The paper focuses on a comparison of three different approaches that seek to explain the existence of public goods. First the mainstream Samuelson-Musgrave approach, based on the search for an objective nature of so-called pure public goods, is critically evaluated, especially with respect to...

The Czech Council for R&D developed a new version of the Methodic for the Evaluation of R&D. In this paper, we discuss especially three criteria from this Methodic: - publications in impacted journals - publications in other scientific refereed journals - evaluation of publications with more...

Almost all of us sometimes voluntarily give up some scarce resources to make someone else better. Not only the amount of resources used for such purposes, but also other wider concerns (implications for private and government sector) have drawn the attention of economists in recent decades. In...

One of the key assumptions of neoclassical economics is the existence of the rational individual, who always tries to maximize his or her utility. The paper shows possibilities of experimental evaluation of this hypothesis with respect to the various groups of people who undertake the...

The paper examines implications of both real and nominal convergence for a fully-funded pension system. The process of convergence implies that higher contribution rates are necessary in the converging economy for replacement ratios to be the same as in a steady-state economy. This effect in the...

This study focuses on the closed-end funds in the Czech Republic. Using event-study methodology and weekly data for 24 funds from July 1996 to July 2001, this paper investigates the price and discount reaction to key events associated with the open-ending of the closed-end funds. The findings...

The paper deals with a wide-spread myth that a switch from a PAYG to a funded pension system might solve adverse consequences of the population aging. It is shown, that under additional assumptions the pension debt (which is created during the process of the switch) is exactly equal to the value...

The Czech Republic is going to face ageing of its population. It will affect the economy in many ways. The pension system is one of them. This paper provides a view on possibilities how to insure long-term stability of the pension system in the Czech Republic using a mix of pay-as-you-go and...

This essay focuses on the pension system and highlights some of its key elements. The first part deals with the economic principles connected with the social security system. Eatwell's model is utilized to give some basic intuition of terms and concepts used in the pension reform discussion. The...

Services have expanded rapidly over last twenty years and they play a dominant role in advanced economies today. The economic research reflects these structural changes by increasing interest in integrating services into the traditional value chain. This study aims at creating conceptual...