Ján ŠEBO – Daniela DANKOVÁ – Ivan KRÁLIK - ARE AGE-BASED LIFE-CYCLE SAVING STRATEGIES FOR FUNDED PENSION SCHEMES A GOOD OPTION? (Sú sporivé stratégie založené na veku vhodným riešením pre kapitalizačné dôchodkové schémy?)
Abstract:: Searching for the optimal saving strategy is often limited to life-cycle strategies, where only the age of a saver is considered for setting the allocation profile between equities and bonds. Our article contributes to the debate by looking at the performance and adequacy risks arising from applying age-based saving strategies for savers in funded pension schemes. Using the resampling simulation technique, we compare the fixed and age-based strategies from the point of performance, maximum draw-down occurring during the saving horizon and adequacy risk arising from applied saving strategy. We conclude that age-based life-cycle saving strategies, where the remaining saving horizon is the only factor defining the allocation profile is not the optimal saving strategy and other factor should be considered as well when searching for optimal predefined saving strategy.
Keywords: Funded pension, life-cycle strategy, microsimulation, performance, adequacy.
JEL Classification: J26, J32, E17, C53
Karolína ČERVENÁ – Karin CAKOCI – Cecília OLEXOVÁ - TAXATION IN THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF EU MEMBERSHIP (Zdaňovanie v Slovenskej republike v kontexte členstva v EÚ)
Abstract:: The current economic situation and prospects of EU Member States are the result of political and legal processes at both the international and the national levels. Good coordination between the political, legal and economic environments is a prerequisite for the efficient performance of each country’s economy. The tax policy, as one of the areas of national economic interests, affects the economic behavior of entities, thus affecting the performance of economic processes, both in positive and negative ways. New global economic, technology, environmental and other trends require also new multidisciplinary approach to the research and solutions in the area of tax policy. In connection with this paradigm, the authors of this article are focused on the tax policies within the context of economic, political and legal aspects, whereby their aim is a starting point for the fiscal policy approaches for the concept of tax policy in the Slovak Republic as an EU member country, pro futuro.
Keywords: Taxation, tax harmonization, European Union initiatives.
JEL Classification: K34, H25, H26
Róbert PATEJDL - EQUILIBRIUM OF THE DUOPOLY WITH LINEAR UTILITY FUNCTION OF THE DEMAND (Rovnováha duopolu s lineárnou úžitkovou funkciou dopytu)
Abstract:: We have identified the limitation of the model of the market with linear utility function of the demand. Model of the market with perfectly substitutive products does not correspond to real world longterm markets, because it leads to negative profit for at least one of the companies. This negative profit is defined by the equilibrium of the market that we have derived from the best response functions of the companies by two concepts, the Nash equilibrium in pure strategies approach and the modeling of the considerations of the companies approach. Both concepts lead to the same outputs. We obtained the best response functions from the maximization of the profit of the particular companies and from the particular demand functions for the products. We were able to prove that the rational company with relatively higher or equal variable cost will always set the price of the product to the level of the variable costs. We suggest other utility function, e.g. quasilinear, to be used to analyze the competition on real long lasting markets.
Keywords: Competition, duopoly, Linear utility function, perfect substitutes, demand function, best response function, optimal Pricing, equilibrium, Nash equilibrium.
JEL Classification: D43, D11 C72
Simona KRIVOSUDSKÁ - ZHODNOTENIE VÝVOJA EKONOMICKEJ SLOBODY KRAJÍN EÚ27 A VEĽKEJ BRITÁNIE V NADVÄZNOSTI NA SÚČASNÝ PRIEBEH POST-BREXITOVÝCH ROKOVANÍ (Development evaluation of the economic freedom of EU27 countries and the United Kingdom following the current post-Brexit negotiations)
Abstract:: The unexpected situation in 2020 due to a pandemic paralyzed the whole world. The economic freedom plays a key role in the development of countries. The aim of the paper is to determine the position of the EU 27 countries and the United Kingdom on the basis of selected indicators and evaluate the development of economic freedom of the EU 27 countries and the United Kingdom, in connection with the current post-Brexit negotiations. To achieve the aim, research methods such as analysis, comparison, induction, deduction and mathematical-statistical methods were used. We compared the achieved values of the EFI for the United Kingdom, the EU 27, Europe and world. The United Kingdom and the EU 27 countries belong to the group of mostly free economies. As a consequence of the pandemic is expected a deep recession of the world economy. The United Kingdom recorded the largest decline in its entire history in April, by 20.4 %.
Keywords: European Union, Global Competitiveness Index 4.0, Index of Economic Freedom, Index of Doing business, United Kingdom.
JEL Classification: F40, F60
Lujza CHRVALOVÁ - INDIA AS AN ACTOR IN CONVENTIONAL ARMS TRADE AND CONTROL (India ako aktívny účastník obchodu s konvenčnými zbraňami a ich kontroly)
Abstract:: India has undergone enormous developments in the field of conventional weapons since independence in the mid-twentieth century and is currently one of the leading importers of weapons, and is constantly advancing in the development of modern military technology. Its development as well as the current situation in trade and control of conventional arms transfers is influenced by several historical, strategic, geographical and economic variables. In the first part of the article, the author focuses on the analysis of international legislation on conventional weapons, to which India is a state party, but also which it has not acceded to, stating the reasons for its actions and related problems. The aim of this part is to find out which variables influence involvement in the international legislation. The second part of the article aims to discuss the scale of impact of existing variables and identifies the main characteristics of the country’s conventional weapons trade. The third aim of the article is to answer the question, if India shows the characteristics of a developed or developing country in areas related to conventional weapons.
Keywords: Heavy conventional weapons, small arms and light weapons, international legislation on conventional weapons, conventional arms trade, India.
JEL Classification: F19, F52
Jan MERTL - WHY DO THE HEALTH SYSTEMS DIFFER? KAREL ENGLIŠ’S TELEOLOGICAL APPROACH AS THE EXPLANATION OF HEALTH SYSTEMS’ DIVERSITY (Prečo sa zdravotnícke systémy odlišujú? Teleologický prístup Karola Engliša ako vysvetlenie rozmanitosti zdravotníckych systémov)
Abstract:: This article’s aim is to reintroduce the teleological approach formulated by professor Karel Engliš hundred years ago indicating it as a valuable analytical tool for social systems, including the health one. Engliš enriched the positive and normative approach of scientific analysis with teleological one, using postulates based on the principle of finality, and distinguished it both from positive causality and narrow normative measures or legal norms. Because health economics has been often struggling with managing the plurality of health systems, it is worth searching in theory for approaches that may improve this deficit and Engliš’s approach has shown as perfectly suitable for this purpose. We therefore subsequently explain its logic, which was thoroughly defended by Engliš in the literature in 1920s and 1930s. Then we look for specific attributes of four different health systems (the USA, the Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain) from teleological point of view and sum them up into a table which briefly combines social models, fiscal and tax policy measures, and ideals/postulates that those systems are based on. The result is better understanding of the health systems configuration and solid theoretical knowledge behind it, easing the need for finding the optimal or “most effective” health system by recognizing that more important is to know which properties and characteristics it ought to have and which principles it is built on.
Keywords: Fiscal policy, teleological approach, health insurance, social model, health system.
JEL Classification: I13, H51, B00
