Browsing by Author "Vokoun, Marek"
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- ItemInnovative activity and business cycle: Austria in the 19th and 20th century(Technická Univerzita v Liberci, 2018-06-28) Minárik, Pavol; Vokoun, Marek; Stellner, František; Ekonomická fakultaThis paper focuses on the analysis of the relationship between business cycles and innovative activity in a small open economy. Small economies benefit from imports of foreign technologies through international trade and foreign investments and are subjects to significant exogenous shocks that impact their business cycle. The economic analysis is based on the demand and supply theories of innovation and economic fluctuations. Hypotheses about long term and short term (Granger) effects are tested on Austrian historical data (1852-1979) about the economic output (gross domestic product and industry production) and innovation output (granted patents). The econometric analysis utilizes vector error correction procedure to estimate time-series models of the economy. The results are interpreted in Austrian historical context. The economic-historical analysis suggests that there is no long-term relationship between business cycles and innovative activity between 1852 and 1937. The long-term relationship manifested only between 1948 and 1979. This relationship is very complex and influenced by the historical context, and it is not easy to grasp by the econometric analysis. In the short run, there is no compelling evidence trough-out the analyzed time period (1852-1979). However, we cannot fully reject the hypothesis suggesting a relationship between economic cycles and innovative activities. In the most recent period (1948-1979), we can observe a negative impact (Granger causality) of granted patents on the real GDP. Future research taking into account more countries using parametric as well as non-parametric approach could shed some light on the demand hypothesis in the pre-war and post-war development of small open economies. This paper showed that there is a long-term equilibrium between economic output and innovation activity. This result suggests that long term factors such as political stability are behind the complex relationship.
- ItemInstitutional analysis of the contemporary regional labour market in the Czech Republic(Technická Univerzita v Liberci, 2016-09-23) Novák, Václav; Vokoun, Marek; Stellner, František; Vochozka, Marek; Ekonomická fakultaPublic institutions are key players in the regional labour markets in the Czech Republic. Their activities are constrained by economic policies, which are aimed at increasing employment and the efficiency of the labour markets. Our analysis uses a questionnaire to collect data from the institutions and evaluate their perception of the regional labour market. The results suggest that active employment policy instruments and passive policy instruments are perceived as inefficient and inappropriate. The unemployed usually have no previous job experience, completed only primary education and are not willing to travel to work. The pressing problem is the quality of education and the generous social benefits that makes employment policy inefficient for the least skilled unemployed. Despite substantial regional socio-economic differences in both analysed regions (the Ústecký Region and the Jihočeský Region), there are no significant differences in the poor evaluation of all the traditional active employment policy instruments. In the more problematic Ústecký Region the emphasis is put on basic issues such as the lack of education and experience of the unemployed. The local labour market issues are dictated by long-term factors such as the lack of job vacancies. In the Jihočeský Region the situation is better. The issue is more one of mobility. The market issues here are more related to the appropriateness of secondary and tertiary education and labour costs. To increase the efficiency of employment policies we recommend improvements to the institutional infrastructure in higher education, which should be oriented towards investment in the quality of human capital.