Journal of Economics - Obsahy ročníkov

The process of monetary integration in general is followed by a set of rules. The well known Optimum Currency Area (OCA) criteria are basically structural while official, so called Maastricht criteria for joining Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) are nominal. Many economists agree that nominal convergence itself is not sufficient for monetary union to function successfully and that also a certain level of struc-tural convergence between the member states has to be achieved. In addition, in time of approaching eurozone enlargement the adequacy of Maastricht criteria is questionable. Whereas their modification seems to be politically unfeasible their flexible interpretation taking into account individual needs of the new member states would be desirable. Keywords: Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), theory of Optimum Cur-rency Area (OCA), OCA criteria, Maastricht criteria, convergence JEL Classification: F15, F33

This paper deals with science in Slovakia and European Union. In the first part is analysed science in Slovakia and described the Slovak science in the interna-tional context. The first part concluded that desired economic, social and techno-logical sources and institutional structures which were vital preconditions for the increase of fruition of innovation in the economic development are still missing. In the second part are depicted science prospects in the European Union. In the third part of the paper, tendencies in the Slovak research and development system up to 2015 is outlined. The resources are aimed at the following priority areas: development and use of advanced technologies; support to sustainable development; rise of innovation performance in society. Keywords: science, information society, Slovakia, European Union JEL Classification: O31, O38

Austrian School cames into existence in the process of the marginalistic revolution in the 70-ties of 19th century. Due to theoretical and methodological heritage of L. E. von Mises numerous unique ideas and theories have been dynamically developed. Austrian Schools is based on the theory of marginal utility, uses methodological individualism and subjectivism, rejects scientismus and excessive using of mathematical methods in economics. Ludwig von Mises percei-ves the economics as an integral part of human behaviour science – praxeology. Mises significantly developed the following ideas: the concept of economic liberalism, the economic calculations problem, theory of money developed on the basis of the theory of marginal utility and the monetary policy of business cycle. Keywords: praxeology, human behaviour, liberalism, theory of money, business cycle theory, state intervention in economy JEL Classification: B25, B31

This paper deals with oil prices particularly OPEC´s and their relation on the value of US dollar, and draws some conclusions about their correlation. In this paper were used annual figures for the main world currencies and oil prices, obtained from many sources below specified. International commodity prices are mostly expressed in dollars, especially oil prices, for example, in the IMF International Financial Statistics, or in terms of indices based on dollar prices. Such, oil prices are obviously affected by inflation as well as real developments, and also by the value of the US dollar exchange rate. There is a definite link between monetary policies, exchange rates and other factors and oil prices, and this is the subject which is analyzed in this paper. Keywords: exchange rates, US dollar, oil prices, gold prices, OPEC, business fluctuation. JEL Calssification: E41, E52, L71

Regional disparities resulting above all in lasting disproportional location of industrial capacities have shaped Slovakia’s development in recent years. The goal of the paper is to map regional employment differentiation in SR according high-tech and low-tech manufacturing sectors. To achieve this we worked with recent statistical regional data. We concentrated on a question if there exists a substantial relation between location of high-tech manufacturing and employment growth in selected regions. According our survey high-tech sector did not prove a very strong impact on total employment. However considering the changing structure of manufacturing in the future it will represent one of the most decisive issues of competitive growth. Keywords: employment, high-tech and low-tech manufacturing, regional differentiation, regional statistical data, regional econometrics JEL Classification: C10, L6, R3, R10

Due to the phenomenon of the technological paradox, much research has concentrated on measuring the impact of information systems and information tech-nology (IS/IT) on performance of companies. The methods and the focus of research gradually evolved as the economy shifted from industrial to post-industrial, with rapid expansion of IT. The methods are quantitative, qualitative, or combination of both. Previous studies identified a variety of attributes of a company that may be significantly affected by the introduction of IS/IT. The main contribution of this paper is the specification of methods which could be used to determine the relative importance of the selected attributes. We propose one of the following methods: i) multiple regression with data envelopment analysis, ii) inductive logic programming, and iii) factor analysis or principle component analysis. Keywords: information technology, impact, company attributes, regression, programming, analysis JEL Classification: C81, L86, O33