Economy

The fact that an abundant welfare system and a loosely regulated market are operated by the same government does not give proof to their harmonious existence and a beneficial impact of their supposed fusion. The latter is practically impossible.

In considering the extent to which the state should be relied upon to promote social cohesion and virtue, one must keep in mind the potential associated pitfalls as well as the other possible means to accomplish the same desired ends.

No-fee regulation will have its limits (they should prevent abusing of the cheap prices of cross-border calls), first proposals are very restrictive – the maximum 40 minutes of calls and 100 text messages per year from abroad. However, it is definitely one of the biggest intervention to the entrepreneurial freedom the European Union has seen.

The Centre for Economic and Market Analyses (CETA) found out the calculation of the social cost of gambling in the Czech Republic and the actual regulatory impact assessment (RIA) suffer from obvious shortcomings. Therefore, we decided to prepare five basic recommendations for the effective regulation of gambling in our country.

Slovakia is experiencing situation common to many European economies. The price of electric energy on the market is falling, so is the overall consumption of electricity. And yet, the final price for consumers, especially in the industrial sector, remains high.

Speaking of visions, the lack of consensus extends beyond politics. Many employers have been lobbying for more practical education, especially on the level of secondary schools. This has been opposed by most experts on education.

From a total of 34 OECD countries, 29 of them have a minister for regulatory reform – Slovakia is not one of them. 33 OECD countries have a permanent institution for overseeing regulatory policy – Slovakia is not one of them.

The Centre for Economic and Market Analyses published a study about the shadow economy in the Czech Republic. The study deals with the theoretical aspects of shadow economy, methodology and definition, it includes international comparison, determination of driven factors as well as provides a further analysis of chosen industries.

After years of being ignorant to the ICT and the digital economy in general, the Czech Republic has now changed its position and declares its full support to the digital agenda as well as the EU Digital Single Market Strategy. The problem, however, is that the actual implementation of these promises has been lagging behind for a long time.

Security is the biggest challenge for our economy. To counteract a similar challenge, Israel, for example, is entirely militarized, regardless of the fact that numerous international lobbyist groups assist it, including financially. A country facing such security challenges might have armed forces three or four times stronger than Georgia and a defense budget 10 times larger.