In this paper, I focus on two aspects of central banking – flexibility and transparency – that have been affected by monetary policy debates over the past twenty years. Because criticism of inflation targeting, at least in the United States, often focuses on the...

The purpose of this paper is twofold: firstly, to identify and quantify the potential costs to the Czech economy should fulfilment of the Maastricht inflation criterion (MIC) require disinflation; and secondly, to discuss and suggest policies geared towards minimising the costs related to...

This paper is aimed at developing short-term forecasting methods based on the LEI (leading economic indicators) approach. We use a set of econometric models (PCA, SURE) that provide estimates of GDP growth for the Czech economy for a co-incident quarter and a few quarters ahead. These models...

This paper analyses the European budget and the net position of the ten new member states. We argue that the EU budget should be reconsidered, as the Union has expanded to 25 member states and has become more heterogeneous. We demonstrate how the ten new members fared with respect to the...

This paper analyses the performance of the inflation forecast-based (IFB) monetary policy rules in the quarterly projection model of the Czech National Bank. The paper begins by reviewing the model and its parametrization, including the variance-covariance matrix of disturbances employed in...

This article discusses the ratings of financial market participants as one of the indicators of financial stability. Particular attention is paid to the sector of banks and insurance corporations in the Czech Republic. Besides discussing the ratings of individual financial institutions, the...

This article, based on an empirical analysis, discusses factors affecting property prices and tries to identify periods of property price overvaluation by time series analysis for the Czech Republic as a whole and by panel regression for the Czech regions. The time series analysis identifies...

This article discusses the potential risks to price stability stemming from the influence of foreign direct investment on the economy. The analysis uses corporate data from a unique Deutsche Bundesbank database containing an almost complete sample of German enterprises that invested in the Czech...

The banking sector is a dominant component of the financial system in the Czech Republic. The stability of the banking system is of key importance as regards the financial stability of the economy as a whole. Any turbulence in the banking system can, moreover, generate a need for additional...