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Political Connections and Public Procurement: Evidence from the Czech Republic
Palanský, Miroslav ; Janský, Petr (advisor) ; Soudek, Jan (referee)
According to the existing literature, political connections can add value to the connected firms. This thesis analyzes whether political connections created by donations to political parties affect the allocation of public funds through procurement spending in the Czech Republic. Using a novel dataset on all corporate political contributions made between 2006 and 2013, it focuses on the extreme change in control of the regional councils following the 2008 elections. We start by observing the general patterns of behavior of regional governments as contracting authorities which seem to support the potential of corruption. In the second part, we focus on the effects of donations to the two most powerful political parties in the regional councils during the examined period on regional public procurement outcomes. The applied econometric methods suggest that donating companies win public contracts of higher value compared to non-connected firms in times when their supported party is in power. Controlling for the size of the firms, the results remain significant and confirm the notion that larger companies win contracts of higher value than smaller firms. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
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Quality Investing: Combining the Gross Profitability with the Free Cash Flow Yield
Dopita, Jiří ; Brushko, Iuliia (advisor) ; Soudek, Jan (referee)
This thesis examined the predictive power of different strategies for future stock returns. The analysis was conducted using a data sample of 3976 firms traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and NASDAQ during a 29 year time horizon, from July 1986 to June 2015. Predictive powers of different strategies were also tested during three sub-periods and during bull and bear markets using both long-only and long/short portfolios to check whether the predictive power is robust. It was found that the FCF yield is a better indicator of future stock returns than the gross profitability. The difference between average monthly returns was significant during all tested time periods and market situations using both long-only and long/short portfolios. The newly introduced FCF profitable value strategy proved to be a better predictor of future stock returns than the profitable value strategy. The FCF profitable value strategy presents also an improvement over the FCF yield strategy. It was found that the FCF profitable value has a better predictive power for future stock returns than the FCF yield at least during some time periods or market situations. JEL Classification G11, G14, G15, G17 Keywords value investing, quality investing, gross profitability, free cash flow yield Author's e-mail...
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The Chinese economy: growth, transition and production
Štursa, Zbyněk ; Benáček, Vladimír (advisor) ; Soudek, Jan (referee)
This bachelor thesis explored roots of Chinese human capital, which was very high (relative to other developing countries with similar GDP per capita) at the beginning of the Chinese market transition in 1978. It also explored a political, social and economic environment during reforms in which human capital was able to transform into labour productivity. The thesis also focused on obtaining figures of the Chinese Total Factor Productivity for years 1962 - 2014 and their analysis. High Chinese human capital has origin in era of Traditional China, when China adopted a large sense for entrepreneurism and business, and in Mao Zedong's period, which brought a functioning system of health care and education for middle and lower classes. A relative political stability, a turning to the familiar economic structure and "dual-track" strategy was very important for a transformation of human capital into labour productivity. My analysis of the Total Factor Productivity (the TFP) showed that the TFP in 2014 was higher by 45% than in 1977. Keywords labour productivity, total factor productivity, human capital, China, market transition, economic reforms and stability Author's e-mail: stursa16@gmail.com Supervisor's e-mail: vladimir.benacek@fsv.cuni.cz
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Analysis of decision making of the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition in public procurement cases
Ducháček, Tomáš ; Soudek, Jan (advisor) ; Skuhrovec, Jiří (referee)
This thesis analyzes the decision making of the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition in public procurement cases. It deals with both procurement oversight and the underlying incentives of the participants of proceedings. The aim of this thesis is to show the motivation of participants of proceedings is various and it often differs from the initial purpose of the oversight. The decisions of the Office and the length of proceeding before the Office play an important role in the incentives of participants. First, the author summarizes the legislative framework of the proceeding before the Office with emphasis on economically important aspects. Then he performs the analysis of the decisions. The results show that the length of proceeding before the Office is quite long and both contracting authorities and petitioners respond to this fact. The contracting authorities tend to cancel the procurement or make a deal even during the proceeding, on the other hand some the petitioners submit frivolous proposals. In addition the fines imposed by the Office are rather on lower boundary.
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Economic Analysis of Organizing Ice Hockey World Championship 2015 in Ostrava and Prague
Halásová, Michaela ; Soudek, Jan (advisor) ; Fišerová, Tereza (referee)
In many cases the organization of major sport events brings various benefits to hosting economies, especially those resulting from encouraged tourism. However, these events carry extensive costs coming mostly from public resources which could be used for other purposes, e.g. healthcare. The main goal of this thesis is to analyze the socioeconomic impact of the Ice Hockey World Championship 2015 on Prague and the Moravian-Silesian Region using a Cost-Benefit Analysis in which costs and benefits are summed up and benefit-cost ratio calculated. In our analysis we conclude that the event was beneficial not only for the Czech Ice Hockey Association; the hosting organization reporting profit of 450 million CZK before taxes but also for the regions with a benefit-cost ratio of 5.53, meaning that the benefit created equals 5.53 times the amount the regions invested into the event. Moreover, in this analysis we confirm an overall positive effect of the championship on tourism. Keywords cost-benefit analysis, Ice Hockey World Championship 2015, Prague, Ostrava, Moravian-Silesian Region, economic impact, major sport events, tourism
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Quality Investing: Combining the Gross Profitability with the Free Cash Flow Yield
Dopita, Jiří ; Brushko, Iuliia (advisor) ; Soudek, Jan (referee)
This thesis examined the predictive power of different strategies for future stock returns. The analysis was conducted using a data sample of 3976 firms traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and NASDAQ during a 29 year time horizon, from July 1986 to June 2015. Predictive powers of different strategies were also tested during three sub-periods and during bull and bear markets using both long-only and long/short portfolios to check whether the predictive power is robust. It was found that the FCF yield is a better indicator of future stock returns than the gross profitability. The difference between average monthly returns was significant during all tested time periods and market situations using both long-only and long/short portfolios. The newly introduced FCF profitable value strategy proved to be a better predictor of future stock returns than the profitable value strategy. The FCF profitable value strategy presents also an improvement over the FCF yield strategy. It was found that the FCF profitable value has a better predictive power for future stock returns than the FCF yield at least during some time periods or market situations. JEL Classification G11, G14, G15, G17 Keywords value investing, quality investing, gross profitability, free cash flow yield Author's e-mail...
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Bid Protests in Public Procurement: Czech Case
Nedvěd, Adam ; Skuhrovec, Jiří (advisor) ; Soudek, Jan (referee)
Bid protest mechanisms provide supervision over public procurement processes. If set up properly, these mechanisms improve both ex-ante and ex-post e - ciency of public procurement. However, decentralisation of the oversight can create opportunities for bidders to strategically abuse the system at the soci- ety's expense. In order to assess e ciency of the Czech bid protest mechanism, an empirical policy analysis of was conducted using a unique combined dataset of all bid protest rulings of the Czech supervising authority linked to a com- plete dataset of public contracts procured between 2007 and 2014. Econometric methods for panel data analysis were employed in order to estimate e↵ects of bid protesting on returns in form of awarded contracts. The selected approach made it possible to focus on individual relationships between contracting au- thorities and their suppliers. The results show significant di↵erences between returns of protest against EU co-funded and EU unfunded contracts. Moreover signs of strategical system abuse related to public works contracts were found.
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Political Connections and Public Procurement: Evidence from the Czech Republic
Palanský, Miroslav ; Janský, Petr (advisor) ; Soudek, Jan (referee)
According to the existing literature, political connections can add value to the connected firms. This thesis analyzes whether political connections created by donations to political parties affect the allocation of public funds through procurement spending in the Czech Republic. Using a novel dataset on all corporate political contributions made between 2006 and 2013, it focuses on the extreme change in control of the regional councils following the 2008 elections. We start by observing the general patterns of behavior of regional governments as contracting authorities which seem to support the potential of corruption. In the second part, we focus on the effects of donations to the two most powerful political parties in the regional councils during the examined period on regional public procurement outcomes. The applied econometric methods suggest that donating companies win public contracts of higher value compared to non-connected firms in times when their supported party is in power. Controlling for the size of the firms, the results remain significant and confirm the notion that larger companies win contracts of higher value than smaller firms. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
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Bidding patterns in public procurement auctions
Kožíšek, Jakub ; Skuhrovec, Jiří (advisor) ; Soudek, Jan (referee)
Public procurement market and auctions by which contractors are selected is difficult to analyze using standard econometric models, for their heterogeneity and the lack of complete data. This thesis expands on econometric models, using simulation of real life events in an experimental environment - an agent based model. The chosen ground-up approach allows for better understanding of market behaviors and patterns and to predict these behaviors, depending on the given conditions. With the analysis of how particular agents react to their changes, this represents a tool for evaluating different legislative proposals with respect to market efficiency. As the main objective of the thesis, factors affecting bidding patterns and therefore auction outcomes are studied using real data from the Czech Republic in an econometric model and then four possible legislative changes are tested using a custom made simulation model. Out of four proposals, the minimal requirement on the number of auction participants is considered a viable option in reducing procurement cost and is recommended for further evaluation. The complex model itself is released under permissive license to encourage broader analyses of the public procurement market. 1
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Impact of Structural Funds on municipalities: Empirical study on wastewater treatment and collection
Pumprlová, Magda ; Soudek, Jan (advisor) ; Skuhrovec, Jiří (referee)
This thesis analyzes the effect of Structural Funds from European Union on municipalities' financial results. It focuses on grants concerning waste water treatment's projects in the Czech Republic and the size of municipalities co-financing these grants. The aim is to determine the difference in financial results of municipalities using the grant and the others, followed by numeration of the difference by municipalities' own resources. To compare the municipalities, we use difference in differences approach. The OLS regression is used for estimate the effect of own resources. The results show that size of municipalities' co-financing, usually mentioned as 10%, is in fact in average 35%. There exists a large significant difference in financial results comparing pre- treatment and post-treatment period in municipalities building waste water treatment project financed from Structural Funds. It is also significantly determined by the amount of own resources. JEL Classification C21, H76, R51 Keywords Structural Funds, Operational Program Environment, waste water treatment, municipalities, deficit Author's e-mail pumprlova@centrum.cz Supervisor's e-mail honza.soudek@gmail.com
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