The Impact of Aging Population on the Rise of the Health Care Cost in the Czech Republic

Population aging is believed to be a major factor behind the rise of health care cost worldwide. However, an increasing body of evidence in the literature on the subject of population aging and its influence on health care cost suggests that demographic changes play a relatively minor role in driving up the health care bill. Firstly, we review some available evidence. Secondly, we analyze the situation in the Czech Republic using financial and health care utilization data and demographic projections. Thirdly, we point out the main areas of health care responsible for the health care expenditures growth in the Czech Republic.     

Political legislation cycle in the Czech Republic

Politicians’ efforts to stay in office may lead to the occurrence of political cycles in legislation activity. The aim of this article is to analyze the political legislation cycles in a post-socialist economy of a young democracy, namely in the Czech Republic. Our estimation of the relationship between the number of approved laws and various explanatory variables suggests that the timing of elections has an impact on legislation activity. As an electoral term matures and upcoming elections approach, an increase is observed in legislation activity through which an incumbent government seeks to maximize its chances of re-election.     

Capital Structure of Insolvent Companies in the Czech Republic

International Advances in Economic Research -     

Enterprise performance and management turnover in the Czech Republic

We study the effect of management turnover on changes in enterprise performance, using a cross-section of 706 Czech firms over the 1993–1997 period. Controlling for initial conditions, equity holdings by managers, and firm- and sector-specific effects, we find that the appointment of new managers is associated with improvements in profit margins and labor productivity, particularly if those managers were selected by private owners. The results highlight the importance of human capital in transition economies in bringing about improvements in corporate performance.     

Increased sorting and wage inequality in the Czech Republic

This paper makes use of a linked employer–employee dataset to examine the evolution of wage inequality in the Czech Republic during 1998–2006. We find evidence of slightly increasing returns to human capital and diminishing gender inequality and document sharp increases in both within‐firm and between‐firm inequality. We investigate several hypotheses to explain these patterns: increased domestic and international competition, decentralized wage bargaining, skill‐biased technological change and a changing educational composition of the workforce. Domestic competition is found to lower within‐firm inequality whereas we find no evidence that increased international trade at the industry level is associated with higher between‐ or within‐firm wage inequality. The key factors driving the observed increase in wage inequality are increased educational sorting and the inflow of foreign firms to the Czech Republic.     

Evaluating changes in the monetary transmission mechanism in the Czech Republic

We investigate the evolution of the monetary policy transmission mechanism in the Czech Republic over the course of the 1996–2010 time period through the use of a time-varying parameters Bayesian vector autoregression model with stochastic volatility. We evaluate whether the response of GDP and the price level to exchange rate or interest rate shocks has changed over time, focusing on the period of the recent financial crisis. Our results suggest that prices have become increasingly responsive to monetary policy shocks. However, in terms of credible intervals, the stability of the monetary policy transmission mechanism in the Czech Republic cannot be rejected. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the exchange rate pass-through has largely remained stable over time.     

Military Industry in the Czech Republic and Publishing of Financial Statements

International Advances in Economic Research -     

Road Transport Externalities

During the last decade much progress has been made in defining & measuring the external costs of transport. As the cost of tolling equipment falls, the set of realistic policy options to internalise these externalities will continue to grow. This will determine the research and policy agenda. We make three points. Firstly, empirical work is still necessary to better identify marginal external costs, including congestion, accident and environmental costs. Secondly, any assessment of policy options should treat externalities simultaneously. The use of pricing instruments and emissions standards are discussed within this framework. Thirdly, we emphasise the role of government. Designing the optimal road-pricing institutions requires consideration of horizontal and vertical tax competition, while double-dividend arguments are central to the question of securing public support.