Journal of Economics - Obsahy ročníkov

This paper studies impacts of disposable income and financial wealth on ag-gregate household consumption. The considered time period ranges from 1996 to 2005. Results confirm that not only disposable income but also wealth has significant impact on consumption. Moreover, we show that the most appropri-ate proxy for wealth is the sum of monetary aggregate M2 and assets invested in mutual funds. We also investigate the effects of interest rates and further rele-vant variables. It turns out these variables are not significant in the consumption function. The second main objective of this work is to evaluate different con-sumption forecasting approaches. We show that the most accurate in sample and out of sample forecasts originate from a vector error correction model with exogenous variables. Keywords: household consumption, wealth effect, VEC, consumption forecasting JEL Classifications: E21, E27, C53

The Czech Republic and Slovakia before their entrance to the European Union committed to fulfil all conditions necessary for introducing the common European currency. While in case of the Czech Republic appears as possible term of entrance the country to the Euro-zone year 2012 or even later, in case of Slovakia is in last months more often discussed about 1st January 2009, whereas it will depend on the level of fulfilment of Maastricht criterias of nominal convergence. Although succesfull fulfilment of these criterias appears as bottom line for entrancing new country to the Euro-zone, according to many experts, is more important to fulfil real economic convergence criterias. This contribution deals with a process of real convergence of these two economics. Keywords: Euro zone, euro, convergence, nominal convergence, real convergence JEL Classification: F15, C69

The article introduces cluster initiatives in the CR which were analyzed from the point of view of the industry development, financial health and the size structure of the participating companies. Pursuant to the analysis of the main characteristics of the industries, it was necessary to refuse the hypothesis that it is mainly the declining or stagnant industries that express interest in cluster estab-lishing. The interest in cluster establishing is expressed across industries, re-gardless of their economic performance. The results of the financial analysis carried out by means of basic ratio indicators and the index of bankruptcy and solvency IN99 supported the hypothesis that it is mainly the economically weak companies or companies that do not bring any value to their shareholders that are interested to participate in clusters. An analysis of the size structure confirmed the hypothesis that it is especially the micro and small enterprises that are interested to participate in clusters. Keywords: industry cluster, cluster initiative, innovation, competitiveness, small and medium-sized enterprises JEL Classification: L22, L25, L26, L53

Interdependent relations between economic growth and structural changes exist in the economy. While economic growth can be measured with one aggregate macroeconomic indicator such as gross domestic product or gross national product, in the area of structural changes the measurement is more complex. The dynamics and intensity of structural changes in the economz or their influence on individual factors of economic growth cannot be measured by one indicator or by one paradigm. Many different approaches and methods of measurement and quantification of structural changes exist in economics. In this article we tried to fixate on some of them; they were the index of specialization of sectors, index of concentration of industries, measurement of the intensity of structural changes, Lilien´s indicator and the indicators of influence of structural changes on the growth of labour productivity. Keywords: structural changes in the economy, measurement of structural changes, index of specialization, index of concentration of sectors, Lilien's indicator JEL Classification: O47, L16, O39

After accession to the European Union, the Slovak Republic should face global challenges which invoke pressure on the legal, regulatory and institutional framework of establishing flexible and competitive conditions for enterprises also in the field of Corporate Governance. Making the structure of boards as basic internal tools of Corporate Governance has an unsubstitutable role. The aim of this paper is to analyze theoretical starting points in establishing models of boards worldwide and also to draw attention to possibilities of further development of mechanism of internal control in enterprises in the conditions of the Slovak Republic. In conclusion, the author summarizes results of the study into recommendations to legally regulate the combination of both models of boards in the Slovak Republic. Keywords: corporate governance, board systems, insider and outsider control systems, board structures and their combinations, one-tier board system, two-tier board system JEL Classification: G30, G34

The aim of this article is to mention the importance of psychology in economic research. It is done by presenting laureates of Nobel Prize in economics, who most incorporated psychology to economics. We divide their scientific contribution into three areas: decision theory, markets with asymmetric information and game theory. Keywords: Nobel Prize in economics, psychology JEL Classification: A10, A12, N00