H60 - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt: GeneralNávrat zpět

The article focuses on the relationship between the general government balance and the current account of the balance of payments. The aim is to summarize the existing knowledge about the relationship based on the twin deficit theory and to carry out an empirical verification. As part of the analysis, the Granger causality method is first applied to each EU country separately, and then the threshold panel regression method is used. For the subsequent estimation of the threshold panel model, the direction of the relationship from the general government balance to the current account is considered based on the results of Granger causality. Within the panel, the dependence of the balances on the level of the general government debt to GDP is tested. First, the relationship and its strength are verified in all EU countries. Due to the diversity of EU countries, the economies are subsequently aggregated into sub-panels. Threshold values for general government debt affecting the strength of the relationship between balances are different for individual panels and depend, among other things, on the perception of these countries by the financial markets and often also on the (high) indebtedness of the private sector, which usually requires a more drastic fiscal policy response.

This article analyses the options how changes in Czech tax-benefit system could increase mother´s economic activity. The article builds up on the study (previous author´s study published in 2015). This underlying study presents a calculation according to which women, taking care of children up to 3 years, results with a lower net cash flow after returning to work compare to staying at home. The aim is to propose measures that would motivate women, with children up to 3 years, to return to work and simultaneously quantify the impact of these measures on the state budget. Economic effects of the proposed measures are quantified, including the cancelation of conditional entitlement to parental benefit, introduction of tax relief for working mothers and 50% relief on employer's mandatory contributions, which employ parents part-time. Implementation of these measures, which would motivate more women to return to work, would bring an estimated net income amounting to 9.5 billion crowns to the state budget per year.

The article deals with the issue of fiscal sustainability, which has gained in importance after the recent financial and sovereign debt crisis. The article defi nes the term of financial sustainability in its theoretical part. The next section continues with the historical fiscal data for countries in the European Union. The main part of the article estimates reaction function of fiscal policy using panel data regression model. Tests are performed for multiple groups of countries, namely for the entire European Union, the old member states, the new member states, and the states most affected by the recent financial and sovereign debt crisis. This classification allows higher accuracy and better interpretability of the model results. Data results show rather pro-cyclicality of fiscal authorities' behaviour.

The Slovak economy is experiencing another significant phase of fiscal consolidation in its history. Unlike previous episodes of major consolidation in our history, our economy cannot "rely" on a soft cushion in the form of favourable global economic situation, integration and launch of new capacities in the automotive industry, as it was in 2003-2005 and 2011. The main objective of this paper is to estimate the size of fiscal multipliers in Slovakia in order to quantify the impact of fiscal packages in 2011 and 2013. The results show that the expenditure oriented consolidation has higher costs in form of lost growth. However, in the medium to long term it is less painful. Effect of consolidation package on GDP growth in 2011 is estimated at -0.99 percentage points. In 2013, we estimate that the fiscal consolidation cuts the growth of 0.68 percentage points.

Paper deals with the assessment of the fiscal position and stabilization of government policy. First, the framework for assessment of the fiscal position and the sustainability of public finances is presented. It is justified the usage of specific data based on the ESA95 methodology, including consideration of possible alternatives. Subsequently, the government deficit is set into the framework of macroeconomic identities and expressed its impact on the current account balance and other aggregates. Sustainability of the government deficit is firstly derived from the primary balance and consequently from the overall balance. Even before it is discussed appropriate fiscal policy in the short and long term, including the role of fiscal rules, OECD methodology is presented for the calculation of structural and cyclical balance, including risks associated with their quantification.

We analyze corruption and economic freedom links to public finance and investment in new EU members. In terms of the public investment our results show that improvement in economic freedom is linked to increases in public investment while lowering of corruption is linked with increase or decrease with respect to public investment. As a complementary finding we show that increases in public investment are also linked with the ambiguous effect. In case of public finance our estimates suggest that debt usually decreases as economic regulation goes down while the effect on budget deficit goes both ways. On other hand, as corruption declines both budget deficit and debt decrease. Based on our results we generalize that measures taken to lower corruption and economic regulation should lead to improvements in fiscal position in most of the new EU member states.

The question of public finance stability and the economic stability are widely discussed topics, not only in transitive and emerging economies, but also in developed countries. The aim of this paper is to find out and measure connections between the fiscal policy development and external economic stability. This research is based on a quantification of the budget deficit and public debt impact onto exchange rate in chosen countries that have recently experienced some kind of financial crisis. External competitiveness is also assessed by the fiscal policy impact onto current account balance. It is necessary to point out that monetary variables are going to be probably more important but the fiscal sector cannot be omitted. Especially nowadays when there is an integration process in EMU going on, where the fiscal policy is going to play important role in the economic stability.

This article highlights the diagnosis of selected determinants decisive for evaluation of comparative advantages in a commodity group under corresponding theoretical research of doctrines on comparative advantage, international trade, and competitiveness with view to their contribution to the present pace. However, we put our attention just for selected postulates from their vast hierarchy reflecting the topic most complex. The contents of this article is divided into two parts, the first being more theoretical, followed by a detailed analyses of trade and payment figures of Slovakia since 1995 - 2002. Based on their evaluation we present the RCA index measures within a selected commodity structure. Conclusions are made in form of some proponenments for the future improvement of SR competitive ability within EU.