Politická ekonomie, 2021 (vol. 69), issue 5

Optimal Share of Privatisation in a Public Monopoly with Unionised Workers

Luciano Fanti, Domenico Buccella

Politická ekonomie 2021, 69(5):511-528 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1328  

In a monopoly industry with firm-union wage bargaining, we show that it is optimal to privatise a share of the public firm. The optimal privatisation share increases with the union's higher bargaining power and/or wage-orientation and, when the latter is large, full privatisation becomes socially optimal. Interestingly, the optimal privatisation share is the highest (lowest) when the government attributes a medium-low (low and high) weight to the workers' welfare, notably when the union's bargaining power and/or wage-orientation are sufficiently high. This may be counterintuitive because it implies that left-wing governments (with a weak and moderate...

Otcovský bonus v České republice, jeho vývoj a zdroje

Fatherhood Premium in the Czech Republic – Its Evolution and Sources

Drahomíra Zajíčková, Miroslav Zajíček

Politická ekonomie 2021, 69(5):529-554 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1331  

The study provides estimates of the size of the fatherhood premium for the Czech Republic in the years 2006‒2017, using data from the EU SILC survey. In the years 2006‒2009, the fatherhood premium in the Czech Republic does not manifest itself if explanatory variables include the marriage premium and the partner's labour market participation. The fatherhood premium only starts to express itself in 2010 and the following years, when it reaches values from 11% to 15% as a consequence of a decision of families with high-income fathers to have a third child in the years after 2010.

Kolik nás může pracovat z domova? Výsledky pro Českou republiku

How Many of Us Can Work from Home? Evidence for the Czech Republic

Matěj Bajgar, Petr Janský, Marek Šedivý

Politická ekonomie 2021, 69(5):555-570 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1329  

How well can a society and an economy face up to COVID-19 depends, among other factors, on how many jobs can be performed at home. Work from home has the potential to increase firms' productivity and quality of workers' lives regardless of COVID-19, but it can also create new challenges. In this paper, we estimate the share of Czech workers who could work from home, using detailed Czech labour force survey data and an internationally recognised occupational classification methodology. Overall, we apply in the Czech context a methodology developed by Dingel and Neiman and published by the Journal of Public Economics in 2020. Our results show that about...

Real Convergence in EU: Is There a Difference Between the Effects of the Pandemic and the Global Economic Crisis?

Aleksandra Fedajev, Magdalena Radulescu, Ana-Gabriela Babucea, Vladimir Mihajlovic

Politická ekonomie 2021, 69(5):571-594 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1327  

This paper aims to shed some light on the real convergence process among EU economies in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis in comparison to the real convergence in 2008, when the last financial crisis erupted. According to entropy method results, the most pronounced difference between effects of the current pandemic and the global financial crisis are registered in the unemployment rate, while the difference in the current account balance and GDP per capita are much less noticeable. The results of the entropy method also suggest that the greatest difference among EU economies in 2020 is registered in the current account deficits; a slightly...

Kvantifikácia optimálnej miery fiškálnej decentralizácie v krajinách OECD

Quantification of the Optimal Level of Fiscal Decentralization in OECD Countries

Daša Belkovicsová, Matej Boór

Politická ekonomie 2021, 69(5):595-618 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1326  

The essence of fiscal decentralization is to increase economic efficiency in the redistribution of resources in the public sector through more effective satisfaction of local public needs by lower levels of government. The article aims to quantify the optimal degree of fiscal decentralization in relation to economic growth in a sample of 29 OECD countries for the years 1975-2018. Empirical research has shown a nonlinear relationship between the degree of fiscal decentralization and economic growth, which takes a parabolic shape. The optimal degree of fiscal decentralization maximizing economic growth reached the level of 31.3656%, or in the case of...

Chtějí lidé skutečně vědět více?

Vojtěch Kotrba

Politická ekonomie 2021, 69(5):619-624 | DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1330