INTERNATIONAL DIVISION OF LABOUR IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBALISATION: THE CASE OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC

Division of labour is the specialization of cooperative labour in specific, circumscribed tasks and roles, intended to increase the productivity of labour. Historically the growth of a more and more complex division of labour is closely associated with the growth of total output and trade, the rise of capitalism, and of the complexity of industrialization processes. The revealed comparative advantage (RCA) measures the intensity of trade specialisation of a country within the world. We try to analyse Czech foreign trade on the base of indices of revealed comparative advantage with respect to world exports into the EU-27 and with the EU-27 Member states and over time. Most important Czech export and import products into EU are different kinds of machines, electrical equipment, and transport vehicles (car industry) and related parts. Presented analysis also indicates that Czech Republic has revealed comparative advantage in SITC sections of 6 a 7 only.division of labour, comparative advantage, absolute advantage, revealed comparative advantage, Czech Republic

Development of Urban Electric Bus Drivetrain

The development of the drivetrain for a new series of urban electric buses is presented in the paper. The traction and design properties of several drive variants are compared. The efficiency of the drive was tested using simulation calculations of the vehicle rides based on data from real bus lines in Prague. The results of the design work and simulation calculations are presented in the paper

Export structure and export specialisation in Central and Eastern European countries

Before the millennium Hungary’s market share in exports of goods was increasing at the fastest rate in Central and Eastern Europe; however, after 2000 that growth became the lowest. The slowdown in growth in Hungary’s export market share is mainly due to the stagnating price index of goods exports. The aim of this paper is to examine whether this process was caused by reaching an equilibrium or structural factors. In the paper the exports of goods structure (by product, country, technology, skill and intensity), the relationship between export specialisation and export price indices, and the role of import demand in specialisation are examined for the Visegrad Group and Romania in the periods 1995–1999 and 2000–2007. The results imply that the stagnation of Hungarian goods export prices is partly natural and partly brought about by structural factors.exports, export structure, specialisation.

Fiber-optic interferometric sensor for monitoring automobile and rail traffic

This article describes a fiber-optic interferometric sensor and measuring scheme including input-output components for traffic density monitoring. The proposed measuring system is based on the interference in optical fibers. The sensor, based on the Mach-Zehnder interferometer, is constructed to detect vibration and acoustic responses caused by vehicles moving around the sensor. The presented solution is based on the use of single-mode optical fibers (G.652.D and G.653) with wavelength of 1550 nm and laser source with output power of 1 mW. The benefit of this solution lies in electromagnetic interference immunity and simple implementation because the sensor does not need to be installed destructively into the roadway and railroad tracks. The measuring system was tested in real traffic and is characterized by detection success of 99.27% in the case of automotive traffic and 100% in the case of rail traffic.Web of Science2662995298

Propagation of Economic Shocks in Input-Output Networks: A Cross-Country Analysis

This paper investigates how economic shocks propagate and amplify through the input-output network connecting industrial sectors in developed economies. We study alternative models of diffusion on networks and we calibrate them using input-output data on real-world inter-sectoral dependencies for several European countries before the Great Depression. We show that the impact of economic shocks strongly depends on the nature of the shock and country size. Shocks that impact on final demand without changing production and the technological relationships between sectors have on average a large but very homogeneous impact on the economy. Conversely, when shocks change also the magnitudes of input-output across-sector interdependencies (and possibly sector production), the economy is subject to predominantly large but more heterogeneous avalanche sizes. In this case, we also find that: (i) the more a sector is globally central in the country network, the largest its impact; (ii) the largest European countries, such as those constituting the core of the European Union's economy, typically experience the largest avalanches, signaling their intrinsic higher vulnerability to economic shocks.Comment: 9 pages, 12 figures, supplemental material sectio

Domestic Final Demand as a Determinant of R&D Activity in Selected Central and Eastern European Countries

This article presents the results of an empirical study conducted based on selected countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The study focused on the impact of domestic final demand for products manufactured by individual industries on the R&D activity in the country. The main research tools are the Leontief model and R&D multipliers. The application of the input-output methods allows domestic R&D expenditures to be broken down into institutional sectors to establish what part of the expenditures is embodied in products manufactured to meet final household demand, in exports, etc.kraju a aktywnością krajowej sfery badawczo-rozwojowej. Głównym narzędziem badawczym jest model Leontiefa oraz mnożniki nakładów na B+R. Zastosowane metody pozwalają także na dekompozycję krajowych nakładów na B+R według sektorów instytucjonalnych, czyli np. określenie jaka część krajowych nakładów na B+R zostaje ucieleśniona w produktach wytwarzanych na zaspokojenie popytu finalnego gospodarstw domowych, czy w produktach przeznaczonych na eksport. W artykule przedstawiono wyniki badań empirycznych przeprowadzonych dla wybranych krajów Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej. Badania te dotyczyły zależności między popytem finalnym na produkty określonych gałęzi gospodarki, które są wytwarzan

International outsourcing over the business cycle: some intuition for Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia

In this paper, we assess the extent to which multinational firms - in the first instance, the German ones - may adjust their international outsourcing over the business cycle in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. For that purpose, we have used monthly data of production for the manufacturing sector as a whole and some of its sub-sectors, since 2000 onwards. Our econometrical estimates suggest that there would be an asymmetry in the international outsourcing across the states of the economy, meaning that multinationals firms would be engaged differently in outsourcing activities, depending on whether bad or good economic times occur. Yet, such an asymmetry is found increasing over the time for German and French multinationals operating in the transport equipment sector of Slovakia. Another conclusion is that international outsourcing made by multinational firms in Slovakia may account for a portion of its large business cycles volatility.International outsourcing, foreign direct investment, business cycles, Central and Eastern European countries, European integration.

The competitiveness of Polish manufacturing export on the EU market in the years 2004-2006

This article aims to determine the levels and bases of competitiveness of Polish exports of industrial products in the Common Market on the background of selected countries. The results of the analysis carried out by Constant Market Share, applied to the decomposition of the growth of Polish exports, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary to the EU market during the period 2004-2006 indicated that Poland became a (toogether with Czech Republic), a leader in terms of structure and level of competitiveness in the EU market for industrial goods. The main source of growth in exports of Polish on the EU market during the period was the increase in the competitiveness of exported goods to this market. In addition, a systematic increase in Polish exports in 2004-2006 was due to positive changes in the commodity structure of Polish. Products that generate the greatest positive effect of competition in the period were the same for all countries analyzed. Among these were the most technologically advanced departments, such as machinery and mechanical appliances, electrical machinery and equipment and vehicles other than railway. Matrix analysis of competitiveness Polish, Czech, Hungary and Slovakia to the EU market in 2004-2006 pointed to the strongly increasing the effectiveness of Polish exports of industrial goods of high quality, with a dominant but ineffective form of price competition on the EU market. In 2006, Poland has the EU market a positive trade balance in the category of high-quality industrial goods, which may indicate emerging, new, effective form of competition on the EU marketexport, competitiveness, poland,