Publications - Monographs and Scientific Edited Books

The economy, like society as a whole, changes a little every year. We have been noticing this on the pages of the publications "Economic Development of Slovakia" for the 28th time. But there are also such moments in the development of economies when it is clear to the observer that these are not "common" developmental changes. The year 2020 was undoubtedly such a moment. It probably sounds provocative, but from the point of view of observers and researchers, it was a good year – he gave a lot of research topics. Paradoxically, unpleasant, societystressing economic shocks tend to be attractive times for researchers.

It has become a good habit that every year our publication has one of its central motifs, a crosscutting issue on which it focuses its attention. In assessing economic developments in 2020, it would be difficult to compete with the issue of the effects of the coronavirus crisis. Therefore, we selected it as a central area of interest. But we don’t just want to see it as a phenomenon that shook the economy that year. Rather than a phenomenon that shook the economy, but also changes it more permanently (therefore, in the subtitle, the term "is changing" and not "changed"). We are, of course, noticing the shock and the changes in economic parameters brought about by the pandemic crisis and the associated economic depression, but also the longerterm processes and changes that are caused by them.

The team from the Institute of Economics of the Slovak Republic is preparing this annual analytical and evaluation view of the economic development of Slovakia since the establishment of the independent Slovak Republic. Although the title of a publication always contains a specific year to which the evaluation relates, this does not mean that close attention is paid to that year alone. We try to place development tendencies in the context of a longer period of time.

The sequence in this analysis progresses from an initial summary view through a number of more detailed views on subissues (selected areas of competitiveness, macrostability, market functioning and policy), to an indication of changes in the future trajectory of development.