People of the Road: the Role of Ethnic Origin in Migration Decisions. A Study of Slovak Roma Asylum-Seekers in the Czech Republic in 1998-2006

This paper deals with the analyzing possible inter-dependence between ethnical origin and migration. Evidence suggests that ethnicity might impersonalize strong cultural and socio-demographical characteristics that should not be omitted when accessing migration or trying to explain migration flows (either on regional, national or international level). In the empirical part of the paper the case-study of Slovak Roma asylum migrations to the Czech Republic in the 1998-2006 is used in order to test an impact of ethnical factor on migrations. The paper attempts to find out whether Slovak Roma asylum-seekers were drawn just by economic incentives, or whether there are some other "immeasurable" factors (such as ethnical origin) that were behind their decision-making. The conclusions advocate that economic differences between regions and countries do not provide sufficient grounds for explanation of migration and that ethnic origin in itself might be regarded as one of the powerful determinants of migration.migration; international migrations; Roma; ethnic origin

Turkey and the European Union: possible incidence of the EU accession on migration flows

This paper analyzes possible incidences of Turkish EU accession on the emigration from Turkey to the European Union. Panel data estimators are applied on the emigration data from EU-18 into Germany in order to construct possible future scenarios of Turkish migration to the EU. Eventual migration flows from Turkey into the EU are forecasted based on the estimated results. We find that seemingly unrelated regressor is the most efficient estimator that can be applied in Turkey-EU migration framework. Our results reveal that both the network effect and target country labour market conditions represent the strongest determinants for migration, whilst the effect of per capita income is actually relatively low. In particular, Turkish per capita income does not have nearly any effect on migration, because it enters the model in two variables that work against each other. Furthermore, a very low importance of opening the German labour market for Turkish migrants is found. Estimated coefficients are used to predict migrations to Germany and through appropriate extrapolations to the whole European Union (EU). Three scenarios of migration are created and the sensitivity of estimated coefficients on migration from Turkey into the Germany during next 25 years is further discussed in detail.Economy of migration, Turkey, EU Enlargement, panel data, seemingly unrelated regression

Poslovni potencijal Noći vještica: prodaja i trendovi

The paper assesses the business potential of Halloween by estimating the profits stemming from the sales of Halloween-related goods and activities. It also estimates two empirical models of Halloween spending with macroeconomic variables, using the sales data for the most traditional Halloween paraphernalia, the Halloween pumpkins, as well as for the three groups of products (candies, costumes and decorations), and finds that the share of more “consumer-oriented” products increases in relation to the share of “traditional” Halloween products. It comes to the conclusion that, as to its business potential, overall sales and economic significance, Halloween can now be only compared to Christmas.U radu se procjenjuje poslovni potencijal Noći vještica valorizacijom profita koji nastaje prodajom proizvoda i obavljanjem aktivnosti povezanih s ovom svečanošću. Procjenjuju se i dva empirijska modela potrošnje s makroekonomskim varijablama vezana uz Noć vještica, i to korištenjem podatka o prodaji najtradicionalnijeg rekvizita za ovaj događaj, bundeve, kao i za tri skupine proizvoda (bombone, kostime i dekoracije). Nalazi upućuju da se udio naglašenije „potrošačkih“ proizvoda povećava u odnosu na udio naglašenije „tradicionalnih“ proizvoda za Noć vještica. Može se zaključiti da se sada ova proslava može usporediti samo s poslovnim potencijalom Božića, njegovom ukupnom prodajom i ekonomskim značenjem

Mystery and thriller tourism: Novel solutions for European cities

This paper describes the potential of the mystery and thriller aspect of a new dark, kind of virtual tourism in European cultural destinations in engaging young people in discovering and promoting cultural heritage. One of the ways how this can be achieved is through the game-like apps for smartphones and tablets involving local myths and legends constituting the backbone of local fright tourism and blending them with popular culture, represented by mystery and thriller literary works and films. Further, this paper demonstrates the use of in-depth focus groups to assess residents and tourists preferences for such apps that would enhance access to mystery and thriller cultural heritage in the city of Prague. The results show any potential game-like app should feature a narrative (storytelling), an interactive, GPS-based map, a virtual tour, a "treasure hunt" game with a possibility to play on-line, and it should be offered at both App Store and Android Market Play for a price of 2.99 EUR or less

Ready to Go? EU Enlargement and Migration Potential: Lessons from the Czech Republic in the Context of the Irish Migration Experience

EU enlargement is hardly can be seen as the major push factor for migration. There are mainly economic factors that influence the migration decisions. Besides it seems that there is a migration potential, unique for every country, that pre-determines the migration or labor mobility. In our paper we (i) analyze the impact of internal economic factors, such as GDP growth, unemployment and wages on the emigration rate and (ii) compare the migration potential for the country distinguished by the high ratio of outward migrations (represented by Ireland) with those of the post-communist economy as well as the “new” EU Member (represented by the Czech Republic). We come to conclusions that economic factors have the decisive role on pre-determining the migrations and that migration potential and the propensity to migrate as a reaction to worsening of the economic conditions at home are highly correlated. These can explain why there was no mass emigration from the EU “new” Member States to the “old” Member States after the recent Enlargement, as far as it comes to migration potential needed for inducing such labour moves. The potential emigrants from new EU Members States are simply not ready to go to wealthier Member States in search of better wage and employment opportunities.migration; labour mobility; EU enlargement; Czech Republic; Ireland

Factors influencing the choice of private or public schools: Evidence from Georgia

The existence and development of public schools is influenced by a plethora of factors. Through the creation of education policies, any state education system is striving to accomplish specific goals. Both informal and formal private schooling is taking the lead in all cultures and societies. Unmistakably, the distinction between private and public schools is evident. However, given the different circumstances, choosing the best alternative for a child is regularly a fervently discussed topic among parents. There is no universal answer to the question whether private schools are actually better than or superior to the public schools. Our research aimed to describe the school choice process, it focuses on unveiling the factors and their interrelation while the parent choosing between two types of schools—private and public. First of all, the research aims to describe the parent’s perception of achieving success at school, what is the base for such belief, what the sentence—“School—base of future success” actually mean. How important is so called social index? The significance of the reputation and prestige of the educational institution during school choice process—as a guarantee for future success. The key questions for the research were as follows: (1) How interested the parents are to be actively involved in school choice process and spend certain period of time for that? (2) What factors are considered by the parents during school choice and what is the source they receive information from? (3) Does the family’s socioeconomic condition and the kids gender have influence on the process? It’s worth mentioning that, generally the research results fully coincide with the school choice theory arguments and the research findings conducted in the similar field. All these are described and presented in the first part of the article. The probabilities listed on the base of the current data, that the information source, the parent’s information level, the parents’ engagement as well as the family’s socioeconomic and demographic status play integral role in the school choice process appeared to be genuine. Apparently, the parents are much interested to provide perfect future for their kids, though socioeconomic conditions, environment, poor educational system limits their choice. Once our results compared to the existing literature and theory, one can see that our study conducted in Georgia follows the trends of the developed countries, known as the “Heyneman-Loxley effect.

Consumer preferences for cultural heritage and tourism e-services: a case study of three European cities

This paper reports the results of a marketing study aimed at discovering consumer preferences for the e-services in European cultural destinations. Our results are central to eliciting potential consumers’ preferences for tourism and cultural heritage-related e-services. The paper is based on the analysis of user surveys conducted by the authors within the ISAAC EU-funded project in Amsterdam, Genoa and Leipzig in 2007-2009. Three types of consumers were contacted: residents, visitors and (cultural heritage) service providers. Our results provide a number of important recommendations for the design of e-tourism ICT platforms in European cities. The ICT platforms constitute a new market product, representing a novel approach to increasing the revenues from incoming tourism. The recommendations suggest priorities to ensure that the information system will most readily meet potential consumers’ needs

ECONOMIC MODELLING IN INSTITUTIONAL ECONOMIC THEORY

В центре внимания данной работы – создание теории институционального моделирования, включающей принципы и идеи, отражающие законы социального развития в рамках институциональной экономической теории. Мы проанализировали научные принципы институционального моделирования, постулируемые в работах классиков институциональной экономической теории, и проследили связь этих принципов с основополагающими положениями институциональной экономики. В рамках статьи мы предлагаем ряд научных идей, позволяющих описать новые инновационные подходы к институциональному моделированию. Данные идеи были разработаны на основе результатов нашего оригинального проекта, а также формализации и измерении параметров эволюции и функционирования экономических институтов. Мы также рассмотрели прикладные аспекты институциональной теории моделирования, применив их в нашем исследовании для формализации полученных результатов, с целью максимизации практической значимости нашей работы. Полученные нами результаты могут быть использованы исследователями и другими заинтересованными лицами, которые находятся в поиске системного и наиболее полного описания процесса институционального моделирования. Принципы, на которых строится процесс институционального моделирования, представляют собой основу институциональной теории экономического моделирования.Our paper is centered around the formation of theory of institutional modelling that includes principles and ideas reflecting the laws of societal development within the framework of institutional economic theory. We scrutinize and discuss the scientific principles of this institutional modelling that are increasingly postulated by the classics of institutional theory and find their way into the basics of the institutional economics. We propose scientific ideas concerning the new innovative approaches to institutional modelling. These ideas have been devised and developed on the basis of the results of our own original design, as well as on the formalisation and measurements of economic institutions, their functioning and evolution. Moreover, we consider the applied aspects of the institutional theory of modelling and employ them in our research for formalizing our results and maximising the practical outcome of our paper. Our results and findings might be useful for the researchers and stakeholders searching for the systematic and comprehensive description of institutional level modelling, the principles involved in this process and the main provisions of the institutional theory of economic modelling

Ukrainians' EU migration prospects. OSW Commentary No. 128, 10.03.2014.

The political crisis in Ukraine, particularly the bloodshed seen on 18–20 February and the subsequent Russian intervention in Crimea, has sparked fears of another possible wave of immigrants heading to the EU. However, the country was partially politically stabilised (at least in its central and western parts), and this has made the scenario of a mass migration of people from Ukraine rather unlikely. If there is no civil war in Ukraine, any further development of the political situation in Ukraine may have only an indirect impact on the actual migration. Should the political instability continue, the Ukrainian economy remain in recession while jobs are available for Ukrainian immigrants in the EU, then an increase in the migration of Ukrainian citizens to the EU, including Poland, would be possible. In the short term there may be two characteristic groups of immigrants: (1) young people who will attempt to leave Ukraine for good due to the lack of job opportunities; (2) circulating migrants, mainly from western Ukraine, who will be looking for temporary jobs. Only if the economic downturn trend and political turmoil in Ukraine continues for a longer time, will settlement migration increase

Factors Influencing Innovation in Small and Medium Enterprises in the Czech Republic

Our paper is focused on the factors that influence innovation in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Czech Republic. The country that went through long economic transformation that resulted in the set-up of the new improved standards for entrepreneurship activities is currently dealing with the aftermath of world’s economic and financial crisis. With regard to all that, Czech SMEs are facing tough competition on domestic and EU markets. This is when innovations might become one of the key factors of success that can help to differentiate the product, beat the competition and attract more customers. Our study is based on the empirical model that employs the data from the survey questionnaire with 1144 Czech SMEs. We find several forms of innovations (e.g. own R&D, investment into technology, improvement of quality of a product or service, or presence on foreign (EU and world) markets) can become very significant in enhancing the growth and success of Czech SMEs, while the bureaucratic barriers for innovations and external factors with negative impact did not come through as obstacles. Based on our results, one can state thatthe most important policy implications are for the relevant stakeholders would be the support of investment activities of SMEs, creation of SMEs clusters within business parks, education of employees, expansions of Czech exports to the new markets, and intensive support of R&D. It would also make sense to increase the number of small SMEs (sole-traders and micro-enterprises) by making the registration process easier, or by offering subsidies or government support to the new companies and start-ups