Balassa-Samuelson Effect in Transition Economies: The Case of Slovenia

Paper presents a first-hand examination of the Balassa-Samuelson effect in Slovenia. Different measures of real exchange rate are presented in order to provide arguments for the Balassa-Samuelson effect estimation using external real exchange rate measure. It is argued that on average one percent increase in productivity differential between labor productivities in industry and services appreciated external real exchange rate by almost 1.5 percent in the period from 1993:1 to 2001:2. At the same time, one percent increase in productivity differential caused about 1.7 percent increase in CPI. The results are in line with other studies on real exchange rate behavior in transition economies.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39892/3/wp507.pd

Balassa-Samuelson Effect in Transition Economies: The Case of Slovenia

Paper presents a first-hand examination of the Balassa-Samuelson effect in Slovenia. Different measures of real exchange rate are presented in order to provide arguments for the Balassa-Samuelson effect estimation using external real exchange rate measure. It is argued that on average one percent increase in productivity differential between labor productivities in industry and services appreciated external real exchange rate by almost 1.5 percent in the period from 1993:1 to 2001:2. At the same time, one percent increase in productivity differential caused about 1.7 percent increase in CPI. The results are in line with other studies on real exchange rate behavior in transition economies.transition economies, real exchange rate, Balassa-Samuelson effect

Information quality dimensions analysis of Slovenian companies' websites

Over the last decade the World Wide Web became the most popular media through which the companies introduce themselves and advertise their products or services. Web presentation can bring about the crucial competitive advantage, therefore, it is imperative that it is of the highest quality possible. There are various ways of presenting oneself on the internet and it depends on the individual companies which approach they will take. Some companies decide on the website portals' advertising specialized in the connection between the customer and provider of the service or product, others keep in contact with their clients via social media, and some create their own website portals and o�er their users a unique contact experience. The purpose of this thesis is to develop a web crawler that would collect information from the websites of Slovenian companies and their pro�les on social networks and apply a model for evaluating the quality of information. The solution is implemented as a .NET console application that uses HTTP client to obtain web content and query languages such as xPath and LINQ, to extract the relevant data. Extracted data is stored in Microsoft SQL Server. Statistical analysis is then conducted to identify the relations between measured features and join them into common information quality dimensions. It turns out that we can �nd and explain the variance in information quality among the websites of Slovenian companies based on their size and business type

Information quality dimensions analysis of Slovenian companies' websites

Over the last decade the World Wide Web became the most popular media through which the companies introduce themselves and advertise their products or services. Web presentation can bring about the crucial competitive advantage, therefore, it is imperative that it is of the highest quality possible. There are various ways of presenting oneself on the internet and it depends on the individual companies which approach they will take. Some companies decide on the website portals' advertising specialized in the connection between the customer and provider of the service or product, others keep in contact with their clients via social media, and some create their own website portals and o�er their users a unique contact experience. The purpose of this thesis is to develop a web crawler that would collect information from the websites of Slovenian companies and their pro�les on social networks and apply a model for evaluating the quality of information. The solution is implemented as a .NET console application that uses HTTP client to obtain web content and query languages such as xPath and LINQ, to extract the relevant data. Extracted data is stored in Microsoft SQL Server. Statistical analysis is then conducted to identify the relations between measured features and join them into common information quality dimensions. It turns out that we can �nd and explain the variance in information quality among the websites of Slovenian companies based on their size and business type

Real Exchange Rates in Transition Economies

Paper attempts to develop a model suitable for an analysis of the real exchange rate determination in transition economies. The main distinction from other approaches to the real exchange rate determination is an introduction of the pre-transition period which enables one to separately examine the role of adverse initial conditions and labor market reallocation between the tradable and non-tradable good sectors believed to characterize the extent of structural reforms in transition economies. Empirical findings seem to confirm that transition - when looking only at the real exchange rate behavior - is over once the progress in structural reforms does not affect the real exchange rate determination relative to other factors. Along the lines of research on growth prospects in transition economies, the effect of structural changes on the real exchange rate in more advanced transition economies has on average diminished in the fifth year of the transition process. The results for less advanced economies are in line with other studies on transition.transition economies, real exchange rate, fixed-effects model

Current textbooks for teaching german as a goreign language from the point of view of phraseodidactics

Die wissenschaftlichen und fachlichen Erkenntnisse in den letzten Jahrzehnten bezeugen einen Aufschwung in der Phraseologieforschung sowie Phraseodidaktik. Aufgrund dieser Feststellung könnte man u. a. erwarten, dass die aktuellen Lehrwerke diese Erkenntnisse bereits widerspiegeln. Dieser Beitrag hat das Ziel, das Quantum und die Frequenz von Phrasemen sowie ihren Stellenwert in den für den DaF-Unterricht aktuellen Lehrwerken für das Niveau B2 der großen deutschsprachigen Verlage Langenscheidt, Hueber und Klett, die weltweit für den DaFUnterricht verwendet werden, zu analysieren. Die Ergebnisse werden diskutiert und relevante didaktische Richtlinien für ein didaktisches Optimum an Phrasemen für den DaF-Unterricht formuliert.Scientific and technical findings in recent decades have witnessed an upturn in phraseology research as well as in phraseodidactics. It could therefore be expected that topical school textbooks would already reflect these findings. This contribution analyzes the number and the frequency of idioms as well as their value in the current school textbooks for teaching German as a foreign language at the B2 level. These have been developed by the big, German-speaking publishing companies, Langenscheidt, Hueber and Klett, and are used worldwide for teaching German as a foreign language. The findings are discussed and relevant didactic guidelines formulated for an optimal pedagogical approach to idioms in teaching German as a foreign language

Rethinking Monetary–Fiscal Policy Coordination

Proceedings of a seminar jointly organised by the Bank of Slovenia and the International Monetary Fund

Večjezičnost - nov vidik učiteljevega profesionalnega razvoja

Multilingualism is an important element in the life of modern people, and a relevant topic of professional, scientific and political discussion. This paper will shed light on theoretical aspects of multilingualism: past and present concepts of multilingualism, the advocacy for and the promotion of multilingualism in the EU, as well as multilingualism in educational discourse, and teachers\u27 professional development. The next section focuses on a project that puts multilingualism into practice in a creative manner and can thus be seen as a role model in this field of work. The paper pays special attention to the teachers who work within the framework of multilingualism, and to their new roles, distinctly different from the traditional teacher role. The concept of multilingualism as established and realized by the project covers multilingualism at the border of three countries, three languages and three educational systems and could be used as a model for other similar practices.Večjezičnost je pomemben element v življenju vsakega sodobnega posameznika ter zanimiva tema različnih strokovnih, znanstvenih in političnih razprav. V prispevku najprej osvetlimo teoretične vidike večjezičnosti: zgodovinski in sodobni koncepti večjezičnosti, zavzemanja za promocijo večjezičnosti v Evropski uniji, večjezičnost v pedagoškem diskurzu ter učiteljev profesionalni razvoj. Nato predstavimo projekt, ki je primer, kako lahko večjezičnost kreativno in izvirno uresničimo v praksi. Prispevek se osredotoča na učitelja v okviru večjezičnosti, na njegove nove vloge, ki se zelo razlikujejo od tradicionalne vloge učitelja in ki so nov izziv v njegovem profesionalnem razvoju. Koncept večjezičnosti, kot ga promovira in uresničuje projekt, se nanaša na večjezičnost na meji treh držav, treh jezikov in treh izobraževalnih sistemov ter ga lahko razumemo kot model za druge podobne prakse

Exploración de las percepciones del profesorado en formación y en servicio sobre el aprendizaje temprano de la lengua extranjera y la dislexia

This contribution addresses Slovenian in-service and pre-service foreign language and general education teachers’ awareness of dyslexia in the foreign language classroom. The authors examine and analyse the levels of familiarity with dyslexia among foreign language teachers and primary school teachers (in-service teachers) and foreign language students (pre-service teachers), their perceptiveness regarding the particularly de-manding areas of language learning, and their willingness to engage in additional training to obtain the appropriate skills for teaching children with learning disabilities, particularly dys-lexia. The results reveal noticeable differences in answers to individual research questions provided by the participants based on their profiles. The majority of participants stated that they were familiar with dyslexia from a theoretical point of view but also indicated that they were aware of the need to further improve their individual specialist-didactic knowledge and skills in order to give successful support to dyslexic pupils engaged in foreign language learning. The authors also predict the necessary extent of additional training measures in which foreign language teachers, primary school teachers, and foreign language students should engage.Esta contribución aborda la sensibilización de los profesores en activo y en formación de lenguas extranjeras y de educación básica sobre la dislexia en el aula de len-guas extranjeras en Eslovenia. Las autoras examinan y analizan específicamente los niveles de familiarización de dichos profesores con respecto a la dislexia, así como su percepción en relación a las áreas del aprendizaje de lenguas extranjeras particularmente exigentes y a la disposición de los profesores a participar en capacitaciones adicionales para obtener las habilidades adecuadas para enseñar a los alumnos con discapacidades de aprendizaje, espe-cialmente con dislexia. Los resultados revelan diferencias significativas en las respuestas a las preguntas de investigación individuales proporcionadas por los participantes encuestados basados en sus respectivos perfiles. La mayoría de los participantes declararon que, a pesar de estar familiarizados con la dislexia desde un punto de vista teórico, eran conscientes sobre la necesidad de mejorar aún más sus conocimientos y habilidades didácticas para poder apoyar con éxito a los niños con dislexia que participan en el aprendizaje de una lengua extranje-ra. En la conclusión, las autoras predicen las medidas de capacitación adicionales necesarias en las que deben participar los profesores en activo y en formación de lenguas extranjeras y de educación básica, así como los estudiantes de lenguas extranjeras