The eighth year of the Seminar on Austrian Economics organized by INESS was traditionally held in the Mojmírovce manor on March 15 to 18, 2018. Here, 29 students from various universities from all around Slovakia and the Czech Republic got together.
Do not be fooled by the vast yellow fields of rapeseed in Slovakia. The agricultural sector is a zombie, living on subsidies instead of fresh brains. There are a few exceptions (like the successful tomato growers), but the overall numbers are harsh.
How can Slovakia match the technologies of the 21st century with regulation, so that the opportunities will be exploited? It’s simple. It is not rocket science or a super-secured secret. Just look at what has been done by more than half of the U.S. states.
Paying the advanced tax in Slovakia is a bureaucratic burden, since an entrepreneur has to take care of the regular payments. But there is a bigger problem. An entrepreneur has to pay the advanced tax from her/his current income – but the payment size is set according to her/his last year’s tax.
The Slovak Ministry of Agriculture lists among its goals the support of Slovak agricultural production. Except their heavy subsidizing under EU common agricultural policy, it uses several tools of nationalist protection of local production.
INESS has recently presented its views on the steps necessary to reform the education system in Slovakia in the study titled The Separation of education and politics. The proposal does not consist of prescription of exact content and form of education.
Automotive industry plays one of the most important roles in economies of the Visegrad Group countries. The sector became the regional leader in export and a reason for close ties among countries. Hyundai Kia in the Czech Republic and Slovakia is a textbook example of how one company ignores artificial national borders.
An example of innovation is a standardized cargo container. Today, there are more than 20 million of these containers around the globe and we move practically everything in them. This innovation from the late sixties completely changed the world.
In 2017, INESS launched a series of informal economic discussions called Ekonomické reči (Econtalks). Seven events were organized so far and more than 420 guests altogether visited the evening forum. First Econtalks were held by Radovan Ďurana in March.
In 2016, the Institute of Economic and Social Studies (INESS) from Slovakia decided to fill the gap and the Bureaucracy Index was born. In collaboration with experts from different areas, INESS identified and analyzed all the administrative tasks that the state requires from a model SME company.
