Acta Oeconomica Pragensia, 2017 (vol. 25), issue 1

Industrial Policy of BRICS Countries as an Instrument of State Capitalism

Martina Jiránková

Acta Oeconomica Pragensia 2017, 25(1):3-21 | DOI: 10.18267/j.aop.565  

The article deals with industrial policy in the BRICS countries, which is an important instrument of their development. First, the importance of industrial policy is stated. There are numerous approaches to it: the extreme ones are the neoliberal approach, advocating no interventions of the state in the market; the other extreme is interventions either directly by subsidies to chosen branches or indirectly by building institutional surroundings which are comfortable for industrial development. The development of theoretical approaches to industrial policy is also discussed: from structuralists to new structuralists, who try to connect a market as the...

Cash in the Czech Republic: Trend Analysis 2003-2015

Zbyněk Revenda

Acta Oeconomica Pragensia 2017, 25(1):22-35 | DOI: 10.18267/j.aop.566  

Electronization of banking services is a strong reason for relative growth of cashless payments. The importance of cash, i.e., banknotes and coins, for realizing transactions should decrease. An analysis for the Czech Republic in the period 2003-2015 confirms this. Demand of nonbank entities for cash is associated mainly with liquidity, banks' credibility and technological sophistication. Illegal transactions also form part of the demand. Zero return on cash counteracts demand, but it has little meaning with the decline in interest rates on bank deposits. The total stock of cash in the analyzed period rises, but its relative importance declines. Demand...

Analysis of the Sustainable Growth Indicator in the Area of Climate Change from the Point of View of Europe 2020 Strategy Performance

Dagmar Blatná

Acta Oeconomica Pragensia 2017, 25(1):36-50 | DOI: 10.18267/j.aop.567  

The objective of this paper is to present the results of an analysis of the indicator Greenhouse gas emissions (GGE). The GGE is one of the headline indicators tracked under the EU's main socioeconomic strategy until the year 2020 - the EUROPE 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. In the area of sustainable growth, the Resource-efficient Europe initiative was established. For 2020, the EU has made a unilateral commitment to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions from its 28 member states by 20% compared to 1990 levels. The GGE indicator shows total man-made emissions of the so-called Kyoto basket of greenhouse gases. It presents...

Causality Illusion and Overconfidence in Predicting (Quasi)Stochastic Financial Events

Petr Houdek, Petr Koblovský, Jan Plaček, Luboš Smrčka

Acta Oeconomica Pragensia 2017, 25(1):51-63 | DOI: 10.18267/j.aop.568  

We argue that individuals systematically interpret sequences of events in a causal manner. The aim of this article is to show that people do so even if they are aware of the stochastic nature of the respective sequence. The bias can explain some anomalous behaviour of investors in financial markets. Small as well as professional investors may illusorily perceive causality of former random success and future yield. Laboratory experiments testing the interpretation of stochastically occurring events in financial designs as well as analyses of real trading data from financial markets confirm that investors indeed interpret (quasi)random events casually;...

Economic Rationality in the Ultimatum Game

Jan Fiala, Oldřich Starý, Helena Fialová, Adéla Holasová, Martina Fialová

Acta Oeconomica Pragensia 2017, 25(1):64-78 | DOI: 10.18267/j.aop.569  

Rigorous application of experimental methodology to the interdisciplinary research of economic decision making is the main purpose of our work. In this paper, we introduce the main decision-making theories and outline economic rationality. We explain why we find it useful to discriminate between the "irrational" and "non-rational" components of decision making. We offer an oriented interdisciplinary point of view on economic rationality. In the applied section, we describe the main features of the Ultimatum game and summarize the up-to-date theories explaining the non-rational course of the game. We discuss in detail the reported relations between...

Half-Forgotten Personalities of Economic Thought - O. R. Lange

Pavel Sirůček

Acta Oeconomica Pragensia 2017, 25(1):79-88 | DOI: 10.18267/j.aop.570  

O. R. Lange, a Polish economist, statistician, econometrician, sociologist, politician and diplomat was classified as a reformist Marxist. He became famous for studies on planning and socialist economies. Lange demonstrates and proves the possibility of the existence of an effective socialist system. He also analyzed capitalist economy, e.g., the issue of cyclical fluctuations and unemployment.