Occupational Gender Segregation in the Czech Republic (in English)

The authors use labor force survey data to provide a detailed description and an international comparison of the level and structure of occupational gender segregation in the Czech Republic during 1994–2004. Based on 1999 data, they find Czech occupational segregation to be close to the EU average, with the exception of young, highly educated Czech workers, who faced relatively high segregation. However, segregation has declined rapidly for young workers since 1999, mainly due to the increased representation of women within occupations, not the changing occupational structure.occupational gender segregation

Tracking monetary-fiscal interactions across time and space

The long-term fiscal outlook of most high-income countries is grim. Should independent central bankers be afraid of an unpleasant monetarist arithmetic, i.e., fiscal imbalances spilling over to monetary policy and jeopardizing price stability? To provide some insights, this paper tracks the interactions between fiscal and monetary policies in the data since 1980 for Australia, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In doing so it uses a combination of time-varying parameter vector autoregression with sign, magnitude, and contemporaneous restrictions identification. Unlike conventional approaches, this can capture changes in monetary and fiscal behavior that are gradual and differ across the two policies. Our results show that in the United States the degree of monetary policy accommodation of fiscal shocks (debt-financed government spending) increased gradually between the late 1980s and the 2008 crisis, i.e., over the whole tenure of Chairman Greenspan. In contrast, it seems to have decreased over this period in the United Kingdom, Australia, Switzerland, and Canada. Our benchmark analysis and several robustness checks show that legislating numerical inflation targets may account for some of the country differences, presumably because they may shift the strategic power from fiscal to monetary policy. We conclude by considering the implications of our results for the long-term likelihood of an unpleasant monetarist arithmetic in the six countries.Web of Science14322716

Railway stations as generators of systemic repair of the city centre of Katowice: return to the essence of the city

The debate on the essence of the city calls for the consideration of the role of its structural elements in the loss or strengthening of this essence. The Author’s understanding of the ‘essence of the city’ is its accessibility and diversity: accessibility of diversity and diversified accessibility. In this context, the subject matter of this paper is an analysis of the role of railway stations and the public spaces that accompany them upon the example of Katowice

Inflation Persistence: Is It Similar in the New EU Member States and the Euro Area Members?

Inflation persistence has been put forward as one of the potential reasons of divergence among euro area members. It has also been proposed that the new EU Member States (NMS) may struggle with even higher persistence due to convergence factors. We argue that persistence may not be as different between the two country groups as one might expect. However, this empirical result can only be obtained if the adequate estimation methods, reflecting the scope of the convergence process the NMS went through, are applied. We emphasize that a time-varying mean models suggest similar or lower inflation persistence for the NMS compared to euro area countries while more traditional parametric statistical measures assuming a constant mean deliver substantially higher persistence estimates for the NMS than for the euro area countries. This difference is due to frequent breaks in inflation time series in the NMS. Structural persistence measures show that backward-looking behavior may be a more important component in explaining inflation dynamics in the NMS than in the euro area countries.inflation persistence, new hybrid Phillips curve, new member states, time-varying mean

Inflation Persistence in New EU Member States: Is It Different Than in the Euro Area Members?

Is inflation persistence in the new EU Member States (NMS) comparable to that in the euro area countries? We argue that persistence may not be as different between the two country groups as one might expect. We confirm that one should work carefully with the usual estimation methods when analyzing the NMS, given the scope of the convergence process they went through. We show that due to frequent breaks in inflation time series in the NMS, parametric statistical measures assuming a constant mean deliver substantially higher persistence estimates for the NMS than for the euro area countries. Employing a time-varying mean leads to the reversal of this result and suggests similar or lower inflation persistence for the NMS compared to euro area countries. Structural measures show that backward-looking behavior may be a more important component in explaining inflation dynamics in the NMS than in the euro area countries.Inflation persistence, new hybrid Phillips curve, new member states, timevarying mean.

Weaponizing economics: Big Oil, economic consultants, and climate policy delay

The role of particular scientists in opposing policies to slow and halt global warming has been extensively documented. The role of economists, however, has received less attention. Here, I trace the history of an influential group of economic consultants hired by the petroleum industry from the 1990s to the 2010s to estimate the costs of various proposed climate policies. The economists used models that inflated predicted costs while ignoring policy benefits, and their results were often portrayed to the public as independent rather than industry-sponsored. Their work played a key role in undermining numerous major climate policy initiatives in the US over a span of decades, including carbon pricing and participation in international climate agreements. This study illustrates how the fossil fuel industry has funded biased economic analyses to oppose climate policy and highlights the need for greater attention on the role of economists and economic paradigms, doctrines, and models in climate policy delay

The Role of Inflation Persistence in the Inflation Process in the New EU Member States

The aim of this paper is to compare inflation persistence between the New Member States (NMS) that joined the European Union in 2004 and 2007 and selected euro area members. If the levels of inflation persistence between the two groups are different, the NMS may encounter problems with fulfilling the Maastricht criterion on inflation and – after entering the euro area – with inflation divergence. We argue that the specific economic situation of the NMS in the last 15 years necessitates careful selection of inflation persistence measures. Two measures are estimated. The first one is based on a simple univariate statistical model of inflation with a time-varying mean. The second one assumes that inflation follows a fractionally integrated process and measures inflation persistence within an ARFIMA model. Statistical tests suggest that the model with a time-varying mean is preferable to the ARFIMA model for almost all countries. The estimation results show that inflation persistence is not an issue for all of the NMS. On the one hand, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Malta, Romania, and Slovakia exhibit persistence levels similar to those in the selected euro area countries. On the other hand, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Slovenia encounter a problem with high persistence stemming from both high intrinsic and high expectations-based inflation persistence.inflation persistence, new member states, time-varying mean, central bank credibility, ARFIMA model, Bayesian estimation, Kalman filter

Evaluating Changes in the Monetary Transmission Mechanism in the Czech Republic

We investigate the evolution of the monetary policy transmission mechanism in the Czech Republic over the 1996-2010 period by employing a time-varying parameters Bayesian vector autoregression model with stochastic volatility. We evaluate whether the response of GDP and the price level to exchange rate or interest rate shocks changes over time, with a focus on the period of the recent financial crisis. Furthermore, we augment the estimated system with a lending rate and credit growth to shed light on the relative importance of financial shocks for the macroeconomic environment. Our results suggest that output and prices have become increasingly responsive to monetary policy shocks, probably reflecting financial sector deepening, more persistent monetary policy shocks, and overall economic development associated with disinflation. On the other hand, exchange rate pass-through has weakened somewhat over time, suggesting improved credibility of inflation targeting in the Czech Republic with anchored inflation expectations. We find that credit shocks had a more sizeable impact on output and prices during the period of bank restructuring with difficult access to credit. In general, our results show that financial shocks are less important for the aggregate economy in an environment of a stable financial system.Monetary policy transmission, sign restrictions, time-varying parameters.

Associations Between Screen Use and Depression in Youth

the youth population have remained largely unclear Depression is common in children and adolescents Screen use is readily available and frequently used by children and adolescents This literature review was conducted to evaluate current literature regarding depression in the youth population, to include differences between sexes, across ages, and amongst different types of screen use Results demonstrate that an association between screen use and depression in the youth population does exist, particularly cross sectionally A causative or reciprocal relationship may be present, however, if it is present, it is quite minor Girls tend to use more screens than boys Keywords: screen time, screen use, depression, children, adolescent, adolescents, social media, mental disorders, mental health, depressive disorder, youth, screen media, digital media.https://commons.und.edu/pas-grad-posters/1270/thumbnail.jp

Service-Learning: A New Priority for Career Centers

Service-learning is a term that has been in use for at least twenty-five years. Jane Kendall (1991) stated that she has discovered at least 147 different terms used to express the basic concept of service-learning. It\u27s very difficult to define a concept with such broad usage, but Kendall has attempted to identify key elements of the term. She noted that a concept that has experienced so much resistance and debate over its clarification obviously entails a strong investment on the part of its proponents. There is something uniquely powerful about combining the concepts of service and learning together; this something is not explained by either of these terms alone