Corporate Interest Rates and the Financial Accelerator in the Czech Republic

We analyze the determinants of the corporate interest rates and the financial accelerator in the Czech Republic. Using a unique panel of 448 Czech firms from 1996 to 2002, we find that selected balance sheet indicators influence significantly the firm-specific interest rates. In particular, debt structure and cash flow have significant effects on interest rates, while indicators on collateral play no significant role. We find evidence that monetary policy has stronger effects on smaller firms than on medium and larger firms. Finally, we find no asymmetric effects in the monetary policy over the business cycle

Jobs not Threatened by Automation in the Future in the Slovak Republic

Industry 4.0 brings with it an increase in new forms and methods of work based on automation and digitization, which gradually threaten jobs in individual countries. Most studies published on this topic describe the expected proportion of jobs that are threatened with extinction. The aim of the presented study is to investigate the opportunities that the introduction of Industry 4.0 brings with it. The presented study calculates the share of jobs with a low risk of being threatened by automation in the Slovak Republic. This is a unique approach to researching the impact of innovation trends on the labor market, which identifies jobs that are difficult to replace by machines. The calculation of the share of jobs with a low risk of being threatened by automation is based on the connection of two data sources – National system of occupations (a description of the skills required for every job in the Slovak Republic) and Information system on the price of work (modern and effective national labour cost statistical survey focus on wage earnings, including the calculation of the number of employees in individual job positions). Of the total number of 2 million working people in the Slovak Republic, 24% will not be threatened by automation. These are jobs that require at least one of the following skills for their performance: creativity, organizing and planning work, the ability to make decisions and take responsibility, leadership skills, critical thinking and talent. Several authors investigating the issue of innovations and their effects on jobs define the above-mentioned skills as difficult to be replaced by machines. The findings presented in the paper create space for further discussion at the national level about which skills and competences will need to be supported in lifelong learning among employees in order to prevent the high rate of replacement of jobs by automation, which the OECD predicts for the Slovak Republic

Influence of degradation aging on changes in the module of flexibility and Poisson ratio for SUPER304H steel

V literatuře začínají být dohledatelné publikace týkající se precipitačních změn a s nimi spojené změny mechanických vlastností jako je nárazová práce u žáropevné komplexně legované austenitické oceli SUPER 304H. Tato ocel je v českých podmínkách použita na modernizovaných blocích tepelných elektráren. Tento příspěvek se zabývá vlivem precipitačních změn na experimentálně stanovený modul pružnosti a Poissonův poměr, které tvoří elementární vstupy pro pevnostní výpočty. Jedná se tak o získání podkladů pro následné konečno-prvkové simulace na degradované oceli SUPER 304H.Práce byly řešeny s finanční podporou MPO, Projekt FV40166 „Hodnocení degradovaných ocelí pro stavbu turbín a přehříváků elektrárenských kotlů pro potřebu predikce zbytkové životnosti a lokálních oprav“.Publications concerning precipitation changes and the associated changes in mechanical properties, such as impact work on refractory complex-alloyed austenitic steel SUPER 304H, are beginning to be found in the literature. This steel is used in Czech conditions on modernized thermal power plant units. This paper deals with the influence of precipitation changes on the experimentally determined modulus of elasticity and Poisson’s ratio, which form the elementary inputs for strength calculations. It is thus a matter of obtaining data for subsequent finite- element simulations on degraded steel SUPER 304H

Reductive Evolution of the Mitochondrial Processing Peptidases of the Unicellular Parasites Trichomonas vaginalis and Giardia intestinalis

Mitochondrial processing peptidases are heterodimeric enzymes (α/βMPP) that play an essential role in mitochondrial biogenesis by recognizing and cleaving the targeting presequences of nuclear-encoded mitochondrial proteins. The two subunits are paralogues that probably evolved by duplication of a gene for a monomeric metallopeptidase from the endosymbiotic ancestor of mitochondria. Here, we characterize the MPP-like proteins from two important human parasites that contain highly reduced versions of mitochondria, the mitosomes of Giardia intestinalis and the hydrogenosomes of Trichomonas vaginalis. Our biochemical characterization of recombinant proteins showed that, contrary to a recent report, the Trichomonas processing peptidase functions efficiently as an α/β heterodimer. By contrast, and so far uniquely among eukaryotes, the Giardia processing peptidase functions as a monomer comprising a single βMPP-like catalytic subunit. The structure and surface charge distribution of the Giardia processing peptidase predicted from a 3-D protein model appear to have co-evolved with the properties of Giardia mitosomal targeting sequences, which, unlike classic mitochondrial targeting signals, are typically short and impoverished in positively charged residues. The majority of hydrogenosomal presequences resemble those of mitosomes, but longer, positively charged mitochondrial-type presequences were also identified, consistent with the retention of the Trichomonas αMPP-like subunit. Our computational and experimental/functional analyses reveal that the divergent processing peptidases of Giardia mitosomes and Trichomonas hydrogenosomes evolved from the same ancestral heterodimeric α/βMPP metallopeptidase as did the classic mitochondrial enzyme. The unique monomeric structure of the Giardia enzyme, and the co-evolving properties of the Giardia enzyme and substrate, provide a compelling example of the power of reductive evolution to shape parasite biology

Environmental policy and firm financial performance

In my PhD thesis I investigate the relationship between corporates' financial and environmental performances. The concept of quantitative environmental performance measures was introduced to enable to compare and analyse environmental impacts of different socio­economic units e.g. companies, countries, regions. In my dissertation, I use environmental performance measures to examine their effect on the financial performance of different companies. In the first chapter, I apply a meta­analysis to examine the results of the previous studies which investigate the impact of firms' environmental performance on their financial performance. The outcomes propose that it is important to account for the omitted variable bias such as unobserved firm heterogeneity. The results suggest that it takes time for the environmental regulation to materialize into the financial performance, too. In the subsequent two chapters I study Czech firms over 2004­2008. First I study the intertemporal effects of corporates' environmental performance on financial ..

Daň z příjmů fyzických osob při podnikání

Import 20/04/2006Prezenční výpůjčkaVŠB - Technická univerzita Ostrava. Ekonomická fakulta. Katedra (156) makroekonomik

Analysis of Drinking Water treatment costs – with an Application to Groundwater Purification Valuation

Understanding the factors affecting drinking water production costs is crucial for choosing a cost-effective solution for public drinking water supply systems. An important determinant of water treatment costs is the purification of raw water. Despite water purification being a well-acknowledged ecosystem service, its monetary value has not been assessed much yet. We present the first study analysing the determinants of drinking water production costs and valuating groundwater purification in the Czech Republic. We tested the impact of the type of raw water, the amount of drinking water produced, electric power consumption and treatment technologies and chemicals. The results suggested that drinking water production from groundwater was cheaper than from surface water. Even though drinking water production from groundwater was cheaper than from surface water, the application of some technologies, for example, chlorine or manganese removal, increased the production cost. Hence groundwater production costs can exceed surface water production costs. The outcome of the regression was applied for the valuation of groundwater purification. The valuation was further used for the development of monetary drinking water accounts within the System of Environmental- Economic Accounting – Ecosystem Accounting

Does environmental performance affect financial performance? A meta-analysis

What do we know about the impact of environmental regulations/performance on firm performance? After more than three decades of theoretical as well as empirical research, the results seem to remain inconclusive. Some papers suggest that regulations harm firms, while others claim that regulations may contribute positively and give an impetus to innovations. Therefore, I examine the heterogeneity in financial-environmental performance nexus, empirically carrying out a meta-regression analysis of 64 outcomes from 37 empirical studies to uncover the underlying factors, which can influence the observed variation in the empirical results. The results suggest both that the empirical method used matters for the nexus and that the likelihood of finding a negative link between environmental and financial performance significantly increases when using simple correlation coefficients instead of more advanced econometric analysis. The results also indicate that the portfolio studies tend to report a negative link between environmental and financial performance. This likely reflects the omitted factors in portfolio studies. The positive link is found more frequently in common law countries than in civil law countries. The results also point to the importance of appropriate time coverage to establish a positive link between environmental and financial performance.Meta-analysis Environmental performance Financial performance

The value of the shading function of urban trees: A replacement cost approach

Cooling is one of the most important benefits of street trees, yet city planners lack estimates of the value of this benefit. Estimation of the value of the cooling effect could help to strengthen the case for investment in a tree cover as a part of the urban infrastructure for climate change adaptation. This article aims to address this research gap by presenting a novel application of a replacement cost method using the costs of parasols for estimating the value of shade provided by urban trees. Using the method, we calculated the net present value of the shade from a generic tree and used these estimates in a case study in Prague, Czech Republic. The results showed that the costs of tree planting and maintenance were higher than the estimated shading benefits in the short term (20–30 years), but the situation reversed when the tree life expectancy increased (> 40 years). Street trees are hence a long-term investment in terms of microclimate regulation. The proposed approach can assist city planners with an assessment of microclimate regulation by urban trees as it can be easily applied with local data, and can complement other methods to show the wider benefits of urban trees