Volume 18 (2018): Issue 1 (March 2018)

This study is devoted to the empirical analysis by second generation panel data analysis of the effects of the R&D investment variables in different qualifications in OECD countries grouped as OECD-20 and OECD-9 based on the income levels of the economic growth for the period of 1996-2015. Within this context, the purpose of this study is to evaluate whether or not the economic growth performances of OECD-20 and OECD-9 countries have a sustainable structure that endogenizes the technological advancements and occurs by the increments in average factor productivity. At the end of the paper it is determined that all the R&D variables in different qualifications of the OECD-20 group have a higher income level in sample period and have positive and statistically significant effects on the economic growth. On the other hand, only the private sector, universities and the total R&D investments have positive and statistically significant effects on the economic growth of the OECD-9 group which has comparatively lower income level. However, it is specified that the size of the positive and statistically significant effects of the R&D investment variables in different qualifications is more than two times bigger in the OECD-20 group as opposed to the OECD-9 group. These results reveal that the economic performances of OECD-20 countries in the investigated period have a more substantial relation with the qualified and sustainable structure that endogenizes the technologic advancements and occurs by the increments in average factor productivity. All of this shows that the R&D investments also are substantially sufficient to change the long-term economic growth performances and income levels of the countries in OECD-20 and OECD-9 groups.

The publishing sector is probably a cultural industry with one of the greatest economic projections due to its huge turnover and contribution to the Gross Domestic Product of countries. In order to gain a better understanding of this sector, this paper examines a sample of the most important companies belonging to this sector in the European Union, focusing on studying their economic-financial profile. In order to achieve this, multivariate statistical techniques are used to create indicators on the evolution of the main variables and financial ratios of these companies over recent years. The specific objectives are: to summarise the information in a smaller number of factors, which in turn enable us to construct a robust and reliable synthetic indicator; and investigate the relationship between the constructed index and different variables such as company age, size and localisation. The changes experienced in this sector are reflected in the obtained results and provide a richer understanding of cultural industries.

Finding a job is easier for people who are better equipped with soft skills, as they are more productive. Therefore, this article deals with the evaluation of soft skills of graduates from Czech public universities. The results show that the same soft skills are required from university graduates as from the population as a whole (only problem solving is more pronounced with them), but the required level of these skills is 42% higher in the case of graduates. Unfortunately, employers perceive the level of graduates’ soft skills insufficient as their level is by 16.46 to 31.15% lower than required. A more detailed analysis showed that, in terms of the development of soft skills, Czech universities provide a very homogenous service. Graduates of universities have nearly the same level of soft skills, while they can also identify similar strengths and weaknesses. These findings suggest that Czech universities should pay more attention to the systematic development of soft skills.

The article deals with the state of the railway sector in a centrally planned economy in Czechoslovakia in the 1970s and 1980s. It compares the “to-be” position of the Czechoslovak state railway with the real situation in the railway sector. The Czechoslovak railway sector changed a lot during the two analysed decades – it lost its superior position to road transport and showed evident signs of stagnation, even though a big part of economy was dependent on the railway transport. The position of railway transportation had weakened within the two decades and the country lost its stage by stage initiative in modernisation of the railway sector. The railway sector lost its pre-1970s sovereignty in transport and had become more dependent on the general situation of the Czechoslovak economy. It was the reason for stagnation as a result of development of the railway sector in late socialism in Czechoslovakia.

This study was carried out to investigate the relationship between refugees and development in host economies from a macroeconomic point of view. The results obtained show that this relationship is non-linear. The empirical results demonstrate that refugees have a positive and significant direct effect in high and lower-middle-income countries. A positive and significant indirect effect of refugees through labor force and RD channels is also present in the same groups. In upper-middle-income and low-income countries, the direct effect of refugees is negative and significant. Similarly, the indirect effect of the refugee population on development through labor force channel is also negative and statistically significant. However, the indirect effect of refugees through RD channel is statistically significant only for the low-income country group.