Purpose. The main goal of the presented paper is to highlight the effects of road infrastructure development on the economic growth and competitiveness of Slovak economy. We focused on the quality of the road network in the Slovak Republic (SR), in particular motorways and expressways. It is the density and the quality of the road infrastructure which primarily determine the competitiveness of the country. The paper also addresses the issue of expenditures and sources of funding related to road infrastructure in the Slovak Republic. In addition, we analyze the road infrastructure in relation to competitiveness and the inflow of foreign direct investments (FDI) to the Slovak Republic. Moreover, we look at the road infrastructure in relation to gross domestic product (GDP) and foreign direct investment.Methodology. We used the method of time series and correlation method when dealing with the subject matter and when analyzing the effects of road infrastructure development on the economic growth and increase of competitiveness of Slovak economy.The method of synthesis is used to draw conclusions and the method of comparison is used to compare general tendencies in the areas of road infrastructure, GDP and FDI. We use the time series analysis from 2000 until 2011 to examine the issues. Based on the analysis, we underscore the correlation between the GDP development and road infrastructure expenditures on the one hand and the inflow of foreign direct investments to the Slovak economy and its competitiveness on the other hand.The type of the article: Research report.

The objective of economic success is not only to achieve positive developments in economic indicators, but to ensure a high living standard and quality of life for the population. It is therefore necessary to measure economic success in terms of social and socio-economic indicators, which indicate the quality of life of the population. A relevant indicator of economic development and economic performance is the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. Although this indicator is the most widely used, it has recently been subject to a wave of criticism. Therefore it is necessary to evaluate the economic success, taking into account other variables, which in themselves imply social indicators: net economic welfare, Human Development Index (HDI), Index of Competitiveness, Index of Economic Freedom (IEF), Prosperity Index, Corruption Perception Index and others. The subject of this article is to evaluate the economic performance of the Visegrad Group countries using GDP per capita and selected socioeconomic indicators. We use the method of time series analysis to examine the development of selected indicators. To compare their development we use the method of comparison, and to formulate the findings we use the method of synthesis. In order to evaluate the performance of the Visegrad countries we use scoring method. JEL CLASSIFICATIONSF14; F62; o11; o12 ARTICLE HISTORY

At present, Slovakia and the Czech Republic are experiencing favourable economic conditions. The socioeconomic development in regions in the country except a new created product is also affected by labour market factors, employment and average salary. This paper assesses and compares the development trends in employment and average wages in the regions of Slovakia and the Czech Republic, and defines development differences over a selected time period: 2007-2016. We used statistical indicators to monitor the observed phenomenon variability by means of setting the minimum, maximum and average variation ranges and coefficients. To set a position, from descriptive characteristics a simple arithmetic mean was used. From the results of the analyses, it can be seen that significant regional differences exist in the Czech and Slovak labour markets due to different primary potentials, different possibilities of development, economic structures, demographic differences and levels of infrastructure. The situation in the Czech labour market is better than in Slovakia, and the differences among regions are smaller in the Czech Republic. For the particular regions, we chose territorial units at the NUTS III level.

Abstract. Th e paper attempts to evaluate the innovative performance of Slovak regions over the years 2010-2014 by using the selected indicators of innovative performance. Th e innovation performance of the Slovak regions we evaluated in terms of the following indicators: creation or substantial improvement of new materials, products, equipment; creation of new processes, technological procedures, systems and services or substantial improvement; publications and cita tions; patents and utility models. Th e variable standardized method was employed to evaluate the innovation performance of the Slovak regions. Th e innovation performance of the Slovak regions was changing continually. In 2010, 2011 and 2013 the highest innovation performance was in Trnava region, in 2012 in Bratislava region, in 2014 in Trencin region. A signifi cantly below the average of innovation performance was found in Prešov region.

The onset of Fourth Industrial Revolution and its related development of digitization processes has created the need to focus more attention on creating the conditions for the development of adequate human resources skills, on which the pace of innovation depends. The digital transformation of economies has become a global trend, so the need to innovate cannot be ignored if countries want to be competitive in international environment. Therefore, particular governments must respond to this situation and take relevant steps to support these processes. However, the situation in each country is diametrically different. Some of them strive to be leaders in a particular field and systematically support the development of ongoing processes. Others are more indifferent to this situation and their progress is much slower. As in the past, at the time of scientific and technical revolution, this attitude is subsequently reflected in their economic situation. There are also significant differences among EU Member States, despite the fact that the EU is trying to set certain development parameters that should be achieved in each country. The goal of this paper is to theoretically define what changes are taking place as a result of digitization, how the current situation has contributed to those changes, and which key areas should be given priority within each country. In addition, our goal is to find out how the population in Slovak Republic is developing in terms of the achieved level of education, what share of expenditures from GDP goes to education area and research and development support, as well as what is the average amount of these expenditures per capita, and thus to point out to the possible reasons of lagging innovation and modernization capacity of Slovak Republic. The method of descriptive statistics, time series analysis as well as the method of synthesis to formulate conclusions were used.