Journal of Economics - Obsahy ročníkov

Recently the popularity of fiscal rules has been increasing also due to the impact of macroeconomic and financial shocks on fiscal sustainability. This paper reviews supranational and national fiscal rules implemented in the Visegrad countries (V4). Namely, we base the review and comparison of fiscal rules on the existing literature and the empirical data from the European Commission. According to the Fiscal Rule Strength Index developed by the European Commission, Poland’s debt rule as of 1997 received the highest ranking. Poland also received the highest score based on the aggregated Fiscal Rules Index in 2009. The most influential in this respect is the application of an early adjustment mechanism which is triggered once the debt to GDP ratio exceeds 50%. Empirical analysis showed that effectiveness of fiscal rules differs across selected groups of countries. Keywords: supranational fiscal rules, national fiscal rules, V4, EU, fiscal rule strength index, fiscal rules index, effectiveness of fiscal rules JEL Classification: E62, H50, H60

This paper evaluates the impact of the European Commission’s Proposal for a Council directive on the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) (COM(2011) 121/4). We analyze the impact of the apportionment formula to be applied to the CCCTB on the revenues of the Slovak state budget. The sample of our analysis is composed of eleven transnational corporations operating in the Slovak Republic and other EU member states. The results indicate a decrease in tax revenues under the proposed CCCTB system in comparison to the current national tax legislation. By contrast, according to the data available, the likelihood that Slovakia will benefit from the CCCTB system by collecting more taxes seems to be low. Keywords: Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB), tax revenues analyses, fiscal integration JEL Classification: E62

Knowledge Management (KM) is today a relatively well-established managerial discipline. A self-administered questionnaire is conducted to investigate hypotheses focused on Knowledge Management and managerial perceptions. The main research question becomes “what is the nature of this attitude and whether the perception of KM can be generalised or is specific to certain groups”. Data are processed using descriptive statistics, Pearson chi-square, Likelihood ratio, Cramer’s V, and additional supportive tests. It is apparent from the data analysis that a negative perception of KM prevails among Czech managers. Moreover, the study proves that there is no significant relationship between the replies of various respondent subgroups segregated by age and the non/existence of KM in an organisation. A shift in the responsibilities and the democratisation of knowledge are contrary to the ideologies and practice of doing business today in the Czech Republic. Keywords: Czech Republic, knowledge management, technology, perception, knowledge sharing, culture JEL Classification: M14, C12, D83

Although output gap belongs between important indicators of central banks, it is unobservable variable and it is difficult to measure it correctly. One of methods of estimating output gap is structural VAR (SVAR) model. The purpose of this paper is analysis of SVAR models with two, three, four and five variables. It will be shown, that all four models will generate same business cycle and relative high correlation coefficient. Afterwards, output gaps estimated by SVAR models will be comparised with output gap estimated by Hodrick-Prescott filter and it will be shown, that all five output gaps will generate the same cycle. Keywords: output gap, estimation, SVAR model JEL Classification: C53, E32, E37

This article deals with self-organizing migrating algorithm (SOMA) for solving the vehicle routing problem with time windows (VRPTW). Our interest in VRPTW arises from a real-life distribution problem in one of the regions of Slovakia (individual customers’ commodities delivering times were restricted by their available service time), where the previous distribution was realized on the base of solution derived with heuristic Clarke & Wright's savings algorithm with time windows. The importance of that problem follows from many practical applications as well as from its computational complexity, therefore the use of optimization techniques seems to be relatively complicated, and nowadays many researchers turn their attention to applications of alternative computational techniques that are inspired by evolutionary biology. The obtained solution allows reducing the total time needed by 16.2%. The presented approach could be used also for solving various economic problems with time restrictions in the field of distribution. Keywords: evolutionary algorithms, heuristics, self-organizing migrating algorithm, vehicle routing problem with time windows JEL Classification: C02, C61, C63, L91

The aim of this study is to contribute to the clarification of the relationship of law and economics from the aspect of law. Based on the above and taking into account the recodification of Slovak civil law and historical development, author of the study explores the possibilities of increasing the efficiency of private law. The relation of law and economics is determined by the historical development of human society. There was a wide range of social relations in the sphere of interest of the earlier legislation. This relationship gets new quality under the conditions of the transformation of Slovak economy. At present functioning of the free market raises the question of the state's role in the economy, in particular the legality and the limits of state intervention in economic relations. Keywords: law, economics, regulation, market economy, rule of law, private law codification, dirigist economy, recodification, public law, civil law, commercial law, economic law, corporate law JEL Classification: K10, K20