Publications - Monographs and Scientific Edited Books

The global economic conjuncture has shown in the past year (2010) a recovery, albeit fragile, of relatively high growth. This growth, however, many institutions and theorists initially questioned, given the huge financial incentives by individual governments. Pessimists even went much further by questioning the merits of these incentives and considered them inappropriate for government intervention in the economy, especially in the so-called redemption of toxic assets. Economic developments in the first quarter of this year (2011) in many major developed economies confirmed the optimistic outlook for economic growth that even exceeded last year's forecast. Today we can say that the global economy, albeit with some turbulence is out of the worst crisis, but is facing major challenges considerably, which can be an obstacle to further economic growth, or even to sustain the recovery.

The first challenge is the consolidation of public finances in many European countries, especially the so-called peripheral Eurozone countries. The second challenge, which applies to all countries, but especially in emerging and developing countries, is to cope with the high prices of primary commodities. Another challenge for the global economy is to reduce the unemployment rate, which troubled most of the world. Job creation is one of the key tasks of the Government at present time.

The solution to this problem is to increase private consumption, increase production, increase savings and investment and increase economic growth, which ultimately leads to an increased in standard of living. Given the present global developments in output, especially after the deep crisis, it can be concluded that the recovery of the global economy in the short and medium term is sustainable. But adopted anti-crisis measures and post-crisis adaptation policies are not sufficient to prevent a repeat of the global financial and economic crisis, particularly when there is near consensus that the recent financial and economic crisis was the result of systemic failure in the international financial markets and in the whole system functioning of the global economy.

Last crisis has revealed weaknesses in the mechanisms of functioning of the entire economic system at both national and transnational level. Global imbalances are one of the key areas that caused the last crisis, and it remains unnoticed, or in other words, as if it were relegated indefinitely, which can be considered a time bomb of the global economy.

The present monograph is dedicated not only to the professional and business community, but to students of economics, as well. The monograph is divided into 10 chapters in four blocks. Despite the valuable conclusions drawn by this monograph, which the monograph brings as a contribution to Slovak economic literature, many unanswered questions remain open, and no doubt they will be a subject of further research.