1,761,088 research outputs found
"What does the case of Slovakia tell us about the EU’s Active Leverage?"
No full text[From the introduction]. This short paper seeks to reflect on the experience of Slovakia and highlights what that particular case has taught us about the active leverage of the EU. I recognize that unpicking causation between domestic and European arenas is fraught with methodological difficulties (Haverland, 2006). Unlike our colleagues from chemistry, as political scientists we are not afforded the luxury to isolate and remove individual ingredients and then re-run experiments to see if the results change, hence identifying chains of causation is extremely difficult and tends to lead to conclusions, which are vague, hedged and less than robust. Bearing that caveat in mind, however, I venture a few arguments based on a close observation of the Slovak case. Firstly, building on the helpful distinction between political2 conditionality and acquis conditionality, I suggest that the Slovak case demonstrates the power of acquis conditionality, but the limits of the ‘transformative power’ (Grabbe, 2006) of political conditionality. Indeed, acquis conditionality may be more influential in cases where political conditionality is perceived to have had an influence. Secondly, the EU has very little impact on domestic party politics beyond influencing the choice of coalition partners, but even here the impact of the EU is probably exaggerated. Thirdly, the power of the acquis conditionality varies depending on the clarity, consistency and ascribed salience of such laws
Tax Reform in Slovakia
No full textThe paper evaluates recent tax legislation in Slovakia, effected January 2004, according to principles of optimal taxation and optimal tax systems. The author evaluates Slovak tax reform with particular regard to personal income tax and commodity taxes. The adoption of a flat personal-income-tax rate and a uniform VAT rate is viewed as in line with the optimal taxation theory, and the projected lessening of administrative costs and degree of tax evasion is positively evaluated.tax reform; flat tax; Slovakia
DSGE Model-Slovakia
No full textDSGE Slovakia is a medium size New Keynesian open economy model designed to simulate dynamic behavior of Slovak economy. It consists of about 50 equations and contains all important macroeconomic variables including real GDP and all its main components- consumption, investment, government expenditures, import and export then factors of production – labor, capital and oil and also consumer, producer, import and export price deflators, nominal interest rate and exchange rate. Most parameters of the model are calibrated and remaining ones are estimated by various estimation technique. Appropriateness of the model is judged by comparing statistics of simulated data with real ones, by analyzing impulse response functions and by reproducing historical time series.General equilibrium model, Slovakia
Slovakia: Fertility between tradition and modernity
No full textIn the last 60 years, Slovakia has experienced comparatively high and most recently very low fertility, long periods of stable fertility alternating with periods of changes, periods of substantial as well as lesser state interventions. Fertility was above replacement in 1990 and declined to the lowest-low levels during the period of transformation. Postponement of life course transitions – leaving the parental home, marrying and becoming a parent – became widespread among younger cohorts after 1990. High unemployment of young adults, increasing economy-driven migration and problems to gain a stable job contribute to this phenomenon. Reproductive behavior is changing, yet Slovak society remains culturally conservative. The dominant form of partnership is marriage, although extra-marital childbearing is rising. Cohabitation is spreading mainly as a prelude to marriage but is not widely approved. Population measures have a long tradition, although 15 years after regime change their nature is very different than that of the state socialist era. Considerable attention was and is being paid to population problems, however, the government has not designed and implemented a comprehensive system of family and population policies.childbearing, family size, fertility, postponement, Roma population, Slovakia
Development of small business sector in Slovakia in years 1993-2006
No full textThe main focus of the article is to elaborate on the importance and role of small and medium-sized enterprises in Slovak economy. The authors show development tendencies of SME sector in Slovakia in the years 1993-2006. Where it was possible the authors enumerated the data for the year 2007. The paper analyses the state of the sector of small and medium-sized enterprises, seeking to understand the causes of its relative strength and weakness. The share of SME sector in all registered enterprises in Slovakia is convergent with that for the whole EU average and it amounts to 99.8%. In Slovakia the share of microenterprises amounts to 79.3% which is the lowest feature in the EU. It means that the situation in Slovakia seems to be better for the economy, as the microenterprises do not provide huge impact for national employment and GDP. In Slovakia the share of SMEs in total employment is crucial and amounts to 61.2%. A present-day share of SME sector in both export and import volumes is more than 1/3 of the total volume of foreign trade of Slovakia.entrepreneurship, small and medium-sized enterprises, Slovakia
Pension Reform in Slovakia: Fiscal Debt and Pension Levels
No full textThis paper considers two aspects of a recent pension reform in Slovakia: the financial balance of the former pay-as-you-go system, and the level of retirement pensions in a newly introduced two-pillar system. Generally, there are three important steps to sustainable pension reform: a change of pension indexation, a raised retirement age, and the launch of a fully funded (second) pillar. With regard to fiscal debt, the two-pillar system is superior to the pay-as-you-go system in the long term. Having considered the risk of returns on savings in the funded pillar, the authors show that while pensions under the two-pillar system should be higher than under a one-pillar system, it is not a certainty.pension reform; Slovakia; fiscal debt; pension level; asset returns; risk
Supporting SME start-up in Slovakia by means of business incubators
No full textBusiness incubators began in the 1960s and really took off in the late 1990s as support for start up companies who need advice and venture capital to get their ideas off the ground. The role of business incubators is to accelerate the successful development of entrepreneurial companies through an array of business support resources and services, developed and managed by incubator management and offered both in the incubator and through its network of contacts. The main aim of the article is to present the role of incubators as a mean of supporting small and medium enterprises start-up in Slovakia. The article is divided into two parts. In the first part is presented the core of incubators, incubator types and goals. In the second part we present building of business incubators in Slovakia and their role as a mean to help to start the entrepreneurship as well as to help to support technologically oriented SME in Slovakia. The paper was elaborated as a part of VEGA project 1/0654/11 “Innovative small and medium enterprises as a part of knowledge based economy in Slovakia”.
Spiders (Araneae) from the Panský diel (Starohorské vrchy Mts, Slovakia)
No full textSpiders were collected at the massif 'Panský diel' near the city of Banská Bystrica (Central Slovakia). We recorded 252 spider species for the territory and one new species for Slovakia. Although the summit reaches an altitude of 1.100 m a.s.l., more or less thermophilous species apparently prevail here, especially at lower moderate sites. On the other hand, only several typical oreophilous species were documented. Many recorded species are scarce or even very rare. This indicates the very high value of this territory from both a genetic and an environmental perspective
Polyaesthetic Education in Slovakia after 1990 – Resources, Concepts, and Prominent Figures (Juraj Hatrík)
No full textThe present study chronologically surveys innovative processes in aesthetic education and the impact of music educators who, after the political and cultural changes in Slovakia in 1989, embarked on the path of developing the concept of polyaesthetic education in line with the ideas of its founder, Wolfgang Roscher, and those of the Salzburg School (Mozarteum), Austria. The aim of the study is to clarify how the ideas of 1990s’ polyaesthetic education were applied to the aesthetic education subjects, primarily music education. Theoretical foundations, their adaptation to the Slovak educational environment, and analytical insights into Juraj Hatrík’s (1941–2021) creative work advancing the theory and practice of polyaesthetic education are presented in the section on his projects and music workshops. Hatrík’s projects, due to their originality and authentic affinity to a child’s spiritual world, managed to abandon the space of integrative music pedagogy and consistently followed the principles of polyaesthesis
Chthonius (Chthonius) carinthiacus and Chthonius (Ephippiochthonius) tuberculatus new to the fauna of Slovakia (Pseudoscorpiones: Chthoniidae)
No full textThe pseudoscorpions Chthonius (Chthonius) carinthiacus Beier, 1951 and Chthonius (Ephippiochthonius) tuberculatus Hadži, 1937, are recorded for the first time from Slovakia. An illustrated description of these species is provided based on their morphological and morphometric characters. The descriptions of the species offer an update on the variability of their morphological and morphometric characters
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