R11 - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and ChangesReturn

Promotion of foreign investment is a well-established practice in many countries with an inadequate capital base, and the benefits of this type of investment, particularly in the form of positive spillover effects on the domestic economic environment, have been repeatedly confirmed by numerous studies. However, still not enough attention is paid to the definition and actual content of the word "foreign" in the phrase foreign direct investment in the domestic environment. This methodological essay attempts to fill that deficit and, using the concepts of foreign and domestic roundabout investment, to propose a categorization of capital investment which would take into account both the actual origin of the investor and the actual place of production or provision of the service, as well as the perception of the product or service as foreign or local. The resulting categorisation matrix is then populated with concrete examples from Czech practice and commented on in detail. The matrix can close the gap in the current Czech literature, which concentrates on the terms "foreign" or "domestic" more than on their very substance and their material meaning.

The aim of the paper is to verify the sensitivity of national labour markets to economic growth while respecting its sources and different growth trends. We monitored the change in employment caused by economic growth in the set of EU27 member states in the period 2000-2019. The sensitivity of the labour market was quantified by finding the values of the elasticity coefficient. To obtain it, we used a relation to calculate the point elasticity as well as a logarithmic linear regression model compiled for each member state. The differences in the response of the labour market were identified by comparing the values of the indicator. To determine the factors of employment changes, partial analyses were performed by dividing the evaluated period into sections, especially into periods of growth and decline. As a result, it was possible to identify the impact of economic development trends on the elasticity of the labour market. At the same time, subsets (groups of countries) were created based on similarity of labour productivity levels and employment rates. The results of the analyses indicated that the labour market in all cases responded to changes in economic performance in a short period of time, while the strength of the influence is also affected by the stability of economic development.

This article examines the impact of EU Cohesion Policy delivered through the European Structural and Investment Funds in the economic cycle and the fiscal policy of the Czech Republic in the years 2004-2015. Revenue arising from the EU increases aggregate demand, and this is a regular instrument for stabilizing fiscal policy. The key conclusion of the analysis is based on regression analysis, and there is demonstrate the procyclical nature of the EU Regional Policy and its negative impact on the effectiveness, efficiency, and economy of national resources. Temporal definition of programming periods and the ability to prepare projects and their implementation in the context of national and EU legal framework were identified as the main determinants of procyclicality. However, these factors make the cyclicality purely accidental and cohesion policy without links to the economic cycle and performance of member countries.

This article is a contribution to the discussion of national competitiveness as a concept for analysis of international economic relations. The main goal is the critical reflection of the concept. We consider the Paul Krugman's and Richard Baldwin's remarks regarding the problems associated with using competitiveness as an analytical concept still valid when restrained to the domain of neoclassical economics. Moreover - even though the competitiveness is widely accepted as an analytical concept - we believe a number of problems associated with its current use exist (both in theory and in process of policy formations). Mainly, there is confusion between the micro and macro-economic understanding of concept which stems from confusion between individual and national/territorial level of analysis. We also believe that even if new trade theory (increasing returns and strategic trade) is taken into account, it is quite problematic to formulate policy recommendation for structural and industrial policy on its grounds. When the assumptions of neoclassical economics are loosened, the concept of competitiveness might prove valid. Finally we stress than even if this is the case the sensitiveness of the most of recommendations for competitiveness promotion to retaliation and potential damage resulting to international economic regime from its enforcement is rather high.

The article is focused on the application of multivariety classification techniques for assessing the business environment of selected European Union regions. The theoretical part deals with the issue of identifying the factors, which boost the attractiveness of regions for possible investors. In accordance with a character of used data the authors have chosen the factor analysis and the cluster analysis for the classification process. As an input for the practical analysis such data sets have been selected which describe regional business environment in the EU. The initial number of chosen regions had to be reduced because of the missing data. The ZET algorithm has been applied to complete the mising values in the remaining number of regions. The following four indicators of business environment were created on the basis of factor analysis: the indicator of quality of labour forces and innovations, the indicator of labour market, the indicator of economic activity and the indicator of demographic development. Empirical classifications were explored on two different linkages by means of created factors. Individual clusters were compared by average values of factor scores. The results of comparison were discussed.

More than 30% of the population lives in less favoured areas in the Czech Republic. These areas are characterized by a number of limitations such as shorter growing season, lower average annual temperature, the worse traffic conditions, higher environmental protection and others. Sustainable development of these areas depends not only on development of agriculture in these areas that is well supported, but also on the development of other sectors of the economy. An important element of development of these areas is a sufficient number of job opportunities. An analysis of employment in the years 2002-2006 was performed to investigate this. The method shift-share analysis was used. The analysis revealed that the total change of employment in the LFA was influenced mainly by a positive development of the regional component in the most important sectors. In the non LFA, the decrease of a number of workers due to the industry-mix component (mainly transport and trade) was intensified by unfavourable values of the regional component. Dealing with the situation of the employment in industry, trade and transport is the key matter.

New approaches are being searched for to assess regional policy in connection with the specification of a new paradigm of regional development. The article pays attention to the assurance of a sustainable growth rate of economies in Czech regions. The methodological base of the solution is a thesis on the analogy between enterprises and regions as relatively open socio-economic systems with a function of the welfare maximisation. The data from 2002-2006 are analysed. The oscillation around the value "1" occurs with inter-annually in 10 regions from 14; the inter-annual oscillation is corrupted in 3 cases, when the trend continues in sequence, even though with other intensity. On the one hand, it is necessary consider all factors influencing regional policy tools; on the other hand it is also necessary to correctly consider the self-regulating elements effecting regions.