Journal of Economics - Obsahy ročníkov

The original intention of this paper was to explore how best to measure psychic distance; and more specifically, to test the criterion-related validity of a new set of scales recently made available by Dow and Karunaratna (2006). The empirical setting is inward foreign direct investment (FDI) in Slovakia from 1990 to 2007. The findings indicate that when predicting market selection and performance, a formative index of the new psychic distance scales is a signifi-cantly better predictor variable than the traditionally employed scale based on Hofstede’s (1980) dimensions of national culture. However, for predicting entry mode choice, the results are more ambiguous. This leads us to an unexpected result of our analyses. The classic TCE-based entry mode model does not appear to provide significant predictive power with respect to FDI entry mode choice in Slovakia. The implications of these findings are discussed in detail. Keywords: psychic distance, cultural distance, entry mode, joint venture, mar-ket selection, performance, FDI JEL Classification: F23, M31

The aim of the paper is comparison of efficiency of Slovak and Czech commercial composite insurance companies by data envelopment analysis (DEA) models. DEA models are non-parametric techniques for evaluation of efficiency and performance of the set of homogenous units based on solving of linear programming problems. The basic idea of DEA models consists in estimation of an efficient frontier that defines production possibility set of the problem. The efficient frontier is estimated from the data set that contains the most important characteristics influencing the efficiency of the units. The units lying on the frontier are considered as efficient and the remaining ones as inefficient. Their efficiency score is measured as a distance from the efficient frontier. The following characteristics are taking into account in our analysis: premium income, other income, insurance claims, operating expenses. Keywords: data envelopment analysis, efficiency, super efficiency JEL Classification: C44, C52

Despite the development of the service sector, industry sector for the Slovak economy continues to be a key. It employs the highest proportion of workers, forms a substantial part of GDP and its products constitute the largest share of exports. It is highly probable that the development of industrial production highly contributes to the growth of regional disparities. The main aim of this article was to statistically assess the development of industry in the various districts of the Slovak Republic in the two periods 2003 and 2007. Significant contribution is the comparison of the regional situation in the industry with respect to multiple criteria using the one dimensional analysis as well as comparisons using multidimensional analysis. Both analysis are complementary and thus allow us to provide comprehensive insight into the industry in districts other than the standard found elsewhere. Keywords: regional comparisons, the SR industry, size and efficiency of industrial activities, multidimensional analysis, principal components analysis JEL Classification: R11, C49

This paper focuses on the capital structure of Slovak firms and the influence of financial market imperfections on their leverage. We hypothesise that the distorted, low supply of bank debt in the late 1990´s was a major imperfection affecting capital structure. The importance of this imperfection was enhanced by the major role of bank debt in transition economies’ financing. Consequently the 1999 banking reform aimed at increasing the supply of funds. This paper uses annual observations from 1996 to 2004 on a sample of over 1.000 non-financial firms to explore variations in financial structure over time. A survey of the capital structure literature leads to an empirical model of the major determinants of leverage. The data is split into two sub-periods; 1996 – 2000 and 2001 – 2004, to test the hypothesis that the bank reforms changed key firm characteristics. The theoretical predictions are confirmed, and size, inter-enterprise debt and asset tangibility emerge as important factors. Keywords: capital structure, financial market imperfection, bank debt JEL Classification: G14, G32

The article is focused on development of the agrarian sector after the accession of the SR to the EU. Article evaluates the position of agrarian sector in the national economy, the competitive capability at the internal and foreign markets and the impact of business environment on economy. The effectiveness of companies under the productions is being analysed. In comparison with agriarian companies in EU, persist low efficiency of majority companies and small accent is given to the production intesification and to the cost management. Keywords: intesive cropping, efficiency standard, competitive ability, management of costs, benchmarking JEL Classification: Q13, Q17, Q18, A10, D21

The political and academic discussion on the global problem of climate change and its future implications have occurred mainly at the national and international level. However, communities and local governments can have a significant role in mitigating climate change by controlling greenhouse gas production at the local level. The Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) campaign sponsored by Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) assists more than 800 municipalities all over the world to adopt climate change mitigation policies and integrate them into decision making. There are 176 Canadian municipalities involved in this campaign while other policies and programs on the national, provincial and local level are also available to implement activi-ties to mitigate impact of climate change. The principle questions addressed by this research were: how Canadian municipalities contribute to greenhouse gas reduction, if and how communities benefit from those activities. Keywords: municipalities, local public services, sustainability, climate, global warming JEL Classification: R11, R59, Q20, Q54