Prague Economic Papers, 2007 (vol. 16), issue 2
Original contributions, Original article, Research article
Certification as a Viable Quality Assurance Mechanism in Transition Economies: Evidence, Theory, and Open Questions
Andreas Ortmann, Katarína Svítková
Prague Economic Papers 2007, 16(2):99-114 | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.300 
Traditionally, enforcement of consumer protection laws meant to provide quality assurance of goods and services was considered a responsibility of the state in its various guises. Unfortunately, enforcement is an expensive, and hence particularly problematic proposition in transition economies that have many competing demands on their very scarce resources. An alternative mode of enforcement is through reputation. Yet for reputation to be able to fulfill this disciplining role, a high degree of information flow, or transparency, is imperative. Transparency, of course, is not something that transition economies typically excel in. In this article we...
Optimal Debt Contracts in Emerging Markets with Multiple Investors
Karel Janda
Prague Economic Papers 2007, 16(2):115-129 | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.301
This paper extends the costly enforcement model of optimal financing to the case of investment projects financed by several lenders when the legal and economic situation in the emerging market economy does not allow for commitment to contracts and for securitization of credit contracts through use of collateral. We consider the asymmetric situation when only one lender is a big strategic investor. All other lenders are small passive investors. We first provide the sufficient and necessary condition for renegotiation proofness. Then we show that the optimal verification is deterministic. We also discuss the conditions under which the optimal contract...
Factors of the Size of Government in Developed Countries
Boris Gramc
Prague Economic Papers 2007, 16(2):130-142 | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.302
The purpose of the analysis presented in the paper is to identify various factors, including economic, social, political, demographic and cultural ones, that could shape the differences in the size of government across countries and to verify their effect with the use of econometric analysis. The analysis focuses on "budgetary" government, usually measured with some government spending ratio, as well as on "non-budgetary" government, measured with the index of the extent of regulation in the economy. The results of the analysis show that economic factors are more important in explaining the variation in the size of government consumption and in the...
The Future of Work and Women
Ewa Lisowska
Prague Economic Papers 2007, 16(2):143-164 | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.303
The paper analyses the causes of the current situation of women on the labour market in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia as well as women's chances for the future. It discusses the questions: Are women more at risk of unemployment than men in the future, or less? Will the twenty first century favour the development of women's career opportunities? The conclusion is that we are facing the end of industrial era and are moving towards the era of information and knowledge. Women are more prepared for these changes, as they are better educated, they are motivated to take up new challenges, and they posses the skills needed in new economy like the...
Why Is Corruption a Problem of the State?
Tomáš Otáhal
Prague Economic Papers 2007, 16(2):165-179 | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.304
Economic theories of the last decades provide analytical framework within which we can explain institutional conditions for corrupt action. Specialists making economic policy recommendations to resolve this problem use several approaches, the most dominant of which are rent seeking and agency theories. In this paper, I explain economic policy recommendations that stem out of both approaches. I argue that scholars suggesting these recommendations within these two frameworks do not understand each other because of different assumptions they make. More specifically, I show that two sets of policy recommendations presented here are based on the particular...