transition - case of Slovak republic Abstract: This paper aims at constructing a model of a small open economy of the Slovak Republic. In essence, the model represents a synthesis of already published modifications of the Mundell - Fleming type of models, describing the market of goods and services in interaction with the money market and paying special attention to foreign trade. As the model construction is aimed at providing a tool for qualitative analyses, the model equations are specified in linear functional form - in order to obtain analytic solutions. Theoretical analyses are confronted with the empirical verification of the constructed model. Not surprisingly, historical experience represented by data on Slovak economy in transition reveals that complex structure of the model degenerates to a much simpler form in early years of transition. It is understood and verified that several economic principles guiding market economies do not apply in transition (e.g. investments evolve independently of interest rates). Keywords: mathematical economics, Mundell-Fleming model, small open economy, economic transition Classification-JEL: C32, E20, P24 Pages: 227-246 Volume: 2006 Issue: 2 Year: 2006 File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/polek/download.php?jnl=polek&pdf=555.pdf File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/polek/555 File-Format: text/html Handle: RePEc:prg:jnlpol:v:2006:y:2006:i:2:id:555:p:227-246 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Marek Loužek Title: Má důchodová reforma se zadlužením smysl? Title: Has pension reform with indebtedness a sense? Abstract: The paper is concerned with pension reform in the Czech Republic and abroad. It argues against two opinions: on the one hand, that it is not necessary to do anything, and on the other hand, that a mandatory funded system should be implemented. Both approaches are false, because of creating overwhelming explicit debts. The author recommends an evolutionary approach founded upon decreasing of PAYG in combination with voluntary savings. Keywords: pension reform, transition, social insurance, endogenous fertility, Ricardo-Barro-hypothesis Classification-JEL: D02, D91, H62, J26 Pages: 247-260 Volume: 2006 Issue: 2 Year: 2006 File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/polek/download.php?jnl=polek&pdf=556.pdf File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/polek/556 File-Format: text/html Handle: RePEc:prg:jnlpol:v:2006:y:2006:i:2:id:556:p:247-260 Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0 Author-Name: Eliška Kotíková Title: Ochrana životního prostředí v ekonomické teorii Title: Environmental protection in economic theory Abstract: The paper shows the current state of environmental concerns in economic theory. Different economic schools have incorporated the environmental analysis into their theoretical framework. They use different presumptions, focus on different environmental aspects and come to diverse conclusions and political recommendations. However, there are many unclear frontiers between one another. This paper would like to help to understand these differences. It characterises and compares the main economic schools and theories. The paper focuses on environmental economics, ecological economics, new institutional economics, free market environmentalism, coevolutionary theory in economics and bioeconomics. Keywords: new institutional economics, environmental economics, environment, ecological economics, free market environmentalism, coevolutionary theory, bioeconomics Classification-JEL: B53, Q00, Q50, Q57 Pages: 261-273 Volume: 2006 Issue: 2 Year: 2006 File-URL: http://www.vse.cz/polek/557 File-Format: text/html Handle: RePEc:prg:jnlpol:v:2006:y:2006:i:2:id:557:p:261-273