Journal of Economics - Obsahy ročníkov

This paper examines structural dependencies within the national innovation systems of 125 countries in period 2006 – 2008. Some 37 partial indicators from the World Economic Forum and World Bank databases are aggregated into 11 independent and 2 dependent variables. Variable relations account for distinctive non-linear dynamics and are modelled via two-step cluster analysis and artificial neural networks. Overall quality of education system, property rights, law and ethics, and competition forces are identified major predictors for innovativeness. The paper also examines some assumptions by the varieties of capitalism theory on institution complementarities and level of innovativeness. No evidence is found for liberal (coordinated) economies having more efficient innovation systems than mixed ones. Keywords: national innovation systems, varieties of capitalism, neural networks, varieties of capitalism JEL Classification: O32, O43, P11

The European Commission reacted on the recent labour market developments in Member Countries with the communication New Skills for New Jobs (NSNJ). One of the main themes of this communication is that the highly qualified labour force is the precondition of development of competitive and sustainable economy. To meet these objectives there is an eminent necessity to invest to the right skills and to effective anticipation of future trends in skill needs. The study Skills Supply and Demand in Europe developed by European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) is one of the important contributions to the future labour market trends anticipation. The authors of this article are describing the modeling approaches and results of this study enriched by the results for the Slovak Republic. Keywords: skills anticipation, labouor demand, labour supply, labour market, skills JEL Classification: J21, J24

Small and medium sized businesses consider marketing and outlet processes to be a critical factor in gaining higher competitiveness. Increased usage of information and communication technologies and studies which validate a positive influence of these technologies on economic growth creates a question of effective management of investments into such projects. Hypotheses regarding the influence of chosen electronic services for outlet channels on chosen economic indicators are discussed in this article. The research was carried out using a questionnaire survey of European initiative e-Business w@tch. The results, on the base of decision trees, confirmed positive influence of chosen solutions and point to the fact that investments into these projects have to be directed at some of the high-effective tools, not at complex solutions. Keywords: e-shop, marketing, economic growth, productivity, impact JEL Classification: A12, L81, M31, O31, O49

The paper analyses the competitiveness of the branch structure of manufacturing industry in the Slovak Republic between 1998 and 2008. An analysis of the competitiveness at the branch level is performed as a national economy evaluation using a branch approach, with the consequent overlapping between the perception of the competitiveness at the macro and meso levels. The actual competitiveness of Slovak manufacturing industry was analysed by means of standard indicators at the branch level (RCA, Michaely’s index), and through the application of the market segmentation method. Keywords: manufacturing industry, competitiveness, indicators of the competitiveness at the branch level JEL Classification: F14, L60, O14

I investigate the fiscal policy in CEE countries using evidence from two of the most important economies, Czech Republic and Romania. A small open economy model with a Taylor fiscal rule is estimated on quarterly data for these countries. I explore the potential of counter-cyclical fiscal policy in the context of the ongoing financial crisis, the reaction of the fiscal policy to negative demand shocks or to a more relaxed monetary policy, as well as the impact of fiscal shocks. There are evidences that fiscal shocks during the last years behaved in a pro-cyclical way and it appears that the countercyclical potential of fiscal policy during the financial crisis remained largely unused. Keywords: DSGE models, small open economy, CEE countries, fiscal policy, monetary policy JEL Classification: C11, E40, F41