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Migration and Economic Voting Outcomes: Theory and Empirics from Moldova
Pascanean, Ludmila ; Gregor, Martin (advisor) ; Švarcová, Natálie (referee)
The focus of the present research is to explore several dimensions and their interconnections: migration, election results and implemented policies. It will analyse how emigration is affecting the elections results and voting patterns, of both, migrants and non-migrants, thus influencing the undertaken policies and institution development in the home country. This thesis is based on evidence from Republic of Moldova, an Eastern European country with a Soviet Union heritage. The study covers the years 1998-2010 using data for 6 election results in Moldova and data about emigration during the corresponding years. The key assumption, confirmed in this thesis is that with increase of number of emigrants to the West countries, especially countries of European Union, the percentage of votes offered to Communist Party decreases, while there is a positive connection between the number of emigrants to eastern countries, namely Russia, and the number of votes given to Communist Party. Therefore, the migrants have different voting patterns from non-migrants, which with time are passed to their families and connections in the home country, using the spillover effect and hence being able to change the political and economic institutions in the home country. Data is modelled using OLS and GMM. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
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Do public R&D subsidies boost competitiveness of supported companies in the Czech Republic?
Horák, Petr ; Teplý, Petr (advisor) ; Švarcová, Natálie (referee)
The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the impact of government non-investment and applied R&D subsidies on the firm level competitiveness. According to many literature sources the indicators of competitiveness are assumed to be Return on Assets, Return on Equity, Return on Sales and Asset Turnover ratio. The tool used to test the effect is counterfactual analysis. The subsidized companies are compared to a control group drawn by Propensity Score Matching, the effect is tested by Average Treatment Effect on the Treated and the difference in size of other financials is derived by Difference in Differences. The study focuses on two industries NACE C25 (metallurgy) and C28 (manufacture of machines). The subsidized companies show no added significant growth of competitiveness whatsoever. The financials (Total Assets, Equity, Turnover) grew, compared to the control group, only for industry C25. JEL Classification O31, O38, H21 Keywords R&D, Innovation, non-investment, subsidies, applied R&D, competitiveness Author's e-mail petr.rotr@post.cz Supervisor's e-mail petr.teply@fsv.cuni.cz
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Determinants of the Demand for Tax Haven Operations: Empirical Evidence from the Czech Republic
Burianová, Markéta ; Janský, Petr (advisor) ; Švarcová, Natálie (referee)
The aim of this thesis is to explore the firm-specific determinants of the demand for tax haven operations by Czech firms. Our objective is to better understand the firms' incentives for tax haven use, and furthermore whether there exists cross-haven heterogeneity in those incentives. The thesis examines the firms' tax haven investment behaviour by analysing firm-level data for 15,530 Czech firms for year 2013. To the extent of our knowledge, this has been the first research of its kind devoted to Czech firms. The evidence suggests that larger, more profitable firms with larger international presence are most likely to use tax havens. The analysis also indicates that higher firm indebtedness is associated with greater likelihood of establishing tax haven operations. This would suggest Czech firms engage in profit shifting through the use of debt financing. Furthermore, service firms were found to be more likely to use tax havens than manufacturing firms. This contrasts with previous research where R&D intensity was a leading indicator of tax haven use. Additionally, we found significant cross-haven heterogeneity in the determinants, particularly in the sector-specific characteristics. In our sample, service firms favoured Cyprus and the Netherlands, while manufacturing firms preferred Luxembourg...
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A Meta-Analysis of the Effect of Minimum Wage Increases on Prices
Vavřičková, Jana ; Havránek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Švarcová, Natálie (referee)
As an economically as well as politically sensitive topic, labor market interventions stir up discussions among professionals as well as general public. Most economists take negative stance against minimum wage policies providing arguments backed by theoretical reasoning rather then sound empirical evidence. Knowledge of labor market outcomes and their transmission channel to other segments of the economy are till nowadays limited and inconsistent. Neither empirical research in the field contributes to a uniform consent on the impact of minimum wage hikes on the price level. Moreover, the reported estimates display large heterogeneity and after a brief inspection reveal that the field is infested with publication selectivity. A uniquely constructed dataset consisting of 469 estimates of the price effect of minimum wage changes and their associated characteristics is analyzed using a set of statistical tools generally known as meta-analysis. The method is a powerful tool nowadays widely used in empirical research to synthesize and systematically evaluate sometimes inconsistent research results. While the study finds no consistent evidence of an actual link between minimum wage hikes and inflationary pressures, the empirical results show strong presence of publication selectivity. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
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Current Accounts in Monetary Union: The Role of Euro, Fiscal Policy and Financial System
Olešňaník, Tomáš ; Baxa, Jaromír (advisor) ; Švarcová, Natálie (referee)
This thesis examines the implications of euro for current account balances of countries using it. First, we summarize the main theoretical and empirical findings about determinants of current account deficits and possible implications of monetary union. Second, an empirical analysis of possible effects of single currency on current account is presented. We employ time-specific fixed effect estimator, corrected for possible endogeneity between fiscal policy stance and current account deficits. Our results support hypothesis of certain impact on current account balances as such. We also document positive effect of single currency on gross saving and investment rates. Our regression indicates that the role of fiscal balance and financial sector increased with introduction of single currency therefore implying less Ricardian behavior of private sector in eurozone. We further examined eventual break in the relationship between fiscal and current account balances suggesting that eurozone economies tend to become less Ricardian. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
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Pension Systems in a World with Stagnant Population and Market Inefficiencies: A Comparison
Štěpánek, Martin ; Baxa, Jaromír (advisor) ; Švarcová, Natálie (referee)
Financial unsustainability of pension systems in developed economies looms large on the horizon due to increasing life expectancy and continuous drop in fertility. In spite of a broad discussion, there has been but a little consensus on appropriate remedy. Besides, the theoretical arguments supporting funded pension systems often build upon the unrealistic assumption of stable financial markets and fair transformation of saved funds into retirement benefits. This work provides an insight into performance of various pension systems in real- world conditions using large-scale simulations of an overlapping generations model based on existing pension schemes in the Czech Republic, Sweden, and Chile. Specifically, my model assumes adverse demographics, individual un- certainty, volatile financial markets' returns, and administrative costs to affect social security systems and estimates magnitude of the effects. According to the results, each pension system seems to be partially advantageous - in pro- motion of economic growth, level of retirement benefits, or protection against market risks - but no scheme is dominant or dominated overall. JEL Classification E27, C68, H55 Keywords pension, OLG, simulation Author's e-mail Stepanek.Martin@hotmail.com Supervisor's e-mail Jaromir.Baxa@centrum.cz
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Economic Globalization and Tax Systems
Toman, Václav ; Schneider, Ondřej (advisor) ; Švarcová, Natálie (referee)
iv Abstract In this thesis on the effect of globalization on corporate income tax policies, we try to provide evidence that given the globalization-induced increased tax competition, countries are forced to lower their level of corporate income tax burden down to unsustainable levels or that they at least converge in their policies and levels of tax burden in order to attract international corporations through transparency. We find that no evidence to support such hypotheses is present in the OECD panel data of the last four decades with descriptive analysis, the general method of moments and the fixed effects estimation and we even find local evidence of an increase in the corporate income tax burden. Moreover, the OECD countries do not exhibit stronger convergence in their corporate income tax policies. Apart from the analysis of the general development of the corporate income tax burden, we find evidence that the level of tax burden is affected by the ratio of exports in the economy and correlated with the government indebtedness, outward FDI and the occurrence of the recent financial crisis. JEL Classification F23, F62, H25, H71, H87 Keywords globalization, corporate income tax, tax burden, tax competition, economic policy Author's e-mail vaclav.toman@gmail.com Supervisor's e-mail schneider@fsv.cuni.cz
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Current accounts in monetary union: Did Euro cause a shift?
Olešňaník, Tomáš ; Baxa, Jaromír (advisor) ; Švarcová, Natálie (referee)
This thesis examines the implications of Euro on current account balances of countries using it. First, we summarize the main theoretical and empirical findings about determinants of current account deficits and possible implications of monetary union. Second, an empirical analysis of possible effects of single currency is presented. We employ time-specific fixed-effect estimator, corrected for possible endogeneity between fiscal policy stance and current account deficits. Our results do not support the hypothesis of any impact on current account balances as such, however we document positive role of single currency for gross saving and investment rates. We further examined eventual break in the relationship between fiscal and current account balances. Our regression indicates that the role of fiscal balance as determinant of current account transactions increased with introduction of single currency therefore implying less Ricardian behaviour of private sector in Eurozone. Keywords current account, monetary union, fiscal balance, shift Author's e-mail tomas.olesnanik@gmail.com Supervisor's e-mail jaromir.baxa@centrum.cz
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A Comparison of Tax Systems in the Czech Republic and Italy
Sommerová, Darina ; Teplý, Petr (advisor) ; Švarcová, Natálie (referee)
In this thesis we compare the tax systems of the Czech Republic and Italy. At first we provide the major characteristics of their tax systems and then we assess the development of the tax burden, tax revenues and tax rates in both countries. Based on data from the period 1995-2009 we developed the regression models of tax revenues from four main types of taxes - corporate income taxes, personal income taxes, social security contributions and value added taxes. The models are designed to indicate the most important factors to determine these revenues and to explore which influences are the strongest. We address variables directly linked to the tax setting, e.g. the statutory tax rates or implicit tax rates, as well as the indicators linked to the country's performance and the economic cycle, e.g. GDP per capita, GDP growth or unemployment. As the major contribution of our work, we consider the final conclusions provided at the end of the sixth chapter. Based on our models we were able to indicate the opportunities to increase the tax revenues from different types of taxes and also to define the potential excessive tax burden and cases where further increases in tax rates are inconvenient.
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Evaluating monetary policy : the case of Ghana
Jílek, Jiří ; Hlaváček, Michal (advisor) ; Švarcová, Natálie (referee)
This thesis provides an overview of monetary policy in Ghana during the past two decades. A special focus is placed on assessment of inflation-targeting regime that the Bank of Ghana adopted in 2002 and became the first developing country to do so. After detecting the sources of inflation and a thorough description of monetary policy pursuit before 2002, the inflation-targeting regime is scrutinized. Despite the initial inability of the Bank of Ghana to meet its inflation targets, I consider the disinflationary process as well set. Optimistic expectations about the future success of inflation targeting, that the author of this thesis has, stems from the legislative changes that were made in 2002. Finally the credibility of the Bank of Ghana is identified as the main area for improvement.
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