Journal of Economics - Obsahy ročníkov

The article analyzes post-contractual behavior on a sample of 200 randomly selected public works contracts, awarded in 2013, where it was possible to trace information about the final price. The study looks for factors, which have a statistically significant effect on the ratio between the actually paid price and tendered price. The findings are compared with similar studies in Slovakia. The model identifies a number of bids for a statistically significant indicator having a positive effect on the relationship between the actually paid price and the tendered price. Conversely, the ratio between the estimated and actual tendered amounts, as well as the use of subcontractors are seen as factors with a negative impact. Keywords: public procurement, post contractual behaviour, efficiency JEL Classification: H57, H72, H77

In a blinded, randomized Ultimatum game we study the decision rates using two different reward systems. We discuss the individual value perception and explain why we decided to test a non-monetary reward against the standard low stake monetary reward. We demonstrate that the value systems based on two different, inconvertible currencies lead to different decision rates in the same population. We provide the details of our single blind randomized protocol and discuss other protocol modifications designed to demonstrate the variability of the offer and/or response rates in the Ultimatum games. We provide our concept of rational, non-rational and irrational components contributing to the decision making process in different accord depending on the individual perception of the reward value and confront our experimental findings with the key assumptions provided by other authors. Keywords: ultimatum game, value, utility JEL Classifications: C70, C90, D80

Lack of financing is an important obstacle for growth and development of small and medium-sized enterprises all over the Europe. This paper reveals the effect of the sovereign stress on the financing of small businesses from Euro area economies that have suffered most, denoted as stressed economies. The main finding is that 37% of the firms in the researched sample were either rejected on their loan application or their loan application was accepted but refused due to high costs. Also, the heterogeneity across firms plays a significant role when it comes to loan granting, older firms with higher turnover are less likely to be rejected on their loan application. The firms in the stressed countries are most likely to be refused in their bank loan application after the crisis unfolded and have a higher probability of not applying to a bank loan compared to the firms from the non-stressed economies. Keywords: sovereign debt, credit access, SMEs JEL Classification: D22, G21, H63

The article deals with the identification of factors of the standard of living. Ambiguous definition of the term “standard of living” requires for its quantification sufficient theoretical knowledge from the methodology field. The principal component analysis (PCA) was used to reduce the extensive amount of factors of the standard of living as well as for the determining of the most important ones. Data mining was used to compare the use of the PCA with various classification algorithms and later on it was tested with developments of the feature selection. The methods were applied on the sample of 2 783 respondents from 5 EU countries which represents areas of cultural similarities. The result of this effort is reduction from 99 considered factors of standard of living to final 45. Data mining helped to exclude 30 attributes and thus the final amount is set to 69. In case of comparison of these methods and their results it seems more appropriate the PCA over the feature selection method. Keywords: factors, standard of living, principal component analysis, data mining, feature selection JEL Classification: I31, C80, H31

An evaluation culture in the EU Cohesion Policy is developing. It applies a more rigorous approach than few years ago. Although the European Commission is introducing a requirement for impact evaluations, such evaluations are still rare. Employment is one of the core objectives of EU policies. Application of the counterfactual impact evaluation on the EU Cohesion Policy enables the inquiry into how one of the most important EU policies operates. The analysis comprises a sample of 373 supported and 202 rejected applicants. The appraisal experts´ approach to applications is used as an instrumental variable to estimate the impacts of the assistance from the European Social Fund in Czech companies through interventions aimed at training of employees. The results indicate positive effects of the European Social Fund’s assistance in companies even one year after the support ended. The estimates vary between 3 838 and 5 513 created or saved jobs. Keywords: counterfactual impact evaluation, cohesion policy, training, European Social Fund, employment JEL Classification: J48, M53