Journal of Economics - Obsahy ročníkov

The main features of economic development of the Slovak Republic in the year 2004 are the following: the first one, strengthening of already in the previous years quite respectable growth dynamics; and the second one, maintaining macro-economic stability above its average level being achieved in the whole period of the Slovak economy transformation. Positive features that are reflected not only in the values of macro-economic development indicators, but also in the improving results of corporations´ business activities, are not sufficiently projected into a social situation of population. In the year 2005, we can expect certain slow-down in economic growth rate, together with demand moving into an area of population demand and with preserving of quite strong investment demand. Keywords: economic growth, economic policy JEL Classification: E60, H50, O10

This article analyses, in first part, the results of Economic and Monetary Union achieved over the first five years of its existence and concludes, that actual the balance of euro is not definite. On the one hand there is the growing international role of euro, which has become the first real competitor of dollar. On the other hand there is the slow growth of economic performance of Euro zone, which has become the most backward region of the world economy. Keywords: economic performance of EMU, risks of EMU, hypothesis of endogenouity, asymmetrical structure of EMU JEL Classification: E52; F15; F33

This paper analyses development of the knowledge intensive business services (KIBS) in the small EU economies. After examination of historical trends in growth in KIBS the paper analyses relation between the KIBS consumption and development of the knowledge-based economy via an econometric model. The model identified employment in the KIBS, KIBS imports and investments in R&D as major factors behind increases in high-tech exports and EPO patents in period 1993 – 2003 in 13 small EU member countries. The concluding part of the paper sets development scenarios for growth in KIBS and advance of the knowledge-based economy in Slovakia. Keywords: knowledge-based economy, knowledge intensive business services JEL Classification: O31, O33

Since May 2004 is the Slovak Republic a member of the EU, thus the development of its industry has to be shaped by trends of these of EU. To leverage the existing gap between SR and most developed EU countries the presence of a strong and competitive manufacturing sector is crucial. The main aspiration of the submitted paper, which was supported by Science and Technology Assistance Agency under the contract No. APVT-51-023602 is to compare the Slovak industry, in particular it’s manufacturing defined as NACE 15 – 36 industries with selected 8 small EU economies – Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands and Sweden according to transition to information society. Since vital according to knowledge-based economy have been technology more intensive branches above all the ICT manufacturing focuses the comparison mainly on these branches. Keywords: manufacturing, ICT manufacturing, knowledge-based economy, technology intensity, European Union, small economies JEL Classification: F02, L60, L63 O57, O14

The article examines the significance of institutional quality for economic performance during transition. Institutions are the rules of the game. In any economy the most important institutions are the legal system and its quality, the state, the structure of the financial system and the system of international relations. The process of economic transition was mainly a process of massive institutional changes which were spurred by economic causes and also themselves had significant economic consequences. The article examines the institutional changes in transition economies and shows that institutions matter. To prove this, first a simple descriptive method was used, followed by econometric testing: a panel data analysis and an extreme bounds analysis to check the robustness of the results. Keywords: economic transition, institutions, economic growth JEL Classifications: O11, O57, P16