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The main objective of this study is to make a comparative analysis of inflation convergence in Central-Eastern European countries (CEE countries) during the economic crisis over 2008-2013. For Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia the inflation convergence has decreased in the analyzed period, the coefficient of variation (64.22%) showing strong divergence compared to the slow divergence indirectly predicted by the European Commission. The negative catch-up rates for Bulgaria, Poland and Slovakia explain the large negative consequences of the actual economic crisis for these countries. The Fisher-type test for panel data indicated no convergence for real and predicted inflation convergence. The analysis based on random effects models indicated an inflation convergence rate of 15.47% in CEE economies compared to a predicted convergence rate of 2.04%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to evaluate the market concentration in the Czech food and beverages industry over the period of 2003-2014, to quantify disparities among particular sectors and to investigate the trend of market concentration. The concept of convergence is applied when investigating the trend in the long term. The market concentration in the Czech food and beverages industry has increased on average. In sectors with relatively low market concentration in 2003, the values of concentration increased more rapidly after 2003. On the contrary, the most concentrated sectors tend to change slowly over time and the concentration in some sectors even declined. On the basis of the absolute ß-convergence model estimation, it was concluded that there is a trend for convergence of the market concentration in the long run to one and the same point for all sectors of the industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the results of an international comparative survey of stakeholders from four European countries (the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland and Romania). The aim was to identify and classify the 'success factors' of brownfields regeneration and to detect significant convergences and divergences concerning the drivers and barriers of regeneration processes in different geographical and institutional contexts. The existence of ecological burden or site contamination, overall regeneration costs and clarified ownership relations are considered the most important factors of regeneration internationally. Especially in Romania but also in Poland, the factors at national level (legislation, incentives, and foreign direct investments) are perceived to be more influential than in the Czech Republic and Germany, where a stronger emphasis is put on the location factors (whether a brownfield is located in rural, urban or inner city area) and transport links. Physical attributes such as the site's area and terrain are also considered among the most significant factors in Romania. While representatives of public administration emphasized more the importance of legislation, state incentives and general localization, the investors and developers highlighted local factors (landscape protection limits, place marketing, and previous use of brownfields). The emphasis on political and geographical factors increases with the level of experience of stakeholders, while the emphasis on site specific factors decreases with the length of experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies into the relation between subjective perceptions of individuals and objective economic conditions have usually resulted in ambiguous empirical findings. Whilst most studies perceive subjective welfare as being operationalized by indicators of happiness or life satisfaction, we narrow the approach to an economic domain of subjective well-being—perceptions of poverty. We argue that our approach better reflects the economic dimension, as the former may include numerous non-economic domains. We use a case study of two countries—Czechia and Slovakia—which underwent early economic transition as a common state in 1989–1992, then became independent states in 1993, after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. We base our findings on three historical data sets covering a period from around the end of the communist era to the early years after the split, and recent data from EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (2005–2016). Despite initially small differences in subjective poverty levels in socialist Czechoslovakia, a considerably larger drop in economic performance during the transition period in Slovakia than in Czechia resulted in a sharp widening of the subjective poverty gap. The recent data suggests that, despite a high degree of actual economic convergence of Slovakia and Czechia, the gap in subjective perceptions of poverty is declining at a remarkably slower pace. We argue that relatively fast economic growth is not necessarily associated with a commensurate decline in subjective poverty perceptions. Our results thus support the Easterlin Paradox, although we substitute happiness by an economic dimension of subjective well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses the impact of direct inflation targeting (DIT) on monetary policy credibility in the Czech Republic, as evidenced by asset prices. It examines the effect of changes in the two-week repo rate (the official interest rate) on short and long-term market interest rates. It assumes the asymmetry of information and the existence of a stationary stochastic equilibrium with full knowledge of authorities reaction function. We find that at short maturities, the coefficients for changes in the official repo rate are lower in the DIT period than in the pre-crisis period. This implies that the hypothesis of no increase in the transparency of monetary policy with the introduction of DIT can be rejected. We find that bond yields and interest rate swap rates with maturities of 5 years and longer did not react significantly to official interest rate decisions in the DIT period. This is consistent with the hypothesis that monetary policy was credible both before and after introduction of DIT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The processes that will drive the next stage of the Czech transition are likely to be similar to those promoting real convergence in the countries of the EU periphery. We draw on previous modeling research on these latter economies to construct and calibrate a small macrosectoral model of the Czech Republic. Model simulations explore some key policy issues facing CEE-country decision-makers: labour market reforms, disinflation and industrial development. Our analysis suggests that much can be learned from the experience of countries like Ireland and Portugal which have converged substantially towards EU average living standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]