Journal of Economics - Obsahy ročníkov

This paper studies the implications of the zero lower bound (ZLB) on interest rates for the size of fiscal multipliers. The analysis is carried out in an extended version of the ECB’s New Area-Wide Model, which contains various fiscal instruments. The results show that the size of fiscal multipliers depends heavily on the length of the period during which the interest rate is binding. Government consumption is the most efficient instrument of fiscal policy; the value of its multiplier is well above one and can even be double for a long time at the ZLB. The multiplier for consumption taxes is also influenced substantially by the interest rate constraint, but its value remains below one. The multipliers for social security contributions and labour income taxes are not influenced much. The behaviour of the government investment multiplier is quite tricky: an amplifying effect on output is present only when the economy stays at the zero lower bound for just a few years; when there is a longer time at the ZLB, this multiplier can even be negative. Keywords: zero lower bound on interest rate, fiscal multipliers, DSGE model JEL Classification: E52, E62

The relation between the levels of public expenditure and their impact on eco¬nomic growth and socio-economic development is long-term issue investigated by the public finance theory. Relevant answers to it are also of great importance for economic practice. The aim of the present study is to analyse the relation between the levels and structures of public expenditures and the Human Development Index. The study uses the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to identify countries that effectively use public spending to achieve the highest socio-economic development of society. The findings indicate that the total amount of public expenditure does not have significant impact on the socio-economic development; however public expenditures in “productive” sectors of public services (especially education, health and social services) have the potential of positive impact on the socio-economic development. Keywords: public expenditure, socio-economic development, DEA, health, education and welfare, Human Development Index JEL Classification: H51, H52, H53, I15, I25

The article provides the academic community and management practitioners with the results of an extensive empirical study conducted on a large sample of 777 managers about the perceived influence of selected organisational factors on managerial unethical decision-making. The findings indicate that factors that predominantly induce managerial unethical decision-making are the “profits-only” mindset of company owners, the unfair human resource management policies instilled in the workplace and the unethical behaviour of superiors. Results also show that the pressure to produce profits at any expense emphasised by company owners is strongly associated with managers’ interest in results without considering the way they were achieved. In addition, inconsistently with the previous theory, a revised categorisation of organisational factors eliciting unethical decisions is outlined based on empirical findings. This new classification introduces “prioritisation of economic results”, “violation of internal ethical guidelines”, and “situational tensions” categories. The study provides important implications for managers and grounds for further comparative analysis. In its scope and scale, it is the first study of its kind carried out in the Slovak business environment. Keywords: ethics, morality, managerial decision-making, unethical decision-making, unethical leadership, human resource management, tone at the top JEL Classification: M12, M14, M54

This paper contributes to the evidence that household credit relative to disposable income is a useful factor to inform house prices. This finding is observable both from persistent direct link between the two variables as well as from the relationship of credit with a residual of house price valuation equation. The latter has capacity also in its simplest form to identify overvaluation or undervaluation of property prices and relate them to actual market corrections observable over the post-crisis period in individual countries. Keywords: household debt, credit growth, house prices JEL Classification: E51, H31, R21

The main objective of this paper is to analyse the impact of trend variables on the predictive ability of the models constructed using two methods: discriminant analysis and decision tree technique. The second objective is to develop a new model with prediction accuracy higher by at least 10% in comparison with other models being currently used in the Slovak business environment (Altman model, Index IN05). After analysing and comparing these methods, we came to the conclusion that the most suitable method for developing the model was the decision tree technique. Using this technique we were able to extract classification rules for bankruptcy prediction and achieve predictive ability of about 85% which, in comparison with other models, showed higher predictive performance by about 10%. Moreover, we confirmed that by applying the dynamic approach predictive ability of the decision tree increased; however we did not derive the same result using the discriminant analysis method. Keywords: bankruptcy prediction models, failure, discriminant analysis, decision tree JEL Classification: G33, C81, C36