Journal of Economics - Obsahy ročníkov

In this paper, we are looking for an answer to the long-standing question how the households tend to distribute their income between consumption and savings. We have decided to analyse householder behaviour in the euro area using quarterly data for euro area countries over the time horizon 2000 – 2018 to estimate marginal propensity to consume, marginal propensity to save, and to compare the saving dynamics with monetary policy and country wealth. We first considered panel regression model estimated using Arellano-Bond estimator for aggregate euro area level. This model was altered by an autoregressive time series model applying the Newey-West standard errors for individual countries. The results show that the Global Financial Crisis was an important break-even in saving habits of European households. Finally, we have identified four country groups based on the relationship between the economic performance of euro area countries and saving habits of households. Keywords: marginal propensity to consume and to save, monetary policy, country’s wealth; JEL Classification: E52, E58, C22, C58

A convergence process, defined as the process of the economic indicators harmonization within the European Union, can be observed from the nominal and the real point of view. Real convergence is a quite interesting issue since it has a long-term influence on the growth and development of this regional integration as a whole and its competitive position in the global market. Therefore, the topic of this paper refers to the measurement of real convergence in the EU during the period from 2004 to 2016, using the entropy method. The entropy method is a fairly suitable method for investigation of real convergence since it measures the divergence across the sub-systems of a certain system (in this case, the EU member countries) by the level of entropy. In this paper, the real convergence is measured by the PPP-based GDP per capita, the unemployment rate, the GDP per worker and the gross capital formation (as % of the GDP). The obtained results pointed out that the most pronounced differences among EU economies exist in labor productivity, represented by GDP per worker, while the differences in domestic investment, expressed by gross capital formation, were the lowest. Keywords: real convergence, the EU, European integration, the entropy method; JEL Classification: O47, O52, F15

The Slovak hospital sector is characterized by overcapacity in the total number of beds due to inherited infrastructure. In this paper, we use the Data Envelopment Analysis technique to optimize the number of beds for 62 Slovak hospitals. Models with variable and constant returns to scale are used. Moreover, our models account for the quality of hospital care as well as the long-standing problem of a low number of medical staff. Based on the calculated technical efficiency, the number of beds could be decreased by 20% to 33% while keeping other variables constant at current levels. A reduction of up to 10% in the total number of beds would be satisfactory in roughly 30% of all hospitals. Keywords: data envelopment analysis, beds, general hospitals; JEL Classification: I11, G18, C44

The membership expansion of EU in 2004 brought some challenges for post-communist countries which were expected to approach the EU average. Regional policy of EU provided new member states with significant support in order to catch up. Although cross-country convergence appeared, convergence within the countries is still not clear. Institutions can play a crucial role in economic development, especially universities. During 2007 – 2015 were Slovak higher education institutions supported mostly in convergence regions and the support should be seen in their better performance. A main goal of this paper is to find out whether the efficiency of Slovak public higher education institutions in convergence regions changed comparing to Bratislava region after the first entire programming period 2007 – 2013. A Data Envelopment Analysis is applied to compare years 2007 and 2015. The results show that public higher education institutions in less-developed regions in Slovakia indeed experienced a convergence comparing to Bratislava region, especially in the area of research that was mostly supported from Structural Funds. Keywords: higher education institutions, regional policy, cohesion policy, data envelopment analysis, institutional convergence; JEL Classification: I23, R58

This paper discusses a selected product of the payout phase of the old-age pension saving scheme in Slovakia which is stated by Act 43/2004 Coll. on the Old-Age Pension Saving Scheme, in Article 46. It models and analyses the amount of pension annuities in the designed product according to mortality rates, euro area yield curves, specific composition of the insurance strain, expenses and other requirements of the authorities of the European Union and Act 39/2015 Coll. Additionally, the paper provides answers to current questions about the payout phase of pension savings. It points to all aspects relating to the determination of the amount of future pensions. Keywords: retirement age, old-age pension product, yield curve, annuity, risk loading; JEL Classification: G22, G28