No abstract

In 2015, the so-called migration crisis culminated in Europe. Although immigration can bring along many benefits (labor force, cultural diversification), it constitutes a challenge for fiscal policy if immigrants fail to integrate. This paper examines the level of integration in the EU_15 on the data from Eurostat in period 2009 to 2018. The results show that immigrants who were not born in the EU_28 were significantly worse off in terms of the unemployment rate and the risk-of-poverty rate than the host society. Immigrants born in the other EU_28 country were not significantly worse off on the labor market, but the at-risk-of-poverty rate was significantly higher in comparison with the host society. The data didn't confirm that share of immigrants with tertiary education (both from the EU_28 or outside the EU_28) was significantly lower than the share of the tertiary educated population in the host society. The level of integration of immigrants did not got worse after the migration crisis. Furthermore, the results showed a considerable difference in the degree of integration between EU_15 countries.

Purpose. The «resource curse» suggests that natural resources have been a curse instead of a blessing for a number of countries. Resource abundance leads to political and social tensions, lower economic growth, rent-seeking, and poor decision-making according to this theory. Mainly, natural abundance constitutes a difficulty for policy decision-makers. A high share of natural resources in the export of a country makes a country vulnerable to changes in resource prices on the world market. This study analyzes the management of the resource revenues from theoretical and practical view in a form of case studies of selected countries rendering both failure and success stories. The aim of the study is to identify challenges connected with dependency on natural resources (measured by the share in the country’s export) and frame up fiscal policy recommendations for countries with natural resource abundance. Methodology / approach. Since the resource curse is the phenomena which must be explored from a wider perspective, the chosen methodology is a qualitative country analysis and cross-country comparison. Results. Data analysis in the period 2008–2018 shows that even countries that have transformed the resource curse into a blessing were hit by a fall in commodity prices in 2015 too. The paper confirms the pro-cyclical nature of fiscal policies in Nigeria and Mexico and the counter-cyclical nature of these policies in Chile and Botswana. Examples of good practice (Chile, Botswana) are shown. Originality / scientific novelty. In the theoretical part of the paper, the recommendations for fiscal sustainability to present are summarized. In the practical part, another sample of countries with up-to-date data is analyzed in hand with a description of the main steps taken by local governments. Practical value / implications. Both theory and practical examples are supposed to help to policy-makers in countries, which must deal with volatility in commodity prices. The main implication is to establish a fiscal rule which is resistant to any amendment and its compliance is controlled by the external institution.

The content of the paper defines and characterizes five key arguments for why, given the absence of an optimal monetary area, it is advantageous for an economy to be able to dispose of its own currency during periods of crisis, such as the current coronavirus pandemic. The article bases its arguments on the optimal currency area theory and the Mundell-Fleming model. The analytical part of the article approaches the example of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic, a well-matched comparison given that they are both small open economies with a common history but also because they faced the coronavirus pandemic at the same time and were affected to a similar extent. Unlike its Czech neighbour, the Slovak Republic adopted a single currency, the Euro, in 2009 and therefore became a member of the eurozone. Therefore, the use of its own currency to mitigate the coronavirus pandemic effects can be approximated by comparing the two countries. The analysis in this article results in the identification of the following five arguments for the advantage of having an independent currency: 1) absence of an optimal monetary area in the eurozone, 2) an independent monetary policy, 3) foreign trade support, 4) mitigating the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on price level changes, 5) supporting domestic production and services. The coronavirus pandemic has deepened the already existing problems of the eurozone and has clearly demonstrated the benefits of maintaining an independent currency in the case of the Czech Republic.

The worldwide spread of coronavirus has shaken stock markets and significantly increased risk. The most-watched US stock index S&P 500 fell by 35% from 19th February to 23rd March. Indices of other countries registered a similar development. Although the spread of the virus has been brought under control in many countries currently, the worldwide number of infections is still growing. Unprecedented monetary and fiscal stimuli, on the other hand, have reversed sentiment in the markets. From 23rd March 2020, stock markets gradually had been growing until the S&P 500 index reached only 5% below historical highs on 8th June 2020. The paper deals with the development of volatility of selected stock indices, their mutual correlations, and the relationship with the number of infected in a given country.