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KOUBA LUDĚK, GROCHOVÁ LADISLAVA: The European welfare state from the prospect of new EU member states. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 2013, LXI, No. 7, pp. 2327-2335 The aim of this paper is to analyse and discuss the heterogeneity level between the old and new EU member states in terms of welfare state development. In order to discuss the research questions, we performed the cluster analysis that provides the overall survey of the welfare state development and besides that, the results were divided into four dimensions: demographic, economic, institutional and social. In comparison with the thematic literature, we modifi ed the dimensions, including our original institutional dimension, and added a dynamic point of view. The cluster analysis resulted in the existence of three clusters: Core cluster, Periphery cluster and Eastern cluster. The Eastern cluster is still relatively stable and covers in a total of nine of the ten Central and Eastern European countries that were included in the analysis: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia (hence apart from Slovenia). On the other hand, using the dimensional approach, the CEE countries were grouped together with the old EU member countries, both from the Core cluster and from the Periphery cluster, within the economic and institutional dimensions. Therefore, we conclude that the new EU member countries, nowadays, do not form an internally homogenous group in terms of the features of their welfare state. welfare state, CEE countries, new EU member states, cluster analysis Nowadays, the European economy and society face a lot of serious challenges such as globalization, ageing of the population or the European debt crisis. In our opinion, it is possible to divide these socioeconomic challenges into two broadly defi ned areas.The fi rst area is related to the phenomenon of globalization, which creates pressure on the structural changes in the European economy. The most visible consequences are the continuing process of de-industrialization on the one hand and the permanently increasing importance of the service sector on the other hand. Moreover, this European move into a service-based economy is accompanied by a constantly growing emphasis on a highly educated labour force. Recently, the services based on a low-skilled and even a mediumskilled labour force have started to be shi ed from Europe to less developed countries. The accent on the development of a so-called knowledge economy, which is, in particular, verbally supported across the European Union, should be a solution for the decreasing competitiveness of European economy.The second area is related to a complex of social and demographic changes that creates pressure on the public fi nance in most of the EU countries. Among these changes, the phenomenon of the ageing of the population is by far the most signifi cant one seriously threatening the sustainability of pension schemes and health care systems and...

GROCHOVÁ, L., KOUBA, L.: Political instability and economic growth: an empirical evidence from the Baltic states. Acta univ. agric. et silvic. Mendel. Brun., 2011, LIX, No. 2, pp. 81-88 For more than last 20 decades, new political economics has been dealing with theories of economic growth (for example infl uential contributions by Mancur Olson, Dani Rodrik). However, less attention has been paid to their empirical verifi cation. The new political economics growth theory defi nes some factors that are necessary for economic growth among which political stability. Our aim is to test the theory focused on political stability empirically in order to enrich the studies with recent European results. The paper uses a single-equation model to reject a hypothesis that political stability is a necessary condition for economic growth fi nding a relationship between economic growth and political instability. A demonstration that political stability is not a crucial factor for economic development in general then represents the main goal of the contribution. There are distinguished two types of political instability -elite and non-elite -in topical literature. While non-elite political instability concerns about violent coups, riots or civil wars, elite political instability is represented with "so changes" such as government breakdowns, fragile majority or minority governments. A number of government changes is used as a proxy of elite political instability. The disproof of the hypothesis is demonstrated on data from the Baltic states where number of government changes takes place and still fast economic growth could be seen within last two decades. Since it is shown that political instability has almost no impact on economic growth, we consider the hypothesis regarding a necessity of political stability for economic development to be only a specifi c non-generalizable case. new political economics, political instability, elite political instability, production function, single equation, Baltic states For more than last 20 years, new political economics has been dealing with theories of economic growth. However, less attention has been paid to their empirical verifi cation. The new political economics growth theory defi nes some factors that are necessary for economic growth among which political stability. We propose to test the theory focused on political stability empirically in order to enrich the studies with recent European results.There are distinguished two types of political instability -elite and non-elite -in topical literature. While non-elite political instability concerns about violent coups, riots or civil wars, elite political instability is represented with "so changes" such as government breakdowns, fragile majority or minority governments. We don't doubt the importance of general political stability for successful economic development. Nevertheless, we don't agree that elite political instability can be understood as an insuperable obstacle for it. In other words, our aim is to reject the hypo...

The recent challenges of the contemporary world have brought into question the long-term sustainability of human activities. In 2015, all the countries of the UN General Assembly made a commitment to promote sustainability in the Agenda 2030, which introduced a worldwide concept of 17 main goals in achieving sustainable development-Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To become successful in meeting the SDGs, the necessity of measuring, evaluating and controlling the goals emerges. The aim of our study is to enrich this area of research by introducing Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) into the assessment of the level of the SDGs achievement and the measurement of the countries' progress. We apply the DEA to compute the relative efficiency of the individual countries in fulfilling their commitment. The best performers that we identify are Finland, Japan and Iceland. Next, we estimate a year in which the individual countries may be able to achieve the SDGs if they continue with their current strategies. Following the actual pace of the improvements, we find that only five countries are on track to become relatively efficient by or around 2030.

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Abstract:The paper focuses on beer consumption in the Czech Republic, the country with the highest beer consumption per capita in the world. To understand the recent beer-consumption behaviour, we use the monthly data from a three year period, 2006-2008, to estimate both the 2SLS and the SUR model charting the demand for beer extended to the past consumption and advertising expenditure. The demand for beer in the Czech Republic reacts more strongly to the changes in price than it does to the investments in advertising. The results suggest two implications for the policy-makers. Consumption is as sensitive to the price of beer and its alternatives as it is to advertising, so taxes or restrictions on advertising can affect the consumption of beer, considering the long tradition of Czech consumers in drinking beer as the strong role of the past consumption demonstrates.