Household energy constitutes an important share of affordable housing. Unaffordable housing and inadequate household energy represent a new dimension of poverty. Connections between energy, housing affordability and well-being are still under-researched. Building on housing affordability framework, this study explores the magnitude in changes in affordability of acquisition and use of an apartment between January 2018 and January 2022. Over the last four years, the real estate market in Europe has changed significantly. This paper deals with primary data for the Czech Republic, where acquisition prices of residential real estate increased depending on the region in the range of 50 to 120%. Since January 2022, there has been a sharp rise in energy prices and a tightening of conditions for the acquisition of mortgage loans. All these factors affect the standard of living in the Czech Republic. The article quantifies the magnitude of this change by calculating shares of total housing costs to total average net household income for the period January 2018 and January 2022. It is found that the affordability of owner-occupied housing in the Czech Republic has deteriorated and part of the middle class will be forced to move to the rental housing sector, multifamily housing and sharing. Finally, we argue that energy poverty needs to be considered in addressing the government housing policies. The aim of the article is to analyze the changes that have taken place in the real estate market over the last four years in relation to the growth of total housing costs and energy costs associated with housing.
The article provides an analysis of the development of NAIRU and the economic cycle in the labour market at the level of the economy and in selected sectors in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The analysis focuses on estimation of the time-varying NAIRU with the use of the method of the stochastic trend. The difference between the estimated NAIRU values and the real unemployment rates is used for characterisation of the economic cycle in the labour market. The estimated phases of the cycle are compared with the development of the basic real economy indicators. Unstable periods on the labour market in the economy and in selected sectors of the two countries are localised. The identified leading indicators are used for prediction of the development in the following period.
Infl uence of Institutional Factors on Structural and Cyclical Unemployment in the Countries of the Visegrad GroupThe aim of the article is to describe eff ects of selected institutional factors on structural and cyclical unemployment. The theoretical and methodological basis of institutional aspects of the labour market functioning draws from a number of previously published studies. Factors are modifi ed for national conditions of the Visegrad Group (hereinafter V4). The article compares NAIRU estimates of previously fi ne-tuned models with estimates of models extended by selected institutional factors. The diff erence between these groups will then be compared with development of relevant variables of the real economy. That will allow us to determine whether the institutional factor infl uenced structural or cyclical unemployment. We will also specify the intensity of its negative infl uence on the two types of unemployment. The fi nal results of the analysis are compared with results of previous studies and world literature data.Keywords: institutional factors, employment protection legislation (EPL), structure of wage bargaining, active labour market policies (ALMP), taxation of labour, system of unemployment benefi ts, NAIRU, Kalman fi lter, structural unemployment, cyclical unemployment JEL Classifi cation: E24, E32, E37
ÚvodAnalýza institucionálního rámce fungování trhu práce je důležitá v mnoha aspektech a také v souvislosti s konkurenceschopností ekonomiky. Nástroje, které zvyšují fl exibilitu trhu práce, přispívají ke zvýšení ekonomického výkonu. Tyto nástroje mohou být alternativou měnové politiky (De Grauwe, 2003). Flexibilitě trhu práce je věnována velká pozornost v rámci celé Evropské unie, ale i v jednotlivých členských státech. Evropská rada odsouhlasila Lisabonskou strategii pro růst a zaměstnanost (Employment Lisbon Strategy); International Affairs, 2010. Členské státy z ní vycházejí při sestavování a aplikaci národních programů reforem. Cílem opatření je mj. zvýšit zaměstnanost, bojovat proti segmentaci, omezit nerovnosti pohlaví. Členským státům je doporučována kombinace fl exibilních a spolehlivých pracovních smluv, aplikace aktivní politiky na trhu práce, celoživotní vzdělávání, podpora mobility pracovních sil a udržitelné systémy sociálního zabezpečení.
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