Journal of Economics - Obsahy ročníkov

The aim of this paper is to analyze the development of innovations and research as the factors of building knowledge-based economy in the Slovak Republic. The phenomena of technological progress are examined on data on exports in the EU countries and in the SR according to technological demands, the structure of innovating enterprises share by technological level, mutual dependence between innovations (measured by number of EPO patents) and economic performance (measured by means of GDP/capita). In this connection also the contributions of total factor productivity, capital, labour force, foreign direct investment and GERD on the GDP growth rate are analyzed. The author identifies also the basic deficiencies in research and innovations in Slovakia together with a proposal on how to overcome them. Keywords: innovations, technological progress, economic performance, foreign direct investments, R&D expenditures JEL Classification: O31, O32, O33, O38

Over the last decade substantial changes appeared within the approaches towards industrial policy. The study in its initial parts monitors changes in the EU. It is notable that an old conflict was mastered between the sectoral and horizontal approaches. A combination of horizontal measures and their imple-mentation according to particular industries and their attributes results in a sort of matrix type of industrial policy. The industrial policy turns increasingly into that of a complex and systemic character. Key importance of knowledge and innovation for economic growth calls for actions facing specific problems con-nected with its creation, distribution and use in economic activities. Therefore, the second part of the study pays special attention to a model of knowledge-oriented industrial policy. It deals with its theoretical background, the changes in the role of the state and with policy instruments. Keywords: industrial policy, knowledge-based economy, knowledge, innovation, research JEL Classification: 030, L50, D80

The aim of this article is to identify and visualize the production chains in the Slovak economy by the means of average propagation lengths methodology. This methodology allows us to identify the economic distance between industries which measures the number of steps it takes an exogenous change in one indus-try to affect the production in another industry. The analysis for an overall economy is based on 6-sector classification. 30-sector classification is used for deeper analysis of production chains in relation to construction sector. Keywords: Leontief model, production chains, structural analysis, average propagation lengths JEL Classification: C67, D57, L16, L74

The submitted paper concentrates on the methodical aspects of measuring the relationship between potential competitiveness factors and the corporate competitiveness. We employ methods of statistical pattern recognition, particularly the sequential forward flow search algorithm (SFFS). The algorithm is applied on data from 432 companies. For these companies there was known their financial performance and there was up to 683 (each company) potential factors of this performance in our database. The text therefore summarizes the known approaches, describes the SFFS algorithm and proves its contribution to this field of research. An undeniable advantage of this method is its low demands on data: it does not require the normality or an a priori model. Also, it is able to evaluate relationships among many variables at once in acceptable time frame. The article presents the drawbacks of this method as well. Keywords: corporate competitiveness, statistical pattern recognition, factors of competitiveness, sequential forward flow search JEL Classification: C49, L25, M10

The paper analyzes selected examples of the impact that the economic crisis has had on the development of commodity markets and global economy. Authors focus mainly on the segment of energy resources, in which plays a dominant role crude oil and its condensates; It accentuates the highness of dependence be-tween financial markets development (USD), and oil markets. This paper de-scribes consequences of the energy markets development on strategic develop-ment plans of the EU. The revitalization of the global economy can only be suc-cessful if the result of coordinated strategic cooperation-oriented or even most affected national economies to international and supranational bodies, and without that they are not taken into account and target the interests of the vari-ous parts of the world economy. Keywords: commodity markets, economy crisis, energy security, globalization, industrial policy, oil market JEL Classification: B30, E62, F10

Despite the general conviction that it was during the Great Depression of the 1930s that the relation between the State and the economy was fundamentally transformed, key steps towards the shift within this relation can already be traced many decades earlier. “Wildcat banking” from the period of the 1830s to the 1860s is an example of a specific form of regulation imposed on the banking industry. In the work we are attempting to refute the myth that wildcat banking is an example of unsuccessful operation of so-called free banking. It is failure of the regulation which is identified as the reason for instability of this form of banking operation. As far as effects of regulatory measures are concerned in general, this historical period (or experience) can offer valuable parallels with the cause of the current global economic crisis at the beginning of the third mil-lennium. These similarities are discussed in the last chapter of our work. Keywords: wildcat banking, regulation, global economic crisis JEL Classification: G01, G28, N11