This study aims to investigate the impact of international remittances on income inequality in the post-communist region. The association between the variables is examined via static and dynamic panel models. Using macroeconomic data from 27 countries over the period 1991-2014, we discover that income inequality progresses along a U-shaped course as a country becomes more dependent on remittances. For most of the countries, the relationship between remittances and inequality is inverse. When remittances account for more than 20% of GDP, they exacerbate economic inequality. This finding challenges the view that remittances should only be viewed as a pro-poor redistribution mechanism because in certain cases, additional migrant transfers may actually increase income inequality.

This paper analyses factors affecting arrivals of international tourists into countries denoted as Small Island Developing States (SIDS). These destinations are paired to all potential countries of origin for which the data was available in the UNWTO database for at least one year over the studied period 1995-2014. The dynamic panel data regression techniques within the gravity approach scheme are applied to identify the significance and importance of different factors of international tourist arrivals into SIDS. These factors are subsequently compared in terms of their significance and relevance across the three geographic sub-regions of SIDS. The results show that tourism flows into SIDS are highly persistent. They depend on the accessibility of destinations, tourism infrastructure development, political stability, and levels of economic development of destinations as well as countries of origin. Exchange rate, weather, and language and historical (colonial) links also play significant roles. The regional comparison reveals that the significance and importance of these factors among the three subregions vary only modestly.

This paper examines the responsiveness of foreign aid to environmental needs and performance of developing countries using, as an example, the Czech Republic.

This article analyzes the territorial allocation of Czech development assistance. The first part of the article (sections 2 and 3) provides an overview of the historical development and territorial aspects of Czech aid. The second part (section 4) employs regression analysis to examine the determinants of territorial allocation of Czech aid over the period 1998–2013. Czech aid flows to favoured countries in a relative proximity to Czechia and to the countries inherited from the communist era. The results of the regression analysis show that in most cases it was Czech economic and political interests that played a role in determining the allocation of Czech aid as well as some of the factors that reflect the recipients’ needs and aid effectiveness.

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