N01 - Development of the Discipline: Historiographical; Sources and MethodsReturn

Researchers and analysts usually prefer to have long time series of gross domestic product as the most important indicator of the economy. However, gross national income presents indicator that covers not only what a country produce but it takes into account values produced by factors of productions owned by foreigners. From that point of view gross national income presents more interesting information than gross domestic product. This paper describes the recalculation of historical time series of gross domestic product in the Czech Republic into the standard of national accounts ESA 2010. It presents results for all three approaches to GDP, employment and gross national income. Although results of GDP and employment start in the year 1970, the lack of data allowed us prepared figures for gross national income from year 1984 onwards. Moreover, this paper shows some of the possibilities to the international comparison with European countries for the better description of the position of the Czech Republic in the European context.

Quarterly national accounts provide short-term macroeconomic information matched with those of the annual accounts. Their mission is to provide synthetic information as soon as possible after the end of the quarter. Due to the pressure, caused by Eurostat shortening deadlines on publishing this information, the task is more of creating a methodology to be used in the Czech Republic. Based on faster and more effi cient approaches, it should enable to perform and present estimates of aggregates of quarterly national accounts for the last quarter (and forecasts for the current quarter) at a satisfactory level of reliability. Basic considerations on the methods of quarterly estimation should therefore depend on indirect methods, ie., on mathematical and statistical models, that enable (given there is a system of short survey estimates) to accelerate and shorten publishing. The article off ers an original methodology of estimating quarterly national accounts values, based on time series analysis and presents the results on the data of national accounts of the Czech Republic.

The paper describes the development of household consumption expenditures from a longer perspective. Currently, there are available data for more than forty years and it means that lots of information about changes in structure and main tendencies can be studied. Since the emphasis is put on the comparable time series, it was necessary to prepare transformation of original data into national accounts. Historical figures on private consumption were published in line with the Material Product System that is not fully comparable with the System of National Accounts. Data on private consumption reflecting only material part of consumption had to be transformed into household consumption expenditures covering both expenditures for material and non-material products. The process of transformation of original data reflecting socialist statistical system is briefly described, as well as main differences. Key points of transformation are illustrated on selected years. Finally, original data are compared with reconstructed ones and differences are explained. The analysis provides useful information about main changes in consumption expenditures by CZ-COICOP. Finally, some often discussed issues like the relative increase of expenditures connected with housing, decrease of the share of foodstuff etc. can be proven now.

The paper aims to show a comprehensive insight into the history of business economics science in the Czech Republic, marginally also on the European continent and worldwide. It depicts business economics in its beginning as a doctrine that was largely underestimated. This science was, for a very long time, a part of economics (national/public); only slowly has it gradually become an autonomous branch of science. This article shows historical attitudes to the theory of business in Bohemia as well as abroad since the end of the nineteenth century up to this day. It describes the period of statism in Bohemia within the context of business economics, it focuses on fundamentals of this science and depicts consecutively aspects from which the theory of business economics as a science arises in the transition period to free market economy. The paper discusses the future of business economics as a science that, considering current economic conditions worldwide, has a huge potential to grow. The article contributes to the worldwide discussion about its further development.

The article is the authors' polemic against the review of their book Economic and Social History of Czechoslovakia, Volume II 1945-1992, which was published by Antonie Doležalová in Politická ekonomie No. 3/2012. In this context, the article also deals with general issues of economic historiography, particularly with the development and object of investigation of economic history, periodization of the economic development of Czechoslovakia after World War II, external and internal impacts on the economy, construction of statistical data and terminological problems.

The estimates of economic development in the countries of the socialist block were carried out in the framework of the so-called Material Product System (MPS). At that time the product was perceived more narrowly than today's gross domestic product (GDP). It included only the material goods and productive services (services that accompanying the circulation of goods). Non-productive services and services provided on non-market basis were not included in the estimates. The authors present their own methodology for data transformation based on MPS into (today's) System of National Accounts (SNA), on the basis of carrying out the reconstruction of the historical time series of the gross domestic product of the Czech Republic in the period between the years 1970 and 1989 in the current methodology. The results of this work will enable other users to perform analysis on significantly longer time series of gross domestic product, including the structure of its uses and resources. The authors primarily base the transformation of the original data on global product and national income (in the MPS methodology) contained in the balance of national income and symmetric input-output tables. Historical time series of GDP for the period has not been estimated for the Czech Republic yet.

What are the contributions of historical example to understanding of economic phenomena? Economists widely adopt methods of natural sciences. But economics is a social science and the observed economic phenomena are qualitatively different from phenomena observed by natural sciences. Thus the use of natural sciences methods makes implications of economic theoretical models unrealistic. In this paper, I argue that the evidence of historical example is a good method to illuminate the implications of economic theoretical models, because if implications of economic theoretical models are illustrated in historical perspective, they can be more easily verified by common sense thus particular historical circumstances may be partly revealed. Moreover, historical examples also serve to demonstrate the qualitative content of casual economic relations based on human historical experience, which is ignored by natural science methods. The historical example is thus not only more realistic but it better corresponds with the social nature of economic science.