The aim of this paper is to categorize Latin American and Caribbean countries into broader groups according to the similarities and dissimilarities between them in terms of the level (attractiveness) and determinants of FDI inflows, with regard to the two different periods. In terms of methodology, we employ agglomerative hierarchical clustering technique. The results of cluster analysis indicate that during the decade ending in 2019 there was a change in the attractiveness for FDI at the country level. In 2012, the best-performing clusters in terms of FDI inward flows as a percentage of GDP consisted of Latin American economies with the highest levels of development – Costa Rica, Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina and Chile. These countries exhibited good results in stock of infrastructure, level of human capital and all institutional and political variables, regardless of variables such as natural resource endowments or labour costs. This suggests that the motives of FDI inflows in more advanced Latin American countries were relatively diversified. In 2019, the cluster consisting of Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic and Mexico became the most attractive in terms of average FDI inflows as a percentage of GDP. This cluster performs better in locational determinants peculiar to the efficiency-seeking motive of FDI, such as low labour costs, low total tax and contribution rate and high degree of trade openness.

New Keynesian form of the Phillips Curve assumes a shortterm trade-off between inflation and real economic activity, either in unit labour cost or output gap specification. Extending the New Keynesian Phillips Curve (NKPC) with a backward-looking price setting, our aim is to examine the impact of the inflation expectations, lagged inflation, unit labour cost, import prices and real effective exchange rate on the inflation dynamics in the Czech Republic between 2000M1 and 2020M12. Dealing with non-stationary and cointegrated time series, we opted for an Error Correction Model (ECM) and an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model with the variables integrated of order I(1). ARDL model in differences was also compared with an ARDL model in levels. The main findings of our analysis can be summarized as follows. Firstly, our analysis indicates that the ARDL model using non-stationary time series generates spurious regression results. Secondly, the results from the ECM model and the ARDL model with first order differencing find the inflation expectations and unit labour cost statistically significant, confirming the existence of a small open economy NKPC for the Czech Republic. Thirdly, even though the backward-looking inflation setting represents a cornerstone of the hybrid NKPC, we have found no evidence for lagged inflation to have an impact on the inflation dynamics in the Czech Republic between 2000M1 and 2020M12. We thereby reject the hybrid version of the NKPC. Lastly, in spite of the Czech Republic representing a small open economy, we observed weak statistical evidence suggesting that external factors (exchange rate, import prices) influence the inflation dynamics in the Czech Republic.

Principal determinants of territorial allocation of the Slovak Republic's bilateral development aid: Path-dependent trajectory? Slovakia started to provide bilateral official development assistance (ODA) in 2003 and became a fully-fledged member of the Development Assistance Committee of the OECD in 2013. This paper empirically examines the main determinants influencing the territorial selection and allocation of the Slovak Republic's ODA during the period 2003 -2019.To reach the aim of this paper, we apply regression analysis with Probit and Tobit models and variables approximating recipient needs, donor interests as well as recipient merit. The results indicate that the allocation of Slovak aid is significantly determined by closer historical ties, geographical proximity, the existence of a Slovak embassy, quality of social policies and the size of population in the recipient countries, as well as the inertia in policy decision-making on aid allocation. This suggests that the Slovak Republic's ODA follows a path-dependent trajectory as most of its assistance traditionally flows to geographically closer countries with similar historical experiences from the communist and subsequent transition period, regardless of developmental needs of the poorest countries.