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Russia’s imperial war and the need for assistance to Ukraine during and after the war
Švejnar, Jan
In this essay, I use a historical perspective on Russia’s and Soviet Union’s imperial ambitions to examine Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and the need for the West to assist Ukraine decisively during and after the War. I emphasize that the part played by the countries of Central-East Europe in western response has been critical, as is and may in the future be, in a different way, the part played by China. Western sanctions have not been very effective as Europe has continued importing Russian oil and gas and most western firms have not left Russia. At the global level, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine also pretty much ensures that no country will ever give up its nuclear weapons in return for security guarantees by the Great Powers.
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Essays on Exporting Behavior of Firms and on Inflation Persistence
Saxa, Branislav ; Hanousek, Jan (advisor) ; Kmenta, Jan (referee) ; Švejnar, Jan (referee)
Research Journal Articles Working Papers Research in Brief Series Dissertations Other Publications Featured Article Dissertations Date: Tuesday, June 02, 2009 - 10:30 Branislav Saxa: "Essays on Exporting Behavior of Firms and on Inflation Persistence" Dissertation Committee: Jan Hanousek (chair) Evžen Kočenda Lubomír Lízal Krešimir Žigić Abstract: In the first two essays, I examine the behavior of exporters and non-exporters using a rich firmlevel panel data source from the Czech Republic. The first essay reacts to recent literature on learning-by exporting and explores whether exporting firms are more productive because initially more productive firms self-select themselves into exporting or because exporting firms are becoming more productive. To provide convincing estimates, one must be able to disentangle learning-by-exporting from changes in company management that induce the company to both start exporting and introduce productivity increasing measures. Therefore, I compare estimates based on matching on propensity score, which do not control for potential management changes, to estimates based on an instrumental variables strategy. Specifically, I focus on firms that start exporting due to changes in the industry-specific ratio of producer prices on domestic and foreign markets. The results suggest...
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Essays in Applied Microeconomics: School Admission Mechanisms and Corporate Bankrupcy
Knot, Ondřej ; Roland, Gérard (advisor) ; Švejnar, Jan (referee) ; Filer, Randall (referee)
In my dissertation, I address two topics in applied microeconomics. First two chapters deal with the functioning of school admission mechanisms and their affects on student school choice behavior. Third chapter deals with the question of optimal bankruptcy law design. Pupil-school matching mechanisms play a critical role in the schooling system. They affect the behavior of students and-through the information they convey-also the behavior of the schools and the authorities responsible for education policy. In the first chapter (joint with Daniel Münich), using a computational simulation model, we analyze the functioning of an admission scheme used in the Czech Republic as a prototype of decentralized, ability-based admission schemes widely used in the world to assign pupils to upper-secondary schools. Our findings show large incidence of strategic misrepresentation of school preferences among applicants, large differences between revealed and trued demand, and large incidence of justified envy in the resulting matching. We point out several implication this could have for functioning of schooling systems. In the second chapter, I empirically study the behavior of students under the Czech pupil-school matching mechanism. Using district-level data on demand for public gymnasia, I find significant evidence...
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Essays on Capital Structure Stability
Shamshur, Anastasiya ; Hanousek, Jan (advisor) ; Švejnar, Jan (referee) ; Estrin, Saul (referee)
Recent financial literature claims that capital structure of firms stays unchanged during the long periods of time. In my dissertation I investigate the question of capital structure stability from different angles. First chapter asks whether the macroeconomic volatility could be translated to capital structure adjustments. To answer this question I consider CEE countries during 1996 to 2006 period since those economies went through extensive economic changes including transition from central planning to market economy, large-scale privatization, and substantial economic reforms to become the EU member. Surprisingly, macroeconomic changes are not translated to capital structure changes. Therefore, second chapter focuses on causes of such puzzling behavior. I find that credit constraints firms face in obtaining finance are responsible for the observed pattern. Unconstrained firms are more active in adjusting their capital structure in response to economic changes. Moreover, firm's ownership plays an important role in explaining leverage of unconstrained firms. Third chapter studies changes in leverage in the context of M&As. I compare the leverage of both acquiring and acquired firms using difference-in-differences propensity score technique. I find that there is an increase in the leverage of...
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Essays in Applied Microeconomics: School Admission Mechanisms and Corporate Bankrupcy
Knot, Ondřej ; Roland, Gérard (advisor) ; Švejnar, Jan (referee) ; Filer, Randall (referee)
In my dissertation, I address two topics in applied microeconomics. First two chapters deal with the functioning of school admission mechanisms and their affects on student school choice behavior. Third chapter deals with the question of optimal bankruptcy law design. Pupil-school matching mechanisms play a critical role in the schooling system. They affect the behavior of students and-through the information they convey-also the behavior of the schools and the authorities responsible for education policy. In the first chapter (joint with Daniel Münich), using a computational simulation model, we analyze the functioning of an admission scheme used in the Czech Republic as a prototype of decentralized, ability-based admission schemes widely used in the world to assign pupils to upper-secondary schools. Our findings show large incidence of strategic misrepresentation of school preferences among applicants, large differences between revealed and trued demand, and large incidence of justified envy in the resulting matching. We point out several implication this could have for functioning of schooling systems. In the second chapter, I empirically study the behavior of students under the Czech pupil-school matching mechanism. Using district-level data on demand for public gymnasia, I find significant evidence...
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Essays on Exporting Behavior of Firms and on Inflation Persistence
Saxa, Branislav ; Hanousek, Jan (advisor) ; Kmenta, Jan (referee) ; Švejnar, Jan (referee)
Research Journal Articles Working Papers Research in Brief Series Dissertations Other Publications Featured Article Dissertations Date: Tuesday, June 02, 2009 - 10:30 Branislav Saxa: "Essays on Exporting Behavior of Firms and on Inflation Persistence" Dissertation Committee: Jan Hanousek (chair) Evžen Kočenda Lubomír Lízal Krešimir Žigić Abstract: In the first two essays, I examine the behavior of exporters and non-exporters using a rich firmlevel panel data source from the Czech Republic. The first essay reacts to recent literature on learning-by exporting and explores whether exporting firms are more productive because initially more productive firms self-select themselves into exporting or because exporting firms are becoming more productive. To provide convincing estimates, one must be able to disentangle learning-by-exporting from changes in company management that induce the company to both start exporting and introduce productivity increasing measures. Therefore, I compare estimates based on matching on propensity score, which do not control for potential management changes, to estimates based on an instrumental variables strategy. Specifically, I focus on firms that start exporting due to changes in the industry-specific ratio of producer prices on domestic and foreign markets. The results suggest...
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Dopady měnové (dez)integrace na ČR
Semerák, Vilém ; Švejnar, Jan
Česká republika se při vstupu do EU oficiálně zavázala přijmout v budoucnosti euro. Ač změny EMU a současné problémy eurozóny mohou zpochybňovat reálný význam tohoto závazku, současná situace je pro českou ekonomiku natolik závažná, že je nutno analyzovat, jaké důsledky mají budoucí scénáře vývoje eurozóny na ČR1 a jaký postoj má ČR nadále zaujímat k měnící se EMU či k jejímu užšímu nástupci.
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Evropská krize: špatná a ještě horší řešení
Semerák, Vilém ; Švejnar, Jan
Přežití eurozóny je ohroženo kvůli nedodržování vlastních pravidel a kvůli chybám, které byly v jejím designu od samého začátku. Přesto má reformovaná eurozóna stále ještě šanci na přežití, mimo jiné i proto, že většina alternativ má při současné míře vzájemné závislosti slabá místa a především obtížně odhadnutelné dopady. Skutečná stabilizace eurozóny však vyžaduje plán, který bude obsahovat nejen jasné informace o vypořádání se s dluhy a o použitelných zdrojích likvidity, ale i dlouhodobou strategii řešící nedostatky současné EMU.
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