Vladimir Benacek

Charles University in Prague | CUNI · Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies

We discuss in the paper how the nature of collective goods requires that "politics" (authorities of power) and "morals" (social responsibility) are necessary complements of failing markets in order to make these markets perform. Considering the current state of economics and its teaching, our research led us to three conclusions: i) The orthodox ec...

This paper responds to Timo Airaksinen's assessment of the meaning of Kafka´s two main novels from a linguistic point of view. The main argument of this paper is that Kafka´s highly illusive symbolic style (form) of writing is not an art as an end in itself but serves purposefully to depict the circumstances of unhappiness in modern societies. In c...

The transition of post-communist economies in trade diversion and trade creation was the most successful and the quickest part of the systemic restructuring of these countries, which became an integral part of the world economy in 6-12 years.

This paper examines theoretically and empirically the extent to which the decision by foreign firms to invest in a group of countries is influenced by economic in contrast to risk factors, specifically, political risk and institutional performance. We consider their importance as drivers of foreign direct investment (FDI) for 32 European countries...

The author challenges the dualistic view of social, political and economic governance, where markets and hierarchies (i.e. the state and governments) dominated the theoretical field, especially in economics. A classification method for analysing the "fundamental ways" in organising human societies is developed and the authentic "third way" is found...

The paper quantifies the role of factors associated with the growth (or decline) of micro and small businesses in European economies. The growth is related to employment and value added in enterprises as well as to ten institutional variables. We test the data for consistency of behavioural patterns in various countries and gradually remove outlyin...

n this paper we study three crucial questions of economic decision-making: a) How are the people motivated in the choice of profession (career) and schools? This is also a decision that deals with the criteria for building the human capital of various specialisations. b) Can enterprises rely on the supply of new workers that should be qualified by...

This paper pays attention to two aspects of the good social governance: a/ To the strategies of such a governance that materialize visions and social priorities into operational guidelines, which can have a form of long-term plans. b/ To the practices of public administration competence that are illustrated on the conceptual evolution of CzechInves...

Based on the Czech experiences from the post-communist reforms, the aim of the paper is to shed light on why the early stages of transition in all post-communist societies offered so many opportunities to nomenclature and why the access to capital ownership could not avoid asset stripping. Special attention is given to the corrective processes of e...

Rozsáhlé reformy v zemích EU jsou reakcí na nové trendy objevující se ve světě po pádu komunismu, s nimiž je minulý vývoj "státu blahobytu" v západní Evropě často v konfliktu. Těmi trendy jsou: globalizace ekonomiky, politiky a kultury, koexistence transnacionální oligopolizace korporátního sektoru bezprecedentní vlnou fúzí a akvizicí se současnou...

It is argued in the article that the peaceful transition to capitalism in communist countries was not possible without the co-action of the nomenklatura, whose interest was to transform their informal access to state-owned capital into an authentic ‘grand entrepreneurship’. The necessary acquisition of physical capital was achieved by means of mass...

This analysis focuses on factors determining the transition of international trade in the Czech economy. Even though the Czech economy was exposed to several structural shocks during 1993–2002 and grew at a very low rate, its external trade flows sustained an annual growth at around 10%. The restructuring in the pattern of specialisation with the E...

1st ed. Chronologický přehled

By quantifying the determining factors of Czech trade during 1993-2002, this paper enriches the empirical trade literature with evidence from an economy that has undergone intensive structural changes. Our findings lend significance to standard macroeconomic variables such as aggregate demand and the real exchange rate. Apart from these, however, l...

This is in support of the governement program of transformation from the Soviet-type economy, to the free market economy in Czechoslovakia after the fall of Communism. The basic lines of the government program, that was outlined by Vaclav Klaus, are defended against the leftis criticism that favored either market socialism or the so called 'Third W...

The paper assesses the developments in the current accounts of transition countries in Central, Baltic and South-Eastern Europe. Attention is given to policy issues, such as the relationship between savings, investments and government deficits, reinvested profits, official transfers from the European Commission and private transfers. The overall si...

The paper assesses the developments in the financial accounts of the balance of payments in 15 transition countries in Central, Baltic and South-Eastern Europe. It is a follow-up of the IES working paper no. 49 of May 2004, that dealt with the state of current accounts in these countries. In contrast to the early stages of transition when the exter...

Using panel data for 29 industries, we test alternative specifications of Czech export and import functions. The balance of trade is primarily influenced by the real exchange rate, aggregate demand and tariff changes. Reduced growth of the Czech economy after 1996 was an important factor that has kept the balance of trade at a sustainable level in...

This paper is aimed at addressing general characteristics of growth and development that concerns all transition countries before their accession to the EU when their convergence to the EU average gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is expected. By looking back at the GDP statistics of major industrial countries for the last 90 years, a questio...

Many of the current problems of Czech economic transformation have their roots in the incentive structure and an in institutional environment that in the domestic enterprise sector have led decision making away from long-term productive orientation. This is the result of an intensive and non-standard mass privatization of state assets. Pressure gro...

In this paper we try to explain some restructuring patterns of Czech textile and clothing industries from a microeconomic point of view. We introduce two measures of production efficiency (the technical and the allocative efficiency) and look at changes in the behaviour of enterprises. In 1994, after the chaos during the culmination of transition (...

For many authors transition is understood as an institutional change due to fundamental changes in relative prices and/or changes in sociopolitical preferences, as outlined by North (1990). A radical change of this kind entails a transition to new equilibria in such characteristics like ownership, exchange, organisations, dominant economic agents a...

The functioning of the Eastern European economies received much attention after their changeover to markets after 1989. The peculiarities in the subsequent development in these countries posed several new empirical issues to be theoretically explained. The problem of finding the equilibrium real exchange rate (RER) and exchange rate stability in th...

This paper considers the evidence that has been collected on the determinants and effects of FDI in Central and Eastern Europe, with a strong focus on Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic. There are two main sources from which we draw information: survey studies and econometric studies. We consider how each of these can contribute to the field of...

If compared internationally, Czech Republic belongs to a group of countries with highly intensive foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows. Its analytical studies were confronted, however, with a shortage of reliable time series of industrial data on FDI. The analyses of determining factors of foreign capital inflows came to conclusion that foreign...

The aim of this paper is to delineate the determining factors behind changes in Czech trade flows 1993 to 1997. The analysis is based on econometric hypothesis testing by using the export and import functions in SITC 2-digit commodity breakdown and the option to trade with three alternative regions. Policy implications and predictions related to th...

If compared internationally, Czech Republic belongs to a group of countries with highly intensive foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows. Its analytical studies were confronted, however, with a shortage of reliable time series of industrial data on FDI. The analyses of determining factors of foreign capital inflows came to conclusion that foreign...

In this paper we aim at assessing the nature and patterns in the specialisation of foreign trade in a country in transition. We evaluate how the industrial specialisation in foreign trade was influenced by supply-side characteristics of production by using a variant of the index of revealed comparative advantage. Since industries and firms in an ec...

The growth of the Czech economy in 1993-97 was impeded by an insufficient response of domestic supply to 1) sharply rising domestic aggregate demand and 2) opportunities offered by the widening foreign demand for Czech exports. The authors examine and reject the hypothesis that there was a deepening in the industrial specialization of production an...

In the period from 1991-96 there were large volumes of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) directed to various Czech manufacturing industries and services. Our empirical analysis has shown that those enterprises in the manufacturing sector receiving foreign capital were generally both physical capital intensive and labour saving. At the same time, both...

All economic change, especially viewed in the long term, is connected with structural change. Its course brings changes in the Gross Domestic Product (with dominance passing from the primary sector to the secondary sector and finally to the tertiary sector). Hand in hand with this go major or minor changes in the sectoral structure of the overall e...

There is no doubt that the same economic regularities are effective in economies in the stage of advanced economic transformation as in traditional market economies. But the low productivity and relics of institutions from the totalitarian system make them very different. Some immature markets of these economies, e.g. labor, money, capital and real...

In the period of 1991-96 there were large volumes of foreign direct investment directed to various Czech manufacturing industries and services. Our empirical analysis has shown that enterprises of the manufacturing sector, into which the foreign capital was invested, were generally physical capital intensive and labor saving. At the same time, both...

The impressive and spontaneous build-up of the private small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Czech Republic in 1990-93 coincided with the similarly dramatic changes in the public administration and in the whole environment for decision-making. The resulting problems of SMEs in the Czech Republic seem to be common to all economies in tran...

We discuss the restructuring of the textile and clothing industry in two East European countries. The paper compares the industry there with that in Portugal. Even though this study is only concerned with one particular industry, it reveals how wide and intensive the problems of transition are. The case studies discussed illustrate many of these di...

The impressive and spontaneous build-up of small and medium-sized private businesses in the Czech Republic between 1990-93 coincided with similarly dramatic changes in the "alternative" (shadow) economy. This is the reason why the size of the private sector is significantly statistically underestimated. The origins of the new private entrepreneurs...

Czechoslovakia David Begg Between the wars Czechoslovakia was a prosperous market economy. Important legacies remain, but 40 years of planning have caused severe distortions. Can Czechoslovakia again become the jewel in the crown of Eastern Europe? Reforms began later than in Hungary and Poland, but are now proceeding apace. Traditional sequencin...

Current developments in the role of input-output analysis are examined after an historical appraisal of its introduction to world literature in 1936. The main principles are outlined and methods of its application discussed. The technicalities of input-output methods are compared with the science of economics, and an appraisal of its application in...

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether traditional formulation of trade theories based on factor inputs, costs and available resources can give a meaningful view of international trade mechanism of choice in a small centrally planned economy. The theoretical analysis is based on the existence of two different measurable effects from specia...

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether traditional formulation of trade theories based on factor inputs, costs and available resources can give a meaningful view of international trade mechanism of choice in a small centrally planned economy. The theoretical analysis is based on the existence of two different measurable effects from specia...

The paper aims at general statements concerning all 25 transition countries of post-communist Europe and Central Asia, even though it concentrates more on the transition in new EU-8 members and Russia. It discusses first the causes of transition and argues that internal forces pressing for more substantial reforms than perestroika were present in a...

The paper is based on the analysis of economic and social systems in the last 80 years that ended up both in the processes of transition, and globalisation. The paper is theoretic with an illustrative material on new features of social governance, including the comparison of transition economies with advanced EU countries. Author challenges the dua...

st tohoto příspěvku byla publikována v Hospodářských novinách, 18.5.2005, s. 11. Případ patnáctileté transformace kubánské ekonomiky je řadou paradoxů unikátního společenského experimentu, který v sobě snoubí tradici kolektivismu a nucených prací (post-středověkých encomiendas) s agresivní kapitalistickou globalizací. O to větší je záhada, jak se F...

Las fallas de la administración económica de los comunistas a lo largo de Europa Central y del Este resultaron en un dominó de colapsos políticos sin paralelos en la historia humana. Estos golpes, logrados tan fácilmente, se llamaron "revoluciones de terciopelo". Algunos especuladores políticos hasta se preguntaron si el desarme del comunismo era u...

Palabras Clave: Gobierno social; transición de sistemas; mercados; gobiernos; sociedad civil; crecimiento; sostenibilidad; justicia. Clasificación JEL: B52, P51, Z3. RESUMEN Este artículo está basado en el análisis de los sistemas económicos y sociales en los últimos 80 años y que terminó tanto en los procesos de transición como en los de globaliza...

The objective of this paper is to analyse the links between politics and economics in present Cuba and assess their external repercussions into the rest of the world. It concentrates on the chances of the EU-25 for striking a new balance in both the strained domestic (Cuban) social, political and economic situation, and the establishment of normal...

The objective of this paper is to analyse the links between politics and economics in present Cuba and assess their external repercussions into the rest of the world. Cuban society has been challenged for 18 years by a unique experiment in its economy and politics: a combination of isolation and attempts at changing the strands of globalisation . B...

The growth of the Czech economy during 1993-97 was impeded by low response of the domestic supply to both sharply rising domestic aggregate demand and the opportunities offered by the widening foreign demand for Czech exports. We had to reject a hypothesis that there was present a process of deepening in the industrial specialisation of production...

Transition is a global discontinuity in the evolution of a society. In economics it is characterized by an abrupt departure from one mode of economic behaviour, decision making and ownership to another: e.g. from a system of command to a system of market. Both polar concepts are described in the paper. The markets of a nation in transition out of t...

The basic objective of this paper is to design an appropriate structural model based on economic behavioural foundations, whose explanatory variables would represent the determining factors of trade specialization and growth in given country. The analysis of policy instruments relevant to trade is also a part of the study. The list of core explanat...

Publikováno v: Kabele J., Mlčoch L. (edit.): "Institucionalizace (ne)odpovědnosti: globální svět, evropská integrace a české zájmy", vol. II., Praha, Karolinum 2001, s. 133-148 Účelem tohoto materiálu je přispět do diskuse na úrovni ekonomické politiky státu a upozornit na alternativy a nástroje řízení v oblasti konkurenční schopnosti české ekonomi...

The basic objective of this paper is to test the microeconomic foundations of the trade specialization and growth, and the relevance of some policy instruments, as illustrated on the case of the Czech economy. The export and import functions are estimated as panels for the EU and the non-EU countries, desaggregated into industries during the time p...

The failures of the communists' economic management throughout Central and Eastern Europe resulted in a domino of political collapses unparalleled in human history. These coups, achieved so easily, were named "velvet revolutions". Some political speculators even question whether the dismantling of communism was a genuine demise and rather an attemp...

The aim of this paper is to search for the determining factors of the interindustrial trade pattern of a small open socialist economy controlled by a plan. In the empirical study, based on input-output tables for Czechoslovakia and Hungary, the tests of both factor proportions and comparative costs hypotheses are carried out. The traditional Leonti...

1. vyd Rozmn

1st ed.