Prague Economic Papers, 2019 (vol. 28), issue 3

Macroeconomic Forecast Relevance in the Central Banks Decisions. The Case of European Economies

Magdalena Szyszko, Aleksandra Rutkowska

Prague Economic Papers 2019, 28(3):257-275 | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.711  

We examine central banks' involvement in inflation forecast targeting by means of an index-based analysis and ordered logistic regression. The research encompasses the Bank of England, the Czech National Bank, the National Bank of Poland and the Sveriges Riksbank. They produce conditional or unconditional macroeconomic forecasts. Hence, two paths have been used to examine them. We examine whether the four central banks follow their forecasts to some extent. We have found that the CNB and SR are highly consistent in terms of compatibility of their decisions with the forecasts, timing of decisions, and communication by means of forecasts. The NBP...

Selected Socioeconomic Determinants of the Size of the Nonprofit Sector Serving Households in the OECD Countries

Jindřich Špička, Markéta Arltová, Petr Boukal

Prague Economic Papers 2019, 28(3):276-295 | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.671  

The article investigates the differences in socioeconomic determinants of the size of the nonprofit sector serving households in the wealthy and less wealthy OECD countries. Based on panel data modelling of 22 wealthy OECD countries and 17 less wealthy OECD countries in the long-term period 2000-2014, authors revealed distinctive determinants of the size of the nonprofit sector serving households in the wealthy and less wealthy countries. The model identified GDP per capita, government health care expenditures per capita, number of refugees per hundred thousand inhabitants and unemployment rate as significant long-term determinants...

The Moderating Impact of Firm Size on the Relationship between Working Capital Management and Profitability

Ilhan Dalci, Cem Tanova, Hasan Ozyapici, Murad A. Bein

Prague Economic Papers 2019, 28(3):296-312 | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.681  

This study investigates whether firm size moderates the relationship between cash conversion cycle and profitability over 8-year period for 285 German non-financial firms. The moderated regression results reveal that the relationship between cash conversion cycle and profitability is moderated by firm size. As the firm size gets smaller and the cash conversion cycle gets longer, the returns on assets decreases. When the firm size gets bigger and the cash conversion cycle gets longer, on the other hand, the returns on assets increases. In this context, reducing the length of cash conversion cycle has a positive impact on profitability for only...

Factors Affecting the Length of Procedure in Public Procurement: The Case of the Czech Republic

Michal Plaček, Martin Schmidt, František Ochrana, Milan Půček

Prague Economic Papers 2019, 28(3):313-329 | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.692  

The article deals with the issue of the length of procedure in public procurement. Our analysis focuses on construction contracts in 2010-2015. We apply hierarchical linear regressions to these data to identify factors that affect the length of procedure. According to our results, the duration of a public contract does not affect the standard contract price. The nature of the contracting authority, the expected value, the openness of the procurement procedure, and the method of evaluation have a statistically significant impact on the length of the contract. As for other factors regarding the length of awarding time, the use of the subcontractor, the...

Determinants of Net Trade Credit: A Panel VAR Approach Based on Industry

Mara Madaleno, Nicoleta Bărbuţă-Mişu, Fitim Deari

Prague Economic Papers 2019, 28(3):330-347 | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.696  

This paper aims to study the dynamic relationship between dependent variables of trade credit (net trade credit to total assets and net trade credit to sales), and six independent variables (profit margin, liquidity ratio, and the dummies collection, credit, size, and crisis) using panel vector autoregression during the period 2004-2013 considering data from eight European countries. The results indicate that net trade credit is negatively influenced by crises, forcing firms to use it less due to survival effects but imposing higher trade restrictions. Notwithstanding, net trade credit to sales is positively influenced by the liquidity ratio and profit...

Optimizing the Structure of the European UnionBudget Expenditure

Andrii Boiar

Prague Economic Papers 2019, 28(3):348-362 | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.698  

The article discusses which policies and to what extent should be financed from the EU budget and/or from the national budgets of the EU member states to satisfy the rationale and efficiency point of view. To answer these questions we discuss the existing approaches and apply the most relevant ones (in particular the theory of fiscal federalism and public sector economics) to examine the current structure of the EU budget expenditures. We conclude that there are few EU policies that would be more efficient if they were more fiscally centralized and there is a policy that should be brought down to national (regional) level.

Female Leadership and Firm Performance

Arlette Beltran

Prague Economic Papers 2019, 28(3):363-377 | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.695  

This study explores whether companies´ experience benefits when the firm's CEO and owner are both women. It employs data from the 2009-2014 World Bank Enterprise Surveys (WBES) to measure firms' performance through growth in sales and productivity. Potential endogeneity was corrected by using the UN Gender Development Index and the average fertility rate as they comply with the exclusion restrictions. The paper uses the Control Function method with a Probit first stage estimation and an OLS main equation. The findings suggest that a female owner strengthens the female CEO's business skills and leads to better firm performance than when the CEO...

Book reviews

The Future of Economics in the Sociological Point of View

Dagmar Brožová

Prague Economic Papers 2019, 28(3):378-381 | DOI: 10.18267/j.pep.716  

Granovetter, M.: Society and Economy. Framework and PrinciplesCambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2017.ISBN 9780674975217