Politická ekonomie, 2012 (vol. 60), issue 5

Articles

Odhad míry návratnosti investic do vysokoškolského vzdělání podle oborů, pohlaví a regionů

The Estimation of Internal Rates of Return on Human Capital Investment Differenced by Study Fields, Sex and Regions

Savina Finardi, Jakub Fischer, Petr Mazouch

Politická ekonomie 2012, 60(5):563-589 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.864  

The aim of paper is to estimate internal rates on return on human capital investment in the Czech Republic. Internal rates of returns are estimated from the point of view of individuals and society. Authors did their own computations and estimations, which are based on some selected data: REFLEX survey, Eurostudent IV survey, data about wage development from Czech Statistical Office and from Information system about average salaries. Internal rates of return are differenced by study fields, regions and sex. Pares also reflects the current demographic situation in the Czech Republic and thoughts about reform of tertiary educational system including...

Kompozitný predstihový indikátor hospodárskeho cyklu českej ekonomiky

Composite Leading Indicator of Czech Business Cycle

Andrea Tkáčová

Politická ekonomie 2012, 60(5):590-613 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.865  

The main goal of this paper is to create composite leading indicator for Czech economy and its comparison with composite leading indicators created by OECD and Eurostat. The theoretical part of the paper consists of the methods that are employed for creation composite leading indicator in the world. We compare methods of OECD, Eurostat, Conference Board and the methods of Slovak and Czech authors. The empirical part of the paper is focused on analysis of 120 indicators of Czech economy and their selection on the coincident, lagging and leading indicators. From the group of leading indicators is created new composite leading indicator for Czech economy...

Indexy finančního stresu pro Českou republiku a Maďarsko

Financial Stress Indexes for the Czech Republic and Hungary

Milan Šimáček

Politická ekonomie 2012, 60(5):614-634 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.866  

Financial stress indexes provide a new tool for regulatory and public institutions, which participate in the supervision of financial markets and in the monitoring of the development of risk in financial markets. Our paper introduced a number of methods of building the financial stress index for the Czech Republic and Hungary. We have developed our indices based on the variables representing the level of financial stress by the movement of market prices of assets, which provides a higher frequency to the measurement of financial stress in the main sectors of financial system, ie. banking, money market, currency, fixed income and equity sectors. We...

Postkontraktační chování veřejných zadavatelů na Slovensku

Post-Contractual Behaviour of Public Contracting Authorities in the Slovak Republic

Jan Pavel, Emília Sičáková-Beblavá

Politická ekonomie 2012, 60(5):635-648 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.867  

The purpose of this article is to analyse the post-contractual behaviour in the procurement system, which we investigated in a sample of Slovak contracting authorities at the level of local government as well as central government. This is an analysis of changes in contracts that were concluded on the basis of the law on public procurement. While the pre-contractual phase is treated by law, in the post-contractual phase we can identify something like "a legal vacuum", which can be exploited to corrupt practices. Article examines how important (particularly in terms of impact on the price) are changes in the contracts concluded under the law on public...

Consultations

Progresivní nebo "rovná" daň - ekonomické i politické dilema

Progressive or "Flat" Tax - Economic and Political Dilemma

Beáta Blechová

Politická ekonomie 2012, 60(5):649-667 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.868  

There are currently held tough discussions among economists and policy makers on the most appropriate form of taxation that would be fair, simple, enough incentive to wage work and entrepreneurship and withal also providing sufficient revenue for the state to fund the services provided to citizens. In this debate two opposing views on the basic form of this system stand against each other, namely, whether it should tax the income in a progressive manner, as is the case with tax systems applied today in most countries, or in a proportional manner, which has been introduced in a limited extent in several countries, especially in Central and Eastern Europe....

Discussion

Rozlišení a chování variabilních a fixních nákladů

Recognition and Behavior of Variable and Fixed Costs

Jaroslav Wagner

Politická ekonomie 2012, 60(5):668-678 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.869  

The paper discusses particular issues of recognition and behaviour of fixed and variable costs in the cost model based on integration of advances in microeconomics and business economics. In the first part, analysis of cost drivers in cost modelling is focused. Following results of discussion analytical approaches to modelling of cost drivers are enhanced. In the second part, causes and effects of cost remanence problem in cost model are considered and cost remanence problem is distinguished from other parallel features of cost behaviour in the cost model.

Ekonomická historie: čím přispívá historický příklad k pochopení ekonomických jevů?

Economic History: What Are the Contributions of Historical Example to Understanding of Economic Phenomena?

Tomáš Otáhal

Politická ekonomie 2012, 60(5):679-693 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.870  

What are the contributions of historical example to understanding of economic phenomena? Economists widely adopt methods of natural sciences. But economics is a social science and the observed economic phenomena are qualitatively different from phenomena observed by natural sciences. Thus the use of natural sciences methods makes implications of economic theoretical models unrealistic. In this paper, I argue that the evidence of historical example is a good method to illuminate the implications of economic theoretical models, because if implications of economic theoretical models are illustrated in historical perspective, they can be more easily verified...

From economic literature

Mýtus racionálního voliče

The Myth of the Rational Volter

Marek Loužek

Politická ekonomie 2012, 60(5):694-699 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.871  

Postwalrasovská makroekonomie - naděje ekonomické teorie pro 21. století?

Post Walrasian Macroeconomics - A Hope for the 21st Century Economic Theories?

Petr Makovský

Politická ekonomie 2012, 60(5):700-704 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.872