I15 - Health and Economic DevelopmentReturn

This paper deals with the topic of measurement of education services. The main part of output of education services is considered to be non-market in the Czech Republic and it is estimated a sum of related costs. Deflation has been traditionally done using input method i.e. recalculation of each component separately. The main drawback of this method is an assumption of direct correlation between changes in inputs and changes in output. Productivity can not be estimated therefore output methods based on direct volume measurement are now preferred for individual services. Methodology of direct volume measurement of education services has been developed in the paper. This approach is based on number of students in detailed breakdown weighted by costs in order to include changes in the structure of fields of study. Estimates are available since 2004 as data sources are available. Besides estimates of development of non-market output development of all education services is estimated.

The issue of ageing is usually understood as a cultural and social problem in the developed countries. When addressed by economists, demographic questions are most frequently related to the pension reform or to the costs of healthcare. However, the effects of demographic change on productivity have to be examined, too. Will the economies be able to maintain the necessary amount of immigrants, so that the number of people in productive age does not decrease? Though the world population will keep increasing for some time, it will be happening at a much slower pace. The age structure issue will become apparent only with a minor delay in the developed economies, yet it may have a strong impact on the future migration potential. Another crucial question is the potential economic consequence of the changing proportion between the original population with its cultural and work habits and the immigrants. As can be observed and demonstrated, the issue of ageing will first become apparent in countries with a high share of industry and construction in GDP. Economies with a high share of services, on the other hand, will be less affected. The Czech Republic is a classic example of an economy based on industry and construction. Therefore, in ten or twenty years the country will face a rather insoluble problem, as the nature of its economy will clash with its demographic structure.