Journal of Economics - Obsahy ročníkov

While poverty has long been a phenomenon closely related to the life cycle of family, in recent decades is increasingly dependent on the economic participation of household members. In addition, this change in post-communist countries is associated with the economic and social transformation, which has led to an increasing income inequality. The study of relationships between work intensity and poverty is only at its beginning in transition countries. Using statistical surveys EU-SILC we analyse the specific effect of work intensity on two indicators of poverty – “at-risk-of-poverty rate“, and the “making ends meet” in the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic between 2005 and 2013. The analysis is set in the Central European context, which shows a relatively good situation in both countries. The work intensity of households is an important factor of the risk of income poverty and financial difficulties of households. In spite of a certain weakening, it keeps a high importance. Keywords: work intensity, poverty, financial difficulties, labour market, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic JEL Classification: I31, I32, J21, J22

We consider a game in which each of n players is invited to a meeting, and has to decide whether or not to attend the meeting. A quorum has to be at-tained if the meeting is to have the power of making binding decisions. We consider all possible preferences of the players. These preferences are assumed to be the same for all players. Restricting ourselves to symmetric Nash equilibria, we identify three different classes of preferences. In a first class the game has a unique Nash equilibrium, defined in mixed strategies. In a second class the game has two Nash equilibria, defined in pure strategies. In a final class of preferences the game has a Nash equilibrium in pure strategies, and possibly also in mixed strategies. If there is a mixed strategy Nash equilibrium, we show that the equilibrium probability of attending the meeting increases when the quorum increases. Furthermore, if the number of players becomes very large, this equilibrium probability tends to the value of the quorum. Finally, we show how the underlying game structure can also be used in other applications. Keywords: mixed strategies, attending meetings JEL Classification: D72, D81

This study analysed efficiency of heuristic strategies in complex financial choices. Some 200 naïve investors evaluated 15 financial products with eight attributes. Complex choices developed in two stages. Stage one employed non-compensatory strategies for reducing information burden, eliminating inadequate options and specifying a more narrow decision set. Attribute-based compensatory strategies accounted for a significant majority of strategies in stage two. Naïve decision strategies worked relatively well. Average Sharpe ratios and product ranks were higher than random choices of financial products. The best results were delivered by the normative strategy, however, at the cost of a high information burden. Keywords: financial choice, naïve strategies, efficiency of heuristics JEL Classification: D14, D81, G02

This paper presents the results of research into the discrimination capability of the Altman bankruptcy model. The authors are contributing in this way to discussion of the possible transferability of models that have been created in a different environment or a different time period. Efforts at model transfer are motivated by an assumption to obtain the same or similar discrimination accuracy for the given model as that declared by its creators. The tests performed have clearly shown that the discrimination accuracy of a model falls significantly when it is used in a different environment. This led in turn to an investigation of ways in which the discrimination capability of a model may be increased by means of the determination of new weightings for model variables and grey-zone boundaries. The accuracy of the original models was not attained, although an increase was seen in the discrimination accuracy of these models. Keywords: bankruptcy prediction model transferability, linear discrimination analysis, Wilcoxon test, bootstrap JEL Classification: G33, C51

Tourism is now the largest contributor to World’s national product. The economic impact of tourism is increasing steadily at local, national, and global levels. The goal of the paper considers the evaluation of 14 factors that affect destination competitiveness and tries to compare the competitiveness levels of European destinations. In this context, for evaluating the competitive indices of the mentioned countries must be determined weaknesses and necessary recommendations for the improvement of competitiveness measures should be taken. Secondary data, the reports published by the World Economic Forum and other international institutions will be used. Cluster analysis and standardized variables were conducted for the analysis of findings. The results of the study are intended to provide valuable information about the factors which affect the competitiveness of European countries mostly. Keywords: tourism competitiveness, Europe, tourist destinations, Tourism Competitiveness Index JEL Classification: L83, C43