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Linkage between Exchange Rate and Foreign Direct Investments: Empirical evidence from Developing Countries
Hnath, Martin ; Geršl, Adam (advisor) ; Benáček, Vladimír (referee)
In this thesis we provide an updated empirical evidence on the linkage between an exchange rate and foreign direct investments (FDI). On the sample of 40 developing countries receiving FDI flows from five developed OECD econo- mies, we analyse how the strength of exchange rates, exchange rate volatility and currency regime affect FDI. Applying the Hausman-Taylor instrumental variable approach over the analysed period from 1991 to 2010, we have not found unanimous support on the role of exchange rates in influencing FDI. In the thesis, we document that over the last two decades, bilateral exchange rate volatility decreased and this can be assigned to its less-likely influence on FDI. In addition, based on the results of the analysis, we cannot confirm the wealth effect hypothesis that supposes an increase of FDI after real depreciation of developing country's currency. We ascribe this outcome to the development of average real exchange rates of developing countries that exhibited considerable strenghtening during the analysed period. We also find that de facto bilateral fixing of the currencies might be beneficial for FDI flows. The reasoning might lie in the reduction of transaction costs that is linked to credible exchange rates.
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The impact of entrepreneurship on economic performance in Central and Eastern Europe
Chiselita, Doina ; Benáček, Vladimír (advisor) ; Svoboda, Karel (referee) ; Korosteleva, Julia (referee)
Entrepreneurship is viewed by scholars and policy makers as an important factor contributing to increased levels of economic performance. New businesses are conduits of innovation, connecting resources and ideas within the economy and fostering competition. Central and Eastern Europe is a special case regarding entrepreneurship, due to its communist legacy. The surge in entrepreneurial activities caused by the process of market liberalization ultimately affected economic development in the area. This thesis acknowledges the importance of studying entrepreneurship in Central and Eastern Europe, and aims to analyse the impact of new business formation on economic performance in the region. To do so, the thesis creates a comprehensive guide of theoretical frameworks linking entrepreneurship to measures of economic performance and applies them to the Central and Eastern European area. The thesis also develops an empirical study using regression analysis with regional Eurostat data, which shows that new business formation has a significant, positive impact on GDP levels in Central and Eastern Europe. The results also indicate that entrepreneurial activity should be regarded by policy makers as an important factor that leads to increased economic performance, in addition to measures of research and...
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BRICS Organization: Comparison of the Countries' Economies and Geopolitical Influence. Potential Development
Voronkova, Anna ; Riegl, Martin (advisor) ; Benáček, Vladimír (referee)
Master thesis "BRICS Organization: Comparison of the Countries' Economies and Geopolitical Influence. Potential Development" describes the cooperation of Brazil, Russia, India, Russia and South Africa within BRICS international group. The countries show remarkable economic growth rates over the past years. This group of countries is believed to undergo the process of structural transformations and reach the level of world leading economies in a short time. This Master thesis evaluates BRICS countries from the perspective of political cooperation within the framework of the organization, assesses current economic and social performance of the member countries. The aim of this research is to indicate the main reasons for BRICS countries to unify into this international organization and to suggest the potential development of BRICS group. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
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Factors Determining Czech Export on Different Aggregations with Focus on Electrical Engineering: Gravity Model Approach
Tachovská, Tereza ; Benáček, Vladimír (advisor) ; Cingl, Lubomír (referee)
The thesis provides a quantitative analysis of the Czech export with a further focus on the electrical engineering and on the electric motors and generators. The tool used for the analysis is the gravity model of the international trade, and the estimation method employed is the PPML estimator. The novelty of the research lies in a one country export analysis, and in a comparison of the export functions on three different aggregations and for two states (the Czech Republic and France). The panel data analysis of the period between 1995 and 2013 reveals that the Czech Republic was more export-driven than France, an unanticipated fact about a dissimilarity of the total and the machinery and transport equipment export functions of the Czech Republic, and a statistically nonsignificant influence of the euro on the Czech export. The one year analyses of 1995 and 2013 reveal an increasing importance of the distance and the partner's GDP on both countries' exports, and a nonimportance of the partner's EU membership and of the geographic location in the CEE on the Czech export. JEL Classification C13, C23, F10, F12, F14 Keywords determining factors of export, gravity models of trade, Czech Republic, electrical engineering Author's e-mail t.tachovska@seznam.cz Supervisor's e-mail benacekv@fsv.cuni.cz
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Globalization and Small Countries - Unique Challenges, Universal Solutions
Petkovska, Katerina ; Cahlík, Tomáš (advisor) ; Benáček, Vladimír (referee)
This work focuses on globalization, more closely on the economic aspects of this process. Small countries, especially developing ones are in the spotlight, as they face unique challenges that have been addressed by the international community for decades at least. The success rate of the intervention is very questionable and leaves room for improvement, which may be a platform to elevate millions out of poverty, solve crippling problems, provide access to technology and improve the global economic system. The uniting hypothesis is that that small developing nations are functioning in a hostile environment when it comes to trade, intellectual property protection and debt, which makes it extremely difficult for them to globalize competitively. Economic history, trade and technology are the main filters of this research. Conventional economic theory like market fundamentalism, and international trade theories will be discussed. A holistic literature review, will try to depict the many sides of the argument. The data used will be from the World Competitiveness Report, World Bank's World Development Indicators, other World Bank data, apropriatiate statistical offices. A case study is implemented to conclude the thesis and in this case to evaluate the hypothesis as only partly true, since small...
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Comparison of Factors Determining Czech Exports in Different Aggregations: Analysis by means of an Adjusted Gravity Model
Smotlachová, Eva ; Benáček, Vladimír (advisor) ; Bobková, Božena (referee)
The aim of the thesis is to estimate determinants of Czech export. The key novelty of the research consists in estimating export flows at three different levels of aggregation (total, machinery, automobiles) and a subsequent comparison of results. An augmented gravity model is implemented for the empirical research and estimated with the use of Ordinary least squares (including time or country dummies) and Poisson pseudo maximum likelihood estimators. Consequently, we propose the comparison based on the Poisson estimates due to incontestable weaknesses of the OLS estimator. Besides, we emphasize the importance of identifying the panel data structure, as we have obtained different results under the two structures (time series and cross-sectional). The predicted models reveal a substantial impact of home and partner's GDP, distance and the European Union. Total and machinery export seem to follow same tendencies, whereas the development of Czech automobile export differs and evolves on an idiosyncratic path. Therefore, it does not coincide with a path expected by trade theories based on the assumption of perfect competitive markets.
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Distributive impact of social security and tax systems on income distribution : case of Azerbaijan
Aliyev, Hikmat ; Stakhovych, Lyudmyla (advisor) ; Benáček, Vladimír (referee)
The research scope of the given thesis is the impact of the Social Security and Tax systems on the income distribution among population in the Republic of Azerbaijan. The study is constructed on the comparative analysis of the changes in taxes, social benefits and income among different groups of the local population. The findings of the thesis propose that while reforms in social security system may stimulate positive impact on the reduction of the gap in income distribution, tax security system in Azerbaijan does not have distributive power. Consequently, in comparison with tax reduction, an increase in social benefits is proposed as a policy with higher efficiency for the Azerbaijan. Furthermore, the analysis established that initially large gap in income distribution between older and younger families may gradually be decreased as a result of policy implementations in the social security system in Azerbaijan. Another important idea developed in the given work is possibility of applying innovative investment-based social security system in Azerbaijan.
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Environmental Refugees, the XXI Century Imperative Challenge
Alves Pereira, Marisa ; Benáček, Vladimír (advisor) ; Salamon, Janusz (referee)
There are new challenges, facing the 21st century and one of them is the discussion around climate change and global warming. This phenomenon brings with it a deeper problem, which is the fact that millions of people have their lives strongly damaged as a consequence of the climate changes. There is no international instrument that protects these climate victims, which in this thesis are referred to as environmental refuges. This thesis focused on trying to evaluate solutions to the problem of environmental refugees. To achieve this we first had a look at the different types of forced migration since it would define which type of solution would suit this type of refugees the best. We had a look at the "Oustees" which are the people who are forced to move due to development projects in the different countries. Then we had a look at Bangladesh as one of the case studies since it is one of the countries at higher risk of suffering the adverse consequences of climate change, which forces many people to move internally or to cross the border to India. We were able to conclude that cross border migration increases tensions between countries and between social groups of the receiving communities. Since these people need protection and since these types of tensions threaten peace and security in some...
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Examining the impact of reforms on economic growth: The case of transition economies
Zhupaj, Lorena ; Horváth, Roman (advisor) ; Benáček, Vladimír (referee)
This paper aims to investigate the impact of reforms on economic growth in a sample of transition economies of Central Eastern Europe, South Eastern Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States from 1989 until 2010. We employ a panel data methodology and run a Haussman test to distinguish between a fixed effect and a random effect model. In addition, we take into account the role of reform reversals and examine their contribution in the growth dynamics. Reform downgrades are very common since in some cases progress in reforms has been stalled or even reversed due to political instability, wars, economic crises, etc. We model the reforms downgrades following the previous work of Merlevede (2003) using a different methodology and extending our period of estimation. Furthermore, the relationship between other explanatory variables (i.e. initial conditions, fiscal balance) and growth is further explored in the empirical estimation. JEL Classification O57, P21 Keywords transition economies, reforms, reversal Author's e-mail lorena_zh@hotmail.com Supervisor's e-mail roman.horvath@gmail.com
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Determinants of FDI location across European Countries: role of economic and non-economic factors in decision-making by means of econometric analysis of panel data for 1995-2010
Brázdová, Martina ; Benáček, Vladimír (advisor) ; Bobková, Božena (referee)
This thesis provides an insight into factors that determine FDI inflows. Our focus is on FDI inflows directed to European countries and we study the FDI phenomena both from theoretical and practical view. We extend the literature that highlights the importance of FDI- institution link, and hypothesise that countries with better institutional quality should attract more foreign direct investments. This is in accord with expectation that good institutions create better investment environment in terms of lower costs of doing business and lower risk. The main purpose of this thesis is to complement previous studies that have covered this topic, but did not account for years of financial crisis. The key part analyses panel data for 33 European economies in the period from 1995 to 2010. A model of FDI determinants is constructed and estimated using panel data estimation techniques. The empirical part has revealed that even though some of the institutional variables are significant, they remain rather additional in explaining FDI flows; whereas the traditional economic variables are clearly significant. Our results are intuitively consistent with theoretical expectations and show that market growth, low trade restrictions, good infrastructure and low labour costs are key FDI drivers. Other important...
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