Journal of Economics - Obsahy ročníkov

We estimate a food demand system for Slovakia using a recent Household Budget Survey data collected by the Slovak statistical office covering the period 2004 – 2010. The Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System (QUAIDS) augmented with demographic, regional and expenditure controls is employed based on preliminary non-parametric Engel curve analysis. Results indicate that demand for dairy products and fruits and vegetables is expenditure and own-price elastic indicating that such goods are perceived as luxuries. On the other hand, commodity bundles such as cereals, meat and fish and other food are found to be normal goods with positive budget elasticity smaller than one and price inelastic demand. Rural and low-income households appear more expenditure and, especially, price sensitive compared with the urban and high-income ones. Overall the food consumption patterns changed and food security situation improved in Slovakia between 2004 and 2010. Keywords: elasticity, food demand, QUAIDS, Slovakia JEL Classification: D12, I12, O52, Q18

The problem of high unemployment has stigmatized the Slovak labour market for several decades. Policy makers have espoused ambitions to solve this problem but with varyingly small degrees of success. One of the measures of labour market policy can be direct financial support directed at job creation for the unemployed. This article aims to analyse and develop a procedure useful for estimating the effective amount of state subsidies for such kinds of job creation policy. The results indicate that the proposed methodology could be a useful tool to evaluate the upper limit of subsidies. Keywords: costs of unemployment, labour market policy, unemployment, cost benefit analysis JEL Classification: E24

Post-communist states of the European Union traditionally score in various rankings of indicators that deal with the degree of (perceived) corruption significantly worse than most of the old EU member states. One of factors that strongly influence the unfavourable rating in these areas is a situation on the public procurement market. The presented paper aims by use of quantitative analysis to determine the extent to which are the level of corruption and public sector efficiency linked to selected indicators dealing with the situation on the public procurement market. The paper deals with two main topics. Firstly we discuss the procurement market from the macro-perspective. Secondly we have prepared two econometric models, which are analysing the relationship between level of corruption/efficiency of the public sector and selected indicators of the situation on the public procurement market (e.g. average number of bids, intensity of the competitive effect). The results schow, that there is statistical significant relationship. Keywords: competitive effect, corruption, European Union, public pro-curement JEL Classification: H57, H11

This article aims to examine whether any causal relationships exist among different types of entrepreneurial activity and economic growth. The theory and some empirical evidence proved positive outcomes of entrepreneurial activity, but mixed evidence on the role of entrepreneurship in economic growth. For the purposes of empirical testing, a longitudinal analysis was employed for 24 differently developed countries to estimate the relationship between different types of entrepreneurial activity and GDP growth rate, controlling for the impact of countries’ developmental stage and time. The data were obtained from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor database and complemented with data from other international sources. The results confirmed that entrepreneurship activity, especially innovation- -oriented one, is correlated with economic growth, but this relationship is influenced by the economy’s developmental stage as well as by specific characteristics of certain years included in the analysis. Our results indicate that governmental interventions cannot be the same for all countries; rather, they have to be adjusted to the specific developmental stage of the national economy and type of entrepreneurship. Keywords: entrepreneurial activity, economic growth, developmental stage, economic policy, longitudinal study JEL Classification: L26, M13

The aim of this paper is to assess whether mergers of companies in the Czech Republic affect the profitability and returns of merged companies in the period of three years after the merger. The analysis is based on a sample of over 300 Czech companies implementing mergers in 2001 – 2010. This sample was created using data from the Trade Bulletin and Trade Register of the Czech Republic. The analysis used basic statistical tests verifying the statistical significance of the particular explored indicators of merging and merged companies three years after the merger in relation to the same indicators at the moment of merger. The explored indicators were net earnings after taxes (EAT), return on assets (ROA) and return on equities (ROE). The period of three years after the merger was chosen due to the reduced influence of some accounting methods requiring revaluation or exclusion of some assets from the balance sheet of the merged company. Keywords: mergers, earnings after taxes, return on assets, return on equities, effects of mergers, statistical tests JEL Classification: G34