Božena Chovancová – Vladimír Gvozdják - INVESTMENT STRATEGIES FOR BOND PORTFOLIO OPTIMI-ZATION (Investičné stratégie zamerané na optimalizáciu dlhopisového portfólia)
Abstract: The debt crisis in Europe has contributed not only to the growth in risk when investing on the bond markets but also to the change of opinions on government bonds as a riskfree investment. The failure of some Eurozone countries to pay off the government bonds has nearly led to ban-kruptcy of some financial institutions and to their bail out by the state. Today, the asset mana-gers mainly from financial institutions bear the responsibility for the effective business of the institution. Their effort is to model bond portfolios with the aim to bring the best effect also for the clients and at the same time to lower the risk. When constructing portfolios, these asset managers use various strategies, which were applied also in the past. The aim of this working paper is to characterize individual strategies and describe some of them in more details by using relevant methodological tools.
Keywords: bonds, risks, portfolio management, bonds portfolio strategies, passive strategies, active strategies.
JEL Classification: G 11 G 12
str./pp. 277-294
Serhiy Tsyganov – Viktoria Apalkova - DIGITAL ECONOMY: A NEW PARADIGM OF GLOBAL INFOR-MATION SOCIETY (Digitálna ekonomika: nová paradigma globálnej informačnej spoločnosti)
Abstract: The fast global implementation of information and communication technologies has dramatically affected the notions about effectiveness and efficiency of economic models. The informa-tion on digital economy is often referred to in the economic literature and official strategic documents as a most desirable way of further national and even global development. A number of authors have published works dealing with the digital (information) economy in terms of vari-ous aspects of this term over the preceding decade. In this article, we introduced the classification of concepts regarding the notion of digital economy and divided them into the four main groups of approach: macroeconomic, structural, management and technological approaches. As a result, we clarified the concept of information (digital) economy by defining it as a paradigm of the global information society based on using technological platforms on the Internet, mobile or other electronic devices and generating a set of financial and economic relations in the system of production, distribution, exchange and consumption of goods and services in glo-bal markets. We analyzed the world ecommerce market because its economic activity has showed high growth rates in recent years owing to the application of innovative tools of infor-mation economy. The analysis shows that the rapid development of ecommerce in Europe has laid a basis for the strong growth in other sectors of the economy, including markets of express delivery and e-payment services. It was also proven that advanced financial infrastructure of the country contributes to the development of the information society and digital economy.
Keywords: digital economy, ICT infrastructure, macroeconomic approach, information economy, e-commerce, payment instrument, currier, express, parcel (CEP) market, credit, and debit cards, eWallets
JEL Classification: F 39, F 21, F 30
str./pp. 295-311
Marianna Dudášová - POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE REFUGEE CRISIS – THE CASE OF GERMANY(Politické dôsledky utečeneckej krízy – prípad Nemecka)
Abstract: The unprecedented magnitude of the ongoing refugee crisis has the potential to change the dynamics of German politics dramatically and permanently. It will dominate the political discour-se for many years to come and may cause considerable changes in electoral preferences. The long cherished stability of the German party system is endangered. While the government is facing a massive decline in its approval ratings, the rightwing populist Alternative for Germany is gaining ground in federal politics. Angela Merkel has long been considered as a su-ccessful but uninspiring leader. In the wake of the refugee crisis, she has eventually come out with a vision and offered leadership. However, in her struggle for more European solidarity, she has been abandoned by her partners in the EU and has to deal with increasingly disillusi-oned members of her own party. This article is an attempt to answer two key questions with regard to the current situation in German politics. Can the refugee crisis spell the end of the Merkel era? And can the AfD (Alternative for Germany) achieve a longlasting re-arrangement of the German party system, bringing the era of political moderation and ideological conver-gence to an end? The answers are formulated within the broader context of Germany’s domestic policy dynamics and reflecting the changing role of Germany in international and European politics.
Keywords: Germany, refugee crisis, Angela Merkel, Alternative for Germany (AfD)
JEL Classification: F 22
str./pp. 312-330
Dušan Litva - ANALÝZA UDRŽATEĽNOSTI FIŠKÁLNEJ POLITIKY VYBRANÝCH KRAJÍN NA ZÁKLADE DYNAMICKÉHO MODELOVANIA (Analysis of Fiscal Policy Sustainability of Selected Countries Based on Dynamic Model-ling)
Abstract:Each country entering a monetary union automatically gives up one of key macroeconomic tools –monetary policy. Hence, the second tool which is fiscal policy is rising in influence and significance. In the theoretical part of this paper, we discuss basic principles of fiscal stance, its tools and possible consequences of its use. The emphasis is placed on the derivation of theoretical relationships using Wickens’s approach, which is based on general dynamic equilibrium in the economy and its application on the evaluation of sustainability of fiscal stance. The data needed for constructing the model are: inflation, GDP, and debt to GDP ratio. In this article, we used data prediction of the IMF for the period of 2015–2020 for the formulation of hypotesis for sustainability of fiscal stance. The countries explored were the USA, Russia, the European Union, and separate economies of France, Germany and Great Britain.
Keywords: fiscal stance, inflation, GDP, debt, deficit, suistainability offiscal stance, prediction of development
JEL Classification: E 620
str./pp. 331-349
Ladislav Andrášik - METAECONOMICS: AN APPROACH TO ANALYSIS AND COMPA-RISON OF PARALLEL ECONOMIC (Metaekonómia: Prístup k analýze a porovnávaniu paralelných ekonómií)
Abstract: There are two parallel Economics in economic science as a whole. The first one is seeking to introduce oneself as Economics (Economics I), directly questioning of the economy in objective reality. The other one openly declared oneself as Economics (Economics II), investigating the object that is Economics I as one but virtual too, mastered by subjects upon the economy in objective reality. There is, however, a third approach too, which is seeking to analyse all these three/four objects integrative as a complex object (vicarious method of study). This analysing approach mentioned before is Metaeconomics. In this way, the doubleunique, mutually intertwined objects of Metaeconomics may be the Economy as existing in objective reality and together with the Economics as the subjective product created above the former. The Economy in objective reality3 is an organismic modus vivendi of human society. Unfortunately, that entity is unobservable in contrast to social insects as e.g. honey bees, termites, ants, paper wasps, and so on. The common feature of human and insects societies is a similar modus for creating con-tainers for materials, energies, information (knowledge), skills, spaces, etc. not only in bodies structure (network) of society members but communal too, that is, extracorporeal ones. For these doubleunique scientific purposes and/or subjects, the Metaeconomics creates creating ontological, epistemological and methodological foundations. In this paper, from the aspect of ontological ideas about qualitative aspects of objective economic reality and applies advanced methods based on mathematics and mainly on computational intelligence assisted virtual expe-rimentations. To avoid any misunderstanding, the author emphasises that the paper is not based on economic data from objective economic reality. The majority of theories, models and concepts mentioned in the paper are well-known among economists; several of them are part of textbooks, so the author decided to omit direct citations.the author seeks to use nonconventional approaches in Economics, namely
Keywords: Agent-based computational economics, Agent-oriented programming, Artificial Neural Network, Behavioural uncertainty, Complex adaptive systems, Computational experimentations, Economies as Artificial (Computational) Worlds, Economics, Economy, Learning, Metaeconomics, Emergent hierarchical organizations, Endogenous interactions, Decentralized market processes, Financial Modelling, Institutions, Mainstream Economics, Ontological and methodical mistakes, Parallel Economics and Economies, Political Economy, Strategic rivalry, Virtual laboratories
JEL Classification: B 4, C 6, C 53, C 62, C 69, C 7, C 90, D 4, D 5, D 58, D 6, D 8, G 12, L 1
str./pp. 350-369
Marta Matulčíková – Daniela Breveníková - EDUCATION AS THE FACTOR OF SOCIAL MOBILITY AND JOB MOBILITY (Vzdelávanie ako faktor sociálnej mobility a profesijnej mobility)
Abstract: The present paper examines the importance of education as the factor that determines one’s job mobility and social mobility. Basic concepts (social mobility and job mobility) are explained in the first chapter. The second chapter describes methods of research and results acquired by means of research data analysis. The research sample consisted from 267 respondents; the data were collected by means of the questionnaire method and the method of interview. Family background and inclusion of parents in a particular societal stratum was considered as the basic and essential startingpoint of developing and shaping the attitudes of children to work, as well as influencing their choice of formal education activities. This assumption was corroborated also by the correlation dependence of job position and respondents’ completed education, and their parents’ education. The examination of the compliance between respondents’ completed education and their first job position indicates the differences between the graduates from secondary schools and those from higher education institutions. Another aspect of the research is the analysis of respondents’ further professional education with regard to completed education before the commencement of the first employment. In the conclusion, there are summarised results and findings related to the relationship between job mobility and social mobility.
Keywords:: education, family background, unemployment of graduates, job mobility, social mobility, social status, Slovak Republic
JEL Classification: J 62, J 24
str./pp. 370-381
Tetiana Gorokhova - THE PARTICULARITIES OF DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIALLY RES-PONSIBLE INVESTING IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES AND UKRAI-NE, IN VIEW OF ITS INTEGRATION INTO THE EU(Zvláštnosti rozvoja spoločensky zodpovedného investovania v európskych krajinách a na Ukrajine z pohľadu jej integrácie do Európskej únie)
Abstract: Economic, environmental, social and other problems, covering the world as a whole are exacerbating more and more in recent times. The global problems of the modern world are associated with environmental pollution, climate change, military conflicts, epidemics, social inequality, etc. The existence of these problems and the need for their solutions have an impact on the policy of the countries, the activity of enterprises, as well as the economic and social development. Society is gradually coming to realize the need for responsibility in the environ-ment, for the creation of required conditions for sustainable development of the world. Under the circumstances, financial mechanisms providing sustainable economic development, social integration, and economic interests are urgently required. Socially responsible investing is one of these mechanisms, which appeared as an independent branch of the investment activity in the second part of the twentieth century. This article described the particularities of socially responsible investing (SRI); investment projects selection that takes into accounts the social responsibility principles; analysis of SRI growth rate change for the period between the years 2009 –2013, the analysis of European countries particularities in terms of current investment trends, the research of current state, and development prospects of SRI in Ukraine.
Keywords: investment, socially responsible investing, corporate social responsibility, sustainable develop-ment, social benefits
JEL Classification: O 35, Q 01, F 21
str./pp. 382-397