Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(2) | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1490
This study analyses the impact of inflation targeting on the external debt of middle-income countries using the propensity score matching (PSM) method. The results indicate that the adoption of inflation targeting is associated with a significant decrease in external debt, with an average reduction estimated at approximately 15.16 percentage points. This reduction reflects the enhanced credibility of monetary policy, which lowers the risk of default on public debt. These findings suggest that inflation targeting can be a useful tool for managing external debt and reducing fiscal pressures on public finances, but its effectiveness depends on its integration...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(2) | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1489
We develop a theoretical framework to characterize the relationship between democracy and energy use on a global scale. We utilize the generalized method of moments (GMM) model to control for endogeneity on a balanced, global panel dataset encompassing 61 countries across six geographic regions. Contrary to conventional understanding that democracies may have a positive association with energy use, our findings reveal that democracy has a significant negative association with energy use. We conclude that democracies prioritize sustainability globally as energy use declines. These novel results are justified because democracies can often foster a culture...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(2) | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1493
This study examines the link between cultural patterns and fiscal policy in 29 EU/EFTA countries. Using Ward’s clustering on Hofstede’s dimensions, five groups were formed. Results confirm that cultural clusters share similar tax and expenditure structures. Regression analysis shows that a 1% increase in individualism raises tax revenues by 0.686% and spending by 0.655% (social +0.740%, human capital +0.364%, classical +0.375%, economic +0.340%). A 1% rise in long-term orientation increases indirect tax shares by 0.717% and income taxes by 0.340%. Uncertainty avoidance (+1%) correlates with higher tax revenues (+0.164%) and indirect taxes...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(2) | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1502
A recent focus on the socioeconomic impacts of military expenditures has led to a resurgence of interest in research and development activities in this domain. A comprehensive review of extant academic studies reveals a conspicuous absence of research examining the augmented Solow growth model, encompassing capital formation, labour force, military expenditures and economic growth for Turkey. Consequently, this study aims to investigate the impact of capital formation, labour force and military expenditures on economic growth in Turkey from 1991 to 2022. To this end, the study employs the residual augmented least square (RALS) approach. The coefficients...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(2) | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1501
This study explores the dynamic nexus between economic growth and sustainable development for 92 countries across high, upper-middle, lower-middle and low-income groups. We validate the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis from a novel perspective. We employ a novel technique of Narayan et al. (2016) through simple cross-correlation estimates and a panel causality technique. The analysis covers data from 1990 to 2022 using annual data. Our findings show that the EKC hypothesis is supported for five out of 92 (5%) countries and that income growth will increase sustainable development for 50 (54%) countries. Notably, the analysis reveals...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(2) | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1499
Poverty continues to be one of the major issues in Turkey, as in many other countries, with a large portion of the population - especially in rural areas - living below the poverty line. Those living in poverty have limited access to key public services such as education, healthcare and housing, which consequently exacerbates social and economic inequalities within society. The gap between wealthy and impoverished groups within society is continually expanding, primarily due to institutional factors that perpetuate this inequality. Drawing on data from 2009 to 2019, this study offers an empirical analysis of the role of institutions in shaping poverty...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(2) | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1498
Oil rents play a significant role for oil-abundant countries; therefore, most oil-abundant countries depend on oil sectors. However, if gains from oil rents are not invested in productive sectors, it may adversely affect long-term sustainable growth. As discussed in the relevant literature in the scope of the resource curse hypothesis or Dutch disease, dependence on natural resources may crowd out productive investment, resulting in decelerating economic growth (GDP). However, crucial policies emerge that suggest that oil rents contribute to or dampen productivity in oil-rich countries. It is observed that few studies have considered the role of oil...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(1):170-197 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1484
Faced with domestic and international responsibilities, China urgently needs to coordinate various regions to achieve carbon peak in an orderly manner. As core regions driving economic expansion and primary hubs of energy consumption, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) and the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) regions are substantial contributors to carbon emissions in China. To address regional disparities in carbon emission management, this study estimates CO2 emissions from 1990 to 2021, employing the STIRPAT model to analyse influencing factors. The findings reveal that the key factor affecting CO2 emissions in both regions is population....
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(1):142-169 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1478
This study explores the interplay among political factors, environmental pollution and sustainable development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Drawing on an evaluation of the literature and empirical data, the study highlights the effect of political instability, corruption and weak governance on environmental degradation and sustainable development. The study applies the pooled ordinary least squares and the fixed effects; besides, to account for possible problems of endogeneity, the generalised method of moments (GMM) is utilized. The results show that environmental pollution worsens sustainable development, while political factors improve sustainable...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(1):118-141 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1497
This study explores the impact of female board representation on firm value prior to the COVID-19 pandemic using a sample of sub-Saharan African quoted companies. Utilizing a robust dataset derived from annual reports of non-financial firms spanning 11 years, the study employs both pooled ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and the system generalized method of moments (GMM) to assess this relationship. In addition, the study conducts supplementary regression analyses with different measures of board gender diversity to validate its findings. The findings reveal a positive and statistically significant correlation between the presence of female...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(1):92-117 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1483
Amidst ongoing global worries over climate change and its ecological ramifications amidst rapid economic growth, the United Nations has set forth a comprehensive agenda known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), aiming to achieve them by 2030. These goals are tailored to foster sustainable socio-economic progress while enhancing the quality of the global environment. Therefore, this study explores the connections between load capacity factor, green quality of energy mix, financial development, economic growth and natural resources in alignment with SDGs 7, 11, 13 and 12, focusing on China from 1981 to 2021. The study introduces the rolling...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(1):66-91 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1480
Governments worldwide are grappling with the challenges of climate change. Following COP28 - the Dubai consensus - it has become even clearer that achieving CO2 emission reduction targets is crucial to prevent the global temperature from rising above 1. 5 °C. In this context, our study assesses these ambitious climate goals through the lens of green energy and technology adoption within the E7 countries. Using quantile regression and panel ordinary least squares (POLS) techniques on data spanning from 1991 to 2021, we provide insights into the vital role of digitalization and energy choices in reducing CO2 emissions and advancing...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(1):33-65 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1481
The issue of growing income inequality has become a central focus in global economic policy debate. This paper examines the impact of government social spending on income inequality in the 27 member states of the European Union between 2010 and 2020, utilizing regression analysis of panel data. The findings indicate that the level of government social spending reflects the varying fiscal policies on social protection across EU countries, with the largest share allocated to old age expenditures. However, the analysis reveals that old-age government expenditures do not have a statistically significant impact on income inequality. In contrast, increased...
Politická ekonomie 2026, 74(1):1-32 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1477
This paper examines the effects of climate change, human development, internet use and income inequality on poverty using 50 high-, middle and low-income countries between 2004 and 2020. After applying the panel unit root tests, the parameters are estimated using the quantile regression method. The results reveal that climate change has a statistically significant and positive effect on poverty in the selected 50 countries. Also, the impacts of the human development index and internet use are significant and negative. Our findings reveal that income inequality has a positive effect on poverty. The one-way and two-way models, along with the fixed-effect...
Politická ekonomie 2025, 73(6):1064-1089 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1474
On the one hand, government intervention in the functioning of the market is inevitable due to market failure reasons such as uncertainty, asymmetric information and externalities; on the other hand, a high share of government in health services may result in government failure on the respective market. To effectively sustain increasing health spendings, it is vital to determine the optimal level for private and public health spending that have a positive effect on the health market. From this point of view, the objective of our study is to empirically evaluate the impact of public and private health spendings on health outcomes for 33 OECD countries...
Politická ekonomie 2025, 73(6):1034-1063 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1475
Sraffian economics posits that the production prices are uniquely determined within a specific production framework, serving as the benchmark for maintaining economic reproduction. This study aims to link deviations between Sraffian production prices and market prices to economic disproportionality and investigate these divergences to understand the business cycle. Using input-output matrices of the Korean economy, the study computes these deviations using the Steedman and Tomkins (1998) formula. It then assesses the impact of these price changes on economic activity. VAR methodology analysis shows that increasing deviation, indicating disproportionality,...
Politická ekonomie 2025, 73(6):1015-1033 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1473
The structure of the consumer society that has emerged in the world since the 1950s has led to an increase in the impact of economic activities on the environment. Recently, the incidence rates of various diseases have increased, especially in Eastern Europe , owing to environmental pollution and degradation. Therefore, this study aims to explain the impact of economic activities on the environment in Nordic countries using an ecological growth model. This study analyses causality relationships based on data on economic growth, capital accumulation, employment level, energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions, carbon dioxide emissions, renewable...
Politická ekonomie 2025, 73(6):986-1014 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1469
This paper aims to empirically investigate the dynamic behaviour of inflation rates in four countries in the Middle East and North Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia) based on the assumption that inflation has become more persistent in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. The study analyses whether the inflation dynamics in these countries have exhibited any differences after the Arab Spring period. To do so, we conduct an analysis based on the quantile autoregressive (QAR) unit root approach for before and after the Arab Spring. Our findings indicate that the inflation rates in the studied MENA countries exhibit high persistence in the period...
Politická ekonomie 2025, 73(6):967-985 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1467
Europe's public debt situation is likely to persist in the coming years. This study evaluates the impact of public debt on growth in the EU-27 countries. The analysis, using dynamic panel threshold models, reveals an indirect connection between debt and growth from 1995 to 2023. The research identifies an indirect effect of general and central debt on economic growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. While government effectiveness positively influences growth in the long run, this effect is not observed during the pandemic. To ensure the robustness of our findings, dynamic panel data models and mean group (MG) estimators are employed. The empirical results...
Politická ekonomie 2025, 73(6):948-966 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1472
This paper aims to bridge a gap in public finance research by investigating the impact of remuneration increases for local politicians on various budgetary indicators in Czech municipalities using the regression discontinuity design method. Building on prior studies from Italy and the Netherlands, this research examines how remuneration influences budgetary behaviour. Focusing on municipalities with populations ranging from 5 to 20 thousand inhabitants, divided by a threshold of 10 thousand, where remuneration increases occur automatically, the analysis reveals significant effects on budget allocations. Particularly notable are increases in current...
Politická ekonomie 2025, 73(6):926-947 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1468
Reduction in energy demand, application of circular economy principles and implementation of sustainable policies are the key pillars of sustainable development. Buildings and the construction sector are significant consumers of both energy and resources. Therefore, a crucial policy objective is to mediate investments in sustainable renovations to make buildings more energy-efficient, less water-reliant and constructed with less waste. The EU Taxonomy, the bible of sustainability, sets the technical criteria for defining sustainable investments. However, do the criteria introduce a new approach, or is it more of another European attempt to improve...
Politická ekonomie 2025, 73(5) Special Issue II:891-925 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1463
In the current literature strand, most of the literature is devoted to the role played by mineral and governance policies in environmental quality. However, their criticality in income inequality is mainly overlooked by scholarly works. This research investigated the nexus of mineral and governance policies with income inequality while exploring the importance of per capita income, health expenditure, and poverty. Covering the extended period from 1984Q1 to 20223Q4 in the case of China, this research confirms the presence of long-run equilibrium association between variables. Due to the non-normal data distribution, this research uses quantile regression...
Politická ekonomie 2025, 73(5) Special Issue II:868-890 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1479
This research investigates the environmental effects of mining activities in countries in the Global South, specifically focusing on Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and Pakistan, from 1990 to 2020. Utilizing advanced econometric techniques, especially panel data methods, the study identifies considerable variations in how key factors - such as mineral rents, forest areas, GDP per capita and freshwater resources - affect the ecological footprint. The results support the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis and show that while mineral rents tend to decrease the ecological footprint, increased renewable freshwater resources are associated with a higher...
Politická ekonomie 2025, 73(5) Special Issue II:839-867 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1476
In the context of growing global energy demand and advancing climate change, digital technologies offer opportunities for a low-carbon energy transition. Through such technologies, including big data, artificial intelligence and the internet of things, digitalization enables intelligent optimization, flexible management and efficient operation of energy systems, access to renewable energy, and reducing both energy consumption and carbon emissions. Grounded in the data of listed companies from 2011 to 2020, this study discusses the influence of enterprise digitalization on the low-carbon energy transition. The results show that enterprises’ digital...
Politická ekonomie 2025, 73(5) Special Issue II:810-838 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1482
As the corporate world has recently been increasingly held accountable for its non-green behaviour, corporate environmental disclosures (CED) are crucial in informing the relevant stakeholders. Among the factors influencing CED, firm auditors play a pivotal role. Our research investigates the impact of Big Four audit firms on corporate environmental disclosure in China. With unique institutional factors and the most significant carbon emissions globally, China provides an exciting and compelling ground for studying this relationship. For this purpose, we use annual firm-level data of A-listed shares on the Shenzhen and Shanghai stock exchanges and...
Politická ekonomie 2025, 73(5) Special Issue II:778-809 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1452
In a contest to attain equitable economic performance, emerging economies of the Global South are rapidly strengthening their institutional framework and improving investment in the green energy sector and digitization. Also, these economies are extracting mineral resources to encourage development but still lagging in the context of an equitable growth race, which creates uncertainty among policymakers. Therefore, it is crucial to analyse the influence of mineral resources, digital economy and governance on the economic development of the emerging economies of the Global South from 1996 to 2022. In addition, the crucial role of green energy and foreign...
Politická ekonomie 2025, 73(5) Special Issue II:769-777 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1514
Politická ekonomie 2025, 73(4):743-768
Green finance strategies have been established to direct funding towards green energy initiatives and promote the advancement of green technology for ecological sustainability. Moreover, the progress in green technology has played a significant role in the growth of green energy infrastructure in China. Nevertheless, there have been no prior investigations undertaken in China that specifically examine the impact of green financing and green technology on green energy within an asymmetric quantile framework. Thus, in the current study, a multivariate quantile-on-quantile regression (m-QQR) methodology is used to experimentally examine the link between...
Politická ekonomie 2025, 73(4):715-742 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1466
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) emphasize the importance of energy by making affordable and clean fuel access the focus of Goal 7. Energy poverty is a widespread issue globally, particularly in developing countries. Thus, this investigation inspects the drivers of energy poverty in Brazil using data from 1997Q1 to 2022Q4. The study introduces the wavelet Zivot-Andrews (WZA) unit root test, which modifies the traditional Zivot-Andrews (ZA) test by incorporating wavelet analysis, allowing decomposition of the time series into different time scales (short-term, medium-term and long-term). This enables the WZA test to capture structural...
Politická ekonomie 2025, 73(4):686-714 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1460
This paper examines the profound effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on South Korean society, particularly focusing on the economic repercussions of a shock in energy use efficiency from Q1 2020 to Q3 2023. Employing advanced Bayesian estimation and impulse response function methods, the study reveals that enhanced energy use efficiency significantly boosts key economic metrics, including output, consumption, employment, energy use, real wages and investment. Additionally, an increase in real money holdings and a decrease in both deposit and loan interest rates are observed. The analysis further explores the impact of monetary policy adjustments made...
