2017

Elena Jovičić
International economic organizations and impact of their activities on international trade development

The necessity for a more adequate regulation of global trade relations (including support for the liberalization and development of international trade), in the context of the deepening globalization processes, requires a greater level of involvement of international economic organizations and more effective implementation of their activities. The primary purpose of the dissertation is to determine whether and how the World Trade Organization, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group have influenced the development of international trading system. The results of this thesis show that international organizations (primarily WTO and UNCTAD) during various stages of its development have been significantly affecting international trade growth mainly through the implementation of specific activities and measures related to a series of agreements and decisions.

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Jiří Chaloupka
Integration of the Financial Markets of the New Member States of the EU

The subject of the thesis is the integration of financial markets of the new member states of the European Union (hereinafter referred to as the NMS). According to the standard economic theory, the process of financial integration should be associated with several positive effects, among others a) the enforcement of the law of one price in the form of the interest rate parity, b) the smoothening and the synchronisation of the consumption growth among countries, c) the increased diversification of investors portfolios, and d) the decreased dependence of domestic investments on national savings. These envisaged effects serve in the thesis as the indicators of the integration of NMS financial markets with the global financial market. These indicators show that the degree of the financial integration differs among the NMS, despite the fact that they all went through the process of integration with the EU. Surprisingly, the indicators did not prove the hypothesis that NMS financial markets are more integrated with the financial market of the EU, despite the fact that these countries had to open their markets to investors from the EU and had to harmonize their legislative requirements.

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Jan Bejkovský
Chinese Economic System: Market Economy or State Capitalism?

This dissertation deals with the nature of the Chinese economic system. The first chapter focuses on the global economy and seeks to define the main economic systems prevailing in it, i.e. Anglo-Saxon, Continental and Asian-developmental. Compared to these systems defined as market economies, the dissertation consequently analyses and defines a system of state capitalism and the main elements of it. The following part of the dissertation is focused on the historical Chinese approaches to economic governance of the country and attempts to identify those historical approaches that are still relevant and influential in modern Chinese economy. The third chapter analyses the Chinese economic system and the role of the state in it; it also examines the government’s approach to the ownership of state enterprises and the overall extent of state ownership in the Chinese economy. The final chapter examines the different types of state subsidies to domestic, often state, enterprises in China. As an example of the various subsidies a case study on the automotive industry is used.

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2016

Jiří Sejkora
Determinants of Industrialization in sub-Saharan Africa and Possibilities for their Development

Sub-Saharan economies need structural changes that would enhance their productivity, increase economic growth and development. In this regard, industrialization plays a key role. Using regression analysis, the aim of this dissertation thesis is to identify main factors (determinants) of industrialization in sub-Saharan Africa. The results indicate that infrastructure and economy size (measured by population size) represent main determinants of industrialization in the region. The thesis also deals with possibilities for development of those determinants. Case study of infrastructure development in Mauritius emphasizes privatization, cooperation with external subjects etc. Negative consequences of small

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Daniela Baluchová
Analysis of specific instruments applied in the financial management of TNC with a focus on transfer pricing

Transfer pricing plays a crucial role in the financial management of TNC as it significantly influences revenues and costs allocation among affiliates of TNC that are located in countries with different tax regimes, interest rates, political situation and economic environment. Recently, transfer pricing is scrutinized in respect of tax minimisation strategies adopted by TNC which raises various conflicts of interest with tax authorities in some countries of their presence. The main objective of the dissertation thesis is to provide a comprehensive empirical study on international transfer pricing in the Czech Republic from the perspectives of both taxpayer and the tax authority..

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René Fernando Lara Cervantes
Assessment of Policy Changes of the Impacts of Urbanization, Economic Growth and Decentralization of Water Services with Regard to Water Quality in Mexico

The thesis studies the case of water quality in Mexico as a crucial factor to prevent water scarcity. This is an important issue for Mexico since more than half of its territory is arid or semi-arid; moreover, the most productive regions are located in areas with significant water resources stress. In this regard, the current situation of water scarcity is studied from the changes in water management derived from the evolution of institutions in the country. The institutional changes were analyzed mostly in the transition from a centralized water supply and sanitation services with strong state intervention to the decentralization of such services that were transferred to municipalities. Decentralization was addressed by analyzing the performance of water supply and sanitation services in urban areas that are expected to continue growing in the near future.

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Ota Melcher
Speculation on oil markets and its impact on commodity’s price

This study aims to analyse the precrisis period on the oil markets with a primary objective of assessing the role of speculation in the commodity’s price development and its volatility. First it depicts the rapidly increasing speculative activity on the futures market together with the parallel oil price surge. The speculation is initially proxied by non-commercial traders’ positions and subsequently quantified by Working’s T-index. The paper then uses speculative traders’ positions and both spot and futures prices to test for Granger causality within the framework of VAR models. For the sake of consistency it also evaluates causal links between speculation and inventories level. Further the study investigates the speculation impact on volatility of oil prices by employing various approaches in volatility quantification including GARCH models. Contrary to expectations we find that the speculatio’s impact on both prices and their volatility is rather insignificant. In the last chapter we therefore seek for an explanation of the oil price developments by examining the market fundamentals. The interaction of supply and demand finally gives substantial evidence for understanding the price developments in the precrisis period.

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