Economics

The size of the shadow economy has been investigated by a number of different methodologies. A common approach is the use of macroeconomic data to investigate, for example, the relationship between the money supply and GDP and associate the error term with the shadow economy. We extend this approach to the use of cross section survey data based on individual responses to estimate the relative size of shadow economy household income as a proportion of declared income in 2002. The analysis suggests that the relative figures for Slovakia and the Czech Republic are 23.2% and 21.8% respectively. JEL Classification: O17, H26,

Attitudes to membership of the EU and NATO amongst countries in Central and Eastern Europe are analyzed. Analysis of Eurobarometer data suggests that support for membership depends upon both self interest and satisfaction with the free market economy.

This paper examines the determinants of electoral participation. We analyze attitudes to both referenda and voting in national elections. Sample survey data are obtained from the Eurobarometer survey of transition countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The empirical results suggest that electoral participation increases with age, income and education. But attitudinal variables, associated with civic duty, are also important and in particular confidence in the free market economy and satisfaction with the general development of the country impact positively on electoral participation.

In the paper we study the variables influencing attitudes to the use of two biotechnologies related to gene transfer within apples. Using Eurobarometer 73.1 survey data on biotechnology, science and technology, with 15,650 respondents, we study the extent these attitudes are determined by socio-economic and other variables. We found that attitudes to the risks and gains are determined by socio-economic variables and also by the individual's knowledge, scientific background, their parent's education in science and their religion. Perceptions of naturalness and of environmental impact combined with perceived risks and gains in determining overall approval, proxied by views on whether the technologies should be encouraged, for GMTs. However there are substantial differences in attitudes to transgenesis and cisgenesis.

V článku skúmame determinanty subjektívneho blahobytu jednotlivca (SBJ) na základe údajov databázy World Values (2000-2001). Nami uskutočnené analýzy nás vedú k záveru, ţe SBL závisí od relatívneho dôchodku, rodinného stavu, postavenia jednotlivca v zamestnaní, pohlavia, veku a vzdelania, čas, ktorý jednotlivec strávi s rodinou, priateľmi, účasťou na cirkevných obradoch. Význam zohrávajú aj politické faktory, napr. miera spokojnosti jednotlivca s vývojom v krajine, situácia v oblasti ľudských práv a dôvera v inštitúcie. V našej analýze funkciu SBL skúmame osobitne pre ţeny a muţov, pre bohatých a chudobných, pre chudobné a bohaté krajiny. Zistili sme výrazné rozdiely medzi jednotlivými kategóriami, ktoré poukazujú na potrebu skúmať blahobyt jednotlivca podľa pohlavia, ekonomického statusu a situácie v krajine, v ktorej ţije. Faktory, ktoré ovplyvňujú blahobyt muţov, nie sú zrkadlovým obrazom tých, ktoré zvyšujú pocit blahobytu ţien. Determinanty blahobytu ľudí v bohatých krajinách nie sú rovnaké ako tých, ktorí ţijú v krajinách na niţšej úrovni ekonomického rozvoja.

We analyse regional spill-over effects from FDI on innovation activities of domestic firms in Eastern European and Asian transition and post-transition countries. The analysis is carried out using theWorld Bank 2009 Enterprise survey. We look also at the impact of FDI on innovation activities of domestic firms at regional level. We find the evidence for a non-linear impact of foreign firms oninnovation. An increasing regional foreign presence at first reduces innovation activities and then beyond a certain point increases it. This is consistent with the literature which suggests that eithereffect may be plausible. Foreign owned firms are more likely to engage in product innovation and license products from other firms. We also find the evidence for the positive statistically significantimpact of access to bank credit, infrastructure, size of the firm, being part of a group of firms and competitive pressure on innovation activities of firms.

Can governance impact directly on well-being? In this paper we examine subjective well-being using data for a cross section of countries from the World Values data set. We find that regional democratic satisfaction impacts on both individual happiness and life satisfaction. However, the impact is less evident for women, rich people and for those in rich countries. The fact that the governance variable analysis is based on regional differences in democratic satisfaction reminds us that governance and indeed happiness often differs within countries as well as between them. The use of regional satisfaction in this manner helps overcome endogeneity problems which would be present if we were to use individual democratic satisfaction. Other significant determinants of happiness include settlement size, marital status, income, unemployment and being part of a linguistic minority/majority grouping.

The paper discusses the contribution of R. H. Coase to economics and his role as a founder of thenew institutional economics. Coase also contributed to the establishment of Law and Economicsas a discipline, he is the author of the transaction cost theory and of the Coase Theorem. Thepaper discusses main aspects of his theory and his core theoretical contributions including morerecent ones as well as their impact on the development of the economic theory and economicpolicy. The role of transaction costs, well established property rights, the institutional frameworkand the need to relate economic analysis to the real economic development and to overcomethe isolation of the formal economic analysis are identifi ed as crucial contributions of Coase toeconomics relevant for the current stage of the development of economics and economic systems.

Dynamic Model of Common-pool Emission Permit Market as a Method for Solving the Persistent Pollutant Problem In the paper, we develop a common-pool permit market formulated as a dynamic gross pool for trading emission discharge permits (EDPs) for persistent pollutants. We discuss individual agents' demand decisions concerning EDPs and develop a common-pool market dynamic gross pool formulation, including a general set of marginal-cost pricing rules used in this type of permit trading market. Numerical simulations are used to illustrate the usefulness of this type of permit market design for addressing environmental problems.

The paper investigates the causal relationship between the trust in institutions and compliance with measures introduced to slow down the spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 in Slovakia. In addition, the impact of socioeconomic characteristics on compliance with introduced measures was analysed. Data were obtained from a survey carried out by the Slovak Academy of Sciences on a representative sample of the Slovak population of 1,000 respondents. To derive the causal relationship between institutional trust and compliance behaviour, a probit regression model was used. Findings suggest that trust in public institutions helps to increase compliance with social distancing. In addition, some socioeconomic characteristics such as employment status, age or whether individuals felt endangered by COVID-19 had a positive and statistically significant effect on compliance with measures used to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Institutional trust did not have a statistically significant effect on compliance with face-covering measures.

We analyse the determinants of personal trust using World Values data. To a considerable extent the same factors determine trust in developing countries as richer ones. Thus the state of democracy, health and age impact on interpersonal trust in all countries and in general for different groups within society as does latent trust. However, we find only partial evidence for a systematic impact of religion on trust. The evidence does suggest that Catholic countries are less trusting than non Catholic ones and vice versa for Muslim countries, but the impact of Protestantism appears context specific.

This paper seeks to analyze attitudes to the transition process in Central and Eastern Europe. First, we analyze attitudes to the free market economy, the state of democracy, human rights and the general development of the country. Sample survey data are obtained from the Eurobarometer survey of transition countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The empirical results, obtained using sophisticated regression techniques to cope with limited dependent variables, suggest that individual attitudes become more favourable with income and education and decline with age. Self-interest is further in evidence with, e.g., farmers and the unemployed being less in favour of the free market. But public interest perceptions are also seen to influence attitudes. This is clearly the case for attitudes to democracy and the general direction of the country with the significance of free market attitudes and perceptions of human rights in addition to socio-economic variables which proxy self-interest. B...

This paper examines the determinants of electoral participation. We analyze attitudes to both referenda and voting in national elections. Sample survey data are obtained from the Eurobarometer survey of transition countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The empirical results suggest that electoral participation increases with age, income and education. But attitudinal variables, associated with civic duty, are also important and in particular confidence in the free market economy and satisfaction with the general development of the country impact positively on electoral participation. JEL Classification: H26, K42.

The purpose of the article is to present the results of the online behavioral experiment focused on voluntary contribution to financing of public goods. The experiment using the public good behavioral game aimed to identify factors affecting voluntary contribution of individuals to financing of public goods. We created a behavioral game design that has elements of a standard public goods game. It was implemented in the form of an online game which was designed as a within-subject experiment. The data collected in the experiment were analyzed using appropriate statistics methods. We used the behavioral and experimental economics methods for designing our behavioral experiment. After the collecting data through online experiment we applied statistics methods to analyze our data, i. e. descriptive statistic, Spearman correlation coefficient and Multiple linear regression model. The results of the study show that an income is a statistically significant variable. Individuals with low income contributed to financing of public goods more than high income individuals. The identification of individuals with such factors as the opinion of the family, the warm-glow effect, the impact on the quality of life and the consent of family, all had a positive effect on individual contributions to financing of public goods. On the opposite side, the identification with factors such as moral obligation, satisfaction with services provided by public goods, the belief in cooperation among people and the perception of contribution as a social norm were all confirmed to decrease the contribution to financing of public goods.

Tento článok bol pripravený s podporou projektov VEGA V-13-001-00, Význam novej inštitucionálnej ekonómie v súčasnom období, a VEGA č. 1/0975/15, Makroekonomické a mikroekonomické prejavy a dôsledky infl ácie a defl ácie. Autori ďakujú anonymným recenzentom PE, ktorí svojimi pripomienkami významne prispeli k dopracovaniu článku do jeho fi nálnej podoby.

Voluntary Contributions to Public Goods: SocioEconomic Implications and the Role of Civic Crowdfunding. The penetration of the behavioral approach to economic models and policymaking has recently become relatively widespread. It has also affected the area of financing and provision of public goods, as in the current economically complex situation brought forward also the question whether public goods and services can also be financed by the private sector. The aim of the article is to provide an overview of alternative mechanisms of financing of public goods with a particular emphasis on the voluntary contribution mechanism (VCM) and explain which factors motivate people to voluntarily contribute to the financing of publicly beneficial projects. We examine behavioral and sociological factors such as altruism, reciprocity and conditional cooperation and their relevance for the decision of individuals to contribute to financing of public goods. One of the existing alternatives is civic crowdfunding, which provides an institutional mechanism for individual voluntary contributions to publicly beneficial projects. We study also its potential and limitations.