Journal of Economics - Obsahy ročníkov

The paper investigates the relationship between household wealth and financial vulnerability in the euro area member countries using data from the European Union Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS). The instrumental variable regression model based on the two-stage least square method was used to elicit the role of household financial vulnerability in wealth accumulation. To consider different historical development and implementing social policies, the analysis considers the household location (post-communist countries according to the Warsaw Treaty and other European countries with a core in Western Europe). The analysis results emphasise the positive relationship between households’ wealth accumulation and financial vulnerability represented by household indebtedness. Additional variables reflecting the households’ socio-economic and demographic characteristics are statistically significant, too. Debt service-to-income ratio, statuses of employment (employed and self-employed), and age of the reference person squared were driving forces of wealth accumulation, while age of the reference person, number of dependent children, employment status (retired, other), and geographical location lower the level of household wealth.

Similar to other developed countries, the Czech Republic implements socio-economic policies aimed at minimizing smoking. The objective of this research is to provide evidence of the real impact of increasing cigarette taxes on cigarette consumption and its structure in the Czech Republic. The unique database consisting of manufacturers’ subscribed cigarette stamps and all posted brand prices were collected by the authors over the past two decades and was utilized in the analysis. The analysis shows that a continuous rise in cigarette market prices does not motivate consumers to prefer low price brands or to reduce cigarette consumption. The research provides evidence that smokers did not minimize smoking but even spent more money on cigarettes, preferring more expensive brands or staying loyal to a favored one. This implies necessary changes in the market basket of the smokers’ households.

The purpose of this paper is to reinvestigate the properties of cryptocurrencies in the COVID-19 crisis as well as their co-movements with different asset classes including different stock markets, bonds, real estate, gold and oil. To capture the change in correlation caused by crisis, we employ multivariate GARCH Dynamic Conditional Correlation model. The findings suggest that cryptocurrencies can be seen no more than a diversifier for most of the assets. For real estate and S&P500 it is confirmed to be a weak hedge, while positive and upward sloping dynamic conditional correlations with gold obtained in COVID-19 period needs to be further investigated.

Projects are common means of implementing development co-operation. However, their success rate is a topic of numerous discussions as they are often delayed or delivered with increased costs. There are several reasons for this phenomenon, such as procurement issues, management issues, inadequate project design, and country specific causes e.g., inflation, corruption, natural environment etc. This study tries to establish what factors influence these overruns on projects funded by the Czech Republic and with the use of Pearson’s and Fisher’s tests suggests that financial results are affected by the type of implementing agency, developing country, type of financing, project size and project sector, while the schedule is influenced only by the project sector and size. Based on these results, a new risk factor matrix is introduced to determine how project management tools should be required on particular projects in order to increase their success rate.

The study provides estimates of the fatherhood premium for Slovakia from 2009 through 2018 using data from the EU SILC survey. We found that a raw fatherhood premium amounted to 22.26% from 2009 through 2018. However, when controlling for demographic and human capital characteristics, the premium declines to 4.90%. When accounting for the effects of partnership, the premium turns into the fatherhood penalty of 7.31%. We also show that the fatherhood premium depends on the household division of labour. For dual-earner families, fatherhood results in a penalty on fathers’ incomes that amounts to 9.23% (7.87% when controlled for demographic and human capital characteristics). However, this outcome is driven by two lowest deciles of male income distribution. The effect of fatherhood on men’s incomes in the male-breadwinner model when the wife fully cares for the home and parental duties (as well as high income fathers in dual-earners families) is exactly the opposite. The fatherhood premium amounts to 21.79% (7.22% when controlled for demographic and human capital characteristics).