Journal of Economics - Obsahy ročníkov

In the first part of the paper we describe the origin and the substance of Post Keynesian economics, which in the last decades became a distinctive, dissident stream of the contemporary economic thought. To its forerunners and founders belonged a group of Cambridge economists. One of the most prominent „proto-Post Keynesians“ was Nicholas Kaldor, whose work is appreciated in the second part of the article. There is described Kaldor’s „neoclassical“ period, his transition to Keynesian economics and his main contributions – particularly the theory of income distribution and economic growth as well as his critique of the theory of economic equilibrium and monetarism. Keywords: Post Keynesian economics, alternative theories of income distribution and economic growth, critique of monetarism JEL Classification: B19, B22, B31

The aim of the paper is to identify the factors of changes in economic development, in competitiveness of advanced economies, in the structure of labour force due to the growing share of mental labour on account of the physical one, as well as implementation of information and communication technologies, which led to the changes in the position of science and research. In conclusion the paper pays attention also to impact of these changes on formation of economic policy in advanced countries. Keywords: scientific research, economic development, information and communication technologies, competitiveness, economic policy JEL Classification: O31, O33, O38, O39

This paper explores some conceptual issues of regional innovations, which are essential topics in innovation policy assessment. After review of theoretical approaches to innovations and regional development, it turns to empirical evidence on regional disparities in wealth and innovativeness in the EU-member countries. It further analyses approaches to regional policies aimed at fostering innovation in private sector and considers potential data sources for policy evaluation. Keywords: innovations, regional development, innovation policies JEL Classification: B41, Q31, R11

This paper attempts to provide an answer to the question whether the recent surge in US real estate prices is fundamentally driven, or whether the current situation reflects bubble symptoms. This is a question of paramount importance since in the case of a bubble in real estate prices the question emerges if and how the Fed should react to it. Implicitly, also monetary policy in the euro area in these days is addressed as well with France and Spain experiencing exorbitant price increases of real estate during at least the last four years and the ECB trying to play down the dangers of this development for price stability. Our aim is to divide the valuation of the US housing market into a “bubble” component and into a fundamentally justified component. For this purpose, the US real estate market and its peculiarities are described and empirical indications of a bubble are identified. We contrast the empirical results with the ongoing question whether asset prices and asset price bubbles are and should be a matter of attention to central bank authorities in the process of monetary policy making. Keywords: asset prices, bubbles, Federal Reserve, real estate, monetary policy, inflation JEL Classifications: E52, G12

Economic development of the states may be described by various criteria or indicators. The values of some criteria may be higher for some particular countries, while the values of others may be better for other states. Some of the criteria values are maximized, others are minimized. In this complicated and often conflicting situation it is hardly possible to determine which countries have a higher level of economic development and are considers as leaders and which are lagging behind. Even some integrated criteria used for evaluation, e. g. annual gross domestic product per capita cannot reflect all aspects of state development. The application of multiple criteria evaluation methods may give an unbiased view of the economic state of particular countries. The data obtained in multicriteria analysis of economic development of the states show the effectiveness of this approach to studying complex processes mainly because it can provide an unbiased view of the actual economic situation. Keywords: economic development, multicriteria evaluation, expert judgement JEL Classification: C16, O10, P51

In this paper issues related to the definition of public finance are raised, different definitions of public finance are compared, attention is called to the differences, contextual contradictions of such definitions, eventually to the discrepancy with the practice of statistical reporting. The approach to search the definition attributes leading to distinguish public finance of other financial relations is related to the analytical concept provided by ESA 95 and GSF 2001. Keywords: finance, public finance, components of public finance, statistical reporting JEL Classification: E60, E69, H60, H69