Journal of Economics - Obsahy ročníkov

Adverse income shocks may have an eminent effect on short-term and long-term financial stability of individuals and households. Optimal response to risk exposure is driven by effectively chosen risk management strategies through combination of insurance, savings and other tools. However, individuals and households do not always make optimal decisions in these situations. The paper investigates the determinants of individuals’ decisions on the implementation of risk financing strategies. We test demographic, economic, and personal characteristics (including risk attitude and financial literacy) with the aim to identify relevant factors associated with different personal risk management behaviour. We use data from the survey in the Slovak Republic. We analyse the use of the two risk financing strategies, risk transfer and self-insurance, in coping with life and health risks of individuals. Our results show that level of financial literacy and risk attitude are important elements in personal risk management decisions, which policy-makers should also reflect on in an effort to ensure the financial stability of individuals and households.

The main goal of this paper is to estimate factors of tax evasion in the Czech Republic. Among other things, tax evasion reduces state revenues which fact leads to a decrease in the quantity and quality of publicly provided goods and services. Therefore it is necessary to ensure that taxpayers comply with their tax obligations. Firstly, we use the monetary method (cash/deposit ratio) to estimate the size of tax evasion in absolute and relative terms. According to our estimates, the extent of tax evasion in the Czech Republic was almost 3.6 percent of GDP in 2021. Secondly, we use multivariate time series cointegration analysis models to analyse the economic, tax, and institutional determinants of tax evasion in the Czech Republic. The factors negatively associated with tax evasion include tax overpayments, VAT revenue, and implementation of tax measures introduced in 2020. The positive impact has GDP, PIT revenue, CIT revenue, inflation, monetary freedom, Gross National Savings, trade freedom, PIT rate, unemployment, and average wage.

The contribution deals with the Slovak fiscal and budgetary policy as implemented and carried out during and immediately after the initial outburst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its primary aim is to test the existence of the impact of the pandemic on fiscal developments and to quantify it using the estimate of the overall cash-based performance of the State budget of the Slovak Republic in 2020 and 2021. Next, the paper sets out to analyse the degree of disruption to the Slovak public finances due to the expansive fiscal policy measures aimed at mitigating the pandemic effects in 2020 and 2021 (i.e. stabilising macroeconomic variables). Deviances in the current performance of the Slovak State budget are assessed using the combination of actual values and own forecasts (point estimates), the latter being sourced from the authorial SARIMA-based econometric models applied on the 2010 – 2019 quarterly time series of the Slovak Republic’s State budget cash revenues and expenditures. Particular attention is paid to the associated additional expenditures and/or reduced (missing) budgetary revenues.

The population aging might threaten the economic development and efficiency of EU Member States. Based on the demographic projections, the EU’s old-age dependency ratio (as proxies of population aging) will be almost double – from 31% in 2019 to 57% in 2100. This study focuses on the efficiency analysis of European Union Member States in the context of population aging. Utilizing Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and the Malmquist Productivity Index, we evaluated how demographic changes affect the economic efficiency of various EU countries. Our findings reveal that some states, such as the Czech Republic, Germany, and Luxembourg, demonstrate high-efficiency levels when considering demographic factors. The results suggest that technological advancement and innovation are crucial in addressing the challenges associated with population aging.