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Estimation of the Size of the Shadow Economy in Slovakia
Didič, Michal ; Komrska, Martin (advisor) ; Potužák, Pavel (referee)
This bachelor thesis aims to estimate the size of shadow economy in Slovakia. Methodology is based on works of Hassan and Schneider (2016) and Alexandru, Ion and Catalin (2010). Based on the quarterly data from 1Q/1999 to 4Q/2016, the thesis presents model, which quantifies the size of the shadow economy based on estimation of the amount of currency used in shadow economy. With use of the computed currency and the equation of exchange the size of shadow economy is calculated as percentage of GDP. Analysis shows, that shadow economy in Slovakia during 4Q/2016 reached the size of 9,64 % HDP.
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Effect of Marital Status on Engel´s Curve of Demand for Children for Women and Men
Pauerová, Blanka ; Komrska, Martin (advisor) ; Tříska, Dušan (referee)
Objective of this thesis was construction of Engel´s curve of demand for children, separately for mother´s and father´s income. Moreover, analysis shows differences in Engel´s curve according to genders or marital status (if couple is married or not and only lives together). The models were estimated from data of the survey ISSP 2008. Results estimated by OLS models and models with corrected hetoreskedasticity were supported by multinomial regression. Estimations showed that in case of decision about children, women are influenced by income more than men. Own income has negative impact on number of children demanded by woman because of higher opportunity cost. Married women are less influenced by own income than single women, because married women take into the account also income of husband which has positive effect on number of children. In case of men´s demand for children, neither effect of own income nor effect of partner´s income was proven.
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Business cycle and monetary policy: a modern Austrian approach
Komrska, Martin ; Chytil, Zdeněk (advisor) ; Zamrazilová, Eva (referee) ; Kadrmas, Tomáš (referee)
This dissertation presents the results of research focused on the Austrian business cycle theory (ABCT). The main part of the thesis is an econometrical test of five predictions based on ABCT. I used data on the US economy for period 1967 - 2016, which is the longest time period covered in the Austrian empirical literature so far. Since one of the most important variables for ABCT is so called interest rate gap (the difference between market interest rate and natural interest rate), I use three alternative models of this variable. The results of my empirical tests predominantly confirm theoretical predictions of ABCT. It can be shown that the interest rate gap influenced the relative structure of economic activity and resource allocation in a way predicted by ABCT. I also investigate whether the interest rate gap does have a significant impact on stock market valuations (in terms of aggregate level or relative structure), although the results are mostly statistically insignificant. In addition I also described several possible new distortions which may emerge due to unconventional monetary policy. I argue that these distortions should be of primary interest for researchers engaged in the Austrian research program. I devoted special attention to the specifics of monetary policy regime in Japan, where the Bank of Japan regularly intervenes on the stock market. Another theoretical contribution can be found in the second chapter where I respond to the White's (1999) claim that Hayek implicitly repudiated his own version of ABCT in later part of his career, when proposing free competition in money production. I attempt to show that White's conclusion stems from an inadequate interpretation of Hayek's writings. Finally I provide an alternative interpretation of Hayek's work that reveals the compatibility of his early and late theoretical contributions.
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Analysis of unemployment determinants in selected regions of the Czech Republic in the years 1999 - 2014
Vázler, Lukáš ; Komrska, Martin (advisor) ; Babin, Jan (referee)
Bachelor thesis analyzes the factors that have an impact on unemployment in selected regions of the Czech Republic. As a reference regions are selected South Bohemia, South Moravia, Usti and Karlovy Vary in the period 1999 - 2014. Estimation of an econometric model was based on the panel data for the four regions with 64 observations. Bachelor thesis examines the influence of of ecomic and socioeconomic factors on the general unemployment rate and registered unemployment rate. The thesis confirms the influence of gender, education and unemployment benefits acting in the expected manner. However, as regards health and age, initial assumptions were not confirmed.
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Impacts of CNB Monetary Interventions from 2013 to the Insolvency of the Companies
Kudějová, Barbora ; Komrska, Martin (advisor) ; Potužák, Pavel (referee)
The diploma thesis is concerned with the intervention of the Czech National Bank in the area of the exchange market and its impact on the insolvency of companies. The majority of the studies dealing with the liquidation of companies focuses primarily on the microeconomic determinants of bankruptcy. Conversely, the empirical study carried out in this project concentrates on the macroeconomic determinants of company bankruptcy. For the purposes of this study were used the quarterly panel data of insolvencies for the 5-year-period between 2010 - 2015. The quantity of insolvencies was established for individual branches. Furthermore, the method Differences-in-Differences was employed in order to compare those branches which were assumed to prove a significant impact of the depreciation of the Czech crown in comparison to those where the exchange rate seems to be rather irrelevant. The results of the regressive analysis have confirmed the initial hypothesis of this work: from the perspective of insolvency, the intervention on the aggregate level has improved the situation of companies. Finally, the impact on individual branches was investigated in this diploma thesis. The results testified that the situation deteriorated in case of the travel agencies (as expected).
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Why do not central banks target nominal GDP?
Pavlík, Lukáš ; Komrska, Martin (advisor) ; Slaný, Martin (referee)
The purpose of this thesis is to explore the question why do not central banks target nominal GDP (NGDP). I find out with comparison of inflation targeting to NGDP targeting that they are different at supply-side shock but same at demand-side shocks. NGDP targeting at positive supply-side shock let the price level decline vice versa. Inflation targeting always tries keep inflation on the target, no matter what the direction of the supply-side shock is. In the case of comparison NGDP targeting to free-banking system I find out accordance in the question of fluctuation of the price level during demand and supply-side shocks. However these systems differ in the nature of structural problems of the economy. NGDP targeting has disadvantage in this area against free-banking system that it can cause bubbles on asset markets by unven increase of money supply and it can neglect real problems of the economy. Central banks and academic economists mostly agree that NGDP targeting is not suitable mainly due to problems with GDP data quality, threat of instable inflation and troubles with estimation of nature rate of output. In the meantime they prefer inflation targeting even though this monetary regime has showed its weaknesses too.
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Determinants of tax revenue in OECD countries over the period 1999-2013
Tran, Tung Thanh ; Komrska, Martin (advisor) ; Chytil, Zdeněk (referee)
This bachelor thesis analyses impact of selected factors (economic, institutional and social-demographic) on tax revenue in 27 OECD countries. Four econometric models were estimated, based on panel data from the period 1999 to 2013. Analysed determinants of dependent variable are GDP per capita, shadow economy, openness to trade, civil liberties, corruption, population density and agriculture share in GDP. Results show that GDP per capita, as an indicator of the overall level of economic development, and even shadow economy have significantly positive effect on tax revenue. It was also found that agriculture share in GDP, corruption and quite surprisingly against my assumption civil liberties are negatively correlated with tax revenue.
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Laterality and wages: Is there a price premium for the left-handers?
Jakubcová, Klára ; Komrska, Martin (advisor) ; Babin, Jan (referee)
This thesis empirically examines the influence of laterality on wages in the Czech Republic. I gathered cross-sectional data using a questionnaire. In general there is an expectation of the left-handers to be underpaid. The reason for this is the unavailability of specific tools adapted to be used by the left-handed workers which results in lower productivity of work. The first tested hypothesis argues that left-handed men achieve wage premium due to better creative abilities. The second hypothesis suggests that the wages of left-handed women are penalized compared to those of right-handed women. To test the hypotheses the process of estimating regression equations by the method of least squares was used. Neither hypothesis was confirmed using my basic models. On the contrary, the results suggest that the left-handers should have in average 6,6 % lower wages than right-handers and left-handed women about 4 % higher wages than the right-handed women. However, the statistical significance of laterality variables was not confirmed in the basic models. After splitting the dataset according to the highest education achieved the results were as follows: The left-handed male workers with the university degree have 14 % higher hourly wage than the right-handed workers with same attributes. The left-handed male workers with secondary education and lower degree of education have 43 % lower hourly wage than the right-handed (There was no influence observed in case of left-handed women).
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Economics of Volunteering: The Main Determinants of Productivity of Volunteer Firefighters
Růžičková, Tereza ; Komrska, Martin (advisor) ; Slaný, Martin (referee)
This thesis analyses the impact of selected determinants on the productivity of volunteer firefighters in the Czech Republic. Based on data from questionnaire survey of volunteer firefighters I estimated these econometrics models: Model for all interviewed volunteer firefighters, model for employed volunteer firefighters and models for men and women. The effect of income on the productivity of volunteer firefighters has not been demonstrated in this paper. The main hypothesis "Volunteer firefighters in high income jobs are less productive due to the higher opportunity costs in employment" remains unconfirmed. The assumption that women are less productive than men in this kind of volunteering was verified. On the other hand the assumption that living in the small town increased productivity has not been proven because the impact of living in the small town was negative for this productivity in two tested models.
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Economics of terorrism: Empirical analysis of the behavior of terrorist groups
Chovítek, Šimon ; Komrska, Martin (advisor) ; Pertold, Filip (referee)
The aim of this thesis is to empirically analyze the behavior of terrorist groups. In this work we tested the assumption of the model of rational choice in terms of terrorism. The empirical section combines theoretical predictions with observed facts and shows the terrorists as rational actors acting under uncertainty. The data used in the analysis orginate from databases GTD and RDWTI. Mean-variance analysis of portfolios of real attack of terrorist organizations suggests their ability to effectively optimize their activity and to reduce the risks to which they are exposed. Terrorists thus appears as rational agents able to react quickly to external influences. This largely affects the resulting impact of counter-terrorism measures taken when selectively targeted measures may lead to a mere transfer of terrorist activity to another destination.
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